We have no clue what we're doing! Putting our RV in storage for the first time

We had a crazy journey back from New England, running away from storms. Roof leaks that we've been battling since February had gotten out of control, and there was no solution until we could get our roof replaced. We decided to take 2 full-day drives to get us back to the Carolinas, and then finish the trip with a 3-hour drive to our storage unit in Myrtle Beach.

We tried to time our storage unit rental right, but this was tough since we didn't know exactly when we'd arrive back. We researched several local facilities and formed a shortlist before heading out on our trip. Then around mid-July, we started calling places. The first two didn't have any availability, but the 3rd place offered us a choice of either a covered spot (more expensive but closer to our cottage) or an uncovered spot (cheaper but further away). We chose the covered spot mostly for the location. Being close to the cottage meant we could take short trips back and forth when needed, plus we'd be close enough to drive by once in a while and check on it. We figured if we tried it for a while and it wasn't worth the price, we could switch. We're under no illusions about the price of this unit. We've had enough storage rentals to know that the prices go up constantly. Even the guy at the facility said that, yes, it'll go up in a few months, but we can always negotiate to split the difference. Why do the facilities work this way?!

We really weren't thinking clearly. Choosing the covered storage unit because of geographical proximity? Hello?!

We were storing the trailer in Myrtle Beach, during their wet season. A covered spot was absolutely necessary. Granted, we do have an RV cover that we bought in Season 1, back when we thought wintering in the RV for the holidays would be impossible and we very much expected to store it at our MA home-base. We ended up figuring out how to stay in the RV and just kept the cover for a rainy day. Not these rainy days, though. We've got that covered.

Initially, we thought we weren't returning to Myrtle Beach until later in August, but the facility only let us start our rental a week out from when we called, so we started paying for it on July 21. Good thing, too, because we ended up getting back on July 28 and already had our spot waiting for us.

Only, we hadn't seen it yet. Because we booked it while we were in NH, we went in blind. The size of the spot was good – 35ft long and 12ft wide – but we had no idea how easy it would be to maneuver into it, or how the roads were leading to the facility. We just had to assume that, since other trailers were doing it, we could too.

I asked Anthony if he wanted me to book an RV site for our first night back, so we could go see the storage facility without towing. He convinced me to save the money and head straight to the facility. Worst-case scenario, we'd have trouble getting to our spot, and we'd then need to head to an RV site until the facility staff could get us another site. Touché. Just in case, though, we made sure to arrive within the facility's open hours, so we could talk to staff if we needed to.

The plan was to immediately go to storage, drop the trailer, and then head straight to the cottage to drop off the pets. Once settled, Anthony and I would return to grab the most essential items from the trailer, but wait on the rest.

Immediately, we ran into obstacles. We took the wrong road to the facility, which ended at a turn we couldn't make while towing. We had to turn around in a parking lot, but it wasn't large enough to make a U-turn. 3-point turns with the trailer are always a fun time, but it got us facing the right way so we were able to pull straight through the entrance. We also discovered that, when we rented the unit, the staff never gave us the code for the security gate. Guess it's good we arrived during open hours!

But once we cleared these initial obstacles, getting around the facility was extremely easy, and we immediately felt that it was a safe and secure location. Our spot is typical for covered RV storage, back-to-back with another spot and barely enough room for us to put our steps down. Good thing we've got our GlowSteps and can use them even when they're only partially extended! These spots are also notorious for having metal posts every other site, and we had one. We can't imagine newbie RVers taking their trailer home for the first time and immediately needing to back into such a tight squeeze. We certainly couldn't have done it! Thankfully, we've learned some maneuvering tactics over the past 5 years, and we backed Buggy into his new home safely.

For those wondering if it's possible for us to bring our RV to our cottage, the answer is, not really. We could technically navigate the trailer through the roads without issue, but it's a quiet residential area, and we'd like to keep it that way. We also have nowhere to park the rig, even for a short while, unless we wanted to take up half the road. Anthony and I are at odds with this. He said he'd be fine towing the RV and parking it on the street just to unpack it. I, on the other hand, am not.

The plan was to keep unpacking minimal at first, since we were so tired from all our drive days and just wanted to enjoy being back to the cottage. The most essential items to grab were food items from the fridge and freezer. We don't have a working inverter, so while the battery power would last a little while, we didn't want to take any risks in the extreme heat. We were under a heat advisory and, even later in the day, the feels-like temperature was 107°F. We soon realized that we needed to move fast, not just for the sake of our belongings, but for our health, too. We couldn't lug boxes for too long in that heat. We prioritized taking items that could easily melt, like food and body/skincare products. We also took anything that was easy to throw in a bin or quickly grab. In only about a half-hour, we had filled the truck to the brim.

We felt accomplished and even considered hauling out the big stuff the following day – our desks. This would be a huge undertaking, though, because the desks don't fit through the front door even when we can fully deploy our steps. We could only think of 2 possible ways to get the desks out: 1, open up the back ramp door like we did to get them in, or 2, remove all the legs to both desks and try to squeeze the pieces out the front door. We didn't know if removing the legs would be enough, and we didn't want to take any chances, especially given that the trailer next to us was very expensive. Our only choice was to hitch back up, pull the trailer forward enough to put the ramp down, and use the back.

If we were going to do this grand maneuver anyway, we wanted to take full advantage. There were a lot of items that would be easier to bring in and out through the back. We needed to make room for the desks in the truck bed, and in order to do that, needed to take everything out – all the RV-related items and the camping/recreational gear we took from the NH storage unit, including the ebikes. So we formed a plan:

1. Get all the camping/rec items out of the truck bed
2. Get the desks out of the trailer
3. Move the camping/rec items into the trailer

When we dropped the trailer off, we noticed the site diagonal behind us was vacant. We hoped we could use that space to pile our stuff for a short bit, so we wouldn't need to pile it in the road. We didn't know if the space was rented, but even if it was, what were the chances that they'd return in the 20ish minutes we were using it?

Oh boy, did I just do that cool writing tool called foreshadowing?!

About 5 minutes after we unloaded the back of the truck, a motorhome came into the facility and pulled past our row. No! It couldn't be! Oh, but it was. They came around the back, heading straight for the spot we had infiltrated. The timing couldn't have been worse. We had everything in their spot – bins, ebikes, our RV electric cord, camping gear. We apologized to them and sprang into action (and sheer panic mode), pushing everything out of the way and squeezing it into the edges of our site and just in front of it.

I saw things going one of two ways. Either they'll be really annoyed or really nice, and as a fellow RVer, I knew this would solely depend on whether or not they had a smooth drive day to get there. Turns out, they were the literal best. When we explained that we were in the middle of a move to a house, they were very understanding. We ended up chatting with them for about 10 minutes, sharing stories from our RV travels. We're all transplants from further north, so we got to talk about living in Myrtle Beach and how insanely hot this year has been. Ironically, they said they weren't supposed to arrive back until the following day, but they came back a day early. We also weren't supposed to get back until the next day, but we came back 2 days early. Guess we were all meant to meet!

We don't know how long they were planning to store their RV, but they did practically nothing after pulling it into storage. They shut off the engine, chatted with us, locked up, and drove away in their toad. This made us wonder, how do people actually store their rigs? We hadn't done any research yet but just knew the first order of business would be to grab our perishables. Is storing the RV a spectrum, where those who are only storing it for a short time don't do much, those storing for a year do everything, and everyone else falls somewhere in the middle?

We didn't even know if people tended to load items in and out of their RVs while they're in storage. We obviously were, but we also knew that this was an extenuating circumstance. We had so much to learn, but right now, we needed to move quickly and efficiently to get our desks out and put all the bins in.

We hitched up and pulled the truck forward to make room for our ramp door. How we successfully backed into the spot without hitting the post, we don't know, because pulling forward, that thing was about to take off our sewer port!

We shimmied the trailer away from the post a little, but we didn't need to pull it that far forward to make room in the back. It certainly wasn't the best view we've ever had from our patio, but this ramp door has served us well over the years. Who needs to haul toys? We just haul furniture!

I was an anxious mess the entire time. I was so afraid we were going to scrape one of the other RVs, or someone would come by and yell at us for having all our crap halfway into the road. The facility was being landscaped that day, and the sounds of the mower echoed so loud that I couldn't even think straight. I couldn't wait to get everything squared away so we could put the ramp door back up and get back into our spot.

By the end of it, our RV looked like it exploded with camping and outdoor supplies.

It wasn't pretty, but we successfully made the switch without getting in anyone else's way. Over the next few days, we made quick stops to grab a few more items out of the trailer and to remove batteries from our electronics. We finished setting up our office spaces and organizing the cottage. This was a good first step. What steps remained, we needed to figure out. Time to deep dive into RV storage articles and find out, did we do okay so far? What else is there to do? And does part-time RVing mean that anxiety-provoking storage days are now part of the process? We had entered a whole new world, one that 5 years of RVing didn't prepare us for. This would be a longer learning process than we expected.