Flip it. Break it. Fix it. Rub it down....oh nooooo

*Written 07.30.2015*

Always stuff breaking, always stuff to fix. The past couple of days have been busy, needless to say. We're still assessing all of the damage that was done due to the trailer flipping. Even though we fixed the arm, to be able to tow it, there are still some things Jamie wants to do to make it stronger. He is going to place some metal brackets/angle irons at the front, back and down the middle of the wood on the trailer, then bolt them down into the metal arm, so it has less chance of twisting or moving around on its own. We found the Specialized (bicycle) has a split where the brake meets the hydraulic cord, so when you pull the brake, hydraulic fluid squirts out. The back tire rim is majorly bent along with the back bike rack and the handlebars and seat are scuffed up. It's interesting that the Specialized got so much damage and was the inside bike on the main rack and the Hyper was on the outside and barely got a ding. Figures! 

The bike is NOT supposed to pointed up to the sky like that! Guess the rack is bent too!

One of our heavy duty bins broke apart from the bottom to the top, but for now is fixed with gorilla tape. A couple of lids on the other bins got scratched up but are still usable. 

 Our big white "Lifetime" table has a hole in the corner. 

My scooter got hit as the trailer flipped, so she now has a broken taillight, a piece of the side & the license plate holder broke off. 

Other than all of that, I think the tarps and the TV antennae got the worst of it. There are huge, gaping holes in both the canvas and plastic tarps that go over the bins, I'm pretty sure I can sew the canvas one but the plastic one looks pretty beat up. The TV antennae looks like it was ran over several times, it's pretty rough. 

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it a million more times, but I'm very thankful and appreciative that Jamie is so handy and is willing to fix pretty much everything. I think if I would have been alone, I would have totally freaked out and probably just sat and cried somewhere and his frame of mind is, "It might take some hardware or a certain tool (or whatever), but I think I can fix it." He is in town right now getting some more hardware, etc. to have on hand and also to fix the trailer, antennae and the bicycle. A word to my fellow woman (or person who doesn't understand or want to lug a bunch of tools around), just go with it, don't get on them about too many tools. If we hadn't had all of our tools, especially power tools, it would have taken us either much much longer &/or a lot more money to do what we did in the gas station parking lot, than the 3 hours and $6.00 it took. Let your handy person keep their tools, it might really be worth it one day.
So, as I started this post with, it always seems like we're fixing stuff...we wake up to our 9 1/2 year old 1,000 watt inverter not working. It went kaput! We use this inverter for all of the "heavy lifting"; to inflate/deflate our air pads that lay under the mattress, to power the coffee maker and to run the big power tools, for things like fixing the trailer.  Then as we were trying to figure out what was going on, Jamie also found a kink/split in the cord on the air pump, so after deflating the bed with one of our small 150 watt inverters, Jamie took the pump apart and fixed the wiring so it wouldn't spark when turned on and now it works for pumping up the bed tonight!

It just seems like everything is breaking at once and while we try to have a good attitude about it, there are many moments of frustration, plus this 107+ degree heat adds a little misery to all of these projects. I try to help with getting tools and holding things for him but I'm just not as creatively witty and handy like my main squeeze. I do keep him fed, keep the van and living space clean and take care of the dogs as he fixes everything. I think all in all, it's a win win!

*UPDATE*

The bicycle tire and rack have been fixed and roll just like there was never any accident. As well as the hydraulic cord to the brake...all fixed!

We found another piece of metal at the dumpsters to fix the antennae with and it works just fine, it may not look very pretty but it works!

The inverter has been fixed, it needed a new switch, which Jamie found on a vacuum at the dump.

I have yet to take pictures of the finished trailer just because we have been moving around a lot lately and the bins have not been off of it, so when we tear everything off at the next camp, I'll be sure to get some pics for those of you that are interested in how Jamie made it stronger.

Until then...
PEACE

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The Days Dwindle Down

The weather is changing. We are wearing more jeans, boots and jackets. The leaves are turning beautiful colors and falling off the trees. It's definitely the season of change and change is exactly what we need!

Our time is coming to a close here in North Georgia, we've got about 2 weeks left and we'll be back on the road, living our lives again.

In the past month, we have gone through our stuff that sat in a moldy 'grave' for the past two years, sold some of it, thrifted the stuff that didn't sell and threw away the rest.

These next two weeks are all about buttoning up; putting furniture back (due to renting a fully furnished place), making sure everything fits where we are expecting it to and preparing ourselves for a life back on the road.

This time around we are doing things a little differently and we are both pretty excited about the change. While talking to each other, a few months back about what our plans were for getting back on the road, we both were getting major heartburn over the stuff inside of the van aka our living space. I think for two peeps & two pups we do pretty well with a small area but we are always shuffling tons of stuff around at different parts of the day to make for more room. The things we don't have on the inside of the van usually sit up in the cargo basket on-top, making it very of difficult to get to and it's actually just a really big pain in the butt! When we park, we would put everything from the "living room" into the driver seat and down in the pedal area, making it about a half hour of puzzle building with the toilet paper going here and these books going there, etc. It became a very big and daunting process and needed some rethinking. We would, of course, love to have a bigger rig to stand up in and be able to move around more easily, but right now the van is what we have, so we tossed around ideas to make the van more liveable for all of us. We finally came to a decision of getting a trailer, nothing huge or big, but enough to take the stuff off the top and out of the living space of the van. We talked about it for a few days before going through with it and we are both totally stoked about it. When we received it, Jamie built it out and then added some things to make it more suitable for our travel needs; putting pressure treated plywood down and some I-hooks for straps. It's a beaut!!

The measurements are 40 in. x 48 in. and it can carry about 1,200 lbs. We also bought a double hitch since we have the bikes too.

It's going to be interesting to see everything put together. We now have the van, the trailer, two bicycles, one dirt bike, one scooter and a partridge in a pear tree! haha

We bought a cute lil' scooter, an 80cc Honda Elite, for me. I will be taking a two day motorcycle class so I can get a motorcycle endorsement on my license... That in itself should be interesting since I've only 'driven' a bicycle!! I may have to get a little basket on the back so Chili Moon can ride in style! haha

We will be making a small detour, to Florida, to spend some time with family & friends before heading back West, but we are totally ready to get back to the life we live so well on the road.

Great things are happening and before we know it, this whole stix 'n' bricks in North Georgia thing will just be a blur...

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Crazy the things life throws at ya!

PEACE