Traveling Down The Road

 I am back here in the park after my break with having internet access! We left the park after loading the basement of the motorhome and my car with all the boxes we could cram on board and headed to our new home. Just a visit to whet our appetite for the next chapter of our lives.

I would like to say that the trip was uneventful .... but that's not how we roll. With very sore muscles I climbed aboard, musing that even with all the boxes we loaded, there was still so much left to move. I was looking forward to dozing on the couch with my canines keeping me warm, and that is exactly what I did on day one. The weather was pleasant, no rain and we made good time to the first stop, just south of Nashville, TN. Did you know there is a Nashville, IL.? Now you do.

The dogs got right back into the routine of leashes for potty breaks. Now, if I can train Toni Louise not to tangle her leash with every other leash, then wrap it all around my legs! We made the stop in Murphy, NC to get our keys and were soon parked in front of our new home. The dogs seemed to remember they had been there before and raced the length of the porch (that would be 28', just so you know). I put up the temporary fence and introduced them to the doggie door. Toni Louise and Mr. BoJangles were intrigued and came through the opening while I help the flap up. The doxie duo came through the door opening and looked at me disdainfully. I don't think the doggie door will be of much use. I ended up just leaving the door open for them to go to the yard as needed.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. The very first thing Toni Louise did was trip me coming down the steps and then escaping my grasp as I tried to keep from falling. I fell anyway on my rather ample derriere and she ran like the wind up the driveway while I yelled for her to stop. That driveway did not seem so steep when we first looked at the property! I yelled for HeWho rarely listens to me and got no response so I tried running up the driveway. There are several things wrong with this scenario. First, I don't run. It is more like a fast walk. Second, that driveway seemed to be going straight up at a 90 degree angle. I was winded and still trying to encourage Toni to come back, when HeWho is my hero sauntered up and asked what I was doing. I could only point to the dog as I grabbed his arm to catch my breath. He called her and she came bounding down the drive to her master. I wanted to kill her! Keep in mind that she is my escape artist and has already suffered a dislocated hip from a jaunt down the road that ended with her being hit by a truck. My mind had raced ahead to scooping her off the road and then trying to locate the closest vet.

I am far too old for so much excitement in one day. I secured the dogs and decided to unload the car while HeWho piddled around with the RV. The first night of the trip we discoved the heater was not working. We had a small electric one that did little more than keeping the pipes from freezing. The dogs were a huge comfort in bed! Bo tunnelled under the covers to my feet and Cujo and Bo were along my right side. They refuse to even entertain thoughts of sleeping near the edge of the bed, so to warm my left side I had to turn over. HeWho had his electric throw and the only thing cold on him was his head, it being outside the covers.

Despite having made previous arrangements with the the company providing electricity to the house to simply read the meter, then transfer the billing to us, they turned it completely off. There is an emergency propane heater there and I have been told that living in the mountains requires one for when the power goes out. While HeWho charmed the woman on the phone, who asked for him to e-mail a photo ID! No internet and though he did text a picture of his driver's license, I wondered about the practibility of her request. With never having seen this person, what possible use was a photo ID?

Still pondering this, I headed out to my car and opened the back door to retrieve my bucket of peony bush. I grabbed it and stepped in a hidden hole covered by leaves and fell to the ground again. On my right side. I tried to stop my fall with my arthritic hand and failed to do so. Having had the breathe knocked out of me I just stayed there for a minute. HeWho walked up to ask me what I was doing. Yes, he did. I almost told him I was taking a nap. He tried to help me up, but I quickly discovered it would be easier to roll around in the fallen leaves and get myself up.

That day we unloaded boxes and I unpacked them to take them back to reload. Since the house was winterized, we didn't want to turn the water on, only to have to winterize again when we left. We decided to sleep in the RV after the previous owner showed us how to turn the hydrant on and get water to the coach without having to affect the house. This was tricky, since we had to keep our distance from him. Despite have been vaccinated and had the booster, he was recovering from COVID.

Why we opted for sleeping in the RV? The convenience of having water and a working bathroom. I woke first to take care of the dogs and decided to just stay in the house where it was toasty warm. I sat in the rocker recliner holding two dogs and planned my day without benefit of coffee. I stared at the tiny loveseat left by the previous owners and it struck me that it was quite deep. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it was a hide-a-bed for a twin size mattress! The bedroom had a queen mattress and it was warm in there.

I did say that day one was uneventful. Day two started out with a bang! As we were leaving the campground, the audacious speed bump we had gone straight over the night before had to be navigated in order to leave. Let me stress that we were NOT speeding, but we must have been at an unfortunate angle, because when we went over with the first set of tires, things flew off the couter in the kitchen. Things that had set there on every trip and never moved while we were in motion! The glass carafe shattered in the floor and HeWho stopped while I attempted to gather all the shards of glass that might end up in the eight tiny paws onboard. I could not get to the broom and dustpan with the slides in and used paper towels over my hand and a piece of cardboard. Having done my best, I settled back into my assigned seat with dogs and we continued with the second set of wheels over that speed bump. If you have ever seen the inside of any RV, you will note that every square inch of space is dedicated to storage and that cabinet over my head that held a rather hefty notebook with all the info pertaining to the RV flew open and that notebook came down on end and karate chopped my neck before falling onto Bo. 

This is why I did not have coffee and I was already beat up efore we even got to our new home! Also why poor Bo trembled throughout the rest of the ride. Tomorrow I will continue with our adventure and tell you more about our trip and how we were without TV or internet for six days!