Our plans over the last year have been upended multiple times. First by RV repairs in IL last May (2024), then in fall by truck repairs (2024). A fire in February (2025), and again with the truck and the RV in May of this year. Each time we were displaced, we stayed with friends or in hotels and temp housing.
It was a lot for a year!
We made the best of it. Turned hotel rooms into tiny house abodes, and tried not to impose too much on friends. But it was a LOT. Once all of the RV issues were resolved, it was time to figure out the truck. A year of tweaking, spending and repairing it, trying to make a 17yr old truck do the work of pulling a 16,000lb trailer. Finally deciding to upgrade and the process involved in that.
Phew!
We left Detroit a week early, knowing that these wonderful people at Hope Church, were now firmly cemented in our lives as family. We left, anticipating we’d eventually be there full time. For now, my cousin needed us and we were ready for a regular campground, so Indiana here we come.
Monday of this week had me heading to the Dollar Store, to pick up an OTC med we’d run out of. As I climbed into the truck and tried to find the store on the navigation system, I was stumped. It kept sending me further down the road than I needed to go. I used addresses, names and was still being thwarted. Then I tried to use Apply Play on my phone and it told me I needed a cord…
Bruce knocked on my window, wondering why it was taking me so long to leave and I vented my frustration on him, using a couple of unprintable words. He fetched a cord, helped me set up and I went on my way. As I followed the directions, it took me down a road I didn’t know, and never showed me how to enter the parking lot so I passed the store and had to turn around.
All before 10 am!
Once I got home news awaited that our lights in the bunk room, i.e…sewing room, weren’t working. Our dryer was already on the fritz, but that was an onsite fix. Lights could mean hauling the RV to a dealer and leaving it for an extended period of time. In other words, another displacement with no idea how it would end. It hit me hard. Between all of the frustration I just went through to buy a simple product locally, and now the idea of another displacement I was,
DONE, DONE, DONE!
I’m ashamed to admit that the words that came from me next, were not in anyway sanctified…I needed to hit the road so I left on that note and didn’t call all day. Bruce stewed with all my emotions, while keeping his head straight for work. I even hung up on him while I drove home. I’d had a massage and hoped that maybe these feelings would pass once my body was eased,
Nope
After I got home we sat outside and I shared my feelings more calmly. I was tired. Bone weary. Tired of planning, looking up locations, using GPS to find everything from hair salons to grocery stores. Tired of making reservations, mapping routes, finding dinner places, and living in temp housing. I wanted roots again. To take for granted where everything is. Have nourishing relationships with skin on, a permanent address. This wasn’t fun for me anymore.
Bruce was disheartened but he heard me. We sat with all of this for awhile and asked ourselves if it was truly time to stop. I pointed out to Bruce that he works full time now, and he didn’t when we started. Our way of life isn’t as fun because he’s tied to a job all day and I’m left to occupy myself. And while traveling is possible with this job, it’s not always appropriate. I was ready to quit everything but he wasn’t, so what was our compromise?
We knew we were committed to our time in Florida, kids were counting on us for Orlando at Christmas. And we couldn’t get out of one of our reservations in the panhandle over February. But we didn’t need to do as much as we’d planned on the east coast and Bruce was very glad to not drive through major cities out there. We opted to stay local for October. We could head to Florida a week at a time, traveling on Saturdays, so we could do this in a more reasonable fashion. We’ll still be able to see some sights and stay in new places, but it won’t be the packed travel calendar that we had planned.
Deep sigh…
Peace settled in our beings. It’s been a truly hellish year and weariness is our default mentality. The hope is that taking things slower will restore some of my earlier joy in this lifestyle. In the meantime, we are seriously discussing where we’ll actually live after we’re done with this life. And it’s a conundrum, because where we thought we’d land may not be where we actually land.
But for now, we’ll enjoy the beauty of an Indiana fall, the covered bridge festival, the fall leaves and drives through the hills. Nashville IN is calling us again, my cousin and her family are here, favorite quilt shops abound and my long arm quilter is nearby. There is much to love about southern Indiana. And in the meantime, we’ll continue to pray about and ponder the future that will hopefully have wheels and roots.
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