Each year we have traveled, the last week or so was tricky because we were SO close to home and wanted to just scoot back. We loved our trip (most of the time!) but were looking forward to being back in our home, having a bit more space, having our things, a real shower and toilet and seeing friends again!
Our plan was to sleep in our camper on the street by our house the night of arrival since we weren’t sure if our tenants would be out in time or not. However, to our pleasant surprise, the tenants were gone by the time we arrived back early afternoon. It was a nice day so the girls played outside while Justin and I took inventory of what was in the house, checked everything over for potential damage, did a general wipe down and got all our beds prepared. Luckily I had made a bin filled with items we would need upon arriving back so it was fairly quick and easy.
Before arriving home we talked about the best way to unpack our house. It is A LOT of work to pack up an entire household so it’s ready to rent and that was a daunting task to think of doing for a potential future trip. We decided the best way to do it would be to try leaving all the things we don’t use on regular basis in the basement. We knew that would mean taking more trips up and down to the basement but it would save us a lot of time and headache on the front end of our next road trip.
It took us about 4 days to unpack things and by the time we had friends over our first weekend home Justin had almost finished a shelf for all my sewing supplies. I feel very fortunate that I have a husband who is so willing and able to create the things we need on a whim. I estimated how many bins and what sizes I would need for my sewing supplies and what not and Justin went to the store to gather them all.
In preparation for our first road trip Justin had created two separate rooms in our basement allowing us to lock up our things when renting out our home. These rooms also made for a natural separation and organization of our things. We separated the basement into the things I often get to such as my sewing supplies, clothes the girls have yet to grow into and office supplies and things Justin often dips into such as gear and electronics. It was fun to organize together and felt good not to bring lots of unnecessary things up into the main house.
Just a couple days after we had friends over to our home we heard in the news that COVID-19 had jumped from China to the US. We had started to fill up our pantry since we got home anyway but figured we should get a couple more things to be safe. Throughout the next week Justin went to various grocery stores every day getting me the supplies to make vegilicous meals I could freeze. Mind you our pantry, chest freezer as well as our fridge and freezer in our kitchen were all but bare. We just had the food that was left in Wobbles from our trip.
It was a VERY busy week shopping and preparing food to last our family for a bit. As you all know now, the virus started to spread quickly and we were soon cut off from social life as we knew it.
It soon became clear that all the things we had carefully planned out for when we got home were no longer safe. As of March 11th the girls and I stayed hunkered down at the house with occasional walks down the street while wearing masks and following social distancing. I became a one woman mask making factory with the help from sweet generous neighbors who donated fabric and thread and two friends helping me cut out the fabric. It was so very nice of folks and it felt good to be helping out in some way.
What crazy times! We never imagined anything like this ever happening in our lifetime. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who are surprised. I am very thankful we came home when we did and were able to see and hug friends before the pandemic grew to what it has become. I feel for the sweet families we have met over the years who are full time on the road. These are challenging times for all. We are home, safe, healthy, have food and are very grateful for all of that.
