Life in a 24 foot moving box!

My family is having a little getaway in a 32 foot RV of my in law’s. It reminds me a lot of the days when my family of 6 traveled full time in a 24 foot Winnebago. Now I was a very young girl, so I don’t remember time frames really well, so I can’t tell you how long we traveled in the motor home. I just remember events and fun times in our little moving tin can.  Mom said in was a 1974 Winnebago.  I have googled it and found several images. I have tried to no avail to get some of the interior. I have found some that were close, so I included those for you to get an idea of what it was like. I have also made up a little floor plan for you to get an idea of what that was like too. Now, like I said, I was young. I don’t remember there being a sitting area, but there may have been. But I thought I would share with you some of the things I remember about living in a 24foot moving box with 5 other people.

 

First of all showers were interesting to say the least. The bathroom was a small square (small even to a kid, can’t imagine what it was like for mom and dad). When you took your shower, you sat on the potty and pulled the shower curtain around the walls. Now the bathroom became a shower stall. You turned on the water and got your body and hair wet. Then turned off the water quickly, then soaped up all the appropriate areas, including hair, then turned on the water again and rinsed all the water off. Then you put conditioner on your hair, brushed through the tangles, then turned off the water and hoped at this point you had not run out of hot water, you usually had. So you just kinda leaned way over and just ran the cold water over your hair and tried not to get any on you. Then you pulled the shower curtain back and tied into place and it was the bathroom again. Mind you, you have never really stood up, you have to sit on the potty the whole time. That was what we call a motor home shower. We still refer to that, anytime we are in a situation where the hot water tank is small or several people have to shower back to back. We will say “take a motor home shower so the hot water goes further”.



This is the kind of latch that was attached to the ceiling.



Second the sleeping arrangements were unique. Mom and Dad’s beds were at the back of the motor home, it was 2 twin beds that could be made into a king but it was a lot of trouble so they didn’t do that often.  Above that area, was Tina and Jeni’s bed. This was most likely a full size bed. It was only about a foot or 18 inches from the top of the motor home. There was a latch on the ceiling that when the bed wasn’t in use you could just push the bed up and a metal loop on the bed frame would hook into the latch that was attached to the ceiling. This exact same concept was repeated above the driver and passenger seat. This is where Marla and I slept. Now, let me explain something to you, when you are trying to roll over in the middle of the night, 12-18 inches, does not allow you the luxury of sitting up, fluffing your pillow, then rolling over. OH NO, you sit up once and you have a knot on your forehead the next morning so big you look like a Cyclops!! Also, those midnight potty runs, are a little more challenging, especially if you are the sister on the inside (which I always was) First you gotta crawl over another kid, not hitting your head on the ceiling, and know EXACTLY where that metal latch I mentioned before is. Because hitting that thing is a new kinda hurt!! Then drop to the floor, which was about 5 ½ feet or so. Then go to the bathroom then come back. Now Marla and I didn’t usually have the ladder on our side, because we could use the backs of the drivers seat to get into our bed. Which is ok, most of the time, but when you are giving it the ole’ heave ho and you forget about that metal latch and you hit dead in the center of your still developing little 8 or 9 yr old skull, it can make you wanna throw up!! Then of course you still gotta crawl over a kid, who might I add, wakes up like a bear, so you cant scream like you want to cause she might kill you. Then finally drift off to dream land checking the top of your head for a pool of blood.

The drives from town to town were always an adventure. We thought it was great fun to ride anywhere in the motor home. We thought we were cool to get to play games at the table driving down the road, and have mom make us sandwiches and get to eat right there on the road. That was so fun. But inevitably we would get bored sitting at the table and end up on “the hump”. This was located between the driver and passenger seat. It covered part of the engine and it was warm and hummed and all 4 of us girls fit there somehow. We would sit on “the hump” most of the drive. I think there was an 8 track player, and dad talked on the CB. I remember a little fan that faced dad and if I close my eyes and think about it I can still hear the sound that thing made. After a while of all 4 of us girls sitting all over mom and dad one of them would finally say “yall go back there” and we were supposed to go sit in the very back, where their beds were,(when they weren’t beds they were 2 couches). I guess they wanted us to talk to each other or something. That never lasted very long. One by one we would all slowly make our way back to “the hump”.  I realize now that was probably the worst place we could have ridden, one good wreck and we’d all been through the window. But no one believed in seatbelts back then, so we were as safe as anyone I guess.

Mom was the navigator, with a an atlas and a keen sense of direction mom got us where ever we needed to go.  Of course this was before GPS. Mom still is great at getting you somewhere. You can call her from anywhere on I40 in Arkansas and Most of Tennessee and tell her what mile marker you are at and she can tell you what the next 4 exits are and what gas stations and restaurants are at each. Mom and dad have traveled a lot.  One of our families favorite stories is when we were in our 24 foot motor home and mom decided she was going to take a nap. She had mapped out the route we were to take for dad and it was quite simple. All dad had to do was “Stay on 9” I guess this was hwy 9 or interstate 9. All any of us remember is how many times before she went to lay down she said to dad, and all of us “just stay on 9” to the point dad got annoyed and said “I got it honey now go lay down”, to which she replied “just stay on 9”. Well when mom got up from her 2 hour nap we were about an hour and a half off of interstate 9 and she was very unhappy. We don’t know where or how dad got off of 9, that was one time we all got off “the hump” and gladly went to the back and sat on the couches and giggled.

We have great memories of traveling together in that little moving box. When I was looking through to find pictures my heart skipped a beat as I found one of the inside of a motor home that was very close to the inside of ours.  I wish I could go back and watch videos of us back then, I bet I was really cute!! But beyond that, I know that we were building memories and creating a sense of family that has made me who I am. I wouldn’t trade that for the world!!! I hope that I can be the kind of parent to my kids that my parents were to me. They set great examples for me to put God 1^st in your life and to love your family with all your heart!! Thank you mom and dad for takings us on great adventures to revival after revival in a 24foot motor HOME!!!