I’m not gonna delude myself; the first year was probably way more thrilling just because of the novelty and more recent life change, but I feel like we are enjoying our second year even more. We are reveling in our lifestyle, recently improved by the modern conveniences of our new RV and increasingly enhanced by our growing experience as full time RVers.
The Distance: 20 miles! And that’s only because we had to leave the Key West naval base and drive ten minutes up the road to refill or large, hard-mounted propane tank. The system is incredibly efficient for running the fridge, but since we also use it for our water heater and cooking, we had burned down to a third of a tank. Next time we will remember to top it off before we start drycamping! So this 20 miles, which some RVers wouldn’t even count since it involved no campground change, brings our annual total to 462 miles. A slow pace now, but that will pick up big time come April.
The Places: One place! Or two if you count moving within the same campground: We spent the entire month of February at the Sigsbee Campground on Naval Air Station, Key West. We spent the first 28 days in drycamping, before the firmly implemented rotation system allowed us to move to one of the 93 sites with power and water near the end of February. We lucked out for both the dryacmping and hook up sites: for the former we were assigned one of the few truly waterfront spots, and for the latter we ended up in the spacious “Hollywood” section rather than on the cramped “Rock Pile” or the Key West rooster infested “Sigsbee Circle.”
The Budget: Yet another month under budget! Having the entire month spent at the heavily subsidized Navy campground helped offset over $500 in medical bills that caught up with us from our whirlwind tour of doctors and dentists in the Fall of 2015. So despite that plus more than $100 for an unexpected awning parts purchase, we ended up 5% under budget. Also relevant: we would not have managed that feat if it weren’t for a couple of hundred bucks in sales from some ebay items, Rosemarie’s Etsy shop, and another craft and art show selling Rose’s jewelry.
The Drama: Almost nothing significant to add! We continued to have some awning problems, including an afternoon that saw me trapped by my right arm stuck between the awning strut and the side of the motorhome, but other than that everything has been peaceful. It helps when you barely move the RV all month.
In Big Kahuna news, Pioneer Transmission Service reports that they have sourced all the needed parts, and expect to have things done “within weeks.” Fingers crossed, so we can finally move forward with selling the old bus and paying off the bulk of our new motorhome loan.
The Improvements: Aside from the above mentioned progress on getting The Big Kahuna back on the road, there’s just not that much to report. We have gone through another iteration of how we pack and store all our stuff in the various inside and under-floor compartments, but other than minor decoration changes, we haven’t made any real improvements this month. That’s one of the advantage s of a modern RV as opposed to something vintage; there’s just not that much you have to do to bring it up to speed.
All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.
Shell On Wheels 