So why did we leave the RV? It wasn’t because it wasn’t comfortable – because it was! We are still impressed on how much we were able to bring without the RV feeling stuffed. It wasn’t because we didn’t love the lifestyle of traveling around – because we did! A LOT.
So why have we left the RV (and I keep prefacing this with.. for now)? Two things really.
One, we needed a physical address to register our car. This car saga has been something that has been horrible since December. Needless to say, not only will we never buy a Honda, but we will never be able to recommend Honda of Covington in Louisiana. EVER. We are still so bummed our Jeep started having problems while we were on the road because we hate the car payment, hate the car and hated the entire experience. So long story short, our previous state didn’t recognize us as residents because we didn’t have a physical address. So we needed a physical address to register the car, which is kinda hard considering we were in an RV with – you got it! No physical address. While we knew domicile states might have been an option, what we didn’t want to do was register the car in say, Texas – and than have to re-register when we got to a state where we found employment. So we decided on Portland, Oregon to go back to work – but needed to get there. Nothing like having a dealership threaten you with calls about stealing a car when you are making payments. Did I mention this experienced sucked? So that is reason number 1.
Reason number 2 is a little bit harder to explain, but in summary. RV Parks are loud. LOUD. LOUD. If you’ve been reading since we started planning this whole journey, one of the options if we couldn’t find remote work was to stay near a big city in an RV park and take contract work. Perfect right? Keep traveling, keep the expenses low. etc, etc. A few months into traveling, we knew this wasn’t going to be an option. Basically – I couldn’t get good sleep. And me without sleep = not pretty.
I am unfortunately a light sleeper. Most RV parks, especially those within commuting distance to a city are in louder industrial areas. Take for example here in Portland. The first few weeks we were here, we stayed at a park reasonably close to the city & close to the MAX. Perfect as a long term solution, right? Not so much. Between the constant planes overhead as we were in a flight path, to the noise on the river, the trains at night, and the loud diesel engines within the park, arriving in the spot next to us at 1am, or getting up for work at 3am, I didn’t get any sleep. While we were traveling, the solution was naps! Not so easy when you have to go to work all day.
Anyway – so now that the car is registered, we can cross one of the reasons off the list. But the other still sucks. There are parks 20-30 miles out that are probably nice & quiet – but that also means we are commuting at least an hour, with the possibility of us needing another car. As it is, we are thinking of ditching the car altogether.
We decided to continue on our ‘Life is All About Experiences’ path, and we made the decision to rent in a high rise in downtown Portland. We’ve both never lived in a highrise, so why not? We knew where I would be working, and it is 1.5 miles to work one way & I walk it every day. Keith ended up getting a contract, also in downtown. He walks about .7 miles to work.
And the reason I keep saying …for now, is we both really liked the RV traveling lifestyle & need to find a way to support it. With a few of our bright ideas out the window because of our experiences at RV Parks (not all bad mind you, but we like state parks much more), and the fact that we had a challenge finding remote work in our fields, we need to do more research to see what will work for us, and support our love for traveling the country.
The good news is, we really love Portland as a city and will enjoy our time here while we pay off some more debt & start saving again. Next up – why we chose Portland instead of moving the first place that offered one of us a job!
As terrible as it might have been, it sounds like the whole car incident was meant to happen for the best. It’s awesome that you have found a city that you like so much that, even after seeing the other options out there, you want to settle down there. After over four years of living in our RV, we haven’t.
One thing of note though. I know a lot of light sleepers, not just RVers, that wear ear plugs when they sleep. It’s the only way that they can get any Zs.
Living downtown in a highrise has perks. Especially in a lovely city like Portland. There was a time when we just adored living in one in downtown Chicago. I still miss the food sometimes.
Best Wishes!
hitekhomeless(jenn) recently posted..Chicken Pluckin’
Hey Jenn,
Settle down is an interesting term.
Right now we have only signed a 9 month lease so that might end up being as settled as we get. We might be here 3 years. Who knows – but it is a pretty awesome city and we dig being downtown. And oh the food…I can imagine Chicago being a pretty prime spot too!
So about ear plugs – I tried it for a few nights, because I had heard that suggestion. What I didn’t like was one, the way they felt – but most importantly, the fact that I couldn’t hear ANYTHING. While you think that would be a good thing, me being a bit paranoid didn’t like it. I wouldn’t be able to hear any alarms, someone trying to break in….I think I may have gotten less sleep because I couldn’t adapt. Ah well…
We lived for 60 years in the Portland area and it has a lot to offer. you have hit it at a good point in the weather cycle. Summers in Portland can be great. I finally got tired of the mist and gloom. Portland has about 250 cloudy days.
The majority of RV parks across the country have noise of some sort. Many people will tell you that it seems like a requirement of an RV park is that it be near railroad tracks. Of course there are the diesel pickups and motorhomes that make noise too. It seems like you need to figure out how to deal with this noise. I know several people who use white noise machines that play wave sounds or rain sounds, etc. Others use earplugs. Others leave a radio on low. There are lots of solutions that could help you with this.
It seems like your dealer must have had some requirement to confirm that any car they sale be licensed. You must have some address that you use for your mail ( a daughter or somewhere) that you could have used to license the car. Then you could have changed that when you got to Oregon and established residency there.
Have you kept your motorhome or have you sold it?
Good luck with your adventures in Portland.
Doug,
Wow! 60 years in the Portland area – you must have seen some changes! We actually planned this good weather cycle, and hopefully will soak enough sun in to get us through the winter.
While I didn’t mention it, we always had a fan on to create background noise – which helped in quieter areas to smooth things out. Unfortunately anything too loud and it would give Keith a headache. I know – we are a fussy bunch! I also mentioned in the other comment my dislike of ear plugs. I hated not being AWARE of noises I wanted to pay attention to.
As for the car – we did not have anyone in our state that we could have used – no family and no close enough friends. While we could have used family, they were in other states – which meant after registering a car you usually have to change over other things like your license, car insurance, etc. That just seemed like more work that it was worth and WAY more costly (based on where our folks are). We went round & round trying to figure out all of the different options, and knowing that we had to get back to work after the car breakdown & the cost of Samantha’s surgery, picking a city made sense.
We absolutely have the RV still – and plan on keeping it. If we stay here awhile, our plan is to use it as a ‘vacation’ home – maybe near the water during the summer and over in Bend to soak up the sun during the winter. We also are not entirely sure we will stay here long term. We are still trying to figure out how to balance it all and the dream of RV-ing is by no means dead. Just…delayed.
We’re just across the river on the Vancouver side. We lived here years and years ago but were transplanted to Texas. Since our kids finally moved back to the Pacific NW, we spend our summers here. We love the summers and the cooler weather. It’s definitely hard to beat. However, like you we also love the RVing lifestyle. We just love it.
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, we really like the whole travel with the house & furry kids thing. We are also looking forward to spending the summer here – I bet it’s cooler than the texas heat!
Any tips on where to stay within an hour or so of Portland?