Last week I alluded to some changes that Tom and I were making and you can see the biggest change in the headline.  Tom and I are buying a house.  After six years of being full-timers in the RV, we decided to get a place where we will live part-time.

Obviously this was a big decision for us and it comes as a surprise to most of the people we know.  We like living in the RV.  We like having fewer things and less responsibility.  Living in the RV full-time has been inexpensive for us.  On months that we are volunteering in the national parks, we spend less than half our income.

But an RV is a lot like a home.  There are always repairs to be made.  And RVs, no matter how well made, age faster because they travel down the roads.  I’m sure you know how badly maintained roads are in the United States.  Pandemic travel restrictions have made us reluctant to go anyplace we don’t have to go.  And we are a little tired of carrying everything we own with us everywhere we go.

We have met some wonderful people and made good friends while volunteering in the national parks.  We plan to continue volunteering in the parks, but less than the eight months a year we have been volunteering.  For one thing, working with the public right now just doesn’t feel very safe.  We don’t need to do it – we aren’t paid to do it – so we are choosing to do it less for a while.

We want to be closer to family and not at the mercy of noisy, filled-up campgrounds.  I don’t want to go six months without seeing my parents or John and Jackie again.  I’d like to spend more time with my brother and sister and their families.  But we also want a place we could park the RV and stay away from people when we need to.

We had rescheduled our trip to Europe, moving it to next year.  But with new travel restrictions imposed by the European Union and the pandemic raging out of control in the US, we didn’t feel confident about going.  We got all our money back from the trip we were supposed to take this last spring.  Turns out the money for a four month trip to Europe is equivalent to a 20% down payment on a small house in Delaware County.

Amazingly, or not so amazingly, Tom and I reached the decision about buying a house independently but at the same time.  All our discussions about what to do, what we wanted, where do we go from here led us to this decision.  We came to the decision on July 4, talked to a realtor on July 5, and started looking at houses on July 6.  By July 9 we were under contract.  When Tom and I decide something, we don’t fool around!

I will be posting more about buying a house over the next two days.  We hope all of you will come and visit us once we get moved in.  And before we head out on our next adventure.