Trailer Treasures...Not Trash

We've begun a new life... in a trailer. What it lacks in glamor is made up for in sheer insanity.

In the middle of a hectic second semester Chris began to feel uneasy about our living situation and wanted to consider another option. What was it that brought on this uneasiness? It could have been the countless men roaming the street in front of our apartment toting rottweilers on chains in the middle of the day. Or it could have been the Slatterys down the road that shot off fireworks during the night (well after the 4th of July). Whatever it was, we may never know. Somewhere in the beginning of the uneasiness Chris started researching RV's and RV living. Shayna was sure this was a passing stage... Chris was hooked after reading just a few geriatric RV blogs. The romance and adventure they promised on the open road seemed like the life we needed.

Shayna got on board with the decision to move after she discovered that Chris had been sleeping with a .40 by the bedside. She thought that maybe what Chris meant by trailer was actually a new apartment in a safer part of town (one that wasn't on the wrong side of the tracks...literally, we used to live across 2 sets of railroad tracks). At some point she realized that this may be the only dream that Chris would ever have in his life... and she let him run with it. Shayna eventually thought it would be fun to live in a trailer, probably partially from the peer pressure of having had half of her siblings (Sunde, Kody, and Kasey and their families) begin their marriages in trailers... and they turned out great!

So during some of Chris' "free time" (mainly during 2 very boring classes that shall forever remain a secret) he looked on Craigslist, marketplace, and many other online listings, for our dream RV and truck. Ironically, at the end of our search, it was Shayna that found both the truck and the RV.

The truck was mislisted for the Nashville area (2 hrs from McKenzie), but was actually down in Mobile Alabama (7 hrs away). We thought that was the end of it, but the people had family up near Nashville and were willing to meet us there the next day. After a few test drives, Black Beauty was ours, it was definitely meant to be. We had to neuter the poor thing (his 3 inch Body Lift scared Chris when it came to towing... and we couldn't find anyone that was willing to do a custom 5th wheel installation).

Our RV is a diamond in the rough. An older couple in Kentucky had babied it for 9 years and felt that their RVing days were over. Alan, the previous owner,  thought Chris was a scammer at first because his cell number is from Utah, but soon he learned that we were quality RV wannabes. The correspondence over email was like having a pen pal while in middle school ( I think we totaled over 70 emails in the month before we picked up the RV). On the day when we brought our baby home, Chris drove 3 hours north to Kentucky, had breakfast with our new RV pals, and headed home... Papa Mike would have been proud. Chris took a wrong turn 5 miles down the road (y'all out west have no idea the maze of country roads we live by) and made a 16 point turn in a little clearing. No other mishaps occurred, and the long awaited Ruby (short for Starcraft Aruba... we thought the nickname made it sound like a granny with flair... basically what she is) was home at last... er... she is the home now... so I guess we we're home at last.

Chris' buddy Chris (from school) hooked us up with a place to park our home. He rents from the most amazing landlord EVER, the 100% southern grandpa, Jimmy. He is a member of the Church of God of Prophecy (and proud of it... we love him!).  We're parked up on his acreage a ways out of town. Call us crazy, but we love our new home on wheels.

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