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Well, I already blew it.

I promised myself (and all of you who I am sure are anxiously awaiting my next post . . . ) – yeah, not sure if that was sarcastic, hopeful,  or some sort of modesty (real or imagined,) but anyway – I promised that I would post every day no matter what. Well, now that’s not gonna happen.

So what happened? My husband, of course. Not that he did anything. It’s just me. On the one hand it’s great that he still makes me forget about everything else but being with him and pleasing him. On the other hand, I get annoyed with both of us when I realize that once again, I put all of my plans on the back burner and focused solely on being with him and pleasing him. I need balance!

It’s kind of like we are dating. He and I both travel for work (OK, he works a whole lot more than me, in fact he entirely supports our family while for the most part, I just do a lot of traveling) which means we spend a lot of time apart. When we are together, it’s exciting. It’s like a vacation.

Since we were able to coordinate our travel route Weds., I literally forgot I even had a blog! Sigh. So, here I am playing catch-up.

OK. So, Tues,. if you remember, I was up at 3:30 A.M. I started driving about 7:30 to go to a splash park I found on the internet. I love it when I can have the kids wake up to some exciting adventure! Unfortunately the splash park in Dayton, OH was just a regular park, and actually in a bit of a rough area, so we kept on driving. . . for about two hours when I realized as Faith says, “I’m just so tyrrrrrd!”

I found a quiet country truck stop with parking along the grass and we spent the day lounging, napping, and watching T.V.  Dogs outside on grass, curtains closed, snuggled in our jammies and snacking.

It’s guuuud.

 

 

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Here I am again. 3:30 a.m. and awake. What, is this my magic hour? It’s either now or 5:30 a.m. it seems. I am either up early or late, never just a regular time, like 8:30 or even 9:00.

So, I lay here awhile thinking, trying not to think, trying to think about how tired I am and how nice it would be to drift off into sleep. . . What is that? Oh, the dog scratching. Sigh . . . relax . . . relax . . . Now I begin remembering stuff that happened years ago and how it upset me and this is what I should have said and – stop! Go. to. sleep.

Hmmmmmmmmm. What is that now? Child going to the bathroom. “Love you, too, goodnight.”

Great. Now I have to go.

OK, settled in, cozy, breathing deeply.

May be I should start driving.

Instead I get up, put on the coffee, and check Facebook. Read JeMa’s blog. Answer JeMa’s email. Realize I no longer get email from anyone except JeMa. (I still have internet access people, I am not off the planet, just out of state.) Sigh. Wonder if anyone out there loves me at all! Remind myself I am pms-ing and to stop whining. TMI? Too bad, what’cha gonna do about it?

See what I mean?

Remind myself to start list of all the things somehow breaking inside the bus that seemingly worked just fine a month ago and probably for years before:

1. Swivel chair previously bolted to floor (now somehow unbolted and I mean in all four corners.) This I discovered by sitting in it and leaning forward, all the way to the floor!

2. String snapped on window blind in bedroom so you can’t open it anymore.

3. Window handle came off opposite window, of which you can open the blinds, but just not the window itself.

4. Ugly smears of Liquid Nails on upper cabinet which used to hold smoky mirror (which came crashing down during driving episode.) Replace that. And also finish screwing in mirror holders to all the others before anyone gets beaned by a falling mirror (the rest seem securely fastened so far.)

5. Find mystical inverter seller claimed was in bus. Husband convinced it lurks in the walls somewhere.

6. Screw on metal strip on lower edge outside bus that keeps trying to flap out and wave at passerbys.

7. Scrape rust off front fender and paint with chrome anti-rust paint.

8. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Replace vcr/dvd player that stopped working. Replace computer that stopped working. Figure out how to hook up all the *%#$ dvd/cd/vcr equipment in the living area and how to shut off the flipping speakers in the bedroom!!! But, you guessed it, I’m not bitter!

Exhale!

Maintenance. This is suspiciously like having a house. Speaking of which, this sounds like guy-stuff to me. Manly work. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

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I’m pretty disappointed tonight. I’ve been trying to arrange a visit with my oldest son, but it hasn’t worked out. I guess even when you live on wheels, you can’t always arrange things the way you’d like.

We did have a fun day, today, however. We got up and drove into Charlotte, NC to eat at Mac’s Speedshop. It’s been reviewed by some of the most renowned bbq experts around and they aren’t fooling. The bbq is phenomenal! And sorry about the pic, this was the best I could find on short notice and I am too tired to search.

We had three platters, and each came with two sides. Brisket, hand-pulled pork bbq, and ribs. All slow-smoked then finished on the grill with sauce. Sooooo yummy. We all agreed the brisket was the absolute best – we only wish there was more of it! For the price, it seemed three narrow slices was pretty skimpy. For about the same cost, we got a whole rack of ribs! Be that as it may – awesome! Oh, the sides: we had salad, cheddar grits (out of this world good!) and onion rings. If you go, get the brisket with cheese grits!

Afterwards, we headed up to Wytheville, VA and fueled up at the Flying J on exit 77 (free water.) We spent the afternoon at Galewinds Amusement Park (practically next door to the Flying J) riding go karts (these were fast ones and a lot of fun) -$5 each or 5 rides for $20, playing arcade games -.25-1.00 each, and shooting pool -$1.00. A really nice family owns and runs it, and it’s for sale, if you’re interested.

Oh, we figured out the whole generator thing – it was overheating because of the, well, overheated atmosphere outside. Driving cooled it down, and when the temp dropped below 80 it was fine, so, I’ll get it serviced and checked out back home in MN.

Goodnight.

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I got up this morning at 7:30 A.M., thanks to the big dogs shaking their collars expectantly at me. After a whispered yell at them to “Go lay down! Go to sleep! I am not getting up.” I figured I might as well. I wanted to stop in Hilton Head, SC at the beach, before it got too hot. I heard it’s really nice, with white sand and clear, blue, water.

We almost didn’t get to find out because by the way, if you are interested, good flipping luck finding a parking space for an RV of any kind in Hilton Head Island. The free parking lot at Coligny Beach does not allow RV’s, and the pay meter parking at Alder Lane Beach only has spaces for cars and you have to park in a metered space. There is literally no street parking and all the shopping areas are so tight (probably designed to keep the evil RV out, and their little dollars, too!)

So, I go all the way back to Foley Field beach and shockingly, only metered parking on narrow streets. Sigh.

I hate wasting diesel and time. “I should have parked at the church near Alder Lane,” I scolded myself.

Almost giving up, I turned down a random street (yes, this is just after I prayed about it) and there is this empty grass lot on the corner next to a house. I swung in, got out, and knocked on the door to find out the owner does not live in town and may have lost it to the city, and basically, anyone who visits this woman parks in this lot and I am welcome too, as well. It is about 1/4 mile from the beach!!

God is good!

Unfortunately for the dogs, it was 9:35 A.M. and no dogs are allowed on the beach after 10 A.M. Better not chance it, I decided, so they waited leashed to the bus, with water, in the shade.

We spent about an hour swimming in the (still brown) ocean, but the sand was lovely and white, and the water was just a little cooler than in Brunswick, so that was refreshing.

Plus, on our way off the island, I swung into a little stand that sold produce and fresh shrimp, and bought 3 lbs of fresh JUMBO shrimp for $8 a lb!!!! Not to mention a melon that was so ready to be eaten it practically jumped into the bag, some sweet corn, and some more peaches. We made a batch of jam with some of the peaches while parked in the shade at a really, really, old, cemetery.

This was my master plan to save diesel and the generator by staying in the shade during the exceedingly hot day. I love using that word. It reminds me of something out of “Pride and Predjudice.” But again, just as it was hottest, sweatiest, stankiest, (oh yeah, I am in the South and you can hearuh it) and stickiest, the generator died. Perhaps it thought it appropriate for the local?

OK, I knew it had oil, and I knew it had coolant . . . what was the deal? We finally figured it is just overheating for some reason when I am stopped, and the air while driving is not cooling it, because it is not keeling over during the night, when the temperature cools.

So . . . OH, by the way, on I95 at exit 21 there is an RV dealership that lets you dump for free and fill up with water. Plus, their sweet tea is awesome! I don’t know why, but sweet tea doesn’t taste the same anywhere but in the South – good old tea, water, and loads of sugar. So, point being, having access to a free water and dump site, we of course all took showers, ran three loads of laundry, and washed the little dog.

OK, so in the meantime, the generator cools off and we are up and running. We take that shrimp and get settled in for dinner at a rest area. Out comes the mini propane grill, right down on the asphalt in front of the bus. Out come the lawn chairs and tables and we are sitting pretty on the grass playing “Hearts” while a low country boil simmers on grill (place steamer rack and water seasoned with “Old Bay” in tall pot, add corn, top with potatoes cut so they’re done in same time as the corn, sprinkle with more “Old Bay.” Cover and let steam till just done, toss shrimp on top and season with more “Old Bay.” Cover and let shrimp get pink. Serve it up yea-uh!) It was good.
Good night.

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Believe it or not, we have not taken in water or dumped in a week (tomorrow) and we still have half of our 85 gal. water tank. When we started this adventure, we were running out of water in 3-4 days.

What’s helped?

1. Capture used water in the sink in plastic wash pans. I keep this water from going into our black/grey combo tank (105 gal.) to make more room for toilet waste and reduce the need to dump. I use the water to give to the dogs (if not soapy), water plants, wash our feet at night, wet rags to rub down the dogs before they come in or lay on their heads when it is really hot, etc.

2. Wipe down with damp cloths or wipees instead of showering, unless really needed. Then take quick ones. My kids and I all pile in at once so I can wash everyone’s hair at once.

3. If we are capturing enough water that we don’t need to dump, I get free water at the Flying J or other truck stop so we can take an extra long shower or do some laundry and extend our stay out.

4. I keep plastic milk jugs to fill up in bathrooms, etc. to give to the dogs for water. That alone has saved me at least 2-4 gallons of water a day! You could also do this to water plants or have body rinsing water.

If you have more ideas, I would love to hear them!

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Apparently we have chosen to stay in the south-east just in time for a major heat wave. I just read temperatures across the midwest to the east coast are expected to reach 120 degree heat index by Saturday.

Instantly I am swept away with visions of stroking the generator, asking lovingly, “Can I get you anything? A little oil parfait, dear generator?” Refer to yesterday’s post, about the generator being our source of air conditioning and therefore, king of our road. Really, we don’t need another incident like that.

So, back to the heat wave about which my son says in a decidedly snotty voice (or so it seems to me as I sit here sweltering at the playground) “So much for it being cold in Minnesota.” He’s on time-out.

In case you didn’t know it, my kids love MN. More to the point, they love their friends. So once in a while, in between declarations of adoration for traveling, seeing the sights, swimming in the ocean and quite often I must say, shouting, “This is the best day ever! one of them in particular seems to enjoy the occasional jab about how MN is better in some aspect, like a lack of heat when we are sweating our brains out.

“It’s summer dear,” I say sweetly, OK, may be it was sarcastically but at least it was a word that starts with “s”, “It’s hot everywhere, even in MN.”  At least we are not being eaten alive by mosquitos.

And of all places to sweat out a heat wave, St. Simon’s Island, GA is not so bad.

Now, if you are traveling in an RV, St. Simons is not the easiest place to get around, but it is possible. You can park at the Coast Guard beach, which is near the lighthouse and museum, and go swimming. Make sure you get a snowcone at the Snow Shack! They are locally owned by the guy serving them up and they have NO artificial anything. It’s real fruit with no artificial colors, and no high fructose corn syrup. We all loved the Georgia peach flavor! Believe us, they are awesome!!

Oh, about the beach, if it’s during the week, apparently you can ignore the sign that says, “No dogs before 6 P.M.” but don’t try that on the weekend or the cops will give you a ticket.

Speaking of cops on a mission:  Do not park at Massengale Park (although it is actually perfect for RV’s, shady, plenty of room, hardly anyone else parks there, and it has a playground in the shade) because there is a sign there that says, “No heavy trucks,” which the resident cop on a four-wheeler says also means no RV’s or busses (snarled at us, by the way like “duh, idiots, can’t you read?”), but I’m not bitter.

If you want to visit the main village and eat at Barbara Jeans (order anything), or Iguana’s (get the fried shrimp) then park down the road from the Dairy Queen where there is a big baseball complex with shady playground and lots of large, shady, spots to pull off. No one hassled us there but I wouldn’t want to chance staying overnight. We left by dusk.

Watch out for some big trees jutting a bit into the road, even though the limbs hang over the roads, we haven’t had any issue driving underneath. Except today when we wondered why the trees were scraping something up top and everyone screamed at the same time, “Antenna!”

I literally came to a halt (sorry line of cars) and put on the hazards while the kids rolled down the antenna right before we went under a suddenly very low-seeming electric wire.

All the trees here are either white pine or beautiful, live oaks, and they just drip romantically with spanish moss and kudzo vines, which I remember swinging on when we lived in GA about a decade ago. Very pretty.

The ocean is wonderful: warm, salty, perfect waves. The only drawback is the influx of river water and the shrimping industry means the water is a lovely shade of brown (we can’t get away from that darn brown water!) However, going up or down the coast will bring us to blue seas again, so take heart!

Stay cool and safe!

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Yesterday I was telling a friend how much we appreciate our generator, i.e., source of all air conditioning and the microwave and she said, “It’s working?”  Sure, it is. Duh-uhhhh. Like I’d be out here baking in the GA sun without it.

But, in the back of my mind I was thinking about how horrible it would be if it stopped working. In fact, I didn’t even want to entertain the thought, just in case. I mean, it’s a million degrees outside! We start sweating the minute we exit the door and without that generator humming away, this place turns into an oven within minutes. So, I told myself not to think about it, but I better check the oil in the generator, take note.

Didn’t check the oil and today we enjoyed the frightening sound of silence as the generator shut off. All by itself. Imagine the collective scream.

“Don’t panic,” I told myself. “OK, everyone open the windows while I check the oil and figure this out,” I bravely announced as if I was in charge and knew what I was doing.

Sure enough, that puppy was down two quarts.
“Please God, give  me a pass on this one. I promise I won’t skip checking the oil again. I’ve learned my lesson. Thank you for helping me on this and for taking care of us. I know you will show me the answer or send me help.”

I called the hubby. He agreed adding oil was a good move at this point.

Oil in, but the generator still wouldn’t start. So the hubby instructed me to take off the inside cover and flip a couple of switches inside: one resets the generator and the other starts it manually. Guess what? It worked!

So, I am assuming that versus blowing up, the generator shut itself off in self-defense. Good. That is a bill I don’t need.  Cross my heart, I’ll be checking that oil more often.

In other news, we had a great time again at Vacation Bible School, but I’m starting to think 5 days of VBS is a lot. Of course, for the kids, everyday is a new adventure and they just want to bring it on, but I’m getting tuckered. I need another day of nothing.

Plus, the longer I am in the southern states the thicker my drawl gets. It’s like molasses now, imagine me by the end of the week ya’ll.

Be that as it may, I’ll settle for a morning at the beach, and an afternoon nap before another evening of 80 screaming, running, sugared-up and ready to praise the Lord kids fill’n my eardrums. Two more nights. God help me.

Till tomorrow.

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I’ve noticed every day that I put events and situations into categories. Sometimes it’s like my kids say, “This is the best day ever!” Other times, I get the niggling thought this might not be all fun and games. Sometimes it might blow chunks. Lucky for me, those moments have been few, far between, and short-lasting.

So here is a run-down of the so far best things about RV’ing and the worst things (and really, if this is as bad as it gets, I count myself blessed and lucky.)

Best:

Being on vacation 24/7

Having no where in particular to be at any given time.

Parking at a beach anytime we want to swim.

Having everyone go wild over our dogs (justification – YEAH!)

When we are tired, we can go home in seconds, literally, open the door and it’s “Honey, I’m hooome.” Sadly, for the past week there has been no Honey, but I’m making a point.

AIR CONDITIONING

I can clean my house in about half an hour.

Being a real team with my husband for the first time in a long time, planning our time together and apart, who is getting fuel today (he wins as his fuel actually earns $), and talking about how much we want to see each other again! Being on vacation when we are together is really wonderful. We don’t worry about housework, yard work, whose turn it is to do what . . . and that is really nice. It’s just . . . down time (unless one of our vehicles has an issue, then, probably, not so much. Of course when we drove truck together down time just meant more time for xxxooo, and that’s how we got our children, Virginia.)

Being moved by God and given “permission” by my husband to just take this time to be with my kids. To not have to try and earn an income (not that I am turning it down if it comes along) but just give my children the un-distracted attention of their mother and give my husband a more relaxed and easy-going spouse. To use my gifts as a gift, seeking opportunities to serve and volunteer with my family, gratis, just to be a blessing, is very freeing and affirming.

OK, Worst:

Realizing there is no home to go home to, this is it. A little unsettling at first. Everywhere we go we are a visitor, a-where can I park for free and can I get some water for my dogs-what, you don’t like RV’ers?- It takes an adjustment. I almost felt like I had to apologize to people when they asked where we are from. “Uh, right now? Kinda everywhere, or no where. Well, you see, we used to live down here in Valdosta, but my husband is from MN so we have been living there for the past 9 years and what? How long are we going to travel? Well, so far it’s the summer and then I guess we will see, yes, we are in MN all the time” . . . Now I just say MN and leave it at that. And apparently  I say it like this, “Minnehsoooohtahhh.” That’s right, the Georgians are now saying I have an accent!

Realizing people everywhere are not as nice as in MN. Yes, it is true that people in MN are nicer. Not all people, just people in general. I have got my feelings hurt more than once and felt like a goose about it (that’s a silly goose by the way) as if everyone is supposed to smile back when I smile, wave when I wave, appreciate a kind gesture and not look at me like I have two heads, for crying out loud. But, I’m not bitter.

OK, now this is a secret so don’t tell my husband or anyone who is going to say: “Tsk, tsk, I told  you Mom not to bring those dogs. I told you they were going to be a big pain in the keyster.” Of course, I won’t tell you who said that but apparently he speaks for the lot of you. ( I love you, son.) And so for the rest of you know-it-alls yes the dog pooped on the carpet ONCE (which dog remains to be known but by the size of the evidence I am betting on Zeek.) However, I say in my defense of not shipping them off to whoever would take them (oh yes, I had visions of ads on Craig’s List) it was not the floor carpet, it was a crappy, torn carpet square I was going to throw out anyway as soon as I had a good excuse, so there. And it was only because I had to bring them in because it was raining bad and we had to go somewhere and keep them locked in. Suffice it to say that during the next rain storm they can suffer outside for all I care! They crawl under the bus anyway.

Living with limited space. There is no basement. There is no extra closet. There is nowhere but what there is here. So, make it fit, move stuff around, get rid of it, or step over it, but this . . . is. . . it.

Thinking all day about how much water we are using, how much is left, how little we can use to do dishes, how often do we really need to shower, and by the way, is it time to dump? And not to mention, where is a playground, beach, place to park, some SHADE while we are at it (thank you TomTom and Internet.)

OK, I think that is it, for now at least. At the end of the day, tallying all the best and the worst: I know each of us would do this all over again, in a heartbeat!

In every situation there is give and take, good and bad. We have spent more time with family and friends in the past month than we have spent in the past 9 years (at least in such a short time frame.)

God has truly made Himself evident in our daily lives: leading us to great spots to stop and swim or play, with nearby water and dumping on the cheap, wonderful church experiences, family and friends who have invited us to visit-what fun to grow closer to these wonderful people in our lives!

My children swam in the ocean for the first time in their lives!

I don’t have to wait one more minute to visit my grown children or my family out west!

And finally . . . anyplace we want to go, if we’ve got the money, honey, we’ve got the tiiiiiiimmmmeeeeee! Yee-Haw!

See ya!

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This is not Julie and Julia. But it is a blog about a time in our lives where we are taking on something new, something heretofore (finally, a chance to use that word – jeepers , I hope I spelled it right) unplanned for, that may or may not change our lives forever.

A bit dramatic. OK, I was watching the movie again (Julie and Julia) and thought about how she just wrote her blog, she didn’t edit her feelings, she didn’t try to sell you something or convince you of something, she just wrote honestly about the journey she was on and how it was changing her life.

I thought, I would love to do that if I could just shut off the therapist/journalist/saleswoman/preacher mind that influences everything I write. What if I could just write what I was really thinking (yeah, right, if you think I am going to let the subconscious flow here without a blah-blah-blah-crazytalk-edit you are sadly mistaken, my friend). . . within reason ( no need to embarrass ourselves here, darling.)

So, I am going to  . . . try. No promises. You will probably see a link to something I really liked (and hope you also love it and then buy it and I get a kick-back commission on the sale!!!) but I will promise, cross my heart, that it will only be because I think it’s really a good thing!

So what am I going to talk about? Where we go, where we ate (of paramount importance if you know me at all), what’s good about this whole living in an RV thing, what sucks (sorry Joyce Meyer, it’s just a good word sometimes) and what is changing our lives.

That’s all. Nothing spectacular. Just the truth, God help me (and I mean that – the truth is a scary thing.)

Of course the big elephant in my room, at least, is “What if “they” see me in all this and don’t (gasp) – (no literally, gasp now, inhale, put your hands up like the kid in Home Alone and you will get the internal dilemma) like me?????”

“Look,” I reassure myself, “I suspect “they” might already not like me, and actually disapprove of this whole adventure (or so I hear and you know who you are) or just don’t give a flip, so I will take the plunge and bare my intellectual soul, so to speak.”

Strangely, yes, that is reassuring. And, yes, I do talk to myself, and if you have met any of my older kids, the trait has been passed along (sorry.)

I am even going to challenge myself to blog every night, like Julie, when I am too tired to link, worry about my “image” or lack thereof, or go on too long. Oh, did I already ruin that one? Oh well.

See you tomorrow! Karen