A Setback, or Four…

Four snowstorms, that is. Here in the northeast, we’ve gotten 4 (or is it five…?) snowstorms in the past month. Adding up to about 6 feet. Yikes. I actually don’t mind shoveling snow all that much (I kinda like the exercise), BUT, there’s so much snow that you have to lift your shovel up 7 feet to get it over the snow that’s already piled up. My neighbor bought an electric, cordless, rechargeable 32 pound snowblower that you can use on walkways and decks. Oh to have had that a month ago! I’ve bookmarked the page and will be getting one of those for next winter.

Oh, the mound you see behind the van? That’s my friend’s car. She’s in Arizona and wanted to leave it in my driveway. She’s due back at the end of March. I haven’t actually seen that car in about 3 weeks. Hopefully all of the snow will be gone by her return. Or at least enough so that she can get into her car. If not, she can use my car until I return in early April.

I parked the van so that it would be easy to maneuver out of the driveway once I leave. I’m not sure what I would have done with the mobile studio with all this snow. I may have to park it at a storage facility next winter.

So, I talked to Pete today and he thinks the mobile studio will be ready by Thursday, two days later than when I’m supposed to leave (which is tomorrow). Oh well. I thought I was going to have to drive to Connecticut, pick up the trailer, drive back (a six hour round trip), pack everything up and then head south. Then someone suggested getting a U-Haul. Not a bad idea and not expensive in the least. But a bit of a pain nonetheless.

So I started packing, and packing, and packing and I’ve managed to cram everything into the van. There’s no room to move around, but it’s only a 3 hour drive to get the mobile studio trailer, and once there, I can load a bunch of stuff into it, thus freeing up lots of room in the van.

Another challenge is getting away from the cold.

I’m supposed to visit with friends in Maryland on my way south. Now, Maryland is a 9 hour drive from here, so it might be more like 11 when you count in gas stops, pit stops, and driving a little slower when hauling 3,000 pounds with a 6-cylinder engine. The last time I checked, the temperature on Thursday night is Maryland is supposed to be around zero. Apparently they’re having a cold snap. Great. I suppose I can sleep in the house, but my poor cats are going to be stuck in the cold, cold van. Along with my solar batteries, which are not supposed to freeze. I’ll have them wrapped up in the van, but my friends are going to have to help me take them out and put them in their house, and those things weigh around 70 pounds each. I could bypass my friends this time around, but that still wouldn’t solve the problem of the cold night and the batteries. One solution might be to plug in the van and turn on the heat. If it works.

See, I never got to do a “dry run” with the van and the mobile studio. I did that in the RV, and it was great to know that everything worked fine. But this is the wrong time of year for trying a dry run in a camper van. Plus, the mobile studio hasn’t been ready…

I’ve ordered Comcast internet at the RV park where I’ll be staying (why does it take nearly an hour on the phone to order internet service? Why???) And I’ve also reactivated my Mifi hotspot device, just as a backup. (That only took 1/2 hour…)

And today I stocked up on cat food and canned soup. I’ll stop at the grocery store just down the street from the RV park once I arrive in St. Augustine and stock up again. I’ll only have 2 bicycles this time around (no room for the Vespa in the van!), so I’ll be shopping for groceries using one of those and a backpack. And cat food and canned soup are HEAVY, so I figured I’d get a head start by buying those today.