the next move

I'm gonna miss this...watching RVers arrive, pull in, back up, hook up, then unload chairs, grill, dog(s), open the awning. I wonder what kind of neighbors they will be. How long will they be here? These people, I see, do their smoking outdoors. Their dog is a miniature something-or-other. They have six chairs - must be expecting company - and potted plants. Memorial Day party?

For over three years I have lived in RV/trailer parks. On Tuesday I'm moving out. I'm moving to a friend's lot in a neighborhood in town. I'll be within walking distance to the Circle-K, hardware store, thrift store, farmer's market, taco stand, Italian restaurant. My rent will be so low that the job pressure will be eased somewhat, at least for a little while.

I will be the only person living in a house on wheels. My friend - and landlord - lives in a cottage on the lot as does a woman I have yet to meet along with our own personal hunky Jack-of-all-trades who will back my trailer in for me and set to work building a deck. A deck! I'll have a deck! I'm really looking forward to this move, looking forward to living in a little town I can walk around in.

I'm still not sure if this is the place I'm meant to be but with gas prices the way they are, it's good not to be living at a freeway exit and having to drive 15 miles to the nearest Safeway...as I did at The Home of Dashed Hopes. And did I mention I'll be able to walk to the Farmer's Market!?

So it's time to get things ready to be moved. Although a wee bit of a hassle - stashing, stowing, battening down the hatches - it sure beats the alternative of getting boxes, packing boxes, lugging boxes. Springing for pizza and beer as a bribe for friends as they carry furniture. Cleaning the new place, cleaning the old place, paying pet deposit and cleaning deposit and coming up with first and last months' rent.

I tell ya, if the economy continues to tank, trailer living is the way to go. Here's my advice if you've lost your job or your house: Get yourself a cheap trailer or motor coach, plop yourself down in a friend's backyard, or nice RV park where you can watch the neighbors come and go, and weather the storm until things sort themselves out. As they will surely do after January rolls around and we undergo a regime change...(oh please oh please oh please).

Have a good holiday weekend ya'll. And let's hope that we get our boys and girls and men and women home from Iraq soon so families can stop visiting new graves on Memorial Day.