The view from one section of Henly RV Park

As per usual, Sandy took both Mikey and I for our morning walk around the park. I suppose we could both just flat out refuse to go but as we all, especially me, need the exercise, we willingly go along with her. Maybe Mikey is not so willing but he doesn’t want to be left behind and he needs to do his business as well. Generally speaking, she does lead the way absorbing all of the wonderful new smells that seem to have accumulated overnight and peeing every five yards to mark her trail. She seems to have a bottomless bladder as she is still doing it even at the end of the walk which is probably a thousand pees later. Well, OK, 15 or 20 times…

As is the Nature of all RV Parks, people and their RV’s are coming and going in a constant stream. Some are overnighters resting on their way to some other distant destination while others spend a bit longer to enjoy the local sights with their own itinerary before moving on. A few such as myself, are classified as permanent because we are here for a longer duration. In my row, there are 6 RV’s and all fall under this classification and I know of many others in the park who have chosen an RV over a regular house for whatever reasons. One of my neighbors, that I got to meet recently, tells me she is building a real house in Lubbock, several miles away and are staying in their RV until they are ready to move in. Her immediate neighbor who appears to be a single older lady, is here for the duration and has not mentioned any future plans. There are others in a different row who I can tell from the trucks parked outside of their RV, live there full time as they go about whatever the business is painted on the side of those trucks. There is even one permanent small house, not a tiny home but a small permanent trailer home located on site with people living in it. I wonder what the story is behind that?

I chatted to one new couple that had just pulled in as I admired their very nice Class C RV which also looked brand new, and he mentioned that he was still working and they were on a vacation but that this was going to be their future lifestyle when he retired. His next question got me thinking even though I answered in the affirmative. He said, “Are you full time” and without thinking, I responded . “Yes”. I suppose in a way, that was a bit of a Freudian slip as that is my eventual goal but when I got thinking about it, I am full time even though the RV is parked for a bit. I no longer sleep or spend any time in the house, I have cleaned out everything I want to take with me, more or less including the refrigerator and if I visit the house, it is usually with a set purpose in mind. The Estate sale hopefully will happen in the next couple of weeks and then the house will go on the market which incidentally, is white hot right now here in Austin. So yes, even though the the RV is parked and will be for a couple more months, I am a full time RV’er. Just not travelling anywhere yet.

And no, I am not interested in finding a driving companion preferring the company of my dogs and myself. Me and women in very close proximity just don’t get along for any length of time. It can’t possibly be such a nice guy like myself at fault so it just has to be them which is why I prefer the company of my dogs. At least, I always get my own way. Well, most of the time and they don’t answer back or tell me what I should do…

When I eventually sell the house, I will be comparatively pretty comfortably off and will have more than enough financially to last whatever is left of my life. So my thoughts have been turning in a different direction in terms of RV travel. For those of you who have followed this blog and my previous one at https://pondblog2011.com/ know that I have had two RV’s and two trucks since I became interested in this lifestyle, a period of close to a year. The first RV turned out not to be to my liking and my truck was not powerful enough to comfortably pull it even though the salesman told me it was when I bought the RV. I was going to keep the truck and buy a smaller RV but when Covid hit, the factories were back ordered for supplies and my on order RV never got started with no construction date in sight. So, as impatient as I was, I went a different route and I sold both RV and truck and purchased a used 2018 RV and a 2016 F250 diesel truck which is what we are currently living in and towing with. After watching so many of the RV’s that pull into the park and watching them set up, I figured that the easier way for this lifestyle is a Class C with a small tow vehicle for local transport. Even though in years gone by, I held a Class C commercial driver’s license and drove Big Rig Tractor Trailers for a living, that was so many years ago that I don’t think I would be comfortable driving one of the very big Class A RVs anymore. No, I have my eyes on a smaller say 25-30 ft. rig with a couple of slides and most importantly, a self levelling system. Gas wise, it would not be much worse than my truck which gets 10-12 mpg when I am towing and much simpler to park and set up.

Part of the problem is not having a driving companion, not counting the dogs who are hopeless at directions. What I need is someone to help to back a large 5th wheel rig into a tight parking spot. Towing is not a problem as the truck handles that very well. As I see it, the biggest problem that I have encountered so far is getting the rig into the trailer site exactly where I want it, on my own and is made even more difficult if it is not a pull through site. Backing up the rig and then parking and levelling is no easy task on my own as it requires getting in and out of the truck several times to verify things. When I am satisfied with the location, I have to go through the levelling process which generally also requires pulling forward and backing up a few times until the RV is both level and positioned on the levelling blocks in a satisfactory way. Like I said, hard to do on my own. Not difficult, just a real pain. The Class C that I have in mind is self levelling which would make it much easier on me as would backing the rig. Hooking and unhooking from the 5th wheel box can also be a bit of a pain especially if something is not lined up exactly right and it too, usually requires several trips in and out of the cab in the process. Unhooking a tow vehicle is a piece of cake in comparison.

I have only recently started to think this way about the Eagle which is a very nice RV with a lot of room. I took out the sofa/ bed and installed a desk where I spend a great deal of my time in writing this blog or working on the photos that I take and it satisfies all of my needs. I notice that I sleep like a baby and don’t usually wake up very early so obviously, the life style suits me. No, I am just looking ahead for when I do hit the road with countless numbers of stops involving hooking up, backing up and levelling the rig and am trying to find an easier way.

More on this later as I continue with my research.

Written 05/10/2021