Yep! It is end of September, we are barely past the Autumnal Equinox and we have a … these are NOAA’s words: “Historic Winter Weather Storm Warning”.

Hee…

We have been preparing!

Outside, besides firewood, I have removed all batteries, the power washer and other things that should not freeze … from garage to house. Hoses are drained. We are Winter ready :)

Inside, various vegetables/fruits has been processed and frozen. The Winter pantry stockup began some weeks ago and I am in good shape for whatever Fall/Winter brings.

Winter ??? BRING it :)

The best thing about Summer is Autumn comes next!

So, I guess meteorological Autumn started 9/1, but the Autumnal Equinox was Monday (9/23) and 1 day into Autumn we have a Winter Storm warning: hard freeze, wind, cold and snow are forecast for Friday and Saturday.

On 9/12, the full moon and clear skies had me down to road to see sunset and moonrise.

And this week, with the forecast of a Winter storm, I have been getting firewood situated, hoses drained, everything that should not freeze prepped and brought inside. I have a list to be completed by Friday morning.

But today, Tuesday … a gray, gloomy morning turned sunny and we enjoyed!

I am over the moon with how well Emmett is doing off leash and that we are now able to enjoy all being outside in the yard: chasing grasshoppers, chewing on sticks, just being together outside – HEAVEN!

We had a spectacular day. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny before things start segueing towards the Friday night/Saturday Winter weather. Meanwhile, we will enjoy and prepare.

A little over 14 years ago, I bought “Wild Thing”, my Winnebago Adventurer 33V. An RV. A Winnebago! On almost my 50th birthday. How cliché !!!

If you’d told me 15 years ago that I would have a Winnebago and that I would LOVE RVing, I might have told you that you were crazy.

Let me be clear. I do not “camp”. I like my creature comforts: hot water, inside plumbing, electricity.

Wild Thing (because she moves me :) ) is really a 330 foot (slides out) 1 bedroom, 1 bath rolling house. When I bought her, I had a full time/1 year work contract, was between stick houses and kind of thinking “was there somewhere else I would like to live?”. It was a perfect opportunity as well as since a 5 years previous car trip with pets … cross country and mostly in a different motel every night … I’d been looking and thinking about vans, trailers, Class C, truck camper. I seriously looked and dithered for 5 years.

And then, July 2005, I walked into an RV dealer and said I’d like to look at Class C, no slide but with leveling jacks. The sales person said: “Why not a Class A”. I said, “well … a C is kind of like driving a truck which I can do.” He responded: “Have you noticed all of the old folks at the wheels of Class A’s??? Let’s take a ride!”. So we took a Class A from the dealer, south along the northwest shore of Flathead Lake. You know, it is a funny thing… you sit at the wheel and all behind you follows. And, OMG! – the big windshield and the height … as a solo driver I realized that I could see more from an “A” than I would from a “C” or a van and I was sold.

Back at the dealer, we looked at some older “A’s” … no slides, jacks. The Winnebago was next to one of those … slides out. I looked. I was smitten by the kitchen and the shower. I am a lousy “poker face”/negotiator. Bottom line, I paid more than I probably should have but honestly … NO regrets.

Fast forward 14 years later. I’ve full timed for 7 plus months, travelled 4-6-8 weeks per year and then 4 years ago, my dog Bear was unable to negotiate the steps. I looked at options for entry assist and ultimately decided to not RV and give him his final year(s) in my no steps, 1 level, home in the woods. January 2018, his poor old body was done. In April 2018, Emmett came into Auggie’s and my life. Now, with Emmett doing well on house manners and leash and off leash, I started thinking about RVing and getting Wild Thing in shape to travel. And then the work situation.

As I am cleaning up “Wild Thing” and addressing several maintenance items … and dealing with the work uncertainty … I have been watching a variety of YouTube channels … looking at various YouTube/blogs/Instagram/Books about various topics has been so helpful in helping me think about “next steps”. At any rate, one of my favorite YouTube channels is CreativityRV: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCigPwB_DERbV5BlwV4OY9mw/videos

Robin from Creativity RV is a great speaker/youTuber/RVr !! I thought I knew a lot. I have learned a lot and via another viewer responding to my comment, I found Boondockers Welcome: https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/

Boondocking is “parking” an RV at a spot with no hookups and thus subsisting off battery power (often solar assisted), generator, on board water, on board propane: dry camping. Boondockers Welcome is an organization that allows people like me with property that allows me to have an RV park for a few nights on my property, match with RVrs that like to Boondock. As a host, I do not receive money, but I do receive credit for membership dues at Boondockers Welcome so that when I RV, I can stay at other hosts.

I joined as I thought it would be fun and interesting and I really did not overthink other than … I have room.

From my first guest just after I signed up to my second guest last week to welcome emails from other hosts to blog comments and private emails … I am a bit overwhelmed at the support that came to me at a time that I did NEED support although I didn’t realize it :)

It is something that has happened time and time again: during a challenging time in my life, when I think I am dealing with all of it … and then an opportunity to actually talk about it with people who have NO stake in the outcome … and other stuff shakes loose. That is what happened and it has been good.

My work situation is still unresolved. It was supposed to be 30 days, it is now 60 days and I imagine it will be another 30-60 before anything is decided at my long time client.

Moving on! It is September 2: Labor Day Holiday and I’m taking the holiday! And then, I’m working much more seriously on several ideas I’ve explored in the downtime. I need to get back to work!

Meanwhile, I am so very grateful for all of the small events and explorations and conversations that have inspired, motivated and taught me to look at various options.

It is both a scary and exiting time.

Onward!

***Edited 9/3 to add Wild Thing lyrics