A Day In The Life Of RVing: Moving Day

Hello and welcome to "A Day in the Life of". We plan on making short videos to give you some insights on the RV lifestyle. Please bear in mind, we are no experts. :-)  Today, we will try to show you what a moving day is made of, from the dining/kitchen area.

Awhile ago, we spent a week at a park near Yosemite. Being in the same spot for a week meant that stuff was everywhere, we've been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc., so there was more to pack up.

Pre-Moving Day

We do a bit of preparation before heading out the next day.

• Put fuel in the truck. Much easier to do without the fifth wheel.
• Clean and store our BBQ if we won't be using it that night.
• Put the bikes back on the bike rack, if we've used them. 
• Plan the route if it looks tricky (for examples, lots of curves, hills to climb or descent, etc.). Look at possible stops to switch drivers and have lunch. 

Below, I refer here to blue and pink tasks because typically, in this lifestyle, men work outside and women work inside. However, we feel both of us need to be able to do each other's tasks. I see a lot of men who won't let their wife drive or hook up the utilities. But what if your husband has an injury or can't drive? The only thing I cannot do - and I am sure I could get someone to help me if I asked - is lift a 30 pounds propane tank back on its rack. Other than that, I can do pretty much everything else, including driving and backing up the rig.


Moving Day

Inside chores (pink stuff)  👩

• Put our shampoo and body wash bottles away. Latch the shower door.
• Retract TV antenna. Store away remotes and any DVDs.
• Clean kitchen table and secure small items in cabinet (items such as potted plant, table light, salt/pepper shakers).
• Put dish towel under the microwave turntable to prevent rollers or turntable from breaking.
• Put away coffee maker, espresso machine and toaster oven. 
• Prep a small lunch when we have a few hours of driving (banana, sandwich to share, leftover salad, crackers/hummus, grapes is our usual lunch-on-the-go).
• Clean dishes and put away. 
• Put any items left on the counter into a bin for transport (such as kitchen tools, knife rack, etc.)
• Retract kitchen slide and bedroom slide.
• Retract awning if it was out. 
• Switch off the water heater, water pump and/or the furnace.

Outside chores (blue stuff)  👨

• Empty our holding tanks. Put away sewer hose in the grey bin. 
• Remove and put away the fresh water hose, including water filter and pressure regulator.
• Retract the back stabilizers. 
• Remove and put away any other small items outside (step brace, wheel chokes, etc).
• Put away our camping chairs.
• Clean and store the BBQ.
• Check the roof, especially if we've been under trees.
• Check the bike rack.
• Pick up anything else that was left out.
• Remove hitch cover, position truck to hitch up.

Together   💑

• Align truck and king pin for hitching up.
• Lift or retract front landing legs to properly align heights of both hitch and pin.
• Once hitched, visually inspect that the hitch is properly closed around the pin. Attach breakaway cable and hook up power cord to truck. 
• Retract landing legs partly, do pull test to make sure hitch is engaged. 
• Test blinkers and hazard lights.
• Lift landing legs up and remove any other items on the ground.
• Put away our electrical cord.
• Retract steps, lock entry door and all other storage compartments.
• Do a walk around to make sure nothing was missed, all windows are closed, antenna is down, bikes are secure, nothing left behind, etc. 

Here is a short video showing you some of those steps. 

This probably seems like a lot of work, but we can do all of that in 1 hour max, at a regular pace. The most time consuming jobs are cleaning the BBQ and emptying our tanks.

We hope you found this interesting. If there is something you would like to know more about, please let us know by adding a comment below.

Thank you!