Nice weekend - Day 368 (Yr 2, Day 3)

Raleigh, NC

We had a very lovely Shabbat, as there was a special guest visiting the shul this weekend - Rabbi Moshe Herson.  He is not only the head of the Rabbinical College in Morristown, NJ and the grandfather of Rabbi Cotlar's wife, but he is the father of Rabbi Mendy Herson, whose synagogue we were members of for a time when we lived in NJ.  It was an honor to meet such a charismatic scholar.  There was a community dinner on Friday night, where he spoke, and again during kiddush lunch on Saturday.  It was such an intriguing discussion that we didn't leave until 3:00!

The past few days we here, like in many parts of the country, have been experiencing high heat and lots of severe storms.  Today (Sunday) was the first day that not only brought clear blue skies all day, but somewhat lower temps (in the high 80s) and low humidity, so it felt like an absolutely gorgeous day!  We took a trip out to the State Farmer's Market, where we found the tomatoes and cantalope to be their peak season.  I wish I knew how to can and had the proper equipment (then again, I wouldn't have the space to store it).

The campground has been very empty this past week, but yesterday and today people are starting to come in.  It's still fairly empty, but I suspect it will be pretty crowded by the weekend (4th of July) and for the next few weeks as there's another big horse show after that.

News is the truck should be ready on July 3rd.  We shall see about that as the week progresses.  Mitch has another test scheduled for July 16th, so we'll be in Raleigh at least until the end of the month.  Honestly, I'm starting to get wanderlust and and ready to travel.  I'd love to get out to New Mexico, but that's not on the horizon at the moment.  Everything now depends on where Mitch's assignments will be and for now, it's here.  Who knows, maybe I'll be lucky and the urb-e's will be finished and shipped soon.  It would be a nice way for me to get out of the campground and go out and do things.  But for now, just one day at a time.

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY - Yr 1, Day 365

Raleigh, NC

I absolutely cannot believe it has been one year today that we officially became RV full-timers (we left our sticks & bricks home in NJ on June 5th, but were in a state of limbo for the next 20 days while the closing experienced a few obstacles.  We closed on June 23rd, and the money was in the bank on the 25th so that we could make the purchase and put our new home on wheels in our name).

Naturally, this is a time to be reflective.  Do we like this lifestyle?  What have we learned?

There are a number of things we love and things we don't love about the lifestyle.  The bottom line is that, so far, it seems like a perfect fit for us and we plan to continue.  Yes, I would say we're loving it, despite some of the setbacks we've had.

Things we like about the lifestyle:

• A smaller space to clean, no mowing or shoveling snow
• No mortgage, property taxes or utility bills
• The flexibility and freedom to be wherever we want, with a new change of scenery (I like being able to sit outside near a lake or other scenic area with my laptop to work)
• Meeting new friends wherever we go
• Evening campfires and beautiful sunsets
• Not being tied down to location or climates
• Experiencing different cultures, hearing different accents, learning about local history
• Seeing different trees and birds local to each region

Things we don't like:

• Packing up, driving, parking,  unpacking
• Repairs and maintenance
• Campgrounds with tight spaces
• Harder for Mitch to find IT gigs
•  Not always easy to find a synagogue to go to
• Bugs

What have we learned?

• I have learned to become a lot more flexible, discovering that most plans are made in bubbles.  I no longer get totally freaked out when things don't go according to plan.
• There's a lot of stuff we don't know we don't know, so we have to learn as we go.
• We not alone in making "newbie" mistakes.  Everyone has been in our shoes at one time or another, although we try to read as much as we can so we don't make the same mistakes.
• This lifestyle is not a full time vacation but it's very important to take some time off to get out to explore the area, even if only for 1/2 a day once a week.  There are so many great things to do and see, and it defeats the lifestyle if we just sit at our desks and work full time.

Highlights of this past year

Cheryl's list: 

The good stuff:

• St. Augustine
• Myrtle Beach
• Visiting family & friends (Fred & Twila, Mindy, Sharon, Lisa)
• Fishing 
• I love living in this castle on wheels; it's a perfect floorplan for us

The bad stuff:

• Accident when we got stuck in a tight space, requiring fixing the roof and side
• Stuck in Arcadia for almost 2 months while waiting for parts & repair of king pin
• Staying in hotels & Jessica's house for almost 2 months waiting for slide repair

Mitch's list:

 The good stuff:

• Myrtle Beach
• Pecans
• Guy from FAA and his flying machines
• Being in tight quarters with me

 The bad stuff:

• Getting the mail late
• All the repairs
• Missing the family

Emergency room - Yr 1, Day 364

Raleigh, NC

All things happen for a reason, although at the time I didn't see that.  On the way home from work yesterday (Tuesday), Mitch called to tell me he had bad news -- he lost his glasses!  Bad news because we're only eligible for new exams and prescriptions every 2 years, and he had his made less than a year ago, which meant total out of pocket for a replacement (which cost about $500).

However, during the exam, the optometrist discovered swelling of the optic nerve, which she said could be potentially fatal.  So if he hadn't lost his glasses, this never would have been discovered!

It was recommended that he immediately see an ophthalmology neurologist to further verify this.  Unfortunately, there were no such specialists available for at least 3 weeks, so the dr. advised he go to the emergency room.

We arrived at the ER at 6pm and finally returned home a few minutes after midnight.  The ER doc. said that since Mitch didn't have any symptoms whatsoever, it was probably nothing and could have even been a false reading.  He also said they weren't really equipped to do anything other than give him a referral (which was to the same specialist we already tried).  They did, however, do an MRI.  A preliminary reading didn't show anything, but they said it needed to be read by a neurologist who knew what he was looking at.  They would call us if they found anything.  So far, we have not heard a word, so we're assuming there is nothing.  The follow up appt. is on July 14th.

Home Sweet Home (Again!) - Yr 1, Day 361

Raleigh, NC

We left the Bronx yesterday at 7:00 am and arrived back in Raleigh at 5:00 pm with only 4 stops to stretch our legs, go to the restroom and change drivers.  We were a bit worried because we heard that some very severe storms passed through, but we were fortunate that there was no damage here.

On the way back, we stopped at the kid's because Jessica made something special for her chocolate loving Dad:

As great as it was to spend time with the family, it felt good to be back in our own comfy bed!  It's also such a pleasure that the horse show is over and the campground is almost completely empty.  It's a very nice place to stay when every spot isn't taken!  You can actually see the grass and trees and have room to spread out.

Of course, however, I got myself terribly stressed out when we brought all the stuff from the locker into the rig, where it was all over the place.  Mitch did a terrific job putting most of it away, and Jessica will be taking the bags and bags of photos to scan.  I just need to look the other way for a few days.  It WILL get better and cleaner.

NJ & NY - Yr 1, Day 358

New York, New York

(break into song here!)....

As I write this, I am at Mitch's sister, Doris's apartment in Manhattan.  We left Columbia, SC at 3:30pm on Wednesday and drove straight through to NJ, arriving at our destination at 8:00 am.  We stopped several times at rest areas along the way to take little catnaps.  I have night blindness, so I drove until it started to get dark.  We got off at an exit in Roanoake Rapids, VA (just north of the border of NC) and stopped at a pizza place for a quick bite to eat.  Mitch then took over the driving.  By then, there were severe storms most of the way so he was driving in blinding rain for the most part.  Grueling ride!  I then took over the last 120 miles when we crossed the border into NJ, as it was finally daylight (but still raining).

Unfortunately, the person we had to meet (John, who has the keys to the locker) wasn't available until 11:00 so we had some time to spend. We drove around Fanwood, even passing our old home.  It was a weird feeling and in some ways it felt like we never left - everything was so familiar.  Mitch popped into his favorite bagel store and they were thrilled to see him.

The cleanout was a lot easier than I was anticipating as well.  For one thing, being that we had a small rental car and were not planning on keeping 90% or more of the items, we were figuring making at least 5 or more trips to the local thrift shop to donate.  John told us not to worry about it; that anything we left behind he would take care of!  That certainly saved us a few hours right there.  We were also very fortunate that everything we needed fit in the car.  We had been anticipating the need to take stuff to the UPS store and have it wrapped and shipped.

So after packing up, we headed into NYC where we spent the night and are spending this morning.  Then we head over to the Bronx where we will spend Shabbat with my dad.  Heading back to Raleigh on Sunday.

In nice hotel - Yr 1, Day 355

Columbia, SC

The drive down here to the test site was long but easy, and somewhat enjoyable in a fast car as opposed to the truck, and especially pulling the rig!

It's amazing what a difference there is between the cheap hotels we tend to stay at and the one the company put us up in!  And it's not even the high end either (Country Inn & Suites -- not Hyatt, but not Super 8!).

Of course, this has to be another one of those days where my clients are making major demands.  This hotel has a nice indoor pool and spa.  It was interesting to bring my laptop to the pool area and work in between laps -- with one of the clients calling me every 5 minutes!

Wishing Mitch success on his first exam tomorrow, then heading back to Raleigh to drop off this huge gas tank he now needs to carry with him (plus to the test).  Won't have room for all our stuff from the locker with the tank in the trunk so need to make a pit stop to drop it off at the rig.  It's about an hour out of the way, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  No clue when we'll hit the road for NJ, but that's a worry for another day.  Anyway, back to work.....

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.