We just escaped buying a travel trailer. It only took a 350 mile drive, and an 8 hour investment of time to finally clarify our collective mind. For those of you out of the 'loop', I came up with this dream scheme to buy a travel trailer, pull it up to Connecticut, watch Sarah graduate from Yale (Yea, Sarah!), then pull it all the way across Canada, east to west, and sell the travel trailer in the northwestern United States whenever we finished the trip. Then, we would return to Arizona with wonderful stories to tell about our RV'ing experience. Sounds great, doesn't it...on paper.
Since I came up with this idea, Drake has been subconsciously dragging his feet while his mouth has been mostly agreeing with the dream scheme. For several months, there were legitimate things we had to do before we could get serious about buying a trailer. Drake claims he can only manage to do one major thing at a time in his straightforward, project management style. This approach to issues leaves no time or energy to invest in multiple projects simultaneously. Nevertheless, I checked out some library books, began monitoring RV/Campers For Sale in Craigslist, surfed the internet, and began to try and educate myself about trailer life.
January was the date picked to start serious TRAILER SHOPPING. There was still a lot of feet dragging on Drake's part. I should have clued in there was a problem with the dream scheme since Drake and I were almost constantly arguing or agitating about buying a trailer. Normally, we do not have arguments which last for days. We did instantly agree we were not buying 'new'. Talk about depreciation! Trailers lose about two thirds of their value within five years. Weight was a big issue. How much could the Aviator really pull? Would we have to trade it for Navigator, a car which will not fit into our Arizona one car garage. Lack of practical knowledge about trailering was making Drake very uneasy. I was having trouble visualizing what we were actually looking for. This went on, and on, and on as we tried to get up to speed in learning the minimum we absolutely had to know to be able to buy something intelligently.
Finally, by driving all the way to Kingman, Arizona to see a potential purchase, we were able to really understand what the RV life is really about. We got to thoroughly look at and actually get a tutorial in setting up, breaking down, and hauling a travel trailer around. As we sat in the 27' long trailer, for half an hour after having been given an hour's lesson in how many gizmos, gadgets, switches, toggles, levers, and hoses there are on trailers and what you have to do with them, we both realized how very uncomfortable spending any significant amount of time in a trailer actually is.
We are no strangers to living in small spaces. The first eight months of our relationship we lived in a dormitory room. At age 19 never even noticed how small that was. The next year we lived together in one-half of a garage - not a garage apartment - a garage. Mostly, we still only noticed one another and the freezing wind that billowed the curtains even with the windows shut in the winter. It's a wonder we didn't die of carbon monoxide poisoning at Crazy Betty's (my name for our digs) since the garage was heated with a space heater. Our first accommodation after we married was eight feet wide by twenty-four feet long, and after one-half of a garage, this seemed like a palace. In that place, there was actually a COUCH. More recently, we spent the summer in Connecticut sub-leasing Sarah and Jay's Yale apartment which is only 545 square feet, and while small, had a great bed and two recliners.
As we sat in the potential trailer purchase, it came as a revelation there was no comfortable place to sit. I realized the counter tops in the kitchen area were six inches lower than the standard counter top height and a prescription for backache. There were darn few drawers and cabinets to store utensils much less food. The only clothes closet was 18" wide. There were no end tables or lamps. The bathroom was a joke which would become more and more unfunny with use. After a half an hour, it dawned on us we did not want to join the RVing life even for a few months.
So, the revised travel plan for 2015 is to go to Connecticut to see Sarah graduate, spend two months in Maine, and drive across Canada for about a month, then spend the rest of our time away from Arizona in Portland, Oregon drinking wine. Since we settled on this plan, all our arguments have simply vanished confirming we do not wish to become trailer trash. The RV life is one we will not be indulging in. What a narrow escape!
