Houston, we’re wired

[mmegaera]

Finally, I have the Internet and cable in my new place.  Hallelujah!  Oh, and thank goodness for the teenage sons of best friends 🙂

Mirrored from M.M. Justus -- adventures in the supernatural Old West.

Comments

[annathepiper]

Hurray!

[archangelbeth]

Just in time for all the stress... >_>

Hope the new place is treating you well. O:>

[mmegaera]

Nah. I don't do a lot for the holidays (I always take pie to my friend Loralee's house for Thanksgiving, and decorate a bit for Christmas (and usually drive over to the coast on Christmas Day)), but that's about it.

I don't think I'm going to be in this place any longer than it takes to get through the year lease, for a lot of reasons, and I'm thinking about downsizing way down and traveling full time for a few years. We'll see.

[archangelbeth]

Well, I meant social media stress, more than holidays... >_>

Full-time travel, eeeeek! *puts down her roots and clings*

[mmegaera]

Hey, I had that all along.

But yeah. I *really* didn't want to come home, and I'm beginning to think it was a mistake. So we'll see what happens over the course of the year, and how I feel about it by then.

[archangelbeth]

Need to get yourself one of those camper-truck things next! The kind that's only a little bigger than Merlin...

[mmegaera]

It would be nice to have something with a stove and a fridge [g].

[archangelbeth]

Microwave and college fridge, at least? I dunno how big you have to go to get a stove. *ponder*

[mmegaera]

Microwave only works with hookups, so at least one or two burners would be useful. Which would mean propane (as would the fridge). We'll see.

[archangelbeth]

I know my mom's parents traveled all around, pulling a big ol' camper with their truck... It had a wee stove, a wee bathroom (with wee shower), a teeny table, and a couple beds in the back. I imagine it was a PITA to drive 'round and find spots for, though.

[mmegaera]

Yeah, I don't want anything big, because I've hauled trailers before and it's not fun. There's got to be a compromise in there somewhere, though!

[archangelbeth]

Fingers crossed! Shopping around for such things might be fun... Kinda... In a weird way...

OMG, http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/best-small-rv -- scroll down a bit. Looks like a van, has a stove?!

[mmegaera]

Thank you for the link! And yeah, it's gonna be weird fun [g].

[archangelbeth]

Just so long as you have a place to get your mail...

[mmegaera]

There are ways around that, too. There's a company called Escapees that will act as a mail drop, and scan mail and email it to you, among a lot of other services. Apparently that's what most full time RVers do. Also, residency is an issue, but apparently Washington is one of a few states that don't give you guff so long as you come back for a short period of time every year.

[archangelbeth]

Uuuuuuseful!

[mmegaera]

Yup. My friend Loralee acted as my mail drop while I was gone this summer, but I don't want to do that to her permanently [wry g].

[archangelbeth]

Understandable, that. So you would be voting in Washington, and/or swinging back 'round to pick up your mail every few months?

[mmegaera]

Something like that. People do it, so I know it works...

[archangelbeth]

Fingers crossed!

[mmegaera]

Thanks! I'm supposed to be meeting a friend (actually, a local Bujold listee) today who lives in her RV, and I'm going to see what she's got and how she does it.

[archangelbeth]

Oh, COOL!!!

[mmegaera]

It was interesting. Her vehicle is a 20-year-old van conversion that's maybe twice the size of Merlin, with a tiny kitchen (propane/electric fridge, propane stove, electric microwave, postage-stamp-sized sink), a full-sized bed, and a Really Weird Bath setup [tm]. The toilet is fine. The shower arrangements are seriously iffy (she says she rarely uses the shower because of that -- she either stays in campgrounds with showers, or sponge baths, both of which I was trying to get away from). It's got *way* more storage than I was expecting, too, including a pull-out set of pantry shelves and a good-sized closet.

She showed me how to connect and disconnect the hookups, which was easier than I thought it would be. Also, we went to fill her propane tank, and it turns out that's about as complicated as filling the gas tank. But wow, it gets lousy gas mileage (Merlin gets 28 mpg on the highway, her rig gets about 13). Then again, it *is* 20 years old. I suspect the newer ones probably do better on that score.

Now I want to go to an RV show and look around. There's one in Seattle in February...

[archangelbeth]

Oooo, go to the RV show and look around!

(Let me guess -- the shower is basically, you close off the toilet paper and anything else you don't want getting wet, and shower right there standing over the toilet?)

[mmegaera]

Oh, I intend to.

And no, the shower was basically a drain pan in the middle of the van in front of the the toilet, with a handheld shower head and a shower curtain hanging from a rail attached to the ceiling. So there you are, dripping wet, with a dripping wet shower curtain in the middle of your van. No, thank you.

I actually wouldn't mind what's called a "wet bathroom" where it's basically a shower stall with a toilet in it, because at least it's closed off.

[archangelbeth]

Yeah, turning your whole middle-of-"living"-space into a shower seems... um... No. Like, maybe in emergencies, but I'm with you -- "wet bathroom" shower is better than Wet Van shower!

Have fun when you go to the RV show, if I forget to wish you good funs closer to the actual time! ^_^

[mmegaera]

ROFL Yes. It also had a hand-held shower accessible from outside the van, though, which Judy said she used mainly for washing her dog [g]. It would also be good for after a day at the beach, though.

And thanks! I wish the RV show was sooner, but the first one I know about is in February.

[archangelbeth]

Get the sand off before going in, yeah! ...washing a dog outside the van sounds like a GOOD idea, all things considered...

Brrr, Feb.