I wrote a blog almost a month ago called Six Reasons Living in an RV is Better. Now I am writing the counterpoint to that position, the yin of my yang if you will. Living in a camper definitely has benefits compared to normal 8:00 am to 5:00 p.m. life. Less stress, more exercise and spontaneity are just a few, but there are some big pains in the ass as well. I don’t sugarcoat life, never have, so here we go six things I hate about living in a camper.
- Bad Weather-Sitting in your cozy living room in your house when a thunderstorm rolls through is no big deal, a little lightning and thunder maybe, but in a camper, it is an adventure at the least. It literally feels like you are enduring a 7.0 Earthquake on the Richter scale. In one of my first blogs, Shaken, not Stirred, I shared a story about one of these adventures. Allowing yourself to relax during bad weather in a camper is not easy. Our dog, Mac shakes like a leaf on a tree until the event is over. Sandra won’t let me dump any of the tanks before a storm. I guess she thinks the extra weight of the water serves as a good anchor to keep us on the ground. Probably not my top answer, but in the top three for sure.
- Bathroom Duties-Our main bathroom is right beside our living room in our camper. We have used quite a few cans of Lysol trying to spare each other the odors that have fumigated directly into the living room. My wife said she is taking me to the doctor when we get home because something’s dead inside of me. I told her, “I didn’t even know you f_____, and we have been married 35 years.” You can fill in the blank. This could be a flaw in our camper purchasing skills.
- Washing Clothes-I hate washing clothes! I despise washing clothes, and now I am having to go to a laundromat or campground washer dryer room. I haven’t had to do this since some time in the eighties. Loading up clothes in a basket and taking detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets to a laundromat works hard against my masculinity. You tend to wear your clothes much more than at home with the convenience of a washer and dryer. If it passes the sniff test it makes it another day. My next camper will have a washer/dryer combo.
- Washing Dishes-I put this one on the list just because of how convenient having a dishwasher would be. It sucks at times, but washing dishes has never really bothered me that bad, but Sandra has said the next camper will have a dishwasher somehow. This is number two on her list.
- Need My Space-Sometimes I need to be alone. I didn’t really need to be alone until I got older, but sometimes I need to decompress. Sandra has always needed her space; that is not a secret, so in the camper sometimes this can be a problem with two dogs and two people. I am at the Starbucks writing now just to get away for a minute. I know Sandra needs it today so she won’t kill me. I would hate for you guys to read about my untimely death in the Nebraska news section of the USA Today.
- Picking up Poop-Most campgrounds expect you to pick up your dogs’ poop. I get it, no one likes having dog poop on their shoes or where their kids are playing, but for the love of God can’t we have a little place sectioned off for poop to sit where it lies. You try your best not to squish it when you pick it up with your little blue poop bags, but sometimes you just can’t help it. I threw up a little in my mouth as I wrote that sentence. Then comes the worst part, you have to walk around with the bag in your hand like some kind of poop trophy. P.S.: it is kind of nice in your pocket if it is cold outside. This one is my biggest reason for hating life in a camper. Sandra just won’t let me put the dogs to sleep.
If the items above wouldn’t bother you in the least you are ready to hit the open road. I absolutely love living in my camper, but our trial is coming to an end. I hope you have enjoyed our blogs. We scored some Guns and Roses tickets for tonight’s concert, so I wasn’t sure I would be up for writing Wednesday for our normal blog day. We love you guys,
The Fools
I also decided to share a few blogs I found on this subject. The first one is hilarious.
I Hate Camping Especially with Kids by Scary Mom
9 Reasons You’ll Hate Camping-Never by Traveling Mom
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I would love to tell everyone we are financially independent and don’t have to make a living on the road, but that would be a lie. I would love to tell you that we are making a living off my writing, but we are not. We need additional income streams to survive while on this adventure, and that is the scary part about RV living.
Fast forward 25 years to the day I picked up our camper, April Fool. I grew up in a camping family, mostly when we were young, but we camped frequently in a pop-up camper. She was nothing like April. April has a shower, a stove, a refrigerator and even a television. She has her own bathroom, and I am sitting in my recliner as I write this blog.
1.Both places I have lived in my life have had extraordinary tasting water. That is not the case in many campgrounds, so the first one is the 
spots are not always level. Your camper has to be level to use your slide outs. These 
3. The third item I don’t even own but is the first purchase on my list of things to get when we start making more money with our blog. It is scary when you unhitch your camper from your truck, and it moves back six inches because of the incline you are on. I have other plastic chocks and bricks in my truck, but I have had more than one full timer tell me these 
camper you have multiple tanks of wastewater. You have gray water and black water tanks. I am sure you can figure out what they are far. These tanks have to be emptied, and they following item does not usually come with your camper. You will need something like the 
5. If you have ever had to hold the sewer hose while your wife lifts it up to get the last remaining bit of water out of the line and you got black water all over your hand (Think-Robin Williams-RV) then this next item is a must. It keeps the line flowing without having to get out and handle it every time you empty tanks, 
city water. It is an absolute must have device.
I woke up this morning and walked outside to a brisk 62-degree Nebraska morning temperature while sipping on my first cup of coffee. It was early; I always wake up earlier than everyone. My mind has not completely bought into the fact I can relax yet. Smiley (my lab mix) and I walked the campground listening to the early morning sounds when it dawned on me, we never have time to walk together at home. When I got back to my chair in the camper, I decided to write a list of why life is better in an RV.
Our first night in York, Nebraska we arrived around 9:30 p.m., and it was pretty uneventful. We spent the last hour of the day setting up our camper, and we were all in bed by 10:30 p.m exhausted from the road. The next day was pretty boring until we decided to cook on the grill late that afternoon. I noticed the clouds being sucked in from all directions into this large storm that was forming to the east of us. I didn’t think much of it.
