Old guy,
New here,
Old Chateau,
New to me.
Old enough to know that if it's got tires, an engine, or a battery, it's gonna break or require tending. My job is to simply try and outwit the foul-up fairies and keep my wife calm in the doing. Serendipity that I like fixing things, which is I suspect, why da wife has kept me around as long as she has.
While I certainly find no joy in the fact of the RV industry continuing to work hard at avoiding any kind of quality regulation (I mean, even the mobile homes have minimum construction standards, but RV makers fight tooth and nail to avoid even that low threshold), ultimately, being a home owner ain't no picnic either. I look at it as being something of a matter of scale; if I'm home, I have a house, yard, and vehicles to look after, and if I'm in my RV, it's about the same, just without the yard and everything is a lot closer together.
Not much about modern living is particularly durable, so we have to adjust and adapt. Either learn to fix stuff yourself and prepare for it, or keep plenty of spare funds on hand, along with the phone number of "that guy" who you're gonna pay to do the work for you. Short of a retirement home or the hospital, I can't think of too many places you can live where somebody else is going to do everything for ya, and I'm not ready for either of those scenarios.
Cost is all relative of course, but I do love that if I get tired of a discourteous neighbor I can simply pull up stakes and drive on. If the fishing is good somewhere over the rainbow, I can be there tomorrow. Not so simple with the brick & mortar. All RV quality issues aside, there are lots of ways to keep things affordable, and when combined with the freedom of movement that an RV provides, there aren't too many easy alternatives that I can imagine filling the bill.
Spoken with the optimism of a new owner of an older RV, who will no doubt be up to his eyeballs in leaks and squeaks in no time, but I welcome the challenge.
Ain't nuthin' I can't fix as long as I don't give up, and besides, what's the worst that can happen? Not like my RV can eat me.
(They can't can they?)
Looking forward to learning and laughing together. Life's way to short too let something mechanical ruin your day, so I try to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and keep a batch of home brew handy just in case.
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