Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive - Elbert Hubbard I remember my pre-RV days well. Wake up late, misplace everything, trip over everything else on your way to the car, spill your coffee in the car or drive off with it on the roof, hit stop and go traffic when you’re running late for work, on and on. It happened all the time. We chalk up those days in normal, non-RV life (NRV) as a Monday or just one of those days. Those same things that happen in RV life may have a slightly different outcome.
This morning started out as one of those days. You know the ones…when your coffee needs coffee? To start it off with a bang, I used body wash on my hair instead of shampoo. Those of you with curly hair know what happens here. Just to make sure this bad beginning wasn’t a fluke, I ran out of hot water trying to fix it. Soap + non conditioner equals me ending up looking like Phil Spector on trial. Time for an unintentional messy ponytail and a hat. On the way out of the bathroom, I tried to knock myself out on our too-large-for-the-wall-space tv. Strike two.
Being a glutton for punishment and an eternal optimist, I decided to move on with my day rather than giving up and hiding under the covers until the next sunrise. Avoidance is a highly underestimated survival technique. Alas, I decided to move forward.
I bumped my knee hopping into the truck. I didn’t bump it lightly, I bumped it complete with colorful language, flailing, and crying. That took several minutes to get over. Then I dumped (not spilled) my water and it soaked the screen area and entire console. Somehow I threw it like I was pitching major league. In NRV life, that would be irritating but no big deal. Mop it up with some leftover napkins from Whataburger that I keep in the arm rest and move on. In RV life, it shorted out the USB port that connects our GPS and maps from my phone to the truck. Now we're driving blind with me giving the turn by turn blows on my cell to my aggravated husband complete with multiple versions of "are you sure" and "let me see". My husband usually shakes his head and inevitably says, “you woke up with the dumb”. Some days need to come with a warning label…maybe I should as well. So I’m going to put an “out of order” sticker on my forehead and move on to tomorrow.
Except I didn’t do that. I tried to convince myself that this day was infinitely better than the day the battery died. We were camping in no man’s land. Literally, no men (or women or children around). No helpful neighbors with a car to connect to the other end of the jumper cables. So far out of the way that Good Sam Roadside Assistance was unable to find a tow company willing to come that far on a
Sunday. The end result was the cancellation of laundry day and having to wear Christmas pajamas around the campground until the owners showed up and gave us a jump. I had no words to describe this day, however I came up with a few creative gestures that did the trick. Today could not be that bad, could it? Longer story short, I made it through the rest of my day without any further injury or mishap. I also went to bed before 7 and insured that nothing else could happen with a Benedryl.
Life is nothing if not surprising. The very next day, the hot water gods blessed me with enough water to fix the poodle on my head. So instead of taking the win and treading lightly, we decided to tempt fate and switch out our winter clothes for summer. With our makeshift closet that used to be bunk beds, this could have gone very badly space-wise. Instead everything fit perfectly in its place (after
putting several items that were supposed to fit after that last 5 pounds in a bag for Goodwill). If you’re an RVer with limited storage, you know how rare and awesome this is. High on those mini victories, we ventured out to find a restaurant that our camp neighbor recommended. As I wasn’t born with a sense of direction, I took a wrong turn. We dead ended at a casino with a fabulous buffet, won $1200 and stumbled on to a Goodwill donation dumpster on our way back to drop off our oldies but goodies. That alone would have made this one of the best camping days ever, but we got a bonus. Our wifi signal was strong enough for us to catch up on some shows and emails.
There's a saying on the Gulf Coast that if you don't like the weather wait 15 min. Guess that works with luck too. There will be those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days where you short out your truck and your husband’s patience. Just wait 15 minutes. Like the saying goes, a bad day camping is better than a good day at work. Even with bride of Frankenstein hair.
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