Wanderers and Prepping the Motorhome

Dad says my maternal grandma had gypsy blood because she moved so often. She was French, Cherokee and German. Add Norwegian from my Dad's side and you have my nationality. Looking at our family history, we've all been wanderers and adventurers.

My paternal grandparents immigrated from Norway to southern Michigan. My maternal grandparents were born in Kentucky and Michigan but moved frequently due to grandpa's jobs. The maternal great-grandparents immigrated from Canada by covered wagon. After divorcing, my maternal grandma moved at least 12 times and Grandpa wound up in Arlington, TX. But wanderlust was never far away as he travelled throughout the U.S. in his truck camper every vacation.

And then there's me. I've moved over 40 times since graduating from high school in 1971! No wonder I'm attracted to dead-end roads, two-tracts, mountains and homes on wheels. I often think how great it would be to sell everything and take off especially now that we have the motor home. It won't happen in the foreseeable future as we're current on the mortgage and have Dad to consider but I still dream of it. My other wish is that we were 10-15 years younger 'cause growing old sucks when your health deteriorates.

Like now. With two steps outside the motor home and one step inside it feels like I'm climbing Mt. Everest. With MS it's going UP stairs that's the problem, not downstairs. I've heard this complaint from fellow MSers but don't claim it's a universal symptom.

As I clean and stock the rig a conveyor belt from the house to the motor home door would sure be nice! By tomorrow I should have everything in its place and I'll await Sweetie's confirmation that we're ready to roll.

His sleep patterns have been irratic lately so he's outside at night tinkering beneath the stars and the pole barn lights. Despite the weather forecast, it's been warmer at night and cooler during the day. Today the winds have picked up and it feels like 40 though the thermometer says 52.

But back to stocking the motor home! Redundancies have come in handy! With duplicates, triplicates and more of most items, I don't concern myself with needing something and realizing it's in the motor home or visa versa. Having another "home" equipped with food, toiletries, medical supplies, tools, clothing, etc. gives us more room in our main home. In an emergency we'd grab the dog and cats, important papers and be gone. And now I see the floor in our bedroom closet which means I have another spot to stack canned goods!

Another plus of our new adventure is sorting through ALL our preps. It familiarizes us with all the stuff we haven't seen in awhile. Even though I have a list of what we own, it was out of date. Sometimes we'll look at something and realize we could use it for a different purpose. And twice we've discovered something damaged because someone stacked something on top of a box that someone else had not labelled clearly. Hmmmm...who do you suppose was the first "someone" and the second "someone?"

Well, Dad's venturing out for a walk and I think I'll tag along. Treesong