It’s been about three weeks now. I waved goodbye to Knight with tears in my eyes, but joy in my soul, as he rolled down the driveway for the last time. The end of this chapter couldn’t be more fitting. I don’t know if I could have seen my beloved home go to anyone else. I thought about it after moving into this amazing house I now live in — but I couldn’t quite make the leap.
And then I found out why.
A favor asked, a promise given and then fulfilled, with about six years of adventure, self-discovery, and growth packed in between.
This is a story that has come full circle.
But let me back up a bit.
Shifting Space began as a blog back in July 2018 to document the journey of two best friends and four cats as they set off to explore the U.S. in a 30’ 1993 Class C RV, looking for beauty, love, and kindness in a divided country.
When we decided to do this thing, we needed a home that would carry us all safely from place to place. I’d never owned an RV. I’d always been a tent camper. Honestly, I couldn’t quite understand the draw…until I needed a space to live in and travel simultaneously (and I had no idea van life or full-time RVing was a thing!). It seemed an inspired decision. Chuck stationary life out the window! I could buy a home with wheels! It appealed to my traveler’s spirit.
Though I couldn’t know how freeing it would actually feel, nor how much I’d feel that loss of freedom by seeing him roll out of my life (no matter how right the decision felt).
So, after much looking, I bought Knight in the fall of 2017 — it was love at first sight — and I spent the next several months renovating it and preparing for road life.
But the camper’s story didn’t start with me. My chapter is in the middle of this story.
I bought the camper from Abby and Dan. Hearing Abby tell of the adventure not-yet-named-Knight had already been on, I knew he was something special. The spirit of this family infused an atmosphere of love into the camper, and that’s what we inherited as we began our own journey.
Abby’s father was the original owner and spent many years traveling to events he enjoyed attending, often with his buddies along for the ride. When he could no longer travel the way he had, Abby and Dan bought the rig from him, and the camper became the family’s vacation home, carrying the five of them on adventures to spaces of beauty all over the country. My first view of the RV was the numerous stickers on the back commemorating their adventures.
It wasn’t far into our travels when I heard from Abby the first time, saying that the girls asked often where the camper was (thanks, Abby for following Shifting Space from the beginning!). And it wasn’t too long after that that she said that one of her daughters, Lily, wanted her to tell us that if we ever decided to do something different, to let them know. Lily, she said, wanted to use her grandpa’s camper, the camper she also grew up in taking family vacations, as a mobile bakery. I didn’t hesitate to make that promise.
Something even then struck me: “Of course, he’s got to go back to this family!” It felt right. There was something else, too. I loved the idea that Lily knew what she wanted at the age she was back then, not even out of high school. She had a dream, and she wanted to pursue it. And if you’ve been reading this newsletter for long at all, you know how strongly I feel about people following their dreams.
Lily wasn’t like so many of us. She didn’t lose sight of this dream as the years passed. She didn’t let societal pressures or “growing up” change her mind. I know this because that first time Abby mentioned Lily’s desire was not the last! I would hear from Abby periodically about Lily’s wish to use Knight as a mobile bakery. Each time, I reaffirmed my promise to let them know and give them the first opportunity to bring the camper back into the fold of their family.
And then, Gail and I moved into this house. This magical place on this magical island off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Grateful doesn’t even cover how we feel about landing here. It was time. We both fell in love with this area and knew we wanted to be here. But winters here in the RV were hard, so we made the decision to look for a house and found one right before winter arrived with a bang last year. I talk about the shifting space between our adventures living in Knight and moving into this house here.
I also mentioned in that post that I’d likely sell Knight. But here, a funny thing happened. I contacted Abby and let her know that I was thinking about selling the camper. Lily had recently graduated from culinary school in Boulder. She was back in Illinois. The family talked and, heartbroken, came to the conclusion that Lily had too much going on with beginning her new journey to take on the conversion of a camper set up for living into one set up for selling baked goods.
I was heartbroken, too. I’d imagined Knight going back to Illinois, to a family that I knew loved it as much as we did. After that, winter hit. Gail and I were both relieved not to have to think about what to do just yet. The weather was too crappy to do what we needed to do to get the RV ready to sell.
And maybe we’d just hold onto it, use it to camp around here. It would take some effort to ensure that he stayed well-maintained when winters sitting on a bluff see high winds and lots of rain, and no buffer from the sea mist. But if I couldn’t sell Knight back to his original Illinois family, I wasn’t sure I was ready to sell him.
Then in late March, just as it was time to decide for sure whether to prep Knight for selling in the spring or for keeping for camping around the area, I got another message from Abby asking, “Is the camper gone?”
Me: “No! It isn’t gone!”
Abby: “For real?”
And so began the makings of another dream come true, all because of a 1993 Class C RV. Lily’s plans shifted, allowing her the time to devote to starting a new business. The business she’d dreamed of, in partnership with her friend, Naomi. After brainstorming sessions about what they’d need to do, back-and-forth conversations between Washington and Illinois, the girls and their families decided it was doable. Plans were made for Lily and Dan and Naomi and her dad, Denny, to fly out here and drive the camper back to Illinois.
They arrived on July 8th, after a MUCH-delayed flight into Seattle and very little sleep. And after conversation and reacquainting them with the camper, I turned the title and keys over to Lily and Naomi.
And watched them drive away. With tears in my eyes and joy in my soul.
Throughout their trip, I held my breath right along with Abby, waiting for each update and hoping for a good journey. Though it had been seven years since I bought the RV from them and six years of travel, Knight carried them safely and smoothly the 2,100+ miles home (on I-90, no less!).
So, this story comes full circle, exactly six years after I first introduced Knight on the Shifting Space blog on July 28th, 2018. The end of this chapter is not the end of the story. This little camper will have another life, making another dream come true. I can’t wait to see what Lily and Naomi do with it and with their business. And with their lives, full of the promise that awaits those who dare to follow their dreams.
peace. and love.
Des
Thank you for being here my friends, fellow humans, seekers, and adventurers. Our lives are a story we write as we live, and I’m grateful to each of you for joining me as I create mine and share a slice of it here in this space. If these words resonate, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Please feel free to share this post in whatever way feels right for you.