Up North

We're at Bull Run Regional Park just outside of Washington, DC. We got here on Monday and we'll be calling this home for the next three months. I'm working as a camp host part time so our stay here is in exchange for my work. While here Matt will continue with working from "home" and I'll continue to handle my informatics business. All in all it feels good to be settled for a little while. We've had a chance to look around some and I think we're going to like it here.

We left the 95 degree days behind at the Sawmill. We also left the noise, drag shows, disco lights, pool parties and the occasional half clothed man behind too. Our time at the Sawmill was certainly interesting. We love the area. It's close enough to Matt's parents (who thankfully never wanted to visit the trailer) so that we don't feel obligated to see them every day but close enough that we saw them quite often. I think that has actually been good for Matt.

The trip from the Sawmill to Charleston took about 9 hours. This is interesting: Every park we stay in the check out time is 11:00 AM the day of departure except the Sawmill. Its departure time is noon, with a very generous late check out policy if you need it. In fact, if you are so inclined, they'll let you stay until 7:00 PM for a mere $10. They certainly are meeting the needs of their clientele and know the party boys aren't going to get up to get packed up and out of there before noon so they go with the flow and usually make an extra $10 bucks from their customers for not a lot of work.

After lifting Gracie into the truck we were off. Gracie does two things really well. She eats and sleeps. Sometimes she'll play but most of the time she's snacking or has made herself a bed and is asleep. She's on phenobarbital for a seizure disorder and I think that is partially why she is so much like a slug. If possible she has also gotten fatter. We try and limit her food and take her on multiple walks per day but it just doesn't seem to matter with Gracie. The good thing is she isn't seizing anymore. Gracie has this annoying habit of jumping at the cars she sees driving down the opposite side of the road and snapping at the air. I am sure she sees the motion and is just trying to catch whatever it is that she can't see but it is incredibly distracting when she is right behind you smacking against the window. I am afraid her little brain will fall out if she doesn't stop doing that.

Nine hours is about all we can handle in one day. When we got to Charleston we were all tired and ready to stop for the night. We didn't arrive during normal park hours so we had to contact the night ranger to be let in. This apparently is not supposed to be a problem according to the campground reservationists but when we talked to the ranger he seemed to be amazed that anyone would be checking in that late. When he finally opened the gate for us and met us at the campground he apparently miraculously remembered that people do in fact some in late and found our paperwork. We did a quick detach put down the stabilizers, hooked up the power and water and called it a night.

We had a nice visit with some friends, visited one of our favorite restaurants and got our winter clothing out of storage. We hit the road on Sunday headed to a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) in Enfield, NC which is just outside of Rocky Mount, NC. It took almost 10 hours go get to Enfield and by the time we arrived we were bushed. Just as an aside Gracie slept through the entire trip. At one point I got worried about her and asked Matt to make sure she was breathing. I guess Gracie has discovered the best way to while away the time on a long trip.

Charlotte, on the other hand, stays awake the entire trip. She lays on Matt's lap the entire time. When it's really hot that can be an unpleasant place for her to be but she needs to be right up there in the middle of the action in case anyone needs a Jack Russell Terrier. If they do, she's ready. I hate to tell her that almost no one needs a Jack Russell Terrier on a moments notice.

We don't feed them on travel days until we get to the campground. That has, to this point, eliminated car sickness. This also means that Gracie is not in the mood for doing a lot of walking around. She's ready for dinner when we stop.

We noticed that the campground was for sale as soon as we arrived. The place was spotless, well groomed but our guess not in a place where a lot of people go for vacations. The staff were efficient but not at all friendly or unfriendly. We did a rapid unhook (unlock the hitch and pull it of the truck), hooked up the power and took the dogs our for a much needed walk. We got the feeling that the owners were desperate to get out of this campground business. Part of this came from the signs all over the park about what you can and can't do. The notice about the Internet connection was the best of them all. They use a satellite Internet service so there are bandwidth limits, problems with weather and apparently periodic problems with the hardware. The notice on the park's log in screen listed all of these problems and ended with a curt we aren't responsible for the operation of the Internet notice. We weren't there long enough to really need to do anything we couldn't do with our phones so it didn't bother us at all. Quiet desperation was the feeling I got there.

The park at Bull Run is nice and quiet. Matt likes that. It's getting to be the off season so the park isn't very full. On Tuesday we took the Metro down to DC for some time at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It's one of my favorites. It wasn't very crowded and we got to go into the butterfly room. It's a heat and humidity controlled room filled with grow lights and tons of butterflies. It is quite beautiful and we had a great time watching them fly about. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time at the museums over the next three months.

On Tuesday we found a place called Wegman's Grocery Store. Think of it as a Whole Foods combined with a Costco and a couple of restaurants thrown in for a good mix. This place is amazing. They have 4 long steam tables with all kinds of prepared food, a long salad bar, a huge cheese bar (Matt loved that) and all of the stuff you'd find in a regular grocery store too. The place was massive and has become our destination for all food shopping now.

Today (Wednesday) was laundry day - my most hated day. We can go about two weeks if we're good before we must do laundry. We were at that point today when I packed it all up and drive over to a local laundromat called Hailey's. It isn't owned by Hailey anymore. It belongs to Aleia who bought it from Hailey. Aleia is from Mexico and speaks some english. She likes to talk to customers so she can improve her english so she is very outgoing and friendly. While I washed my clothes I found out all kinds of good stuff about the laundromat and the people who come in. Aleia is also quite a gossip. I loved it. The only down fall of the whole thing is that they have Telemundo soap operas playing really loudly. Aleia told me she thinks they are stupid but watches them anyway. I like Hailey's because they have big washers and big dryers. One load of dark/colors, one load of whites, one big ass dryer and I'm done with laundry in an hour. It was funny to see what people were wearing to get their laundry done. You could tell who was actually desperate and who was just getting a chore done. The guy next to me was dressed in his biking gear and had 4 washers going. He was desperate.

It's raining tonight and I love it. I've got the window next to my side of the bed open and I can hear the rain. When it rains a little harder you can hear it on the trailer too. Very relaxing and cozy. Gracie has scrunched up a little rug that we keep at the front door into a little pile and is sleeping on it. It doesn't look comfortable but she is really out of it. Charlie is asleep on my pillow (and growls every time I move) and Mattie is playing solitaire. All in all a nice relaxing night.

Trailer Life

Several of you have wanted to see pictures of our long-long trailer and how we live our day-to-day lives in a very small space. Let me first say that Matt and I rarely argue. We may become snippy but we're both somewhat laid back and respectful of each other that we can live in close proximity and not drive each other nuts. I have to admit that would not have been the case with any previous relationship I've had. The biggest space challenge is when we're both getting dressed to go out. Since our clothes are at opposite ends of our sleeping space we have to take turns getting dressed. Not a big deal but a little different than what most people go through on a daily basis with their spouse. Our biggest challenge so far has been where to store all of our stuff. It's amazing how many "junk drawers" you actually have until you move. We currently have a bin of junk drawer stuff without a home here on Mabel Rubain. We're working on a solution but it will take some time.

This is a picture of our little kitchen. It's small and we haven't really cooked in it yet but it's workable. We usually have an inaugural dinner of Hamburger Helper Lasagna when we are camping but we haven't done that yet. I really ramped down the kitchen stuff when we moved into the trailer. I have the basics but some of the things I didn't use often, like my stock pot, didn't make the transition. We do have a neat device that is like a slow cooker without electricity. You fill up the pot with whatever crockpot meal you want and bring it up to a boil on the stove. Then you put the metal pot into a plastic liner that insulates. It cooks throughout the day and by the time you get home it's dinner. When we get to VA next week I'm going to try some making some crock pot chili (yes, with beans).

This is the trailer looking aft from the kitchen. What you can't see is Gracie's crate. It's next to the couch. Most trailers would have a dinette where Gracie's crate is located but there wasn't one in the trailer when we bought it and it's turned out really well. Gracie and Charlotte both ride in the truck with us when we're traveling. Gracie isn't trustworthy when we're not around. Even though she's over a year old being in the kennel so long before we got her has stunted her level of maturity so we are still dealing with puppy behavior. We're here most of the time so she's out playing with her toys, chewing on our rugs and basically laying right where you need to be. She is a very, very, vary lazy dog. We take them both out for a walk each night and Gracie will just stop walking when she gets tired which is about 100 feet away from the trailer. We make her go for a walk anyway. She doesn't like it.

Here is our bedroom/office. We have a couch in the trailer (previous picture) that we can use to work on but we seem to migrate to the bedroom and work there. The cellular modems we use are not very good so when we have things to do that require we have a better connection we head out to a Starbucks, grab some coffee and go to work. That doesn't happen too much but on occasion we've had to resort to the kindness of Starbucks. Charlotte is in her usual place, on top of all the pillows. Her job is to bark at dogs and cats that are outside during conference calls. She does that very well.

Here's the trailer from outside. It's a MaxLite but the name is a misnomer. This trailer is anything but light. It's very well equipped which means that it is on the heavier side of what our truck can pull. It's made of an aluminum frame with fiberglass panels so it's sturdy. Not like the newer models made with 2x2s and corrugated aluminum. I'll deal with the weight and mileage hit for a more sturdy trailer. Since we'll be camping where it's cold the extra insulation and central heat will be welcome. Those aren't generally available in travel trailers.

The trailer has a fold out awning that keeps the sun out of the windows and allows us an outside spot for grilling and hanging out neither of which we've done yet. Matt has a bug phobia and hates to be outside. I'm looking forward to sitting outside on a cool evening in the VA woods with a fire burning in the fire pit. I have a feeling I'm going to be alone in that. Notice the stars on the awning. We're in a gay campground and everyone decorates their trailer. We were here for almost 2 weeks before we got with the program. We were looking a little poor there for a while. Now we are all set. We have LED star lights that change colors. I think their the best lights in the park now except for the couple with the disco-ball (yes, seriously they have a disco-ball).

We're a month into our adventure and having a blast. We've experienced some technology issues but for the most part we're working. Still no TV but that's not been a problem. We've learned the lesson of a place for everything and everything in its place. That is key to living in a small space.

Thanks for the emails and comments. Keep them coming.

Todd

Times A Wastein'

As our time here in the Saw Mill Resort and RV Camp comes to and end, I have some thoughts about our life in a tiny house versus the 3800 sq ft house we lived in before. In a word I'm loving our tiny house it and to my utter and shear joy Matt is loving it too. I thought if anything was going to bring this adventure to an untimely end it would be that Matt hated it and we would be forced to find a place more settled to live. It's not without some challenges.

The dogs are settled into their routines pretty well. We take them out on long walks every day and since we're all in the trailer together they get to be closer to us than when we had the house. There isn't a lot of free space with the two of us and two dogs so we're pretty much together anytime we're in the trailer together. The dogs don't mind at all and look forward to their walks. The problem I foresee is when we change locations. The routine will change and they might be a little anxious but I think, after a while, they'll learn the pack up and go routine and things will be fine.

Medications and doctors are another challenge. So far we've managed to use the Publix Pharmacy to get our refills. Our doctors have been really great at authorizing our refills even when we're out of state so that hasn't been a problem. I have some specialized meds I take so I have to be right on top of those and give the pharmacy extra time to get those filled. So far so good.

The mail situation is pretty easy. When we left Charleston we had our mail forwarded to a private mail processing center in Houston, TX. They scan the envelope and send the scan to us via e-mail. We can then ask them to send it to our location, open it and scan the contents and send that to us or just shred it. So far we've only had two things forwarded to us here in Florida and it worked out perfectly.

We bank with Bank of America since there are branches in all 50 states. Matt's paycheck is directly deposited but if we need a bank they're pretty easy to find. The best part is making deposits by taking pictures of checks and sending the pictures to the bank. We've used that service without any problems so banking is pretty much as simple as you can get.

One of the biggest changes that has come with our Tiny House adventure is that we don't have TV of any kind. No DirecTV and no over the air TV. I do selectively watch a couple of shows that I can get through iTunes or Netflixs but in general we don't have TV. Gone are the nights wasted sitting in front of the TV for the night. Now we read, write, go to the pool, take the dogs for a walk and at times spend some time reading the news online. That leads to one challenge that we haven't really addressed adequately -- Internet Access. We have 2 cellular modems that sort of work Sometimes the streaming is OK. Sometimes the surfing is OK. But a lot of the time its a challenge to even Google to load.

When we first got here I was having some serious TV withdrawals. I had my shows planned out all week, the DVR was programmed and I spent too much time watching things rather than doing things. Now I have two shows that I like to watch. I catch them on iTunes when I get a chance. Sometimes I'll treat myself to a documentary but streaming with the cellular modems is very expensive and until we find a park with free WiFi we'll be severely limiting our TV time. I can say now, after being without TV for over 3 weeks that I don't miss it. Too many other things to do.

I haven't spent a lot of time (any) cooking in the trailer. It seems like at the end of the day once we're both ready to stop working the last thing we want to do is cook in the trailer. We need a little break. We generally go out and explore the local eating establishments. Sometimes we really lucky and sometimes we really unlucky. I think as time goes by we'll cook more in the trailer but for now getting out and about town is more along the lines of what we're ready to do at the end of the day. We have a full stove with an oven and a microwave. We keep the refrigerator stocked with sandwich meats and cheeses and drinks so in a pinch we can always eat at home.

We did have one really strange lunch. We were at Matt's parent's house doing laundry and as the last load dried we decided to try a bbq restaurant just down the street. The menu looked pretty good when we sat down. Matt loves mushrooms so when he saw fried mushrooms he had to have them. We were the only ones in the place but it took forever to get the appetizers. When it finally arrived our waitress was laughing. She thought one of the mushrooms looked like a penis. She couldn't get over it and had to take a picture of our food. That was the highlight of the meal. The rest of the food was really bad. How they stay in business I don't know. I suspect they are a front for the local mob and launder money. There is not another reason in the world that restaurant should still be in business with food that bad. Most of the food we've had has been pretty good. We've purposely stayed away from the chain restaurants and tried local places. One place we tried, The Taco Bus, was out of this world good. The food is authentic and it's actually cooked in an old school bus. It's a bit of a drive down to Tampa from where we are but as we're running around town on errands we might just have to try it again.

Speaking of errands we've had a couple. Matt sold his car (the BMW and love of his life). We just couldn't justify having two vehicles. We had a hitch problem that took us to Camping World. Let me say that I've been impressed with them from the day we bought Mabel Rubain. The hitch was a little low so I went in and had them jack it up a little. The hitch itself weighs about 75 pounds so it was a job hiking back to the service department with it. But one of the employees saw me and drove a golf cart down to pick me and the hitch up and drive us down to the service entrance. From that point on it took about 15 minutes to get an adjustment and that was it. No charge, great help, very caring people. I'm really liking Camping World. I can see now why they are so successful in what they are doing.

Mabel Rubain has had some hiccups here lately the biggest being the galley grey water tank not being drained. This model has a grey water tank for the galley, and a separate one for the shower and bathroom sink. Good idea in theory. The problem is the drain for the galley tank is at the front of the trailer and the drain for all other tanks is in the rear of the trailer. Out drainage hose fits perfectly in the rear drains but not in the front drain. Not knowing we filled up the galley tank and didn't realize until after we had drained the other tanks that the galley didn't drain. It only contains soapy water but since it's over full it makes the galley smell bad. I think tonight I'm going to drain it on the grass. You're not supposed do to that but what's a little soapy water among friends? Other than that Mabel Rubain is working well. The temperatures have been around 95 each day and the air conditioner struggles to keep the trailer cool - especially on humid days. We've had some pretty intense thunderstorms with heavy rain and have had no leaks!

One final thing we've learned. Everyone at the park decorates their camp site, trailer or motor home with lights. When you walk around at night it looks like everyone is having a disco party. We came unprepared so when we took a trip to Ikea we found some really cool LED lights that we could hang from our awning. Now we fit into our neighborhood.

In two weeks we'll be headed north to Bull Run in Virginia where we'll stay for 3 months and then possibly up to New York for a couple of weeks in January if we think Mabel Rubain can handle the cold. We'll test out her cold weather features when we're in VA and make a decision then. Eventually we'll head south again but that timeframe is still up in the air. That's the nice thing about this life. We can basically decide where we want to be and when. No rush.