It’s been quite a month. I never thought that what was my home on the first day of the month would not be my home on the last, but such is the case. In retrospect, I realize that the series of events–including those that happened years ago–were entirely divinely orchestrated and that all I had to do was just let go, be open-minded and be astounded in watching things come together. It’s been amazing.

Most people reading this already know that my life has been anything but conventional. Within a year of getting married almost 40 years ago, Dave and I were living on a sailboat in the Florida Keys. A few years later, it was on a trawler with our two kids. When we finally bought a house, Hurricane Katrina destroyed it and we ended up in a FEMA trailer. And when it looked like it was going to take Bay St. Louis, Mississippi a long time to rebuild, we decided to buy a 5th wheel, which we’ve had since 2006. It came in handy last year when we moved into it full-time to allow our daughter and grandkids to move into our house after her divorce.

The 5th wheel has served us well and we’ve covered thousands of miles in it–from Washington state to Washington, DC, mountains, deserts, national parks, and even Mexico. As a home, it’s been roomy and comfortable. The only downside is that connecting it to the truck is complicated and trailering it has gotten more cumbersome as we’ve gotten older.

While in the upper elevations of western Texas this past winter, it was obvious that Dave was having a hard enough time trying to breathe, let alone hook up the trailer. It seemed that the day we’d talked about for at least a couple of years had finally arrived. We were getting older, and it was time for the next step: a motorhome. We’re not done traveling.

After all this time living aboard, we knew what we wanted as well what we didn’t. Must have’s included a diesel engine, enough room to sleep 6, and washer/dryer hook-ups. We were looking for something used, but that had been well taken care of. We weren’t exactly in a hurry, but we were keeping our eyes open.

Somewhere in that first week of the month, I happened upon a website for an RV dealership in Ringgold, Georgia, about 200 miles from here. I scrolled past one motor home after another, and about half a dozen of them looked promising. It appeared that a trip to Ringgold might be in order, if only just “to look.” If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll know it when you see it.

We drove down early in the second week of the month, and it was a pleasant day-trip: east on I-24 to Chattanooga, and south another 15 miles or so. The massive lot containing all types and sizes of RVs would’ve been overwhelming had it not been so well organized and user-friendly. It was lowest-pressured buying experience we’ve ever had. All of the units were unlocked, and we were told to just take our time and look at whatever we wanted. Within a couple of hours, we found our next set of wheels: a 2002 Holiday Rambler 40′ Endeavor.

That started the next step, purging the 5th wheel of all of our earthly belongings and loading them into a cargo trailer, which coincidentally, we also got in the aftermath of Katrina. Last Thursday we got the call saying that our motor home would be ready for pick up on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. The holiday weekend was anything but relaxing, and the anticipation of taking delivery on our new digs was a great motivator to empty and clean the RV.

We were on the road by 6 a.m. Tuesday, and less than 12 hours later, we had our new home, home. Since then I’ve been cleaning and Dave’s been figuring out the different systems. We found all of the original owner’s manuals and maintenance records in one of the cabinets, which are a real godsend! It’ll take a little while to learn everything there is to learn about this rig–especially driving it–but we’ll figure it out.

I’d love to post pics of Felix (what we’ve named the motor home…to be explained in a later blog), but it’s in disarray while being scoured and spruced up, so those will have to wait. It won’t be too long…we’re excited to have you see her (yes, Felix is a she!)