I Think I OD'ed on Vitamin D Today

Well, I believe we left off with me freezing my buttkus off!  Monday morning was damn cold and I of course was given the campsite farthest away from the bathrooms!  It was not a pleasant jaunt.  When I got back to the tearbaby I decided to crawl back into bed with my heating pad and get warm before making the trek back for a hot shower.  And let me tell you, it was one of the HOTTEST hot showers I've ever taken.  After my body was sufficiently warmed up we were off to find warmth in places south - Parker was my destination, with an extended sunny forecast in the upper 60's - 70's. . .  PERFECT!

I arrived at my very first official boondock about 2:30 Monday afternoon.  I was following recommendations from a website for free camping spots I had been using as I traveled out here, and after a few minutes of apprehension wondering if I would be able to actually identify a legit boondock, I came across a couple of other trailers already parked in the area.  I decided to make this my home for now, but as far away from the others as possible.  After trying out a couple of spots I found one that gave me a gorgeous view in all directions.

View to the north from my campsite

I was finally back in the desert.  It has been 30 years since I last camped in the desert, but back then I was living out of a backpack & sleeping on the ground under the stars with a group of students on a college field study program that ended up changing my life.  Being back here is like running into a  dear childhood friend, familiar yet you have to get reacquainted.  After "setting up camp" on Monday (really only doing the very basics), I just sat and tried to absorb that I was really here.  I don't think I have fully absorbed it all yet, even after 2 days.  That's O.K., I want to go slowly, to savor the moments and the changes in myself.

Last night there was a most beautiful sunset.  The blue in the sky was one of the most gorgeous shades of blue I have seen, I'd call it close to cerulean.  The clouds were pink / purple then changed to pink/orange against that blue and WOW!  The show was just amazing.  My picture doesn't do the colors justice.  One other thing I had forgotten from my last time in the desert is the way even a little moonlight illuminates the landscape.  The light color of the desert floor helps reflect the moonlight like snow covered ground and makes the desert glow.    

Sunset Magic

The one thing I HAD to do was to try to get organized.  Dealing with all my stuff (yes, I still have too much) on the drive out here was making me crazy.  I never really got to organize everything before I left.  When I arrived on Monday it was still quite windy, which continued into Tuesday making it difficult to work on things.  Today when I woke up, the wind was gone so I deemed today to be "Operation Organization Day"!  I started by setting up both of my small tables and laying out a tarp, then I proceeded to barf out all my stuff from the car and trailer.  I don't know about you, but I love being organized, though don't always like getting there.  Depends on what it is I'm trying to organize.  I do well with the big stuff, but when I get down to the nitty-gritty little things and paper-stuff I lose it - not the stuff, my mind and patience!  Add to the mix that I still am not sure what I do and don't need yet, and you have one crazed camper!  Needless to say, it took most of the day to clear off the tables and tarp and I'm really not sure that I'm any more organized from when I started, but I sure did move a lot of stuff around!  Oh well, I found a couple of things I had lost, so I guess that was something.

But the best part of today was the temperature - it was up in the mid 70's (almost hot in the full sun actually) with a gentle breeze.  The most perfect weather for me.  Yes, I did OD on vitamin D today and enjoyed every minute of it!  THANK YOU Weather Goddess!!

And we're driving, and we're driving and we're driving, and we're stopping.

Well the last three days have been a whirlwind to say the least!  I had so wanted to just take my time and explore as I made my way to SW Arizona.  But NO, the Weather Goddess, though very gracious and giving of lovely weather for the first 2 weeks of November, decided that she had held back winter long enough.  So I had to hightail it across Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, across New Mexico and Arizona in 3 days!  We are all exhausted - Grania especially!

On Friday, November 13, I cut diagonally across Kansas - driving directly into the wind the whole way.  I stopped for a break at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center and Cheyenne Bottoms Refuge just north of Great Bend, KS.  If you are in that area be sure to stop by - especially in the spring and fall.  It is one of the main stopping places for migrating birds - shore birds, song birds, waterfowl, you name it, they probably stop there.  Give yourself most of the day if you want to go out and explore the areas of the refuge - you will need a car to do it or I believe they do offer tours.

View of the refuge from the Education Center

After stopping to explore, I made my way to another free campsite in Meade, KS at their city park.  It was a very nice park with playground, pavilions, open green space and an area for RV's.  No hook-ups, but it did have a bathroom with heat and running water.  Unfortunately, someone came and locked them in the evening, so when I got up in the morning I was met with the dreadful surprise.  But, not to worry, I used my secret agent skill I learned in college and got in.  No, I didn't pick the lock or crawl through a window.  I never actually unlocked the door at all, but I did open it.  Potential unpleasantness averted.  Phew!

Evening Sky at my campsite in Meade, KS

On Saturday, I continued through the last little bit of Kansas into the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles "Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain" and right smack into me.  I checked my gas mileage for this leg of the trip and it was about 14 miles per gallon!  Ouch!  There were Kamikaze Tumbleweeds shooting out across the road.  I admit, I did hit a couple of them, but not to worry, they all miraculously survived and continued tumbling onward.  I have been having lots of laughs along the way with the names people give their businesses.  There was the "Kum & Go" gas station chain in Iowa, the "Toot 'n Totem" gas station chain in Texas, and then the best one so far, the "Hooker Inn" in Hooker, Oklahoma.  Maybe it's a Hollywood thing, like stars giving their kids names like Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen, Jermajesty and Zuma Nesta Rock.  Com'on people, think before you name, don't drink before you name.  

I had scouted out another free campsite just west of Albuquerque in the parking lot of a casino.  Hey, it was free and ya gotta try things sometimes.  It was a COLD night in Zelda.  I even sprang for a cup of hot chocolate this morning to warm up - not something I ever do.  From Albuquerque I was going to only go to Winslow, AZ, cuz hey, there's a song about it so that's a good reason to stop in my book; but the weather forecast for Flagstaff called for snow tonight.  I didn't want to take the chance of having to drive through that tomorrow so I changed my mind and decided to push through to Kingman, AZ.  I did however get to drive through snow showers around Flagstaff.  I guess since I'll be in SW Arizona for the winter, that was my winter snow for this year.  I can handle that, especially after the past 2 horrible winters in Ohio.

A dear friend of mine, who happens to be from Arizona, recommended The Pine Country Restaurant in Williams, AZ, about 30 miles west of Flagstaff, so I thought I'd treat myself to something hot to eat for a change.  The food was delicious and the pies are amazing!  

 

Williams is a lovely, quaint mountain town and is the gateway to the Grand Canyon.  I wish I had had more time to spend there and explore.  Definitely a place I will have to go back to when the weather is nicer.  It is right on Historic Route 66 and was the last section that was decommissioned in I believe 1984 it said.

Williams, AZ

As I headed to Kingsman, I hadn't found any good free campsites that met my needs.  The weather was supposed to get icky so I decided to splurge ($30!) and get a site in an RV park with electric and . . . SHOWERS!!   As I got out of the car to check in I was just about blown away!  I thought the wind in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas was bad, but this was hurricane force wind!  I am NOT exaggerating.  It pushed me along faster than I wanted to walk.  The storm was upon me and I did get set up before the thunder, rain and sleet started, but the wind was rockin 'n' rollin Zelda with me in it.  Within a little over an hour after I could feel the drop in temperature.  It is cold again.  I can still hear the wind, though it has settled down to blustery and I am wondering if I will wake up to the snow they forecasted for here as well.  I hope not.  My hot shower will be for naught as soon as I start walking back to my site.

Tomorrow I will head south to the Lake Havasu area and start looking for a good boondock.  The  forecast says once I get down that way the weather will be warm and stay that way for the next couple of weeks.  YIPPIE!  I so want to find a warm place where I can stay for a little while, get myself organized and just savor the realization that this adventure has finally begun.  Is that too much to ask Weather Goddess??

O.K. I Lied

Well, not intentionally, but I didn't get on the road at the end of October as I had hoped.  My brake lights weren't working as I thought.  I want to know who's 'brilliant' idea it was at Dodge to not have separate wires for turn signal lights, brake lights, and tail lights???  Really, how hard can that be?  But NO, I have to get a car who's brake light wires are just a few filaments of wire INSIDE the turn signal wires!  Would that little bit of extra wire for brake lights have put the manufacturer over their wire quota or something equally absurd?  Such cockamamie designs these car companies come up with (my Ford Focus had an air filter that was $400 to replace!  And that was a low-end model car!) Well, after several more days of waiting and fixing, I finally got the brake light problem solved and can now tow Zelda legally.  On the bright side I did learn some interesting new things (in addition to the obvious wire shortage Dodge had in 2007), like there is such a mechanism that converts separate turn signal and brake light wires on a car to a combined circuit for a trailer's single lamp type lights.  That seems to be pretty common.  Of course I can't have anything common, so what I needed was a mechanism that UN-combined these two circuits going to the trailer.  Yes, I have to be difficult.  Makes life so much more interesting.

After a couple more days of madly purging and packing and repacking I was on my way - or so I thought.  [Insert minor anxiety attack on the amount of stuff I was still trying to take].  I thought I was doing so well, but when I finally got the car & trailer all packed - I freaked.  So, I made a trip to my friend's house, where the last of my belongings are stored, to purge & repack once more and I was (FINALLY) on my way to Minnesota the morning of November 3!

Grania and Zelda packed and ready to hit the road!

Two days to get to Minnesota to visit with my aunt and cousins for 5 days then I headed to Nebraska for a visit with the master craftsman who built my tearbaby.  He helped me take care of a few projects I wanted to do to the trailer and now Zelda is all tricked out!

So patient readers, today, November 12 is the first day of my new life adventure!!  It marks the first day I don't have to be any place by a certain time or particular day.  I am totally free!  It is a great feeling, but I will admit a bit discombobulating.  I am still living out of my car and trailer instead of living "in" them.  Everything is a mess.  I am making my way southwest to (I hope) warmer weather so I can set up camp for a week or two and try to get organized.

Tonight I am in northern Kansas camping at a "free"/fee-by-donation city park in Concordia which happens to have electricity (a very good thing since it's supposed to get down to about 29 degrees tonight and I wanted to be able to plug in my heating pad to stay warm in bed).  The coolest thing about this camp is how I found out about it.  I stopped at the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries for the next few days on the road and as I was walking to my rig a man who had just parked next to me commented on how he liked my trailer and asked if I was camping.  I responded that my set-up was my home and he went on to tell me about this city park right across the street!  I feel like I have been inducted into the full-times club now!  Locals are telling me about campsites!  Way cool.  And Kansas seems to have a LOT of free / very inexpensive camping parks - way to go Kansas!!

My "free" campsite in Kansas - right next to a National Guard Armory and a small municipal airport.  I'm not sure who gets to play in the awesome tower in the background but I sure want to! 

So the next leg of my journey will take me diagonally across Kansas to its southwest corner then through the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas and down into New Mexico - where PLEASE Weather Goddess, let me find warm days and pleasantly cool nights!


(And are you hating these ludicrously short days as much as I am?)

Could it be TRUE? Hitting the road - FINALLY!

T minus 2 (maybe 3) days!!  IF and that's a BIG IF things will stop happening to delay me longer.  I am feeling rushed because I have to head to Minnesota first to visit relatives, then to Nebraska to visit Egon, the builder of my teardrop.  After that I can finally head south then west.  Just hoping I can keep away from the fluffy white stuff!

For the most part, in the last week a lot of things have come together.  I have made good progress on the packing of the car.  I continue to purge more things and I think it is working out.  I still have a huge list of things to get done in the next day and everything takes me 3x longer to do than I expect. I so wish my brother were still here to help.  I think he would have enjoyed helping with the projects I've been working on and he would have been a HUGE help in getting things organized and set up - especially all my new tech stuff.  I am now the proud owner of a new smart phone (which I'm still trying to finish setting up) and mobile hotspot -Verizon Jetpack (which I haven't even gotten out of it's box yet!).

Oh, the car.  I'm sad to say that Tawanda will NOT be joining me on the road.  She suffered from transmission issues and I knew she just couldn't make the journey with me.  She did her darnedest to hang in there but I had to let her go - for her sake.  She is and always will be missed - she was an awesome car!  I now have a much more fitting vehicle for my adventures.  Meet Grania.  She and Zelda and I are gonna have a great time!

Meet Grania - A 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan

I wanted a minivan for 2 reasons.  1) They have a greater tow capacity than most mid-size SUV's and 2) I needed some more indoor space to work.  With the middle seats stowed and the addition of a small table, I now have a very comfortable indoor work space if the outside weather isn't cooperating.  An SUV doesn't give me that.  I just have to figure out how to pack her!  I know I am still taking too much, but I just don't know what I will and won't need out there so I'm taking some extras just in case.  I will be like the early pioneers heading west on the wagon trains, leaving a trail of belongings behind me that are extraneous - only I will donate mine and not leave them on the side of the road or in someone's front yard.

Well, I found out this past Wednesday that Zelda is dyslexic.  Turns out the wiring on the car and the wiring on the trailer for the brake lights and turn signals don't match up.  So I am doing some rewiring to make them work.  So far I have the turn signals working.  Those were easy.  I still can't get the brake lights to work on their own without the car's headlights on.  Hmmm, perplexing. . . but I'm not giving up.  Gonna try again tomorrow when I have daylight.  If I can't figure it out, at least Zelda is towable now as long as I keep my headlights on.  When I stop to see Egon hopefully we can figure things out if I haven't by then.

I want to get this update posted so you know that I am on my way finally!  I have a lot more projects and happenings to share with everyone, but I have to get some sleep tonight so I can complete my "to-do" list tomorrow.  Once I get on the road I'll have more time to post updates.  If you live where it is already cold and possibly snowy, I would be most appreciative if you would keep it to yourself until I get well south of you.  Thank You!

Musings from Life in a Teardrop

You know those itty-bitty, teeny tiny flying bugs that bounce around lights at night?

Well, apparently if you put a fan up against a window screen blowing inward on high speed those itty-bitty bugs will get sucked right through the screen holes & their carcasses strewn all over your bed sheets, looking kinda like what I imagine fly poo might look like.

Who Knew?

The Plastic Platinum Panacea

I am getting ready to FINALLY head out for my life on the road - neither rain nor sleet nor flying monkeys will stop me this time - I am GOING!  Don't get me wrong, minus the challenges thrown at me the past year and a half, I have enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with my family and friends here in Ohio, but it's not where I belong.  I plan to leave Ohio towards the end of September to visit some friends and family, none of which are in the southwesterly direction I plan to head of course (some are actually north or east).  After saying good-bye to everyone till next spring I'll finally be heading west to visit Egon, the designer and builder of my tearbaby, and his wife before turning southward to winter in warm, sunny Arizona.  After the past 2 abominable winters in northern Ohio I can't wait!

In the meantime, I am working on resolving some basic living issues.  One of which is my cold food storage.  I ended up getting the 52 Qt. Coleman Extreme cooler - I have a feeling I should have gone with something smaller.  Either way, this will be a big learning curve for me.  I haven't really used a cooler often.  Those few times I was only gone a couple of days and had use of a freezer beforehand and all the accouterments for food packing.  I thought I'd see if I could find any tips on how to pack a cooler for extended trips on the internet - didn't find much useful information that I didn't already know except . . . there seems to be a big debate on whether to drain or not to drain the water out of a cooler.  It was quite interesting.  Views on the subject ranged from 'that's how I've always done it' to "scientific proof" explanations for both sides of the debate.  I guess I'll just have to test the water for myself (pun intended).

I've also discovered something about myself.  (Well, actually I've known it for a while, but shh, don't tell anyone!).  I have a serious problem - I'm addicted to plastic food storage containers.  I can't NOT save them nor can I seem let myself get rid of them.  I have no sentimental attachment to them.  I am simply a food storage container hoarder!  It's truly pathetic.

This is my collection (many of the containers are stacked inside each other - there are probably at least 65 in this picture).  Pretty impressive I know!  Unfortunately I don't have room to keep them all.  I feel a purging coming on - Oh my giddy aunt; give me strength!  

"Hi, my name is Jordan and I am a plastic food container hoarder."  

Anyone know of a 12-step program out there for me? (I've already completed step 1!)

I'm still working on my composting toilet design.  I think I've decided what I want but still have a few more details to flush out to make it work (yes, I did go there).  There are some great composting toilets on the market that are well designed and work great for a mobile lifestyle, but for me personally, they pretty much have 2 flaws: 1) most of them are way too high for me to use comfortably, and 2) I just can't afford or justify spending upwards of $1000 for a toilet.  Even if I had that kind of money, I'm still not sure if I could justify it - at least not with my current car/trailer set-up.  That's just me.  I don't have any problem with anyone choosing to get one.  I say go for it!  Some are really awesome - if they didn't have the 2 personal "flaws" I'd get one.  I also understand that these come from small businesses and without a large pool of customers their costs are much higher to make a profit.  As a soon to be small business myself, I admire them and the products they are putting out.  I really wish I could afford to support them.  Maybe someday (if they would design a toilet for shorties!).

I still have a lot to do before I go.  I have to make a decision on my internet set-up, and if I should get a signal booster or internet antenna or both.  I have to figure out how best to set up my online business. (Even after a lot of research, I feel like I have a long way to go to get my head around all the tech gear and language I need to understand to earn a living on the road).  I still have too much stuff, so more purging is in order - Ouch!  My car needs a check-up and serviced for traveling, but I'm not sure how much that will cost or if I can afford to have everything done right now.  Brakes, brakes would be good!  My list seems to get longer instead of shorter as I think of more things I need to do or get; so I am prioritizing what is necessary now and what can wait till later so I can spread out the expenses.

If only plastic food storage containers sold for the same price as platinum I'd be all set.

STILL in Ohio!

Well, to say it has been a while since my last update is the understatement of the year!  I am still in Ohio, spending this past year enjoying my time with my family and friends and getting some things in my life settled.  With the loss of my brother last spring, it has been a year of adjustments and change.  Also a year without easy internet access!  Thus one of the reasons for my lack of posts.  However, I have been working on getting ready for life on the road.

Last summer I attempted to repaint my teardrop's trailer frame and give it more protection from rust.  I first tried to remove some of the rust that was on it with a "facial mask" of baking soda and vinegar and a wire brush.  It kind of worked.

The underbelly of Zelda

Then I painted it with several coats of Rust-oleum primer and finished it off with 2 coats of their rubberized undercoating.  I'm hoping that will keep the rust away!

Zelda's tongue box - covered for painting

My dad helped me make an alienesque outfit for my cooler.  This should help keep it well insulated.  I got this great idea from a fellow teardropper at one of the TearJerker gatherings.  I did decide on purchasing the Coleman Extreme 52 Qt cooler.  I'm not overly experienced with using coolers so there will definitely be a learning curve during the first couple of months of use!

A cool cooler!

Last August, I moved back to my friends' farm but this time living in my tearbaby!   They had a lovely spot for me to park Zelda.  The white statue was Zelda's bovine security guard - fierce killer cow!  No one dared bother her.

My "outhouse" (without the house) was behind the white fence to the left of my trailer in the above picture.  Every day I had a gorgeous view of the cornfield and sunrise during my morning constitutional.  What a lovely way to start the day.  Of course, the weather didn't always cooperate.  Some mornings I sat on my bucket trying to keep dry under my little, compact umbrella.  After one particularly rainy morning with cold dribbles from my umbrella running down my back, a dear friend sent me a BIG golf umbrella.  The gesture of a true friend!

My morning view

Speaking of rain. . .  One night we had major storms with non-stop lightning and lots of rain.  I had opened my pop-up top when the rain let up to see if I could keep it opened partially and I think that led to some water getting in around the opening.  I eventually got tired of blotting the drips so I employed another strategy.  Sometimes being a girl comes in handy.

YEP!!

Last fall I lost another of my cats, Squirmey (a.k.a. Evil Devil Spawn Cat).  He was having seizures and they were getting worse and more frequent.  I couldn't let him suffer any longer - even if he was a pain in the butt.  I swear he had ADHD, Bipolar and Tourette Syndrome. We had kind of a love/hate relationship - he was a funny cat, and the best bed buddy, but he was constantly terrorizing all my other cats.  I always figured we were married in a previous life, and it wasn't a good marriage.  Gotta love Karma!

Squirmey

After losing Squirmey, I moved my last cat, Phoebe, to the trailer with me.  We both enjoyed our time together in the tearbaby - she loved having the windows at bed level to look out all the time.

Phoebe

Only problem was her litterbox.  My floor space is only about 3ft x 4ft empty.  I do keep some things there permanently, so adding a litterbox really made it challenging to function in the already limited floor space.  I did put the box inside Phoebe's cat carrier with the door removed (green box in picture below) so I wouldn't accidentally step in it or drop something in it and to keep the litter confined somewhat.  As much as I love my furbabies, I do NOT recommend a litterbox in such a small, enclosed space if you plan to live in said space too!  Sometimes there just aren't enough windows.

All the floor space I had with the litterbox

 I have since lost Phoebe this past April.  She was 16 + years old and the momma of Yoda, whom I lost just before leaving Chattanooga.  After 18 years, I am at a loss without any furbabies in my life.  


While living in Zelda for several months I found that I needed to come up with a better plan for my bedding.  My teardrop is designed for a full size mattress, but to fit it lengthwise I have to use the bench in the raised position, thus reducing my open floor space width to about 2 feet.  Without the bench I gain an extra foot in floor space width which I prefer to have.  So, when I ordered my bed foam I had them cut it a foot short of the full size mattress length and I sleep diagonally.  One of the few times in my life being short has paid off.  This works pretty well, except that bed sheets are designed to be much longer than the bed so you can tuck them in.  Add to that my bed being a foot short and you get a LOT of excess sheet hanging over.  This got annoying after a while so I asked a friend who has a sewing machine and is an amazing quilt maker if she could make a very simple bedspread / top sheet for my short bed.  I sent her an old sheet and a piece of material I found along with the dimensions I needed it to be and she sent back something that was beyond my wildest expectations.  She added more material around the edges and made the most beautiful bedspread for Zelda.  My gratitude cup runneth over.

No, those are not alien eyes, they are my "over the bed" lights!

The other day I gave Zelda and Tawanda much needed baths.  As I was washing Zelda a neighbor's friend came over and exclaimed "It's a PREEMIE!!".  I never thought of teardrops in that way, but in the world of camping trailers and RV's they definitely are!  I love it.  Cracks me up every time I think about it.

Zelda all shiny and clean!

This spring has brought more changes and challenges to my life, but I look at them as settling old business so that I can start my new life fresh and unencumbered.  "Things fall apart so that other things can fall together" - so true.  It has been a year and a half full of things both falling apart and falling together.  I am grateful that I took this time to spend with my family and friends.  It has given me the time to examine my life from a new perspective which has confirmed that I am indeed on the right path and that the timing for everything has been as it should be - hard as it is to accept sometimes.

People keep asking me when I plan to leave and I find myself replying that I don't make plans anymore, because as soon as I do they blow up in my face.  I am HOPING that things will fall together soon so that I can head out by the end of July. . . but I'm not making any plans!!