A Possible Reprieve?

I'm hoping that in a few days I'll be blogging from the air conditioned comfort of our very own travel trailer!!

We put in an offer yesterday, we should hear back by Monday or Tuesday. If we get it, we'll be able to move into an RV park and get some permanence in our lives.

The dust has settled a bit, tonight is our last night at Lake Whitney, tomorrow (Saturday) we are going into a motel in Tyler Texas, as we have eliminated the Corsicana/Lake Whitney area from further consideration (permanent living) and the kids want to go to church in Tyler, so rather than wait until Sunday to move out (which is what our schedule originally called for) we are going to go there early and check in to air conditioning. My youngest made a friend at church a few weeks ago who invited him to 6Flags tomorrow so after checking in at Tyler, we'll go there for a few hours. Lots of driving. In air conditioning (ha ha ha.)

Overall things are going well. My friend Wendi let me vent to her today. I am a person with a plan, so all this uncertainty drives me a little bit cray-cray. But we are here in the clubhouse in air conditioning, (we've been here all day), and I realized we had a microwave at our disposal, so we went into town and got some frozen foods since town is only 3 miles away. It's too bad there's such a distance to town with the other TT campsites, we could go back to juicing. Oh wait. Didn't bring that. I actually forgot for a minute.

We've settled on bouncing between Bridgeport TX and and Lake Tawakoni TX. Those are the two closest to Dallas, and we start that bounce pattern this Sunday after church. We'll do four days at one, and four days at the other, and then just go back and forth in a four day pattern between the two. It sure would be nice to find work in Dallas metro, both locales would be about a 60-75 minute commute.

Lake Whitney as a site is pretty nice, actually one of the nicest ones, and the fact that it is only three miles to the town of Whitney would make it perfect. There's just nothing around here and it is a solid 90 minute drive minimum, to Dallas. 

The kids spent the day watching movies on their devices (free WiFi, electricity), I spent the whole day applying for jobs. They met some new kids and introduced them to Bang! (yes Eldred, it's the wild west one) and they played some chess as well. We are the only tent campers in the entire campground, so by dinnertime (7ish) the clubhouse is vacant as the RVers go home, and we have it all to ourselves. 

This has pretty much been the pattern at every campsite we have been at. It's nice for us, gives us a place to go and pretty much lets us relax and have a sense of brick and mortar normalcy. But I would really love it if we could move in to our own travel trailer.

I ran the numbers in our budget, and realistically unless we get the travel trailer (in which case I will find the money) we can't really afford to live anywhere other than camping for free until the middle of September. Lest you think we're destitute we're not, but I really want to get back on track financially. I paid the bills which were due two weeks ago today, so technically they were all late. That means I need to pay bills due about August 10 on the 14th, (so they'll be slightly late too), and then again on August 28th but that will catch us up completely. All that means is that we need to watch our pennies, which is hard to do on the road bouncing around like we have been. 

Even if we are in a tent, being solid between two sites will allow us to develop a routine, and knowing the clubhouse set ups now, we can plan meals accordingly. Whitney for example, has a refrigerator we can use during the day...how cool is that? Bridgeport doesn't unfortunately, neither does Tawakoni. Whitney really does have the best set up (fridge, microwave, exercise floor, free WiFi.) But all of them have electricity, so we can do what we did today, which is bring our food in with us and just park it for the day.

Living wise, we've got the routine down solid. I've seen multiple people have these water filters they attach to spigots. I think I need to get us one of those, and if we get the trailer, I definitely need to get a Berkey filter set up. Right now, we just buy bottled water, which works too...and not too expensive.

Those fans are a godsend!! The kids have actually laughed that they are COLD at night (this, after 104 degree F days!) But it's nice to be able to sleep in until about 730am and have it still be a bit "cool" (that would be about 82F, geez I'm starting to sound like a Texan.)

I'm grateful the Lord is watching out for us. We are mindful of our finances, and like all good preppers, are planning for "what if." I didn't receive a job offer like I thought I would this week. I really need to rethink the one at the pre-school which is only 3 hours a day. The problem with it is, it is only 3 hours a day, and I will spend about that much time on the road commuting to and from....hours I could be working somewhere else. I keep feeling like I need to re-start developing apps, but I need some solid internet access in order to do that. I think next week I will start exploring libraries in Bridgeport or Decatur, and Wills Point or Terrell (or even Tyler.)

Alrighty. Whined enough. I know The Secret is to express gratitude for all that I have. We have shelter, we have food, we have funds, we have transportation, we have friends, and we have the Love of the Lord. 

We look forward to tomorrow.

What a Difference a Fan Makes !

What a difference a fan makes!

Last night when we went to bed, it was about 86F. "Cool" for Texas. We hooked up the 30amp/110v adapter: 

Hooked up the extension cord:

Ran the multi-plug outlet into the extension cord (Ozark Trail has an "electrical cord hole" so you can run electric into the tent):

And plugged our fan into the multi-plug.

Worked really well. The two kids closest to the fan ended up sleeping under blankets last night. 

This particular fan is a bit under powered, and doesn't quite reach the far side of the tent (10 feet away.) We bought a box fan at another WalMart to put on the far side of the tent hopefully that will increase air flow even more.

So today we went and looked at a brand new home, cookie cutter. Oy. Ok, the big plus is they cover all the closing costs, and the HOA isn't out of control yet. But the homes themselves are pretty small for looking (on the outside) pretty big, and every home looks exactly the same.

We checked out an RV park near where we are staying at Lake Tawakoni. The Marina itself is nice, like, buy a boat and spend hours on the lake nice. It's inexpensive and I really like that commute down I-80 (for a long commute anyway) toward either Dallas or Tyler is pretty quick.

We checked out a mobile home park. It's okay. It's biggest claim to fame is that it is on barely the outskirts of Dallas so for commuting in to work there, it's pretty convenient. But as a place, it is barely better than an apartment. It's nice, but it's really an apartment. And about that expensive. It's hard to think about spending $12,000 in a year on just rent versus going "toward" something.

As I write we  are currently in Bridgeport. The kids bought a card game called "Bang" which was sent to the PO box. Since we were "halfway" there (Lake Tawakoni to Dallas) we went ahead and came all the way back to Bridgeport to get it. I have to say, I really like Bridgeport. It already feels like home, I know my way around it, but there's no internet out here!!  When you have to be at McDonald's and hope the internet works, you're really way out in the country.

We head for Lake Whitney, which is south toward Corsicana tomorrow. 

Heading in to Week 4

Wow, going on 4 weeks. Time flies.

We finally found a 30amp to 110v adapter. While we were at it we bought a 50amp to 30amp adapter, to which we will plug in our 110v adapter. That way, no matter where we are, we can get electricity.

We bought a fan today which "will do." It's not the one we wanted, but when there's only one store in town.....depending on how things go tonight, we may be able to hit the WalMart in Quinlan and see if they have the small Bionaire we were hoping to get.

Sunday we drove an hour into Plano to go to church where our online homeschool friends attend. By luck we ended up sitting behind the person who is the head of the homeshooling group for the Dallas area (with whom I had corresponded prior to arriving so it already felt like home.) The woman who teaches the Constitution class my son will be attending also attends here, and her daughter ran up to my DS15 and exclaimed, "you must be (DS15), you're going to be attending MOA, right?" He kind of looked blank and I said, "You must be (Girl13), DS15, this is Girl13, her mom teaches the Constitution class." He lit up and enthusiastically returned, "oh, I've heard all about you. I'm looking forward to it." He then asked where church class was, and a gaggle of about 7 girls grabbed him and said, "over here with us." One of them already gave him her phone number. Needless to say, this is where DS15 wants to attend church.

We looked at a few RVs yesterday, a different brand than I had my mind set on. Pricing is right and they'll deliver, so today we are going to look at some RV parks and see if they take year round and how much they cost. We are also going in to Canton and Tyler and check out housing and community there. We drove past a place yesterday that had beautiful cookie cutter/no yard homes, but advertised they started out at $110,000. I might just bite.

I had two job interviews Friday, both indicated that pending background checks, they would like to offer me a position. One is only part time, and with our housing "out yonder" the way it is, is likely not doable. The other is fulltime and a bit of a stretch skill wise, but I think I can do it. It pays "real money" and DH is already thinking 'quit his job' I'm sure. Somehow, I can't see DH living with us in a tent. And it doesn't come with any medical benefits so until I can get that lined up, he will have to stay employed.

DS19 filed for his California EMT license, it came today. He forgot he needed to actually register with the State until he started for applying for jobs here. If he is licensed in CA he can work in TX under his CA license (we think) or at least it's easier to get one here. Without it, he'd have to start over. He is chomping at the bit to work, which is ironic--this is the kid who preferred to play.

Renting here is ridiculous, for where it is, in my opinion. Way out in the middle of wherever, 3 bedrooms are still $900-1400 and up a month. The more I look at that, the more I think "buy an RV and live in it for a year, since you're not going to be homesteading like you wanted to anyway."  We'll go in to Dallas and look at a mobile home park which seems pretty nice for what it is, only because I am hoping I will get that job and it is in Dallas.

We are spending way more money than I thought we would to get away from the heat. We did some things today so that hopefully tomorrow, we will be able to start not spending as much money. We really really really need to cut back, or pretty soon we will have nothing.

I appreciate all the blessings that we have. We are in relative comfort as things go. I thought of pioneers crossing the plains along the Nebraska, Oregon and Mormon trails. Walking in those clothes, hot, dusty, miserable. Sleeping on the ground. I have relatives who did that. My family and I have it made by comparison. 

I'm grateful for my blessings and I walk in faith. I am reminded of the old poem lines of which are: "oh God forgive me when I whine I have two feet, the world is mine." I start looking for work even more earnestly tomorrow. Right now, I'm sitting in a church waiting for my kids to finish a class, so I'm going to take a nap in air conditioning.

Been a Rough Week

It's been a rough week in the tent. The adversary is working on me hard by having me focus on the heat. It's not the heat per se, but the fact that there is no real place to go to rest.

We have been hanging out at the clubhouse which has air conditioning but that just drops the temperature from 105 to 85 or 90. We drive a lot which gives us great air conditioning but for me, no rest. Seriously looking at that air conditioner for the tent. Buying a 30amp to 110v converter adapter and a fan and we will see if that makes a difference.

Had an epiphany that we could buy the trailer and park it in an RV park for a monthly fee, so we are looking in to that.

Ok, I'm done griping. All is well. If we were in cooler weather it would be perfect.

Day to Day Tent Living

Lest I take the reader unaware, let me be clear: we are not "roughing it" in a primitive campsite by any means (although, Pio Pico felt like it.)

We are currently residing at the Bay Landing campsite within the Thousand Trails system at Bridgeport Texas. I have to say, for $545 a year, so far it has been worth every penny, even in a tent. If we had a trailer, a membership would be worth its weight in gold. Our current tent site is a bit primitive; the bathrooms allocated to it work, but not well (lack of water pressure) and parking is limited and can be a distance from your tent site. We happen to have the entire tent area to ourselves so it's fine facilities wise, and we are parked right next to our tent, but I can see where it might be troublesome. We have laundry facilities here (which happen to not work well), but the bathrooms on either side of them are REAL bathrooms--with multiple showers, multiple toilet stalls, multiple sinks, and concrete and tile floors. And they're air conditioned.

The biggest drawback (and it's just me, set in my ways) is living out of a backpack. While we were in the hotel, I dumped mine out and rolled all clothing for "a day" as a set, together. So now instead of digging through the backpack to find lingerie, a shirt, socks etc., I just pull out one roll. Toiletries for the entire family are in one clear plastic shoebox. "Lunch" fixings (peanut butter, plastic ware) are in another plastic shoebox. We broke down the other day and bought a styrofoam container to contain ice, water, juice and boxed almond milk.

We charge electronics either on the road in the car, or at the clubhouse. I have small solar panels which will charge them also, but we have yet to spend a full day out in the sun, unless we are at 6F.

The hardest thing for me (not my kids) has been getting to sleep. I am noise and light sensitive, and nature comes alive at night! So it is 1 or 2 AM before I am able to fall asleep, and because I am light sensitive, I am usually up at the crack of dawn, literally. I haven't figured out a good solution for that yet. Benadryl knocks me out, so I am tempted to take a couple when we pull in at night.

We rented a post office box, so now we have a "permanent" address for the next 6 months. It only cost $33, so it is a small price to pay to have an address for job applications etc. We set up a google voice mail with a Dallas area code before we left California. Our cells work too (more or less. The countryside is not TMobile friendly), but it's nice to have a "local" number we can call into, or which messages to our emails. It's a good option for a person or family who doesn't have, or can't afford, a monthly phone bill.

Today we are going to go rent a storage unit in Bridgeport. I'm hoping they won't cost much. I am ready to not travel with everything we own. This is an expense with a trailer, we wouldn't have. And we could do without it, it's definitely a luxury which I'm willing to purchase.

We have nixed the idea of going up to the Gordonville campsite "just to see what it's like." It's just shy of the Oklahoma border, and it's too far from the DFW metroplex for us to realistically commute for work. We swapped out to Lake Tawakoni. This is the area where our home was supposed to be, and I have to tell you, it's unfortunate that this didn't work out. What a HUGE lake. Oh well, we have day use access with our membership.

Well it's time to get a move on. DS19 is going to check out the volunteer fire department here in Bridgeport and find out if there are any EMT openings. I have two job interviews tomorrow, possibly three.

Welcome to Texas !!

Best sign in the entire world:

So happy to have finally made it. My kids were so overjoyed to be across the state line, they were literally jumping with joy on the side of the road. Truckers almost ran off the road, they were laughing so hard. 

We spent the last two nights at the best hotel in the world: the Baymont Inn and Suites, which is just down the road (walking distance) to Six Flags over Texas (hereafter referred to as 6F.) Wonderful air conditioning, a microwave, an apartment size fridge. At $50 a night, it's ironic we could stay there for an entire month, and pay significantly less than we were paying in rent in California, plus eliminate the cost of utilities, and have air conditioning 24/7.

Which I've decided is a necessity. But like I told my cousin (when I was buying a house) do you know how much air conditioning I can buy with the delta between a $500 house payment and $2000 in rent? Just saying.

We are in Bridgeport Texas at the Bay Landing Thousand Trails campground. What an improvement from Pio Pico in San Diego CA! 

On the plus side: FREE WiFi !!!!!!! This means we can spend the mornings in the Clubhouse applying for jobs (and for DS15, school work) then be done about 11, head in to Arlington and spend the rest of the day at 6F and Hurricane Harbor (HH). The sites are beautiful grass (versus rocky gravel at Pio Pico.) The tent sites do not have electricity but that shady spot in the lower right quadrant is the restroom/shower/covered picnic area, which DOES have electric, so we can easily do our stuff there, plus have tables to work on.

We are going to rent a small storage unit "in town" and jettison the majority of stuff we have been carrying in the 4Runner and Kia, especially since we are going to be gone from the site a majority of the day. Although we will hit all four Thousand Trails campsites in the next few weeks "just to be sure," we have pretty much decided we are going to bounce between here and the one at Lake Tawakoni (here 4 days M-Th, Tawakoni F-Sun). They are both about the same distance from Arlington and it is an easy traverse down SH (that's State Highway) 380. 

PRODUCT REVIEW: We ended up getting the 8man Ozark Trail instant tent as Walmart was out of the 6man. Let's start with WE LOVE THIS TENT! (That's it in the photo above.) It's so hot here (93F+) that we will not likely use the rainfly, but it's nice it comes with it. We are able to fit both our queensize air mattress and both twins. There's not as much room left over like there was in the Coleman Montana, BUT SETTING UP THIS TENT IN 30 SECONDS in trade for an extra 2 feet of space? WE'LL TAKE IT!

We took it down and moved it to the location you see here. Taking down was just as fast as set up but I can see that "packing" it may be a bit of a struggle the first time or two. Still...that is less of a worry that we had before. I'm glad we ended up with the 8man. Campsite to campsite, we never know what to expect, so the air mattresses are a necessity. We'd have had to buy another queen size mattress and jettison the twins if we'd had a 6man. The Ozark Trail comes with a flap which allows you to bring electricity into the tent. Once we store all the stuff in the cars in a small storage unit, I am seriously thinking about bringing in a small air conditioner.  (I know. It's not exactly roughing it...but you knew that already.)

I keep mentioning Arlington. I noted in my other blog, justkathrynl.blogspot.com that we had purchased season passes at 6F/HH, (because I am an "out of stater," I got them for $20 a person less than if I lived "in state" how cool is that?), purchased season dining passes which entitles us to two free meals a day plus a "snack", the "deal" came with a free season parking pass, and for another $20, we bought a green sports bottle which entitles us to free drinks for the whole season (soda, lemonade, powerade, water.) 

Eating at 6F is basically what we are going to be doing 7 days a week. In 2 days, we've already eaten enough meals that one of the dining passes is paid for. And for sure we've drank more than $20 worth of drinks ($3.50 a glass otherwise, yikes!) At home, I averaged about $85 a week on food (the cost of a season dining pass.) So in 4 weeks, we will be at break even from cooking "at home" versus eating out. And my thinking was, I don't have refrigeration here at our campsite. So that means eating out (expensive, $20-30/meal) or being very creative. I can do it, but I figured, for the same money as cooking "at home" we might as well eat in Arlington. 

Our plan is look for work in the mornings, go to 6F/HH in the afternoon eat, do rides if desired, eat, come home. We plan on scouting out the housing areas around our campsites as the month progresses. Should the kids and I find gainful employment in a particular area, we will look for housing close to work. We have let go of our dream to buy a home in the foreseeable future. We already know that if DH had to move to another employer it was a 6 month wait cycle with the new employer before we could buy another house. 

I have to actually file a lawsuit to get my money back from the escrow company because the seller is refusing to sign a release. That just annoys me. It's his fault that the sale didn't go through, me and mine are living in a tent for crying out loud, and he's whining that "it's not fair?" Give me a break. So now that the dust has settled and we kind of have a routine going and a plan and this place is set up with WiFi, I can get to the business of getting our money back. I know he thinks that's just an empty threat. He won't think so when men with a badge show up and serve him with paperwork.

So far, that's the only negative in our adventure, and it'll sort itself out sooner or later. Other than that, my family dwelling in a tent is going pretty good. I still want a trailer. If I had one, I'd never buy a house. We'd just go back and forth between the two sites. 

My kids are looking forward to meeting new people at church. I already hooked up online with homeschoolers in the Dallas area, so we will be hitting their church services on Sunday. It turns out the church services in their building also have a chinese language service, has a large(r) deaf group, and down the road from them a short piece are services catering to 18-30 year olds. I can think of worse things than spending all day in a church in air conditioning. I'll likely bring bread and peanut butter and fix up sandwiches while there.

Thank you Texas for your welcome. We think it a good omen that even the food shouts

Texas !

We Beat the Devil out of California....

Rest assured, he's still there, but we managed to escape over the border even despite his best efforts. Reminds me of the Irish saying, "may you be in heaven a half hour before the Devil knows you're dead."

We got a late start this morning, compounded by a shopping mis-queue at Walmart. Yesterday they had the tent we wanted, this morning when we went to buy it at 6am it was completely sold out. Really, in southern California, the whole county decided overnight to go camping? We ended up buying a much larger tent that we had planned--still an "instant" but we'll see how cumbersome it turns out to be. We may or may not be returning it, the whole point after all, is not gigantic, but quick up and quick down.

We were about two hours out of Huntington Beach when my son (who was in the second car behind me) called to ask if I would step on the brakes. It turned out my brake lights had failed. Of course they did. So I pulled over, found a place at 8am who could look at it. Fortunately I asked "could it be a fuse?" and it turned out it was. A pretty fast fix and we were back on the road.

Shortly thereafter, the check engine light came back on. My mechanic has assured me (this is a repeating problem) that it's "just the EGR sensor and don't worry about it." And I did happen to see this last time around that the EGR sensor cord is very frayed, so I am hoping that this is all that it is. The car seems to be running fine otherwise, so we are continuing in faith to Texas.

While in Ludlow (about 90 minutes inside the California border) we realized we were well off track of our plan to be in Flagstaff tonight. I figured I better make a motel reservation sooner rather than later, so we stopped in Needles about 60 miles inside the California border. Why was I surprised to find EVERY hotel in Flagstaff sold out? Our choices were stay in Kingman (2 hours shy of Flagstaff) or Winslow (90 minutes past Flagstaff.) I knew our energy level wouldn't get us to Winslow, so here we are in air conditioned comfort in Kingman. 

This means it's unlikely we'll make it to Amarillo tomorrow as hoped, and likely stop for the day in Albuquerque New Mexico, nearly a 7 hour drive from Kingman. And that's if we get out of here by 5am as planned. We're not in a hurry to get to Texas (obviously), and I don't like crossing deserts in the heat of the day if I can avoid it. and we're passing through a lot of them: Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan: three of the four American deserts in the United States. So we're taking it easy (oh, to be listening to the Eagles as we pass through Winslow Arizona, lol.)

Grateful to God we are not forced to travel on a shoestring, particularly with gas prices a whopping $5 a gallon out here. Grateful things are going smoothly. We didn't quite make it out of California before the Devil realized we were trying to escape, but we are well on our way to Heaven <grin.>

Week 2: My Life is a Comedy

Or maybe the old-fashioned word FARCE would be more accurate (definition: a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations; an absurd event.)

I've decided the Almighty actually wants me to live in a tent. There's no other explanation. Clearly, I need to experience growth relative to being in a tent 365 days of the year (as if being an American Red Cross Shelter manager wasn't experience enough), and my children are obviously needing to develop survival skills, optimism, the ability to overcome any and all adversity (ok ok. I'm starting to see the bright light here.)

But seriously. So as you've read previously, after 90 days we couldn't get clear title on the house (somehow the seller's agent believes that's MY fault and is advising her client to be obdurate), and miraculously, I found the only job in the DFW area which came with housing. Sure, I'd basically be on call 24/7, but hey, free housing is free housing.

I thought: well hey, great! Three weeks of being in a tent and then I'll start this job on August 1, move my family in, and we'll go from there. Not so bad, and just enough "experience" to learn from it.

Silly me. The employer called yesterday to retract the offer. She found someone "single" to take the job versus "me and my entire family," so we are back to Plan B: living in a tent.

HEY, at least I smartened up and got a better tent. Or will be, come Friday. Right now, because the truck broke down on the way out of the campsite, once again, we are staying with friends. Come hell or high water, we leave for Texas Friday at 0dark30.

We narrowed it down to two: the Ozark Trail 6 man instant tent cabin and the Coleman 6 person instant tent. They're both about the same money and size. It looks like you have to buy a rainfly accessory with the Coleman whereas it comes standard with Ozark. The Coleman looks like it goes up more or less like an "easy up" canopy, where the Ozark trail is a little more spidery on the assembly, but it looks way more taut and secure than the Coleman does once it's up. By consensus, we're going with the Ozark Trail. Video to follow. Yeah, I know I've said that before. I still owe you a video on cooking freeze dried food in a coffee cup, and dehydrated chicken rotini in a Stanley thermos.

At least I was able to get a battery for my laptop overnighted to me. It arrived this afternoon, so now we are "mobile" again, which will be a big plus once we get settled in campsites in Texas. The kids and I took DH to look at the travel trailers we have been looking at. They are more of a permanent situation should we get into fall without a work/home solution. If we had a truck that would pull it, I would toss getting out of debt out the window and buy it right now. He agrees with me that the model I picked out, a Keystone Passport Elite Grand Touring 3220BH, would be a liveable trailer for the family. It's just hard to think of spending money for a truck AND a trailer, although I guess we could get rid of the Kia. Oh well. That's tomorrow's problem.

All in all, things are going great. I had a phone interview with a company in Dallas this morning for a "real job" (you know, one of those corporate kinds.) I'm looking forward to getting settled in Texas so that I can get a routine going, get some money coming in vs going out, start working on APPS (that won't happen until mid-August after the dust settles with bills etc.) The repairs on this 4Runner have just killed me. I should have stuck with the original plan and just sold it for parts before I dumped close to $3k fixing it. It better last forever. My youngest is looking forward to starting community college in Texas, and going to Bible study in the fall (really. That was his big concern today: if we are moving from site to site, where is he going to attend scripture study??)

Well, I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep in 36 due to some external drama last night. I think I've earned a good nights rest. Someday, I'll cash that in, LOL.

End of Week 1

It's been a good week. We've come away first and foremost with gratitude for our blessings, and a keen realization of how little "stuff" we really need in our lives.

I appreciate that even though I CAN live in a tent, do I really want to? I might feel differently if we were not in a holding pattern. At least in a trailer I could sleep comfortably and not wake up tired. A stockpile of Vitamin B is much higher on my list than it was. This week has brought back memories of my time working in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. One of the biggest problems is combatting boredom. We had electricity so I could do a little bit of genealogy data entry I suppose, but sooner or later I will run out of data (I guess one could always find a cemetery to transcribe), and even for an avid reader like me, there are only so many books you can read, and only so many games to play. Something to keep in mind in a real disaster or emergency situation.

I've always had a theory that God's conversation with Adam and Even post fall that they would have to work for a living was more of an instruction and a blessing than a curse. This week has reinforced that. In a permanent state, one could gather food, sow crops, create a learning environment. I'm reminded of the stories of pioneers who sowed crops for those who followed, and those who cared for those crops even though they might not have been able to eat it themselves. I used to think that was a nice way to pay it forward; now I think it had the double blessing of keeping the saints busy and engaged.

The truck is still acting up. It worries me that after investing over $2200 I still don't have a vehicle which I feel is reliable. I am actually traveling with the title to it in case I have to jettison it along the way. I should have invested in two oxen or camels instead 😍

I'm hoping to get rid of the tent today, either by returning it or putting it up for sale on Craigslist. I just can't deal with the 15-30 minute install/repack every 3-4 days. UPDATE: Sports Authority took it back as a return, no questions (other than is it defective) asked; immediate refund. YAY!

On balance, it's been a good week. No major surprises other than the truck, and I've rethought my initial desire to "rough it" versus my reality that I should and can make it as easy as possible for my family. This week has reinforced that the time to prepare is NOW. We are pretty prepared and experienced, so the impact is really one of inconvenience. Others would find it challenging and even insurmountable. My suggestion would be to take steps to practice and prepare while the sun shines 😄

DAY 2: All the Comforts of Home

We drove into town to pick up paper plates etc. I went looking for a regular teapot, which they didn't have. They did have an Hamilton electric teapot/kettle though. It's ironic that I feel no qualms at all about bringing my pressure cooker along rather than cook over an open flame, but spent 30 minutes in angst debating about whether or not to go sissified and get the kettle.

Kettle won. As my son said, I don't feel like roughing it for the next 60 days. I have to say, it's the best $20 I've ever spent on a "camping" doodad. I still love my Kelly Kettle, but dang, 5 minutes to boiling water is hard to beat. On the other hand, you do have to make sure you are using potable water, as it gets to ONE boil and shuts off. If you were having to boil water to kill bacteria it won't let you do a continuous boil. It's meant after all, for home use where water conditions are not an issue.

While at Costco my son bought insulated paper cups which happen to come with spill resistant lids. I realized last night that we could use them to reconstitute freeze dried foods and save on washing up our tins. So that's a plus. We will try that out tonight. I was smart enough to bring the Stanley thermos and cooked dehydrated chicken rotini in that last night. Just realized I should have made a video, sorry.  Well, I have more and this is day 2 out of 30.😀

We went to Otay Lake yesterday. It was closed to public use but it sure is beautiful, and a welcome change from the barren landscape of the campground. 

That's about it. Pretty uneventful...which is a huge plus, and hot chocolate to boot!

DAY 1: I WANT A TRAILER

Well here it is, home away from home. Day 1 and I've already experienced trailer envy. After a long day of driving, it sure would be nice to back a trailer in and call it done. 

Pause for a product review here. I gave my wonderful 8 man prepper tent away during the move. Bought an 8 man Coleman Montana (above.) Get something else. On the plus side, it is very roomy, spacious and tall. My 6ft tall son can stand up in it with room to spare. Biggest downsides: (1) left and right "wings" have to be staked down. My old tent didn't need staking and I'd forgotten that was a must have feature. (2) front "door" has Velcro pads to keep door in place so you don't have to keep zipping and unzipping. That's a nice feature until you realize you can't actually zip from the inside. What a major design flaw!! Beyond the obvious security issue (FWIW in a tent) there's the critter issue and the fact that there are large gaps between Velcro meaning this tent can only be used in the summer. If I can return it next week, I will. End of product review.

Things I knew I was missing and should have taken 5 minutes to collect: teapot so I can boil water since I couldn't uncover my Kelly Kettle; paper plates and cups (I decided I wasn't going to deal with washing dishes); plastic ware; aluminum foil; sponge scrubber and dish soap for the pressure cooker; flip flops

Things I knew I was going to need immediately and buried it in the truck anyway: multi appliance electrical cord, solar panels, pouched freeze dried food (vs #10 can.)

Things I forgot: so far, just Benadryl topical cream.

Luxuries I wish I had: stuff that runs off a cigarette lighter adapter. Don't know what but I'm sure there's tons! The camping chairs I gave away during the move.

Overall, we are doing pretty good. We are at the Pio Pico Thousand Trails camp. Not quite what I had envisioned but there are hot and cold running showers, indoor plumbing bathrooms, a pool, and the staff is superior and the campers are friendly. WiFi alas, is not free. You'll have to wait until I hit a Starbucks! We are in a canyon so cell service is iffy, no hot spots. (Crocodile tears can be seen.)

Life is rich and rewarding!

Here We Go! Week 1...

Our adventure begins!!

A little background--I've been a prepper or self-sufficiency minded for a long time. We've lived in areas where electricity was sporatic, weather was inclement, and lived in areas where everything was perfect. We were thrilled to finally be able to realize our dream of moving to the Great Republic of Texas, thrilled to be able to purchase our first home out "in the country," had great plans to develop and live a self-sufficient lifestyle.

All that crashed when our title company could not track a clear title. So we dissolved escrow. That left us with a dilemma--where to live and how?

We've decided to take advantage of the freedom and live unfettered and unencumbered (virtually everything we own is in storage.) We purchased a Thousand Trails membership, and initially (for the next 60-90 days) will be living life in a tent.

TT is an upscale version of the more familiar KOA. Tent sites, RV sites, cabins, etc., WiFi, laundry facilities, hot/cold running showers, some have kitchen facilities, most have pools and access to recreational areas. A long-term vacation as it were.

I've always been partial to a Tiny House lifestyle, so now four of us are going to be living teeny tiny!! Video will get posted as soon as we have it.

We've packed:

8 man tent, chair, table
small solar panels for light
air mattresses for comfort
good amount of first aid equipment
bivvy sacks and sleeping bags
pressure cooker (electric)
large Stanley thermos
electric cord/multi outlet
ceramic green pan
large cutting board
colander, cooking & eating utensils
bucket of rice
bucket of white beans, bucket of black beans
canned goods (cream of), canned chicken
a good amount of freeze dried and dehydrated food
10 gallons of water
my Ham Radio
my 2000w Honda generator (forgot to include in the original post)

Still need to get:

Sterno cans (because I can't find my Kelly Kettle in storage, big mistake)
a lighter
a styrofoam cooler, so I can build a car-battery operated AIR CONDITIONER!!

Due to space limitations, I've already jettisoned the prepper Camp Chef and Coleman Camp Stove. I may end up regretting storing my non-electric pressure cooker too.

Dave Ramsey says you need to take care of your four walls (housing, utilities, transportation, food) first before you start worrying about paying credit cards etc., because "you can't live in a tent while you're trying to get debt free."

LOL-- we are about to prove him wrong!!