Happy Father’s Day — my original plan was to pop back east to celebrate a combined retirement/father’s day with my dad, but the truck had other plans.  Will have to take a raincheck on that.

Father's Day Ride, 2005

So, the counter on the right tells me this is the 5 month anniversary of full-timing.  Time flies.  Time for a recap:

• I’ve towed the airstream about 5300 miles so far.
• This is the longest consecutive time in my life that I’ve been away from the east coast.  (2000 comes close, but I had a trip back east in may/june sometime)
• I’ve spent about $2500 on various airstream-related stuff, including upgrades, accessories, and repairs.
• I haven’t really calculated RV park fees, but it’s probably close to $6000 including electric/pumpouts/gas/etc.  Way less than my $3000/mo NYC apartment, but 1200/mo seems high for this sort of activity..
• I’ve spent $1700 on truck and motorcycle repairs, not including the upcoming truck repair.
• I’ve ridden my bicycle a disgracefully small number of times, probably countable on two hands.  Most of my exercise has been dog-related, which is good for Mr. Magic.  Also, riding alone isn’t much fun.
• I’ve spent way more than I ever expected to on laundry.  Magic stinks up the sheets.  I do 2-3 loads a week, at about $3 a load, which is $40/mo on laundry.  wtf?
• I’ve read a few books: The Illuminatus Trilogy (which I started 3 years ago and never finished, so I reread it cover to cover), Watchmen (never thought I’d be into graphic novels, but it’s badass), and Ghost Rider (”Travels on the Healing Road” — I’ll write more about that some other time)
• My favorite RV park by far is Malibu Beach RV park.  My least favorite is Trailer Inn’s in Bellevue, WA.
• The most off the wall place I’ve stayed was definitely Dufur RV Park.
• This trip would not have been doable without the dog.  Way too isolated and lonely.
• Women generally aren’t interested in dating transients, unless they are also transients.  Unfortunately most transients either don’t have jobs or don’t shave their armpits.
• I expected to learn to surf while I was on the west coast, but I didn’t.  I also expected to be in amazing shape from hiking and biking, but that didn’t happen.  I do have a wicked tan, though.
• It takes way more effort than you’d think to keep 165sqft of living space clean.  Especially with a dog and only a dustbuster.
• I have eaten at least 20 boxes of Raisin Nut Bran.  Maybe more.
• I did a surprisingly good job of packing.  I wear or use almost everything that I brought with me.
• Whenever I end up back in an apartment in NYC, space is really not going to be a big deal.  As long as you’ve got good light and location, small spaces can be really cool.

Ghostbusters marathon on AMC.  My friend Ross said earlier that Ghostbusters completely shaped his image of New York as a kid.  I was thinking the same thing.  Toward the end of my 3 1/2 year stint in New York, I kept looking around wondering why I didn’t “feel” like it used to when I first got there.  I realize now that part of this was because I was trying to compare it to my presumption of how it seemed in Ghostbusters..  (and the rest of it was probably due to some sort of burnout, I guess..)

Anyway, I leave you with this, worth watching if you’ve got an hour and a half (thanks Liana for finding it!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

happy trails..

-d

Posted in: Life