Pack It Up

Inspirational song: Give It Away (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

The final countdown to the big mystery has begun! In just over 12 hours, we should roll out of town. My dream is coming true. We are giving away the Big Ugly RV! Not kidding, for months I've had this fantasy of just rolling it around to the gas station on the corner where all the homeless folks hang out, and just handing them keys and the title. What we are doing is probably the only thing that could beat that in my mind. We are driving it out to Chico, and handing it to a single dad of boys who lost their home in the Camp Fire. I have been super excited ever since I overheard the Mr hashing out a plan over the phone, when we were all next door watching football. (You should have seen the speaking glance between me and neighbor T when we figured out what was happening in that call. We grinned from ear to ear.)

This will be rougher than your average RV trip to get it there. The heat was misbehaving -- sparking but not igniting the heater. I'm assuming that the Mr will try again to fix it en route or once we arrive and are waiting until it's time to go to the airport. We aren't planning on using the onboard facilities, so that it's 100% clean and ready for the recipients. So it's going to be cold (snowing at some points through Utah and Wyoming, apparently) and we are going to be stinky for going days without showers. We will, however, have plenty to eat, and we threw two giant comforters into it, ones that we haven't used in a few years. I ran to Target this evening, and loaded us up on instant coffees, selzer waters (that's for me, trying to limit sugar), nuts, jerky, and apples. I also got a couple of travel packs of wet wipes to substitute for showers in a pinch. I think we'll be good for a few days.

This isn't quite the RV-Across-America trip I was anticipating when we were planning for the Mr to retire from the Air Force, but life doesn't always work out as we expect. I'm still facing this as an adventure, with a satisfying conclusion that will be as much of a gift to me as to the family who will receive it. This particular RV has been an enormous source of stress (generally financial, but other considerations as well). I am relieved to have the opportunity to pass it to someone who can get more good out of it. I can only hope it provides as much relief to them as it will to us to give it away.