Nomadic (and other) Rumblings

I had a few thoughts today while emptying the black tank of the trailer with the macerator. When we’re stationary for a while, shit tends to pile up. I’m speaking of emotional shit here, as I think will become clear as you read on. There’s just a lot of input from a variety of new sources, and it all just kinda layers on top of the other stuff until it builds into a pyramid of crap that threatens to overflow. Much more quickly than while we're traveling, I feel like I run out of room for anything else. And when I try to get rid of everything that’s built up, each sequential layer tends to clog how I deal with the previous. It becomes a fairly tedious process, trying to flush my mind clean, and honestly, I’m never quite fully successful, with little bits of this and that inevitably sticking around in the dark corners. Frankly, it gives me a bit of indigestion just thinking about it.
But when we’re moving, it all just kinda settles. Frankly, there’s just not as much opportunity to process it, so letting it build is simply not an option. There are probably the same amount of inputs, but something about the movement just stirs it all up into something that’s a little more, well... fluid. I feel like I’m more able to consume new experiences and then let them go, or just let them organically become part of the rich and fertile repository that I carry along with me. And when we arrive at the next location, I can simply release everything that’s built up and be ready to devour and process the next new thing. Emotionally speaking, I mean.
Of course, we would never give up the opportunity to spend time with family we’d otherwise only get to see for a quick holiday weekend, and I personally need to get better at not blowing a fuse when grinding through these kinds of issues, but I definitely find myself excited for this next year and another chance to stir the pot with a little more time on the road.
#dumpthoughts #airstream #stinkyslinky #wanderlust

Gotta admit, I'm a little jealous of Wynne being able to do maintenance on her motorcycle (although this is just a toy KTM she got from @whereintheworldrv, and she's lubing it with olive oil and a qtip). Despite yesterday's "philosophical diarrhea" (thanks to @ruined.adventures for that description) about the freedom of travel, I still find myself craving longer-term projects, whether tangible in wood or steel or less so in the form of traditions and events, I can commit to. After more than 300 days on the road, there's a growing desire to be involved in a community and more integrated with friends. I'll say this, we have some plans in the works that will hopefully enable a little more of everything over the next few years. #KTM #ridelikeagirl #zenandtheartofmotorcyclemaintenance

Factory? No, better. Hoping this is a final fix for our flexing and ultimately cracking interior door handle, part of the issue that caused the Great Wisconsin Yard Sale of 2015 when the door blew open on the freeway. Now there's a double thickness mending plate on the inside at the top and another on the outside at the bottom. Anyone else's door handle flex as you're trying to click the door closed from the inside? Also, what do people have for a foam gasket on the inside of their screen doors? At one point, I had replaced some shredded open cell foam with some new closed cell which may have contributed to the resistance closing the door, but it's still the same even with it removed. #airstream #airstreamdiy #airstreamrenovation #liverivetedbutacoupleextraboltsandsomebracesmightbeagoodideatoo

Sorry, Gorilla. With 4 people and a pup in under 200 sq ft, this is about as much privacy as you're gonna get while eating breakfast. #realairstreamlife #airstreamwithdogs #yeswehaveadog #airstream #airstreamwithkids

Just went to go make myself a quesadilla for lunch and was a little hurt by the tortillas @advodna_ann bought for me. #tryingtotellmesomething #portioncontrol #passiveaggressive

"I won!" "Where?" "There! Diagonally!" "Pretty sneaky, sis..." I had a rare solo day with the girls as @advodna_ann spent an (even rarer!) day with her dad wandering around Boston. We got egg sandwiches and played Connect Four at a local cafe while waiting for a screw to be removed from one of our brand new tires, hit Lowes for a replacement for our leaky toilet sprayer, came home for nap time and went back out for groceries. Thank Jebus for stores with race car/firetruck shopping carts. And yes, I'm basically humble bragging about something countless people do everyday. #dontliketousethewordhero #attnfatheroftheyearconsiderationcommittee #worldsbestdadcontestparticipantmedal

I'd set a reminder for this morning that our propane would probably be getting low, but as we went to sleep with temps in the 20's, it occurred to me that we'd probably been burning a bit more than even our cold weather standard of about a gallon a day or 14 days for the two tanks (note: we also cook and bake a lot!). Well, sure enough, when Mae had a late night wake up, I found the furnace refusing to light and the outside temperature down to 18. No problem, I'd just turn up the electric space heater we keep in the kids' room and open their curtain to let some heat into the kitchen area for the pipes. Anyway, we'd be warm under our down comforter.
In the morning, Ann got up with the kids and set the electric heater on the dinette for them to huddle around while they dribbled milk from spoons that only sometimes successfully transferred cereal from their bowls to their mouths. A minute later I heard a thud and a muffled swear word followed by the distinct burning smell the heater gets when it fries up some dust (or usually hair, eww). After the heater was righted from its fall from the table, I heard switches being turned in vain but no sound of the blower fan, confirmation that it hadn't survived the drop.
Us in fleeces and the kids in footie fleece pajamas over the pajamas they'd slept in, we waited out the last hour before I could crunch out onto the frozen ground to detach the tanks and drive them into town just as the hardware store opened.
#brrr #shiverriveted #liveriveted #airstream #myrivetedlife