It’s been a wild ride, friends. Buckle up for a rollercoaster of a life update.

Home Sweet Home

We bought our home in 2010 when the Obama administration was giving all first time homebuyers an $8000 tax credit. That was hectic and stressful. We needed a house; we both had jobs in the Twin Cities so we had to leave Rochester. The house we now live in was the very first house we looked at, and we loved it immediately. But it was a little over budget so we looked a metric ton more houses. Long story short, we worked it out, bought the house and it really felt meant to be. It’s a great house! It has a 1 car attached garage and a huge 2+ detached garage. A nice size yard for dogs and parking for the camper. We’re biking distance to everything in Minneapolis, with the luxury of a suburban yard. But it isn’t all sunshine and roses. The two downsides we accepted when we bought the house: it’s a twin home (a duplex, but the only shared wall is the garage) and it is next to the I-94 sound wall.

Twelve years have passed since we moved in and the town has seen some changes.

Crime has been on the rise everywhere since it seems everyone lost their mind during the pandemic. The crime here has gone from random stoned kids stealing snacks from my unlocked car to shootings. Twice this year there have been shootings within half a mile of our house and many more within about 5 miles away. To be clear, we don’t feel unsafe – we obviously weren’t the targets, but I worry about stray bullets. The more recent shooting that really shook me was a car thief shooting at the cops. In the afternoon. In an area I walk the dogs every single day. We are tucked away in a little neighborhood no one really knows about. The old timer boomers have been selling and moving away and several young families have moved in, which does give me hope for the future. But in the commerce area of town (Walmart, Applebees, LA Fitness area), it’s not great, Bob.

Should we full-time RV?

If you’ve followed our blog or Instagram for any amount of time, you know how badly my soul longs to see the country. We’ve gone back and forth for a few years about selling the house, downsizing and moving into an RV. We had lots of real conversations about it this summer and reluctantly agreed it probably just isn’t in the cards for us for many reasons. I like the stability of home, and Jamey thrives on predictability and routine. But, we still love camping and can be weekend warriors, month long trip takers until the end of time.

So we’ll stay put in our great home. Problem solved!

Should we buy a new house?

But the crime … I mean, there are lots of shootings in this area … should we move? We’re older now, I’m in a better place in my career, we could afford more now. There are things I wish I had in my house that just aren’t possible in this one …

Every week we get a postcard saying “I want to buy your home as is” but I always tossed them away. What if I just got a quote? What could happen? So I got a quote. It was more than I expected, but less than I wanted. Well, now curiosity got the best of me so we met with a realtor. She thought we could get oodles more than I expected, the housing market has been on fire after all.

What’s the harm in seeing what’s out there, right? Let’s just look and see what homes in our price range are like, and if it’s worth the enormous pain in the ass of decluttering, cleaning, listing, showing, moving, unpacking …

When we mentioned to friends and family we were thinking about moving, we were met with a collective “oh, thank god.” Anyone who knows the metro area or follows local news, hears the Brooklyn Center often in the news and not typically for good reasons.

Twentybagillion houses later, two really stood out, but at the very top of our budget. So I bent myself into a pretzel trying to think of what we could cut back on, what could we give up entirely to make this work? If we had a bigger down payment, this would be easier. If we sold the camper, we could have a bigger down payment! But do we want to sell the camper? I love the camper. Who is buying a camper in September anyway? And then interest rates went up TWICE. The house we liked best still had some downsides. We talked it over and decided it wasn’t worth A) selling the camper B) paying several hundred dollars more each month C) the stress of panic cleaning, listing, moving to make a close date when we haven’t even started decluttering.

This discussion and decision was made around 10 pm, over pizza and beer after a long day of work and house showings. So when we both agreed that we’d hit the breaks on moving, take the winter to declutter and freshen up and revisit the question in the spring, I actually broke down in tears of relief. I know that sounds silly, but I had no idea how much stress that had been on my shoulders. Making the choice to go slow, do this on our time, is the right call. If it’s meant to be, the right house will find us again, like this one did over a decade ago.

That’s a relief. Let’s go camping!

We’re staying put! We’re keeping the camper! Our house is great and so conveniently located to all the things! Great choice, high fives all around. Let’s go to Duluth, unwind, have one last great camping trip in my favorite place.

On the road again. Talking future house dreams. A deck! A hot tub? Are we too old to move into a split level house? (My dad sure thinks we are!)

And then suddenly, we got a flat tire.

No big deal, we already had a flat once this year. We’ll just call up AAA and get them to put on the spare (one day, we will buy the RV tire jack and Jamey will master this skill … probably). But when Jamey opened the camper door, the inside was demolished. The tire exploded into the camper and tore a large hole in the floor, turned the drawers into splinters and sent rubber and steel all over the place. This trip was done. The season is done. Maybe this RV is done.

As if that wasn’t insult enough, we spent three hours waiting for AAA to help us. I got disconnected, I got put on hold, I was told no one was available to help us, I was told someone was on the way, Jamey found someone else who could be there in 45 minutes. That guy showed up and said AAA sent him. I’ll be switching back to Good Sam roadside assistance, thank you very much.

I assumed we could just get towed to the nearest RV repair shop. I assumed wrong. They are all packed to the gills with RVs waiting winterization. I called three different places, starting with the dealership where we bought both RVs, and was turned away. Thank goodness for the help of Jim at Camping World in Hugo. They gave us an emergency drop off, played RV tetris to make room and get us ready for the insurance and repair stuff.

Now what?

I’ve been playing phone tag with insurance for a week, and have not had much of a conversation with the adjuster. I did talk with Jim who called the damage “substantial” and would take about 53 hours of labor.

Now we wait and see. Will insurance cover the repairs or total the camper? Which one do I wish for? The camper is paid off, and the extra money would make a good down payment on a new house. But dang it, I love that camper and I love camping.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in As the Camper Wheels Turn