It's been just over a week since we arrived, and what a week it has been. As I write this, I'm sitting on our "front porch," enjoying the shade and the sounds of nature, sipping my stinging nettle and Hawthorne iced tea. Our laundry is drying on the clothesline, and Rick is currently napping after a very long week. It's wonderful to finally take some time to relax and recharge.
First, We want to extend a huge thank you to all our family and friends who came to our send-off luncheon at Hillsdale Brewing Company. We felt so incredibly loved, and as always, the food was fantastic. If you're ever near Hillsdale and craving great food, beer, cider, or wine, please stop by and tell them I sent you! Show my sister and brother-in-law some love. Our second big thanks goes to Cat's children and our granddaughter. We spent an entire day loading one-third of the truck, primarily with the lumber and walls for the cabin. It was a challenge to stack everything just right for stability and to maximize space, tucking smaller items into every possible nook. The next day, Allison, Charissa, Lady Bug, and Tony arrived to help. Lady Bug was in charge of entertaining and supervising, while the three older kids worked incredibly hard. We managed to load the remaining two-thirds of the truck in a mere 2.5 hours! We were floored and so relieved, knowing we could now finish the last bits in a more relaxed state. Gabriel also came to help with all the last-minute tasks, which we truly appreciated. It was wonderful to get so much accomplished and spend quality time with the babies before we left. Our final shout-out goes to Cat's sister Heather and brother-in-law Kevin. They graciously allowed us to squat at their home from the time we put our house on the market until we headed to Tennessee. This gave us much-needed peace and time to recover from the insanity we'd experienced and prepare for our new adventure.
Our friends M & M drove up from Tennessee to transport our camper. They would have done it for just gas money, but we made sure to do right by them. The drive down was mostly uneventful, though long, as we could only go so fast with the truck loaded and pulling the Jeep, similar to the ladies with the camper. Towards the end of the journey, we got separated. We hit traffic for a while, and as darkness fell, Rick grew concerned about some of the roads we'd have to take. Needless to say, we lost a lot of time. It was well after dark when we finally arrived. The ladies dropped the camper, and we simply parked the truck and trailer. When we finally hit our pillows, we were instantly out!
The next couple of days were dedicated to unloading the truck. Thankfully, M & M came both days; otherwise, it would have taken us at least three. I wish I could say all our belongings fit into the conex, but that wasn't the case. We knew the cabin walls and lumber would have to be stacked outside and tarped, along with our insulation and a few other items. The real pain is that we have to park our small machines and tools down the center aisle inside the conex. This means every time we want to work, we have to unload several items to get what we need, then reload everything back in and lock up at the end of the day. We know this is only temporary, but it doesn't make us like it any more!
We apologize for being long-winded, but we don't want to forget a single detail. Our next focus was getting our permanent site for the camper cleaned up and ready. This is our home base and our normalcy, so it was top priority. We prepped the area and had the ladies come out to help us move the camper. While we were waiting for them, we received a surprise visit from Tom and Theresa of Twisted Trails Farm. It was so good to see the best friends reconnect after all of these years. That truly made mine and Theresa's hearts swell. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. Once they left, we got down to business and moved the camper, and then relocated our fire pit. The next few days were spent setting up the rest of our area and getting the camper back into living order. So, camp life is now all set, and we can finally breathe easy.
Now for a quick rundown of what else we've accomplished. Rick's Medicare is all set, his SSDI has been updated, and we've opened a bank account. We've made a few trips to the spring for water and bought a trailer to haul large purchases. We tried our portable clothes washer; it works great but uses far too much water. It will have to wait until we get the water catchment system up and running. So, we had to visit the laundromat. Good gravy! $5.75 for a double load to wash. Apparently, I haven't been to one in a while! We've also put together a quick composting pile, assembled our rototiller and woodchipper (both work great!), and purchased our new front gate. It's going to look wonderful when it's installed with the sign Rick received for Christmas.
Let me tell you about the nature here. I'm used to seeing tiger lilies along the roads back in Michigan, but here, there are so many other beautiful wildflowers. We've had a frog visit our porch the last couple of nights, along with four walking sticks that appeared a few nights ago. We've heard birds but have barely seen any, which is a bit disappointing. We've had the bird feeder and bird bath up for a few days now, but no visitors. So far, Cat has only found one tick on her. Hopefully, it stays that way!
To be continued...
Remember Small Steps Get You Miles
Rick & Cat
Add comment
Comments