Anyone who has been living an RV lifestyle has had moments where either laughter or gripping to any little bit of sanity left were absolutely necessary. Below, I have shared with you our top 10 moments from this year.
#10: Covid-19
We were both working steady jobs when Covid-19 was announced on the news. I thought "this will blow over" then I got laid off and our home business closed.
There was only 1 case where we were, so we set a date to begin our rv life and we left. As we progressed to the west coast, cases were very few. Every time we left somewhere, Covid-19 seemed to be right behind us.
We watched as numbers got higher and higher, reaching extremely high numbers in the town we started out in and wondered every day if it would "catch up to us".
It still hasn't. We are in a town where cases are slim to non-existent and things are still all open thus far.
#9: Grizzly Attack
While staying just outside of Nelson, BC, we went for a very long walk down the logging road we were parked on almost every day.
One day, after having been there for a while, a couple came to our door and told us that a grizzly bear attacked their dog 3 meters from our rig!
I watched my kids like a hawk after that and we didn't go walking anymore.
#8: Cab Conundrum
We decided to take a trip into the nearest large town to celebrate finding a place to stay for winter.
We knew our oldest gets car sick so I brought a bucket and change of clothing for him.
We barded the bus, went shopping and went for dinner--everything was going good. We called a cab to bring us home.
The driver was going really fast around curves and corners and I wasn't feeling so well. I mentioned it a couple times, but he didn't slow down at all.
Finally, my oldest son started looking white so I grabbed the bucket. He threw up and I asked the driver to pull over. By the time he sped into the parking lot and stomped on the brakes, my youngest, who has thrown up only twice in his 4 years, threw up ALL OVER the back of the cab.
The driver got out and was barfing as I got the kids out, cleaned them up, and then cleaned the back of the car 5 times to make sure the smell was gone.
We were only a third of the way home, but waited for a bus, bucket in hand for the next round from my oldest on the bus.
#7: Bylaw
On an app we use when travelling, we found a wal-mart we could overnight at...turned out, we weren't allowed to overnight there, so we looked at the app and spoke to the security guard, who told us where we could go.
We parked there, only to hear knocking on our door the next morning. We weren't kicked out, just warned that if there was a complaint, we may have to move. This happened every morning for 5 days, so we moved.
The second time, we found a spot to park and pay rent. Bylaw came by a few weeks in and told us we had to leave, but that we had time.
We got very lucky when the property owners went to bat for us, attending a court hearing so we could stay where we were.
#6: Why Is The Floor Banging?
We managed to limp our way with no power steering, minimal brakes, and our previously "repaired" hydro boost and hoses exploding fluid seconds after we poured it in, to a nearby town.
To get there, we had to summit mountains, but made it and were excited to be near a mechanic who would work on an older rig.
We just drove down a mountain and into the town when the floor started banging really loud. I heard my husband saying, "oh no...oh no" and looked up from the back where I was sitting with the kids to see him white knuckled, trying to stop and turn as we were coming down a hill.
He got stopped and I went outside to see what the sound was, only to find our drive shaft laying in 2 pieces on the ground beneath our rig.
A tow truck came and pulled us to the side, where we stayed for almost a week, and the mechanic said if we were still in the mountains, we could have died.
#5:Tsunami Anyone?
In Port Renfrew, BC, we found a beautiful place to park. There were signs saying the road flooded, but the water was low when we got there, so we just kept an eye on it.
A few days in, we went for a walk to pick blackberries and saw a mother bear with her 2 cubs. It was lovely. Near the end of the road, there was a house with previous water levels marked on a pole by the driveway.
We saw that one year the water had risen over 11 feet! We were glad it was low when we were there.
One afternoon, we were outside and heard a loud siren, but thought nothing of it. We left a couple days later only to find out it had been a tsunami drill.
#4: Big Mountains, No Brakes, No Problem
Many times throughout our travels, we needed work done on our old rig, only to find VERY few mechanics would ever touch a 1988. Because of this, we often had to drive on until we found one.
What we didn't know was that we were about to summit the highest two mountains on our whole journey with no power steering and minimal brakes.
We made it safely, but those runaway ramps were dually noted on every hill!
#3: Scurrying Scamps
Anyone who has a rig of any kind can probably tell you at least 1 story about having to catch a mouse. Well, we have 7 stories.
The first time we found a furry friend was a few months after we first got our rig...and we were freaked right out. I didn't sleep for days until I lured it into a jar with peanut butter and took it on a journey far away to let it go.
We named him Monty.
Once we had been on the road for a bit, we were all good, until we came to a town that had a mouse infestation we didn't know about.
I got tired of luring them into a glass jar and closing the lid to catch them, so we went out and bought humane traps.
Mildred, Max, Matilda, Mabel and Morty kept us busy for those 2 weeks. One was an acrobat, running up and down the inside of the curtains, one liked to watch TV with us, one kept eating our pepper, one went to visit my boys one evening while they slept, and the last was like the flash--it was crazy fast!
We began not to mind them and all thought they were cute. Each was released humanly into a new home.
#2: I Smell Rotten Eggs
While staying at a campground in Saskatchewan to get our laundry done, we felt so pampered after living off grid. So much so that we took it for granted and stopped watching our water consumption so closely.
We came into our rig to the smell of rotten eggs. I checked everywhere--under the beds, in the fridge, the toilet--and realized it was coming from the shower.
I took everything out if the bottom (fans, a bin of toys, a pail etc.) and realized the gray water tank overflowed. While grateful it was into the tub and not elsewhere, we threw some things in a dumpster after calling the camp host to come pump us out.
Lesson learned.
#1: I Can Fly
It was a calm, beautiful, sunny day at Horseshoe Lake, BC. My husband was relaxing outside in the sun. My boys were running around playing, and I decided to take a cold shower inside instead of using our solar shower outside.
I just stepped out of the shower, when I heard, "Oh s***!" Looking out the window, I saw our awning lift up over our rig. In seconds, still buck naked, I flattened myself onto the floor. I was NOT getting impaled today!
A gust of wind had kicked up unexpectedly while I was inside. I dressed at the speed of light and went outside to see my 6'7" tall husband, arms in the air, hanging onto the awning for dear life, getting lifted out of his seat.
I grabbed a knife, climbed onto the roof, and cut it down. We had to feed it in through a window to pack it out to the dump. The woman there was very kind and didn't charge us.
Let us know about moments you've experienced! We'd love to hear them!
To support us on our mission to purchase a new home for our family, PLEASE check out the links below (I STILL cannot stop thinking about our upcoming deadline and how much we still need to make!). We offer quite a few books and courses to help us earn money to achieve this necessary goal.
The PYHOOYA Challenge (90 day challenge to change your life)
Whole Food, Plant-Based, Here's the Truth in Your Face, We're a Brainwashed Human Race, Guide to Complete Health (paperback or ebook)
The Road to PYHOOYA (life changing paperback)
The Road to PYHOOYA (life changing ebook)
Operation PYHOOYA 365: Life By Design (rewrite your life paperback)
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The Magic Pill (formula for a better life ebook)
PYHOOYA to Wellness (health guide ebook)
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