Moving In
We have dreamed about moving into our RV and last week we finally did it! In our perfectly planned dream, we would be retired and traveling around our beautiful nation experiencing all the wonders our great God has created. In our reality, we have stepped out in faith to build a home on our farm. We will live off grid for the next 4-6 months while we build our home. We are so excited to begin this adventure! We still have some work to do around our “campsite” but here is our “home”!
Outdoor seating 
Outdoor Dining/Study area 
The Challenges
I love the layout of our 31MB because it has a big open living/kitchen and 2 bedroom spaces! There is even a large pantry and island in my kitchen. The sofa has 3 reclining seats too, so it is perfect for our family of 3 to live in. We have plenty of room for our food and clothes, but where am I supposed to put shoes? I like things put away in their place, so I spent a lot of time planning the best use for all our RV storage spaces before we moved in. Here is a link to see the layout and pictures of the Grand Design 31MB https://www.granddesignrv.com/app/floorplan/689. This is our 6th RV and my favorite floor plan so far!
In the Pantry, I added these storage shelves from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WW6ZP7F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 so that I can stack my storage containers more efficiently. I also purchased a can rack like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZS5OPOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to make better use of the vertical storage on the pantry shelves. We haven’t tested this while traveling yet!
One thing I dislike is drying my dishes on the countertop. A dish rack is just another item to store, so I purchased this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M8GXG9K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to fit over my sink. I love that it frees up my counter space and when I’m not using it, it is virtually invisible.
Dishes drain directly into the sink! 
The sink top drain easily rolls out of the way when not needed!
Our Water Source
We had a professional well company dig our well which ended up at 785 feet deep. We had no other choice since there is no water available at the main road. It was a very expensive well! We are currently having the water tested for the second time because the first test came back with high levels of bacteria. This could have been due to bacteria in our water hose or even the casing that was installed when it was drilled. There is a state required protocol that we have followed to shock the well and have it tested again. If the levels are still high, we will install a water treatment system that will make it safe for drinking. I’m using store bought water for drinking and cooking until it is safe. For now, we fill our 30 gallon tank in the RV every day or so from the well pump to use for showers/toilet. By doing this, we only run the well pump while we fill the RV Freshwater Tank which takes 5-10 minutes. The water pump inside the RV allows us to use the water without electricity because it runs on the RV battery. Which brings me to our next challenge…
Electricity
No electricity! The timing of our move looked like it would coincide with a change in our weather to cooler temperatures. Since that did not happen, we have been using a generator to run our air on the RV when temperatures are uncomfortable. Jamey is working on our Solar Power System which I will cover more about in another post for the farm. It will be sufficient to run everything for the RV, Well Pump, my Washing Machine and gas Dryer. Running the generator all day and night costs us around $10 per day. That’s actually less than our monthly electric bill was at our house and definitely less than staying at a campground! The disadvantages of running the generator are having to fill it every day and listening to it. It’s not terribly loud, but not exactly quiet either. When the temperatures drop, we will only run it in the morning for coffee and in the evening for a couple of hours to charge our computers for work/school. The solar should be up and running in the next 2 weeks! We will have the generator for backup use on those extra cloudy days.
Waste Water
No one likes to talk about this part! Most RV’s have waste water tanks called gray water or black tanks. These vary in size. We can usually go 3 days before filling our gray tanks from washing hands and showering. The black tank is for the toilet use and it takes 2-3 weeks to fill under our normal use. When we stay at a full hook up site, we can connect the gray and black tanks to a septic/sewer system and drain the waste water tanks directly into that system. Jamey is also installing a septic system to connect our RV waste water so that we can properly dispose of it. If he didn’t have experience installing a septic system, we would be paying someone to do it. It is absolutely necessary to dispose of waste water properly!
What We Love
Every morning we wake to a beautiful sunrise shining into our bedroom window. Coffee outside as we begin our day, thanking God for all the love and blessings He gives. It’s all the little things. Grass blowing in the wind; the diversity of the clouds in the sky; so many varieties of butterflies; just too many things to list. There is such a peace and tranquility that we are so grateful for!
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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