yom kippur, reflections & eddie…
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he and i have had a busy couple of years. there is a lot to reflect on. most of my reflections tend to be for the sole purpose of learning what i want less of and what i want more of and how to go about both. in general i like to look forward instead of backward, but use this time from rosh hashanah to yom kippur to do a little evaluating. are we, he and i, heading in the right directions for what we want out of life, professionally and personally? have our decisions been good in the past year? did we learn from our mistakes? are we being, day in and day out, the people we want to be?
a big part of our lives the past few years has been our airstream, eddie. from purchasing and overhauling to full time traveling on our big adventure touring the country to living in it while we (he) renovated camp1899 to a livable status. it’s been a journey. traveling taught us so much about the u.s. as it stands today. we learned about states and places that we really had no clue about prior to our airstream travels. and oh the list of things we’ve learned about rv travel, it’s a long list. he would admit, and i’d wholeheartedly agree, that he had trouble settling into the unknown, and the demands of rv life (many that fell on him alone). it took away a little bit of the joy of the open road, in hindsight he sees this so clearly. but you do the best you can in the moment and that is that. we still visited amazing places and we can learn from what we wish had been different so that it will be from now on.
one thing we’ve always made a priority in our marriage is to live a debt free, simple but full life. being debt free is so important to us because it gives us the freedom to do more, such as drive all over the country willy nilly. the purchase of our tiny house in edgewater was a very thoughtful one, we purchased an inexpensive house, we have paid for the renovations out of pocket and* we have no other incurred debt looming over us. however, to do all of this meant spending savings, and as much as we like being debt free we like having cash in the bank too. to make sure that our house/savings/spending stays in a place we’re happy with we decided to look ahead and make a plan that would keep us where we feel free and secure.
we miss the open road, we miss picking a place and off we go to see what it’s all about. we miss it but we don’t want to live it full time. we’ve done that, we loved it, we learned how we would do things differently (oh to have that ability) and through all of this reflection we’ve made a plan. we do want to travel part of every year. ideally it will add up to months out of the year, some at longer stretches, some for short ones. but, at the end of the day, we felt limited by pulling the airstream and feel sad that it sits so pretty, fully renovated and ready to go but not going anywhere. we like having home with us, as an rv gives you, but like the idea of something smaller and simpler and more easily manipulated to whatever whim strikes our fancy from one place to the next.
for us a big huge gas guzzling suburban and a 22ft trailer makes for a behemoth 45ft roadtrip companion (and eddie is pretty tiny in the big scheme of things). so we had to figure out what this meant for us, for future travel, and for our financial goals. we decided that we want to try something new, different, and smaller scale. we aren’t 100% sure what that is, but we’re leaning towards a vw poptop van, they’re small, more like tent camping without the tent, and for us, a much easier boondocking companion than 45ft of car + camper. much more gas friendly and most of all, more flexible.
we squeezed a lot of good times out of our airstream and it was a sad but hopeful day when we waved goodbye, wishing the new owners all of the luck in the world. we’re proud of our travels in eddie, of the state we restored the airstream to and the passing of the torch. we’re not done traveling, not even close.. wanderlust is in my blood, and it’s there to stay, and for him too. we sold out big yeti suburban to a big family who was very happy to take those keys and* after both sales we in turn have paid off bills and aligned ourselves back to a place where we feel much more free and happy.
it’s a new chapter, we’ve dreamed up some big new plans, still trying to figure it all out. my husband, he may have been out of sorts here and there, and that might have caused this or that, but he did love it and without him i would never, ever have had the airstream adventure, and we both are 100% happy we did it. we both can’t wait to get out there again (soon!). without him none of what we are doing would be possible. he pulled that trailer every mile, he did every hook and unhook, he’s built us a beautiful tiny home and i’m grateful and lucky. we have so much adventure ahead of us, i hope you’ll come along…
Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: airstream travel, camp1899, eddie
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sorry to see eddie go but sounds like it was right decision for you guys
looking forward to following your next adventure!
I believe you are on the right path. Take the time to smell the roses while you are young enough to enjoy the aroma. Dad C
Tough decision I’m sure but so glad you are at peace with it and I am looking forward to hearing about all the adventures ahead (and hoping a few involve us and some champagne)!
you know it my dear!!
P.S. Love the photo of Eddie pulling away…. sad and cute and awesome all at the same time….
i know, the picture (and actual watching of) made me happy and sad all at the same time….
Aww goodbye Eddie. What things would you have done differently while full timing?
(; well, it’s a long answer really, but a short version would be mindset (his) and as we all know too well that plays a big part in everything in life. it’s an adjustment having a lot of unknowns ahead of you about future, where we would live at some point, work, …. yada yada, but we had a great time nonetheless! also, we would have been prepared to fully boondock, especially when we realized that this is essential to stay in state & national parks (we were naive to this important fact), and is where we wanted to stay the most. those are two biggies. plus your first time around (again as with anything) you learn a lot and the next time you are leaps & bounds ahead of the game, and we feel that we’ve learned so much that our next journeys will be all the better for these lessons. our travel bug is strong and relentless and neither of us can wait to be on the open road again (in some capacity), soon!!!
I recently did the same thing with my “Big Blue”
(a 99 F150 with a wedge shaped topper)
I bought a topper from craigslist, installed RV lights inside the topper with an extra battery. Installed spring curtain rods, had Mom make curtains on sliding rings, etc. Then for 3 years went everywhere on the Eastern side of the US I could reasonably get to from Memphis with a time frame of being out for only a week. I went to 3 or 4 dozen National Parks Sites, always staying at State Parks & NP campsites if available. But I could only go 2 or 3 times a year, and was getting 15 – 18 MPG. I did get to finish the Blue Ridge Parkway last fall in the truck. Over 3 different trips I made it to Shenandoah NP.
So after this past spring, and a final trip across TN and then up and back across KY I sold Big Blue, and am going to rethink / regroup my National Park trips.
PS: What a good shot and timing of Eddie making the turn.
thanks, i was so glad to have gotten that shot (;
we only got 8 mpg. so.. that’s another way smaller is going to be better for us, our gas expenditure was unbelievable! sometimes it’s good to make a change, i know we are looking forward to a new mode of travel and a new adventure.. and you definitely got some good trips in before selling, maybe you will be able to start on the west side now…
So sad to see Eddie go but I’m excited for your new adventures.
One of my goals is to live debt-free too! And I’m getting there. Slowly but surely.
kara, thank you so much! we are really excited about traveling again in a new & different way, and isn’t each step you get closer to debt free just the best? slowly but surely wins in everything, big cheers for working your way towards it!!! xo, t.
I must have missed something and didn’t realize the post about Eddie had came and went. Its so brave and amazing you can live debt free (though our debt is not as bad as some, no credit cards ect.. we do have student loans that are a killer) I think that is amazing you can do that in this day and age. I am sad to see Eddie go but excited to learn of your new adventures!
krista,
it’s been sad thinking about how it seems like we just got eddie and started the adventure and now that phase is over, (in reality it’s been years of course.. time goes way too fast), but we just so strongly believe in being debt free and being prepared for ?? that it was the best decision, and we are so excited by the prospect of traveling lighter, we love being on the road so much and going in a new and more flexible (to us) way has got us so wishing we could go tomorrow.. i look forward to sharing the next chapter and thank you so much for commenting and following along, and kudos to you for only having student loans (although i know those can be overwhelming and intimidating sometimes) at least it was for education and not credit card bills for who knows what!! xo, t.
That picture of Eddie pulling away, oh tug at the strings! I am so very happy for you and Sean though for all the reasons you so eloquently wrote. Great post, you are gonna have a lovely new year my dears:) Xo