Getting Unstuck

When we’re stuck for reasons beyond our control there’s not much to do but make the best of it.
 
In 2009 we were stuck on the beach at the Red Snapper Campground in Punta Perula, Mexico with a truck that wouldn’t run. But it was a really nice beach! We learned about the town and made new friends between bus rides to the Dodge dealer in Manzanillo.
Finally, we got the truck back after the dealer really stuck it to us. Never go to a dealer in Mexico! Choose a street mechanic shop! Bus or fly to the states and buy your own parts! We were about the last to leave the Red Snapper that spring.

While stuck in Austin we saw fun sights and consoled ourselves with Amy’s ice cream. Ice cream helps.­ At Amy’s they flip the ice cream in the air and wield paddles to beat in coconut, Butterfinger chips, Junior Mints, M&M’s and such. What a yummy, sticky mess. They’ll sing, too, if you suggest it!

Today we’re on the road again, on the long drive to Taos, NM! We experienced a fine exhilaration and freedom as we hooked up the Laredo, our life in our own hands again!
The cat is last to enter the truck. We’re off and all’s well for ten minutes, then suddenly….
Uh, oh! Rojo’s been away from the road too long, turning anxiously on the console between us, finally sitting and settling down. Well?…will he or won’t he? A small drop of moisture falls from his lip to the floor. Uh, oh. Then he’s on his feet, hair atop his neck rising as I grab a blue polishing cloth from the folded pile tucked under his seat and stick it over his mouth. My other hand is on his harness, holding him forward as his shoulders lurch. He’s strong! Eeeeeeuw! He does it again…twice more! I toss each cloth on the floor and hurriedly grab another.
Then he whirls and lays down, tense, shedding hairs. Chuck has stopped and gets out, retrieving something from the RV, and the cat wants out, too, howling!
At last he calms down, his interior and his demeanor, and zones out on my arm. He should be ok tomorrow, once again acclimatized to travel. We sure hope so. It’s a five day drive to Taos, NM, and he’s stuck with it. And us with him, too!

Experience Trumps Having Things

I heard about a recent survey that concluded greater happiness results from “experience” than from “having things.” This is good, because I’d have to say that Experience are Us! And having things is not. It’s been easy - we’ve lived in small spaces for over 25 years and have no place to put things.
                                                                           Our first home, 1984-2005. Here’s La Mouette on a jaunt to Avalon Harbor, Santa Catalina about 1987. We were still working in San Francisco.



La Mouette’s interior is below: the nav station-refrigerator-office-VHF and HAM radio; the galley; starboard-side salon; port-side salon; bunk-bedroom. We sold La Mouette in Slidell, LA the spring before hurricane Katrina swept through.



















Here’s our current home, 2005-present, at the Little Red Barn Campground in Quakertown, PA this October. It‘s a Laredo with no name - maybe we’re not so attached. Boats have personality, life, drama! RVs not so much. Just function. At 32,000 pounds the boat could hold more things – virtually anything you could stuff into the cupboards, hatches and under the floor or tie down on deck! It was rugged. The RV weighs about 7,500 and it’s wise not to reach 10,000 including water and things. It’s way too delicate. And weight affects fuel mileage. Many of our souvenirs are fabric things.
Main room with kitchen-living room-dinette looking forward; then looking aft; and bunk.
     







It’s hard to prove happiness, and assuming that it’s there probably doesn’t change anything. But this made us think: during a May visit to our wonderful cardiologist he remarked, “You’re the happiest people I’ve seen all day!” And happily, we had no worrisome symptoms to report.



Soon after, we got these two fortune cookies:
  You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.

  Happiness always accompanies with you.

Sometimes I wonder how happy some of Chuck’s experiences here in New Orleans have been. Since we’ve been here he’s been busy:
Repacking trailer bearings (replace 2), replacing brake wires in axles & adjusting brakes, rotating truck tires, greasing trailer spring shackles, repairing a water pump, and searching for source of a fuel leak (this could go on awhile).
Looks like relief + satisfaction = happiness. Does he get points for the scuffs, cuts and bruises?
Still on his list of potentially happy experiences: Replace roof gutters damaged by trees in a narrow Mexican lane, get a new vacuum hose,install new and brighter headlights and adjust rear truck brakes “before long.”