Yesterday was like the last few, working on the new issue of the paper. I bet you’re getting tired of reading about that, aren’t you? As I get toward the end of an issue, it takes longer to make everything fit and I have to write the stories to fit the space available. The good news is that I’ve only got five pages to go.
A couple of days ago I wrote a blog post title Losing Weight, about the things we and other fulltimers took with us when we hit the road that we found we didn’t need. Things like too many clothes, tools, and books. So today I thought we’d talk about what we miss from our days in our stick and bricks homes. Not the people, but material things.
I’ve always loved classic cars, and before we hit the road I had a four car garage filled with two old Mustangs, a 1958 Chevy truck that had won trophies in car shows, and a powerful red 1969 Corvette Stingray.
I sold the Mustangs and the truck, but just couldn’t part with my ’Vette. It was a car I had lusted after since high school. When we hit the road I stored it for a while, and after we got back to Arizona after our first trip, I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel. I drove it a few miles from Terry’s parents place to where we were staying, and by the time I got there I was ready to sell it. It had become just a car.
Now, I’ll admit that an old muscle car still turns my head as quickly as a pretty girl does, but just like with those pretty girls, I’m content to look and not touch.
But the one material thing I really miss is my hot tub. It was sunken into a redwood deck behind the garage and just steps from a door on the side of our house, and there were few nights, winter or summer, when we didn’t soak for a while. There’s something magical about sitting in a hot tub watching a million stars twinkling overhead, or with snowflakes falling on top of you.
Yes, lots of RV parks and campgrounds have hot tubs, but it’s just not the same. They insist I wear swimming trunks! What fun is that? 
Miss Terry, who is never happier than when she’s cooking or baking, says she misses having a big stove with a big oven like she did back in our old house. She does a great job with the cooktop in our Winnebago and her Breville toaster oven, but whenever we’re at a Lowes or Home Depot she wanders through the appliance and gives the stoves the same look I give those old cars.
So what about you? What one material thing do you miss the most from your days in a traditional house? A car? An appliance? A huge screen TV?
Thought For The Day – I never hate myself in the morning because I sleep until noon.
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More then anything I miss my old rolltop desk, which belonged to my grandpa. When I was a kid I loved playing with all the little cuddy hole drawers. But it is at my daughters house and if we ever hang up the keys it will be mine again.
Our waterbed! We slept on a waterbed for over 20 years and have yet to find anything that compares for a good night’s sleep.
I am still a dreamer… the biggest thing my DH and I are having trouble giving up is “the big house.” I think we will be mostly timers for a while when we finally leave.
My garden (I now have 1 African violet and a pot of herbs) and my kitchen with the 5 burner gas cooktop, big fridge and dishwasher! Sigh. But my living room is now usually several acres, so there IS a tradeoff!
I don’t miss much of anything but Joyce misses her bath tub. In fact, when we visit friends most of them know she just might show up with her ditty bag in hand. Oh, and we usually wind up getting a hotel room for one night if she has to go too long without a good soaking. Yeah, it costs a few bucks but “if Mamma ain’t happy no one is happy” if you know what I mean.
I miss my never ending kitchen counter tops. Not so much the big kitchen aspect but just the counter top space. I have had very little counter tops for years and then we bought a home that had a cooks kitchen with an island. It was heaven.
I can function in a small space; with not too many cupboards but truly miss the work area of a lot of countertops.
I am not full timing yet, just in the process of getting rid of everything so we can start in August. The hardest thing to get rid of was my horses, and they will be what I miss the most.
I really miss my big shower. Our rig is a fifth wheel and I know they are making residential showers in the newer rigs now but we don’t have a new rig right now. Ours is a 2010 model and we are happy with it. But a big sized shower would be nice. I also don’t have a great sofa to sit on, but I am working on replacing that.
I miss my bathtub also. but now that our son has a house and when we go stay now I get a nice soak. Mike misses a big refrigerator with a nice freezer, the one we have in the rig is OK but many times he cannot get his ice cream since no room.
Me too, bathtub and the Jacuzzi! After seeing reports on tv about the germs in hotel rooms, I don’t use those bathtubs when we have to stay in one. Sometimes I miss my house, it was the first new house we ever had and it was perfectly decorated (according to me!). However, we were just working to pay the mortgage and it became such a drain on us. DH doesn’t miss mowing, painting and all the other maintenance issues. On March 9, 2006 we drove away to begin our fulltime lifestyle, I just felt a sense of relief.
Nik I think I was like you and your Corvette. I am not a FT Rv’er but when I retired 11 years ago I thought that I need cash on hand and sold my 67 Vette with a over the top small block and side pipes. I think my neighbors were happy that I didn’t crank it up at dinner time to go to the MANY nightly cruises in the Detroit area every day of the week. The basics of life for the spoiled person that I have made myself I miss when on my RV is King size bed, large bathroom, big couch to watch TV, but then there is the search for new places to eat while on the road and the new surroundings that are with me and my family make it all OKAY what a lifstyle it is.
I miss my whirlpool tub. . .and sitting outside on my patio looking at my perfectly landscaped yard and pool. . .but I don’t miss it enough to ever go back to doing all the work it required. . .LOL!
Janice
ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing Blog
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Hot tub for us too! Sure do miss those nightly soaks.
We miss being on the road still fulltiming. Its been 18 months and the wife is still healing from foot and knee surgery. But when fully healed without pain we will be back. In the mean time I put new roller-blinds in the Bus.
When we were fulltiming we didn’t miss much except maybe our big garden so I filled 5 HD orange buckets with soil and planted Tomatoes and zucchini’s. It worked very well.