It’s been a whirlwind of emotions this past month. First, angry because it felt like this day would never come and everything kept getting backed up. So, what did I do? I procrastinated the hell out of the time we had left in our house, knowing I would be missing all the amenities I’ve come so used to enjoying.
Then it was frustration. The rig was supposed to be done the second week of August, well that week came and went and it still wasn’t done while in the back of my mind, we’d already rented out the house and needed it to be done. Our move date was September 1, that’s when our new tenant was supposed to be moving in and we still needed to plumb the water and propane lines, install a Propex heater, Hot water heater, water pump, water tank and 2 propane tanks to power the heater and water heater. So quite a bit of stuff left to do and only a week or less to get it done.
From frustration came panic. Holy shit, we have one week until move day and we have to pack up the whole house and put stuff in storage still and figure out what we can take in the Ambulance space wise. Whatever didn’t fit just went into storage and I sure as hell hoped we had enough space for all our stuff.
After panic came nervousness. We just weren’t going to be able to get on the road as quickly as we wanted. A bunch of our friends offered us their homes to crash at and plug in while still slaving away on the ambulance, but we were determined to make it happen.
Then came happiness, the point at which we got the rig back and she was mostly complete. 400 watts of working solar; installed awning; fabricated, powder coated and installed side ladder and winch bumper. We waited for so long for this to happen and the day finally came (with a hefty bill attached to it) to pick her up.
After picking her up, then the reality of work-to-be-done-still set in and panic mode set in again. We diligently got to work, well, Bronson did on the plumbing and heat. I’d say he did a damn fine job. Took 3 days of work and too many trips to the hardware store to count. I started downsizing our belongings to what would fit in the Ambulance and began throwing stuff in boxes with labels like “breakable kitchen shit” and “random shit” and “I think this goes in the bedroom”. This panic mode kept with us just about until the end. As the time approached, we made numerous trips to storage and reconfigured the interior of the ambulance and downsized more stuff in it.
Finally, we were three days out, just a few hours of cleaning needed to be done. I’d called numerous places to see if I could get a cleaner, nobody would call me back. I called movers to move our heavy stuff, nobody called me back, I called landscaping companies to set up scheduled maintenance and again, nobody called me back. We were just shit out of luck. So, here we were 3 days to go Tasmanian deviling the shit out of the house and property just hoping to make the deadline. We rented equipment to move our heavy stuff and voilà, the house was empty and just needed to be cleaned. 4 hours of deep cleaning and we were on our way!
Finally, the happiness set in as I texted some of my friends that we were off on our new adventures. We drove for a few hours and pulled off to camp somewhere off the highway across the street from a lake. We set up our bed and for the first night in a very long time, I slept. I woke up this morning at 0730 and we set out on the road again.
Somehow, in some way, though the skies are darkened with smoke, I feel like a kid again. No real financial responsibilities and a whole uncertain future ahead of me, the skies are bluer, the air fresher and I’m excited to see where I end up tomorrow.