Author: seekingsimplicity16

It is now 4ish AM Monday morning and I am in Joilet IL.

I am just getting settled for the morning to get some sleep after a long day and a long grueling week trying to get ready to leave.

Rather than list the things that didn’t go as planned or went wrong, I’d rather list the things I am thankful for.  I just spent the nearly two hours straight listing different things I am thankful for one right after another.  No way am I going to try to remember and record them now, but I will try to stay awake long enough to list a few.

I am thankful for/that:

• The help Rachel (my eldest daugter) gave in helping prepare the house for my departure.
• Rob stopped by Saturday and improved the security of the load on the truck’s ladder rack.
• My glasses didn’t get wet when I was so exhausted I forgot I was even wearing them when I started to shower Saturday night.
• I didn’t fall down any of the four times I slipped on wet pavement in my crocks on Saturday (geeze, you would think I would get smart and change into tennis shoes after the first or second time).
• The rain helped motivate me get stuff sitting out into the trailer when I was tired.
• My body recovered by Sunday morning so I could getup and work all day again, then drive three hours.
• Large mocha latte, soy, no whip double shot of expresso.
• It was my crocks I was wearing when I stepped in the paint I didn’t realize I spilled and not my tennis shoes.
• There was cat litter right next to the spilled paint I was able to easily toss on the spilled paint to help soak it up.
• I had put the cat litter on the spilled paint before Sasha decided to lay in that very spot.
• The paint coated pieces of cat litter are spread throughout sasha’s coat making it less obvious than if it were in all clumped in one spot.
• The house and garage is 98% clean – just some minor cleaning left to do in the kitchen and the clothes dryer.
• The turkeys found new homes Sunday.
• Kira and Maurey (our two outdoor cats) will find new homes today.
• Dad took the truck cap so I don’t need to worry about finding a home for it.
• Mom and Dad stopped by to say good bye.
• Mark and Rob stopped by and helped me hookup (dad helped too while he was there).
• Got the trailer’s fridge going on propane (forgot to check running it on propane prior to being ready to leave).
• Identified that I could not see the back of the trailer on the right side so I could modify my driving accordingly (minimal/no passing – just stay in the right lane).
• Hershey used the catbox to do his business while we were going down the road.
• Sasha did not do her business in the truck.
• Hershey’s claws did not reach my skin as I was pulling him from my shoulders while going down the road (condition of shirt TBD).
• I was able to keep Hershey in his place in the truck with the above exception.
• Sasha road very well.
• The hitch didn’t break lose on any of those massive Chicago highway bumps we hit (much less anything else such as an axle – those were huge bumps).
• Hershey stopped crying abound the MI/IN border and then only cried when we hit bumps.
• Leaving so late, traffic was very light through Indiana and Chicago – I don’t ever remember driving through there with it that light.
• I was able to milk enough battery juice out of my phone and mophee to get me to Joilet for the night.
• Nothing fell, toppled or otherwise relocated itself in the trailer.
• Although I noted evidence my concern about the possibility that the trailer’s siding might fly off driving down the road, it didn’t.
• Walmart is open 24 hours and let’s tired RV drivers park in their well lit parking lot.
• Walmart carries liquid nails, screws, and caulk.
• My screw drivers, utility blade, calk gun, gloves were all readily accessible.
• I care more about function than aesthetics (my caulk job looks like crap).
• I was not accosted while performing the repair.
• Sasha walked on a leash with no issue to do her business after the trailer repair was complete.
• The Walmart we are at seems to be at least a mile or two from the prison we drove by.
• Police cruiser that sped by and the police sirens all sound like that activity of concern was some distance away.
• It did not rain Sunday and this morning and the temperature was and is quite comfortable.
• I am tired enough Sasha’s snoring shouldn’t keep me awake.
• Hershey seems to have forgiven me for not letting him be on my lap while driving
• I was able to stay awake to do this blog.

I expect to do another entry tonight when I stop driving for the day and will upload some photos then.

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for my tardiness in updates.  The last few days have been long and the evenings pleasant but short.  Most things from the last few days are a blur but I remember the important stuff – the time spent with friends and family.  So let’s start with that.

• A special thanks to Pete and Judy for hosting a great dinner Wednesday evening as usual as well as a thanks to everyone who was able to attend to say goodbye (till next year).
• An impromptu dinner out with my one and only brother Brian Thursday night at Sakura II.  Hey Brian, I’m leaving town in the next few days so that monthly eating out budget you mentioned being so high should go down a bit.  🙂
• A dinner out with the family, Mom, Dad, all 5 of my kids (a rarity having them all together these days), Cheryl, Brian, Stacey, and their crew.

Each evening (except tonight) I’ve been sleeping within about 15 minutes of arriving at the apartment for the evening.  Thanks to Rachel for sleeping in the chair this week so I can sleep in the bed in this one bedroom apartment.

Tuesday I continued packing food, clothing, bedding, towels, and dishes.  I must move slow, cause as I recall that is all I really got done albeit the clothes were put away nicely, sheets and towels neatly folded.  Yes, you are reading this correctly.  I hung my shirts and folded my other clothes, folded the sheets and towels for those of you who know me and are currently in shock.

Wednesday was spent going though and clearing the bedrooms of belongings, major trash, and removable stuff in the walls in advance of Maria so she could clean the rooms really well for me.  I then ran errands which took me a few hours.  A bit more work before showering for dinner as previously noted.

Thursday was spent doing minor repairs around the house such as rehanging closet doors and replacing window balance springs on a living room window.  Replacing the springs was an interesting project.  Did you know that the third time is a charm only if you are paying attention to what you did wrong the first two times?  On the forth attempt of reassembling the window springs (need to replace them as pairs), I took my time to really understand what I did wrong in my previous attempts as oppose to the “I must not have done it right, let me do the same thing again to see if it works this time” approach.  Equally embarrassing was my effort to disassemble new hinges to rehang a closet door that I strangely lost 2/3 of both top and bottom hinge (I’m sure I disposed of them in the purge this spring not knowing what they went to).  And yes, I still intend to build a house myself.  It will be a learning experience, that is certain.  As previously noted, I had a nice dinner with Brian since I was in Portage running more errands around dinner time and was starving.  A dinner well worth the time given some of the things Brian asked if I had thought of which I hadn’t or if I had, I had discounted but maybe shouldn’t have after giving them more thought.  Then back to work at the house replacing light bulbs in the basement and restoring as many basement ceiling tiles to their proper place as I could manage.

Today (Friday) was spent dealing with trying to get the spare tire on the truck loose to no avail and loading the truck.  Thanks to Brian for having me check that spare tire.  At least now I know.  Not sure what I am going to do about it in this short time.  Given all the flammable penetrating oil that has been sprayed in the area to try to break the secondary clamp loose I am hesitant to try to cut the bracket to at least free the tire.  I did buy a spare tire for the trailer although like most projects, even that took three trips to the tire store.  One to order it, one to pick it up (I didn’t want to sit there and wait for it so I had Rachel pick it up on her way to the house), and one to swap out the wrong tire they gave us for the correct tire and rim.  Thanks to Jacob for making that third run for me.  Thanks to the in-laws Bob and Sharon for stopping by for some coaching on the operation of some of the travel trailer’s systems given this is my first RV, the info provided was helpful.  Unfortunately, I forgot to send the carload of stuff I had set aside for them with them, so that stuff is now sitting in the apartment with a lot of other stuff there is no room for. Thanks to Rachel for her help in loading the trailer’s fridge and freezer with goods from the house while I loaded the truck.  The bed of the truck is 95% packed.  there is a bit more space available for the trailer tire, the truck tire if we are able to break it free before I leave.

Even with all that progress, I definitely won’t be leaving Saturday morning as desired.  At this point, even Sunday morning is questionable.  I REALLY want to get though Chicago either Sunday morning or late Sunday night, but I have to get the house and garage cleaned out before I leave.  That means more trips to the apartment, storage unit, goodwill, and dump.  Not sure how much more stuff I will be cramming into the trailer.  I may very well already be pushing the weight limit.  Won’t know until I go have the trailer weighed (if I have the trailer weighed).

So I’m dozing off while I try to finish this post so it is time to call it good for now.  I’ll finish with a couple of pics from early in the week.  On the right is a pic of the “Sasha fence” in the truck and the left is Sasha’s first visit inside the trailer.  She was chilling out while I worked after she was done checking out the trailer.

 

 

 

Well, today is once again ending with completed to-do’s woefully short of the target.

The 90+ degree heat with high humidity certainly did not help.

I did get the rest of the food loaded, all the dishes, bedding, towels, bathroom stuff, and my clothes all loaded into the trailer.

Didn’t drive anywhere to take Sasha for a ride but as I was working in the truck trying to figure out where my new rifle was going to be for the trip, she walked up to the truck and looked at me as if to ask if we were going for a ride.

I did get Sasha into the trailer for the first time.  She didn’t seem to mind it too much.  She looked around a bit then laid down while I worked in there.   She even came back on her own later in the afternoon.

The file transfer of my music library to Cheryl’s new computer finished sometime today while I was working at the house.  I’ve already started the transfer process of the photo library, and now that I’m thinking of it, I’ll kick off a transfer process for our home movies as well.  Hopefully they will be all transferred by morning.

The goal for tomorrow is to get the rest of the house cleaned out.  Maria is coming tomorrow morning to clean for me, so I will be trying to stay a room ahead of her cleaning efforts with my clearing efforts.  I’ve asked my eldest daughter to come by and clean up the mess in the basement left by my niece and youngest daughter.

I hope to relocate the two cats (Kira and Maury) that are not moving to Arizona with us tomorrow as well.

Alright, don’t want to bore you with any more of my usual overly optimistic planning for tomorrow.  We will just have to see how much gets done before Pete and Judy’s BBQ disocial gathering.

 

Oh so much left to do and so little time to do it.  It will be interesting to see how this week shakes out and if I delay my departure to get stuff done or if I just leave on schedule leaving behind work left to be done.

Yesterday my plan was to get the trailer completely packed.  Didn’t even get close.  Got the food all transferred from the house to the trailer.  I did get a few other things done though.

I got the “Sasha fence” up in the truck.  Within seconds of my departure of the truck on Sunday at Best Buy she decided the open windows in the front seats were far more attractive than the open windows near her in the back seat, so up to the front of the truck she went.  Hmmm…  That could be a problem if she decides to do that while I’m driving down the road.  A problem to be fixed.  Not to mention she is a drool monster.  After I got back to the truck and finally coaxed her to the back seat, I assessed the drool situation.  I was quite pleased to find she seeming had only drooled all over the windows.   That is until I reached back and grabbed a drool covered seat belt.  Yuck.  Solution:  A rope strung right and left across the cab of the truck connected to driver and passenger seat head rests hand grabs at the top of the rear doors on both sides.  This effectively prevents her from trying to come through the space between the driver and passenger seat yet gives her space to stick her head up there for some love’ins and to drool on the center console and my right arm.

I took Sasha for a truck ride for the third day in a row.  She is getting a bit more comfortable getting into the truck.  Yesterday was Hersey’s first truck ride and so far as I know the first time he was that close to Sasha.  He did fine as well – stayed in the passenger seat and cried much of the trip to Lending Hands and back.

I took a break to socialize with some friends from work and their spouses.

I signed up for this blog site and wrote the introduction.  Albeit I spent a bit of time editing it again this morning (maybe due to the alcohol I consumed last night?) and learning more about the user interface for posting blogs using World Press.

On the agenda for today:

• Finish packing the trailer and clearing the house of anything not staying behind.
• Finish transferring music, pictures, and home movies to my wife’s (Cheryl’s) new computer.
• Take the Sasha and Hersey for another ride (destination TBD).
• Work on various minor repairs on the house and trailer.

Time to get to work.