In nearly 100-degree heat, we carefully backed the Airstream up to the carport, and with that we were finally “moved in” to our first non-mobile home in two years.

The Airstream is now resting comfortably in its partially-shaded space — a luxury for a trailer that has been exposed to full Arizona sun these past weeks. Once we’ve removed a false wall in the rear of the carport, all 30 feet of aluminum tube should be under cover.

It has been a successful day. Our real estate agent came by with the keys not long after the Airstream was parked. We met a neighbor and she turned out to be a lovely lady who likes birding and hiking. We hit it off immediately. A few minutes later I met the mail carrier as she was doing her route, and so was able to introduce us and ensure we’d start getting mail. (Our mail box had a blue tag inside it saying “VACANT” which led me to believe we’d been blacklisted.)

The house-watching guy showed up on time and turned out to be very reasonable and personable. We made arrangements for him to watch the house while we are gone for the summer. The UPS man showed up with a package around then, too. It was as if we’d been living in the house for years.

For the next couple of weeks we will continue to live in the Airstream, while we get various things done inside the house. We have no furniture, no refrigerator, and only enough dishes and sundries to stock the Airstream. This sort of situation forces us to reconsider the definition of “home”. Home, today, is still the Airstream. But tonight a couple of pizzas baked in the house oven, eaten standing up in the kitchen, were enough of a celebration to make us feel like we’d really done something. We bought a house and it looks like it will be a good spot for us to land between trips.