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 😄