Being grateful even when living a month in a trailer in a working class neighborhood: A nomadic lifestyle observation…
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| Toby at the World Famous Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, PA |
Epictetus: “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
My wife and I (and our Pomeranian) have lived in many different AirBNB/Vrbo rentals since our early retirement in August 2020. Our first foray into our month long AirBNB/Vrbo rental started in a tiny one bedroom third floor walk up in Ocean City, Maryland.
It was a tiny place with a even tinier bathroom. The place reeked of smoke, and we also had a neighbor downstairs who smoked often and smoked heavy. We learned to make the rental our own after cleaning the place and ventilating it.
Our initial disappointment at our rental would eventually give way to actual enjoyment, satisfaction, and appreciation. We learned to appreciate the smelly little place with a tiny bathroom because it had everything we needed for our stay.
It had a working toilet/shower, running water, air conditioning, beds, full kitchen, and a deck. We felt it was enough for our month long stay.
During our lifetime, we had stayed in worse places than that one in Ocean City. There was an Econo Lodge in Virginia which reeked of smoke and every other imaginable smell with a dingy looking carpet. There was a motel we had booked in Thousand Islands area (upstate New York) for the Fourth of July weekend, where the motel looked like it would feel at home in a “Psycho” movie.
It wasn’t like we were always staying in a 4 or a 5 star hotel all the time. We have seen our share of good/great hotels as well as terrible motels/hotels.
We thought we had seen it all, but nothing prepared us for the AirBNB rental during the month of August 2021.
When we were searching for a month long rental for the month of August (2021) during the early part of the year, we didn’t see many options. We realized summer time was a peak season for traveling for the majority of the US population, so we weren’t choosy.
Out of maybe 5 options, we chose the trailer home in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It had the best looking interior, washer/dryer, wood floors, 2 bedrooms, and a full kitchen. The place looked like it was recently renovated. My wife and I half joked that we would be living (for the first time ever) in a trailer home as we were booking our stay.
After finishing our month long stay in Indiana (Pennsylvania) on Sunday, August 1st, we headed for Altoona around 9:45 a.m. It would be a short drive of about an hour from Indiana to Altoona.
We drove over Route 422 East then to Route 22 East, enjoying the beautiful drive over the mountains and valleys. We wanted to pick up some takeout food as we didn’t feel like cooking that day, so we picked up some Chipotle on our way over to our rental.
The closer we got to our rental, we noticed the area was getting more industrial and in serious need of repairs. There were rundown homes with windows boarded up, multiple store closures, and roads that needed some tender loving care.
Our brief elation at seeing more up to date strip malls and a beautiful senior housing, didn’t last long. These newer constructions were an anomaly, an exception, rather than the norm. We continued to see more rundown homes, more warehouses/factories, and more store closures…
Our trepidation and disappointment reached an apex when we saw what looked to be fuel storage tanks about half mile from our rental. We were bummed…We had no idea the area was so industrial and rundown…
We didn’t expect a Ritz-Carlton accommodation in a great area, but we did expect a somewhat decent neighborhood, and definitely not in an industrial part of town…
When we arrived at our trailer home, we weren’t impressed. It looked just like the photos on AirBNB listing, but somehow we had expected something better. After parking our car, and unloading all our belongings, we took a moment to settle in.
We ate our takeout food from Chipotle which made us feel better immediately. We unpacked then put away our stuff in the rental’s closets. Once we were done with this usual ritual after moving into a new place, we relaxed.
We finally had time to assess our current situation over cold drinks. We didn’t like the neighborhood or the trailer home’s exterior, but we did like the interior and all of the amenities. Toby (our Pomeranian) was fairly neutral in his assessment. He wasn’t liking it or hating it.
In Ocean City, Toby had just stood there and stared as if asking, “What happened to us dad? Are we bankrupt?” At least in Altoona trailer home, he was investigating the rental, one room at a time.
That first night, my wife and I sat in our rental’s comfortable couches and talked about that day’s experiences and our honest assessment of the rental. We again joked we were really living in a trailer home.
The next day, we got to enjoy the rocking chairs in the front porch. We really enjoyed the shaded porch while drinking iced coffee. We enjoyed listening to birds and insects making all kinds of noises. It was certainly different than our stay in Indiana (PA) just one month prior.
In Indiana, we heard loud motorcycles revving their engines and loud diesel trucks doing the same, pretty much all times of the day. We got used to that, and now we were going to get used to the sound of birds and insects, which incidentally we like MUCH BETTER than the sounds of motorcycles and trucks.
As usual, by enjoying and utilizing all the amenities of our rental, we started to appreciate it that much more. Two days after arriving, we used the washer and dryer which was great, as we normally have to go to a laundromat nearby. In Ellicottville (NY), we had to drive about 8 miles to get to a nearby laundromat! We couldn’t complain about the in-house washer and dryer.
That first week, we ventured out to nearby attractions, including Headache Hill Scenic View, Horseshoe Curve, and Fort Roberdeau Historic Site. That first week, we also saw deers right in front of our place, foraging on plants, then crossing in front of our trailer.
The following week, we saw a beautiful hummingbird hovering right in front of our eyes, while we were sitting on the front porch. We first heard the hummingbird before we saw him, due to the unmistakable buzzing noise they make when slowing down or hovering. We then saw another hummingbird right near the window facing south. It was hovering and it almost looked like it was checking himself out using the window’s reflection. They were so cute…
At night, we walked out of our trailer and looked up into the sky to see beautiful twinkling stars. It definitely made us feel joyous that we can see stars again. This was not possible in Indiana which is a small city with many bright night lights.
We noticed we were sleeping better compared to our stay in Indiana. Our trailer home was quiet during the day, and much more so at night. We would get much better sleep overnight. Our afternoon naps were also better quality sleep than Indiana. There were no loud motorcycles or trucks revving the engine constantly…
One day during our first week of stay, we were awakened by the sound of heavy rain falling. It hit the roof of our trailer home and made loud slapping noises. It was a pleasant surprise! It instantly woke me from my afternoon nap, and I got to see it falling, as brief as it was.
One of our favorite things about the trailer home were the big and wide windows with views out to the woods from our living room and bedroom. We got to enjoy green leaves slowly but surely changing their colors to a hint of yellow. We felt a changing season coming, as more leaves fell down each and every day of our stay…
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| View of the woods through the large windows… |
What was once an impenetrable canopy of trees at the beginning of our stay, slowly revealed distant tree lines and hills. We wondered by the end of our stay how that view would change again, once all the leaves fell…
Our stay got increasingly better thanks to these amenities and experiences…
We realized there are probably millions of people living in trailer homes and even worse off places. We were quite prejudiced at the notion of living in a trailer home. We had negative preconceived notions of trailer homes…
We knew it wasn’t right to judge something like that, yet all of our experiences popularized by media via films and television, had brainwashed us. We automatically assumed trailer home equaled bad neighborhood and people down on their luck…
Our first impression of the area we were in was that of a working class neighborhood. We saw many factories, warehouses, and mechanical shops. We figured many people worked at these same places in and around our neighborhood.
We realized many people were just doing what they can to make a living, to put food on the table, to have a home, and to feed their loved ones, just like everyone else. It dawned on us that we all shared this commonality.
It wasn’t difficult to see that as different as we all seem at times, we all share this commonality to pursue a happy life. Everyone is trying to make a living so they can take care of their loved ones, and to find a better life for themselves and their families.
When we thought about how we are all similar, even if where we live may be different, we got to accept the truth that our neighborhood wasn’t all that bad…
We were glad our trailer home was clean, and had all the amenities we could want including running hot/cold water, flushing toilet, washer/dryer, full kitchen, and two bedrooms. We also enjoyed the modern decor of our ‘home’. Most importantly, it was in a safe neighborhood. We knew there were millions and maybe even billions of people out there who do not have all these things.
We counted our blessings and were grateful for what we do have. We could’ve been living a much worse lives if things didn’t pan out the way they did. We could’ve been sick and jobless. There are million other scenarios that could’ve happened for the worse…
Despite all our travels, we had briefly forgotten how to be grateful for what we do have. This was an important reaffirming lesson for us thanks to our month long stay at our trailer home.
By the end of the month, we really appreciated everything the trailer home offered. We had acclimated to our environment and learned to appreciate our ‘home’ for the month.
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| Front porch view of trees in front of our trailer |
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| Another view from our front porch |
In conclusion:
Despite our not so fantastic beginning to our month long stay at a trailer home, we eventually put aside our prejudices and preconceived notions of what it’s like to live in a trailer home.
We’re glad we got to experience first hand that living in a trailer home is not unlike living anywhere else. It’s people pursuing their happiness, and providing for their loved ones. This is common to us all…
You know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” Well, this was that exact scenario.
We’re grateful we got to enjoy our trailer home stay in Altoona, and we would do it again…
Thank you all for reading!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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