Packing up again - Yr 1, Day 354

Raleigh, NC

At least this time it's not because we're displaced, although we will be for almost the next week again.  As I mentioned the other day, we will be heading down to Columbia, SC where Mitch is scheduled to take the first of 2 certification tests for gas pipeline inspector.  The test starts at 7am on Wed. so we will travel down there tomorrow.  We have an appt. at 8:30 am at the collision shop to bring the truck over (we're picking it up this afternoon as the new tires have been mounted.  It's driveable, just very ugly).  We'll leave after our meeting at the shop and stay in a company paid hotel.

The plans (hopefully not being made in bubbles) are:

After the test on Wed, we'll start heading up north towards NJ.  It's an 11 hour drive without stopping, so we will go as far as we can and then stop in a hotel off the highway for the night.

On Thursday, hopefully before noon, we will arrive at the locker and spend the day cleaning it out (probably making several trips to the thrift shop to donate 99% of what's in there).  When done, we will go into Manhattan and stay overnight with Mitch's sister Doris.

On Friday afternoon, we will head up to "Da Bronx" to spend Shabbat with my dad and stepmom (I'm thrilled to be able to spend Father's Day with him!), and will stay over until Sunday morning, at which time we'll head back to Raleigh. 

Sounds like a sound plan, right?  Praying that no obstacles fall in our way, but it's always in God's hands.

Relaxing day - Yr 1, Day 352

Raleigh, NC

We went to services in Cary, and as always, found it very inspirational.  We actually sponsored the kiddush in honor of our having our home back and in honor of being protected in a dangerous situation (the accident of the blowout).

There is a small rally going on here (in addition to the Quarter Horses competition) so we met up with the group of rally-ers (a regional chapter of Good Sam's Club called Sam's O'Wake).  We could not participate in any of their activities (which is mostly going out to eat!), but we hung around with them for a few hours late this afternoon.  We were the youngest by far -- these are mostly retired folks in their late 60's to early 80s who own RVs but are not full-timers.  They live in the Raleigh area and get together to camp once a month.

Home at Last - Yr 1, Day 351

Raleigh, NC

I can't begin to express how great it feels to have our home back!  It was so wonderful for Tom Johnson's Camping Center (the repair place) to have it delivered to us, 200 miles away, for free!

It arrived at the NC State Fairgrounds about 2:00.  The folks who delivered it were really nice - a retired couple; he was a professional truck driver.  There's a huge horse competition going on this week, so we were very lucky to have found a space in the campground, as it's 99% full.

Settling back in was a bit overwhelming, but with a nice stiff drink and a cold shower first (it's over 90 degrees now), I was able to survive the unpacking.  Not only did we have a suitcase and bags and bags and bags our our own stuff that we've been traveling with between the kids and hotels and the kids again (and another hotel), but in order to replace the slide, they had to empty out every cabinet, closet and drawer in the bedroom, so there were about 5 giant boxes in the living room, all needing to be unpacked and put away.  It was like setting up my house from scratch again.

Once everything was set up, we met with Jessica and Griffin for a very nice, celebratory sushi dinner.

So far, they seem to have done a good job with the slide.  It's working and the rebuilt bed looks good.  Even the switch that raises the top of the bed up is working again.  They cleaned the place (inside and out), including cleaning out and scrubbing the inside of the refrigerator (which, by now, was full of rotten food), so we didn't need to deal with that as well.  Of course, the frig is totally empty, so we'll have a lot of shopping to do, as we head into Shabbat tonight.

As for the truck, we're still working with the insurance company and repair shops.  I suspect it will be at least 2 weeks before we can have it back.  Meanwhile, the rental car (a Hyundai Sonata) is great!  It's been a year since I've driven a car (anything smaller than a huge truck), so it was a lot of fun.  We're even toying with the idea, since it has a lot of trunk space, of maybe heading up to NY/NJ to clean out the locker while we have the car.  Mitch has a 2 day hands on test next week in SC, so maybe we can head up that way afterwards?  I'll need to do some planning first (it also means packing the suitcase yet again and we'll have to figure out where to stay and how to manage to see everyone).  I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Nope, not going home yet - Yr 1, Day 349

Raleigh, NC

Unbelievable!  We left the kids' house around 10:00 this morning.  Got about 20 miles out of town and had a tire blowout!  Always looking for the blessings in everything, there were several:  (1) I was able to safely make it to the shoulder; (2) there were no other cars involved; (3) other than the cost of the tires, the insurance will cover everything, including up to $2K of hotel, rental car and meals.  We also learned later in the day that Tom Johnson's Camping World, where the rig has been in the repair shop, AS A COURTESY, is going to DELIVER OUR RIG to us in Raleigh tomorrow, which is over 200 miles away (they are only asking us to cover the costs to pay the person to drive it over; waiving the $3/mile charge).

We could look at this as a sign from the universe that we should give up the lifestyle (although we've had a blowout and several accidents where our vehicles were totalled -- once in bad fog and once from a deer), and we've had lots of major repairs needed in our house.  We choose to look at it as sign that God is still walking with us, and despite the inconveniences and financial setbacks, we still have it pretty good.  After all, Mitch just got a new, steady job to compensate for the finances and my business has been doing very well also. And most of all, no matter what has happened, we have remained safe.

Of course,unfortunately, there was a lot of damage to the truck.  This photo doesn't do justice to the extent of the front end and bumper:

The Ford dealership will replace the tire, but the collision shop next door can't see us until at least next Wednesday.  At least we have a rental car in the interim and the truck will be drivable once the tire is put on (hopefully tomorrow).  I suspect once the collision shop takes it, it could be at least a week or more before all the work is complete. Fortunately, Mitch's work continues in Raleigh so no rush to leave and we'll have our home back.

I hope to reread these posts in a year from now and laugh.

Going Home! - Yr 1, Day 348

Raleigh, NC

Finally, the work is almost complete.  There were still delays this morning (some screws got stripped), and there is still more stuff to do, which they PROMISED would be done in the morning.  We were assured if we left Raleigh in the morning, the rig would be ready and parked in their campground by the time we got there in the afternoon.  There is still more work that needs to be done (installing the gray tank, the part of which still hasn't arrived) and troubleshooting the generator (since we'll be on full hookups with electric, we won't need to use it, so it can wait until they replace the tank to work on that.  Fingers crossed that we don't have a power outage and need the genny!  That would be our luck, wouldn't it?!)

So the plan is to leave Raleigh tomorrow morning (Wed.) and return here on Thursday.  Mitch has a test in SC on the 17th and another one the week after.  If he passes both tests, he'll be officially certified in NC and SC as a gas line inspector.  It's still not determined whether, after his tests, he'll stay in Raleigh (where the training has been) or be moved to Asheville.  But we know we'll be in Raleigh for at least another 2-3 weeks.

Hopefully I won't have a post for tomorrow with bad news!

First One Year milestone- Yr 1, Day 344

Raleigh, NC

Today (June 5th) marks one year that we pulled out of our driveway in Fanwood, NJ to begin the journey of living in an RV.  This is what I will call the "limbo phase."

We were scheduled to close on our house on that day.  Since we signed over all the papers to our attorney, we were told our presence at the closing wasn't required so we felt safe leaving.  We headed to VA to stay overnight with our daughter's in-laws, and then proceed to spend the weekend with our daughter and SIL before heading down to FL to purchase the rig.

The journey started off with lots of obstacles so we didn't close until June 23rd.  We consider Day 1 to be the day we closed the deal on the rig and it officially became ours.

Here are the links to the start of this journey - the limbo phased:

http://mitcherylrv.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html
http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html

Still nothing - Yr 1, Day 342

Raleigh, NC

When following up on Monday, we were told the part was still "on the truck waiting to be delivered today or tomorrow" and the slide still wasn't put in.  Thursday was more likely.  Spoke to them yesterday to learn that there were "adjustment problems" with putting the slide back in; somehow it wasn't going in the way it should so they had to work overtime and get a bigger team to help out.  We also learned that the part wasn't delivered because it wasn't actually on the truck - it was lost by the warehouse!  Now, allegedly, another one is being shipped and should arrive early next week.

The kids have big plans the weekend of June 20th and need us to be gone by then.  I really hope we're gone much sooner than that!  It's been since May 11th already.   Between the time it was in the shop for repairs after the accident in January (2 weeks), then over a month in Arcadia, FL waiting for the king pin part and gray tank repair (recall it was only temporarily patched as they didn't have time to undertake such a large job of replacing it--that's what we're waiting for right now), and the almost one month this time around, it just seems that we've spent more time out of the rig than in it.  But I suppose all I need to do is re-read my blog and I'll see that's not really true.