We are at Betabel RV Park, which the place I came for my ‘shakedown’ with Wandering Spirit.

That was in early March last year.  At the time I chose Betabel because it was  only about 30-35 miles from home, and when I checked it out beforehand I found it to be a nice, clean, full service park where I felt confident that if I ran into problems or questions there would be an employee around to help me out.  I remember that just about every move I made during those two days, was with the Casita manual open in one hand!  Everything was new to me because I had never done RV camping before in my life.

I actually bought Wandering Spirit (WS) in October 2013, and I’ll tell you the story of how that came about….

I don’t know exactly when the idea of ‘full timing’ after retirement gave birth in my mind.  It was probably somewhere in late 2010 or early 2011.  I’d never even heard of “full time RVing” until I learned that Will and Madeleine Tuttle lived on the road in their ‘rolling home’, and had done so for 17 years.  I had never RV camped in my life, and rarely tent camped, but the idea of traveling the US in an affordable, comfortable way, close to nature, grabbed my heart.  First it was a fleeting idea.  Silly me to think I could do such a thing!  But then I found myself thinking about it more and more. Why couldn’t I do it?  Could I really give up almost everything I own and live in a minimalistic way on the road?  I like a relative amount of security.  I’m a home-body and I enjoyed gardening.  I really liked my neighborhood, I lived near the ocean on the Monterey Peninsula.  You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful area to call ‘home’.  But the more I thought about traveling, the more the idea intrigued me.  I pictured myself and Joy and Shiloh seeing and living in beautiful areas of the country that I’d only had time to get a glimpse of before, on various vacations.

Soon I was researching on line.  I found that LOTS of people are living full time in their RV’s….it can really work!  I could do this!

I began to think about what kind of RV I would like to call my home.   Did I want to drive it or tow it?  That question took me a long time to answer.  I learned about Class A, B, and C RV’s, travel trailers, 5th wheels, vans, and the kind of home that sits in the truck bed.  I found that there are advantages and disadvantages to every choice.  To my way of thinking there was no ‘perfect’ answer, so I weighed the pros and cons of each….over and over.

First, I had to be able to afford it, and didn’t want to go into huge debt, in fact I was working hard to get out of debt as much as possible.

Second, I decided I would prefer something on the small side, since I’d be driving it or towing it myself.  Smaller also = less gas used = less expense.

I started looking on RV lots to get ideas, and finally I went to a huge RV show.  At that time I was leaning towards a Class B which is similar to a large van, with all the comforts of home.  I kept hearing that is was nice to be able to drive your home, so you could jump into the drivers seat at the first sign of a problem and take off, if you needed to make a quick getaway.  I heard that in itself can be an important factor for a woman traveling alone, who is feeling a bit insecure and values safety.  (later I realized I didn’t want to make this important decision based on a fear factor).

At the RV show the first place I headed was to the Class B’s.  I asked lots of questions, got inside lots of models, and even drove one.  I also looked at the price tags, wondered how I would pay for it, where I would keep my limited ‘stuff’, and if two big dogs in there would really work. (the sales lady said ‘no problem!’ about the two big dogs:-).

After that I began wandering and looking at all the RV’s.  It’s mind boggling!  So many choices, sizes and price ranges.  Just for kicks I went inside huge Class A’s and 5th Wheels and I was amazed to find fireplaces, huge TV’s , islands in the kitchen, marble counters, and even washers and dryers!  I had no idea!  Even if I could afford one of those beautiful monsters (which I couldn’t), how would I pay for gas and repairs?  But it was fun to look!

Near the end of the day I came upon Airstream and my eyes fell upon the Bambi, which is Airstreams small model.      OH!  YES!  LOVE!

I went inside, sat, took  pictures, asked questions, got an information packet….looked at the price tag.  Oops.  Could I do it?  Yes.  But did I WANT to spend that much?  No.

I left the RV show that day leaning towards a small towable….something like a Bambi, but not so expensive. I decided I liked the idea of a separate vehicle to drive and store things in, and I liked the small cozy feel of a Bambi sized trailer.  I went back on line to research some more.

Somewhere along the way, on line or in a magazine,  I saw a Casita.  They  are sold out of their factory in Texas, they don’t come to RV shows and you don’t see them on RV sales lots, at least I never did.  The Casita seemed to be about the size and shape of the Bambi, but it’s made of fiberglass instead of aluminum, and it didn’t come with a famous name like Airstream.  The price was more reasonable, though more expensive than non-fiberglass trailers of similar size. (At that time top of the line with all the bells and whistles was in the $19,000-20,000 range). There were three floor plans at the time (now there are four).  I liked them all for different reasons. I found the Casita website http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com and the Casita Forum, http://www.casitaforum.com , and WOW…I knew!  I had my answer to what kind of an RV I wanted!

Now this idea was getting serious.  If I was really going to do this Big Thing, I would need a tow vehicle, and I would need to start simplifying my lifestyle.  There would be lots of changes in store!

More about these things in Part 2.