So the adventure begins!

I have always been a curious person. Never has the answer "I don't know" satisfied me. That curiosity has both served me well and created a ton of headaches for me in life - lol. With an endless curiosity comes a natural tendency to explore, go outside the lines, think outside the box, move to my own beat - you know all the cliché's. I'm literally a 41 year old walking cliché.. But, that's only on the surface. I sometimes catch the sense that people look at me, and my odd little path through life and wonder if I'm just a little out in la la land. Well, I am. I walk the line between the world that's in my head, the one where everything is neat and exciting, and the real world we live in filled with ordinary mundane tasks. Sometimes, it's been easy and just fine being mostly present in the "real" world and sometimes the 'REAL' world just eats my soul. That fact let me to this moment, sitting in an RV parked on a Goat Farm in Tallahassee, FL writing my first blog post at 3 AM on a Monday morning.

I couldn't sleep, mostly because I have a zillion tiny bug bits all over that itch and burn and just wont stop! It's driving me bananas. So I'm wide awake, restless and honestly, just eager to start putting down my thoughts and experiences into some kind of sensical writing. Since I haven't written anything bigger than an email

Where to start: I think I will skip the back story for now and just jump into this adventure starting with the day we left MA. There will be time - no doubt - to reach into the back story over time.

Jan 14, 2022 was fucking cold. I'm talking zero or below zero. Our house was mostly empty with just the office still to dismantle and pack into the RV after work that day. The rest of the house needed a final clean and walkthrough to ensure we didn't miss anything. We had been working hard for weeks, day and night, clearing out the house, getting rid of un necessary things, packing and storing the most sentimental belongings. Saying bye to friends, and old haunts, gathering with family etc. Covid was still really impacting our ability to see many people and that really stung a lot but we had come to accept that Covid was robbing us of another thing. All we had to do that Friday was put all the finishing touches on the breakaway! Oh, and I had to work and my co worker who I was training to replace was on her final day too so the push to train and learn was in full swing so there was minimal downtime for me.

I had to clean and button up the house room by room. Eric had the yeomen's task of getting EVERYTHING in the RV and truck ready for travel. Oh, and we sprung a leak in the pipes under the sink that afternoon so we had a scramble to find a plumber. It was insane, but we weren't panicked- no matter the obstacles - we were leaving at 5:30 PM! Well that time came and went and so did 6:30 and 7 and still we were in the house finishing up. Finally just after 7, we did a final walkthrough, called Sam for a quick zoom call from the living room, gathered the cats, and pulled out of the drive way. AT about 7:30 we were pulling out of Middleboro for what would be the last time for many months. We were so nervous I think we didn't speak for miles and miles, both of us processing the fact that we just pulled it off! We did it. We were full timers! Holy shit. I think when we did start chatting, we just kept giggling like school kids - we couldn't believe it - WE DID IT!

We drove for about 2 hours before finding a hotel and buttoning down for the night. Legit, we fell into that hotel bed and crashed! I know it might sound silly to bust ass all day to leave and only drive 2 hours but it made total sense. If we stayed at the house, we wouldn't have slept, we had no furniture, food, creature comforts - NOTHING. and we would have been up all night anxious messes just waiting to leave. So we flipped it a little and drove a few hours to a hotel with some creature comforts for us. It was below freezing so we snuck our kitty cats into the hotel through the back door under our coats, brought a little litter box with us and some food for them. Claude, our fun loving playful kitty was being a big ole baby and our old lady kitty was loving the travel. It was surprising.

We set out Saturday morning at about 6 AM and had lovely weather and minimal company on the road. Several times my sister texted asking about our weather. We knew she was expecting a storm and we also kept seeing road signs warning of the winter storm coming through PA and WV on Sunday. I can honestly say, it never once occurred to me and Eric that the storm that my sister was expecting in Charleston, SC was the SAME storm that we were seeing warnings about on our drive. Now, we are not dumb or normally uninformed. I think we were both so tired, so excited, scared and nervous that we just didn't put any thought into it until the snow flakes were imminent.

Luckily, we have lots of tech on our journey so we found a decent hotel right off the highway in Virginia with some restaurants and a gas station close. What we thought would be a one night visit, we soon realized would be two. We settled in, watched the storm start and I began to worry. Hahaha. I had Monday off work so we had a buffer day, but honestly, I wanted to have fun on Monday not set up house.

We walked to McDonald's in the height of the storm Sunday to make sure we got food before they closed, loaded up on a ridiculous amount of snacks and laid around being totally lazy on Sunday. Looking back, I think the universe gave us that day as a gift. A forced day of rest. I know for a fact that was the only way to make us chill out.

Eric paid a plow guy to move most of the snow in front of the camper on Monday morning. Thankfully, because the hotel only had a broken shovel. And well, we didn't bring snow tools My goal is to NEVER see snow again. The only white I want to see is white sand. We were back on our way with just a few hours to go before reaching the first stop over - Charleston, SC! We were spending 2 weeks there at KOA getting comfy living in the camper and spending some time with my sister.

The weather continued to mess with us while we in Charleston with several nights dipping below freezing and just miserably cold throughout the days really limiting what we could do and see. We did go for night time walk on the beach one night, just missing a rain storm. I saw the most amazing little section of Folly Beach with my sister and Eric and I went on a haunted ghost tour in a horse drawn carriage. It was a lot of fun! When the tour was over, we decided to go back to some of the more haunted places on our own and try to see some real ghosts. I was too chicken to walk around the battery though with just me and Eric. The tour guide said those pirate ghosts that were hung down there are angry and they hassle individuals and small groups. I want adventure, but not fear!

So we walked over to one of the cemeteries and walked down the side boundary that abuts a bank drive through and were just chatting and walking along hoping to catch a peaceful apparition. I didn't want to be scared but I wanted to see a ghost! We were just hanging out chatting by the fence, its about 9 PM, dark no one is around and things are just calm. All of the sudden the vacuum tube in the bank drive through right behind us just starts going off! I must have jumped 10 feet in the air - lol - and hurriedly scurried away from the fence and away from the cemetery. I practically ran to be honest. There was ZERO reason for the bank drive through tube vacuum to go off unless it was a ghost telling us to gtho! So we obliged. I practically ran away from that cemetery. It was pretty funny.

Wrapping up this first entry here I will say, my purpose in this blog is to chronicle our silly adventures. The things we encounter along the way, the good and the bad. I am hoping to have enough adventure every week to warrant a weekly entry once I get going. The next entry will be our first month on the farm so be on the look out for that. Then weekly after that.

Don't forget friends, adventure comes in all shapes and sizes and budgets etc. The first lesson I learned on this adventure is that you really can do anything you put your mind to. Have an idea, make a plan, take the steps, don't give up, but give your self space and grace when it gets hard, keep taking the steps until you reach the goal.