Karma, Crying, & Superwoman - A day in the life of a full time solo female RVer 5/27/19

Do you ever feel like obstacles are put in your way to test your endurance and strength? Or do you feel like ‘bad things’ happen to you because of karma or just ‘your luck?’ I think that no matter how you look at it…those obstacles and ‘bad things’ are still going to happen. The only thing that you can control is how you react to those things. For instance, I reacted a number of different ways in the past 24 hours towards the obstacles placed in my way. Unfortunately I am a believer in karma and I’m a tad OCD. A lot of people do not know this but I feel that it is relevant to share so I can continue this story.

I frequently count in my head. I count things in 2’s or even numbers. While I am driving I will count letters on billboards, letters on semis, numbers on license plates. If you ever see me just staring in the distance or not talking I am probably counting. I don’t know why I do this. I have an obsession with even numbers. I have to fill my gas tank up to an even number, the radio sound has to be an even number, my instagram followers has to be an even number. I also obsess at times with touching things 8 to 10 times. Especially door knobs. When the OCD gets bad I will shut and open a door 8 to 10 times or shake the door handle. This is all fine, I don’t mind it. I don’t mind it until it makes me late or it starts to take too much time. For instance some times I will touch a door knob 8 or 10 times…for 2 or 3 rounds…until it feels ‘like I did it right.’ Isn’t that interesting? Even as I write this I am judging myself. Ha! I do not know what triggers these actions and I do not know why it is worse some times than others, Its just happens. My OCD does tell me that if I don’t ‘do something right’ or shut the door an even amount of times then something bad will happen. Literally, this is my thought process. “Where is that $10 I had in my fanny pack? Oh no! It’s gone, it probably flew out of my fanny pack when I was getting a doggie bag earlier! Thats what I get for not filling the gas tank up to $86.42!” See where I am going with this…A little odd. Anyone else have the same tendencies?

Let’s move on with the story. When ‘bad things’ started to happen to me 24 hours ago my OCD brain kicked in and told me…’you are being punished for something you didn’t do right earlier. This is karma, now pay your dues.’ The 2nd way I reacted was to cry and book a flight back to Kentucky so I could live in a brick home, get a job, and have no ‘surprises.’ Then, the 3rd way I reacted was to put on my gloves, tie my shoes, and start fixing my so called ‘problems.’ I will call the 3rd type of thinking as Super Woman thinking. Cause some times you have to be your own super hero.

I am sure you are wondering at this point, ‘What were some of the bad things? Get on with it! We don’t have all day…we actually have jobs and children and I can only sit on the toilet for so long!’ Well, I will tell you! Just give me a second to build the suspense.

Yesterday I left White City outside of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Which was wonderful and if you haven’t read my last two blog post, you must go and read them after you put everyone to bed! There are pretty pictures! I guess I had about a 5 hour drive, it was 90 degrees, and sunny when I took off. The last 2 hours of the drive were a struggle! I have never encountered such strong winds! Imagine going 70 MPH on 2 lane roads in New Mexico where the speed limit is 75 MPH which really means everyone is going 90 MPH’s. Then imagine you are driving a solid brick that sucks gas down these highways and sometimes when you go up steep hills (which is every 5 minutes) you are only going 60 MPH and then everyone driving behind you greatly dislikes you…and shows it. Then imagine (Im almost done) that winds are hitting you from the left and right flanks at 30 MPH’s and literally pushing you off the road. And sometimes almost pushing you straight into the side of another RV or Semi. Okay, got your image now? Good. An hour into it, I give up trying to go close to the speed limit and I cruise behind a struggling semi going 45 mph. Perfect. Almost. Close enough. At least now everyone can be mad at both of us. There is power in numbers. Oh and at this point the wind is blowing faster than we are driving. So, after all that I could have just told you it was a ‘rough drive.’ Alas, I do not think that would have gotten my point across.

So, there is some water but you can't swim in it. It's for irrigation.

Okay, so I pull into the camp site which is a state park and has beautiful photos online showing crystal clear water pouring from a dam, with a beach, and people playing on the beach. Wonderful! I can’t wait to see it! I pull into my pull-thru spot which is nice and big! I have no neighbors and a big yard! Terrific. I get out, start setting up which usually takes me about 15 minutes to complete. I usually plug my electric in first because it takes it a moment to kick on and then I can run the air conditioner for the dogs while I continue to set up in the hot sun…who do you think is in charge here? So, blah blah. On we go and now I am set up. Oh! No electric…Hmm that’s weird. Oh wait! No water either? What is going on? No camp ground host, no ranger, no explanation. Well, this sucks. Oh thank goodness a nice fellow camper walked by and shared that they haven’t had electric or water for an hour. Oh and he hasn’t seen a ranger and doesn’t know if anyone is working on it…Why did I pay for water and electric if there is no water or electric? Okay, this is not a time to be petty. Stay calm. At the moment I tell myself to stay calm I turn around to look at my RV and that’s
when I see it. The awning that hangs over my extension. (this is the part of the kitchen that extends out and makes the RV bigger when I am stationary.) The purpose of the awning over the extension is to protect the metal roof of the extension from rain and weather which ultimately keeps the inside of the RV from getting wet or dripping. Guess what? The awning has a 8 inch rip in it and the awning is now tangled up. This rip either happened on the road while I was attempting to go 65 MPH with 30 MPH winds or it happened when I extended the extension which gave the wind a chance to grab the awning and rip it. So, this is sucky thing number 2. Quickly I thought of crying and giving up and then I decided to put my Wonder Woman panties on and start calling mobile RV mechanics. (I may have a guy in phoenix that can help!) So, this repair will have to wait…it’s not major and I can still drive but I just know its inconvenient and expensive. Now we are on a roll! Woo Hoo Next up, I spot a ranger and decide to join his conversation with 2 other campers. He is no help. Why am I surprised? He says he knows about the outage and ‘they are working on it.’ Cool, dude. No personality what so ever. Love it.

Nice large campsite! 

It’s been about an hour and I have to go to the bathroom. Yes, I have my own bathroom but when I pay to stay somewhere I use their rest room as much as possible. And remember I have no electric or water. And I mean I have to go to the BATHROOMMM. After moments of trying to fight it I get out of the RV and run to the campground bathroom. LOCKED. Duh, because they have no water! Moments go by in anticipation. Finally, the electric comes on! Oh my gosh! You can hear fellow campers clap with approval and air conditioners start to roar. I run outside to check the water, BOOM, it works! I hook up the water, turn the air conditioner on and then run to the camp grounds bathroom. STILL LOCKED. No one moves fast around here! Ugh do I have to do everything myself? I literally stand there until I wave a ranger down to come unlock it. If his eyes could roll that’s all they would have done. Have you ever waited so long to go to the restroom that now you can’t go? That happened to me. So, I left the restroom defeated. Maybe later.

Before I 'fixed' her...

Okay time to take a break if you need one! Ha! Don't worry...I'll wait!

A few hours go by, I enjoy the air conditioning, I ride my bike, I look at the beautiful beaches and dam that are not beautiful at all. There is no water and no beach. Go figure. Super woman…Super woman…you can do this. At this point it is getting dark, I didn’t take a shower yesterday, and I think I have to go to the restroom finally! I pack my shower stuff and take off for the restroom. The toilets and showers are separate so I go in a stall and thank goodness go to the restroom. Wooooo. I play on my phone and as I am wasting time scrolling through Instagram I hear 2 women come into the restroom! Oh No! There are only 2 shower stalls. Shit! I hurry up and exit my stall only to watch them both shut the doors to both showers! Right in front of my face as I am standing there with my shower bag obviously waiting to shower! How rude. -Eye Roll- Thats karma…that is what I get for sitting on the toilet 8 extra minutes scrolling through celebrity profiles and wishing my thighs were as small as theirs. I angrily march back to the RV and curse New Mexico. (Because that is the state I am in and at this point I am over it.) Super woman…Super woman. Okay, well at this point I guess I could eat while they take their wonderful showers. I fry up some hamburger meat to use in a naked burrito bowl and make a salad at the same time. I finish making the salad and wipe down the counter. (I like to clean as I go!) And just like that, I’m not paying attention and my giant long fingers swipe past the salad bowl and knock it over! My goat cheese is every where…at least I have a nice clean counter top to eat it off of now. At this point I laugh cry and move on. Eat my dinner angrily and then stare outside until the two shower thief’s leave. After their long luxurious showers they finally prance out of the bathroom and into their fancy car that is not a 99 Honda CRV. I hope it gets terrible gas milage.

Can you guess the condition of the shower? Well its soaking wet from ceiling to floor…not sure what they did in there and you have to push the handle every 20 seconds to keep the water running. Oh, and it’s freezing cold. Wonder Woman… Wonder Woman… At least I have a temporarily clean body and hair follicles. At this point I tell myself just be thankful you got a shower, a full belly, ingredients to make a Michelada, and a roof over your head. This is what you signed up for…adventure.

As I am brushing my hair the bathroom door opens and a little girl with a head lamp on enters. She is very cute and says hello. Her mom follows. I grab my belongings and get out of the way so they can enjoy the restroom in peace. As I open the door towards myself and go to step into the now cool darkness of the desert I am greeted by something…someone…I can’t comprehend what is happening. It all happened so fast and it is so dark now. I didn’t plan for the darkness. As my Wonder Woman scream exits my body a large hairy black creature tries to enter the restroom! Then a naked squatted creature crawls about and holds onto the long haired black beast. As I am screaming another woman behind the creatures screams and in this moment I knew this was it. I knew the moment my pepper spray was in the bottom of my shower bag was the moment all my nightmares were going to come true. In a split second my brain told me that a wild boar had been captured by Gollum and they were attempting to kidnap me. I’m outnumbered, out planned, and out of luck! My heart races and whole body starts to sweat when I realize my fate. Oh wait…why am I laughing now? Oh! Because my brain has realized that is not a wild boar…oh and that is not gollum! Thank goodness…but what are these things doing crouched by the woman’s bathroom door at 10:00 at night! The ‘things’ were a black dog on a leash held back by a little boy with no shirt on and their mother standing behind them apologizing through her laughter. I could have cried I was so happy. The boy looked up at me and said, ‘Did you see the spider? He went under the door! Is he in there?’ Shit! A spider! I can’t handle this, I jump and move my feet and look at the mother for help. She chimed in, ‘Oh it was small! We are so so sorry! My son was trying to look at the spider with the dog.’ She stopped and cracked up some more. At this point my hands are on my knees and I am stooped over catching my breathe and laughing. They were with the mother and daughter which were in the restroom still and they were waiting on them. I just so happened to be the next person to exit and think someone was attempting to kidnap me. We had a good laugh about it and all went our separate ways.

I cried when I got in the RV, locked the door, and searched for spiders.

I hope you got some laughter or joy out of this story. Because, this is just my reality. When I quit my job, sold my brick home, got rid of all my things…I didn’t escape life. Life still happens. Today still happened. I still had to get on top of my RV and tape my awning down. I still had to drive an hour in 30 MPH winds to my next camp site. I am still sitting here in my RV with the extension in (because I can’t extend it out until the wind stops at an estimated 8:00 PM tonight) I am still sitting here in 5 sq ft of space with Charlie breathing on my shoulder while I write this entry. And you know what? I still have my Super Woman panties on and will continue to push on and look at the challenges of this life as lessons and use them to make me stronger! I will also laugh at myself along the way!


We’ve got this Super Women!