We are one night away from having completed this mega-crazy task of 1) getting the Airstream to Ohio in the winter, 2) emptying most of our stuff into a storage unit, and 3) readying the trailer for serious work by the service center. That was all enough to land us a top score in RVing experience, but here’s where I’m lobbying for the extra points.
Points for: Being the only weirdos sleeping in the Airstream factory parking lot for four nights—in below-freezing temps. We’ve stayed in this lot several times before, but never with snow, wind, ice, brrr. Tracy had winterized the plumbing to an extent, so we’re washing and drinking with bottled water and catching it all in a bucket and dumping it in the sewer drain outside.
Points for: Sorting through literally everything we own—and packing it up when there’s room for only one box at a time in the Airstream hallway, and it was too cold outside to stack them up one at a time.
We packed most things in the truck and trailer that could go into a storage unit, except for what we needed:
- to live with for maybe two weeks in an AirBnb,
- to complete the winterizing,
- to secure the solar panel Tracy detached so the technician can find our mystery leak,
- to stay in the trailer in the freezing cold with no running water.
Let’s say there was a good deal of confusion over what goes where for how long, all in our tight space. A sample: Tracy packed his wallet and the ladder in storage; I packed the toilet chemicals and my knitting needles. It seemed like every time we needed to do something, a crucial element was packed in storage 40 minutes away.
Points for: Getting said stuff into the storage unit—when it’s up a flight of stairs. With a large beam at the ceiling. Is this standard for storage places? I’d think there would be an elevator so You could use a dolly, but nope.
Points for: Me not re-tearing my knee while packing and moving and Tracy not falling off the Airstream roof while securing the solar panel in high winds,
Banjo gets points for having fun in the snow for exactly three minutes then being more than ready to get back in the toasty trailer.
So, it has been warm inside while we’ve been packing and cleaning. We had my fireplace DVD playing along with music on the stereo, and we were eating those quick meals grocery stores sell near the entrance to busy people. We watched various trailers being dropped off for service, and we found stuff we didn’t know we’d lost.
Knock on wood; we have to hand the trailer over at 7:00 am and still have a list of last-minutes things to do. But after that, all the extra experience points are ours.
You don’t deserve points, you deserve a medal. Damn. That’s an awful lot of work for someone recovering from knee surgery. And stairs to a storage unit… What if you’re storing a piano?
🥴
A piano—that brings forth some terrible images! Tracy did almost all the work during this craziness, really. I packed boxes but he loaded them in the truck, then unloaded and carried to storage, where I organized them. Little compared to all his driving, planning, tank maintenance, yadda yadda. I’m glad we’ll both get at least a week break starting tonight.
You deserve it!
Wow! That’s a lot. You get all the points as far as I’m concerned.
We are lying comatose on the sofa of our Airbnb with nothing unpacked and no plans. It’s deserved.
The only storage units I’ve ever rented have been outdoors. No elevator for those! But thankfully, no stairs, either. Hope it warms up soon so Banjo can frolic outside to his heart’s content!
This storage unit is climate-controlled, so that’s what’s up with inside. Steps though! WTH.
Wowzer! Perhaps Airstream could set up storage (for a reasonable price, but free as a service would be nice.). Brrrrr…..
I’m thinking most people don’t need storage when they get big jobs done because they leave all their stuff in their garage or whatnot. There are few fulltimers out there without any homebase at all. And yes, BRR! It’s gonna be unpleasant loading everything back in the trailer, but we’ll get ‘er done.