We finally made it out of the workshop and onto the campground!
We worked extra hard this past week moving out of our house and into the camper. It was liberating to let go of the superfluous clutter taking up space in our lives, a mental and physical feat, revealing the few humble possessions worthy of our precious space and awareness. Though we had a good grasp of the space we were working with, we were pleasantly surprised when everything fit just right. Even after purging 90% of our things, some part of me thought we would end up with all this extra stuff we couldn't take with us. It turns out we just aren't very attached to things, which is why we wanted to adopt this new lifestyle for ourselves in the first place.
With the camper packed and the pictures hung the last step was to give ourselves a proper test run. For our first overnight stay, we didn't want to venture too far out of our own back yard. With a measley 20 miles between us and home, we set up camp at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was nice to go through the motions of setting up camp and learning how to use our space and equipment efficiently. We figured out what we needed or forgot very quickly. It's amazing the simple things you forget- like pillows and a spatula! But then we wouldn't get to laugh at ourselves and eat really ugly pancakes!
We got to play tourist and learn the ropes, an overall beneficial learning experience, helping us feel more prepared and confident to face "the real thing" starting Monday. We definitely feel at home now that we have experienced a taste of what day to day life will be like in the camper and more ready than ever to become fulltime campers!