RV Interview with Tiki – RV Organization Genius

The first time I saw Tiki Lebby, she was barreling towards me down a dirt road, her white, bobbed hair and cat-eyed spectacles perched above two tiny fists curled over the top of her steering wheel. As she coasted to a stop, she rolled down her window and called out over the noise of her engine. “Is this Bob’s camp?”

Tiki and I had both been invited to a meet-up after the 2018 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, where it’s creator, Bob Wells, planned to interview us both for his YouTube channel, CheapRVLiving. After that brief exchange, Tiki whirred to a stop in a plume of pebbles and dust then hopped out, a curious smile pasted on her face. “So,” she said, without pretense. “Is Happy Hour at my place or yours?”

“Mine,” I answered, wondering secretly how her rig had made it down to the remote BLM site on which we’d met. It’s 23’ fiberglass exterior was aging in a non-descript, muted way, totally dissimilar to Tiki herself. I hesitated, realizing perhaps my quick answer had been rude. “I’d love to see yours, though” I added.

Tiki smiled. “Yeah,” she said in a breezy, self-assured way, “you totally do.”

And boy, she was right.

I was transported the moment I climbed the step up into Tiki’s 1984 Champion Flagship RV, like I had stepped into a Harry Potter Bus where the inside magically expanded and changed, belying the exterior as something impermanent and false. The 23 feet within felt far bigger than the 25 feet in my RV, and it was perfectly staged, the lighting fabrics and décor all making me believe I had landed in some chic Taos Penthouse, not a 1980s used RV.

“Did you do this all yourself?” I asked, awestruck. “Every inch,” she answered. And every inch of this RV rebuild was a wonder.

Each surface was hand-cut and built, from the bookshelf tucked up above the front door, to the corner bed she rebuilt to house a storage cabinet that swung out from behind a hidden hinge. The ceiling was molded and covered with thin, wooden slats from which hung a series of lights that lent themselves to a feeling of total serenity.

And beyond the aesthetic appeal of her rebuild, I quickly learned that behind every surface were hidden compartments, each perfectly organized and labeled. There was not a stray piece of paper or a junk drawer to be found. It was as if each item inside of her rig crawled up and nested effortlessly into it’s perfect, tiny space.

Not only did Tiki gut and rebuilt this entire RV (electrical, plumbing and all) she had also created a space where everything she needed was easily found within a few steps. In fact, I put Tiki to the test in my YouTube video, “Find It! With Tiki, RV Organizational Genius” where I put Tiki’s organizational prowess to the test. I gave her 15 seconds to find any item in her RV, then asked her to do it blindfolded! And she did; she could have found any item in 5 seconds, blindfolded, and totally by feel. Click here to see the video!

I asked Tiki how she came to live an RV life, and simply: she was bored.

Escape from boredom seemed to be a theme in Tiki’s life when we spoke. She had lived in Tahiti, then on a boat in San Diego harbor, had been involved in politics, love affairs and different professional endeavors, the last of which being a Landscape Designer, until she retired last year.

When I asked her what brought her to the RV life, she said, “I was bored in a fifty and over community, I looked around and I was like, what the fuck? This is a bunch of old people! You know,” she continued,” my house was gorgeous, I had pulled out every piece of carpet and redone the cabinets, but then there was nothing left to work on. And so, I was like, okay, do I buy another boat? But there were the docks fees, plus, I’m not going to drive a boat out there by myself, things happen in the sea, so it went from tiny house to this.”

Her original plan was to buy and renovate an RV to use part-time. She shopped for nine months before finding her Champion (which she purchased for $3,800), then spent another nine months renovating it while she continued to work. Then she set out on what she thought was going to be a six month trip. She never thought she would live in the RV full time, but after that first six months, she no longer felt the need to keep the house, “I was like, why do I have this?” So, she sold her house and set out to live in her RV full-time.

I admit I was so enamored with Tiki’s RV that I offered to buy it. “No, I’ll never sell this,” she said.

“But what happens when you need another project,” I asked. “What happens when you get bored?”

Tiki smiled. “I don’t get bored now,” she said. “I never get bored out here.”

TO SEE THE YOUTUBE VIDEO WITH TIKI, CLICK HERE!

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Be Happy. Create More. Set Yourself Free .

Robin

CreativityRV

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