Week 56
Last week was our LAST full week on the road and this week we transition back to our permanent home in Alexandria, VA. this involved moving our personal stuff from a storage unit back into our condo, cleaning the RV out and putting it on the market and ultimately selling it…I go back to work next week so the goal this week was to get as settled as possible before the 9-5 takes over.
Day 388 Mon 04/30
This morning we are still at the Pohick Bay Regional Park 30 min south of our condo in Alexandria, VA. We are able to move back into our condo tomorrow and this campground is a short drive from our storage unit with all our personal stuff. Today John did maintenance on the RV and I took interior photos, so we can post it for sale ASAP. It was a beautiful sunny day at the campground, and even though we were preoccupied with required tasks, we tried to contemplate the significance of our last night in the RV…our last meal together at our tiny table, our last sleep in our tiny bed, and all the other rituals we had grown to enjoy and some we were ready to give up…
Day 389 Tues 05/01
Today is move back home day, so we drove from Pohick Bay Regional Park to our storage unit to grab a load of stuff before making our final drive to our condo. Our good friend Shonda from church was renting our condo furnished this year, and she and her roommate took great care of it for us while we were away. We brought the animals inside and visited for a bit before Shonda left and we immediately started unloading the RV. The animals seemed excited to be home and settled right into their old routines the dog in his bed and the cat in his chair… John did all the unloading from the RV and I organized inside the condo. We went back to the storage unit one more time this afternoon for the final load and filled the RV. It was a bit loaded down but Virginia carried that load well. After emptying it at home we were dog tired by dinner time, so luckily, we had leftovers for dinner because nobody wanted to cook. We remembered to put a note inside the RV about the city ordinance that allows us to park on the street for 48 hours to load or unload, so we don’t get any tickets this time…we also had neighbors tell us that the person who complained last time no longer lives in the neighborhood. We walked the dog to the grocery store to grab a six pack of beer to “celebrate”. We both finished dinner and sat on the couch to watch TV (something we didn’t have in the RV)…and looked around at all the space and all our stuff yet to be put away and thought how weird it was…it was a bit overwhelming going from 220 sq ft with the bare necessities and everything having a home to our 800 sq ft condo and stuff we had not missed too much in over a year. Before we left last year I was convinced we needed a bigger place and now I feel like it is too big. We decided to be very intentional about managing clutter and putting things away and minimizing typical dumping grounds to maintain a clutter free environment. Tonight our friends Brian and Don stopped by to drop off our car keys and give us a jump so John could take it to get inspected tomorrow morning so we did not have to drive the RV around town. We shared a few stories and enjoyed a beer together. It is good to see friends again. After John confirmed the car would start we hit the hay. Our bed at home is bigger (queen size)…but not as comfy…we think our first major purchase will be a new mattress (this is Johns from college…that is 20 yrs old y’all) I’m also going to have to get used to being in climate controlled environments 24/7…I am freezing and was startled every time the AC kicked on! We ended up turning it off and slept with the windows open. Oh and Cooper decided he was going to puke his dinner up all over the bedroom floor and rug…the cat seemed to be on a hunger strike too.
Day 390 Wed 05/02
This morning was the first morning in the condo and I woke up early to the birds chirping with the windows open. Also, the cat did not sleep with us or want after breakfast cuddles like he did everyday in the RV. It is very interesting that even animals in bigger spaces if given the extra space don’t interact as much. Today is mission unload the RV and give her a proper bath and polish. We also enjoyed a proper shower today ourselves. The dog puked up his breakfast again…John had underestimated how long unpacking would take since I did all of the packing before we left while John was working on the RV last year. It took all day to unload the RV and begin to put things away. Our neighbor Jose after his day job as a mechanic helped John service the RV generator. We walked Cooper to the store for food for dinner again tonight and walked to our friends Jennifer and Brian’s house in the neighborhood to check out their renovation progress. We both decided that the last couple of days have felt just like the week before we left town but in reverse and there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done…
Day 391 Thurs 05/03
We woke up this morning contemplating the weird transition from the freedom of RV life to all the overload of choices in our life at home and how everything feels like it is slipping away and that it didn’t even happen…and how to keep the slowness and intentionality and sense of adventure in tact? This morning I walked Cooper through the neighborhood…and I was so very thankful for where we live and the time of year that we came home…it is really pretty in the spring with all the azaleas and flowering trees…We made it home in time to see the dog woods in full bloom too. They are my favorite! Today’s mission is clean the RV and take exterior photos to post for sale adds. John finished the last coat of polish while i cleaned the inside and we hoped that all the pollen in the air would not stick to the polish. The Blessed With Wonders decal was also removed today…i couldn’t watch. It is funny the things we are sentimental about. The RV cleaned up so good and we were able to take some exterior photos. This evening we walked to the farmers market and said hello to Oliver…the farm is local but not organic. He only had seedlings and some rhubarb for sale this week but will be bringing asparagus next week. We continued our walk to the grocery store for ingredients for dinner. John posted the RV for sale add on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist and had several hits and one woman who was interested in coming to look at the RV tomorrow!
Day 392 Fri 05/04
This morning we finished up cleaning the inside of the RV and double checked that we were not leaving anything in any of the cabinets…John found two iPhones that he had taken with him to try to sell in one of the cabinets…oops! Rose and Barry came by to look at the RV around lunch time and we spent a couple of hours going over their questions and testing that everything works, and test drove it down the Parkway. They were very interested and went to grab a cold drink for about 30 minutes and came back with cash to purchase it! We sold it to the first people that looked at it! Unfortunately, they were not prepared to drive it home today, so John didn’t feel comfortable taking the full amount and turning over the title when we still had to drive it and store it down at Pohick Bay until they could pick it up next week sometime. They drew up a contract and we took a deposit, and after they left we took the RV to the storage lot we found at Pohick Bay until they pick it up next week. We parked next to a tiny house…that might be our next big adventure? We both decided that with a little bit more counter space and a full-size shower we could totally live in a tiny house but it would need to be parked on a lot of land…it only takes 5 min to clean. On our way home, we stopped at the local nursery that I love to get window box plants! This afternoon we organized stuff at the condo and decided to do date night at the Custard Shack in the neighborhood. Tonight, I planted the window boxes with a couple varieties of lavender on the sunny side and some coleus in the shaded boxes. We also couldn’t help but notice how happy our ivy was, Shonda took such great care of it, it has never looked so healthy! I am not going to lie, I am sad about selling the RV, but happy that the couple that bought it are going to be traveling this year like we did so she is going to a good family that will love her as much as we did. John is ready to move on to the next thing…he wants to build out a cargo van for weekend trips to Shenandoah.
Day 393 Sat 05/05
This morning I woke up early and made biscuits to go with the peach butter jam I bought at the farmers market the other day. I definitely missed baking last year, so it was good to stretch out and dig in! I made the type of biscuits that have the jam on top like we had at a bakery in Oregon. After breakfast I convinced John to come with me and Cooper to our favorite place at the garden for a few hours to turn over beds for spring planting. We brought our compost with us too! I am so excited about having a guaranteed place for our food scraps vs trying to find a place to take them on the road. The soil looked healthy and there were tons of lady bugs and earth worms welcoming us home to the garden. The blackberry bush had leaves and the strawberries had flowers and the rhubarb had already flowered, the hops are already stretching up the fence line too. We knocked it out in a few hours, so I can be ready to plant seeds tomorrow after church. I had already drawn up the planting plan and bought all the seeds a couple of months ago, so I am super excited to get them in the ground and wait for everything to grow!!! This afternoon we did some more organizing of stuff at the condo. John worked in the basement storage unit and I spent the afternoon trying on all my clothes and taking outfit photos, so I can have some ideas for when I start work and also convince myself that I don’t need to go out and buy all new work clothes. I got an app idea too that I would be surprised if it doesn’t exist all ready. There should be an app that you can take photos of all your clothes and it will randomly pick out your outfit for the day with the technology that will show the outfit on you! John made mushroom risotto for dinner and it was tasty!
Day 394 Sun 05/06
This morning I woke up early again and decided to tackle the mounds of laundry before next week. Our laundry machines are in the basement so I’m not sure that experience is any better than hanging out at the laundromat for a few hours…it is cheaper than that though. We went to the early Church service and saw some of our old friends Paul and Danielle and met their sweet baby boy Ascher too. A lot happens in a year! The service was a good word about the difference between our Purpose and our Calling and the worship music was so awesome! It was good to be back in God’s house and planted in our church community. After church and lunch I went to the garden with Cooper to plant some seeds! After a few hours at the garden we stopped by Trader Joes! So far we are not super impressed with the organic selection at the Safeway by our house and Trader Joes has certain staple items that we use, but I am looking forward to checking out the MOM’s organic market tomorrow. Even though today is Sunday, tomorrow is actually my last “Sunday” before I go back to work next Tuesday, so technically this is my last “Saturday”.
This week has been a whirlwind of activities and emotions and we are worn out…we are preparing for this next season of going back to work and getting into a new routine that somehow still holds on to the things we found are important while on our radical sabbatical like nature, connection, community, intentionality, perspective, quality time, communication and so much more. I haven’t been sleeping very well this week even though I am super tired, so I am also reminded of the importance of rest and actual sleep and health…One more day left until reentry.
This map below indicates the route we took from Pohick Bay Regional Park to Alexandria, VA:
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