Come On Get Happy

I just heard that song on iTunes and thought it described my feelings about the house closing. Yes! We closed on October 15th and we are now officially houseless and are loving it. No longer dealing with a monthly mortgage, crazy insurance people, pest exterminators, constant maintenance, and the task of mowing 5 acres every week throughout the spring, summer, and fall. We never really grew attached to this house the way we did the house in Los Gatos but we did have some great memories. My favorite were when Mom and Dad lived with us and when we had the big family reunions. We could sleep 10 people and during the reunions we had every bed filled. It was nice to have family together like that.

I've been working pretty hard in the park these last couple of weeks. I helped a host cut, split and stack wood. For those of you counting that was my 4th week working in the wood pit. I think next week I'm going to gracefully bow out of the wood pit for a while. Even in the cool weather you'll break a sweat stacking and hauling wood over to the wood shed. The good news is that it's great exercise and I imagine has been partly the reason for my recent weight loss.

The park has a Festival of Lights every year a week before Thanksgiving to the weekend after New Years. Starting in October crews put up light displays all over the park. Some are animated and others are just static lights. It looks like it's going to be beautiful. I hope we get some snow during the event. It will make everything that much more beautiful. The only downside is that we are pretty much stuck in the park the entire time the lights are on (4:30 PM or so until 10:30 PM) because the lines to get into the park and see the show are long. There is a secret entrance from the back of the park, through the soccer fields and down a dirt road that we can use -- if we can figure it out. I'm going to put the truck into 4WD and see what I can find. Should be some fun off roading at the very least.

I went over to stay with my favorite aunt last weekend. Her son and daugher-in-law needed to be out of town and didn't want her to be alone at night. We always have a great time together. It breaks my heart to see her losing her ability to get around. The body may be failing but she's sharp as a tack. She entertained me with stories about being a model in New York, being one of the women who smashed though the glass ceiling in her profession and how she did all of that while being a single mother raising two boys. She is an amazing woman. She also can't cook. While I was there she made a little snack for us before we had dinner. The snack was spinach ravioli that was microwaved so much the edges were hard and cold tomato soup to go on it. For all of her talents and know-how she has never been able to master cooking. I cooked dinner for us that night in self defense. I've always described her as a cross between Lucille Ball and Auntie Mame. That is not totally fair since I think she's a lot smarter than either of those characters but sometimes she is just like them. She really makes me laugh.

I've made good friends with the other hosts. We're a tight knit bunch - always ready to lend a hand to another host (that's how I end up in the wood pit so often). Since getting married I mostly refer to Matt as my husband and I have done so here with the other hosts. There is a lesbian couple here too who are also married. Even though most of the hosts are my age or older our acceptance has been complete. They refer to Matt as my husband too. The lesbian couple had an anniversary a couple of weeks ago and some the hosts decorated their campsite for the occasion. That's what I call acceptance. These are totally cool people.

The trees here are turning colors at an rapid pace. When it's sunny (like today) the forest we live in is full of colors. Due to my color blindness I can mostly see the yellows and sometimes the reds if they are solidly red and not too close to being brown. Every now and then I'l see an orange but I don't know if I'm really seeing orange or it's some other color that appears orange to me. In any case I have my own little world of colors that I am quite happy with. As an aside, most people with brown hair appear to have forest green hair to me. I know that people don't have forest green hair in the world of normal color vision so I call it brown. But it's forest green to me.

People have been asking what exactly do I do here at the camp to get our free site in the forest. I do a lot of things. As you all know I cut and stack wood, I keep the bathhouses clean, I police the campground and clean the cabins. It's a lot of manual labor and rather mindless. It keeps me outside a lot and I like that. Most of the time I put in my ear buds and listen to some good music while I work.

You may be wondering why would I give up my consulting practice and resort to being a camp host. To be clear I haven't given up my consulting practice. I have time during the day between my daily responsibilities when I work on Ocius business. I've written an article and have another I'm working that I hope will be published. I have an international client whose working time is about 8:00 PM my time so I can work with them in the evening and not interfere with my day job. Mostly I do this so we can be here in Northern Virginia close to my aunt for three months with a housing cost of zero. If I wasn't a camp host the fee for this wonderful spot in the forest with free electric would be $50/night. In addition to that I like the idea of being unplugged from the rat race for a bit. At the end of the day I walk back to the trailer, have dinner and don't think or worry about work for the most part. I have a lot of friends here who are doing the same thing -- unplugging for a bit. Taking a break. Reflecting on what comes next. I'm 56, my life is more than half over. Time to look at priorities.

Almost There

We got the notice yesterday that the closing on the sale our house would be today at 2:00 PM. We were ecstatic since we really thought the house would be taken before we could sell it but we prevailed with the expert assistance of our real estate agent Joseph Herrera. He really kept us motivated and confident that we could sell regardless of the issues we had in the house. If you need a real estate agent then you can't do better than Joseph. We owe him a debt of gratitude. If you are looking to buy or sell in the Charleston metro area call him. He's professional, hard working and knowledgeable. Unfortunately we woke up to an email delaying the closing until next week due to a paperwork snafu by Wells Fargo Bank. Hurry up and wait.

Life here at Bull Run has turned into a nice routine for my dear husband and me. We're parked in a  forest which, when the shooting range (the park has a shooting range) isn't active, is very quiet and peaceful. We are under the flight path to Dulles so we do hear jets but if you know me you'll know that I don't mind that at all. When I'm out in the park working I love to see the variety of jets that are headed into Dulles. It's one of my things.

This has been my week cutting, stacking and transporting wood. Not my favorite thing to do, especially in the rain. At the end of the day we usually run some errands, grab a bite to eat, come home, and walk the dogs. Then it's an evening of reading and music or sometimes a movie on iTunes. I also have time to write -- like now. I'm just now finishing an article that I'm writing about a very esoteric process in healthcare information technology. It's off to my editor soon (Matt) and then hopefully to a trade journal or industry magazine.

We haven't had a TV since starting this adventure. We initially thought we'd have DirecTV in the trailer but we procrastinated and found out that we really weren't missing much so it never materialized. We were watching a lot of TV when we had it home. Now I get my news online from several different news sources so I scratch that news itch every day. I have to admit that I'm not missing TV for the most part. The shows that I do want to see are available on iTunes or streaming on PBS.org so I'm not missing much.

Our plan for using cellular modems for our Internet service hasn't worked out as well as we would have liked. We learned early on that streaming a TV show or two really ate up our allotment of gigabytes. We have two accounts now that we try and balance throughout the month. We need a better solution than what AT&T and Verizon offer. That's a work in progress.

Fall is bringing us cooler weather and rain and I'm loving it (as is Matt). We've already had a night were we had to fire up the furnace--which thankfully ran right off the bat without any need for adjustments. When it's running it sounds like a jet engine outside at the outlet port. We use propane fuel and the heater goes through it pretty quickly. I have a feeling we're going to be wearing warmer clothes in side to preserve our fuel. Nothing to drastic though.

As you know I work here at the park to pay for our site. I have to work 60 hours per month. We have rotating assignments each week. Last week I was on bath house duty. This week I'm working in the wood pile. It's a dramatic departure from what my career has been in the last 30 years. I'm joined by other senior executives and successful business people that are here in a variety of mobile-home based vehicles. We all live on the same street in the campground and I've made some friends who like me have escaped the 9-5 grind and are slowing down to enjoy their lives a little more. It's funny to be working alongside a former CEO cleaning the bath house or working in the wood pile with someone who ran a successful real estate business for 20 years. It's interesting that we don't introduce ourselves as a former CEO or real estate broker. We talk more about our lives outside of work, what brought us to this lifestyle and certainly little tips on how to made our jobs more efficient. It's fun and on top of it all I'm losing weight from all of the physical labor involved with my jobs. I guess the best part is interacting with the park visitors. I miss those customer service days that I had so much of early in my career.

Charlotte and Gracie are also into the grove. Charlotte is barking less at anyone or any vehicle that passes our trailer. That is a good thing. Gracie sleeps, eats and randomly barks. Last night she was standing at the food bowls barking because one of them was empty. She'll bark at the water bowl if it isn't full enough for her tastes. They are happiest when we're all here in the trailer and they can sleep next to us while we do our work.

The food here in Northern VA has been amazing. It's like an international smorgasbord. We've had Latin American food, Korean barbecue, Mexican food, good old American diner food and Indian food. We're planning on finding a Dim Sum restaurant soon. I'd also like to try some Spanish food too. The world is represented here and the restaurants reflect that. The only problem we have is deciding what cuisine we are going to try next.

I've managed to see my favorite aunt in the world several times since we've parked here in Northern VA. She was a very important person to me when I was a kid and has remained important to me all my life. Her health is failing but she's hanging in there. I'm glad we're close and can see her often. I've promised her that I'd make chicken and dumplings for her while I was here. It's my mother's recipe which I think was handed down to her by her mother. The dumplings are the size of an egg. Now that's what I call a dumpling--none of those noodled type of dumplings for me. I want those soft light big dumplings cooked in chicken broth.

I hope by the time I write again the sale of our house will have closed. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

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.

Driving Home:

Location: Charleston, SC

The trip home from New York was tough. We broke it up into two legs. One leg down to Virginia and the other leg from Virginia to South Carolina. The bright part of this leg of the trip was seeing my favorite aunt. I tell people to imagine a cross between Lucile Ball and Auntie Mame and you'll have an accurate picture of this wonderful woman. She has and still does play a big part in my life so getting to see her was wonderful. Even if it was brief. We're planning a trip back to the area in September and plan on spending about 3 months there.

Getting back through Baltimore was a little easier this time since we followed the truck hazmat route and avoided the Baltimore Tunnel. That took us out of our way a bit but we avoided driving through the city at rush hour towing a trailer. The last time we did that it at 2:00 AM and there was little traffic. This time would have been at peak rush hour. I shudder at the thought.

We ended up on the beltway at rush hour. That brought back many memories. While serving as a corpsman in the Navy one of my many duties was to drive an ambulance. To this day when I hear sirens I get a big jolt of adrenaline. I would really like my lights and siren back. Matt says no.

About 20 miles from the campground the trailer's brakes started to squeak. There was no place to pull over so we continued along the beltway. When we finally found a place where we could safely pull over we discovered that the automatic breakaway braking device had triggered and was intermittently applying the trailer brakes. The solution was simple -- reset the breakaway device. Another one of those little details that you learn as you get on the road.

We stayed at Bull Run Regional Park for the night. It is a beautiful park with mostly pull though sites. Not being an experienced backer-upper yet I always appreciate a straight in shot. We were only there for a night and then we packed up and headed back down the road.

After leaving Virginia we headed down I-95. It was a long and boring drive made worse by how slow our progress was due to the trailer. On a good downhill we can get close to 70 but the next hill easily slows us down to 55. Outside of hills we average just under 60 and that's about it. The truck has a special transmission setting for towing. It alters the way the transmission goes into low drive and keeps the RPMs up. Supposedly this makes towing easier. It also drastically reduces our fuel economy. Generally we can run about 450 miles on 26 gallons of gas without the trailer. Towing Mabel Rubain drops that down to 260 or so before we have to fuel up again.

Our dog Charlotte is pretty much a trooper. She likes to get out at rest areas and see what other dogs have left behind. Charlotte gets so enthralled with peeing on top of other dogs pee she doesn't stop. She pees and walks and squats all at the same time. She can make 4 or 5 spots in the matter of minutes. as far as she is concerned she is now the owner of all the land between Charleston and New York. Gracie is a little less a trooper and more of a curmudgeon. In general Gracie Mae doesn't like anything except sleeping and eating. Anything else and she's grumpy and growling. When she goes she has to find just the right spot to pee and it must be pristine. No other dog must have ever gone there. It can take 10 minutes of walking around in the hot sun waiting on Gracie to make her selection. This whole new adventure has been a big change for them but I think they're getting more used to the trailer and the new sounds they hear. Gracie is sleeping though most of it.

By the time we made it to Charleston the dogs were tired of riding, we were tired of riding and we didn't drop the trailer or unload. We took what we needed and called it a night. That's when we made our 4-6 hour rule. I'm sure we'll run into circumstances where we'll have to break the rule but in general we're going to try and make things easier not harder.

We're in Charleston waiting for the house to close and then we're off to Florida to visit with Matt's mother for a month. Now that Matt and I are married dare I say visiting my mother-in-law. She'd probably fall over in a dead faint.

On Our Way Again

Location: Dade City, FL

We left Charleston on a clear and hot Tuesday on our way to Florida. Before you wonder, yes we do know how hot Florida is in August. In fact we're enjoying 100 degree temperatures as I write this. The trip down was uneventful however it was long. We try to limit ourselves to 4 hours not more than 6 hours of driving per day but since we were late getting out of Charleston we decided to make the drive down to Dade City in one day.

Matt has been promising his mother that he'd visit this summer. We needed someplace to be after we cleared out the house so we decided that we'd spend August in Dade City and head up north to Virginia in September. We both prefer colder weather so we won't mind welcoming the first cold snap leading up to winter. Right now our plans are to stay in Florida until the middle of September and then head up to Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, VA. We stayed in that park on our way back from New York after we were married and really wished we had more time to spend there. The plan is to stay through the end of the year. We'll be close to my favorite aunt and will be able to spend time with her. After the first of the year the plan is to move up to Liberty Harbor RV Park outside of Jersey City. We don't have any idea how long we'll stay. Matt's current book is based in New York and he wants to spend some time there as part of his research. Matt spends a lot of time making sure the details of his books are accurate and that takes some research. I tease him that I think he likes the research better than the writing.

We're basically waiting for the powers that be to bless the sale of the house. We spent a week packing up what was left after the estate sale, throwing away items that we couldn't give away or donate and relying on the kindness of our friends Mina and Sarah to let us store some things that needed to be temperature controlled in their house. The week was brutal for two reasons. First we had to make some very hard decisions about giving up things that we loved. Second, even though we only had our bedroom, the kitchen and the lanai to work though the task was monumental. The heat didn't help nor did the boxes of books that we kept and carried up a flight of stairs for storage. I guess that is what happens when you marry a bibliophile.

August in Charleston is really hot and humid. When you go outside it's like someone threw a wet blanket on you. We worked hard through those days filling up a dumpster we rented to get rid of the things that Habitat for Humanity wouldn't take. We left the house very clean, unlike when we moved in. I never imagined that over 10 years later we'd be moving out. After our last move we both decided to never move again. This time we had no choice.

Driving out of Charleston for the last time wasn't really a big deal. I drove right pass the turn off to the house on my way down to I-95 and then south to Dade City without really giving it a thought. The trip was long and uneventful. I rolled into the campground at about 7:00 PM and that's when all the fun started.

Our trailer is 31 feet long and it takes some work to get it backed into a campsite. Matt was about an hour behind me so I had to try and get the trailer into the campsite before it got dark. The narrowness of the road, an ill placed fence and no one to guide me was making my attempts at parking Mabel Rubain difficult. After about 5 aborted tries someone from the campground came over and asked if I would like some help. His name was Brian and we managed, after some additional aborted attempts, to get Mabel Rubain into the slot between another camper a fence a tree and a picnic table. All that was left was to unhitch and get the water and power on. Easier said than done. Getting the hitch undone is usually a two man job. It's a special hitch that is designed to balance the load between the truck and the trailer. The hitch itself weights a good 50 or 60 pounds. The problem is the trailer part of the whole contraption doesn't always unhook without some jumping up and down on the rig or getting the truck to jiggle just enough to make it come loose. That is hard to do when you're alone. Once it did unhitch I managed to get the tow chains too tight so they wouldn't unhook from the truck. After I resolved all of those issues I realized that our spot wasn't even so I had to hook up the trailer again and move it to a more even spot on the site. It's still not even but at this point if I don't fall out of bed it's good enough for me.

After all of that maneuvering I had managed to get the back end of the trailer very close to the utility stand where we needed to hook up for water and power. It was so close that I couldn't get the bay door open to get out the power cable or the water hose and filter. That meant that I would have to crawl into the other side and pull all of the equipment out that way. By this time I was out of breath, soaking wet with sweat and ready to get the air conditioner running. If nothing else was going to happen that night the air conditioner was going to be on and running at full blast.

Matt, of course, arrived after all of this. Both the dogs and I were grateful to see him. They had been sitting in the truck watching this whole maneuver and actually being quiet. I was surprised. Matt was their hero though. He took them out for a walk they desperately needed.

As I write this Charlotte is asleep curled up behind me. Gracie is asleep in her crate and Matt is dozing off next to me while mumbling something about not writing bad things about him. This is our life and so far it's been a little challenging. Each day we learn a little more about our rig. Today we managed to figure out the awning. Tomorrow I'm going to be figuring out the process for emptying our tanks. One or two more things and we should become more experienced and this whole process will get easier. We have 28 more days here to figure it out here in Dade City. Then it's up to Virginia where we'll get to learn all about the furnace. That should be fun.