Lots of Stuff Happening

We've been pretty busy with our transition. I accepted an offer from a small company in Honolulu and will start in early January - unfortunately, the family will not be coming for maybe a year. Despite that fact, we are all excited about the direction we now have and have been busy lining up all that needs to happen. I drove the minivan and ALL our boards up to Seattle - made the almost 4000 mile trip in just over 4 days. I think my real calling was to be a semi-truck driver... I finished up building a replacement 6 weight rod (for the one that got stolen). I think it came out perfect!!! The funny thing is I built it in the small confines of our travel trailer. We said our goodbyes to the beach at Mayport, Florida - it's been awesome collecting shells, surfing waves, catching fish and sharks, and just listening to the waves crash on the shore. Thanks for the memories! And just today, we were able to sell our beloved TrailManor Travel Trailer. We were fortunate to have spent a large part of our transition from Naval Service in our small house - THANK YOU Mayport RV Parks for accommodating us (we couldn't have done it without you). We had TONS of adventures and have learned so much from our time in the camper - lessons we will never forget. Driving and backing a trailer. How to truly live simply. Getting what food you need and not wasting. How to weather the storms. Loving your family. Appreciating life more and things less. Thank you TM 2720QB for being our shelter - we will miss you and we hope your new family has as much fun with you as we did!

I'm On A Boat!!!

Almost... Our current RV slot has us butted up to the water though. That's the Banana River in the background. Besides the mosquitoes (and the fish that are NOT taking my lures/flies), this place is perfection. I still don't have a job so we are preparing to home school the kids, but with views like this, I'm starting to NOT want to get a job.

First Stop on with the Land Yacht

Our first stop this summer after we cast off from life in Reston/the Navy/in a house was Portersville, PA. This was our first pull through slot for the camper (nice!). We were surrounded by much larger Class A RVs, but we stuck out because of our character.

Camping Retrograde

We're going to need some more of this - toilet paper formulated for mobile toilets. Our next trip will have a full hookup (water supply and sewage). The trip out to Jane's took 5 hours due to traffic. The trip back home was just under 4 hours. The only other trick we learned was to shower one last time after all the work to pack up (so you don't leave all sweaty) - Thanks Joe N for that one! We got most of the things we brought stowed away in the trailer cabinets. Our next trip we will continue to do the same so our departure from the Northern Virginia area will be easier. Jane's Island in SE Maryland is a really cool place - reserve your time slot there!!!

Camping Trip Day One

We went camping again last Friday - this time to Jane's Island in SE Maryland. I got new tires for the trailer - lots of tread on them still but the old ones had some delamination in the tread area from age. I also used a 2" drop hitch this time and minus the squat on the rear suspension of the truck, the towing configuration looks better. The kids caught some toads around the camp site. I personally don't like touching toads myself - but they didn't mind at all. The fire burned until 10pm when we all were pretty tired. Next time I light a fire, I see which way the wind is blowing first - with the traffic in and out, enough smoke got in that we had the smell inside for a while. The more we use the camper, the better it'll get! This trip we still did not have a sewage hookup.

Trailer Shakedown Cruise

We towed the trailer down to Virginia Beach to see what we needed to do to get set for the summer. We now have our list of things we need to move from the house to the trailer. We tried out all the systems except the water and sewer hook ups. AC, refrigeration, electrical, tires (except the spare - we're going to need a new one), and folding mechanisms are all good to go. La was actually impressed with the cleanliness of the interior. I'll have to play around with the hitch height - I think a 2" drop is what I'll settle in with. I'll also be looking to get some air shocks for the rear to counter the squat. This was great practice for getting a boat later on. Living in the trailer for a bit will also tell us if we are compatible with life in tighter quarters. Should be a good summer!!!

Land Yacht

Yesterday was my last day working in the Navy. Today I start my permissive TDY (job finding and house hunting leave) and terminal leave (my built up leave). I go off active duty at the end of August, so between then and now my priorities are as follows: relax and spend time with the family (making up for lost time on deployments/unaccompanied tours); flyfish; surf; prepare the house for the packers; find a job; start looking for a house. A major part of this is where the heck we will put our heads at night. This move, especially since we don't know how long it will be or where we will end up, is positioned to be the most chaotic one yet. That was until yesterday. My first official act (or act in general) in my non-working mode was to go and pick up a used camper trailer. Now we don't have to worry about what hotel we are going to stay in, or which friend's house we are going to crash at, and staying at a campground is way more affordable on a fixed income. The other reason we are doing this is to make sure we can adjust to a life aboard a smaller living space (i.e. a liveaboard catamaran) - doing this on land is a way cheaper way to determine if we can get along with less stuff and live in a more confined space. And when you really break it all down, the truck cab space is the helm and engine room, the truck bed is hull and hold storage space, the trailer when opened is the interior (and external) living space - this is our big catamaran distilled down to the basics (just in a terrestrial form). The camper towed very easily. I even had to drive through two thunderstorms with really gusty winds. It didn't even strain the engine. I have visions of waking up next to a surf break in my head - we are going to have an awesome time with this trailer!!! Technically, if we are treating this as a boat, we need to name it, but La and I have not discussed that yet - I am for the name "Sabbatical". Oddly enough, we're going to store the trailer in the garage until we depart... I just cleared the garage and now I have something bigger to jam in there...