In Which We Must Learn the Hard Way

We bought a camper. And we didn't know anything about camping or campers, save what I remembered from being a Girl Scout in the 70's, what Tim picked up on what I gather were somewhat painful camping trips with his ex-wife and her family, and what I learned from Pinterest. God love Pinterest.

So because I suffer from FOBO (Fear Of Better Options) to a pathological degree, we (I, nearly obsessively) spent 3 years researching what we could pull with my Mercedes SUV (named Fiona), what would best fit our family (which could be as little as me and Tim, or as much as me and Tim, 4 adult kids (one with non-verbal Autism), 3 grandkids, 1 dog, 2 cats, and a partridge in a pear tree), and what manufacturers had a reputation for good quality. What I didn't do was research WHERE to buy it or WHO would do the necessary modifications to the Mercedes, and we prefer to learn the hard way.  Camping World has a terrible reputation for service, and from what we've seen, the company appears to be run by orangutans (no offense to the primate world) and no one (not even the Mercedes dealership) would tap into the electrical system on Fiona to complete the modifications necessary to tow a camper.

Long story short: we will never buy from Camping World in Greenwood, Indiana again, and I've traded my beautiful, white Mercedes ML350 in for a sparkly red, gigantic Ford Expedition.

So there you have it. Meet Ramona.

Seeking Simplicity

In our Real Lives, from 8:00 on Monday morning to 4:30 on Friday afternoon (and any other time he has a fire or I'm on call), we are harried and stressed public servants.  Him a fire chief, me a supervisor in child protective services. We spend the week meeting every one else's needs and on Friday rush home to relish in the 64 hours we have to recover from the previous week and prepare for the next...all while cleaning 4 bathrooms, raking leaves, vacuuming, mowing, and everything else it takes to care for a too-big, three-level home.

Then about 3 years ago it slowly began to dawn on me that we were going to need more.  Or, actually, less. I realized that we were spending the entirety of the week waiting for Friday and then on Friday, began to dread Monday.  It occured to me that it was time to downsize and simplify. It didn't occur to me that we should sell our house and move.  We began to take more vacations - Texas, Florida, Colorado, California - unfortunately, with an Autistic child, two dogs, two, cats, fish, and a hot tub that all needed caring for, preparing for a trip was nearly as stressful as just staying home and doing the week's laundry. And then Ginger, our orange Doodle, passed away and that's when it hit me.  If we could take the dog with us, vacationing would be that much less stressful.

I decided camping was the answer.  Camping forces a simpler way of life on you. Simpler food, simpler activities, a simpler way to spend our precious 64 hours.

So last month, we bought a camper.