A Different Kind of Summer Cottage

We have a new summer home! After spending several weeks (before and after going to the South Pacific) in my parents' RV Chris & I have decided this "house on wheels" deal works as well as the "house on water" does for us. So...we have purchased a 2005 27' travel trailer to live in during the summers when we aren't on the boat. It sure solves a lot of problems. We have a place to come home to that is ours and we don't have to buy furniture that would have to be stored while we are in Mexico. Further, we can actually move it from place to place so is rather like cruising on land. Both of us are very comfortable with the concept of taking our home with us. Not only can we visit new places but if the next door neighbor starts bugging us all we have to do is unplug the utilities, attach the "house" to the trailer hitch and move to a new area. Easy as pie.
Don't get the wrong idea, though. As with anything else, there are a few good/bad things about trailer life.
Furniture: The house comes with all the furniture built in so no problems with having to buy something to fill up empty rooms. Unfortunately, if you get tired of looking at the pattern on the couch you have to buy a whole new house.
Storage: Yikes! This is very much like a boat! When we first looked at this trailer both of us were amazed at how much storage there was and we talked excitedly about how there was even more than what we have on the boat. Wrong! True, there are lots of cupboards, closets and cabinets, but they are often, in reality, 6" deep and 10" high. For example, my dinner plates will only fit in the angled cabinet in the corner over the couch! We have also converted a closet that was meant for hanging clothes into a pantry so we have somewhere to store food...which we consider to be an essential item.
Still, I have now discovered a resource all my women friends have known about for years: Ikea! They have so many cool ideas for making tiny little spaces do big jobs that it boggles the mind.
When we first got the trailer we had a small dilemma to deal with. We took possession of it on Thursday after 5pm and had to move it into the space we had the RV in. This entailed taking all our stuff (of which we had much more than I'd realized) out of the RV and putting it into the trailer. Then we needed to get the trailer hooked up to all the necessary utilities and take the RV back to my parents. We basically dumped all our belongings in the middle of the trailer to sort out later. Not only did it take a good week to get everything put away but we ended up buying much more than imagined. Things like dishes, silverware, towels, blankets, etc were all needed to set up housekeeping. More "stuff" to find storage spots for. sigh...
Now that we have finally gotten the place pretty much organized it is quite homey and comfortable. Alas, Chris is beginning to make much louder noises about packing it all up and heading south. It seems the summer is truly over and it's time to go back to Mexico. Just when I was beginning to feel settled. Oh well.