Our full-time RV lifestyle actually began about five years before our dream became a reality. Before we even thought about becoming
full-time RV'ers, we had a nice little farmhouse where we grew gourds, our own veggies, and had lots of room to play. Little did we know,
that lurking in the walls of that farmhouse, unseen by human eyes, was a biotoxic chemical factory that was gradually taking away our
health. As we became sensitized to the toxic mold that was growing in the walls, our allergies became heightened, we developed asthma,
ear infections, fever's that wouldn't go away, joint pain, muscle pains, and a whole host of problems that we never realize could happen
in a modern American home.
Once we discovered the toxic mold problems and issues within that house, we started looking for a new house to live in but it wasn't
that easy. The area of the country in which we live was a wet humid area in the Midwest. As we went out shopping, we discovered that
almost every house in that small-town had toxic mold problems. The irony is, for those who own houses with minor mold problems, it didn't
bother them, however once you've been sensitized to toxic mold even the smallest amount will make you sick. I house she could've lived in
two years ago will suddenly make you feel like you're dying. Our biggest concern was that the damage being done is cumulative.
We finally found one house it was suitable for us it would not make us sick, a newer modular home. We moved in the winter and all
seemed fine, except I developed a breathing problem. We hadn't given too much thought to what was causing my problem other than the
thought that it was due to years of breathing the mold spores. When summer came and started getting warm outside, we began running air
conditioner. The air conditioner did not seem to be functioning properly, it would run continuously, it would only lower the temperature
in the house maybe 5° to 10° lower than it was outside, and my breathing continued to get progressively worse. Carmella was also
developing problems breathing. We had the air-conditioning man come out and check the air-conditioning and they could find nothing wrong
with it but I discovered something else. While it was an 85° in the house the temperature under the house was running around 30°. Upon
further observation and inspection we discovered that the air that was being taken from inside the house was being pumped into the crawl
space after being cooled down, and air to replace the air taken out of the house was being drawn through the attic and the spacing in the
walls. Along with this air was attic and insulation dust. This was the source of our breathing problem.
Once the landlord realized the problem, and modular homes are sealed with a huge tarp inside of which all the ventilation is ran.
Fixing the problem is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. The landlord said he would not fix the problem and would not renew our
lease.
During the year we lived in that house we began to think about purchasing an RV. We had done a lot of research on toxic mold, we had
looked all over that small-town for a house that was mold free, and we'd come to the conclusion that any conventional built home would be
unsuitable for us to live in due to the hollow wall construction and fiber installations. With an RV you don't have to worry about hollow
wall construction, leaks are easy to get to in most cases, and an RV is an affordable home. If we could buy our own RV, we would be in
control of repairing damages and leaks.
As the time on our lease was running low, we tried unsuccessfully to find a mold free home. A decision had to be made and it was
becoming obvious to us that fate was telling us it's time to move. We had already determined that we should head to the southwest where
the air was drier. We were fighting is fateful decision knowing that it was what we wanted to do, but facing the reality that we really
could not afford to just pack up and move. However as the lease ran out and there was no safe harbor for us to turn to it became obvious
to us that God was putting us on the road. So with about two months income in our pocket, a van with over 190,000 miles, we packed up
what we could along with the tense and camping gear, sold everything we had and what we could so we gave away keeping only a few precious
keepsakes in a storage shed that hopefully we would one day be able to return and recover.
As we packed our van we realize we wanted to keep too much, there just wasn't enough room. So we unpacked and packed again, and the
second time, and the third time, until finally at three o'clock in the morning on May 9, 2007 we were ready to go. The van was packed
from floor to ceiling with two cargo carriers on top packed as tight as they could be, three kids in the back seat and my wife and I
headed down the road pulling a wheelie all the way. I know it had to look funny because the back of the van looked like the bumper was
about to drag in the front of the van looked like the wheels were about to lift off the ground, but we were taking with us what few
precious possessions we had. Who would have known that a micro-organism like toxic mold could reak such havoc on a family, but it was
serious enough to scrap our belongings and get out of that environment.
To be continued...
