We complicated our simple lives last winter after ten years of having everything we needed in one small space (our Fifth-Wheel trailer). We accomplished that by falling in love with Upriver RV Resort in Ft. Myers Florida and buying a park model there. Click on the blue to see the post about our park model "canal cottage."
We decided to leave the 5th-wheel in Oregon; it will be our West Coast home. So then we had to think about how to get from Oregon to Florida and back again next time — and how to do some traveling and exploring in between the two. (We aren't ready to quit RV traveling yet.)
It doesn't make sense to drive the Freightliner when we're not pulling a trailer — and the small car we've kept in Oregon (for me to drive when we're here) would force us to stay in motels all the time we traveled. Don't want to do that. So we bought this. It's called a Class B Camper.
We will travel and camp in this van, but it will also be our daily driving vehicle. The plusses include: good gas mileage, not having to worry about whether we will be able to find a long-enough site, and (BEST OF ALL): I can drive this baby! It's not much bigger than the van I learned to drive in. (I've never even wanted to learn to drive the big white truck, so most of the time that we've traveled I haven't driven at all.)
The negatives (you may be ahead of me on this one): It is very small. I've joked about how we have no choice but to get along with each other in the small space we've lived in for the last ten years. But compared to this van, our fifth-wheel condo-on-wheels is a mansion. We really won't have a choice but to put up with each other now! We stayed in the Van on our trip to the Oregon coast last month. We still liked each other after three days. Next, we'll try three weeks!
So we're getting ready for our Fall roadtrip in a much smaller space. We have to decide what to leave, what to take, what to ship to Florida, what to give to Goodwill. We have collected way too much stuff. How does that happen?
And, related to the previous post about home remodeling, Bill has already done some upgrading on the brand-new Van. I'm not complaining though, because what he's doing is adding a space for our laptop and peripherals. First things first. We can't live without our Internet, no matter how small our traveling home.
Below are a few more thumbnails of the interior. The rear bed makes up into a seating area, but since we won't have extra people with us while we travel, we'll probably just leave it as a bed until we get to Florida.
(Click any picture to enlarge.)
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