Going from 400 to 100 square feet

You know you’re a fulltime RV’er when…….. Fill in the blank, there are hundreds of answers that would apply. I had one of these moments the other day and had to laugh at myself. I was at our daughter’s house using the bathroom. Instead of reaching for the flusher on the side of the toilet, my right foot automatically went for the foot flush on the bottom of the stool! Luckily there was no one around to witness this stupidity (that would have been awkward)!

Returning to Salt Lake we were filled with anticipation. Not only do we get to see our daughter and son-in-law, our son and daughter in-law and our grandkids, we also start our great Alaska adventure from here in less than month! With less than 4 weeks here we had a long list of things to do and get done.

The main item on Barb’s itinerary is to take care of our daughter, Jessica, who is having minor surgery. As a result she has restrictions on what she can do and how much she can lift for 4 weeks or so. Not an easy task with a 6 and 2 year old! In additional to tending to Jessica, Barb will be cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking Dylan to and from school and watching baby Kendall…… you know all those things it takes to keep a household in order.  Luckily Jessica’s husband Shane will be there to help out as well.

The surgery went well and although sore, Jessica was recovering comfortably at home while Barb tended to her every need. However, a day after Jessica’s surgery Shane came home from work doubled over in pain. An ultrasound later that day resulted in Shane having his gallbladder removed! Now Barb had two invalids to care for!

Where was I you ask? As far away from there as I could get! See ya later Barbie, I am outta here! Actually, I was a mere 30 miles south at our son Forrest’s house helping him getting ready to list it. We installed baseboards and trim in the new bathroom downstairs as well as cleaned and organized the garage for a yard sale that coming weekend. They listed their house on Tuesday and immediately had showings scheduled. The first day they had 5 showings and by the 4^th day they had not one but two full price offers!

In the meantime we moved our rig to the marina just south of the city on Utah Lake. Daisy and I settled in there while Barb continued to spend her days and nights up at Jessica’s.

Next on our list was getting the camper ready for our Alaska adventure! Before we headed south to Quartzsite in December we had put the camper in the storage area here at the marina and filled it with the totes we did not want with us down in Quartzsite (all our warm clothing, hunting/fishing equipment….) Needless to say we were a little overwhelmed when we opened it up to see it stuffed full of totes!

But before we get to cleaning it out and stocking it for the Alaska adventure, we need to see if it even fits on the truck! If you recall, when Barb bought it last fall she had it delivered here to the storage area at the marina so it has not even been on the truck yet. So after Barb dropped Dylan off at kindergarten, she came down to the marina and we got busy; remove the 5^th wheel hitch from the truck, empty tool chest from back of truck, remove tool chest, disconnect backup camera from tailgate, remove tailgate from truck…….now you can see why Barb did not test it when she bought it!

Truck ready, we headed over to the camper for the test fitting….remove the cover, lift the camper remove 55 gallon drums it was resting on and slip the truck under the camper. Although tight on the sides, it fit like a glove! After testing all the lights and measuring the tie-downs so we could buy chains we reversed the entire process getting the truck back in order. Several hours later we had crossed that off our list!

Ready........

Easy does it!

Success!

Over the next couple of weeks we slowly went through every tote, drawer, nook and cranny in the rig to determine if we were moving it into the camper or storing it in the rig for the next 6 months. One thing we discovered….we still have too much stuff! There are items that we have not touched in two years. We listed and sold some of these items while others we still just cannot part with. In the end we are all packed and ready for our adventure!

Of all the places we visit, Salt Lake is by far the one we look forward to the most. We spent Easter at Jessica’s (Forrest, Somer and Lily went snowboarding). We had several garage sales at Forrest’s on the weekends to help him get rid of stuff, helped him with a few items on his inspection checklist, we went out for sushi, BBQ, a brewery and even went to a movie!

 

Kendall found an egg!

And her basket!

Dylan found his basket!

Meanwhile.....Forrest, Somer and Lily were skiing!

Sampling a few brews at Epic Brewing Co.

This last week here we are putting the 5^th wheel in storage and have started living in the camper! We wanted to have a few days in the camper while still in town just in case.

Goodbye home, see you in 5 or 6 months!

You think 400 square feet is tight, how about 100?!?! Besides the size difference the next biggest change for us (well me) is no TV. My brother Rod did send us a lot of movies so we will have some entertainment for those rainy days.

Good thing we all like each other!

We leave in less than a week for this adventure within an adventure, it is going to be an interesting five months to say the least……stay tuned!