First Mate On Board

Hello Everyone!  Margo here…aka First Mate.

January 01, 2013 was officially Move In Day for me and Shiloh, my 14 year- old Cocker Spaniel (perhaps more familiar to you as ½ of “The Boys” seen in previous posts). For those of you who don’t know, April 2011 (Kevin and I had been together for just over 3 years by then) found me living in my own two bedroom, two bath spacious apartment near my office where I worked as a dental hygienist. In March 2012 I retired after 23 years and began to downsize via many garage sales and put my most treasured belongings into a 5’ x 10’ climate controlled storage unit. I then moved into my dear friend Nancy’s house and began a new career as a bank teller until her house sold in December 2012. Kevin had already been living in LuLu since March 2012. The plan was for me to move into LuLu once Nancy’s house was sold. So here we are!  New Year... New Life (style)!

Now, to go from a 2000 sq. ft. house and an 1100 sq. ft. apartment before that, to a 180 sq. ft. Airstream takes a huge leap of faith but I didn’t think of it so much as “downsizing” as I did “SIMPLIFYING”.  Of course, having a kind, patient, understanding, supportive and loving man like Kevin as my partner in this amazing adventure made it easier to take that leap….and he has a great sense of humor which helps.. A LOT!

Five years ago when Kevin and I first dreamed of full timing in an Airstream, I have to admit I was thinking more of the new places we would go, the people we would meet, making new friends, having fun and exciting experiences and not so much about the logistics of the daily living and the challenges that may come. Being here in Ocala, in “pre-flight” until June 2013, has actually turned out to be a good thing as it will give us some time to adjust to living together, working out the kinks of limited storage, cooking and let’s face it, living space (I did mention that there are only 180 sq. ft. here in LuLu).

Before I moved in, LuLu was definitely a bachelor pad. …ship shape and clean but strictly utilitarian. The only pillow Kevin thought was necessary was his bed pillow. The kitchen was “complete” with paper plates, one coffee mug, two spoons and a fork. And the fork was plastic. Well, there’s a new sheriff in town…..

Kevin and I came to a consensus early on that inside LuLu would be my domain and he would be responsible for all things outside… round, shiny, greasy, and stinky ( i.e., tires, hitches and anything tank related). My first order of business was to bring more organization, more function and definitely more style! Airstreams are so iconic and stylish to begin with that I had great bones to work with. In a future post, I will take you behind the scenes (read behind doors, cabinets and inside drawers) to show improved organization and function but now I’d like to take you on a tour and show how LuLu has become “Home Sweet Home”.

In-Joy!
Margo

Come on in...

Living Room
] Kudos to Monica of "Just 5 More Minutes" (another Airstream blog) for the atomic clock inspiration.  Kevin made it and had the idea to use a  page from the road atlas for the clock face.  Brilliant!

Dining mode including my great thrift store find of mid-century multi-color aluminum cups (Steel Masters Inc).  Two of a set of eight[/caption]

Foot stool multi-tasks as storage and extra seating - note our "party time" rug

R&R





I made this to compliment the decor. We use it for shopping lists, notes to each other, etc.

Memory boards. We each have one of these on the bedroom cabinets for pictures, postcards and other treasures.

The bedroom. Yes, twin beds. This floor plan gives extra storage under the beds and the nightstand.  Also, when Kevin is working his day job up front this gives me plenty of space to relax, work on my crafts, read or use my laptop.[/caption]



We really love our bathroom. We thought at first we would have issues with the size but it has plenty of space. The shower is on the left. We removed the standard issue sliding shower door and replaced it with this curtain to add color and function. The under sink cabinets provide plenty of storage and what you can't see in this picture is a very large mirrored overhead cabinet.[/caption]

Little Trailer on the Prairie

Hey folks,

Long time no speak. Actually I haven’t been ignoring you. We’ve just been holed up in Ocala working on the daily grind with not much to talk abut. Just because we live like this doesn’t necessarily mean we’re always in vacation mode. We’re just like everyone else at this point, work for the weekend. In our case our weekend is Friday and Saturday.

Since LuLu has been stationary for over a month we felt we needed to get her on the road. She’s like any vehicle. You have to use it to keep it in shape. Spin the bearings and the tires. That kinda thing. So, we decided to take a day trip about 20 miles up the road to Paines Prairie State Park.

There are a number of advantages to taking your house with you on a day trip to the lake, beach or wherever. You have all your stuff with you. Lunch is simply a matter of finding something in the fridge and in our case, the best reason; we don’t have to watch the clock to get back to let the dogs out. They come along too and just “stay home” while we’re out playing.

Paines Prairie is another one of Florida’s gems. Old Florida at it’s finest. It’s 22,000 acres of undisturbed nature. Bike trails, lakes, wildlife including believe it or not a herd of buffalo, and just plain old peace and quiet. It offers a small campground but we didn’t use it. We just parked in a shady spot in the parking lot. We practically had the whole place to ourselves, only seeing a dozen people at most.

The parking lot near the boat ramp. Our home for the day.

Visitors Center

Visitors Center

Observation Tower




The view from the tower.
 
We rode the trails and checked out the visitors center. We climbed the observation tower and just basically spent the day relaxing. Of course the dogs had a blast. They love these kinds of places.  The best part, the whole day cost a whooping $6.00 - admission to the park.  Can't beat that.  Click here for the parks' web site if you want to learn more.  Come on now, you know you promised yourself to learn something new every day.

Stay tuned though, Margo is putting together a blog post to show off all the improvements she’s made to transform LuLu's interior into home sweet home. Amazing what a woman’s touch will do.

Till then.

"I got an adapter for that"

Hey Folks,

Well, I got back to Florida all safe and sound.  No one got hurt and nothing got broken but that's not to say it was boring.  The trip from Eastern Tennessee was a pleasure.  The mountain pass before Asheville was clear and dry,  29 degrees out,  but sunny.  After Asheville I exited off the Interstate and the rest of the trip, with the exception of a small portion of I-85, consisted of 4-lane and 2 lane to Perry.  It was exactly like I had dreamed all these years - leisurely travelling through farmland and curvy 2 lane.  As I said, a pleasure.

I arrived at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry after dark.  Perry is a little town south of Macon (which is south of Atlanta).  Not much to draw people to little old Perry but someone got smart and had the idea to build a huge complex to host the state fair, concerts and in the case of the weekend I was there, a regional horse show and regional dog agility show.  There's always something going on there and they have the infrastructure to support just about anything.

I checked in at the security gate and was told to "go to the clock tower and hang a left."  My site would be next to the flag pole.  "Can't miss it".  So I did.  The only problem was there was a very narrow arch in the way.  I knew I could fit but the first rule in towing a trailer is not to get yourself into a spot that you can't back out of.  I'm getting better at backing but knew I didn't want to attempt to extricate myself from that, especially in the dark.  It just didn't make sense that this was the way to the RV sites.  So I parked  and got out to look around.  Not only was there no RV site but on the other side of the arch was a landscaped pedestrian mall/courtyard complete with pavers, big potted plants and such.  It definitely was not to be driven over.

Just then I saw a guy in a golf cart who looked like he worked there.  I flagged him down and explained that I needed directions to my site.  He said no problem, just follow him.  What a relief.  I jumped back in the truck,  told the dogs to hang on, threw it in gear and looked up to see the guy drive right through the arch.  Oh well, when in Rome.

The arch

Turns out that's how they roll at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter.  We just drive down the midway.  After a few twists and turns we ended up at the flagpole.  He came up to the truck and pointed to my site and told me to "just go on up a ways and back her in."  Up a ways was about 100 yards where I had to pull in between 2 buildings, back out to turn around, then back the 100 yards to my site.   I swallowed hard, looked at the dogs (who were not volunteering at all to take over) and just did it.   I actually made it look easy but in all actuality was quite amazed I pulled it off.

After coming to a stop in the site the golf cart guy came back.  He said that my site didn't have a sewer but I could share with my neighbor.  "I got an adaptor for that", he said, at which time he produced an extremely scary looking 4-way sewer adapter that he held up quite proudly (with ungloved hands).  Well, I have no degree in fluid dynamics but it seemed to me that if you hook up 2 RV sewer lines to an adaptor with 4 openings and those remaining openings aren't capped well then, something bad is gunna happen.  I inquired about same but he assured me "we do it all the time" and not to worry.  Again, that's how they roll at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter.  I said ok and thanked him for the escort.

Party line

While I was settling in I saw my neighbor outside and said hello then directed his attention to our party line sewer arrangement.  He looked at it and agreed that it would be best to just use our tanks then when the time came to leave in a couple of days to proceed carefully.

My neighbor. Yeah, his tanks are bigger then mine too.

The dog show turned out to be a good time.  I did well - not as many pictures sold as I would have wished but I always want to be able to do more.  All and all though I was busy most of the time and feel I made the right choice stopping here on the way home.  Again, I met some really nice people and some very talented dogs.

The show came to an end and as is always the case I keep the green screen booth set up until the last person leaves.  By the time I got back to LuLu my neighbor had left.  Obviously he didn't have a degree in fluid dynamics either because he had let his gray tank loose and covered the ground.  Quite a trajectory too I might add.  Lukily it didn't hit LuLu or my bike that I had locked to her wheel.  At least he had the good sense to not dump his black tank.

I left the complex with still enough light to take the pictures here of the arch and clock tower then had dinner and spent the night at my new favorite stopping over place - Cracker Barrel - this one just down the street from the fairgrounds.  Again, thank you Cracker Barrel.  This time I shared the parking lot with a number of RVs and horse trailers as the horse show had ended as well.

So, we're back where it's warm.  I'm planning some more dog show trips but probably without  LuLu.  Just going to keep it local for a while.  All and all a very enjoyable trip.  I'm a lot more confident towing and not as scared getting into unknown situations with LuLu.  Just next time I think I'll pack a few spare PVC pipe caps - just in case.

Inside the arena. The back of the booth is on the bottom right.

My humble booth

Date of Departure

Or maybe not.....

My brother was hospitalized once with a condition that possibly required surgery.  I was visiting when the surgeon came by on his rounds.  He blew into the room with a couple of assistants.  This guy was a man's man.  An operating room veteran with a local reputation to go with it.  Stethoscope around the neck and white coat open just so.  He looked over my brother and said, "I think we'll just leave our knives in our pockets today."  Turns out he was right.  My brother was fine and went home a few days later.

I think I'm going to keep my keys in my pocket today.  We are at the tail end of a particularly nasty winter storm that moved up the east coast.  It snowed overnight here but not very much.  The problem is Bald Mountain and Sam's Gap which are between me and Asheville, NC and in turn Perry, GA.  Due to the elevation, things get worse "on the mountain" as the locals say.  Friday offers temperatures above freezing so we're going to move everything forward a day.

One of the nice things about being able to work from home and having a home that can go anywhere is the ability to be flexible.  My supervisor came through with moving my vacation days around - thanks Boss.  I can still work the dog show for 2 days, Saturday and Sunday rather than Friday and Saturday.  I have plenty of Christmas cookies for the duration - thanks Dawn and Lynn.  The cookies came special delivery from Margo who decided to come visit for Christmas.  When you have a woman who will travel 600 miles to see you then you know you hit the jackpot.  She had to leave the next day to get back (another 600 miles) but what a great Christmas present.



I hope you and yours had as great a holiday as I did.  We'll talk again after the new year; after I get Flo and Mingo back to warmer 'climes.

Snow Day

IT"S SNOWING!!!!



Okay, I realize that you readers north of the Mason/Dixon line are going to just chuckle but for a Florida boy this is a big deal.  We woke up to a nice dusting this morning.  Actually I think this would qualify for more than a dusting but it's really just ' bout knee high to a Dachshund.

Russell "Rusty" Wallace Oliver. One of the three resident ankle biters.

Shiloh, the big black Cocker Spaniel, stopped in his tracks upon my opening the door this morning to let him out.  After a few steps he looked at me as if to ask what had happened.  In his mind the Mayan calendar/end of the world thing that was supposed to happen today actually did.  Pepper, the Schnauzer, has seen snow before (on prior trips here) and was like Tigger in the Hundred Acre Wood - bouncy, bouncy, all over.

Shiloh - warming up to the idea

Pepper, still in his jammies.

It's been cold since I arrived, in the 20s at night with single digit wind chills,  but we've been quite comfortable.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I would talk about the cold weather issues you have to deal with in a trailer.  Certainly it's different from a house but actually BTU for BTU it's much more efficient to heat LuLu then to heat a whole house.

We have four sources of heat, actually five if you count snuggling up to Margo, but I won't go into that here, it's a family blog after all.  First the AC unit on the roof is also a heat pump.  We have a standard electric space heater, a propane furnace and an electric blanket for the bed.  Airstreams have what is called a belly pan that encloses everything underneath including the three water tanks and all of the plumbing.  This is for aerodynamics but also with ducting from the furnace to keep things warm underneath makes it truly a four season RV.  As long as I run the propane furnace when the thermometer dips below 32 I have no worries about frozen pipes.  Most of the time the space heater is all that is needed to keep it quite cozy.  Of course it's all controlled by thermostats so once set is automatic.

LuLu

Hank

The aluminum skin you see is the outside skin.  There's a layer of insulation then an inner skin as well.  All of the windows and doors have rubber gaskets and form an air tight seal.  We had winds with gusts up to 50 mph yesterday but there were no drafts to speak of in here.  Actually, it's so air tight that you can pressurize the inside and put soapy water on the outside to check for leaks.  Because of this though I do take great care in making sure that the carbon monoxide monitor, propane gas monitor and smoke alarms are tested each month.  All in all a very cozy camper.

Well, Christmas week will be here soon then, baring more of this white stuff, we'll be headed south again with a stop in Perry, GA for a 3 day indoor regional agility dog show.  After that it's back to the Sunshine State.  I'll update everyone on the trip back and the show when I can.  Until then, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas.

New Butler / Old Butler

Hey Folks,

When I came up with the idea to document my travels in a blog I also had the idea to focus on describing places that are "off the trail" so to speak.  Places a traveler would normally just pass by.  I thought about making it a regular feature.  Welcome to episode one.  We'll take a trip to Watauga Dam and talk about Butler, TN.  Actually,  New Butler, as Old Butler sits at the bottom of Watauga Lake.

Back in 1948 the Tennessee Valley Authority finished damming up the Watauga river in Eastern Tennessee.  You can read all about it here on Wikipedia, Watauga Dam.  When the dam was completed it did what dams do and created Lake Watauga.  "Old" Butler was not old at the time.  It became Old Butler when they moved the town prior to the flood and built New Butler.  All 600 people, 125 homes, 50 business and 1,281 graves were moved to their new location.  The local beavers stayed behind to help with construction of the dam.   The old town used to flood regularly anyway,  experiencing major floods in 1867, 1886, 1901, 1902, 1916, 1924, and 1940.  They were resilient back then though and always rebuilt.  Ironically it was known as  “the town that wouldn't drown.”  Progress, the need for cheap hydroelectric power and political policy changes did drown the town though.  There's a very nice museum in "New Butler" and of course a web site here.  Here's an aerial picture of the new town.  Not much to it really.  Blink and you'd miss it as they say.

"New" Butler

When we think of a dam we get visions of the big ones like out West,  huge white curved behemoths that take your breath away.  Watauga Dam, not so much.  It's an earthen dam and actually looks like part of the mountain.  Here at Wilbur dam (just down stream from the lake proper)  is where all the kilowatts come from.  I was actually a little disappointed with I first saw it.  The lake is over 280 feet deep on the other side of this though so I guess when you think about it that is a pretty stout structure.

The dam

Pepper and Shiloh don't care about Butler, new or old.  They don't care about all the beavers who worked from sunup to sundown to build the dam.  They're only interested in sniffing some new turf and lounging in the sun.  My travelling companions are simple really.  For them it's all about the present.  For me it's about another kind of "present", the peace and quiet of a still lake.

"The Boys"

Appalachian Trail - northbound. Many a hiker has ascended these on the way to Maine

Old Butler, a couple of hundred feet below the surface.

Down in the Holler

About 15 years ago my mother was living and working in Ocala, FL.  She was single at the time and it was there that she met her future husband, Mel, a building contractor from Palatka, FL.  They got married and she moved to Palatka.  Soon afterward though they decided to retire together to Tennessee.  Mel owned some land near Elizabethton, a small town not too far from the North Carolina/Tennessee border.  They picked up a few home plan magazines and looked through them separately, noting privately the plans they liked.  After they compared their favorites only one house made the cut with both of them.  So Mel, being a building contractor after all, called up some friends and they built their dream house in a holler about 12 miles out of town.



You've heard of a Tennessee holler.  Any country song worth it's salt references the holler.  A holler is simply a small valley between two hills or mountains.  They have catchy names like "Possum Holler" or "Heavenly Holler" to name a few.    Mom and Mel reside in "Blue Springs" holler.  You won't find that name on any map -  it's a local thing.

View from the rocking chair

This picture was taken from their front porch and as you can see the mountain is just across the road - a road by the way that is a bit on the narrow side.  Unless you're driving a Subaru you pretty much need to hug the yellow line and hope for the best when oncoming traffic approaches.  Lulu was hanging over the line a good foot or two on the way up but it all worked out -  folks give you room up here.

Fertile fields

On the left is the view from the back porch.  Fertile fields and farm houses.  All the land you see here is worked by a number of relatives, close or distant, of Mel's.  They've owned the land for generations.  Everyone has a garden and the land always gives back.  The big field might be corn one year (with an elaborate maze cut into it around Halloween), hay the next, pumpkins the next, etc.  There are a good number of cattle in the fields as well.  It's a place where a city slicker couldn't imagine living and a local couldn't imagine leaving.  In the 4 days I've been here I haven't heard one siren but have heard a lot of gun shots off in the distance -  it's hunting season after all.

The law comes around frequently, though not usually on official business.  Mel operates a  gun shop in the basement so hunters, old friends and local deputies are stopping by all the time.  It's really a combination gunshop/social hangout.  That's what social networking means around here.  The firing range Mel uses after he repairs a gun is the driveway - although we have a new rule now - notify the guy in the camper first......

I plan to take a ride soon up to the local Tennessee Valley Authority dam and recreation area.  The Cherokee National Forest is right down the road  as well so lots to show you.  You city slickers may need to rethink things.

Eastern Tennessee

Hey folks,

Been awhile.  Things have been quite routine of late, just working and going about life in general.  The holidays are coming though which got me to thinking.  I haven't seen my mother in a few years.  The obvious solution - ROAD TRIP!   So come along with me for a ride to East Tennessee.

Call Ron

We've had LuLu for a year now and have taken a few trips but this would be my first big trip - 600 miles from Ocala to Elizabethton, TN.  I've been up here many times in the car and have always taken the interstate.  In the past it's always been quick 2-3 day trips then back to home to work but now with LuLu it's much easier to stay longer - in this case we'll just stay the whole month.  I also entertained the idea of taking the back roads this time as well.  The interstate is faster but there's no scenery; not to mention all those incessant billboards, well.... like this one.

In the end I decided on the interstate anyway.  I'm still new to towing a combined 12,000 lbs of truck and trailer and I felt more comfortable on a route I was familiar with - billboards aside.  Actually this one is okay.  That's Ron Slonaker, the same Ron who put together the outstanding seafood gumbo featured in the trip to Orlando.  If you're in Florida and need good counsel Ron is your man and a good friend - even though he is a lawyer.

Our backyard at Silver River State Park, Ocala

We hit the road from Silver River State Park where we had been staying.  There's an earlier post about that too so I won't go into details except to say it's another advantage of living in a trailer.  Nice backyard the Silver River.

North bound and down. I-95 South Carolina

US 441/301 to the state line was uneventful.  Then it was I-95 through Georgia.  My two girls were also making the trip from Ocala.  They're only staying a few days so were in their own vehicle.  We talked and I found out they had left an hour after we did so I was looking for them in Georgia.  Just across the state line into South Carolina they came along side. It's surreal seeing your two little girls tooling down the interstate.  They're young women now but always will be my little girls.  Jenna took some pictures and waves were exchanged.  After a few minutes they went along their way but we ended up passing again as happens on long road trips. I stopped at a rest area and they stopped somewhere for ice cream then we met up again.  After that they left their slow pokin' old man behind for good.

All tucked in for the night. Cracker Barrel, Spartanburg, SC

I had also decided, since I was staying so long, to just stop somewhere overnight.  There was no hurry and I didn't want to be pulling LuLu at night.  Evening came at Spartanburg, SC and Cracker Barrel.  For those of you who don't know, Cracker Barrel is a roadside country style restaurant chain predominantly in the South.  Good food and always room to park a 40 some foot RV.  If you ask real nice the manager will even let you stay the night which is exactly what I did.   I had a great fish dinner and a good night sleep, total cost $9.00 plus tip for dinner.  Thanks Cracker Barrel.

Rest area, I-26 in Tennessee

After Spartenburg came the mountains.  This was an unknown for me but Hank performed flawlessly.  It really paid off to get two times the truck needed to tow LuLu's 6,000 pounds.  As the grade increased he just dug in and made it look easy.  More importantly the downhills were just as easy with the engine brake kicking in just when it was supposed to and keeping us at a safe controlled descent speed no matter the grade.  Bald Mountain pass is the highest elevation at over 3,300 feet and we topped it with no problem.  My confidence is much better now for those future Rocky Mountain passes.

So all in all a very safe and satisfying road trip.  The weather was great and traffic light.  We're parked now in my mom's driveway.  My Verizon MiFi can't quite do the job here since we're in a "hollar' so I'm hard wired into the internet.  So much for calling in sick to work but that's okay, it's back to work and life in general but with a new backyard and family just outside the door.

Unfortunately Margo had to stay behind for bank business but we felt it was best for me to see mom for the holidays then come back later when she came come along.  We're still in transition but looking forward to getting on the road for good.  It'll come.  In the meantime I'm really missing her but family is important too.

Mom's driveway

I'll post soon about our adventures up here in this beautiful country.  We're going to have some cold weather challenges too but LuLu is prepared and I'll share my strategies about that with you too.

Til next time.