Atlanta bound

We got up and leisurely and left "South of The Boarder".  We drove the better part of the day and fit in some roadschool.  It was good.

I need to share that we discovered this App I bought way back when we got the RV that tells us where truck stops are that have RV islands (easy places for RVs to get gas that is not with the big semis), if they have propane, weigh stations, it also tells you where all the state parks, city parks, KOAs, etc and not only links to their websites but it has reviews of people who have stayed there AND exactly how many miles you are from those places while driving.  We had never used it before this trip besides goofing around with it.  I can't even begin to tell you how important this app became to us.  I think I paid $9.99 for it, but it was worth so much more to us.  We discovered how worth it it was when we got close to Atlanta and needed gas and we were within the radius that they no longer build truck stops.

I also need to share that on the first day of travel we weighed the rig and the car with us in it.  We were overweight both inside the RV on the back axel and we were towing over capacity.  A combined 700lbs.  This was not cool.  My dad said we would be fine just to be smart about driving and our friends who did this before us said they were 1500lbs over weight but weren't towing.  Ugh.

Getting gas in a big RV that is towing a car is a pain in the ass every single time IF you aren't at a truck stop and even then it will likely be difficult anyway.  It was about 4pm and we needed gas and we drove around in a circle trying to come in at the right angle to pull into this fast station.  This sort of action requires you to drive around entire city blocks so you can come in on the right side of the gas station.  You can't just do a u-turn in the middle of the street, and you aren't always lucky enough to find a big parking lot to turn around in on that side of the road from the gas station.  Getting gas in Atlanta took about an hour and took us into sun set.

We get back on the road and head to our camp ground which was about 13 miles north of downtown.  We had to drive through the downtown.  Fortunately it was Saturday and traffic wasn't horrible at this time but it was fast and tight and of all things, we lost the brake lights on the dolly.  By the time we got to our campground Jon's hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so tight for so long.

The campground which had great reviews was not great.  It was a park full of full-timers.  They were so close together our awning was nearly touching the people next to us.  The only good thing was that it was not very far from our destination for the next day and there were several auto parts stores near by so Jon could fix the break lights.

The next day we hit the Atlanta Aquarium.  It was the largest tank I've ever seen.  It was quite incredible, but I have mixed emotions about these types of places so kudos to the PETA folks who spend so much time protesting these facilities.  (that's another blog) After the Aquarium, we ran back home to let Buoy out and find some parts to fix the brake lights. Then we went to find some BBQ recommended by our friends.  It was a good day.

Jon fixed the brake lights, we went to bed ready for a long day of driving toward TX.

The trip…..

Jon pushing the ice off the slides so we can pull away.   Note he is standing on the TOP of the ladder which was sitting on a thick layer of ice

The day before we left Virginia the side roads and pretty much everything were still covered with a thick layer of ice.  We pulled out of Dam Neck after removing ice from everything.  The dog lead was buried under two inches of  packed snow and ice…..I dug it out for about 20 minutes by jamming a broken broomstick into the ground over and over and over again.  That was fun.  A random act that is burned in my memory.

We parked the RV in Aunt Judy's driveway that night so that we could pick up Jon's guns (which we ended up leaving behind) and say our good-byes.  It was BITTER cold.  The next day, Jon took the RV back to the trailer place to retry getting all the lights and whistles working on the tow dolly.  This could have been completed earlier in the week had we not had the weather that we did.  So that took us until about 5pm.  When we finally hit the road, it was still day light.  We took off out of Suffolk and headed south. It was awesome to watch the snow go away.

Our first stop was "South Of The Boarder"!  The giant "Pedro" on I-95 just south of the North Carolina boarder.  It was late when we got in and the sign in the office of the campground office there said "OPEN" which they were intact not.  (This sort of negligence becomes a problem when someone driving an RV and towing a car on a dolly that can not go in reverse, pulls up too close to something and has to unhook everything to get out.  Luckily this only happened once 2 hours into the trip at a truck stop but Jon decided to reverse anyway….. the sound the dolly made was horrifying and it only moved about 3 inches.)  So Jon pulled around and got me as close as I could to the hotel on the property where I was to get the access key to the campground and check in.  It was cold but I was wearing my new running shoes and got to try them out:-) As I approached the hotel lobby it looked very inviting.  Retro style, sheik furniture, fire in the fire place…...I secretly hoped that we wouldn't be able to get into the campground and would be forced into a hotel room for the night.  (Which would never happen) Then I opened the tinted glass door.  The smell hit me.  The furniture was definitely vintage retro.  Certainly the original as was the carpet which as you can imagine smelled pretty bad.  I checked in, it was about 10pm and the dude at the counter insisted on seeing my military I.D. as I requested a military discount on our space….. I had left my Purse in the RV that was park 1/4 away because Jon couldn't get too close for fear of having to unhook the dolly if there wasn't enough space….. Off I ran again in my new shoes.

We got in the campground, spent the night, and got up the next morning heading to Atlanta or bust!  Our first night down went well.

Leaning forward into adventure.

I wasn't sure if today would ever arrive, and who knows where today will end. ....we have had plans all week but this darn weather has mutilated them.

Yesterday as I was driving past Mt. Trashmore covered in ice and snow the sun was setting behind it.  It was a breathtaking sight for a hill made of garbage.  It brought back memories of  my first venture into the world on my own ...... The feelings of leaving....... We will see Mt. Trashmore again.  We will see you too.

We are destined for Atlanta today.  Jon is anyway.  I'm destined for anywhere our water pump isn't going to freeze and we can hook up to city water for easy showers.  That said......

This weather has been rough.  Jon of course missed it by getting stuck on the ship.  He did CQ though and finished up his last flight typical C-2 fashion- broken plane.  (Lucky for us it was fixable, otherwise he'd still be out. ) We spent several days with frozen fresh water tank, water pump, and I suppose pipes.  Even the bath house at the campground had frozen drains so showering there wasn't even a good option.  (It would pool around your feet and the campground manager was pouring antifreeze in them to thaw them so others could shower......um.....yeah)

We spent the night in Suffolk in Aunt Judy's driveway. Papa Lee has been kind enough to store Jon's guns for him here while we were living on base.  So this morning we are regrouping, Jon is checking out of his command, reorganizing the weight under the RV, picking up the tow dolly, (we had breaks put on it and it wasn't ready yesterday) and blowing this popscicle stand!  Fingers crossed this goes well........I'm a little nervous at the weight we are towing.  Prayers please!

Like a comet pulled from orbit,
As it passes a sun.
Like a stream that meets a boulder,
Halfway through the wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
I have been changed for good

It well may be,
That we will never meet again,
In this lifetime.
So let me say before we part,
So much of me,
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me,
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have re-written mine,
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring,
By a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a skybird,
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you,
Because I knew you,
I have been changed for good.

Prepare for the worst…..it's never that bad

I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full kind of girl.  I prepare for the worst case scenario and 99.9% of the time whatever the scenario ends up being is not anywhere near what the worst case scenario was that I made up in my head.  Thinking this way annoys Jon.  I think it helps me stay positive and find the bright side of not so bright situations easier.  So think for a minute all the 'worst case scenarios' for living in a 32 ft camper with 5 people and a CRAZY puppy (who I don't really like very much in his current life stage.)

1.) Everyone gets sick - puking and diarrhea at the same time with one toilet
2.) Baby turns on gas to stove and the entire RV explodes
3.) Temp drops, pipes freeze we are without water at 3 am when everyone is pooping and puking while Jon is gone.
4.) RV tips over in a random wind storm with us in it.
5.) Jon leaves us alone in the RV to fend for ourselves for a week while he goes to a pretty little island on the Eastern Shore and I lose my mind and admit myself to the psych ward at NMCP.
6.) The dog gets diarrhea and craps all over everything.

Most of those scenarios crossed my mind at some point, and then when they happened it wasn't so bad:

1.) Everyone got sick but only one at a time and luckily Jon was already on his pretty little island and he got to be sick alone.
2.) Freddie turned the gas on to the stove and the whole RV filled up with propane while we were still in our PJs one day (when we were still feeling icky from being sick) I shoved everyone outside into the mud and called Jon who reminded me to turn off the main propane valve.  I spun around in panic circles about 15 times and then finally noticed the stove knob was turned.  That was pretty scary.  We now have safety covers on the stove knobs.
3.) The hose froze one morning when Jon was gone,  the temps were not supposed to dip below 32 degrees so I did what I was supposed to do and turned on the reserve tank but the water pump wouldn't work.  We were only without water for about 30 min.  That night I filled up a pitcher of water to use to flush the toilet in the middle of the night and our hot water pot to assure ample amounts of coffee in the morning because the water pump was still not working.  THEN Rudy's stomach bug came back right as we were going to bed…… By midnight, I had used up the water in the pitcher to flush the toilet after him and my option was going to be to tap into my coffee water or head to the bathhouse to fill up.  After Rudy threw up one last time, he turned and said "mama can you get me a damp cloth to wipe my mouth with?" and out of habit I grabbed a cloth and turned on the faucet and out came water!!!   The water pump that had not worked all day decided to pump.  God saw me about to lose it and intervened. Not a good time to test my patience. Praise Him!  
4.) We moved to a different campground on a different base and we are at the beach and not protected by any trees. We have had some wicked winds blowing the rig so hard that it rocks and feels like we could tip.  It freaks me out.
5.) Jon left us for the week for FCLPs and I did lose my S*** far too many times while he was gone but because of awesome friends and small group who prayed for me I managed to keep it together.
6.) The dog peed in my running shoes.

That sums up the last two weeks.  Between those situations we had a lot of really great stuff happen.  The day after Jon got home we moved out of the horribly depressing and muddy campground at Little Creek to the one at Dam Neck on the beach, our awesome neighbors threw us a going away party, we celebrated Ella's birthday with great friends, Ella and Rudy earned their first stripe on their belts in Jiu Jitsu, Ella turned 9, and Buoy lost all four of his needle-sharp canine teeth!

Jon driving us away from our muddy mud hole.

Dam Neck……much much better. No mud.

Ella's birthday lunch!

Ice skating after the birthday lunch

Freddie at JiuJitsu

9 year old Ella 

Ella and Gustavo Machado after getting her stripe

Rudy receiving his stripe.  

He takes it very seriously.  He is so proud!

Life In The Camper

I had this very long blog entry that documented our week of packing and moving and it disappeared and I'm very upset.  I supposed I have to re-do it while the memories are fresh but man…..

Anyway, people keep asking how camper life is going, why we choose to move into it early and call us crazy for choosing to live this way.  We may be a little nuts for choosing this.  It's certainly not as spacious as a house but it is essentially a house with all the modern conveniences (except that our shower sucks) plus wheels.  A large large number of people do exactly what we are doing now.  In fact, if you go to any base campground  90% of the people on them are living there full-time and have no plans to leave, or they are geo-baching it, or in limbo like us.  All of the folks we have encountered are officers too which is interesting.  Do you know how cheap it is to live in a camper at a camp ground?  That's mainly why we chose to move into it early, we can bank our housing allowance.   We have a month or so left here in VA and the date to leave keeps changing and has since the beginning.  Rather than guess and endure the stress of not knowing exactly the date of our departure without a house waiting for us on the other end, why not challenge ourselves to live minimally and bank our BAH?  Living small without a lot of stuff is very attractive to Jon and I.  We have everything we need in here, and an entire house in storage in CA.  Stuff is stuff.  Space is different.  Space is space, and well, that's why we will only live in here temporarily.

Depending on the hour or minute you ask how we are doing, the answer I give you will vary.  Our first week was rough.  There was a puker and after she recovered there was a snotty cougher and while that was happening there was a crap ton of rain.  Mama was a little grumpy, the dog is lucky to still be a Kalbach, and I'm terrified of everyone getting really sick.  (Lucky for everyone, Ella only had a 24 hour bug. )  We are very warm, very comfortable, and yes very close.  It's like living in a hotel room with all our stuff.  It's really not bad but at times it isn't the best.  What's cool about living in a small space is that it takes 30 minutes max to clean the entire house.   That includes dishes, kitchen, floors, bathroom, beds, and picking up.  Leaving our day to plan to spend time with the people we love and will leave soon.  It makes Jon and I test the length of our patience on one another and the kids.  We have some work to do.

I think what I dislike the most is the crappy weather and the campground we are at.  We are staying near our old house so the kids can be close to school.  The campground is a mud pit and almost completely full.  It's surrounded by woods on 3 sides and a main road runs past the fourth side.  I feel a little claustrophobic because of that.  We will likely move when the kids finish school next month (a week or two before we take off) to a less crowded one on the beach.

So don't worry about us.  We are doing great.  The clouds look to be moving out right now and I see the sun on the horizon.  We plan to hit the bowling ally and then have dinner with some of our navy family tonight.  Tomorrow we are having breakfast as a family at the laundromat (HA!), and in about 5 minutes I'm ordering a super cool collapsable bathtub to bathe Freddie in in our shower to solve that issue.(YAY!)  We have play dates and dinners with friends to look forward to, and I haven't even had a chance to  use my Instapot yet!  Tomorrow we plan to cook in that.  I've never used a pressure cooker before.  There is a lot of buttons and a decent size instruction book.  I need to study it so I don't blow up our house.  

The Laundromat

I had mentioned awhile back that my biggest fears about this full-time RV living business for a few months were laundry and cooking in a small space.  It turns out those aren't so bad.  I have faced them and succeeded

The campground we are at has a laundry facility.  However, there the washer are small and the dryers don't dry and there is one other family who is always doing laundry and I'm always stuck waiting.  I got really fed up the other day and decided to try a real laundromat.

I don't think I have ever had to use a laundromat before. I think I have been in one before but never used it. In college I took my laundry home.  So, today I put on my big girl panties and hit the 'mat.  I went to one about a mile away and to my surprise it had a restaurant in it!  It was a total greasy spoon, but they had BEER!  So the beer was just Budweiser and Bud Light, but so what, there's beer and breakfast and crap food at the laundromat.  Why is this not a bigger market?

There are three different size/cost washing machines at the 'mat.  I was a bit perplexed on which to use so I just used the triple loader.  I realized after I paid $4.50 a load (for just two loads) that I could have used the giant washer for all of it for $5.75.  Then the dryers were huge and $0.25 for 4 min and it took about 30 min to dry.  I spent a small fortune on laundry and only an hour of my time there.  Next time I'll go an extra day and eat breakfast there or perhaps have some me time at the 'mat.  It's also a great place to get in a little school for the big kids once we start homeschooling next month.  Overall it was a pleasant, happy and exciting experience.  I like the the laundromat.  It's almost better than doing laundry at home.  I got it ALL done in an hour and folded and put away as soon as I got back.

For the hour I was there it was me and Freddie and a and full of there people.  Freddie entertained himself very well.  Watching his bunny swirl in the washer was exciting to him as well as opening and closing the washing machine doors 3 million times, pushing around the laundry cart and playing with a lego guy that was in the bottom of my basket.  His only fussy time was seeing his bunny swirl around the dryer.  Again, overall not bad at all.

I do think I almost had my purse stollen though.  Next time I'll leave it in my car.

My new fears are bathing Freddie and frozen freshwater hoses.

Happy New Year!

This Christmas came upon us in a furry of busy times.  Between the kids' activities (Jiu Jitsu twice a week, church once, every day life, it's been crazy or maybe I'm crazy and great at excuses?  We made the first 13 days of Advent devotionals happen, that counts for something right?  If you know me, you know I hate being busy and rushed.  It was a total accident.

At first I was going to send out Christmas cards, then I came up with the excuss that our list is so long it's going to cost an arm and a leg in postage so I would send them to just a few close friends and family, and then it came down to sheer laziness because I have not quite got the hang of the three kid thing yet and I'm lazy, or perhaps very disorganized…… yeah, it's probably the disorganization combined with 3 kids thing.  I know there are people reading this with 4+ kids that sent cards out this year.  I know I've reached my kid limit especially with the new puppy.  So perhaps new years cards in the midst of packing or post packing….. yeah right.

My goal was to be done with all the Christmas prep by Dec. 1.Yep, we saw Santa on Christmas Eve and I bought my last gift Dec. 23 if you don't count the one we bought on the 24th after the Santa visit when someone requested something new and we wanted to fulfill that request in desperation of keeping the Santa spirit alive or perhaps avoid exposing the truth so close to the end and dealing with the fact that we, along with the world, are a bunch of big fat liars.

I admire all you anti-santa, anti-elf parents.  I wish I could start anew.  We have lied too long.  It's out of control.

So here are our lovely pictures and synopsis  depicting the major events of 2014 the cheap and lazy way. :-)  We hope this finds you happy, healthy, and with a new space/spaces for new addresses in your address book for the Kalbachs this year:-)

Our biggest most exciting news is that we all survived Jon's deployment!  He came home at the end of May.  Dividing simple duties like unloading the dishwasher, leaving the kids at home while I run to the grocery store, one more grown up in the house to enforce rules, etc, simply living life together makes life so much better.  I love him.  He's amazing, and I'm SO thankful he is home.

Rudder's "I'm sorry I just ate a diaper" face.

Jon was home for a month and a couple days when we had to say our good-byes to our best dog-child Rudder.  Just before Jon left Rudder was diagnosed with Canine oral melanoma (Cancer in his mouth) and he went through a couple attempts of surgery to remove it.  Around February we found out that the cancer spread to his lungs.   The next few months he spent with us we spoiled him rotten and we desperately needed him.to live to see Jon come home.  Jon was Rudder's favorite human, so Jon's homecoming for Rudder was extra special.  On the evening of July 3, (after the kids were in bed)  exactly 10 years to the day that Rudder came to live with us in Kingsville, TX, we had a hospice vet come to our home to help Rudder pass.   It was terrible.  We still mourn him terribly.

Rudder's last day.  Walking with his favorite human,

Our summer with Jon home was filled with playing outside in our wonderful little base neighborhood, SUPing, and kayaking on the lake by our house, and visiting friends.

Lake Bradford - Across the street from our house.
A small piece of Heaven.

In August we took a quick trip to CA to visit the Kalbach family and spent some time in Tahoe and San Francisco. Then a bit later in the month we took quick trip to OH to visit my sister.  (We only went to Mount Vernon driving with Freddie is NOT fun) stopping at the Natural Bridge in VA on our way there and on the way home we stopped at the flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, PA.  (If you ever drive the PA turnpike, I highly recommend you take the small detour and stop.)

Cousins in Tahoe

The water in the lake was SO shallow from the drought that we could let the kids play and not worry about them falling in over their heads.  

The kids:

Freddie turned ONE on August 11th!  He is running, playing, communicating, but not really talking yet.  He loves things with wheels, the movie Frozen, playing outside, and he LOVES his little Nike big boy shoes.  He finally sleeps through the night now!  (Knock on wood) He also loves to climb. Every time I turn around the kid is standing on the coffee table or dining room table.  What a joyous gift he has been to our family.

                                 

Freddie is happiest when he is higher than everyone else.

Typical

In September Ella and Rudy went back to school.  Ella is now in 3rd grade and Rudy 1st.  Both are growing like weeds.  You can read about Ella's health stuff in previous blog postings. But in short she is great with no new signs of disease!  Ella is very much like her dad.  Funny,
sweet, sensitive, and always kind and this year she has grown into herself even more.  (Rudy may not agree with the kind part)  She likes to read, draw, create, and imagine.  Rudy is constantly busy building and creating things, reading books, and crafting. He has lots of friends and I'm even catching wind of girls having crushes on him?! Ugh.  Both kids are practicing JiuJitsu and are training with some great people.  It's fun to watch my sweet little girl wrestle boys.  She's pretty fast and sneaky.  Rudy is quite good.





Here is a link to the kids Christmas Pageant this year at church.  Ella had a singing solo and a speaking part.  Rudy was a towns person and sang.  I'm super proud.

http://fpcnorfolk.player.netbroadcasting.tv/player/flash/fpcnorfolk?stream=childrenspageant.mp4

Reading a Christmas book to Rudy's class.

Rudy played t-ball in the spring and coach pitch this fall.  He  discovered a love for baseball.

Navy Life:

In June, not long after Jon came home, we learned that he had been picked up for Department Head which is an unpaid promotion, and a big deal.  It means he is going to be wearing a flight suit again and getting back into the C-2!  It was at least a month after learning of his DH selection that his new orders came…..The Navy is sending us to San Diego next year! This will be our first move out of Virginia in almost 10 years!  As of now Jon is to report in March to his new command.  Of course all good news with the Navy comes with a catch, the catch this time is that he will deploy in April…..(*%&$#!!!)  But, just for a couple of months.

The temporary home where we will grow VERY close:-) 

All that said, the Navy starts packing us early next month (I say next month but its happening in less than a week…..)  and we are moving into our new temporary home which is a 2014 Class C 31 foot Fleetwood Tioga Montera RV.  We will live in it here in VA through January and part of Feb.  When we travel cross country we are not exactly sure how much time we are going to have, but we do have some plans of places and wonderful friends to visit along the way.  We can't wait for the adventure!   Once we arrive in San Diego we have a SWEET spot reserved on the water in the camper for the first month we are there.  We know where we want to live and are holding out for the right house in a specific area so we don't know how long we will be in the RV homeschooling two kids with a toddler running around and of course a puppy……..  

The puppy….!!!!!  Buoy Luke Funland Kalbach, a Portuguese Water Dog like our sweet Rudder,  joined our family in mid November.  He is growing like crazy.  He is a smart little guy and reminds us of Rudder in a million ways.  Rudder and Buoy have the same mannerisms which is good because it makes me foresee that he too will be an amazing dog once he quits destroying our stuff.  The kids adore him.  He and Freddie are about the same age in dog years.  (You can also read that as = It's complete chaos around here.)

That's it.  The 2014 for the Kalbachs is almost over.  As always,  it was another year of God's amazing grace seeing us all through until the end.  The lessons He showed us this year we have learned over and over and over again, simply that through Him all things are possible.  We miss our families back home, we miss our friends who are spread so far and wide, and through missing them we see how lucky we are to have such great friends so close. We have been so busy and overwhelmed at times this year that I get knots in my stomach thinking about those I have not talked to for so long.  We love you all so much and think of you all the time.  We welcome visitors between now and our departure from VA, and once we get to CA.  There is sleeping space for one more in the RV;-)  We are really looking forward to our adventure across the country and feel so very blessed to do it together.

A few of our best neighborhood friends who we couldn't live without:-) 

Merry Christmas, best wishes for 2015, and may you be blessed with good health and a heart content with His love and grace every single day.

*** Check back soon, I'm sure with just a couple hundred square feet to take care of in January while it's 40  degrees and raining outside and I'm stuck in an RV, I'll have plenty of time to update this blog and humor you with laundromat and empty-propane-tanks-at-3-am experiences, and you'll be happy to be happy you're not me.  Cheers!  (don't let me fool you, I'm super excited for this adventure and equally terrified! )