Navigating Bumpy Roads

We all travel different roads and the path isn’t always clear or easy.

2020 found us hunkering down in Florida while we waited for travel restrictions to end and for RV parks to re-open. We were (and are still) lucky to be able to park Waldo at Daddy’s house. We had friends who were on the road and unable to find places to stay. The uncertainty of the future weighed on everyone.

I spent my time finding projects around the house. I remove the 1970’s wallpaper from a bathroom at Daddy’s…

I refinished a cast iron patio set our neighbor gave us…

We were in Florida long enough for me to watch the life cycle of the Echo Moth…

While I busied myself with these things, I just couldn’t find the motivation to keep writing blog posts. I marveled at how some bloggers were able to stay relevant, how they dug into the past, dreamed about the future or adapted to a changing world. In August last year, we began traveling again. I was able to motivate myself to write a couple posts, but I was still having trouble between wanting to spent more of my time enjoying our travels and not spending the time and effort it takes to write a good post. I didn’t stop taking pictures, but I did stop doing any editing. All pictures, the good, the bad, and the ugly went into a properly labeled folder with the intention to review them later. Most still sit in those folders today.

We rounded out 2020 with another fabulous season selling Christmas trees followed by New Year’s fireworks. Things were looking up. After a pretty sedate 2020 (with no campground jobs), our bank account was finally looking like it would survive. THEN along came 2021.

Steve has been doing some work for a company in South Bend, IN. Most of it is consulting, but in late March we began a month long journey to South Bend. Our plan was for Steve to spend 10 days working in South Bend then to head west to visit a friend in Utah before heading back to Florida for 4th of July firework sales. One of our first stops was in Alabama. We spent a relaxing week at a COE park, everything was lovely until…

So….that wasn’t fun! But, hey, bad weather can strike anywhere. By mid April, we were in a state park in Indiana. Our last stop before heading to South Bend. I had never given any thought to when it stops snowing in Indiana but…

What makes this unbearable for me is this is when Waldo’s furnace decided to quit!

The outside temperature is on top, but the more disturbing number is the inside temp on the bottom. No thanks!! Steve was able to diagnose the problem and we had the part shipped to South Bend. In the meantime, he bought a space heater so I wouldn’t freeze to death. As soon as we were settled into our spot in South Bend, Steve repaired the furnace and we spent the next 10 days in relative comfort. That is until the refrigerator went the way of the furnace. Yeah, I know, Waldo is 21 years old, these things are bound to happen. Well crap!! Since we have a portable fridge/freezer in Waldo’s basement, we decided to hold off on rushing to do any repairs. He did spend a lot of time narrowing down the possible causes. They ranged from minor, relatively inexpensive to major and downright costly!

We left South Bend on May 1st, I was so glad to be heading towards someplace fun! I had our entire trip to Utah planned out and reservations made. If it sounds like this is when I started truly having fun, you’d be wrong…

Yep, that’s Waldo broken down on the side of the road. I won’t go into all the details but to make a long story short, Waldo needed a new motor. Out with the old…

In with the new…

It took 15 days for the Cat dealer to replace the motor. The final bill was more than $10,000 OVER what they told us to begin with. I was sick. We had a “rainy day fund” but this wasn’t rain, this was a deluge. Thankfully, my dad was able to loan us enough money to cover the bill. There’s way more to the story and some day, if you want to hear it, I’ll write about it.

Two weeks behind schedule we began our journey west, finally! We had a great time taking in the natural beauty of Utah and spent a rejuvenating week with a friend we hadn’t seen in nearly 3 years.

We made it back to Florida the first week of June, just in time to get ready for 4th of July fireworks again. Oh yeah, what about that fridge?

We had our choice of buying a new one or replacing the cooling unit. After the repair bill at the Cat dealer, we chose to replace the cooling unit!! I’m happy to report it is working great!

This post isn’t what I normally write about, but it is exactly what real life is like. There are a lot of bumpy roads, but thankfully there are more smooth ones! I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to telling you about our adventures. I’ve always tried to stay fairly current in reference to our location but I think it’s time I get back to editing my pictures and show you more of our wonderful smooth roads! If you want to know where we currently are, follow TheWanderingRVer on Facebook or Instagram.

Thank you for allowing me to vent. I hope all of your roads are smooth.