RV Life Season 4

The lore and legend of our Massachusetts home-base

Nicole Anderson, Anthony C Vicari

28 Oct 2025 • 15 min read

The time has finally come to talk about the elephant in the room...or shall we say, the elephant on the Andersons' basketball court? October 13 marked the 4-year anniversary of us bringing our trailer home for the first time and parking it at our Massachusetts home-base, on Nicole's parents' old basketball court next to their driveway. Almost immediately after getting it there, we began noticing a pattern, one that in the lighter moments made us furrow our brows and theorize the mysterious workings of the universe. In darker times, this pattern left us frustrated, sad, and exasperated.

Nicole mentioned it way back in 2022:

"The universe spoke once again....This can only happen so many times without us wondering, what gives? Why do all the big problems tend to happen when we're in MA?" - Taking Our Problems to New Hampshire

The pattern was already well-established then, but we had no idea just how solidified it would become in the following years.

Now, we'll finally attempt to answer 2022 Nicole's question. What gives? Why do we continuously find ourselves battling big problems at our home-base, which so often cause us to delay our travels and run immense damage control?

Two logical explanations pop into our heads right away. First, perhaps the drama doesn't actually occur at home more than is statistically expected. After all, we've had our fair share in other places, too. We had 2 flood evacuations. We got caught in a dust storm. We felt unsafe after being bullied at a campground. Surprisingly, none of those led to any extreme delays or upheavals in our travels, not even the Utah flood, which reigns supreme as our worst situation outside of MA. The only time we got really delayed away from home was due to a conglomerate of issues, and we delayed our stay because we were lucky to have site availability for several days after our reservation was supposed to end. This leads to the other explanation: Perhaps we just delay our stays at our home-base because we can. We have no strict departure dates to worry about. It's not like another camper is coming in with a basketball court reservation!

But the more we try to rationalize things, the more we realize that it's not the whole story. Yes, we have had dramatic situations all across the country, but the number of life-altering ones that occur at home cannot be ignored. It's also true that we never need to leave our home-base on a specific date, so when something happens, we simply cancel or postpone our upcoming reservations and hang tight for a while. However, the delays weigh heavily on us. We want to keep traveling and going to campgrounds. We seek those adventures. We're always super grateful to spend extra time with family, especially when we find ourselves in disarray, but our whole reason for choosing to RV was to get out and explore!

We used to jokingly wonder what the universe was trying to tell us. Perhaps it was a sign that we weren't meant to RV! But then again, we'd come home and all the bad stuff would happen, so perhaps it was a sign that we were meant to RV, just far away from there! On the other hand, these issues caused us to stay longer than planned, so maybe it was the universe's way of keeping us there. These reasons left our heads spinning, and with only more confusion amounting, all we could do was wonder every time we returned, what might happen this time to make us stay?

Before drafting this post, Anthony asked if we ever left our home-base on the day we were supposed to. The answer is yes, but it begged the question of how many times we stayed at our home-base, and how many delays we actually had. So we looked at all 13 of our stays up through the end of September. Let's break down the stats:

Stay 1: December 30, 2021-February 22, 2022 Delayed
Stay 2: July 9-16, 2022 Not Delayed
Stay 3: July 30-August 12, 2022 Delayed
Stay 4: October 2022 (dates unclear) Delayed
Stay 5: November 19-December 30, 2022 Not delayed
Stay 6: November 5-December 29, 2023 Not delayed
Stay 7: August 3-7, 2024 Not delayed
Stay 8: August 25-September 4, 2024 Not delayed
Stay 9: November 15-19, 2024: Not delayed
Stay 1o: November 24, 2024-January 18, 2025 Delayed
Stay 11: July 27-August 27, 2025 Delayed
Stay 12: September 10-14, 2025 Not delayed
Stay 13: September 21-24, 2025 Not delayed

That is over a 46% rate of delays, but there's more. How many of those stays either happened or started early because we had to escape from somewhere else? 3. How many were surrounded by disarray? 7. Some of the disarray we didn't blog about, while others became emblematic of our blog. No matter what, though, we can clearly see that our stays at our home-base haven't all been lovely visits with family.

It almost ended before it began (winter 2021-2022)

On December 30, 2021, we closed on the sale of our house and moved into our RV, which was already parked on the Andersons' basketball court. We stayed stationary for over 2 months, but that was not at all the plan when we started. We hoped to pack everything into our RV and be out of MA by New Year's. We mistakenly thought that, because we had so much less stuff, we could put it away in a day or 2 and then hit the road. We were very, very wrong.

Even before moving into the RV, we were down on the count. We took delivery of our RV months later than expected and still needed to outfit it. We lost all chance to move some items in early or even take a shakedown trip. Then on December 30, we were an hour late to the closing because we were still packing things at the house and moving everything out.

Time had gotten away from us, but more importantly, we were not handling the transition very well emotionally, especially Nicole. Sometime around Christmas, she realized that she had been denying her reluctance and going through the motions. So many people were asking us about our shift into full-time RVing, and we felt like we had to act ready for it. By the time New Year's rolled around, Nicole felt like we had made a huge mistake. Our new home-on-wheels was in complete shambles, we were getting a crash course in winter RVing before even starting to RV, and we had all the challenges of living in an RV without any of the adventure. We didn't talk about it too much on the blog, except mentioning in passing that it was a tough transition. Again, we were trying to save face. Instead, we focused mostly on all the external circumstances that caused us to delay our departure, like snowstorms and mechanical issues.

We battled a lot of thoughts and feelings. If we were so freaked out about leaving, were we even cut out for the RV life? Was this some kind of foreshadowing that we'd be miserable on the road? But eventually, the harsh realities softened, much thanks to the steps we made to add homey touches to our RV, and having the support of family nearby (albeit sometimes reluctant on their end as well). By the 3rd week in February, we decided that the only way to give this life a fair shot was to actually live it. And so we found a window between snowstorms and took a long drive south on February 22, 2022.

Relevant Reads:

December 30, 2022 was a rough day, but every year since then, we've celebrated the day, designating it as our official RV-anniversary, or "RVersary." After all, it is the day we began living in our trailer. More than that, though, we see that day as a huge leap of faith, one that came with doubts, but doubts we overcame. Looking back, we are so glad we did, because these past 4 years have been extraordinary.

This delay had everything to do with us and nothing to do with our home-base. In fact, our home-base saved us, allowing us a spot to camp through the off-season, so we could take our time and launch on the road when we were ready.

The most traumatic delay (July-August 2022)

We wish we could say that our next delay also had nothing to do with our home-base, but this time, our parking spot surrounded by woods and trees – which is usually cozy – became our downfall.

We did have one short, successful stint for a week, where we arrived on time (actually a day early) and left on time. We were headed to NY and decided to route through New England as a little 6-month regrouping. However, we didn't just want to stay at our home-base the whole time. We took the week to do repairs, clean, and get packages, before we moved to a nearby campground. We were supposed to follow that stay up with another campground, but nasty, know-it-all campground owners were so not the vibe. We fought for a refund and plopped the rig back at the home-base.

From disaster to delightful! Mid-year regroup during Season 1

This story is one for the books. We've linked it more than probably any other story on the blog. We were interviewed about it for RV Radio. We won't rehash all the details here, but in summary, a thunderstorm came out of nowhere, lightning hit a tree 3 feet away from our RV, and the ground current shot into our trailer and Nicole's parents' house, destroying a whole lot of electrical wiring in its path. It also sparked a fire in the tree, and we had to move quick, first calling the fire department, and afterwards, scheduling an emergency appointment with a tree surgeon because the fire compromised the tree's integrity.

The damage to the rig was surprisingly minimal. We needed a new electric cord, surge protector, and transfer switch. Our generator stopped working for a while, but it eventually revived itself. We still don't know how to this day. The house, despite being further from the lightning strike, took the brunt of the damage, mostly to technology. Sometimes, we wonder what could have happened had we not been there. After all, we weren't supposed to be. Because we were parked right next to the struck tree, we were able to notice the scarring, smoke, and fire immediately, warn Nicole's dad, and call 911. We don't want to think of how much worse the situation could have gotten if the fire had spread, but we're just glad we caught it when we did.

This whole ordeal only caused us to leave 1 day late, but it certainly made us question why we keep getting traumatized at our home-base...and that was only stay number 3!

Thankfully, nothing that dramatic happened again, but the rest of our delays had sad circumstances surrounding them.

Relevant Reads:

Unexpected vet appointments (fall 2022)

In October 2022, we had already made our way back to New England after finishing dealing with lightning strike aftermath in Indiana. On the way back, we stopped at a cat hospital outside of Philadelphia to get Lily checked out. She had been on antibiotics to help with her chronic bacterial cystitis, but she stopped responding to them. We always knew that she might build up a resistance, at which point we could change the antibiotic. However, we needed to catch it quickly because her infections could get really bad really fast. Unfortunately, our cat hospital visit left a lot to be desired. We had a tough time convincing the vet that Lily's issue was bacterial, since that's very rare. We did, however, get her on a new antibiotic, which held her health steady for a little while.

After repair appointments for both trailer and Lily threw us on a totally unexpected route, we tried to catch up to our original travel plans in NH. Then, Lily's health took a turn again, and we made an appointment at her local vet. We had every reason to think we would return to our campsite in NH. We even told the staff we were coming back! But Lily needed some extra time with family, and by that point, we all could use some rest. Our recollection of travels during this time period is a blur; we had gone back and forth between MA and NH a couple times. But we do know that we didn't leave our home-base until November, way later than originally scheduled.

After that, we had a streak of good luck: 5 stays where we left on time! On top of this, we spent 10 months away in 2023, which given what we did that year made it feel like a lifetime. We returned home knowing that our stay would be long. Anthony had surgery at the beginning of November, and then would come his recovery, then the holidays. Perhaps this foresight and advanced planning was what we needed to launch back out on schedule.

The double loss (winter 2024-2025, summer 2025)

We were parked for our usual holiday stay at the home-base, expecting to stay through Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then launching back out around New Year's. A lot of stressors piled up during this stay, but we had been traveling for 3 years by this point, so we expected to be able to handle anything and still hit the road on time. What we couldn't handle was the loss of Lily. It seems strange to say her passing was sudden since she had battled chronic illness for half her life, but we had her health under control for so many years, that when it did fail, it came as a shock. Losing her also raised the fear of taking Tanner back on the road, all the way across the country, because his health was starting to decline, too. We delayed our Season 4 launch until mid-January to give us time to heal and make sure we felt secure getting back on the road.

The "Lily tree" that graced Nicole's parents' deck for the season

6.5 months later, we returned, expecting a few weeks of family time before heading up to check on our land in NH. Nicole's parents had done more renovations, which we were excited to see. We adopted 2 new cats on our way home and couldn't wait to introduce them to their grandhumans. The fallout started almost right away. What should have been an easy introductory vet visit led to Macky getting diagnosed with ringworm, and us getting thrust into a routine of turning our trailer upside-down with cleaning, putting all 3 pets on antifungals, and stressing our new furbabies out with RV showers (when we were supposed to be conserving tank space).

While all this was happening, Nicole's fur-sister Yana was going through health issues of her own. She had battled seizures for a couple years, but had a terrible one shortly after we got home. Nicole's parents were taking her to appointments and figuring out her meds regimen, when things took a sudden turn. The vet found a large mass in Yana's abdomen, and it was affecting her liver and kidneys. For the second stay in a row, we suffered the loss of a pet.

We had one reservation in NH booked, just for a few days so we could mow the land before parking on it. We switched our dates so we could stay at our home-base longer. The grief of losing Yana and the stress of the ringworm upheaval would have been enough, but on top of that, Anthony was laid off from his job, putting the biggest financial strain on us since before we launched on the road.

We couldn't help but point fingers to our home-base again, wondering how and why these big, life-changing things happen when we're there! The streak of good luck seemed like nothing compared to the turmoil that we had faced: lightning strikes, fires, job loss, illness, and death. Seriously, what gives?

But then it dawned on us. Maybe this was not the universe's way of telling us not to RV, or to stay far away from our home-base, nor was it a conspiracy to keep us there longer. Maybe we actually have a guardian angel, because when these things happen, having the support of family and familiarity is everything. We had a safe place to adjust to moving into the RV. We were there to call for help during the lightning strike. We were together to grieve the deaths of our pets. We had resources every time we needed to have doctor/vet appointments, repair things, or remove everything from our RV. We had a spot we could park at no extra charge when money became tight. We think about how difficult all this was already, but dealing with it on the road would have been 100 times worse. Suddenly, we realized, our good luck streak was there all along. We may have been nomads, but we had the comforts of home when we needed them most. For that, we consider ourselves very fortunate.