Month: April 2024

Once Again, I Failed at Taking Important Pictures

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

While we were in Florida, we spent some great time with family and friends. Did I take a picture of these most important moments? No, I did not. I spent all important time with my dear friends Karen and Marcie, had a great brunch with my friend Terri, and surprised our friend Marilyn in the process. I saw some former co-workers, Gia, Barb, and Tonia, who are now like family to me, and I did not take one single photo with these very important people in my life. Even worse, I did not take pictures of my time with my kids, Mason and Jenna. We spent so much time together, and the only photo I have is of the crawfish that Jenna’s boyfriend Quentin boiled for Easter. Moments with family are so precious. I guess I get so wrapped up in the enjoyment with them that I forget the pictures until it is too late. On one hand, it is good that I am so focused on them and entirely in the moment. On the other hand, I am kicking myself in the butt for not taking the time to catch those memories in a photo. SO here are a few from previous times, when I or someone else was thinking about preserving those moments.

Mason, Gage, Jenna and myself as few years ago at a Saints game.

Karen, Marcie, and I a few years ago.

My friend Donna (who I was not able to see this time), Terri, myself and Marilyn.

Barbara, Tonia, Gia, and myself a few years ago.

After Easter, it was time for us to begin our slow wander to the west. We had a family party in Louisiana that we really wanted to be there for, and more family to visit. We headed west on Interstate 10 and made it almost to Mobile, Alabama when it was time to stop for the night.

If you have read previous posts, you know that we can park at Cracker Barrel overnight for free. We learned that Bass Pro Shop offers the same. We decided to give it a try. It was great for parking lot camping. We had plenty of space, there was room for Murphy to run, and we were able to find a mount for our rearview camera monitor. After a good night’s sleep, we jumped on 10 again and headed to Fontainebleau State Park for two and a half week stay.

This picture is Aaron’s cousin Ethan, his wife Lara, Aaron and I when we spent a week with them at their home in Lake Tahoe. I have to post this picture because, again, I failed to take the important photos of our time spent with them in Louisiana on this trip.

Ethan was turning 50, and his wife Lara planned a huge birthday bash in Louisiana so that Ethan’s family and friends could celebrate him. We saw cousins we had not seen in years! We had time to get to know their kids a little better, and even some of their grandkids as well. It was very special to be able to hug them, hear about their families, and just catch up with each other’s lives. We all see glimpses of each other on social media, but it is not the same as person-to-person conversations. Did I take one single picture at the party? Again, I failed. Again, I was wrapped up in family and conversation, and my phone was a forgotten item in my pocket. I did steal one picture from Lara’s social media. Lara, thank you for that!

We spent a great afternoon visiting Aunt Peggy and Uncle Ed. Murphy had a great time playing with their dog, Buddy. Again, not a dang picture taken; this one is from November of last year.

I spent some great time with my lifelong best friend, Anita, and her son Isaiah. Is this a photo from this visit? Nope, failed again.

We were also able to drive down to Thibodaux to visit Aaron’s 104 year old Maw-Maw and some of his aunts and uncles. Again, I failed to take a picture. This one is from 2023. Every moment with her is so special. It was wonderful to able to visit with more family and have a day of love and laughter.

In between family time, we settled into beautiful Fontainebleau State Park. The weather got a bit squally on us during the week and sent tons of rain and a tornado about 20 miles to the east of us. This left the park slightly flooded, but no real damage, and some cool photo opportunities. I only used my phone for photos because trying to take pictures with a real camera and have Murphy on a leash is not easy. Of course, there were deer and some beautiful picture opportunities.

Spending what time we can with family enables us to keep going on this wandering journey. The moments may be spread out over the year, but as much time as we spend with only ourselves, the moments become more cherished, even if there are no pictures. These moments live in our minds and hearts.

After our time was up at Fontainebleau, it was time to start moving towards the Dallas, Texas area. Aaron had some things to do there for work. So we packed it up, and hit the road, moving west.

Murphy’s Law

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Meet Murphy’s Law, our new house on wheels. This is an Airstream Trade Wind and has some really incredible options that called to Aaron and me like a siren of the sea. Without getting too technical, I will go into some detail about why this camper became our must-have home.

One of my favorite options is the hatch. This opens the back of the camper completly for views, airflow and a greater connection to the outdoors while Aaron is working, I am blogging, or we just want to enjoy an al fresco dinner without all the bugs that usually accompany such things.

I am also a huge fan of the flooring. The floor is one piece of composite. The composite floor is waterproof, and since there are no wood components, it will not get damaged or rot due to water. It looks like stained concrete and cleans very easily. Also, it does not show dirt or wear nearly as much as our previous floor. I also love the interior colors. The wood is a bit warmer in tone, the grey is prettier than the dark brown we had before, and it comes with pretty curtains to divide the front and back if we want to create some privacy between the bathroom, the bedroom, and the living/kitchen area. The pictures were taken mid decorating, so it is not the finished look.

This is not my photo; I found it on a Google search, but this shows the solar package on our camper. This design, along with the three lithium batteries, can run the entire trailer, including the A.C. and microwave, without having to plug into a source of electricity. For us, this is perfect. We also added 2 more lithium batteries that we already had from our previous camper and a portable solar panel to boost our power supply. This will allow us to spend more time in remote areas with more comfort than before. Our roof does look a little different. Aaron added some Wi-Fi extender antennas, and our Starlink is now mounted on the roof.

When we ordered our Trade Wind, one of the options was the composting toilet. As I discussed in my last post, we did not get the trailer we ordered, and settled for one with the conventional toilet instead. We did order the composting toilet from Airhead, and Aaron did the installation himself. This saves us water and tank space for wastewater. It is not nearly as scary or gross as I thought it would be. It doesn’t smell bad, and so far, it has been easy to manage. It is just another item that will make our journeys into the more remote areas less stressful and more doable.

We added a three-phase water filtration system so that we would not have to continue purchasing drinking water. We also have a one-phase water filter that we have always used when filling our fresh water tank or anytime we hook up to a water source. The combination of both systems will save us money and reduce the amount of garbage we accumulate during our travels.

Not to leave Murphy out, we ordered him a new kennel. We removed one sofa cushion and placed his doggy room there. We had to shorten the cushions next to it a little bit to accommodate the new kennel, but it works really well. He likes his own space, and we like having a place for him to go when he is wet from swimming, dirty from playing, or if he needs to be left alone for a little while so we can grocery shop or do some laundry.

Next is the tankless recirculating water heater. This is really awesome. When I turn on the recirculating feature, the system recirculates the water in the hot water lines to ensure that when a faucet is opened, there is instant hot water. Now, the shower is furthest away from the heater, so it does take a few seconds for the heated water to get to the shower, but not nearly as long as a standard water heater takes. This helps us save water in a considerable way, once again helping us keep our resources longer, waste less, and still have all the conveniences that we want in our house on wheels.

The last thing I am going to write about the Trade Wind is the 3-inch lift and 16-inch tires. The first image is the new Trade Wind. The second image is the Flying Cloud model we had before. The tires are an inch bigger, and the axle has a 3-inch lift. Altogether, this gives us about a 4-inch height difference. Four inches may not seem like a lot, but trust me, it is! We will have higher clearance on rough roads, and we won’t worry as much about bottoming the camper out on inclines in parking lots and things like that. The tires are also more rugged and can handle dirt and gravel roads more easily.

We loved our other camper, Yurtle. If Airstream had not come out with this brand-new camper, we would have happily stayed in Yurtle for a very long time. This one just called to us and has all the upgrades we had wanted and done, but better. The Trade Wind is named Murphy’s Law after our dog, Murphy. Aaron and I both enjoy a good pun. We just hope that the camper does not live up to its name. We are both excited to see where our new home will take us. Next week’s blog will be again focused on our wanderings. Thank you for reading my blog and going with us on our adventures!

Dear Yurtle, Thank You for Everything

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

The day came when we had to say goodbye to our wonderful home on wheels, Yurtle. This Airstream has been our home, shelter, and refuge, and it is why we became wanderers. It felt bittersweet to say goodbye. We learned so much about ourselves, about traveling, camping, what we need to be comfortable, and what we thought we needed but did not. We altered her, decorated her, and loved her as a person would their home. It was a year well spent in Yurtle, and I will be forever grateful that she was our first rig, our first home on wheels, and our catalyst to a new life.

We made it to Florida and it was time to start moving our stuff out of Yurtle in preparation to move into the new one that we were so eagerly waiting to be delivered. We had to uninstall our Starlink without damaging the roof, which Aaron did brilliantly. It was exactly like moving out of a house, just on a smaller scale.

We spoke with our salesman and was told everything was on time for delivery, and our new home would be there in about a week. So we really got moving packing up everything so we would be ready to hookup to our new home on wheels as soon as it arrived. We called again the day before it was to be delivered, and no one knew when it was actually supposed to arrive. We knew a horrific tornado hit Ohio very close to where Airstream manufactures all of their trailers, and, understandably, there may be a delay on delivery. The only issue we had was that the dealership in Jacksonville was not following up on our order, did not bother to get any updates from Airstream, and was not very concerned about our new camper order at all.

Aaron and I took it upon ourselves to get directly in touch with Airstream to see what was going on with our new trailer. The man we spoke to was very kind, researched our order and informed us that it would be 3 weeks to another month before we would receive it. Honestly, we would have been completely fine with that, if anyone from the dealership had cared enough to find this out for us and kept us updated on the delays. If we had known, we would not have disassembled Yurtle, and emptied her out until the actual delivery date.

We found a Trade Wind in Tampa with everything we had ordered except the composting toilet. We then did some research and found that we could order the toilet and install it ourselves. So, we had the deposit we had put down transferred to the Tampa dealership and picked up our new camper three days later!

It was exciting and sad to see Yurtle sitting there after our last unhooking. The service guy hitched up our new trailer, put the two side by side, and we moved the few items we had brought with us into our new house on wheels. We waved goodbye to Yurtle and took Murphy’s Law for our first night in our new home.

It had already been a long day. We were not up to driving 3 to 4 hours back to our home base, and we just wanted to play with our new toy. So, we spent our first night in Murphy’s Law at a Cracker Barrel. It was great! We got to know the new trailer, and it got to know us a little as well. Murphy (our dog and the camper’s namesake) was unsure about his new home, but he settled in well.

The blue pins represent last year’s travels, and the white pins will be this year’s travels. I can not wait to see where the white pins will land this year!

Next week, I will delve into why we traded our previous Airstream for this new Trade Wind.