Follow the Sun

                                                           Two Become One

How showksiers "put up" the solar panels :p The panels can angle either way (when we are stationary) to get the most sun. This is especially helpful to make the most of the low winter sun and the short daylight hours. Now that we've been on the road a few weeks we know we can rely on the panels for enough power for the lights, charging phones, computers, speakers & cameras, running the water pump, and the toaster :)

We don't have enough to run our small 1500Watts heater. But the independence the panels afford us is amazing! Our happy lil hippy camper ❤️

Sunrise Time-Lapse (35 sec)

November sunrise on Assateague Island, Maryland... It was nearly 7am, and very windy.  But beautiful and worth rising for! The National Park on Assateague has beautiful oceanside and bayside campsites. We stayed oceanside, so we could have a true mid-atlantic East Coast sunrise.  Loving being here in the off-season and just having the whole place to ourselves! Hashtag private island.

It's not easy, but it gets easier

OH RHONDA!!!  Feels like we are saying that every day.  What needs fixing now?!! She has been behaving like an ailing, old, crazy aunt.  At first, seeming so sweet & willing, and then she gave us that huge scare/near accident that has had us dotting on her every whine & complaint ever since.  “Dear, get me some new window sealant”, she said, “I’m leaking rain all over your front benches”.  And then “Darlings, I’ve nearly tossed my center roof vent off completely! Don’t you love the new sky-light I’ve created?” Or “Oh dear! I seem to be dribbling your grey water everywhere we go! Jason, be a doll and try to patch that up?” She’s been  saying that last line for days and poor Rienks has been under there with epoxy, putty, and anything he can think of attempting to patch up Rhonda’s persistently leaky grey water tank.  And here’s the thing - J and I just don’t have any live-in experience with ailing, old, crazy aunts…. We are struggling daily to meet Rhonda’s needs!  And the tensions can run high, if you know what I’m saying… care-giving can be very stressful on a relationship!

Ol' Aunt Rhonda - she can be a little demanding

It’s been 1 week since we crossed into the states. Sitting here putting “1 week” on paper, I had to check the calendar to be sure it wasn’t two… It has felt much longer than 1 week.  The thing we are seeing the most of in every town is Home Depot & Walmart.  Like we are on some disturbing tour of hardware stores & cheap stuff.  “Adjustment” would have to be the one word to describe the first week.  Adjusting to J & I being back together - like 24 hours a day, in 97sq ft of space. Adjusting to life on the road - read “spending massive amounts of time figuring out where you will sleep, eat, shower, and be safe”. Adjusting to life with Rhonda.  She’s just like all of us, the ol’ girl - lots of imperfections. In the beginning, when we first met, we didn’t notice most of them… and as people tend to do, and we saw a lot of what we wanted to see in her.  Now, we are getting intimate, real fast, and the cracks (literal cracks) are starting to show.  Here’s where the lesson is - we have to STAY; no choice but to get to know her better, and accept her imperfections, try our best to make the most of each situation.  And, we loved her from the beginning.. our eyes shining with adventure, her promising to house not just us, but our dreams & hopes of what this trip would be.  And now? Well, we must love her anyways.  We are here, on the road, thousands of miles from our respective homes. As for "our home", J & I together? We don’t have one (yet!). Rhonda IS our home. So we don’t have a choice.  I think the lesson is beautiful all the same - us being forced into it and all. How many times do we first meet someone (acquaintance, romantic, co-worker, teammate, whoever!), and at first they are the most amazing/friendly/interesting/hilarious person we know.  Then, after a few days, or dates, or weeks of working with them (when you get to know them more) you start see a few of their faults.  Maybe they have a short temper, or can be petty.  Whatever it is, their faults and imperfections peek through.  What is your first instinct then? Phase them out? See less of them? Talk about them with someone else who knows them and has surely noticed “X” about them?  

Well what would happen if you stayed? If you saw those faults and instead of turning away from the person, you tried to like or love them anyways? What would you see if you looked a little deeper? We are all different, and none of us are perfect…. And just like Rhonda, as we age, we all have our own cracks, dents & weak spots - places where pain, or past insults have made our structure less strong, less shiny, with spots that creak and whine under pressure. 

Our “Rhonda Metaphor” had us thinking. And me being a woman who enjoys her “beauty-time”….. Well, what if we gave Rhonda a mini-makeover??!!  A little injection of fun, to lift all of our spirits and raise the general vibration… I know I feel like I need one and I’ve only been on the road one week - Rhonda has been for over 30 years!!  Something cosmetic and frivolous, after all the structural poking & prodding she has been subjected to? A little pampering.   

Today we gave Rhonda a new stripe.  We did away with the burnt-orange of the 80s in favor of a pretty “Vintage Teal”…. from Home Depot, of course. 

-S

**Update: This was written about 5 days, 7 towns and 5 states ago, and I am pleased to say we haven’t seen the inside of a Home Depot since! (Everyone knock on wood…. )

'After': Rhonda feeling fresh in Vintage Teal

Maine, a story about trees...

Panoramic coastal views

We have finished our time in Maine. What a time it was… Lets start from the beginning.

The “Border Crossing”! It actually ended up being way less dramatic then we were anticipating. Which was a very welcomed experience, since it seems everything else is full of unexpected surprises. We were in and out, in about 40 minutes. However, the first question out of the guys mouth, when we pulled up was: “Where are you from?”… Well thats a loaded question for us, I mean, I’m “from” Glen Ellyn. But I’m also from “TL” which is what my license says. But my last mailing address is North Hollywood. We are coming literally from Moncton, NB. But the car is registered and “from” Ottawa, ON, which is where Steph is “from”, but she also lives part of the year in Muskoka. So yea I panicked and rattled off a few places and ended up spitting out, “We really don't have a home”, as I was thinking in my head, we are going on this trip to; “find our home, buddy”. So as soon as the “don’t” hit my lips I realized I probably shouldn't have said that. As he came back with, “You don’t have a home?”, and I came back with, “Twin Lakes, I’m from Twin Lakes.” He walked back into his booth for more typing and I received a strong elbow to the side, “We don't HAVE a home?!?!” “Yea, sorry….” He returned with a “You’re ok here, just pull up to the left and finish her packet inside. Thanks.” Stunned, I drove forward and parked.

We got inside, started filling out custom forms. We only needed to fill out one, and Steph had already started it, so I told her I was going to the bathroom, and had to go #1. I was however, told from the gentleman dealing with our situation, that I could not go the restroom and would be told when I could. Well played sir, I will however, be informing you, when you will be cleaning pee off your floor. 

Steph finished our customs stuff. The gentleman that was there before us got processed. A mom and daughter returning to the States from a Canadian shopping spree entered and were processed. Steph did her fingerprints and was told to wash her hands off in the bathroom. Cute. No service on my phone either, to distract me from my situation. She returned. Finally, they ask me a question, I answered and the officer goes, “Oh, did you go to the bathroom yet sir?”. Yea cause thats what I’m gonna do. Do something I have been told not to do, while you process my wife's Visa (that’s been in the process for over a a year now). “No I haven’t, may I?”. “Yes, of course.” She replies. Pfft. “Of course”, like I was an idiot for waiting.

I return, after looking at the dozen or so convicts, terrorists, and missing persons on the cork board in the hallway, convinced I’ve seen at least 2 of them, somewhere.  They call her up, finish everything, tell her all is well and we can go. 

Its a walk you only do when you're leaving, that situation, not fast but not slow, casually glancing at the hall walls and photos, giving a nod to the gentlemen coming in with their hunting trophies and firearms in their trailer, getting in the car and casually driving off. Or maybe it’s like when you didn't get charged for something at a grocery store, you know its not your fault but still wanna just GET OUT OF THERE, before they realize what happened. Either way there is huge fist pumping and raising of the roof, when you're out of visual site of the border. We weren't breaking any rules at all and should never have been nervous for leaving, but its just, SO many hours of stuff and money went into that: “Ok they will mail you your Green Card”, that you just want to get the f%#* out!

Ok now were in, first thing we do, miss the exit for a grocery store and Walmart. Next place to turn around is in 15 miles. Which is basically to where we are staying that night. So lets get there unload and level and then lets go back and get food and supplies.

That first foggy morning in
Island Falls, ME

We did and spent our first night in USA in Island Falls, ME., on Lake Pleasant. It was quaint. The place was a little creepy as it was a cloudy, fall, rainy, foggy evening, making it reminiscent of a Steven King novel. Im sure in July, with tons of other campers, boaters, sun and vacationers, it would have been perfectly normal. We survived, woke to more rain and fog over the lake. Ate, packed up and started the journey south!

Our first stop, Bar Harbor. I’ve been told again and again that Bar Harbor is a “must” by everyone who’s been to Maine. We drove through Bangor, it looked beautiful from the bridge going over the river! The drive out to the islands that make up Acadia National Park was slow and foggy, with intermittent rain. As we emerged onto Desert Island and into Bar Harbor the sun started to peek out and the rain stopped.

We found a place to park, got out to make a bit of lunch/early dinner. Oh Rhonda. I got inside to the center roof vent, off and flapping in the breeze. I could only just barely grab it from inside and hold it while Steph got in position to catch it as I flung it into the wind. ARG! Seriously? It couldn't just be easy could it. Also the “battery low” light was on. All the clouds the last 2 days had not done much to charge the batteries. So we would have to be very careful with the power we used tonight.  So, now what!? We need a ladder, we have a gaping hole in our ceiling! Ok, the YMCA is across the street from us, lets see if the good people there would let us borrow one. They would have, if only, the one person with keys to the work-shed was there, but alas he was gone for the day. Probably enjoying a delicious beer; even more aggravating to me. Ok, so I come outside to break the news to Steph, all the while watching snobby soccer moms scoff at Rhonda as they walk through the parking lot to their Zumba class.

So we chat trying to figure out what to do next ,as we are standing around…Pow! A ladder. Next door behind a community center. Just laying there. Its half an extension ladder, WAY to big for what we need, but who cares. So we set it up, toss the piece back up and  duct tape it into place, so at least the rain stays out.

Ok overnight parking. So the point of this trip is to “see towns” so staying in a  National Park campsite miles away from town, paying entrance to the park and then the campsite is not ideal. We want to stay somewhere where we can hang in town and bike around a bit. So we go in search of the perfect spot of “Urban Boondocking” (“boondocking" basically means just parking “somewhere” and being self-sufficient - not needing power or water hookups. This is where having the solar panels is going to help us a lot). We find it, perfect to us, right by the main dock, close to a few parks and all the pubs and restaurants. We park, level and leave for a bit of food and drinks. We find a restaurant and enjoy ourselves whilst trying not to think about the broken ceiling vent and low battery. Come back, brush our teeth and clean up for bed, when a cop pulls up. A champ of a guy! He did tell us we weren’t allowed to park there, but let us park in a different lot on the other side of town, pretty much where we were earlier - even though that lot wasn't meant for overnighting. He said he would tell the guys on the later shift know not to bother us. Awesome. So, left there,  parked again, and got rugged up for the night without heat, as to conserve the batteries, and passed out.

Coastal walk in Bar Harbor, ME

Woke up to beautiful blue sky. We moved to where we could park for the day with no dramas, set the solar panels up for the low sun and explored the town! It really is a cool place. The colors were beautiful, a little late in the fall  for the color prime-time, but awesome none the less! It’s a small quintessential New England town. Seaside, a few parks, lots of restaurants and hotels. A lot was “closing for the season” so not sure how much work would be around during the winter months. Also would be very touristy in the summer I’m imagining. Good for business though! Some beautiful homes and great scenery.

We leave that evening on our way down to Brunswick and Portland! Overnight at a Truck Stop. Our first time!! $10 for a shower, total for us both. Pretty clean facilities actually. Filled our fresh water tank. Found a spot in the lot with a plug, so we had power all night with heat! We set the solar panels up for the morning sun, made dinner and went to bed! Got up, ate and made our way to Brunswick, ME. Diving through some cool river side towns, Augusta, and the Capitol building!

So this whole time we have had this weird thing going on with the grey water tank. Side note: the grey water tank is the one that catches water from the sink and shower. The white water tank is the fresh water, and the black water tank, as you might guess, is the toilet. Back to our grey water tank - I’m not sure what the previous owners did to it, or why they did what they did, but there is some illogical drain plumbing going on. Also, someone before us bottomed out pretty hard I guess, and there is a few big cracks that have started to leak pretty bad at this point. So we find a Motor Supply Company and grab some fiberglass and plastic epoxy. We arrive in Brunswick and Steph goes off to find us some
costumes and candy to give out for Halloween! I talk shop about solar with our Boondocker Host - Larry. Larry and his wife Jean are retired and live in a quaint 1950s-era neighborhood, and we are parking in their driveway for the next 2 nights. Back to the grey water tank! I finally get to work on it. On my back under trailer with about 10 inches of clearance from the ground and I get what I believe is all of the leaks with all the epoxy and fiberglass I can. We eat candy, hand out candy, drink beers and wine and enjoy all the kids coming by for Halloween!

Rising Tide Brewery - "A rising tide lifts all boats"

Sunday is Portland day! We first headed “Land’s End” on Bailey Island. Awesome drive! Really cool island grouping, small towns and homes. Then South to Portland. We found a cool breakfast place, The Portland Pottery Cafe. We smashed some food and made a plan for the day! We found a good central place to park (we are without Rhonda today, she is safely parked in Brunswick) and headed out walking for the afternoon! Portland, is kind of how I imagined it. Looks like it was a very gritty, industrial city with lots of fishing; now, taken over by artists, foodies and breweries, with I'm sure tons of fishing still at its heart. Our kind of place! Spent the day checking it all out. Easy city to walk. Lots of brew pubs and found Rising Tide Brewery. Which was in a bit of an industrial area and next to a distillery. We went in and got 4 x 4oz glasses of our choosing and one full size. Great beers and cool people! Then a bright green "brewery tour" bus showed up and some people got off. We both looked at each other and immediately went to our phones. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A company, The Maine Brew Bus, that basically takes you around to all the breweries and some food spots for an afternoon, and is your DD. Pretty cool idea.  Also the #1 attraction on Trip Advisor for Portland! They all got a little tour of the brewery as well. All in all a cool city and one that I would love to get back to! 

The town of Brunswick where we were staying was beautiful as well, we didn't get to go out much there as we were a bit busy with Halloween and such. It has Bowdoin College which has a really cool campus and vibe to it. The town itself is very green, with lots of trees and a river through it. Seems like a great place as well. 

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, ME

Our last day in Maine was spend driving quite a bit. We got to Cape Elizabeth which was awesome! Lots of little inland streams and rivers that would be great for paddling if it had been a bit higher tide… and warmer! We did stop for our last Maine Lobster. We had a Lobster Roll and Crab Cake Sliders with some Roasted Butternut Squash & Maple chowder at Pine Tree Seafood & Produce. AMAZING!! Then off to NH and Mass!

Maine in a nut shell.… Man I really loved it! I am more blown away by how much forest there was! I never really thought too much about it before, but the whole state is a giant forest. Literally. I mean being from Illinois, we have “forests” here and there, but nothing like it is in Maine. Haha, maybe that sounds weird or obvious to some but it wasn't to me, and I love it.  I do love the architecture here as well. I’m sure that will be a theme throughout our drive of the NE coast, as I love all of the Colonial, Cape Cod and Georgian style homes. The field-stone fences and house facades are some favorites as well. Anyways, I'm no architecture major by any means, but I like what I see! Maine will definitely be someplace I would love to come back and explore further! We live in a pretty amazing country!!

Uff, well Im sitting here in Hingham, Mass, writing this, enjoying a Harpoon IPA. We are bit behind the blogging 8 ball as you can tell. Lots to do everyday, and it kinda feels more and more like we aren't really staying and enjoying one place very long. I hope that changes. We got a bit of a later start so I think we are trying to stay ahead of the freezing temps, so as not to have any more plumbing or heating problems… RHONDA! 

Ok kids, Thanks for staying till the end!  If you want more pics, we started an IG to photo-journal our trip - @_theroadtohome_ - check it out! 

Cheers!

J

Murphy's Law & the Black Cat

So where did we leave off? Our first night? With crisp autumn sunrise pics and farm kitties? 

Well, "day 2" did start off quite idyllically - our first morning in Rhonda.  We woke up early, took our time, made a breakfast of eggs, toast & avocado, and coffee.  And off we went, waving to Claude on his tractor as we pulled out. Then, a black cat crossed our path on the way out of town. Ba-ba-bammmmm, little did we know what the day had in store for us!

First stop was Canadian Tire in Lévi, QC - one of the bolts on the bumper adapter (the adapter allows us to put the bike rack on the back of Rhonda) has sheered off. Crazy (and dagerous!) since we just bought it at Orleans RV 10 days ago. J did did some F1-like speed-change of the busted one and we were away. We had about a 7 hour drive to our next stop in Moncton where we would catch up with some friends from my uni days.  We haven’t seen JP & Rachelle since our wedding - so we are way overdue! And we have received confirmation that my passport (containing the precious visa) will be sent to Moncton for pick-up.  Feels like all the pieces are right where they should be, and I take my turn driving.  Not going to lie, we are both a bit tired - first night in Rhonda was short and we def need to get used to our new “compact” bed - especially Rienks, who only "kind of" fits on a diagonal LOL.  

Rienks is dozing in the passenger seat, and I’ve just teed up some favorite tunes to sing along to as we cruise along the St-Lawrence river.  Not even 2 songs in, we go over a quite large seam in the highway, that sort of wakes my sleeping beauty. I look over to smile at him and “SHIT, Fuck!!” excuse my french - Rhonda’s passenger side wheel is engulfed in smoke… We slow and pull over on the side of the highway, run back to Rhonda…. Now our smoke detector is going off, yelling “FIRE, FEU, FIRE” at us, over and over, through it’s high pitched beeping.. We are throwing windows open, smoke & the smell of burnt rubber has completely taken over poor Rhonda!!! When we finally get the fire alarm off, orange cones set behind us on the shoulder, we can see that Rhonda’s passenger-side wheel is all the way back in the wheel-well.  Where the axel is attached to the frame at the front has “come undone”, metal peeling apart from metal. Not good… Call insurance, they send a tow truck…. we wait. I have to pee (surprise), but what luck - we have a bathroom! I turn on the water pump, pee, and go back to pacing around Rhonda.  We tried to somehow use a ratchet strap on the right side to pull the axel up a few inches off the wheel well so we can maybe limp to a garage to save ourselves the towing fee…. no luck.….. Well, now we notice TONS of water seeping out of the trailer seam behind the affected wheel! As if the smoke & heat engaged some secret hose & sprinkler system (maybe Rhonda is a genius LOL).  In reality, the high heats in the wheel-well had melted 2 of our plumbing hoses under the sink. When I turned on the water pump to use the toilet, all the water from our clean water tank came seeping out…. all over our dishes & tupperware - which are also covered in burnt black debris! It’s like a terrible comedy where everything that can go wrong will…Murphy’s law & that damned black cat!  This is where that Facebook photo comes in… us watching Rhonda get hoisted onto the tow truck.  I was laughing and crying all at the same time. This is just under 24hours since we pulled out of Orleans, how is this even possible?!!  

Rhonda being carted away; the damage

The guys from Atelier Carois in La Pocatière came to get us. When we arrived at the garage we were both expecting the worst: a few days layover in this quaint little french village (as it was Saturday afternoon) and hundreds of dollars in towing and welding.  Super thankful I speak french - as these guys don’t speak much english. They performed a miracle, fixing up Rhonda - in about 30 minutes!! They did a great job, even welding a bit of support on the left side as well, just to be safe. The bill was also very manageable, which was great to find out.  In the drama of it all we were so lucky - these guys don’t usually work Saturdays, just happened to be there finishing a job; Rhonda had brand new tires, so when it happened we didn’t have a blow-out that could’ve caused an accident.  So a big gratitude shout out to the universe on this one!!!

So, we jumped on the highway and decided to cautiously push through to New Brunswick that night. We made it to JP & Rachelle’s house shortly after 12:30AM. Greeted with a cold beer, and a warm bed, both of which were well deserved…… 

Next post - our time in Moncton, NB…. already playing catch up on here! Sigh!  

Sometimes you just gotta "do yoga about it"! Some breath & movement while waiting for Rhonda's repairs - beautiful farmland & sky to call our frazzled nerves!

Rhonda Baby!

**Disclaimer - we had a pretty eventful 2nd day on the road that we will share as well.  But let's wind it back to Day 1, written before things got too crazy...... 

Bonjour!! Comment ça va? In our second post, we are stoked to introduce you to our RHONDA! But first…. Where we are blogging from :) 

Sunrise from our 'bedroom' window

Ouff. Parked and level in deep in French-land, Québec! On our first night in Rhonda. Its COLD! We are staying at Claude’s property, at cool little Organic farm in Nicolet that we found on “Boondocker's Welcome”, a cool website that provides a network of people who are looking for a place to “Boondock”,(dry camping, basically, staying anywhere, not a regulated campsite) with people who have land or space for campers or RV’s, and want to meet new people and help others out who are traveling. Claude is really nice, has a great spot here. We have met a few of his kittens. He’s doesn't speak much English, so Steph (my Bi-Lingual Beauty) is doing much of the talking. Gonna hang here for the night, then on to New Brunswick tomorrow for Moncton.

So Rhonda… we made a little video today kinda giving a once-over of the old-bird. She's a beauty. Loves it. She's an 84 model and we got her in pretty good condition. She's dry, which is great as I have excelled at drilling holes in her, from the roof, to the walls and floor. Done quite a bit of work to her: We have installed solar panels (video to come), 2 100Watt panels connected to a 12 volt 3 battery bank, to power the DC system and also a 2000watt inverter for our AC stuff. i.e. computer/iphone/camera chargers, toaster etc. Also had to re-caulk all our windows and doors. New freshwater tank connectors with lock. Plumbing, uff, what a nightmare, we waited for about 4 days for a simple T connector from an RV shop, so we could connect the hot water tank, only to get it from another shop and find out after it was all connected that we had a hole in the hot water heater. What a fuckaround. Had to rip out the whole tank and propane system for it. Lost a bit of weight which was nice but no hot water, which is gonna suck on these cold days in New England and Canada. Oh well… gonna have to tough it out, puts hair on your chest right? Propane fridge seems to be woking fine, fingers crossed. Furnace works, again fingers crossed (as I am writing all this, the furnace went out, cute). We have a Carbon Monoxide/Smoke Detector combo, which will be comforting when going to bed with this 30something year old furnace kicking-in throughout the night. 

Fashion is cyclical right? We have done away with the 90’s cushion covers and brought back the OG, 80’s, plaid, rust-orange & brown covers. Lots of scrubbing and washing. Steph made a few new curtains with some thrift store fabric, using a sewing machine older than us all. SO Yea all in all its came together, with our long wait from the Visa people.

So tonight is gonna be a real test to see how long the DC system works for, throughout the night. The furnace can’t draw that much power from it, to run the little fan, but we will see…. nothing like a little body heat to keep us warm, right!?

Ok well we dont have any WiFi tonight so not sure when this will go up, hopefully soon! Thanks for tuning in and hope we can get some of these vids edited and posted as well!!

J

We almost had to take this lil one along