My husband and I are presently homeless. That is to say, we are between having sold our house here in battle Creek and buying another house in Wisconsin after Jeff retires in order to be close to our grandchildren. All during a pandemic! What a year. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, his last year of retirement. We envisioned parties year long. Instead, there is isolation and social distancing.

In the meantime, friends have loaned us their 25’ RV trailer for shelter. We have been tent campers, and backpackers, but spending one night in an RV, let alone 2-1/2 months, was a new adventure for us.

We originally thought it would be very much like camping, since we’ve seen many RVs at state park campgrounds. We also figured that we would be one of the few people living long-term in an site RV. We were also thinking that we would be the only car or van at the park which would be unable to move the RV. And lastly we thought a 25’ RV was huge. We also thought that spotty Internet connection at the park was accurate. Ha on us. None of those are true.

So what is it like to live in this RV in this RV park at Camp Turkeyville, Marshall, Michigan?

Living in such close proximity to each other is not a problem for Jeff and me. Perhaps this is because we’ve spent so little actual time together in our 42 years of marriage because of his demanding work, with one day off a week. But making our way sidestepping around the bed, or not being able to bend over in the shower, or choosing which 10 clothing items get a hanger preference are a few of the unique things of RV life.

The airplane toilet with flush-pedal-on-the-floor took some getting used to. And bless Jeff’s heart, he is the one who drains the gray and black tanks. Another new experience.

Although, when he gave himself a reminder on his iPhone to drain the the gray water, the recording came back to “drain the Great Lake Lakes”.

People are not really camping here. In the past two weeks, there has only been one fire in a fire pit of our close 50/300 neighbors. Many people use their RV site as a summer cabin, paying for the season. There is a swimming pool at the park. Kids tend fill the pool on the weekends, or free range children buzz around The gravel roads on their bicycles. And golf carts. So many people have golf carts. Unexpected. People also use their RV as a place to stay while working away from home, like the man in the huge RV next to us with five slide outs, who works in construction. His family came to visit once for a few days.

There are also five other sites used by people who are between houses like we are.

A day off of work and a full day of thunderstorms, with no Internet to stream movies, makes for an interesting challenge, in a 25’ RV. This is nothing like we imagined it would be like, living in an RV park.Worse is a night of thunderstorm warnings – lightening, winds, hail, rain – with the trailer jiggling all over and no place to go.

Camp Turkeyville itself, though, has interesting nuances. Turkeyville is a restaurant that used to be a farm. The menu is all turkey. It also has a dinner theater. It’s a fun place to visit. There are also a few cows a donkey a small herd of goats and of course a flock of turkeys. The Mid Michigan railroad club also has a train track through part of the area. There is a small pond where children can catch and release fish, as well as one woman who rides in her golf cart with her little purse dog to watch the sunrise each morning over the pond.

There are lots of other interesting things living in an RV. Perhaps another blog post.

I imagine just when we will feel we are getting used to living tiny, Jeff will retire, and afterwards off we go to live in a real house once again, which shall seem huge!