Moving Day
01-21-2016
Author: in JeepandRV
When we first started out on the road moving day was a dreaded day. There are a lot of items needed to get the RV ready to go both inside and out, in the beginning it is like a badly choreographed children's play with everyone running into each other and stage scenes falling. Then as you get the first 100 practice sessions completed it starts to fall into some semblance of order. I even made, printed and laminated the "to do" list in order to be completed when we started but while it worked for a check off list it did not make it less stressful as we were always rushing about and yet still taking about 2 1/2 hours to get from start to on the road.
So here is my words of wisdom. "It will get better". We have managed to not only cut down the time to around an hour but we have managed to find a way to keep our humor so that when we do hit the road we are both still in a good mood. Now a large part of this is that I now don't "rush" my husband. It is also because we made some changes to both our night before and the morning of routine.
For us we start with breakfast and going over the game plan of who is doing what and what time we are looking to hit the road. There are some days where we are only moving a couple of hundred miles down the road so there is not as much of a rush but then there are days like today when we have 957 miles to cover in two days. After breakfast we tuck up the bedroom putting away anything that might move and putting out anything we will need when we boondock, we do not usually put out our slides so that means setting out night clothes and any work related items we plan on needing. Then I move forward into the living area while Jim moves outside.
I will make sure all of the dishes are stacked with a paper towel between them to keep down the rattling, vacuum up the floors, wipe down all surfaces, open up what windows will be open while traveling, stow the satellite dish, turn the captain chairs back to the front, stow the fireplace and ottoman, secure the refrigerator doors (we have a apartment refrigerator so need to put the wrap on the top handles and the bar on the bottom freezer door),and secure the doors.
Jim will clean the front windshield (if needed), start flushing the grey and black tanks, and filling our water. We choose to travel with at least 3/4's of a fresh water tank even though we understand that the added weight does decrease our gas mileage. For us there has been several times when through weather or other things out of our control we have needed and used that water.
If we have taken the bikes down I will then go out and help to store them on their rack. At this point I will bring in the slides so that Jim can store the water softener and hoses as well as disconnect the electric. We then take the dogs out for a final walk and bathroom break, hook up the jeep and hit the road.
For us we start with breakfast and going over the game plan of who is doing what and what time we are looking to hit the road. There are some days where we are only moving a couple of hundred miles down the road so there is not as much of a rush but then there are days like today when we have 957 miles to cover in two days. After breakfast we tuck up the bedroom putting away anything that might move and putting out anything we will need when we boondock, we do not usually put out our slides so that means setting out night clothes and any work related items we plan on needing. Then I move forward into the living area while Jim moves outside.
I will make sure all of the dishes are stacked with a paper towel between them to keep down the rattling, vacuum up the floors, wipe down all surfaces, open up what windows will be open while traveling, stow the satellite dish, turn the captain chairs back to the front, stow the fireplace and ottoman, secure the refrigerator doors (we have a apartment refrigerator so need to put the wrap on the top handles and the bar on the bottom freezer door),and secure the doors.
Jim will clean the front windshield (if needed), start flushing the grey and black tanks, and filling our water. We choose to travel with at least 3/4's of a fresh water tank even though we understand that the added weight does decrease our gas mileage. For us there has been several times when through weather or other things out of our control we have needed and used that water.
If we have taken the bikes down I will then go out and help to store them on their rack. At this point I will bring in the slides so that Jim can store the water softener and hoses as well as disconnect the electric. We then take the dogs out for a final walk and bathroom break, hook up the jeep and hit the road.
It took me a few times to realize that I could either be part of the problem or the solution. By slowing down and not rushing my husband he was able to speed up which kept me happy and we were able to hit the road in a much better mood which makes for a much better trip (and marriage)!
Comment
No comments found! Be the first one to write a comment!
Author: Cindy & Jim Boyd-Snethen
