Our journey has brought us to Fair Play, SC where we find chilly temperatures and a rough day of travel for which I must say, "I'm sorry", to my dear Tez. But let me back this train up a bit, because so much has happened in a short amount of time.
Over the past 4 months we have ventured further and further away from the boundaries of NY and our safe place. We have discovered the immense cost of motor home maintenance and the annoyance of nature's pests within our rolling palace. We have uncovered mysterious wiring nightmares and unknown conveniences in a simple switch. Our hairs grow grayer with every minute of sluggish or unresponsive telecommunications and dwindling storage space. But alas, so many tribulations and trials overcome that we cannot help but be overcome with eagerness to cut ties with our bricks and sticks and really lay the rubber on the road!
Maintenance can be a pain and downright expensive at times. A simple starter on this 20-year-old beast really put us in the red. It seems that two decades worth of contact between dissimilar metals can be a stubborn and laborious job. These rolling homes need constant attention. The kind of attention you'd give your home, inside and out, and your vehicle, inside and out, all rolled into one is what we're talking about. Years of corrosion left on battery cables and unseen spot welds coming apart are on the "to-do" list this week. Frankly though, for a 20-year-old RV, she's still a smooth ride and has many years ahead of her. With all of the stupid headaches, she really an amazing vehicle that just needs love like the rest of us.
Nature is still the real beast and it's not going to lay down easy or, at all. We've sealed up gaps and holes to keep out mice, bugs and old man winter and still, she's waking up with bug nibbles. Tez has had the worst of it as she has sensitive skin which is, apparently, pretty delicious, too. When you're out here with nature you've got to expect the uninvited guests to make their way in. There's not enough expanding foam in the world to seal them out. The mice on the other hand have had a hard time keeping up. It has nothing to do with my lead foot and 70 mph speed zones as much as it has to do with our constant momentum. A little steel wool doesn't hurt either... well, it doesn't hurt me. The Arctic wedge that made its way down here to the south has been somewhat difficult to bare. We have used our fair share of propane to keep our tootsies toasty. Our biggest saving grace has been the ingenuity wrapped up in a heated water hose at a cost of over a hundred clams and a couple of $6 work lamps. During our cold snap (or is it a slap) two 26ºF nights, those few things kept the fragile water lines from turning into another maintenance nightmare. All the travel planning in the world can't keep you from the occasional knock, of old man winter, at your door, but staying abreast of nature's wrath can be cost effective. Unfortunately, little bugs appear to be a big issue.
Living and working in our tiny home has had its ups and downs, too. As we whittle down the remaining items in our home, it is becoming painfully obvious that our whittling tool, which seems to look like a pocketknife, should more resemble and chainsaw. With little storage available, the stuff we stuffed our house with, may be finding a new home or a temporary home until we figure out how to consolidate it. We have been pleasantly surprised by how little we need to live with and how utterly crazy we all are about having everything and anything. We do see light at the end of our tunnel, and it is approaching fast as we have set and final move out date of January 31st with our current homeowner. A storage unit will be procured to offer us haven for our sentiments and we look forward to that being a short-lived expense.
Speaking of expensive, internet companies suck! Yeah, that was just put to print. From day one of this adventure, having mobile internet to accommodate our workload, connectivity and budget has been a constant battle. We have spent oodles of money and buckets of tears and sweat, and we feel like we are closing in on a solution. We're also not dummies and realize that a perfect solution is far from our reach, so we'll continue the battle we have begun and push forward. It is possible to stay connected and work remotely and certain companies are making the effort to provide for the traveling souls like us. Making it easy to navigate is the biggest hurdle.
So as was eluded to before, our final days tethered to a concrete foundation are among us. We saw lots of Amish in October. We visited cute little towns with great personalities and yummy sweets; it's pronounced (LIT'- its) LITITZ, PA. We got to know the cold in Maryland and Virginia; visited the National Zoo and the battlefields of Gettysburg. We parked our RV at a friend's house in Monroe, NC while we traveled back to NY to see family and eat way to much turkey. We spent some of our days sifting through our belongings; pitching this, Goodwilling that and finding really good reasons to part with our favorite things. We watched a foot of snow drop in a day's time and couldn't wait to get back to our monster of a motor home. We've traveled to Fair Play and will continue to Yemassee, SC and then to Fort Mill where we will find a nice spot to park our beastie while we shoot back to NY to celebrate Christmas with family and friends and close the door one final time to our house in Binghamton. So, until next time, Merry Christmas to all and happy trails into the new year.
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