I had just picked out my Lucky Camping Socks when all of a sudden….

We found it.

She is a 36 foot dream on wheels and I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My Driver and I have been talking about her for 20 years and seriously looking for her for two years. Count ’em. TWO YEARS. It’s the longest we have ever waited, shopped and dreamed over a purchase. And we have done it with immense planning, saving and as much common sense as we could have mustered.

Spoiler alert! This is NOT the one we bought:

When we began searching, we found this:

Super expensive. This is one of the nicest 5th wheels on the market… which is why it won’t be following us home!

So we quickly nixed that idea. The plan is to actually own one like this one day, but after it’s 10 years old AT LEAST! I’m pretty sure we will love it even more if we don’t have to pay a gazillion bucks for it!

We continued to look. During the two years, we climbed in and out of dozens, certain that we’d found “the one”. Then we’d leave the dealer / individual / place where we found one unlocked / campsite where we’d stalked one we thought we might like / and we’d clear our heads and realize that no, it wasn’t “the one.”

And we kept looking.

Our criteria was simple enough: 5th wheel for him, pretty inside for me. I’m not even sure there are words to begin to describe how incredibly ugly the interiors of RVs can be, but I think I nailed it once or twice. My Driver even knew what I would and would not like.

“Don’t go in,” he would say, exiting the metal door and shaking his head. “It’s in the “puke” brown hue.”

Yes, I had described it well enough and he saved me multiple times from having to see yet one more puke brown / green / mauve interior.

No one could have been more surprised than me when we found our gem.

Purple.

Oh. Yes. It. Is.

The fabrics (tiebacks, pillows, comforter, etc) are a deep royal purple color.

I know you are on the edge of your seats so I’ll just show you a picture.

Or two.

Super pretty. Who knew I’d love it? I figured I’d be sewing from dusk to dawn to cover the horrors of RV interiors gone wrong.

When I said purple, I meant PURPLE! And guess what?

Iloveit.

yesido.

I LOVE IT!

The only problem I can imagine having is when my sister Carol sees it. She is going to go nuts. She is the most purple loving person I know and dang skippy, she could OD on this purple. It is so rich and regal and has retained its deep hue even though it’s from 1999 and this is danged 14 years later!

Here she is. I’m so stinkin’ happy I could hug her! She looks a bit like a baby beluga whale, doesn’t she?

Today we put the money down on our little dream wagon and I had to carry SOMETHING home so I took a pillow. Yes I did. I told the guy I was going to take something and he said, “please, not the furniture,” and I said, “No, silly, I just want something A) to see when I wake in the middle of the night and convince myself I dreamed it all and B) to match some other fabrics with. So the little pillow went home with us and it is sitting quietly beside me now, being REAL.

And tonight, REAL is wonderful.

We did a few things “first” after we put our down payment into the hands of Mr. Salesman. We walked around the RV store and looked at hoses and plugs and grills and chairs and little bowls that smush flat and big metal things that get screwed into the sides, top and bottom of the RV. I don’t know what all we saw, but I do know what I bought. I bought the socks. These aren’t any socks.

They are

My LUCKY RV Socks.

I had to have these in order to live a normal life.

I found them when we first arrived at Camping World and had to have them, RV or not. I carried them in my hands for so long I was afraid I’d forget to pay for them so I left them at the register with a responsible looking young lady. Of course I couldn’t leave them with just anyone.

“These are my Lucky RV socks,” I told her.

“Um, huh?” She asked, and even cocked her head a bit.

“Yes. My Lucky RV socks,” I repeated. “I have carried them around for so long I think they are already mine, so I am afraid I’ll walk out with them.”

“Then they wouldn’t be lucky,” she noted.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

I left them with her, but I had confess I had to walk by a time or two to make sure they were still there and some traveler from Kentucky or Texas or wherever else didn’t buy them.

And indeed, we found the RV, we got the price where we desperately needed it and I stole a pillow. All because of my Lucky RV socks.

I shall wear them tomorrow and I may, just for good measure, take the pillow on a driving tour when I go to the insurance company, the bank and all the other places I have to go in order to make this wonderful thing happen.

So that’s where we are. Lucky RV socks, found RV, stolen pillow, downpayment, and now I have to try to sleep.

It’s like Christmas. At ten years old.

It’s just too wonderful.

Good night.