Long day...

(ed. note: I apologize in advance for this post being the way it is. It really is a blog about what's going on and I want to be honest with that, with myself when I look back at it, and with you, and while I'm not sure who is reading it, I know that there are some of you out there - so again, my apologies for the likely self-centered, slightly downer thing coming your way if you continue.)

It really is nice to have an evening where there is 0% chance of rain. We've been through a spell here where thunderstorms could pop up at any minute - and not like sprinkly thunderstorms... monster gutter-washing half-an-inch-of-running-water-down-the-driveway-in-five-minutes thunderstorms. And while I understand that not having rain is also a bad thing, at this point in our trip I'm very happy to be free a couple of days from it.

It is nice being able to have the windows open. Real air with just a slight breeze cutting across the room. Yes, its a little humid, but my opinion of humidity has changed in the last 2 weeks. I'm getting better about it, and can stand it a bit more. Speaking of which...

2 weeks? Really? Its a cheap way to live but I certainly didn't expect to be here coming up on, and surely passing, 2 weeks. But, with everything going on, Mom's surgery, so much stuff to do around the place and still so much to have gone through I guess I shouldn't have expected less time. It doesn't seem like I've made any progress in the last few days, though I know I have. Maybe I just need to move on. I've resigned myself to the fact that we're here for another 4 or 5 days but it has really left me in a bit of a funk. I wanted to write about it last night but just couldn't bring myself to even think about it. How is that a way to start this adventure - be beaten up enough to not want to write any of it down... sigh.

For any of you that didn't notice this last two weeks have kinda taken a toll ;) We WANT to be on the road and feeding on new experiences about the places, sights and information for us and the kids, but its just kinda a holding pattern. I'm hopeful that we can get into a takeoff pattern soon, and go adventuring. Once we're on the road, I know that everything (*especially* my attitude) will improve.

I think we've all settled into our new lives pretty well so far. With all the knockdown punches we've taken the last 2 weeks we're seriously still laughing about it for the most part. I'm hopeful that tomorrow, after what is sure to be a very full day of work, I'll be able to fix the washing machine (the new one has a bad board in it, so it just keeps pushing water into the drum - all the time - 50, 60 gallons a cycle...), I'll get the cooked Audio/Video system in place and rewired, (a--gain, for the third time). I'll get the dryer out of the living room, and then put the door back on the closet. Hopefully tomorrow we won't blow any more breakers (the electric water heater is the bane of my 30 amp existence), and I can be on a downhill run for the rest of the week crossing stuff of my fixit list. :) Keep it together Robert... Keep it together. :)

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Jill's Journal: Sometimes you’ve just got to have a sense of humor. We haven’t gotten very far in our journey and are still stuck in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Our brand-spanking-new fifth wheel has now had nearly every major system replaced. One thing after another has broken, malfunctioned, or has simply had an attitude. We’ve flooded the plumbing and the girls’ rooms and bathroom not once, but twice today (compliments of the new, but non-working washing machine), we’ve cooked all the electronics due to a wiring error, we’ve had a leak in the roof, etc., etc., etc. Those are the big things. The little things include a broken shelf in the refrigerator and a screen door that’s already ripped. Cosmetically, somehow the girls have already managed to color on the floor and stain the couch with a marker. We figure all we need to do is blow a tire and the challenges will be complete!

Yes, we’ve been frustrated and yes, we’re itching to get on the road, but at least we’re still laughing...or have reached the punchy laughing point after a few tears and possibly a few curse words. Our new circuit board for the washing machine is supposed to arrive by the end of the week. Our insurance has promised to reimburse us for the few thousand dollars in repairs. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise (again!), we’ll finally be on our way this weekend!

The things I've learned...

There are a number of lessons that I've learned or that have been reenforced like crazy this last week, and I just thought I'd blog them. Seemed a nice place to remind myself about things that are important in all aspects of life, not just on our journey. Most of these have a more profound meaning than just the surface and let me say this - just because what I wrote is about one thing, didn't mean the revelation didn't come from doing something else. :)

• Always wait for the full story before jumping to the end in your head.


• Just because you measured twice, does not mean that you'll only cut once.


• Live in the moment, for the moment - do not constantly be trying to get to the next moment, you may never see that moment again.


• When you're knee deep in s#!t, breath shallow.


• Fresh water is a precious commodity, as is the time and energy required for filling it. (ok, that one really is as it sounds) :)


• Sometimes it really is better to trust the instruments and shun instinct.


• Even after reading everything you can read, looking at everything you can look at about your rig - experience is still the best, and sometimes only, teacher. It tells you what you really need to know. (Though for me, a doctor/nurse that reads their medical journals to find the one treatment for what someone has but that only 2 people in the world have experienced -- that's ok too) ;)


• There are 2 kinds of 30 amp power. Know how to tell which is which.


• You haven't lived until the washer spin cycle runs at 120RPM and you're on the toilet.


• In the things that you dread doing there is usually reason. However, dread creates nothing but worry and lost productivity. Bite down and get it done.


• The pinhole leak that you've been neglecting to fix will be aimed right at you everytime you turn on the hose. Just take the 5 minutes and fix the hose.


• In every move, the last fifteen things take 5 times as long, and 3 times as much space as you planned. That, and everytime, no matter how hard you try not to - there will always be at least one box of crap that you threw together because you ran outta time.

I'm sure there will be more of these as time moves on. They are actually kinda fun to think a a aaaaa bbb ou t. (washer spin cycle again) :)

Small Triumphs!

Jill's Journal: I’m pleased to share that I just lit the oven all by myself. This has been the source of major frustration for me (what do you mean I need a match to light it every time while simultaneously pushing a button for 15 seconds in a location that requires a Twister-like maneuver?). I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to master the darn thing, but at least I managed it once. The smell of blueberry muffins is now wafting delectably through the RV. Praise God for small triumphs!

Farewell Tour of Lexington

Jill's Journal: Much to our amazement, we remain near Lexington! We’re “camping” on 25 acres near Nicholasville, Kentucky, so it still feels like an adventure and a million miles from the home that we knew. Apparently we underestimated the amount of projects on Rob’s plate before we officially leave town, so we’re also taking advantage of the time to really get into the swing of things on the fifth wheel. We’re actually on Rob’s Mom’s acreage and now believe we’ll be here through early next week.

While Rob’s been working, the girls and I have been playing. We’re jokingly calling it our farewell tour of Lexington. We’ve had final playdate after final playdate with so many wonderful friends, including everything from a picnic with a jazz band at the lovely Ecton Park to the always-fun Explorium (Children’s Museum) to the insanity that is Chuck E Cheese to even just digging in the dirt and letting the kids be kids.

All these goodbyes have made me feel very nostalgic about Lexington. Today I took the girls to the Lexington History Museum in the ancient old courthouse downtown, where we got to experience some of the amazing heritage of this fantastic city, once called “The Athens of the West.” And really, what other museum can boast of its very own jockey silks right inside the front door?

I’ve always loved the contrasts that make up Kentucky. We’re smack-dab in the middle of the Bible Belt, yet a huge percentage of people here (ourselves included) make their living on the vices of gambling (horse racing) and drinking (bourbon). Both the Union and the Confederate presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, were born in Kentucky. And today we stood in the old square that in 1850 housed the largest slave trade of the antebellum South, literally just a few short blocks from the childhood home of Mary Todd Lincoln. One has to wonder if the bustling slavery business just steps outside her door influenced her husband, Abraham, a frequent guest in the home, in preparing the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the country’s best-known symbols of freedom.

But I digress. I love this city, founded in 1775, and all that it represents. Whether our travels eventually lead us back to Lexington permanently or to somewhere else, Lexington will always hold a very, very special place in my heart. Somehow in the Bluegrass, the grass is greener, the sky is bluer, and the world is happier. We came here 13 years ago and it hasn’t been enough.

This is Mecca to the horse racing world; it more than lives up to the billing of “Horse Capital of the World.” Lexington to Thoroughbred racing is what Paris is to fashion, what Hollywood is to movies, what Washington is to politics. It all happens right here. People think of racing as the Sport of Kings, but outsiders don’t know about the hundreds of thousands of regular people who work in the sport simply for the love of the horse. And that is the great equalizer: whether someone in this game is a billionaire or below the poverty level or somewhere in between, we’re all here because we love the horse. It’s as simple as that.

Yesterday I stole a few quiet moments and walked among the historic annals at the Keeneland Library, a cathedral to any student of pedigree. Seeing some of the horseshoes, the trophies, and the paintings of racing’s greats still gives me goosebumps after all this time. I’m not an overly emotional person, but reflecting on the heritage of the Thoroughbred right here in Lexington and what little bit Rob and I got to be a part of brought tears to my eyes. If you listen closely, the manicured rolling green hills surrounding Lexington still echo with the hoofbeats of historic champions the world over and the promise of more to come.

For all these reasons and more, I am head over heels in love with Lexington. But I also know there’s a whole world out there just waiting to be experienced. Life is short. We can always settle down again but we won’t always have such an amazing opportunity to travel.

But Lexington will ever be,
The Loveliest and the Best;
A Paradise thou’rt still to me,
Sweet Athens of the West.
--Pennsylvanian Josiah Espy, upon an 1806 visit to Lexington

Settling in...

Well, now we've been here a couple of days and the new car smell is starting to wear off. The noises and rattles and movements are becoming recognizable (proving that I NEED to get an accumulator tank for the water system). The routine is beginning to straighten itself out again, and most importantly its all still good. :)

I still have an amazing amount of stuff to do, both for the RV and for the farm. I'm sure I'll get it done, but I know that we are both looking forward to getting on the road RIGHT NOW, and its going to delay us from that departure. However, in the true fashion of the way we are trying to live I am putting no pressure on myself to have to be gone by a certain date. Pressure and anxiety is the enemy, 'go with the flo' is the mantra... well, at least we're trying to keep it that way.

Jill and the kids were gone all day and the RV was quiet. I will be able to get a lot of work done on days like that, and, I think, once we are in a campground, on days that are not quiet in the RV I'll be able to find another spot. I just wish they made dual screen laptops. I can't wait to get the desk setup and should in the next couple of days. Working off the table is getting old. But, one thing at a time, right?

Last night I burned the pile of boxes and wood stuffs we'd accumulated over the course of our life at the house (pic above). Tonight I'm off to push through some of the projects and hopefully get at least one or two done. I need to tear into the barn aisle and really turn a harsh eye on things I just don't need. I'm hopeful that it'll be an easy task - we'll see how much crap I really have left over that I didn't have time to deal with. I'm a little afraid the amount is larger than I'm able to deal with in a day or two.

So the summary is basically this: Still a lot to do, stuck in a holding pattern until everything is done. GET STUFF DONE. :) that is all.

It’s a Toss Up

Jill's Journal: Living in such a small space feels a little bit like playing house. While it’s been fun and magical so far, it does remain to be determined which simple convenience I miss more…a dishwasher or a garbage disposal. Distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder. I never knew how much I loved them until they were gone. If you have them, spoil them, cherish them, and tell them every day how grateful you are for them!!

'We lose ourselves in the fog of everyday life...'

So Michigan has an advertising campaign, and this line just spoke to me. Actually it screamed into my ear and has been in my head for the last 10 days... isn't it perfect tho? It says a lot about our current situation and about what we're trying to do. For me, the fog lifted this morning.

I've been so busy trying to get things done that I've forgotten to look around and just enjoy life. Today - this morning actually - I started to do that, and I can't get the smile off my face. I don't know when I stopped enjoying the simple stuff. I don't know why I've missed the smell of clean air, the simple pleasures, sitting and listening to the sounds of nature. Where did all that go? Why was I only thinking worrying about what the next thing to do, the next project, the next whatever? I walked around all day with a smile on my face... happy to see that come back :)

Last night was great. What a send-off poker game. I was so happy to see everyone, make memories of the group and I have to say I enjoyed almost every aspect of last night. I did my best to ignore/blow-off the drama (you know who you were ;) ) and just enjoy the evening. Winning was sweet, but in all honesty tho I could have been out first and enjoyed it even probably more. The 20-minute back-to-back F-bomb penalty at the final table probably saved me from losing. Funny how that works. To all of you reading this that attended the game - THANK YOU. I was so happy to see all of you, and it truly means a lot that you came to the game. I'll post pictures of the trophy once I finish it - because that was the plan... :)

The picture above is what we see out the window now. I'm looking forward to posting albums of our window every day. I think that will be a neat project. Window of the day - I have a lot of plans for RVfor5.com, and it'll be a nice thing to get excited about a personal web project again. Its been a long time since I jumped at something for fun...

It'll be nice to get back to posting again. I'm not sure if anyone cares about my thoughts - but it helps me to keep it all together. I'm looking forward to chronicaling this journey - both the physical aspect and the psychological. There is so much to this trip - I recommend letting go of the fog and taking one. :)

Settling In

Jill's Journal: Happily, we are settling into the fifth wheel nicely. The girls are enjoying their new space and love their bunk beds. The place is sparkling clean thanks to an insane amount of bleach and elbow grease. Everything is unpacked and in its place. And life is good!

Of course, we haven’t moved an inch yet since we have several things to wrap up this week in Lexington. But, with two very smooth nights and days of “camping” under our belts, we’re feeling pretty good about the future. And I must confess: we’re not really camping. Sure, space inside is at a premium. But with 1 1/2 bathrooms, a separate master bedroom, a four-bunk bedroom for the girls on the complete other end of the trailer, a decent-sized kitchen, a living room bigger than a New York studio, and even a washer and dryer ready to be installed, we could definitely have it a lot worse. It really is a “house on wheels,” as the girls call it.

The 36 hours before we officially moved in were filled with drama. The closing date on our house got pushed back for the fourth (or was it fifth?) time. We underestimated how much we had yet to do to finish moving out (doesn’t that always happen?). And some improper wiring leading to the RV blew out everything that was plugged in: our new refrigerator, microwave/convection oven, entertainment system, etc. Even little things like an alarm clock and drill were completely decimated.

But that was then and this is now. The good news is that we really did close on our house on Friday morning and managed to finish our move-out with minutes to spare! It was bittersweet to hand those keys over. It’s the only home all three of our little girls have ever known. Victoria was even born there, literally, so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

More good news: although we do have to replace all those expensive appliances without ever having gotten a chance to use them, at least they can be replaced. It’s just time and money (and a few gray hairs). And if that’s the biggest hiccup we have on our journey, we’re doing just fine.

And one more blessing I have to mention: good friends. One of the hardest decisions we had to make was what to do with our cat, who has been a part of our family for 15 years and has seen other pets come and go. But my dear friend Roberta ended up making it easy for us. She willingly opened up her home and welcomed our old gray kitty on Friday. Roberta’s home is an earthly version of cat heaven…once our cat acclimates, I have a feeling she’ll wonder what kind of purgatory she was in with us for the last 15 years!

Welcome!

Jill's Journal: If only I had a penny for each time someone asked if we had a blog! We finally decided it was time to go public. I’ve been keeping an occasional journal of our preparations to travel with the intention of sharing it with our girls someday. (Because surely someday they’ll wonder what possessed us to pack them into an RV and hit the road). Since my typing skills are stronger than my handwriting skills, it seemed a natural to make it a blog and that way my parents could track our travels as well. And now it’s morphed into something a little bigger…we’ve decided to also share it with our friends and family.

If you’re just joining us, the brief version is this: we’ve sold our house (closing in a matter of hours!), have bought a fifth wheel, and plan to travel North America for the next three years. We have a loose itinerary that includes 49 states and parts of Canada. Rob telecommutes already and can work from anywhere, so we realize this makes us incredibly blessed and very, very lucky. Our three girls are young with our oldest just finishing kindergarten tomorrow, so I’m going to try my hand at homeschooling for a few years. We can’t think of a better education for them (and for us!) than seeing the country firsthand.

As people have learned about the adventure that awaits us, we realized how many either long for this type of opportunity or think we’re completely off our rocker. Either way, it’s clear many people are very curious. We thought this blog would be a way we could take everyone along for the ride.

Both Rob and I will post. His entries (like the one immediately below) are labeled with an “R.” Mine will always begin with “Jill’s Journal.”

It will take another week or so for us to completely wrap up things here in Lexington, Kentucky, and then we’ll be on our way. So, stay turned and join us on our journey if you’d like. And welcome!

Completely crushed...

I'd write more, but it really is very difficult to find the time right now. I'm hoping to have a chance to go back and revisit the most significant moments of this transition, but I've found that, unfortunately, the moments that are the most important to talk about - thusfar - are the moments I don't have the time to talk.

Hopefully soon, I can look back at the notes, the timeframe and everything going on and expound.

Hopefully...

It Can Be Done!

Jill's Journal: This is what it looks like when a family is hyper-committed to downsize, purge, and consolidate: less than 40 square feet worth of “keepers,” all from a 1,500 square foot house, garage, attic, separate office with almost 1,000 square feet of additional storage space, plus a horse barn and varied farm equipment. It really can be done!

And truly, we kept more than we thought we would. I’ll bet we could go through it again and cut it down by half. But as we’re getting down to the wire, we’ve started having thoughts like this, “Well, I really like my wine glasses. We have the storage space; why not keep them instead of having to buy them again someday when we settle down?” So yes, we kept more than we intended. But most of the boxes are full of sentiment, like an antique mirror from Rob’s grandmother who died before he was born. Or framed family portraits. Or my wedding dress (which I considered parting with, but I have three daughters and what if it means something to one of them someday?).

Our storage unit is 10x10, the size of a small horse stall; Rob’s tools and the girls’ bedroom furniture will take up the rest of the space. Life’s essentials will fit into the RV; everything else is gone or going!

It has been wonderful to go through every item in our possession. A true journey. We learned there’s so much we don’t need and/or that wasn’t worth keeping if it had been in a box for the last 10 years. How many people never go through all their belongings in their lifetime and it’s left for their children to do after they’re gone? Hopefully I'll still be on this earth for a long time to come, but I don’t want to do that to my kids. Rob and I have commented to each other so many times that everyone should downsize like this in mid-life; it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride (lots of highs and lows) sorting through every single piece of paper, memento, item of clothing, etc. But like any great roller coaster, it has left us flushed with excitement and accomplishment at tackling it (and surviving to tell the tale)!