Flashback to March of 2020
Tim and I are living in a cabin at 10,000ft elevation in Pitkin, CO where we had to snowmobile up a mile and a half road that was waist deep in snow and then up an even steeper hill, that was our driveway, to get to our place we called home at the time. Not to mention the sled we pulled behind the snowmobile to transport our laundry, groceries, etc. The sled would tip over at times and we would lose everything that we had in it to transport and would have to go trenching through the snow to pick it all up to reload and start again. The snowmobiles didn’t always like to start after sitting all day while we were at work and it was always dark and always below freezing when I would get home at 6 or 7 o’clock at night. One night, I dropped the key to my snowmobile in the deep deep snow and we still never found it, even after the snow had melted and we had said our goodbyes. I was working at a consignment shop in Gunnison, CO. Approximately a 45 minute drive, that’s if there wasn’t a rancher moving his cows that day.
Tim had hurt his back installing sheetrock by himself on a job while working as a project manager, so he was mostly at home resting and in recovery while I trekked back and forth to a retail shop job. It was quickly becoming apparent the shop was going to be shut down in the next few weeks due to the pandemic which was escalating uncontrollably. Many mom and pop shops would be shut down and everyone was told to stay home and to stay safe. Masks were required everywhere. People were scared to step outside. Our lease was ending soon and we knew we had to make some decisions, and quick. Rent was, and still is, so ridiculously high in the valley that we knew we couldn’t afford to keep renting and had to think outside the box.
We started watching YouTube videos on full time rv living and doing our research on the most practical but nice camper to meet all the requirements and needs that we thought were the most important. That’s all we did, day and night. One of my top priorities was I didn’t want a wet bath, you know the ones that have the toilet in the shower. I wanted a traditional and good sized bathroom. I’m a girl and I like girlie things and showering,shaving, and getting ready was one of my top necessities. We also wanted plenty of storage because by this time, Tim had a 2 car garage full of his toys and hobbies which included about 8 RC (remote control) trucks and a 3D printer, along with all his tools for carpentry. We watched so many videos on this lifestyle and researched camper layouts and style and when we finally agreed on everything the Grand Design Imagine XLS 22MLE had to offer, we were sold! It was a newly released design at the time and we started calling around to every rv dealer in Colorado to see if they had it in stock and comparing prices to fellow retailers.
Our vehicle at the time was a 2014 Rubicon Jeep, in which the towing capacity was a little over 3,000. I’m telling you this because the Grand Design Imagine XLS 22MLE weighs in at 5,176 lbs dry weight, so we obviously needed a new vehicle as well. Thankfully, we had my step dad drive us to Windish RV in Lakewood, CO with his Ford pickup truck to pick up our brand new camper and drop it at my uncles campground, Colorado Heights Camping Resort, in Monument, CO where we were going to work for the summer to get our footing in this new lifestyle. In the meantime, we shopped around for a truck that was going to give us the pulling power we needed, while also being nice and somewhat luxurious in the inside because we were going to be spending the majority of our time in it, our vehicle was going to be our second home. I remember being down to, maybe $3 in our bank account and a little bit of cash. We were pulling into the Safeway parking lot to grab some groceries when Tim got a call from his insurance claim adjuster telling him they were offering $30,000 to settle his workmans comp for the back injury that incurred while working for his previous employer. We already had some money saved away and with this new money, we were able to buy a pre-owned 2015 Duramax outright.
We were still so clueless. Thankfully we had a lot of long time full timers we met at the campground to show us the ropes and give us tips on what we absolutely needed and what was, more of a luxury. No matter all the videos we watched and how prepared we thought we were, it was a completely different ball game when we were actually living it. Figuring out the space and design and all the little things you have to do to maintain a camper and the hitches and sway bars and leveling blocks and so on and son on. It was a lot to take in. Hell, we came to the campground with it and didn’t know anything about wheel chucks or leveling blocks and were using cinder blocks and cut wood but we made a list and starting learning more and more everyday. I am in no way, shape or form, saying we are experts now because we are still learning new things everyday but I will say that we do have a little experience under our belt now and I would love to share our experiences with you so you can learn from our trials and errors.
We worked at the campground on the weekends. I worked in the office with the guests and taking reservations, while Tim escorted guests to their campsites and was on call for maintenance of any sort. And during the week, we would take the camper out and boondock in all of our favorite places. We soon grew tired of being tied to one place and left the campground to set out on our own. We picked up jobs here and there and Tim landed a cabinet installer job after speaking with the owner of Central Colorado Kitchens while filling propane at the True Value in Buena Vista, CO. He’s incredible like that. Has 25+ years if experience doing carpentry and has a degree in engineering and can talk to anyone, and I mean anyone and have similar interests with them. He’s amazing, but that’s a whole other story.
On that note, I don’t want to continue with the story too much more, because there’s obviously bits and pieces and a plethora of great stories I left out in between. But, I wanted my first blog to start from the beginning of this crazy journey we have embarked on. Stay tuned as the saga continues and I share the growth I have encountered over the years.