Just my take, but I didn’t feel like it was a contradiction at all.
The 1st paragraph you quoted: at that point in the story it was a new experience going poorly. Everything seemed to be set against them. It was rough.
The 2nd paragraph you quoted: they have the upgraded rig, more room to live, more stable employment options, a better handle on what’s needed, and they are loving it.
It was a good progression and shows that with perseverance your attitude can change.
This is what I’m talking about @SeamusBellamy! I’d read a 300 page book about your experiences on the road.
Out of curiosity, how much do you spend on fuel per month?
Oh, the tonal shift is fine; I was thinking of a contradiction in the sense of “able to move anywhere, at any time, except for all those places where nobody wants you and your continued presence will be discouraged”. But of course I am being too picky.
Had to get our RV repaired in Orange County and spent 2 weeks in a Motel 6 with a dog and a cat.
Ahhh. Gotcha.
He’s also staying in different parts of Canada than he was, and has more options with his onboard generator and huge water tanks, so that may have helped improve the experience and the freedom.
I’m in Vancouver. The park across the street from us is fairly quiet and has porta-potties. There are at least two different couples living in vans parked on the street. (I walk my dogs early in the morning and often see people rolling out of those vans with that sleepy just-out-of-bed look on their face, headed to the porta-potties).
Vancouver home-owners are frankly just going to have to get used to this. This is what happens when the city becomes massively unaffordable. It may seem great that the value of your house has doubled in a decade, but when an entire generation is priced out of the housing market, people are going to do what they have to do.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always imagined a portable life since reading Travels With Charley.
If you ever make a stop in Lubbock, TX, look me up and I’ll show you around.
Interesting read! I live about 10 minutes North from Nuevo Progreso (Las Flores), directly South of the border (tip) of South Texas. The pharmacy/bar in the photo, New Orleans, is a great place to buy US grade medicine at 90% off US prices. You can also buy handmade boots there at excellent prices. Home made corn tortillas, fresh cream cheese and (cheap) cold beer with a tequila chaser can be found a few feet down the sidewalk. Viva Mexico!
I never lived in an RV, but fresh out of college I got a woefully inadequately paying job and I got married – we lived on the bleeding financial edge – pay the rent or buy food was a common refrain. We always paid the rent and somehow could cobble together a meal with odds and ends. I remember one time actually walking 9 miles round trip and back again to a supermarket to spend our last $5 on pasta and sauce and some kind of vegetable thing (dinner!).
The key, as you’ve probably found out is that when you’re living with an intimate partner in such close proximity and under such circumstances, is you can’t lose your cool, or at least when you do lose it that you don’t fight bitterly about it.
Many happy journeys!
@SeamusBellamy, I did Seminary from 2012 to 2015 at Starr King School for the Ministry - part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA - while living in a 1989 26’ Jayco. I lived in an RV park in El Cerrito for $695/mo. My neighbors were mostly retirees and employees at Golden Gate Park, and we were pretty close knit.
The park is, unfortunately, gone. It was sold for development just before I graduated. Everyone had to scramble to find something. I’m sure that park was the most affordable place in the Bay Area and I am so sad it’s gone.
I’m surprised you could find anywhere to stay for a while in an RV older than 10 - I had trouble in CA finding places that would let me stay for more than a few nights! I’m not sure what was up with that…
I loved my time on the road from Virginia to California and back again. I am also glad to be back in little townhouse - not tiny! My cats have more room to zoom around, and I have more room to klutz around!
Happy Motoring!
Ah, that’s your avatar!
When I’m God-King of Earth I’m going to take a sledgehammer to that damned statue of Reagan and put Starr King back in his place.
Many RV parks have rules about allowing RVs more than a decade old into them, as part of ‘keeping up appearances.’ It’s gated community-level BS. In my experience California and Nevada are the worst for this sort of thing. There’s whole parks full of million dollar rigs. Old first RV’s body style and design stuck out like a sore thumb. Class A motorhomes had only been around for perhaps a decade when it was made. Current RVs look very much like our 2004 Dutch Star. We do most of our own maintenance, and stay on top of keeping it waxed and in good shape. So far, we’ve never been given a sideways glance with it.
That said, we tend to prefer liv by off the grid or in middle of the road RV parks where most anything’s ok so long as you’re quiet and polite. There’s a lot of those in south Texas and Arizona.
We move the rig tactically for example, we’ll pick where we’re going for the season and plot our course, A to B, with a few stops in between. Once we’re there, there RV stays put. We’ll also move it if we need to be somewhere that would require us staying in a hotel for more than a few nights where the cost of gas is less than the cost of a hotel room. For example, I’ll be flying out of Calgary on assignment this week. Calgary’s three hours south of where we camp. When I come back, it’ll be in the evening and I have a surgery in the morning. It cost use 100 bucks to get down here. Same price headed north. While I’m gone, my wife’s stay in the city, visiting family and sleeping in the rig. Cheaper than a hotel room and more comfortable.
When driving, generally, it costs us $30 per hour at highway speeds, pulling our Jeep in tow. To fill our tank after a full day’s worth of travel like that costs us $300.
Thanks for the kind words. With the response I’m seeing here, I’ll likely write more on the topic.
Me, too! Starr did a lot of good; Ronnie did a lot of harm.
Thanks for the info!
You’ve got a great direct writing style that sticks out; I’ll get a few sentences into an article, laugh, and scroll back to the top to check, yep; that’s your byline! Digging your music picks as well.
I’d love to hear more about your wife’s dive experiences; I’m (slowly) working toward cave certification when I can get down to cave country.
Stick a pin in Tybee Island as an en route squat, our house has a quasi-level patch of ground, power, cool neighbors, and no fucking HOA. 
My references include several Arsmeets over the years.
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