NOTE: This topic is identical to “A Rolling Stone” from just the week before last.
When I think about giving up my roots and hitting the open road … selling it all and taking that big old gypsy wagon, er RV … down the endless highway, my whole life stuffed in it … rolling place to place, sleeping wherever we find ourselves and waking to watch the sun rise somewhere, I start making charts, budgets, schedules.
I calculate the price of gasoline. Do you know how much it costs to run an RV? It’s not how many miles to the gallon. More like how many gallons to the mile. Seriously — that’s a lot of money! And much as I love them, I don’t see us hitching up the horse. Giddyup!
And we have four dogs. And there we are, rolling down the big highway, singing joyously while watching the gas gauge drop, We suddenly realize one of more of the dogs is restless. Is he/she serious? Or just messing with our heads? Do we want to take a chance on guessing wrong? Our dogs are smart enough to think it’s a hoot to get us to stop everything so they can run around. Day or night. And their cheerful barks of bliss will, I’m sure, be the hit of the RV park.
With no doggy door, no fenced yard, it’s just us, the dogs and the leashes, moaning as the rain pelts down “Please, go, it’s late, I’m tired, I want to go to bed,” while Bonnie snickers at us as only a Scottie can.
And then there is the matter of bathrooms. My husband has a thing about the bathroom. He wants a nice, comfortable room. A spacious shower. Unlimited hot water.A friendly place, not an airline-sized nook. Room to spread out a Sunday paper. And me? While he’s doing his leisurely morning ablutions, what am I doing? Getting poison ivy while beating the bushes for a bit of privacy.
But wait. Someone has got to pump out the head, fill the water tanks. Hook up to some electricity. Buy groceries. Dog food. Cook meals in a tiny kitchen galley. I pretty much never want to cook at all, ever, even with a big fully equipped kitchen. Am I going to rediscover the joy of cooking in the galley of an RV? Not.
And WiFi? Take away my Internet connection and I will collapse in a useless heap of damp rubble. Give me a week before I start to wail “Take me home!”
I don’t think Garry would last a week. I’m tired of rolling. I want my bed and recliner. I want my modem, router and computers, my big screen television, my desk. And the fenced yard with the doggy door. The kitchen. The DVR.
The gypsy life is a great idea. You should try it. Send me postcards!
- Only Thing Worse Than A Broken Home Is A Broken Heart (http://jitterygt.wordpress.com)
- Daily Prompt: There’s No Place Like Home (dailypost.wordpress.com)
- Daily Prompt: Far from Home (insidemyparameters.wordpress.com)
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Fresh – Apple Blossoms After Melting Snow (teepee12.com)
- Daily Prompt: Do Not Disturb – A Private Place (teepee12.com)
- Life from an RV (Daily Prompt: Rolling Stone) (transitionone.wordpress.com)
- Daily Prompt: Rolling Stone – Where’s my moss? (teepee12.com)
- Daily Prompt: No Rolling Stone Here (layedbacklife.wordpress.com)
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Categories: Architecture, Home, Humor, Life, Transportation, Travel
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Love the doggy wagon!
I think I’d like to RV it across the US one day. But – now that you mention space & bathroom – I’ll have to rethink this.
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Well, yeah. The bathroom is a big one. So’s the kitchen, kind of. But for a vacation, it’s probably fine. Just not for all the time!
On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 12:18 AM, SERENDIPITY
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This is one of my favorites that you have ever posted. My wagon in all its eccentricities and glint is right behind yours!
Signed,
Gypsy at heart ♡
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I love those Gypsy wagons. I’d rather travel in one of them than a big shiny bus. Except for the lack plumbing. And electricity. And A/C. Maybe I’ll just stay home 🙂
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HAHHAAAA!!! NO. I was basking it that lil dream M. Noooo Let’s go. !! If we were gypsies we would not care about the lack of creature comforts…
That is, also after we have been brain washed : )
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I think you have to be brought up in that life. I know a few people adopt very different lifestyles, but usually it doesn’t last long. We are creatures of our environment and habit. If I were a LOT younger, it might be a fun thing to do for a couple of weeks, but just the lack of A/C, screens … and BUGS. No, I’m not good with bugs. With those open windows, out in the woods? Itch, scratch, ouch.
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If you think for ONE minute that I would be happy at 56 with no water, electricity or AIR CONDITIONING , and anything else comfort related you don’t know me as well as I thought you did : )
I was living a gypsy dream like that damn movie
Red 2…….
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Sometimes, we try to live our dreams. When I was younger? But now? No, not a chance. I wasn’t suggesting you would actually do it. I was saying that I wouldn’t do it either for all the aforementioned reasons, but in the end …bugs is enough.
On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 10:00 PM, SERENDIPITY
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This one is awesome, Marilyn! The pics…WOW! What a match! You outdid yourself on this one. Jim and I bought an RV in 2008 when I retired. Had big plans to travel across the USA. Like Mike mentioned we knew the key was to “hole-up” in certain places for lengths of time for YES the gasoline IS expensive, VERY expensive, getting higher, not lower. Then, when his health declined plans were put on hold…holding, holding, holding. Even contemplating trying to sell it. Not sure if Jim will ever be able to pull himself up into the RV. Sad. 😦
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I could buy it, but then it would have to sit in it in the driveway … or we would REALLY have to live it it because we sure couldn’t afford a house AND an RV. We barely are hanging on to the house. I always wanted one … a not so big one that would be mobile enough to actually go somewhere, not just from one RV park to another. Like the ones on the backs of trucks or a little bigger, but not huge. Because the huge one looks too klutzy to deal with mountain or back roads … or am I wrong? I’ve never actually driven one, or even been a passenger. Our friends (they have money, unlike us) have a nice, modest-sized yacht. Which they almost never take anywhere because even for them, fuel is too expensive. My friends who had little airplanes gave them up. Fuel costs. Just too much. Strange how life shakes out, isn’t it?
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Strange, indeed! I got a surprise extra unexpected check upon retirement. Otherwise we would have never bit the bullet! It has been an expensive venture though because of too many issues. We have always thought we got a lemon but no lemon laws, at least in Florida (where we were living at the time) that I know of. 😦
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Gorgeous ..
Works of art.
Makes we wanna hit the road.
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Aren’t they gorgeous? Aside from the lack of modern amenities, there’s such romance to them and the steady clop clop of horses hooves.
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We have a large motorhome and do some traveling. The secret is to hole up in a place for a length of time so you are not spending gas all the time. Barking dogs don’t work so well, you are right about that. Campgrounds have wifi, but it often sucks. We did Texas for a month this past winter, but I wouldn’t do that again. The weather was bad at least half the time. Have a nice weekend, Marilyn.
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I can see where it would be nice as a vacation vehicle, using occasional stayovers at a motel for restoration of sanity. But living full time that way? I don’t think so 🙂 It sounds fine — like living on a boat — until you start to think about the details. Those details get me every time.
On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 12:10 PM, SERENDIPITY
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The pix. The writing. Once again, I am carried away ….
Searching hard for a gender-neutral synonym for “masterful.” (Goodness knows it isn’t “mistressful.”)
“Deft” — or better yet, simply “Ahhhhhh…” — will have to do for this morning. 😉
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The pictures aren’t mine. We’re a bit short of Gypsies in Uxbridge. The rest is mine, though 🙂
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