So You Bought an RV?
For those of you I’ve never met, hello, I’m Kathleen.
I am currently solo-traveling the United States in an RV with my golden-doodle Fitz. Between an active career as a User Experience designer, exploring, making friends, and other adventuring, I haven’t yet had the brain space to document the misadventure that is my life.
Until now…
I’m typing this on July 7, 2022, but have backdated the post to August 30, 2021, the day I bought my RV. The Virgo and “Type A” side of me has her face in her hands, but I think this is the easiest way to maintain a consistent storytelling timeline.
I will start this story back on my birthday weekend, August 2021. My boyfriend at the time took me to my first Kampground Of America, in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. If you’ve never been here before, it’s like the Disney Land of RV parks, with cute cabins, pools, life-sized chess, free pancakes, you name it, they have it.
This was also my first time meeting full-time #RVLife-rs consisting of young adults, just living their best lives in the woods, making s’mores over campfires while watching HD television, and using wifi to work.
I know what you’re thinking, “You mean successful people that aren’t retired live in RVs?” YUP!
Or maybe you’re thinking, “I thought only trashy people like the uncle from National Lampoon’s Vacation lived in RVs?” NOPE! Although, nice namedrop, that movie is awesome.
I realized then, that i eventually wanted a wild, nomadic life.
As events would have it, “eventually” happened sooner rather than later. I hadn’t found a home in the DC area I wanted to buy, COVID had made my work fully remote, my lease was up, and my boyfriend ended our weekend adventure early after throwing a temper tantrum. (He’s a wonderful guy, just not for me…as my stories unfold you note that this is an ongoing trend for me.)
the first of many visits to Camping World
When I returned to DC after losing a battle trying to break a three-hour cycle of silent driving and pouting, I decided to visit a local RV store, Camping World.
At first, I thought I wanted to #vanlife, but the sprinter vans present didn’t have a private bathroom or shower. So the second vehicle I stepped into was the monster I now lovingly refer to as Big Bertha. She has modern accents and a perfectly engineered system that uses gas from the chassis to power the generator and battery. Yay, RV nerd stuff. I had never been so excited about anything in my entire life. Then and there, I concocted a plan to downsize and travel the country for a year in Big Bertha.
Cue record scratch sound. There’s obviously more to the story than that. Let’s back up a bit.
If you thought you knew me before, you might have asked yourself, “I thought she was a career-focused city girl?” Of course, these things are partly true, but we are a composite of both nature and nurturer, and several factors have made me perfectly cut out for this lifestyle.
As a kid constantly traveling between mom’s and dad’s houses, I loved the idea of a mobile home where all my belongings were. You might find me doodling pictures of my dream spaceship in elementary school. Ironically, these old “spaceship” doodles look like my RV today.
I grew up loving our little sailboat's compact and well-designed efficiency that my dad and I would take on the Potomac. I often dreamed of living in a sailboat when I grew up.
COVID changed everything —jobs became remote, people moved from cities to less populated areas and visited National Parks, and #nomadlife became more trendy.
My mom lives in Canada, and I have friends and family all over the United States. So how are you supposed to stay in touch with everyone by residing in just one place??
I don’t like being told what I can and can’t do. So I’ve always walked to the beat of my own drum a bit. If you’re my friend, you probably talk about me like, “Kathleen is quirky, but you will love her.”
so, there you have it.
I’m “RV Girl,” nice to meet ya.
Last but not least, I’ve decided to call this blog “The Misadventurer” because while the past year has been full of incredible things I never could have imagined, there have also been scenarios that were only funny after I made it safely out of them. Life is a series of misadventures that build the fabric of who we become. Diamonds, pearls and wine are made under pressure, it makes sense that humans evolve this way too.
Eventually, I will be turning some of these stories into a book, so please comment and let me know what you think. If you want more detail here and less detail there, let ya girl know!
Looking forward to meeting my new friends, on the internets or IRL, and taking you along this wild ride.