A huge (or tiny) transition...

June 10, 2017 we began our transition to full-time RV life.  The change for us is dramatic in that we are leaving a 4000+ square foot home to move into a travel trailer with around 200 sq ft in the heat of the Phoenix area AZ summer.

Pictures!

Bye bye McMansion, hello tiny house.  

We are a family of four.  Our son is seven and our daughter will be three in July.  They had sweet bedrooms in our house.

Note the HO scale train above his bed

Yet here we are today:

Perhaps now would be a good time to mention that this move is happening over a period of two and a half weeks.  That is the amount of time between accepting an offer for the sale of our home and the scheduled closing date.  Tonight will be the fifth night sleeping in our RV.  Just to catch you up here are the some highlights of the transition...

Day 1:  We drove our truck with a trailer for the first time.  Neither of us have any experience with this.  He drove it home.  We slept in the road by our house after moving in all day.  The new trailer is STINKY!  It was off-gassing from all the chemicals used in construction.  The only option was to sleep with the windows open, which ended up being very pleasant.  It was a cool night and our neighborhood is quiet.  "This is the craziest thing we have ever done," was a comment that was made a number of times.

Day 2:  I drove the trailer to the RV park and we experienced the shortcomings of the "Welcome Package" from the dealer.  The water hose was too short.  We had purchased an extended sewer line, with a clear coupling on the advice of our favorite YouTubers.  We had also purchased a surge protector, water pressure regulator, and chocks.  We ran to WalMart to obtain a hose.  When we got back to the park a coyote was in the driveway in front of our RV.  It was a little unnerving to be outside when we heard the howls very close by.  We retreated indoors and experienced running water and our first showers.  The night was cool again, we slept under the light of a nearly full moon listening to the sound of mesquite pods swaying in the breeze and dropping onto the picnic table and our car.  The kids were wound up!  They didn't sleep until after 10:30 or so.  The park is deserted, it seemed all the RVs were being stored for the season.  We have a beautiful spot that is shaded both in the morning and evening.

Day 3: Each day we leave the trailer early to head to our house to continue the process of donating, gifting, boxing, storing, and selling our stuff.  We've never moved with kids before - this is the home they have known since infancy.  I had an emotional moment packing up my son's room.  Lots of memories.  On the flip side, this idea has been talked about for the past year.  I have watched hundreds of hours of YouTube and envisioned what life would be like....There are many considerations in this change: insurance, mail, storage space, minimizing our personal property... Each one is overwhelming at first and then we figure it out.  We are renting a 5x5 climate controlled storage space for boxes in the valley, no furniture.  We own a piece of land in rural Northeast AZ where we have a 500 square foot building.  We will take some of our most utility furniture to that building for storage.  Ultimately the building will be finished and will be a true tiny house with two lofts for the kids.  But until then, and maybe even after that, we are nomads.

Day 4: Another day packing after a beautiful night's rest.  This morning the trailer's inside temp was 68 degrees and the kids were cold!  They are AZ kids!  We slept another night with all of the windows open and continue to air out the odors, which have lessened significantly.  We talked a lot today about improving insulation - especially on the windows - to aid in cooling it during this hot summer.  I watched a very interesting video by Gone With The Wynns about ways to keep cool off-grid in the Nevada desert.  There was also another informative video specifically by folks living in Phoenix. We have devised a short term (within a week) and long term (over the next month) method for keeping the trailer a bit cooler for the summer...(stay tuned).

When we got back to our tiny house this evening we found that we made a rookie mistake...

We attached the water pressure regulator to the trailer, not the park's water supply.  As a result the hose was under too much pressure and it burst.  By attaching the regulator to the supply both the hose and the plumbing are protected.  A second trip to WalMart for a different hose and a lesson that we need to shut off the water when we are not going to be home.  This will ensure no future accidents or leaks.

Well, now you are caught up with our adventure!  More to come...