Hard Week! (first of many we're sure)

We had the best 4 weeks traveling across the country to Campbellsville, KY! We only hit minor speed bumps but it was smooth sailing for us! This is a recap our last two weeks here... it's a bit lengthy (Sorry!)


We have officially been here for thirteen days now. And quite honestly it has been probably some of the most trying times we have had in a very long time, and definitely the most trying time we have had on the road.

It all started by just pulling into the campground we had reserved, last Saturday afternoon. Amazon pays for your site and all your utilities, but you have to choose from one of the eight campgrounds on a list they send you. I tried for the closest one possible to our work but the only one with openings was 8.8 miles away. I looked it up on the Internet and it seemed absolutely amazing. River, fishing, hiking, level spots, full hookups, free wireless Internet, pool, pool tables, lounge, mail room, grocery store, showers, picnic tables, fire rings, etc. The whole nine yards. We pulled up and a man met us by the office in sweat pants and a button up shirt asking if we were the Cotes... We answered yes and he told us to go pick any spot we wanted and we would deal with paper work another day. As we drove through the campground we realized not a single spot was actually level. There were hookups but good luck trying to reach them, as they are so far out of each campsite. The sewer hookups are higher than our motor home is... there was no picnic table or fire ring. After about two days we finally got settled into our spot and Rocky (the owner) brought us over a picnic table and fire ring. Awww.... ok so maybe it is not so bad. Just a little rough when what you see online is not what you get. We walked over and yes there was a pool table! Awesome. We saw the pool, but there was nothing in it but leaves. The mail room was there with a TV and cable so that is also nice! We can watch our football games. The "grocery store" is now actually the owners kitchen and office. There is free wireless Internet but unfortunately it does not reach down to our site and is extremely slow. Ok. So we have accepted the fact that it's a little different than expected and we tried to get settled in. Monday morning we didnt get much sleep because a big storm blew in and we were not sure if our self-made seals we put over just about every crack Destiny would hold. We had one leak that woke us up in the night because it was the window right above our heads. The manfactured window seal between the two sliding glass pieces probably worked for a good many years but at some point the it had broke and was leaking a fair amount onto our bed. With every other seal holding up after a thourough check we drove to our first meeting and we started to smell something funny. As I walked back in the motor home while we were driving I realized the bathroom floor was soaked! Then I realized our shower was nearly overflowing... did I mention we were using our shower as storage (for the guitar, the cameras, laundry!).. looks like our grey water overflowed. But we are almost late for our meeting and it's raining outside so there is not much to do about it now. As we get inside to the meeting we get a stack of paper work with our job assignments on it. PERFECT.... we didn't get the shift or the job we wanted! We are scheduled to start at 6:30 in the morning. If anyone knows my husband they are probably laughing right now. He doesn't usually go to sleep until 3am. It runs in his blood. And the job we were assigned to requires 11-15 miles of walking on concrete floors for 10 hours four or five days a week. Also, we found out the temperatures were going to be dropping into the 20's and had no idea how to "winterize" Destiny! It was a little overwhelming but thankfully the neighbors lent a helping hand!

pause..... I am probably being dramatic right now, but I am trying to convey our frustrations. If just one of these things had happened we probably would have been fine. But it was all compounding! When it rains it pours.

So.... we get through our meeting frustrated we drove back to empty our tanks. It was still raining and had been raining for eight hours straight. Oh... I forgot to mention about a week ago I left the gas cap at the gas station in Texas. So yes, all eight hours of rain swept right into our tank. The next day we headed over to work and the motor home started to act funny when we were driving. She was sputtering and lurching and not firing on all cylinders. It was a knock-out punch for us. This was our home. And our only source of transportation. We have barely enough money for food in the next two weeks. What is wrong with our car!?! We tried to put it on standby while we were being trained for our jobs. We had long safety meetings, sexual harassment meetings and boring classes. Kind of hard to not get side tracked and think about how stressed you really are. We took a day or so and decided we had to get the water out of our gas tank. We bought some HEET from Walmart to dry up all the water. We also got the oil changed and changed the fuel filter hoping it would fix the problem. We drove to Nashville again on our days off and after we ran that tank completely dry she drove fine. We were so relieved.

 

Well, the next morning as we were starting to head home things were not looking up! She took a turn for the worse. The sputtering got worse throughout this week, the lurching was more like jerking, and the gas mileage was cut in half. We read every Toyota forum that has ever existed, I spent lots of time on the phone with my dad and brother trying to get to the bottom of it. And then, the check engine light came on. We need her to work. We have to get to work. I need ice for my ice box. We just wanted something to go right. We wanted confirmation that we weren't crazy for doing this!

It was Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving and we had the day off. We needed to go grocery shopping so Jordan drove me into town. Destiny stalled out four times on the way there and was barely driveable. We stopped at Auto Zone where we changed all the spark plugs. My dad suggested that maybe the bad gas fouled one out. He was right on that part. There was one that was definitely shot! We started her up hoping it would fix the problem! But it didn't..... We decided he should go to the mechanic shop that we had already visited the week before while I got the groceries. After an hour and a half of deliberating, taking test drives- the owner of the shop figured it out! A spark plug wire went bad! So....

 

-I left the gas cap at the gas station

- It rained

-Water in tank

-Water fouled out spark plug

- When the oil was changed they bumped a wire that turned check engine light on

-Spark plug wire got fried

 

It was a series of bad events that lead to Destiny's temporary demise. But she's fixed! Praise the Lord for his Thanksgiving miracle! And to top it off... the owner of the shop did not charge us a dime for all his time and his old wire! We were all smiles after that. With that weight off our shoulders we were able to address all the other small problems with a level head and realize- hey we got it pretty good!

 

We have made friends with our neighbors, Set up our solar lights in the yard, had a bonfire, rode our bikes, and I raked the yard with my hands to make it look nicer, made a little rock barrier around our yard and we are feeling quite at home now! Praise the Lord for difficult weeks to make us appreciate every little thing in our life!

 

(Ps- We know this stuff wasn't really that hard- but we are new to be full time RV'ers. We have so much to learn and every little thing seems threatening!)

 

PS again- We still hate waking up at 5am for work! But mo money mo money.

Consider the Ravens

A favorite quote and constant thought in my head these days. Three simple words that can change your life. I was reading through Luke when I found this and it really struck my soul.

"Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?"

 If we begin to think about the reality and truth of this statement it can transform our hearts. I am a worrier, a planner, at times an extremist. I like details. I like to know how things are going to play out. But I realize more and more each day that I waste so much time doing all these things that I miss out on the beauty of living life. It's about surrender... complete, full, and total surrender. If the Creator of the Universe will feed the birds and clothe the lilies in the most beautiful of garments how much more will he provide for me. On our journey into being free and life on the road there has already been so many instances where I begin to worry.
Will we have enough money for gas to get there?
What are we going to eat?
Is Destiny going to make it?
Did we make the right choice by doing this? 
Doubts and insecurities fill my head, my heart..... and my soul. But in an instant these days that little phrase comes to mind... Consider the Ravens. It's almost as if I hear these words straight from my Maker's mouth. It's almost in a laughing voice; like maybe when you were a little kid and freaking about something so small and then your dad comes up to you shaking his head and trying not to giggle saying don't worry daughter it's all going to be ok. So consider, deliberate... ponder that one little phrase a minute.
I think the best part of it is that Luke used ravens as his example. Our society views these birds as a nuisance or as bad luck- they don't have good standings to say the least... but God feeds even them. They do not go hungry or go without a place to sleep tonight. So whom I am to worry?

It's beautiful and so freeing to embrace this mentality. Every minute, every day keeping your eye on the bigger picture.... the Divine.

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom."

Home For Now

Campbellsville, Kentucky!

 

I just tried to Google this town and find out what it is "known" for..... absolutely nothing! Kind of sad... it's just here! Kind of in the middle of no where. It is beautiful though.

 

All the stories to come but here are some snap shots of our new home!

 

Nashville Round #1

We were headed into Nashville and decided to contact our friend Kuntal, who used to live there. We wanted to know what was worth seeing! We have heard so much hype about the place and wanted to dive in from a locals perspective. Just as we were an hour outside of town he wrote us back with a huge list of things to do. He also told us about his old room mate (who is also from Fallbrook!) and gave us his number so we could meet up with him. We called him up and he invited us over to his house. It was so awesome to meet up with someone familiar in a strange place. Even someone who can talk about your favorite restaurants or streets from your home town. Although I am new to Fallbrook, I still enjoyed that familiar conversation. Jordan was absolutely loving it. As much as we are gypsies at heart we are still homebodies. I know it's a weird combination! Anyhow our friend Kuntal is an amazing artist and he did some work for a local brewery. He sent us there first and we ended up spending the entire night there. It was a hole in the wall type place, but it was so fun! They had a bunch of board games and such, so after a long day of driving we had the best time just drinking a couple of beers and playing games. Daylight ends so fast out here so we decided that on our weekends off we will come back and see more of Nashville, but for tonight this was perfect! We walked about a mile and half back to the motor home in the crisp evening air and drove her over to good ol' Walmart where I made dinner and we spent the night! Tomorrow we are off to Kentucky! Wish us luck!

Our first view of Nashville!

Very serious guy when he plays games!

hiding!

Yes this was Candyland! We made up some extra rules to make it more entertaining!

Jenga!

We were getting pretty good!

Some of Kuntal's work for the brewery! He's awesome

DeGray Lake

On our way up to Aunt Wendy's we had some time to kill so we stopped by this lake. It was huge and beautiful. Fall was in full swing and the trees were beautiful, especially as the sun hit the leaves. There are a few of the pictures we snapped real quick. Jordan spent the entire afternoon on his bicycle, stopping for (real) pictures. We will have those up soon too, just have to change the format and you know complicated technology stuff that doesn't work to well on the road! I love the random stops - they help me remember why we do what we do. While Jordan was out on his adventure I walked down to the lake's edge, listened to the waves and birds, and looked at the sea shells with the crisp breeze on my skin. I was pretty exhausted so I opened all the windows in the motor home and fell asleep to the sound of water and wind and fall. AMAZING day!

 

Walking in Memphis

Crossing over the Mississippi

 

It was awesome!

Beale Street Blue's Club!

 



It was pretty incredible! We had a lot fun listening to the music and walking around.

So cool, they had all sorts of stuff from the early 1900's and new stuff too.

Just a cool little music note on the ground! There were tons of them!

Our pace through the country has been rapidly increasing as we are approaching our deadline to start work with Amazon. Quick note on that- as I was constantly searching the web back in Fallbrook looking for Work camping jobs I stumbled upon a few positions for Amazon. Apparently around October they open up three of their North American warehouses to full time RV’ers. They pay the cost of your campground and utilities if you will commit to working like a slave for a few weeks or months. They pay a decent hourly wage and you work 40-60 hours a week. Jordan and I jumped on the opportunity to make a little money to fund the next leg of our trip. Our choices were Nevada, Kansas, or Kentucky. We signed right up for Kentucky, filled out the applications and within a week we got the job over a phone interview. Our scheduled start date is November 12, 2012. So for the first few weeks of our journey we took our time, spent a few extra days here and there but now we have only a couple days left to get checked into our campsite and get our bearings for our new home and town. We left Wendy’s as quick as we could in the morning which is normally about 11am and headed straight for Memphis. Jordan is very passionate about music and we were both excited to get there. We crossed over the Mississippi River for the first time and were pretty blown away. I know that wasn’t even the widest part of the river but it was pretty huge! Jordan said to me, “Imagine Huckleberry Finn floating down that thing with his little log raft.” We both just giggled as we pictured it and kept on trucking. We got off the main highway onto a road with four different names, something like Hwy 40, 65, 79, 81. Why are there four names for one road? We have definitely been adjusting to things like that. Anyway, on our little journey to find Beale Street (downtown) we drove through a pretty sketchy part of town. I got a little nervous. As we got closer to the city it started to look a little better though. Thankfully we found a place to park Destiny, NOT FUN IN A CITY! It was free too! I got to admit though; this city sure does have a foul smell! We found our way down to the main strip and just walked up and down a few times. There was live music all over the place, real soul music.  Jordan was in heaven! We probably could have stayed all night if we had a little bit more money! A. Shwab dry goods is a must visit if you are broke. It costs nothing and is a great place to spend some time. It is full of antiques and fun knick-knacks from back in the day and you can still purchase things for five cents and weigh yourself with a penny. It is the oldest surviving business on Beale St. and was established in 1867. After we left A. Shwab, we ended up getting one beer and stopped to take some pictures when a homeless man named Joshua came and talked to us. At first he was telling us how he was out here from Texas to visit a relative, but after he took her out all night and bought her things and took her to his hotel she took everything that he had. After talking to him for about 5-10 minutes we figured out he was probably up here for the weekend, got a hooker of some sort and she took everything from him and left him stranded in Memphis. Pretty funny actually. We walked back to Destiny and were going to drive down to the Mississippi riverside and walk around but we got turned around and somehow ended up on the freeway again. We decided not to fight the road any longer and we drove about 20 minutes up the road to a Wal-Mart parking lot where we resided for the evening. I have to say, I wasn’t so sure about Wal-Mart parking lots before this trip, but they are really growing on me, especially when we are in a hurry to get on the road in the morning. Most campsites either cost money or are a ways off the road, but not Wal-Mart. It is usually a turn or two off the highway and you are there! Plus, we found out on one side by the storage containers it stays pretty quiet. We generally make dinner, relax, and then start up the generator for an hour or two to watch a show on Netflix (ALSO A MUST HAVE ON THE ROAD!) or play video games! Nobody ever bugs ya about the generator noise because all the fans and such of Wal-Mart are so loud we are invisible! Oh, and plus they have security cameras all around the perimeter of the building, so we always park in plain view of one of them. So, yes if you are in a bind or in a hurry I would definitely suggest it! I know there are no plugins or beautiful nature surrounding you but hey some nights are just about convenience.

The Ranch

We spent the next two days in Royal, Arkansas (which is right outside of Little Rock); Jordan’s Aunt Wendy owns a 20 acre ranch. It took us a couple tries to find the place as it was tucked in the woods. We finally made it to the road which she lives off of and just started laughing. The hill up to her house was steeper than any hill I have EVER seen, and I grew up in Lake Arrowhead with more steep and ridiculous access roads than you can imagine. We gave Destiny everything’s she got and we only made it about half way up the hill before she basically just shut off. That little four cylinder engine just wasn’t going to cut it. So we parked her down at the bottom, grabbed our stuff and hitched a ride to the ranch. I was pretty blown away by the beauty and simplicity of the place. It has a big four bedroom log cabin on one side of the property and then a smaller A-frame house up the street. The big house is being rented out so we stayed in the A-frame with Aunt Wendy. As I was just soaking in the place, Jordan was recalling memory after memory of the ranch; he used to come out here as a kid. It was really fun to finally see all these places he has been talking about for years. We had such a good time catching up with Wendy, which was completely random that she was in Arkansas this week since she is currently living in Oregon. It worked out perfectly. We fired up the grill the first night we were there made some burgers and watched the elections take place on our IPhones, since there was no cable. It was great to spend the night talking about all the things that might happen in the future and different ways to prepare. The next day Wendy had things to take care of in town so Jordan and I walked down to the lake (on her property) and went fishing. It was beautiful and so peaceful. In between snapping a few pictures I just laid on the dock. The breeze was light but passing through the trees just enough to make the leaves dance. We basically spent the entire day there. That night when we got back we were surprised with Fried Catfish from Grampa’s ( a little place in town). That was my first time eating catfish and it was awesome. We had coleslaw, beans, and fruit. It was another wonderful night of conversations. Such a great little blessing and surprise visit with Wendy. Her generosity was incredible and we can’t wait to get back there. Next stop Memphis, Tennessee!



A-Frame

View from the A-Frame

Log Cabin

The pond

 

My handsome!

 

very serious fishing guy.

 

This is what I did all day. Loved the reflection!

 

" Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere." -Oswald Chambers

 

 

Ar-Kan-Sas! (Beware this one is full of opinions!)

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” –Rachel Carson

The drive from our night at Texarkana, Texas to Royal, Arkansas was satisfying! I say it was satisfying because that is all you really can say. Big trees embracing fall, letting each leaf process through the season’s change. They explode into colors of red, yellow, and orange that your eye has never seen before. It’s as if they burst out with all their beauty with one last effort before they surrender to the impending doom of winter. Every few miles your eye will catch a glimpse of what the trees are hiding houses, old tractors, beaten cars, farmland, and ponds- more ponds then a girl from California has ever seen. Pleasant. . . enjoyable. . . gratifying. My heart was full. It fills me with thoughts, deep contemplations of what we have done with this planet. Even on a more minuscule level, what have we done to Southern California? What happened to the big trees, the small ponds, the humble abodes? I remember driving through Redlands area as a child and smelling the sweet orange blossoms. They were so intoxicating; I wanted my mom to stop the car so I could breathe them in forever. What happened to all the farms? The honest man’s work…. They have been replaced with shopping malls, track homes with tiny yards, and more shopping malls. Do you think we are happier now living in a concrete jungle? Do high rises, stores, and street lights bring peace in our souls? Or does it just make us angry? Not that I have been on the road long but So.Cal natives aren’t known for their generosity, kindness and happiness! It brings me to one thought only; man needs nature as he needs oxygen. John Muir once said, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” If wise men have said things like this over 70 years ago how much more are we in need of it now, as the concrete jungle begins to enclose around us like a virus enveloping the body. There were miles and miles in between houses on our drive and lots and lots of trees. Rolling hills and determined workers in the fields. I was inspired. I realized how lazy even I have become in my day to day life. I have become so used to all these luxuries in life that I didn’t even realize they were luxury. I saw them all as necessity.  Breaks my heart. Then I remembered this quote from Standing Bear, “Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” It’s not as if I think we should all revert back to life without technology, all own farms or ranches, and have a horse-drawn buggy, but man do you think we could find a happy medium somehow. That’s all I really want. Experience hard honest work, taste the fruits of our own labor, and most of all be in the midst of the incredible world that we live in. I want to cultivate and nurture the beauty we have been given instead of tear it down. What will be left for our generations to come? At the rate we are going I am afraid to even ponder this question.

“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.”
-Charles A. Lindbergh

So my challenge to you this week… get outside, go for a hike or a walk, experience the wilderness and then leave us a comment and tell us what you think?

 

(Pictures to come soon!)

Break Down

Starting Mileage: 67,688.3
Current Mileage: 70,248.0
Total Miles Traveled: 2559.7 Miles
Days on the Road: 27
State Count: 6
National Parks: 2
Juli's Favorite Place so far: Mason, Texas
Jordan's Favorite Place so far: Royal, Arkansas
Destiny Update: Although we did think for a while that our overdrive broke we came to find out that on old models of Toyota trucks they have an automatic shut off for the overdrive over 4,000 feet. So once we were back down to a lower elevation she kicked right back in. Our fridge is still broken unfortunately. We have to find dry ice almost everyday to keep our groceries at the right temperature. We are have to shop minimally and often. The new part for our fridge is $400 plus installation fees and I am sure there will be a disposal fee of some sort. We are going to have to wait until we can save up enough money to fix that. Other than that, she is running great! Actually, Destiny is a champion! We have had no problems whatsoever. Every few stops we try to take it into an auto place and have them check all the fluids and tire pressure!
Funds: Running low, but we should make it to Kentucky just in time. We will receive our first paycheck on the 23rd! The Lord is always faithful to provide.
People: These are a few of the people we have met and/or visited along the way
Darren
Mr. Anderson
Cote's (unrelated)
"Mountain Right" guy
Mikey
Debbie
Steve
PJ
Shelby
Cole
Mr and Mrs Dunbar
Aunt Wendy
Sanity Level: 21 feet of living space has nearly unaffected us at all. The way we look at it, we have been preparing for this for a long time. Our living spaces for the past four years have progressively gotten smaller and the best thing we could have ever done was live in the parents motor home for six months. It definitely prepared our hearts, minds, and patience for this trip! We will see in a few more months how we are doing.
Biggest Struggle: Technology! It seems on the road anything that has to do with technology becomes extremely FRUSTRATING! Things don't work when you want them to, do things they have never done before, etc! But we are adjusting, just getting worse at keeping in contact with people.
Favorite Part: It's been incredible to reconnect with a lot of people that we haven't been able to see in a long time and spend some real good quality time together. Also, it is amazing to have a new backyard almost everyday! We set up our little chairs and just soak in the new scenery! I'm sorry California but you are looking less and less glamorous everyday. You're lucky our family lives there! Still have to see what NorCal is all about though.
Cities We've Spent the night in:
Rialto, CA
Joshua Tree, CA
Parker, AZ
Tucson, AZ
Las Cruces, NM
Carlsbad, NM
Junction, TX
Copperas Cove, TX
San Antonio, TX
Austin, TX (Jordan only)
Texarkana, TX
Royal, AR
Bartlett, TN

Beautiful...

“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

 

There is no better way to describe it, we have been staying with some of the most beautiful, honest, raw, and generous people I have ever met. Although the four of us have never spent more than a couple hours together three years ago, they welcomed us into their home with arms stretched wide. They gave us a bed, food, a warm shower and open hearts. I am so thankful for the path the God has brought us all down individually to end up here today. There was never one drop of hesitation or question to anything we could need or want- Just pure, real generosity. And I feel overwhelming humbled to be a part of it. I am often a proud person. It is hard for me to accept gifts or kindness of any sort from anyone, because I feel I must earn it. Not only am I am constantly reminded of graciousness by my husband, but lately by people who I have spent so little time with. Kindness. Love. Acceptance. Grace. And I have done absolutely nothing to deserve it. It's been incredible. And all I can do is say THANK YOU! Thank you to those who have little to give but give EVERYTHING! Thank you for sharing your hearts and lives with us. Thank you for supporting our journey and our hearts. My heart is full of joy because of you! Just by being yourself my heart has learned to appreciate my Maker all that much more. Love you all and we appreciate you!

 

PJ, Shelby and Cole!

Pretty amazing couple!

This is love!

Most awesome little kid with the best personality! Good work guys, now make 10 more   :-)

Shelby is kind of a MODEL!!!!

Priceless!

Our Godson and some of our VERY best friends!

Sad Face!

deep.......



PJ, Shelby and Cole let us take their Cannon (Digital Camera) with us on the rest of our journey to capture every part of it! We were so stunned by the random act of kindness that we really couldn't speak. So as a part of the thank you, Jordan took some family photos! They are such an amazing family and are raising an incredible little man! Thank you Roberson's! Can't wait for our compound one day!