RV Life in a Coronavirus World: A story of a converted school bus and wild cows

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We have asked RVtravel.com readers to tell us how they are adapting to life these days. Here is Tom’s story: 

In our first RV, our first cross-country trip was with our two kids – we were home schooling at the time. It was in the Badlands where we became hooked on the RV lifestyle. On our way back north, from the west coast, we stopped in Charleston, SC, and fell in love with southern living. We stayed there for 15 years. 

We opened a 4,000-square-foot thrift store in a little town called Ladson, SC, and opened our second store, a 10,000-square-foot thrift and resale store in Goose Creek, SC. After seven years, we decided to retire, close our stores, and live the fulltime RV lifestyle. 

We combined our two loves, buying and selling and RV living. So we now travel the country doing just that, buying at estate sales, flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales and auctions. 

Every weekend (weather and location permitting) we set up at whatever local flea market in the town we’re in, and have fun selling the things we’ve bought. When we can’t set up at a flea market, we’ve been known to set up in the parking lot of a vacant store or out-of-business gas station. 

We were in Broadsheadville, PA, (great flea market), and decided to go to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and ended up at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. What a wonderful time we had, stayed for a month. 

How the Covid-19 pandemic changed our plans:
We were in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico, playing roulette at the Treasure Bay Casino, when our daughter (who had recently returned from school in Paris, France), asked us to find a school bus for her to convert into a Class B motorhome, and we did find one. We met her with the bus in Orlando, Florida, where her brother would start the conversion. 

Our son, who designs and builds props for Universal Creative, was already converting his sister’s school bus when all of the COVID-19 stuff started. 

We decided to self-isolate as far away as we could, so we found a little RV resort on the Outer Banks of North Carolina – Cedar Island, NC. We’ve been here for 3 weeks. What a wonderful park. It has 52 sites, ocean front and lake side. Beautiful beaches, plus the ferry is right here as well. 

The bonus is that when we take our daily walk of five miles to the end of the island, we get to see the wild horses running up and down the beach, and across to the other island. 

And, I’ve never heard of wild cows before – we thought it was a local joke at first. But during a pretty bad storm, lots of wind and rain, we decided to go to the beach to see how far the ocean had come…and that’s when we saw four or five white cows roaming around in the rain! 

I spend my time during this isolation period, writing and drinking coffee. My wife had to leave to take care of her mom, so I’m here in our 2015, 32’ Class C, Sunseeker 3010DS. 

All I do now is write. I finished two short stories, working on the third, and I’ve developed the plot for the novel I’ve always wanted to write. 

I’m looking forward to seeing my lovely wife again. We both will hate to leave this place, but we will return. It’s just what we are always looking for. Off to Madison, Wisconsin, when this is over, for the summer.

— Tom Mitchell

Your essays wanted

Here is your assignment (should you choose to accept it): Write an essay no longer than 500 words on this subject: “How I have adapted to a life in self-isolation.” Tell us what you do with your time, how you keep active physically and/or mentally, how you communicate with friends and family and other ways you occupy your time. Have you taken up a new hobby? Started writing a novel? We can’t pay for these articles right now, but you could earn a place on our staff if you impress us with your creativity. Submit your article here. Please include a photo of yourself or of something that helps illustrate your essay. We’ll post many, if not most of these every day in our RV Daily Tips Newsletter. If you’re not subscribed, sign up here.