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Travelogue
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03/07/04
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Walkabout
I've been preoccupied with cashing in,
selling out, packing up and shoving off and haven't had much
time for writing until now. Here's a quick catch-up::
I bought an RV, a 24' Tioga
"Walkabout" Class-C motor home, from a rental place in Peekskill, New
York. It's built on a 1995 Ford 350 truck chassis with a powerful, 460 HP
engine and boasts all the modern conveniences - generator, refrigerator/freezer,
3-burner propane stove & oven, hot running water, bathroom with separate shower stall,
comfortable double bed, convertible dinette, lounge chair, and good lighting
throughout.
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I searched long
& hard from New York to New Hampshire to
figure out and
then find the right RV, the
best combination of size, layout,
price and availability. I started out thinking I'd get a bigger rig, 30' or more, but soon realized that would make it harder to
maneuver into the off-road places I most like to visit with a
camper. (My golden rule is never to stay in RV parks.)
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Besides, I don't really need big accommodations. Having
spent so much of my life living aboard boats, I'm comfortable in
relatively small living spaces - as long as they're mobile. Hell, I once lived aboard a 14' motorboat
in the Virgin Islands for a couple of months, with a girl friend! So even a modest size RV can easily be made to feel like home.
I finally found what I
wanted, but it needed (and still needs) some alterations to suit me. The seller had a big repair shop on premises, so I had them
make some of the improvements to the Walkabout before I picked it up. This
included a complete tune-up, new tires, batteries, belts & hoses, and a
dozen small repairs &
upgrades. I also had them rip out the
old carpet and lay down a new tile floor, the first step in converting the original,
tacky blue-green interior color scheme to something I can live with. I
expect you'll
be seeing further improvements in updates to this travelogue. Here is what I started with:
click to enlarge |
click to enlarge |
Moving Out, Moving In
Moving out of the house I have occupied for the past 5
years proved to be a bigger task than I had anticipated. It took a couple of weeks of
very physical effort. At the same time I was juggling multiple business
and personal chores, all geared towards getting me out of here on
schedule. Finally, I signed over ownership of Anchor Yacht & Ship
Sales to my successor and joined the ranks of
the blissfully unemployed.
Now, dealing with possessions can be onerous in general,
but rarely more so than when
moving. Because I'm drawn to a nomadic lifestyle, I
have packed up and moved more than most people. As a result I've
accumulated fewer "things" than most of my peers. After all, in my adult life
I've never lived in one location for more than 5 years and usually spend
much less time than that before uprooting and heading off to new places.
In addition, my preferred abode is a mobile one, camper or boat, neither
of which allow me to accumulate lots of "stuff."
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Still, like most people I tend to fill up the
space I have and when I live
in a house for a while things seem to pile up. During this record-setting
5-year stay in
Barrington, Rhode Island I've enjoyed the luxury of a 3 or 4
(depending how you count) bedroom home all
to myself, so you can
imagine how much stuff confronted me when it came time to move into a 24'
camper van. I didn't realize just how much until I started packing and moving it.
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click to
enlarge
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Actually, this weeding out and whittling down of
possessions is an exercise I cherish. I've been looking forward to and even
fantasizing about this round pretty much since I moved into the Barrington
house on
New Year's Day, 1999. Getting rid of stuff is a discipline that tests and hones my ability to
unattach myself from material possessions, which I find tend to bog us
down and possess us
at least as
much as we posses them. So, even though it was a considerable amount of
physical and mental labor to sort, discard, pack & move this
houseful, it was also fun and uplifting, and for me a special part of
breaking free.
I boxed and stored what I wanted to save, sold several old cameras on eBay, had a
weekend-long tag sale at which I made about $500 selling junk I didn't want
anyway, put the best of what remained in a couple of consignment shops,
and had the Salvation Army come and cart away everything else. Free at
last!
Next Entry: 03/14/04
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