In the past I have really looked forward to writing my annual update posts, but since the last year has been different to be honest I didn’t even think about it until late in the month. Since we are still living fulltime in an RV I will recap this year, but as it was all in one place I am going to change this up a little bit. For those who don’t know we have been in Los Angeles the entire year waiting for the writer’s and actor’s strikes to be over so Lee can see if he can get a start in film or narrative TV. No one knew the strike length would be historically long but we have hung in there in the chance it could end at any time. Now that it finally has the really search begins. Here’s a map of the city and mostly we have been staying in Northridge. Those little areas are neighborhoods, not cities or towns.

Because we have been in one place I am not going to share my financial this year or get that much into the numbers. The purpose of that information was to help people who were trying to budget this lifestyle and since we have spent a year in one of the most expensive places in the country those numbers would be severely skewed to the point of being meaningless. I will say we have only pulled the RV twice for relatively short distances in that time period and all the miles we have put on the truck have been city miles. To put the cost of living in LA in context see the following:

1. Our monthly RV park fees – $1350+electric, and no other options within a minimum 60 min drive.
2. Diesel $6.50 a gallon on average
3. Lunch $80 minimum for any sit down meal
4. Ceramics $181 a month for studio time plus clay is extra

That’s just what things cost here and either you pay it or not. Thankfully we can afford to pay it. Since we got here we also got backed into by another RV and although we received a $5K check from their insurance we have some damage to our RV cap and our jacks which we have not fixed yet. The only major projects we did this year was remove the closet doors (which were cracked) and replace them with a nice curtain which I actually love and replace all the AC units which could not keep up with the LA heat and in all fairness were at the end stages of their life anyway.

Now that we have dealt with the numbers let’s talk abut the emotional arc. It’s been a tough year emotionally for a variety of reasons, but it started out with me getting sicker than I have even been in my life. When we first arrived here I had a kidney stone, that turned into a bladder/kidney infection and ultimately I felt like I might have been edging towards sepsis. I will say this, I was not in my right mind and absolutely terrified of going to a hospital in LA. Thankfully a good ER doctor ordered me some Cipro and I made my way out of it but it was terrible way to be introduced to a new city.

Lee, on the other hand, felt like he had come home. He has been dreaming about LA his entire life and this was the only major city in the US we had not visited. Issues like traffic, weather, crowds, and homelessness that have driven him completely crazy in other parts of the country didn’t even phase him and he was transported by the history and magic of the place. He is not alone in that. There is no place else like Los Angeles, and the people who settle here love it despite all its flaws. The post “Settling” in LA does a nice job of explaining his feelings (and mine) about the city.

Although we were in one place this city has so many things to do that we had plenty to keep us busy this year. We completed studio tours, saw many museums and other iconic Hollywood places. In addition I went on my first international work trip to India (fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine) and flew back to Charleston to celebrate Oliver’s fourth birthday. I even got to spend a week in Sedona with my Mom which proves you can stay in one place and still travel and see people and new things. Lee spent a few weeks working with his previous employer in various cities, and a little bit of work here and there in Hollywood.

One of the great things about doing this post is it reminds me of how much I have done in a year even if it doesn’t feel that way. The last year certainly hasn’t had the same pace as many other years of our travel, but we have still managed to see more than we ever did in any year of our non fulltiming life and particularly important to me we checked two more National Parks (Channel Islands and Pinnacles) off our list.

Still for me at least it feels somewhat less than other years although in all fairness that might just be grass is greener thinking on my part. Since the major way I judge my life is through my end of year pictures, let’s take a look at the top 10 moments and we can all decide how they stack up. As always thanks for following along and we will see how next year pans out.

Top 10 Things We Saw in no particular order

This year I would like to add two more to celebrate a couple of amazing moments. First was my trip to India which was truly life changing for a variety of reasons. The absolute best part of that trip was spending time in the real Pune with people who lived there and I will never forget it.

And absolutely nothing beats the look on Oliver’s face after I let him fill up a shopping cart full of toys for his birthday. That moment of all of them was priceless.

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