Honestly

If I had to be honest, I don't want to be in Craig, Colorado, anymore.

I'm good with the car camping and have a nice place to park at night by the maintenance sheds at the college. But winter will be coming. Can I....should I?...just plan on car camping all winter? Maybe I could run a little extension cord into the van for a space heater.

In response to a Craig community Facebook post I made, I learned I should not plan on camping in an RV, particularly an old RV that is not a 4-season and has super-thin walls and windows that shudder open with each wind gust.

According to locals, I should not try to winter here in the Godspeed...even if I'm plugged into electric. I learned that for about two solid weeks each winter the temperature does not get above zero. I learned that the heavy weight of snow caused a few RV roofs to collapse last year. One guy said he plowed 26 feet of snow last winter! I learned that even with installed heating pads in the tanks, I can expect the pipes and plumbing to crack. (The heating element doesn't keep the liquid warm enough, so the water, when frozen, expands and cracks the pipes.) One woman wrote and told me that to drain her tanks every weekend she had to go underneath her rig with a blowtorch. I didn't ask how she did it without melting the PVC pipes. I should have...just in case.

I also learned that most apartments do not allow pets. The two that do allow pets are managed by an outfit in Denver. I tried calling and got bumped around in the call tree, routed to different people, and received no response to my email inquiry. I learned I could rent a really nice three bedroom house with a garage that accepts pets for $2400 a month.

At this point, I don't even care about having "a good job" that utilizes my college education. I could make enough to get by and not worry about freezing to death just working my little part-time jobs.

Speaking of freezing to death, two locals told horror stories of individuals that almost did freeze to death. There's a chance of the electric getting cut off or getting snowed in. Why do people even live here in the winter? In addition, I can't help but consider poor Jerry in BV. He lives in a trailer all winter. Two springs ago I saw him after the thaw. He'd lost a toe to frostbite.

My other option might be working a lot of late nights in the office and sleeping under my desk. If anyone finds me, I'll tell them I take my inspiration from Elon Musk who made news recently with his long hours and sleeping in the office.

I have to go pick up the RV over Labor Day weekend. If I do bring it up here and park in the field at the KOA, I'll have to figure out how to stuff the steel wool in all the crevices. (Apparently, this helps keep out the field mice.)

If I can just make it to winter break around mid-December, I might just roll down to Lake Havasu and never come back.

Sorry for all this worrisome rambling thoughts, but I wanted to update everyone on the housing search. I won't be able to give any more time to housing because starting Monday, my mind will be overloaded with lesson prep, grading, creating online videos, and a gazillion other scholastic responsibilities. School starts Monday, so tomorrow I have to create two syllabi and online classrooms. And make a video.

Circling back to the idea of living in my car...

Since the RV only gets 7 or 8 miles per gallon, maybe rather than moving it from St. George to Craig, I should store it in Escalante until December. I've lived in this van all summer, so what's a few more months? I'll do the Elon Musk thing if it gets too cold. (Oh....and there's a bonus! I have a shower at the school!)