A lighthouse and a VERY near disaster - Nov. 11th continued & Nov. 12th

On our way back from ferry we made one last stop for the day at the -



That's Cape Hatteras Light Station in case you can't make it out.  It's one of three lighthouses on the cape. The most interesting fact about this 'little' lighthouse, to us anyway, is that it was actually physically moved from one location to the another, a total of 2900 feet!  It was a mass operation, quite literally, but in 1999 they successfully moved it to its new safer location farther away from the ocean.  In the little museum, housed in the former keepers quarters I believe, we got to watch the news footage of it and it really was quite impressive!

Inside the visitor center we got up close and personal with an Osprey, obviously a stuffed one at this point, but it used to be alive.  We'd seen Ospreys fly high above us plenty of times, particularly in the Tetons, but this was the first time we could really take a good close look at one.  It has a wing span of five feet!



As for the lighthouse itself, it was pretty cool as well.  We couldn't climb up since it was closed for the season but we could go inside and take a look.  It was, well, an inside of a lighthouse.  Having climbed up one in Maine we were ok with not climbing up this one since at 200 feet it's a strenuous climb up 248 iron spiral stairs!



In the aforementioned little museum (seen below) we learned all about the roll the area and these lighthouses played during the Civil War as well as both world wars.  There are many many shipwrecks off these coasts thanks to major storms, shifting sands (both submerged and otherwise) AND German submarines (the U-boats) that sank many ships.  Some shipwrecks are actually buried by the beach and when sands shift, which they do quite frequently here, they are uncovered for a brief moment in time until sands shift again....Pretty neat.

Cape Hatteras is a National seashore and does have its own Jr. Ranger program but for the first time during our trip we had to pass it up.  Unlike other locations (such as Boston and Minuteman National Historic Site) they would not give us the booklets and badges to be completed and handed out later.  Some national parks are more serious and strict than others apparently.....oh well.  We just didn't have the time to complete the work then and there since it was getting late and tomorrow we had to hit the road to make it to FL by the 14th.  It was my grandfather's 99th birthday and getting to FL late was just not an option.

The other thing we learned at the Cape's visitor center was that a high tide was a-comin'.  Apparently, if we wanted to get off the Outer Banks (OB) tomorrow we had better start early...there's no telling when the roads will become impassible due to shifting sands and rising water.  Most roads would be ok we were told, there was just one area we needed to worry about in particular.  FYI, along the narrower sections of the OB roads one can routinely see snow plows parked.  Pretty odd.  They don't plow snow of course it's sand they're busy with!  Like I mentioned before, sands here shift very very frequently and the roads constantly need to be cleared.

Bottom line with all this was that we headed back home and got ourselves and the RV all set to leave first thing in the morning so we could get the h*** out of Dodge!

And so began our attempt to leave the Outer Banks.....

This was the first 'puddle' we met with once we hit the road.  We had been on the road for a grand total of 10 minutes.....

OK, not so bad, cars seem to be going through easily.  No danger to us or the RV here.  We kept going.....

Though it's not clear from the picture, things were starting to get a little more precarious....traveling in the middle of the road was the safest option for all.  The water was coming up through the sand very quickly....

Things began to get a little murkier.....

We stopped in the middle of the road so S could get out and assess the situation.

He stopped a driver coming from the opposite direction and inquired about the road conditions up ahead.

Yes, we were blocking traffic.  No, we had no other choice.  Going into this kind of situation without some information is not a good idea.  We had to make a decision a regarding whether to proceed or to turn around and go back.  Not that turning around and going back at this point was going to be easy, or even possible. There were a few problems with turning around:  1. The road is narrow and given we're close to 60 feet long we can't just turn on a dime.  2.  There were now several RVs and many cars behind us.  We couldn't just back up and find a place to turn around.  The other RVs btw were also trying to make some serious choices regarding the situation.  3.  We needed to be in FL in 2 days and I wasn't ready to give it up quite yet.

After consulting half the traffic, including several of the RVers, we decided to proceed.  Even though the road was beginning to look like this....

As we drove through, it only got worse....

Notice how close that water is to the bottom of the RV.....

It's a river.  An absolute river!

But, once we got through it we passed the location the rangers back at the visitors center warned us about so we were pretty happy.

Then, we saw this:

Apparently there was another spot we were supposed to worry about...The whole thing was very reminiscent of 'Lost'....The island wasn't going to let us go......

That poor fellow up there was not getting his car out in one piece.

Uh oh! BIG time UH OH!!  Not only was there GUSHING water to contend with, but now cars were getting stuck in the newly shifted sand ON the road!

And this is part of why:

The rising tide had actually taken out part of the dune that separates the road from the ocean!  Not only was the water rising through the sand now but it was gushing freely onto the road directly from the ocean, bringing all the sand along with it!

Soooooooooo NOT good.

S being the quick thinker that he is didn't stop to ponder this time.  He gunned it and plowed through at high speed without hesitation.  It's a good thing the camera was around my neck cause he didn't even have a chance to warn us!  My upper body was halfway hanging out the window taking picture after picture and I went flying, thankfully into the car and into my seat with the camera fully attached.  So, unfortunately no pictures of the actual parting of the Red Sea, but we did come out fully intact on the other side!  What was the greatest danger here?  Not being dragged out to sea of course, but getting stuck in the wet sand was going to be an extremely serious problem, especially with rising waters.  Water and cars, let alone RVs, don't mix.  Salt water is even worse.  To say the least.

It could have been really really REALLY bad.  But, it wasn't.  The water did not make it to the RV floor, let alone the truck's.  Yes, it did splash.  A lot.  But that's why we did this -

just as soon as we got onto the mainland about 20 minutes later.  I use 'we' quite loosely obviously.

Thankfully NC has nice travel/visitor centers fully equipped with RV services such as dumping and fresh water stations.

Once the RV and truck got a thorough wash down we were finally able to really hit the road!  We were officially on our way to Florida and we would be making it on time for Grampa's 99th birthday!

Hallelujah!

Lovin' those trees......

Our Walmart in Rapid City was a crowded one.  We literally squeezed in between two RVs when we arrived late at night.  In the morning we woke up and met the neighbor to our right.  A single woman in her 60's (or there abouts) who was traveling across the country in a conversion van on her own!  Wow!  She'd done this before too.  A sweet lady, she shared with us her experiences at the locations we were heading to and thought what we were doing was great, if I do say so myself :-).

Well, the morning dragged out what with our side conversations and all, and here we were at 11 heading to the local RV supply store to pick up a few items.  While there, S consulted with the owner regarding a tire issue and said owner strongly suggested we head straight to the tire shop and get it replaced! Yikes!

Off we went to the auto shop that luckily was down the street.  Hung out there while S and the mechanics worked out what needed to be done.  Turns out two tires needed replacing and others rotated.....We were apparently on the verge of a tire explosion.....Someone's watching over us.....

Leaving our home behind, we headed to the local skating rink for another skating session.  Ice rinks are not easy to come by in these parts, surprisingly enough, so we take them where we can get them, no matter what else needs to be done.






She was lucky enough to share the ice with a more experienced figure skating teen this time and very soon was asking her for pointers.  The teenager was so sweet and helpful and even left her boyfriend hanging while she helped Analyzer :-).  Spins are what Analyzer's really working on now and those are apparently one of the hardest thing to accomplish, taking at least several months.  Given that her practice sessions are few and far between, it will obviously take much longer.  It's been pretty frustrating for her.....

Well, skating wrapped up, back we headed to pick up our home and drop in on a local food coop to do some shopping.  We were itching to get out of Dodge already but fresh food must be purchased when we have a chance.  It was a cute little place with a surprisingly large selection.  After dropping quite a bit of cash, we finally headed out of town.  It was 5PM.....Thankfully we didn't have far to go.  We were looking for a national forest campsite somewhere south of Rapid City in the Black Hills.

From our limited experience we've come to learn that if you can dry camp (sans hook ups) national forests are THE place to be.  Every private RV park we've come across has RVs lined up side by side with very little space between them.  Yes, they have full hook ups, usually, but no room to move!  Not to mention privacy.  We've never stayed at one and have no plans to do so if we can avoid it.  The second best kind of campsites so far have been national parks.  Sometimes they have one hook up or another, rarely all, and they do offer more elbow room generally in beautiful settings.  National forest sites however have so far offered large roomy sites with plenty of space to park AND run around in!

Back to our search now, we were lucky enough to come across the national forest visitor center just as it was closing.  Got directions to the closest campground not 15 minutes down the road (Orville, in case you're interested).  It was a beautiful wooded area with lots of room to roam.  The next morning we woke to some cooler temps which of course called for hot cocoa -




Temps quickly rebounded so out came the Blendtec for some breakfast smoothies.




After many nights in a Walmart parking lot it was such a breath of fresh air to be in nature again!  We were all feeling the stress of the cities (from small to large) and were so relieved to be back home again among the trees.  That morning the kids had a great time just hanging out outside, feeling the earth beneath their behinds and inhaling the luscious pine trees.  Us 'old' folks took it all in too, enjoying the peace of it all and breathing a big sigh of relief.

Some days.....

You just don't get moving.  At least in the direction you had planned to anyway.

We wanted to head back to the park, we really did.  But then, S had a thought to finally fix the boy's beds.  I had a thought to take advantage of our electric hook ups and do some dehydrating.  And the kids had a thought to just hang around and play!  Translation: We never left the campsite.....

It's not the end of the world if you 'waste' a beautiful day on other stuff.  Like I said in an earlier post, things can't be just go go go.  We were however slightly anxious to 'finish up' with this part of Yellowstone and move on since it was, relatively, expensive.  But oh well.

So this is what happens when all those above mentioned plans come to fruition.  The house, as we refer to it, ends up looking like this:



Ahh ya yay!!

What you see above is the entire contents of the kid's room (including the boy's bedding) dumped in the living room so S could do this:



Yes, saw off the legs of the bunks!  You see, after S originally built these beds, Inventor didn't end with much headroom.....He really even couldn't come close to sitting up in it.  The toy storage space, or 'the cave', however, had plenty of headroom....so, off came 6 inches or so from the bottom.

This is the before shot, once all the toys were removed - see, lots of headroom.



Back to this scene, so you can see what I kept myself busy with that day, our dehydrator! I was so excited about finally pulling it out!!  We had been electric hook up free since the first few days of our trip, a month and a half ago.  I was itchy to get my hands on it and we all were itchy for what we produce with it.



And this -


Is just one of three creations that day, onion bread! Yummmm!

Its even extra yummier this way - with avocado!



Also got some granola and macaroons made as well as dehydrating some soaked almonds for future use.

All in all, even if it didn't match what we had envisioned, it was a pretty darn productive day! And the kids got to just hang inside and outside, in our "Little House in the Big Woods' like surroundings.  I know, I just can't seem to stop with the Laura Ingalls references....

When you live in an RV, certain things kinda happen......

Like when you're so *extremely* low on water that you actually find yourself pondering which you'll choose, washing your hands after using the bathroom or brushing your teeth.....


Like when you put non perishables away for the night and have to decide on the best place to put them so the mice can't get to them.....


Like your daughter saying let's have a party, it's the first time we have mice in the RV!


Like when you're low on electricity walking around the RV with a Coleman lamp feeling like Laura Ingalls walking around with her lantern.....


Like when you get distracted talking to someone while dumping and then drive away without your sewer cap on......


Like when you boil a pot of chick peas and the whole RV steams up.....which is actually nice on a cold day...


Like the heating apparatus breaking down because there was a mouse trapped in, and now schmeared all over, the system......(more on that another time)


Like when it's so cold you turn on the stove burners to heat up the place soon to learn that you probably should have removed what you stored in the microwave above it before hand......so much for the almond butter....



But other kinds of things also happen......


Like your kids complaining that they have no friends to play with and then, like a parade, 3 different families with kids arrive at your campground one day after the other....and new best friends are born!


Like when you 'come home' and try to park your house and a neighbor you've never met before spends a good hour helping you do it....


Like your children having grandparent figures around who love spending time with them and treat them like their own......


Like your dog receiving medical advice, meds and buffalo burgers from a a new neighbor and friend, who happens to be a vet tech.....


Like sharing campfires, cooking and marshmallows with new friends.....(no, we didn't buy the marshmallows, but our kids ate them)


Like camp hosts and fellow campers taking a sincere interest in you and spending hours giving you detailed descriptions of campgrounds and sights to see along the way......


Like tried and true RVers sharing their extensive knowledge about everything and anything with you.....



Life on the road is nothing if not interesting.  And it's only been a month!

Living and learning.......8/2/10

A successful restful night was had by all, hallelujah! It was kind of nice not to have to jump out of bed in the morning and have to rush out for this or that errand, just hangin’! No idea what the day holds, but finishing to organize the RV is definitely on the list as we randomly dumped our last minute stuff in yesterday and we don’t have a place to sit down unless we move things around constantly.......not an acceptable situation......

.......We’ve now enjoyed our first road trip smoothies for breakfast while getting some very helpful suggestions from yet another friendly camper. He is actually the campground host but he’s also a full-timer, spending the summer here and then moving on, so we *really* got many helpful tips...

......RV’s been shut up, moved and water’s been refilled. Dumping the so called ‘black water’ (use your imagination if you don’t know what that is) is currently underway with the boys in tow since that *is* what they’ve been waiting for all this time. Check out RV the movie to see what I mean, but it ain’t pretty! Hopefully S’s dumping process will go much smoother, no pun intended ;-). We now have a new neighbor who will help S park the darn thing (we have yet to name it) when he returns - bottom line, RV folk are really really friendly and helpful!!!..........

.........We’re learning to live in our small space, that, BTW, isn’t really that small come to realize! There is so much storage in this thing it’s unbelievable. We are experiencing some bumps and bruises, literally, since moving within our limited spaces will take some getting used to. We’ve had bumped heads, elbows, feet - all part of the learning curve. But really, when we get tired of being inside, we head outside.

We’ve got a beautiful view of the lake, mountains, Aspens and wild flowers. The sounds of birds, crickets, wind and rain. The older two have been biking around the campground loop and are having the time of their lives.



The following quotes were heard today: “You know, it’s not so bad living in an RV” by Inventor and “Can we stay in the RV for 2 years? maybe 3? or even 5??” by Analyzer.....

......Conservation - we’re looking at it in a whole new way. It’s beyond doing the right thing or being PC, it’s actually a matter of running out of stuff. While living with indoor plumbing we don’t necessarily think about running out of water. We know that we should conserve and can maybe even picture the lakes and oceans being polluted and depleted. Right now we don’t have a water hookup so we fill the tanks at a central location and then if we don't want to move the whole darn thing again, we *must* minimize our water use, there are no two ways about it. Dish washing takes on a whole new face, not to mention showering, toothbrushing, hand washing and even toilet flushing (but I’ll spare you the details)! If we don’t have electrical hookups we either have no electricity or when we purchase a generator we still have to use electricity way more conservatively than we did while living in our house (and as some of you know, we were pretty conservative to begin with). It’s all about preserving our resources, and this time, it’s right in our faces. I don’t have a problem with that, I actually find it kind of liberating ironically.

Oh, one more kitchen related item, I like not having to take 6-8 strides from sink to fridge or stovetop, or to an opposite counter. Granted, it’s only been a day, but still, we all keep looking at each other and say, wow, this is pretty cool!

Some of our adventures during our stay at Steamboat......

Working towards the RV - a process

It’s for real...........3/31/10

Wow. It’s real. We have a renter. we put a deposit down on an RV. I guess, we’re going somewhere!  Really??



 

 

This has really snowballed fast. It seems to be a pattern in our lives. Not a bad one I guess. But a pattern nonetheless. We think of something. We do some research. We put the plan into motion. That last putting it into motion bit always seems to be a fast transition. I think it’s a good thing though.  If it stretched out over a long period, would we actually do these things? I guess long term plans may happen and for some people it may work.  But for us, short term action plans, whether major or minor, are the ticket.

 

This pattern appears problematic at times, for others. As as example, I give you my mother. Her comment when we first told her we were thinking about RVing full time was: “The problem is K, you always do what you talk about!”

 

Is that REALLY a problem?? I guess it depends on how one looks at it. Here’s how it happens: I like to explore and read about all sorts of people and things in many areas of life. Those reading encounters give me strange notions.....I like thinking about those notions, researching them, and then, well, applying them to our lives if it suits us. Taking action.  What’s a life if it’s not full of action?? There is such a thing as analysis paralysis is there not?  S can be accused of that at times, but surprisingly, it does not appear to be an issue for me. That is not say I don’t thoroughly research and think about major changes in our lives. I most certainly do. In fact, I was once told by a good friend that I’m the only person she knows who reads more nonfiction than fiction. It’s true. I love a good novel, but when I check out multitudes of books from the library, they do all tend to be nonfiction.....

So, back to that bottom line: We are going to officially be homeless very soon, so we’d better get organized so we can hit the road! :-)

 

The in-law response........4/6/10

So today we told my in-laws about our plan. S was surprised by my MIL’s reaction: Great! Terrific! Have fun and see the country! Me? Not so surprised. She jumped aboard the whole homeschooling idea once she saw it in action last summer during their visit. Before that I’m not so sure what her opinion was. She was thrilled with the fact that, and I quote, “they’re exposed to everything! It’s remarkable, it’s wonderful!”. Was I surprised then? You bet ya! But grateful. Therefore, her reaction to the RV business, not surprising to me in the least. My FIL is quite another story. His reaction was pretty much predicted by both of us. Reserved, apprehensive, worried. About the future in particular.  Not surprising for a man of a generation that spent a great majority of life focused on building a career to support one’s family and have a secure retirement. Well, I don’t have to tell you that there is no such thing anymore as a secure retirement do I? Security based on a life long job just doesn't exist anymore. It is also quite rare these days to even remain at the same job for your entire career, In fact, it’s pretty much unheard of in the modern industry of today. But, that’s not the world he knows, so his concerns are quite understandable.

 

Between their two reactions is where I find my peace. Yes, one does need to be thoughtful, take care and work towards having some kind of financial security, present and future.  But, I also know that you never know what life is going to deal you. You can spend decades working on your career, planning for your future and all the fun you’ll have in retirement. And then, never ever get there. Never have a future. We could be hit by a bus or struck down by a disease (God forbid).

We just don’t know. Of course, everyone lives and should live according to their priorities. To each their own. But my philosophy is this: Live while you have life. Don’t wait until later, there may not be a later. If you want to travel, find a way to do it now. If you want to write a book, find a way to do it now. If you want to climb Mount Everest, find a way to do it now. Life is not for waiting around. Life is for living TODAY.

More clues that it is indeed happening........4.6.10

Well, the actual real first step has officially occurred! We’ve traded in S’s jeep for a HUGE pick up truck!

 

Now, you need to understand that this was S’s first baby. He bought it new (remarkable for this man!) 12 years ago, after his first 6 months in the work force. This was his prize possession for years. So, yet another milestone here..... Anyway, after saying good bye to the Jeep this afternoon, hugs and all, we welcomed S home with the new monstrosity (I guess that will quickly become a very relative term!) - Whirlwind was almost in tears: “but I love the jeep!”.

 



 

Frown very quickly turned upside down when he got to climb into the monstrosity (guess we’ll have to name this thing).

 



 

 

Wow. The first concrete change to occur.....things are beginning to sink in.....Guess it’s about time.

 

For the habits, they are a changin’.........4.26.10

As I get organized to move into an RV, I am finding that my daily habits are changing as well. I’m not taking out every spoon in the drawer to use while preparing food, I won’t have that many to choose from in the RV. I’m heating up the water for some miso soup only until it’s slightly warm and immediately turn off the burner, thereby saving propane. I’m presoaking the silverware and dishes in the sink and using minimal water while washing and rinsing, thereby conserving water in the fresh water tank. The one thing so far I am quite intentionally NOT doing is taking shorter showers. Those I am savoring until the very end ,knowing good and well that I won’t be hanging out enjoying the hot water in the RV. Mine will probably be the loud shriek echoing through the campground when my hot water’s run out!