I have mentioned that we have a very small RV. We had planned to go away last week from Tuesday through Friday for Memorial Day. Hotels are had enough to get a holiday reservation; RV parks basically one has to book a year in advance - some more than that. Since people tend to return to the same parks year to year, one has to find a space that the people who have been going there no longer want. So going away Memorial Day weekend is next to impossible with the RV. But if one goes during the week before or after and is not there over the weekend, it is much easier. There is also the problem that unlike many hotel reservations which may be canceled until the last minute - or almost the last minute - and one gets a refund, RV parks have much stricter cancellation rules. We try not to make reservations until we know we are going.
Last week we went from day to day planning to go - but it was always going to rain while we planned to be away. Understand, we are not “made of sugar”, we do not melt in rain, but when is paying for a trip and the events which one is planning to go to are all outside - such as farmer’s markets, where large numbers of the outside vendors don’t come if it rains or leave very early - it is a waste of money to go. (This is the same problem we had earlier in the year when trying to drive down to Pennsylvania for a day and the same farmer’s markets.)
So we did not go. We figured we go this week. But again, rain, rain, rain. We finally pushed it back to going away tomorrow and coming back Friday (the next day). Now it is to rain on, yes, Friday. The market will be light on vendors.
In addition to husband wanting to go away and the fact that we are paying a large loan monthly on this RV which we are having a problem using, the darn thing has barely been driven since last October. Oh sure, it has gone up the block to the service station and once for gas, but mostly it has sat on its wheels with its car battery not getting charged - RV batteries are plugged in twice monthly to keep them charged - not a good thing for an engine. So it really needs a trip also.
So, we decided to drive it up to Connecticut for a day - go to a large store there we like to stop at and then on to a casino for dinner (no really, we go, we eat dinner, walk around and come home - no gambling). We know that the store and the casino have parking for the RV - we have picked this casino over another as the other has the RV parking far away and we would need to depend on a shuttle back and forth.
We then had to find a routing to the store. It is apparently too new, despite being over 5 years old, for many GPS programs. We found this out on our last trip when the GPS we used got us lost in a less than desirable looking area as it did not know where the store is. In addition in Connecticut, as in New York, it can not go on “parkways” and the GPS devices route using a parkway there. We finally got the routing straightened out. Yippee!
Immediately after getting the routing straightened out, the weather comes on during the news - not only will it rain there, but there will tornadoes. Tornadoes? This is not a tornado area! So we still do not know if we are going or not - tomorrow.
Now, how does this relate to organizing? Ever try to organize to go on a trip? Not so easy, huh? Now imagine if the trip was on - off - on - off - date changed - off - on - off - date changed again - location changed...
I did the clothing laundry yesterday so we could pack today. Well, at least it is done. We will throw a change of clothes in the RV just in case.
Today I went out and finally did some prep work on the RV. I cleaned the toilet - when we dewinterized it, the toilet was full of mold - and we cannot use any normal cleaner in it as it cannot have bleach or Lysol used on it. I had to use vinegar to sanitize it and dish soap to clean it.
I also brought out a bag of assorted items to be returned to the RV - small items. Also the bedding and towels - we brought them in when it went for the state inspection. I took inventory of supplies - plenty of toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues. Also hand soap, dish soap, and mouthwash. I added a small spray bottle o vinegar in case we have a mold problem again. I noted what we need to replace - at this point if we go we will have to bring items we are using at home - like toothpaste - until we buy replacements for what we took out last fall.
Normally I would make up the bed before a trip. I was going to even though we don’t plan on sleeping, but I had other things to do and the bed is too time consuming to deal with. Everything is there if I need to make it up. http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2016/06/making-up-bed-in-very-small-space-our-rv.html
I just packed some snacks - much less than usual - crackers for the front of the car in case either or both of us has low blood glucose. A small plastic box with 2 packages of cereal and some diet brownies. I also pulled out our Saturday pills and put them into a small travel box. Why Saturday? If we come home as we plan to, we want our Friday pills in their proper places and would have a day to put back Saturday whether we stay away an extra day or come home.
It is not at all easy to stay organized when one is not sure if one will be going away or for how long, especially when one has to deal with home - the house one lives in - and travel home - the RV one will be traveling in. Plus I had to get out the monthly newsletter for my embroidery chapter - I had planned to bring the info if we were away this week and send it out from wherever we were. It did go out on time.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - Don’t over think things. (We do.) Things will always go wrong. Sometimes one can plan and plan to no avail.
Sometimes one even has to stay with the broken cell phone that doesn’t get Internet on the cell service as all of the Androids are physically too big for my pockets and my hands.
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