It all started off as a joke. I was in Costa
Rica on the phone with my dad, and it was a
couple months or so before I was due to return to the U.S.
He informs me that my Uncle Lev in Los angles has an RV for sale for $2000 and
that I should just buy it and live in that! And “HAHAHAHA wouldn’t that be
silly?” Well I took it very much as serious suggestion. “That’s a great idea
dad! Thanks! Let your gypsy daughter be a gypsy for a minute.” I’ve been
changed to a desk job since I was 23 and after 5 years, I’ve had enough. Not
only do I hate cubicle corporate jobs, I hate their schedules, the people that
take it SO serious and the amount of over weight individuals out that just eat
their lives away and sit all day. It’s sad really, but enough about that. I was
moving back to America ,
with no car, no house, no job, with kitten. Yes, maybe I was a little crazy,
but damn it, it’s going to work out. The universe has a way of opening up and
pointing me in the right direction. I’m a survivor, highly adaptable and pretty
low-maintenance for a female. Living in an RV would be perfect! One in better
condition would be better, but beggars can’t be choosers. Thank God, I have
tons of amazing, wonderful friends that have helped me in so many ways. Without
them I wouldn’t make it. From the drives to the showers, to the laundry,
electricity, and much more; I am forever grateful.
I arrived to San Diego
March 7th and couch surfed, here there and everywhere. At my old
house sometimes where I used to live in PB a few other friend’s houses. But of
course the cat couldn’t be there because people had allergies or they wouldn’t
be allowed by the property owners, or people just plain hate cats. Its so crazy
to me how some could hate a cute little kitten. They’re just mad because cats
are smarter than they are. Cats are much smart than dogs and many humans out
there as well. So the cat would crash at other people’s houses on her own
sometimes, I somewhere else. Only had one accident really, at my friend Kevin’s
house. She ran circles around his apartment, peed on the bed and shit under it.
Needless to say Gatita is no longer welcome there…and no Kevin, my cat is not
part lynx. Although she is rather long…
I started
looking at RVs right away. I looked at a conversion van from like 76, rusty and
decrepit. I also looked at a bigger nice RV, but shit didn’t work and it wasn’t
registered yet. Then I saw this 82 Chevy Winnebago, silver, with a black stripe
around, a warrior chief decal on the door and playboy bunnies on the door
locks. And I was sold. It was small, only 19ft. and drove like a big van. I was
assured there was nothing wrong with it but the fridge and that was easy to
fix. It was $2000, and with a little love, could be a great little place to
live. Just enough room for me and the Gatita. Cozy, like my own little cave on
wheels.
So I bought
it. Not sure I really thought it through very well. I didn’t getting it checked
out by a mechanic or anything, nothing, just went with it for the color really.
Ya, don’t judge me. Here’s $2000 cash. I didn’t really realize what I was
getting myself into yet then. As it turns out, a lot goes into owning an RV.
Like getting it registered for one example. I’ve had for almost 3 months and
its still not complete. I’ve definitely had a night or two there in the
beginning where I cried, freaking about what the hell I was thinking buying a
freaking piece of shit RV. With a cat, what if she runs away? Or someone thinks
shes a stray? I can only imagine a kitten meowing out the window, trapped.
Looks like some evil animal cruelty to on-lookers. But with a little help from
some friends I got by just fine.
The first thing I did was clean the
shit out of the damn thing and tried to get it to stop smelling like exhaust
and other wonderful car fumes. Then there was tending to the mechanical issues.
It stalls out an average of 5 times when I would go to leave in the morning.
When I come to a stoplight or a red light and just give out. Especially going
up a hill. Scary, let me tell you. The brakes also sucked so I would coast
backwards, if there was a car behind me I was just roll right back into it.
Sooooo….fix that $400 issue and another $168 for the brakes and I’m good to go!
Ride those wheels of progress and momentum into the sunset!!! Start moving my
clothes in it. And finally got a new battery, so that I could at least have
lights on without the engine running. Having a space heater is key, let me tell
you. It gets cold in a metal box!! But that requires having an outlet. So you
need to plug-in something, can’t just park on the side of the road. I was also
told that cops will shoo you if you stay parked too long in place. So for that,
God created Walmart. Among other things, you can park there 24/7 (although some
of them are now banning it) A lot of parking lots like Vons and CVS even have
free wifi you can just play with in your home on the roam.
For the
first month I stayed parked at my friend Amy’s in the Barrio Logan. If you’re
not familiar with San Diego , it’s
just on the outskirts of downtown. And doesn’t have a very good reputation.
Because if I ever mention to someone that I am parked there, they freak out and
ask me what they hell I’m doing out that, and don’t I know that’s a dangerous
area?! Well honestly it’s not that bad. People are just racist against the Mexicans.
Yes, there’s a bum here and there too. But they’re friendly bums! Church going
families that sell goodies on the sidewalk. The other not scary bonus was that
we lived across from a warehouse where they had 24 hr security. We did get some
weirdoes out there every once in a while. But where don’t you?
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