Okay, I’ve been holding back for the last month or so. I’m not happy. I’m not really enjoying this solo RVing lifestyle. There, I’ve said it.
Last year I knew I wasn’t falling in love with the whole motorhome adventure the way I did with Scotland, but I put that down to teething pains. How I explained it to my sister: I 98% loved my move to and life in Scotland, but at the end of last summer I would have said I 70% liked RVing. At most.
It really started to dawn on me the days I was driving in the Laurentians – even though Lori was with me, she was in the car behind me, and I was driving up and down those mountains alone, white knuckling it all the time. If this was how I felt in these mountains, how was I going to feel in the Rockies next year? I asked about her experiences (as she had crossed the Appalachians, the Rockies, and the Sierra Nevada ranges in an even bigger RV) and she assured me that, apart from one truly harrowing experience in BC, she & Barb had managed okay. Yes, I thought, but you had each other as a co-pilot at all times. But I tucked it away and resolved to persevere.
She & I had a GREAT time in Saguenay and Charlevoix, which made me feel better. Then she went home and I headed to New Brunswick. Alone. And each day, as I looked for things to do in the NB countryside, I found myself thinking, if this is how you feel in a province with a cute little town every 30 minutes or so apart, how on earth are you going to be in Newfoundland, which, while absolutely beautiful, is made up of nothing but countryside? That’s when I cancelled the ferries, and extended my stays in PEI & Halifax. And, that same question applies to next summer’s Northern Ontario, the Prairies, and a lot of British Columbia.
Then Michele joined me in PEI and her friend lent us her car – we had a fantastic time! But again, she went home and I was solo. As I headed onward to Cape Breton, my feelings of both stress and unhappiness continued to mount. That’s when I decided, this is silly. You’re not happy, why on earth would you do this to yourself next year out west?
So, all that to say, I’m selling the RV.
(There’s more to this than just the driving up & down hills, but this is enough doom and gloom for one post.)