Going Full-Time (With Bonus King of the Hill Commentary Because, Why Not?)

"You can't live in a trailer park, so you bring trailer park to you?"

The other day we were lucky enough to catch "The Honeymooners," the rerun episode of King of the Hill that dealt with -- what else? -- RVs. Along with providing a lot of great quotes about RVing that we can now relate to, the episode was a pretty good one. Hank's elderly mom marries a guy she met only a few weeks before, and seized by post-wedding bliss, they then decide to buy an RV and travel the roads full-time.

Hank, of course, thinks his mom is crazy, and not just because she married this random dude. He's also not really in favor of the RV lifestyle, and thinks her new paramour is leading her astray. Then he finds out that she's the one who wanted the RV all along and had to talk her husband into it. The newlyweds start sparring over how bad the other one is at driving the thing, and Hank's mom ends up taking off by herself at the wheel.

"RVs are a one-way ticket to meth addiction and KOA sites where the law has no meaning."

In the end they reconcile and everyone's happy. It did make me think, as King of the Hill episodes are wont to do, about the parallels to our own lives. Of course, Steve and I are a ways away from graduating to full-time RVing status (I think we actually have to be grandparents to achieve that; there must be a rule somewhere). But it is kind of funny to imagine ourselves living entirely out of an RV, our possessions culled down to only the most essential and treasured. (Where am I going to put our wedding album? What clothes will I get rid of? Can I still go online shopping and if so, will FedEx deliver to a home on wheels?)

Beyond those all-important questions, I wonder if we would drive each other crazy, just like Hank's mom and her new husband. Obviously we live together now, but the fact that we both work full-time (and usually overtime in his case, and a couple weekends a month), keeps us from getting tired of each other. If you take away work and most of your living space, let's face it, you've really got to like the other person for it to work.

"Personally, I prefer living in something that doesn't require me to do a lot of quick math when I'm approaching a low bridge."

It's almost like maybe there's another life stage to add to the usual ones: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes children, then comes living full-time in an RV (each one adding its own unique challenges to your relationship!). Wow. Well, I'm glad we're testing it out part-time, first.

Plus I really don't want to have to give up most of my closet.

"Most accidental deaths occur either on the road or in the bathroom. And you've combined the two. It's a recipe for disaster!"