Fun day out - Day 479 (Yr 2, Day 112)

Asheville, NC

We followed our plans and spent the day in downtown Asheville.  First, we visited the HardLox Festival in Pack Square Park.  Kind of like the Organicfest, but with a Jewish theme.  We needed a new mezuzzah for the bedroom and found a very nice, yet inexpensive one.  We had our urb-e's with us, although I did more walking with it than riding (particularly on the narrow and/or crowded streets).  We must have been stopped at least 10 different times by folks wanting to know what it was!  We stopped at Gourmet Chips for a quick snack before going to the Asheville Community Theater's production of Young Frankenstein.  That was an awesome show!  Then again, anything by Mel Brooks has got to be hilarious!

The show was over at 5, and Mitch still had a bit of work to do getting the computers fixed, so we headed straight home.

We have another show at the theater on Wednesday evening, which I'm greatly looking forward to.

Weather was sunny, but didn't get up past about 55 degrees and windy.  There have been frost warnings around, and we've been waking up to temps in the 40s.  Winter is definitely around the corner.  I hate the cold, but it looks like I'm going to have to get used to it this year.

Computer chaos -- Day 477 (Yr 2, Day 110)

Asheville, NC

This week has been very stressful with regard to the laptops.  I thought it was a matter of just taking it out of the box, pressing a few buttons, and viola, it's ready.  Nope; especially not when you're working with an IT professional.  For one thing, he needed to replace the router (which required a lot of rewiring of the RV) because the new ones weren't up to date with what we had.  There's just so much technical mumbo jumbo that's beyond me to understand, so you'll just have to accept that this has been a major undertaking, trying to get my new machine up & running.  One of the things holding us back is that Mitch wants to migrate my old machine to the new one, but the system he needs to make the backup also crapped out (Jess - if you're reading this, we need to take the UPS's back).  Bottom line is that, although Mitch told me to hold off, the ONLY way I could get any work done is by starting over.  At least I was able to get the critical work files off the old hard drive.  Personal stuff I'll just either need to recreate from scratch or wait until Mitch has more time to fix the problem.

Meanwhile, it's been a major stress event for me because of the clutter.  He's working on about 4 machines at once, so there are all kinds of cables, wires and components laying out on every inch of free space (counters, tables, chairs, floor).  You know my OCD kicks in when there's a single paper clip out of place, so you can imagine what it's been like living like this all week.  I'm especially freaking out right now because we're having a guest for Shabbat dinner tonight (I already warned her about the mess; she's going thru a difficult time and I thought it was more important to give her a little respite and a warm shoulder than worry about having her sit on cables).  That's a really big step for me, although I'm still freaking out.

We didn't get to the bluegrass music on Tuesday because that's the day the laptops arrived and Mitch only has a limited number of hours after work that he can deal with this.  We do have plans on Sunday -- the Jewish festival and then the community theater (Young Frankenstein). 

New laptops, goodbyes - Day 474 (Yr 2, Day 107)

Asheville, NC

I had forgotten to mention that both mine and Mitch's laptops finally croaked.  Mind you, they once belonged to the company I used to work for -- purchased about 8 years ago.  About 4 years ago, they bought a few new ones and gave one of these older ones to me to replace my very old desktop model.  They also had another older laptop that they had no use for, and being old and obsolete, it wasn't worth anything to sell, so they gave that one to me to take home.  When the company closed, they let me take my laptop with me rather than try to sell it (being 7 years old by then, it was also pretty much worthless to sell).  Well, in our home downsizing and moving into the RV, we decided to keep only one tower computer, which is being used as our server, and use the 2 old laptops.  Over the past year, they have been slowly dying.  Mitch has "band-aided" both several times (by which I mean doing surgery on them -- taking them completely apart with screws and parts all over the counter -- or spending hours and hours formatting and reformatting).  Last week, both machines decided it was time to go to computer heaven.

Of course, this put me in a somewhat difficult position since I need my laptop for work.  Mitch was able to remove my hard drive and connect it externally to the server in order to copy the files I needed.  This machine doesn't have Microsoft Office, so I have to use and convert from a different set of programs (Libre Office).  Not happy about it, but it's a good temporary solution and gives me the ability to continue to work.  I should mention what my current setup looks like.  I use my laptop on the dinette table, but am currently hooked into the server machine, which is a tower that resides inside the cabinet next to the fireplace.  The "monitor" is our 42" flat screen tv.  I have the coffee table turned sideways (parallel to the fireplace) with the table top lifted to its full height to form a desk, and am sitting on a dinette chair.  This makes for a fine desk, although I'm not happy about it being in the middle of my living room!  Oh well, another test in patience and a reminder to count my blessings that at least I have a computer to work with for now.

Meanwhile, we found a very good deal online for new laptops (actually a combination laptop/tablet).  The giant box arrived yesterday.   Believe it or not, Mitch doesn't want to open the box yet!  He says there's still way too much to do first before we can get them up & running (first he needs to repeat what he did with the hard drives to remove all the files we need), we need to wait for a new router to arrive that's compatible with these machines otherwise we won't be able to access the internet, he needs to do file migrations, run a junk remover and do some other installations.  In other words, we can't just take it out of the box and start using it.  At least not the way he feels we should.

On another note, Barbara & Larry left this morning but we said our farewells yesterday afternoon.  I had a "tour" of their 1995 Blue Bell bus which was just amazing on the inside!  I also discovered that Barbara makes jewelry which she sells wherever she can (not for a living; just for fun and spending cash).  I was in need of a new black & white necklace to replace the one I lost, and she happened to have a beautiful set (black & silver necklace and matching earrings, for $18, which I bought).  They live in N. Ft. Myers so if we ever get back to that area, we'll be sure to visit them.

Nothing to report - Day 473 (Yr 2, Day 106)

Asheville, NC

Sorry; I didn't realize that I hadn't written after we moved the rig to the other side of the campground due to the threat of being evacuated as the river was about to overflow its banks.   We were very blessed in that it only came about an inch below the bank but did not overflow.  We actually did move back to the other side on Sunday (after writing the 10/4 post) - naturally with help from about 3 people to back in!  We're snugly settled in our favorite spot once again.

Last Monday and Tuesday were synagogue days - the last in this long holiday season.  My workload was pretty crazy on Wednesday and Thursday due to some of the backlog from those 2 days.  Today, however, I am totally caught up and have nothing to do (yet -- it's still early in the day).

Campground continues to get many people who stay a day or 2, or less than a week.  We met 2 very nice couples (who parked on either side of us):  Barbara & Larry from FL, who are staying 5 days just passing through on the way to a rally in Greensboro SC, and Cathy & Al, also from FL but with a lot of family in the area.  We also had the privilege of getting to know Betty & Tom from shul.  They are also Floridians and come up this way for a few months during the summer to early Fall.  They are leaving NC this week and I will miss them.

We have some upcoming plans for the next week or 2:  maybe tomorrow night, there is a restaurant nearby that has live music and a lot of vegetarian choices.  Tuesday nights they have bluegrass, so we're thinking of going there.  Next Sunday is the "Hardlox Festival" in Pack Square Park (where Organicfest was) which is a large Jewish festival (sadly, I inquired about their food and learned that it is only kosher style, not certified kosher, so the pastrami sandwich I was looking forward to is out).  Also next Sunday, we have tickets to see the musical version of Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks) at the community theater which is only a few blocks away from the park.  Since parking is very difficult in the downtown area, we're looking forward to bringing our urb-es.

On Wed. 10/21, there is another event at the community theater -- a trivia show, very similar to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (our favorite NPR radio program).

There's also a 6 week class starting next week at Chabad which I would like to attend.  It's at night and Mitch has no desire to go.  I can't drive at night, so unless the rabbi can either arrange a ride for me, or they can have someone bring a laptop with a webcam, running Skype or Google Talk, I won't be able to go.  They're also running the same class at Chabad in Cary, so I've inquired whether they'll be live streaming the way they do with their Lunch & Learn programs.

As for the gorgeous fall foliage we've been told about - nothing yet, although I'm starting to see patches of color here and there.  We still haven't had a chance to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway or visit Biltmore.  Hopefully there's still a chance.

In terms of travel plans (remember - plans are made in jello!), ideally, since we have the campground booked on a month to month basis (cheapest that way), and it's now reserved until 11/3, it would be nice if they would let us relocate for the remainder of November back to Raleigh, and then move south or to AZ after Thanksgiving for the winter.  But it all depends on Mitch being able to make contact with his boss, who has yet to respond to him.

All OK - Day 465 (Yr 2, Day 98)

Asheville, NC

Yesterday (yes, we had to break some Shabbat rules, but I think it's ok where safety is involved), as the threat was getting more severe, we hitched up and moved to the other side of the campground where it's a bit safer.  We were told there was still no guarantee that it would be completely safe if the river overflowed significantly, but there was still less of a chance the flood waters would reach this side.  We decided to take our chances on this side, staying hitched in case we were evacuated, in which case we would go 5 miles down the road to the empty supermarket parking lot.

Fortunately, the river did not overflow, although it came very close.  Remember, the water was about 15-20 feet below the bank before this storm.  Here's a picture of Jessica at the bottom of the steps a few weeks ago, and Mitch near there today.  You can see how the water is at the 4th step from the top now!  Also following are a few more photos of how close to the bank the water is.

There is still a warning out that the river is still rising and can still overflow the bank, although not significantly.  We will stay on this side for a few more days.

Tomorrow is another major holiday (Shemini Atzeret - 8th day of Sukkot) and we plan on attending services.  Guess we'll have to unhitch and then hitch up again if we want to move to the other side.

REALLY bad weather - Day 463 (Yr 2, Day 96)

Asheville, NC

Not much time to write a lot right now as I'm heading into Shabbat, but a quick update.

As my previous posts stated, we've had a lot of rain.  Well, there's a hurricane off the Atlantic coast whose effects are being seen as far west as the mid-West.  The mountains of NC (where we are) is being hit especially hard with flash floods; the worst is yet to come tomorrow into Sunday night.

Being right on the river, it's been interesting to watch how much the river has risen in the last day.  Usually there's about 10 feet from the water to the top of the ridge; now it's about 5 feet.  We're under a flood watch and were warned there's a (good) chance we'll be asked to evacuate some time tomorrow night when the heaviest rains arrive, as the river will overflow its banks and we'll get flooded.

Currently, we're packing up everything that we can.  We put all out outdoor stuff away yesterday and currently Mitch is disconnecting the sewer and water, so if we have to pull out, all we'll need to do is unplug the electric.  We already filled the fresh water so we have enough to use the sink and flush the toilet for at least a week.  The evacuation plan is there's a supermarket that closed down (they moved to another location) on the main road about 5 miles away.  That should be a big enough space for us to park for a day or 2 or 3.

Watch for the next post to see what happened!

Sukkot, Urb-e riding, stink bugs - Day 461 (Yr 2, Day 94)

Asheville, NC

The holiday of Sukkot is here.  It's an 8 day festival, with the first 2 and last 2 days being days for attending services.  I explained more about the holiday last year (http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/search?q=sukkot).  Again we felt very bad about not having a sukkah, so we're really going to try to make one next year, even if it will only fit a bridge table and 2 chairs (and we'll throw away the wood as there's nowhere to store it).   We did attend services both days (Mon & Tues) which were very lovely and inspiring.  The custom is to "live" in the sukkah, or at least have meals there.  We did so on Monday but couldn't on Tuesday due to a downpour.  Still, it was a very nice luncheon and the rabbi's words about the holiday were insightful.

After having such a great spell of amazing weather, it was time for Mother Nature to balance things out - with non-stop rain all week.  Monday was the first day it actually stopped for a while (although it was cloudy) so after services, Mitch and I decided to take the urb-es out for a spin.  I'm very pleased that it didn't take me long at all to find my center of gravity and be able to balance well.  It was great fun to ride and I'm looking forward to the freedom it will give me in going longer distances when my hip starts to give out after walking a while.   First we explored the greenway, which was only about a mile.  There were a few picnic benches along the river with a somewhat scenic view (not much different from our "back yard" however), but other than that, it was very disappointing to find nothing else worthwhile to see or do there.  I guess it's just a path for bikers, dog walkers and joggers.  Having gained confidence, we returned and went in the other direction to Carrier Park down the road (Carrier Park is one of Asheville's premier parks (near French Broad River Park) and offers volleyball courts, a giant playground, a roller-hockey rink, a basketball court, a multi-use track, a lawn bowling court, a paved trail and a multi-use sports field for baseball and soccer. It also includes a picnic pavilion, river overlooks, a wetland interpretive and education area, and more trails. The French Broad River Greenway Extension, a 2.8-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail that connects Carrier Park to Hominy Creek Park in West Asheville has on-road and off-road sections and winds along the north bank of the French Broad River, providing pastoral views of the historic Biltmore estate. Located on Amboy Road and Michigan Avenue in west Asheville.)  With all the twists and turns and a few steep hills, we got some really great practice in.  We're almost ready to ride where there are people now!

On a down note, remember the annoying gnats (fruit flies) we had last month?  They've now been replaced by shield bugs, aka stink bugs.

There are hundreds of them outside, and every time we open the door, they wait in ambush and fly inside.  If you squish them, they give off a very unpleasant odor.  I would prefer to just collect them in a napkin or on a fly swatter (they're slow and easy to catch) and let them back outside, but for every one I set free, 5 more come inside.  So I'm squishing and spraying Fabreeze all day and night.  Hopefully their season will end soon.

I've noticed that the leaves have started to change colors.  We're told by many about how amazing this area is in the fall -- in fact, it's the height of tourist season: people come here specifically for the fall foliage.  I suspect within the next week or 2 things will be in full bloom.  I hope the weather will allow us to take a nice drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway or visit the Biltmore Estate then.