Fulltiming is Serious Downsizing

While we realized our decision to live full time in a motorhome would require a near total liquidation of our stuff, we more or less had forgotten about all the boxes stored in the attics of our home and barn. Some of these boxes haven't been looked at in nearly 40 years! These boxes have just moved with us each time we changed houses over the years. If we were just moving to a smaller house or apartment many of these boxes could, once again, move along with us. Not this time however. A lot of people would say if you haven't needed anything in the box for ten years you should just chuck it. I just have to have a look, so every time we stay in the motorhome I take a couple boxes with me and go through them. It's like how to eat an elephant; one bite at a time. Once I flip a box upside down I find all kinds of interesting things like old property deeds, 35 year old tax returns, cancelled checks from the 70s, old photos of family and past flames. The bulk of it has found a new use; start the campfire!

Our Good Bye Cards are Printed

Before leaving we wanted to have a nice card printed with our contact information and web address; something better than a scrap of paper to leave with friends, neighbors and acquaintances. So, with Greg's help, we created the "Good Bye" card you see here.

I got the cards printed at this print shop in the Bronx. Note the used car dealer next door with the razor wire fence. Ten years ago I wouldn't have gotten out of my car in a neighborhood like this. Today, after working in the city for 12 years, I walk almost daily in neighborhoods like these. This is just two blocks from where Greg was stopped by an NYPD cruiser last week. The police just wanted to see if he knew where he was and whether he understood that this was a bad neighborhood. I guess he stood out from the crowd with his large backpack making him look like a college student ready for a trek across Europe.

Get More from your RV Drawers.

While I am generally pleased with layout and design of our motorhome I think the kitchen drawer arrangement could be better. As you can see in the photo above there are four kitchen drawers; all of them very deep. While these drawers are good for pots and pans, where does your silverware or cutlery go?

To provide a place for silverware I added a divided tray that slides left and right on two wood tracks I installed. The divided tray is just a common plastic drawer insert to which I added a wood frame. Now the drawer is doing double duty!

To the bottom drawer I added a J. A. Henckels cutlery holder I already had. This just needed to be cut down a little so that it now fits perfectly on the two tracks I added to the drawer.

To make the peninsula drawer more functional I added a sliding tray to hold a few desk items we use daily. A ream of printer paper fit perfectly below the tray.

Cooking on a Campfire

When I built a new fire pit at our campsite I sized it to fit a Weber replacement grill we got at Walmart. Anxious to try it out, I soaked some fresh corn in water for 30 minutes and placed it over some hot coals along with some oysters. I cooked the corn for 20 minutes turning it every so often. It came out just perfect! It seems to have more flavor and is juicier as well. Since then we have cooked it at home over the gas grill with the same results. Martha sez: It was better at the campsite because we didn't get corn silk and burnt husks all over the kitchen floor!

When you cook the corn with the husk on you also get an additional bonus; a built in handle. Late summer corn is soooooo good!

My First Kiva Loan

Today I made my first Kiva loan to a woman named Floriza in Chanchamayo, Peru. Floriza is a 45 year old woman who has six children and has been a widow for 15 years. With the help of her children she is able to grow pineapples, bananas, cassava, corn and coffee. Using the money she earns from selling her crops, Floriza is able to pay her household expenses. Floriza has requested a loan of $375 to purchase organic fertilizer so she can stabilize her production and have a harvest that results in larger coffee beans. This loan has now been fully funded by myself and 13 other Kiva members. We will be repaid over the next 12 months. To learn more about Kiva click here: Kiva loans that change lives To read more about Floriza's story click here: Floriza