Before I knew it I was being pulled out of bed, handcuffed and escorted to the police car, forever separated from my siblings never to see my boyfriend again. My days of travel vanished before my eyes.
Okay so it didn't exactly happen that way, but in the moment it did feel that way.
We started the weekend by heading to Stamford, Connecticut to visit my sister and her boyfriend at their new apartment. We had gotten approval from building management to park the RVan in their parking lot for the weekend, worry-free.
The plan was to sleep over in Stamford Friday night and then head to my cousins wedding in New Rochelle the next day. The four of us would sleep in the RV at the wedding venue – we had called ahead and gotten the okay to overnight park the RV at the venue. Remember that, it’s important.
After a night of dancing, celebrating and drinking the four of us made our way back to the RV along with my brother. Almost immediately me, my sister and her boyfriend crashed. At 2:30 I woke up to panicked whispers and flashing lights.
As the manager was locking up the gates at the venue he noticed the lights on in the RV. We had never gotten the okay to sleep there, just to overnight park it. The venue had called the police on us and they wanted us gone.
Suddenly I was a hillbilly squatter, in an RV, at the mercy of the police. Although it was scary I was able to pull myself together. Luckily my friends in the back were sleeping off their drinks, except for my sister who was tucked away in the top cabin wide eyed and listening to everything - waiting patiently to spring into action in the chance that I might need her.
After running my license and being nothing but completely understanding and accommodating to the situation, the police let me drive to the nearby hotel my parents were staying at. I successfully found a parking spot, backed us in, and made sure everyone was tucked in tight and safe before closing at least one eye for the rest of the night.
Come morning we were still in the hotel parking lot. I was checking my messages and noticed I must have slept texted my mom at 4:00 am 'tow truck' to which she replied 'what' proving further that I did not have a good nights sleep. My sisters boyfriend, however, woke up bright eyed and cheery. When she asked him if he knew where we were he replied 'the wedding venue' proving he most certainly had a great nights sleep and was not disturbed whatsoever by our little run in with law enforcement.
Shaking off the run in with police and reminiscing on the gorgeous wedding, the four of us drove back to Stamford. We went on to enjoy the day by hitting an Italian Food Fair, found a build your own Bloody Mary bar and went back to make pizza and watch football.
At around 11:00 pm we headed down to the RVan to catch some zzz's. After heating the RV up with the generator, brushing our teeth and crawling into bed we heard a bang on the door. My heart dropped – there was no way this was happening again.
I opened the door and was met by the buildings doorman. He was not thrilled we were there and asked who gave us permission to stay. As I began explaining that we were given permission and signed in with the front desk Friday night, he started to walk away, letting me know he needed to ‘go and figure this all out’. I lay anxiously in bed waiting for another bang on the door before falling asleep from stress and exhaustion. He never came back, and we slept peacefully through the night.
The next morning my sister and I had coffee at a cafe in Stamford called Humbled and went to this massive antique store. Around noon, we said our goodbyes and Chris and I headed towards New York.
The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to head to Marist in Poughkeepsie to see the changes to the campus since I had graduated, eat at Lola's cafe in town, and walk the Walkway Over the Hudson. We did all of that and then some.
After wrapping up in Poughkeepsie we decided to head to Beacon to walk around town and grab a snack. We landed on Glazed Over Donuts, a 'create your own' donut shop and had some iced coffees.
The weather could not have been nicer, the coffee stronger, and the company better. The weekend was an absolute blast.
Our number one take away? Plan ahead. After a run in with police and a knock on the door from building management at my sisters apartment we had had enough. We didn't want to feel uncomfortable or nervous in our tiny home, and slowly we were headed down that path. No more risking it - our next trip would go as planned.
