Blog Post #5 – January 1-10

From the responses so far, people liked the last blog—Toby and Rey’s DEV (Dog’s Eye View). The canines are taking some time off (okay, they’re napping on the bed) so we have some time to catch up. Below is this week’s wrap up.

Before I go into the highlights, I thought I’d give a little background. Someone asked me this week why I’m writing this blog. While my main objective is to keep friends and family up to date with our travels, it’s also kind of a generalized diary noting stories that happen along the road. 

There is a bigger purpose though. Maybe you’re reading the blog as a casual observer, or maybe you are wondering, could I do that? During this pandemic, lots of people are taking stock of their lives and trying to find meaning. As we did, maybe you are also questioning basic premises of your life. Why do I commute? Do I really like my job? What would I do more of if I had more time? 

For us the big question was: Do we really want to live where we live? Anyone who knows us knows we loved our historic house with a view of one of the most beautiful bays on Long Island. Of course, we love the friends we’ve made. We were close to the quaintest town, best library, great restaurants and many, many amenities in the larger town and NY Metro area. But the activities we liked most — hiking, skiing, camping – are not as available where we lived. Getting off Long Island with the Airstream (our RV) is like pulling teeth; it needs to be done, but really? Waking up at 4am to beat traffic is no fun. Even then, we still had to contend with the potholes and other third-world-country-level roads, not to mention the crazy drivers at 5am.

So, we cut the cord and sold our home. It’s a lot like when our kids are graduating from college and deciding what to do next. The world is our oyster, an open road — pick your metaphor. Our open road has lots of bumps on the way. We’ll give you the potholes, the seemingly unending straight roads, and the long and winding ones too. 

So here goes this week’s installment. I was going to give a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Instead, I’m just going to tell some of the memorable stories. 

Trucks and Furnishings

We went to Charlotte last week — twice. It’s a two hour drive each way so you may wonder why. First, our truck is a Ford F250 Diesel King Ranch edition. Maybe you can’t relate because you would never drive that big honking thing in suburbia. I don’t blame you. I’ll let you in on a secret: purchasing one would be comparable to buying an Audi A7/A8 or Tesla Y. So, if David wants to baby this thing, the monster that pulls our second home, I’m all in. It almost has 100K miles on it. The special repair shop we went to only handles Ford trucks and specializes in diesels. 

Our appointment happened to be near enough to a DNA shopping center David manages so I followed in the Subaru.  We were able to be productive while the car got inspected with a fine-toothed comb and even managed a side trip to IKEA. We found some great things for the apartment in the showroom, but the pickup area had a dearth of products. Nothing. I mean it. Supply chain problems are real. We were like the dogs in the Old Mother Hubbard nursery rhyme – when she got there, the cupboard was bare.  

Anyway, the truck had to stay overnight. It turns out that living by saltwater can play havoc on your brake brackets. Ours rusted in place and the shop needed to order new ones to work on the brakes. Needless to say, we were driving home in the Subaru that night.

Two days later, we returned for our truck. And double checked that IKEA was still bare. We finally hit furniture paydirt at an outlet center in Gaffney, SC. We expected to find something at the Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel outlets, but again, nothing. At a store called Rug and Home which is a Carolinas thing, we finally found a couch and rug. The salespeople were SO NICE. They took the couch near the rugs on a different floor so we could see how they look together. And when they found out the same combo was in the Asheville store, they made all kinds of arrangements so we could pick it up there. They work on commission so that must have been real internal bargaining. For us, it meant we didn’t have to drive 90 minutes home with a couch sticking out of the truck bed worrying the straps holding it would fail on some long and winding mountain road. 

Mexican Diner

To celebrate we went to a nearby diner. Well, it looked like a diner – enveloped in chrome with pressed diamond patterns and long like you would expect on Long Island. It was disconcerting to go into a bright, shine-y diner and not find Greek salads, breakfast all day and some wizened old waitress taking your order. 

Don’t judge a book… it turned out to be an amazing Mexican restaurant. You walk in and there’s a big mural where the counter should be, complete with a map of their state in Mexico and a mural with the Monarch butterflies found there. All the servers were Mexican, probably from the same family, and took pride in bringing you great food fast.

Un-Concealed Flier

Before we really entered the restaurant, something unexpected happened. David noticed a flier in the entry way. Nothing unusual in that; you expect fliers for local businesses or local school plays in a diner foyer. I personally have never seen one for a concealed carry class. It was the only flier pinned up. And the class is given at the local church, the first Saturday of every month.  Why did they only have that poster? Was that because they wanted everyone to know they were carrying? Or they wanted everyone else to carry? I’m still confused. Anyway, no one is going to hold up that restaurant. It’s actually kind of comforting.

Flop House No More

The big news this week is that we no longer live in a flop house. Gone are the days of watching tv with the dogs on the old mattress topper in the center of the living room. We’ll miss them, but not the potential for fleas and ticks. Do they make Seresto collars for humans? As soon as we moved it in, Toby tried to jump on the couch. We put an end to that stuff by putting an exercise mat on top while we’re out.

Other highlights of the week…

Covid Party?  

While visiting my mom in Oxford, NC, we attended her annual New Year’s Day Open House. In years past she’s had 200 people, but this year it was probably about 50 over a 4-hour period. We were nervous about Covid as the party was inside a house, but it seems no one reported a case after the event, so that wasn’t a problem. I’m as shocked as you are. People are getting Omicron who are – like us – triple vaxxed and not going to group events. What can I say? It’s just dumb luck? We took lots of Zicam — which is either voodoo science or the zinc really keeps the virus at bay. Either way, no known vectors were at that party and we haven’t heard of cases stemming from it. Crazy.

Location Location Location

Recognizing that routine is what we need — and also we need to get off our butts — we joined a gym which is across the street. Everything is across the street — or right next door. There are 3 supermarkets literally within walking distance. Across the street is a Walgreens where we scored at home Covid tests! 

Anytime Fitness which we joined, is also across the street. It is a great gym for us because they have over 5000 franchises across the country which are all included in the membership. We know – we’ve seen them in every town we’ve been to. They have great showers and free wifi.  That may not mean much to you, but while the Airstream has a shower, it’s crowded and water is sometimes limited – let alone hot water. Anytime has full showers, and real Wifi so we can download shows and music. These are the things we used to take for granted.

Our present routine is to hit the gym every other day. Off days are for physical therapy which happens to be 75 steps (I counted!) from our apartment. I still need post knee surgery PT and David is struggling with ongoing shoulder and back issues that benefit from professional review.  We miss Michael Gallagher our long time PT in Huntington, NY, but these people really are doing a great job.

Public Library Visit

One afternoon, I visited the Asheville Public Library branch downtown. The Pack Branch is a huge, very typical library – and makes me appreciate CSH Library even more. The biggest bright spot to me was the very interesting NC History Room. I came across a great story idea, and could definitely do all the research right there. It’s about some Black teenagers in 1961 who encouraged the library and the school system to desegregate. Not sure if I’ll actually write it but it is such an important story to tell. It’s still on my mind.

Cleaning in the Rain

We washed the Airstream. Sure, it was going to rain, but when it’s this filthy, we just have to. Not sure if we’ve cleaned it in 6 months! Anyway, the car washes down here are much more convenient. We found a self-wash that had spot just for RVs. Southern Pride had an additional water and soap hook up against the side building so we didn’t have any height restriction. It took a while, but at least we got off the worst of the grime – which would make any Southerner proud.

Pity Party

If you’ve read this far, it’s only fair to show it’s not all fun and games. On January 3, I stayed in bed, mostly reading emails and doing some research, but yes, also feeling lonely and foolish. Why did we sell our amazing home? Do you only miss people when they’re not around?  It’s disingenuous not to acknowledge that not every day is going to be sunshine and butterflies. I’m a pretty social person and to move away from friends and family is hard. It’s not all a grand adventure. In addition, January 3rd was my son’s birthday and we’re so far away from him. Calling is a good option but I have to remember that FaceTime and Zoom are still a thing.  Anyway, I made my famous turkey chili that night. Cooking feels creative and productive and like a grounding routine.

After we went to Charlotte, I finally read through the Holiday cards that friends had sent. We had them forwarded from our mail service in Florida, so the minor delay was expected. I was collecting them all for one big read. I braced myself for some nostalgic sadness, but reviewing them lifted my spirits, seeing how many people thought to stay in touch. I have the cards on my kitchen counter as a balance for bluer moments. I was too pooped from our drive to cook and the silver lining was finding a really good Korean restaurant down the street. It was delicious! 

Whew! That was a lot. Hopefully I’ll give updates in smaller bites next time.