Doctor visits - Day 616 (Yr 2, Day 251)

Asheville, NC

I wish we hadn't waited so long, but then again we never really knew how long we'd be here.

We visited Fast-Med, which is an urgent care center that also offers family practice and wellness care.  It's been over 2 years since we had our annual physicals and figured it was time to take care of it.  Just like we need routine maintenance on our vehicles, we should also have it on our bodies, especially since we're aging.  Fast-Med also has a lot of offices throughout NC, TX and AZ so all our record will be available.  I still need to return for a woman's (gyn) exam, both of us will need colonoscopies, and I will need to have another iron infusion.  I guess we'll try to get this all done before we leave Asheville - probably not for at least another month.

I also went ahead and made the reservations for the Biltmore Estate for this coming Sunday and Monday, to celebrate our 36 year (or 9th actually since it's leap year) anniversary.  We're going to go all out and take all the tours and stay in the 7 star hotel on the grounds and have dinner in the Dining Room where suits & ties/dresses are required, fine china, gloved waiter service, 5 courses.  The estate has a farm and almost all their food is sourced from there.  So next week I will have lots of photos and explanations to post.  Not quite the Epcot or Caribbean vacation I was hoping for, but this will be a lot of fun.  I'm getting really excited.  Sunday is supposed to be sunny and 61 degrees; Monday about 59 and partly cloudy.  The estate is over 8000 acres (you need a car to get between sections) so we'll bring our urb-es.

The Incredible Edible Egg - Day 615 (Yr 2, Day 250)

Asheville, NC

First, we did not have the company we hoped for (Kathy & Al), as they took their grandkids out for dinner then to a movie and got back too late to visit.  But they did stop by for a 5 minute chat before hitting the road; a quick hello-goodbye.

As for the title - this really was incredible (I actually meant to write about this yesterday).   Along Mitch's route on Friday, he was surveying a meter at someone's house, where there happened to be lots and lots of chickens running around.  The owner came outside and Mitch, friendly guy that he is, started up a conversation (that's how we met our very good friend Ethylin when we first arrived here).  Anyway, Mitch sort of half-jokingly asked the guy whether he wanted to sell any eggs and the guy was more than happy to do so ($3.50/dz).  Some of them were laid 3 days earlier and the rest the day before.  So we're talking FRESH, organic and free ranging -- not from a commercial farm.  Having never been in an area where egg laying chickens were something almost everyone had in their back yards, and certainly never living near a farm, the only eggs we ever tasted were the commercial ones.

I always thought an egg was an egg was an egg, but let me tell you -- that is NOT true!!!  For starters, the colors were so much different.  The outer shells were brown or light brown, not the bleach white color.  The yolk was a bright orange, not drab, and after cooking them (scrambled), they were almost a neon yellow, not drab canary.  And the taste?  Heaven!  I couldn't believe that's what an egg is supposed to taste like - incredible!  I have a feeling, though, that buying the organic, free ranging eggs from the supermarket will still not be the same.  I have a feeling that's only part of the deal, but the rest has to do with freshness - a day or 2 old rather than a few weeks (but we may splurge and buy a dozen just to compare.  If I'm wrong, it may be worth spending 2-3 times more money once in a while to enjoy such a treat).

Dinner with work buddies - Day 614 (Yr 2, Day 249)

Asheville, NC

Mitch has been working here in Asheville with a very lovely couple (Mike and Kandi) and developed a nice camaraderie.  They've been here for about 4 months.  They also had to go to Durham back in December, so we had dinner out with them then.

A new couple (Tim and Sandy) also just arrived in town for a few weeks, so the 6 of us went out to dinner at a lovely Italian/Greek bistro.  Great service and delicious food (I had the eggplant parm and Mitch had veggie manicotti).  Most of the talk was war stories-- both Mike/Kandi and Tim/Sandy are traveling "couples" - not only married but both of them work for Southern Cross.  I was the only one at the table who did not share in their experience or adventures, so much of the conversation was above my head, but it was a lot of fun anyway.   Mike/Kandi are leaving here on March 12th, en route to an assignment in Utah.  Tim/Sandy are leaving March 14th for Gatlinburg, TN (I told Sandy about the moonshine tour).  Mitch was told he will be released in a few weeks.  We are waiting for an answer from his boss - hopefully this week - to explain the process: does he go where he's told (where the most need is), or are we given a list of opportunities and we can choose?  Fingers crossed it's the latter.

Meanwhile, some old friends - Kathy and Allen - returned to the campground.  We met them during the summer, but they left for their home in FL around the middle of Sept.  They have family in Asheville, so usually spend from April until September here.  They arrived yesterday and are leaving on a road trip to Yosemite tomorrow morning, and returning for the season on April 1st.  I have a hunch we will NOT be here when they return.  They are spending the day with their grandchildren but said they would come over and hang with us around 6:00 when they return.

The only concern I have at the moment is we noticed some water gathering near the toilet bowl when we flush.  Mitch suspects it's a problem with the seal, but it requires taking the entire assembly apart (as well as figuring out the part he needs and ordering it).  I hope this isn't going to be a major problem until we have a chance to get it done.  Next week we were planning to be away to celebrate our anniversary (just Sunday and Monday - depending on the weather).

Light at the end of the Tunnel - Day 611 (Yr 2, Day 246)

Asheville, NC

Sorry to my friends & family (and devoted readers) who may have been waiting with baited breath for me to post something.  But, alas, unless I have something interesting (bad or good or eventful) to post, I hate to bore everyone with the details of "I worked," or "I went shopping," which pretty much sums up our lives these days.

However, it looks like the tides may be turning in terms of leaving Asheville.  As you may know, Mitch reports to 2 bosses: the main one, who is in charge of the nationwide travelers, and a local/regional one.  It's the main one who decides when and where he is needed.  We just learned that the main boss(who historically has been extremely unresponsive) just left the company.  His position was taken over by someone we "know" -- it's the person with whom we were "friends" on an RV forum, and who introduced us to this position with the company.  We've been following his very interesting and well-written blog for a while, even leaving comments now and then.  We've corresponded a few times expressing our frustration and woes about being stuck in one place for so long.  So it was really exciting news to learn that he will be Mitch's new boss!

Today he explained that since he only just officially started this job 2 days ago, he's still trying to get his feet under him and figuring out what's what, but he did promise that we could probably be released in a few weeks; he just needs to figure out to where.

Of course, I just made appointments (this coming Tuesday) for our annual wellness visits.  Maybe we should hold off another month or 2 until we learn how long we'll be in the next location.  Makes more sense if the dr. finds anything wrong or wants routine tests (like colonoscopies, mamos, blood workups), we might need more than a few weeks in the area.  Then again, there are always referrals.  We shall see....

Goings on - Day 600 (Yr 2, Day 235)

Asheville, NC

Nothing at all worth noting.  Mitch was feeling much better and worked the entire week.  We even got to go to services on Saturday (it was a huge gathering--they have a special "first Shabbat" once a month where they try to get as many families to come.  Motivation: fancy kiddush lunch!)

Mitch also took on a small IT job which made him extremely happy.  The wifi in the campground sucks, and Mitch offered to troubleshoot and then fix the problem (at his normal IT corporate rates).  He spent a few hours today working on it and I believe it's fixed.  So far, so good.  Now if only he could fix the electric in the campground!  They're working on it.  They've been busy digging up trenches behind our rig so it can be rewired.  Currently, Mitch is about to hitch up the truck so we can move it a foot or 2 forward, as they need to dig another trench below us.  Royal PITA.  But for only a few feet, we're not closing the slides or putting anything away, and only disconnecting the sewer line, as Mitch has to add an extension since it just barely fits right now.  Electric and water reach with plenty of room to spare.  It took us 45 minutes to hitch up, and it turned out the water line needed to be extended, so we had to add another 25' hose.  Not to mention re-leveling since the jacks had to come up.  As I said... Royal PITA.

As for me, I did a really heavy duty cleaning - getting to all the nooks and crannies that tend to get overlooked while doing a general cleaning.  We really need to clean out the vents and change the water filters at some point soon.

Update:  Did

Mitch sick, challah - - Day 593 (Yr 2, Day 228)

Asheville, NC
I'm really getting sick of writing "Asheville" as my location.  It's going on 6 months now :(  Then again, except for the winter weather, it's a very nice place to be.  One week ago today we were buried in a foot and a half of snow.  Today I am sitting on a picnic bench by the river, in my t-shirt (while I write this) as it's about 63 degrees.  Here's what I'm looking at:

And another Mitch took of me:

So this past week has been busy, busy, busy with work.  I have 2 very steady clients and 3 as-needed ones.  On Wednesday, ALL of them wanted me to do work for them, continuing on even to today.  I'm not complaining; it's good to be working, especially this week when Mitch only worked 2 days.  Reason follows:

Monday he was off all day due to the ice and snow still on the ground (gas company needed to have their staff available for emergencies; not following up on leaks found).  Tuesday he only worked 1/2 day, again due to the ice and snow -- it was too difficult to get to the gas meters.  He worked on Wed and Thurs.  He's been harboring a pretty bad cold for the past few weeks, and by Thursday night, it had turned into a bad cough and he was running almost 102* temperature, so Friday he needed to take the day off (we also didn't attend services on Saturday so he could stay in bed and rest all day).

Mitch normally does the Shabbat shopping on Thursday before he comes home, which includes buying the challah and fish.  Fortunately, we had extra tuna steaks in the freezer, but nothing that resembled a special bread.  So.... I decided, for the first time ever, to attempt to make a challah.  I have to admit that it didn't turn out half bad.  It was more on the cake-y side than bread, but tasted pretty good.  Here's what they looked like (they were about the same size; not sure why they look so different in the photo)

Today (Sunday), Mitch was feeling a little bit better so we got a relatively early start (9:30 am).  We went to this awesome restaurant (Sunny Point Cafe: http://sunnypointcafe.com/).  It's literally right up the road, and I can't believe it's taken us 6 months to get there!  They have their own garden in the back of the property from which they use their veggies and herbs (in season) and everything is organic; lots of vegetarian choices as well.  It was a bit expensive (almost $40 including tip for breakfast!); it's a very small place and we had to wait about 45 mins for a table (the beautiful outdoor patio is always full) but very much well worth the experience.  I hope we can afford to go back some time for dinner.

One other note to share:  it just amazes me how Amazon packages stuff.  We had to order a teeny halogen bulb for the microwave.  This is the bulb and the box it was in.  Why couldn't they just put it in a padded envelope?

After the storm - Day 586 (Yr 2, Day 221)

Asheville, NC

Wow, that was really some storm.  I'm told it was historical for this part of the country.  When all was said and done, we got about 18".  Not exactly historical for us, but definitely not something we would have expected here in the alleged South, especially since we don't own boots or a shovel.  Unfortunately, the northeast (MD, VA, NY, NJ) got hammered even worse -- they got about 30"!

The electric went off for about an hour before Shabbat started and it was community wide.  Fortunately, it went back on 5 minutes before I had to light candles, so I was able to turn on the fireplace (in case we ran out of gas; it was back up heat).  We are blessed that the day was uneventful.  Everything stayed on; we were safe and warm and dry.  We did, however, lose our water last night, as Mitch forgot to keep the sink dripping so the hose froze up.  Thankfully, we did fill the fresh water tank before the storm, so the water pump and the 100 gallons in the tank should last us  until it melts.

Today is bright and sunny and about 40 degrees so the ice and snow are starting to melt.  The scenery is still very beautiful, with the river sparkling against the white snow.  Unfortunately, there is way too much on the ground to melt enough to disappear; whatever hasn't fully melted will refreeze, making conditions very treacherous tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure if Mitch will be working anyway, as he's feeling horrible (cough/cold).  He's been resting up all weekend, but if he still feels this way, may take a sick day.