Thursday, January 7, 2016

Day 1 on the Road: A Rough Start (but We're Going to Guatemala)

I just finished a yummy breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon, and toast that my aunt Chelle cooked for the kids and I. Now I'm lounging in my uncle and aunts oversized chair typing this blog while the kids veg out on some tv.


We are enjoying our official second day on the road here in Georgia. Day one was a bit of a rough start. On Tuesday, the ay we were supposed to launch, we ended up spending five hours at the RV mechanic. What was supposed to be an in an out that morning so we could hit the road turned into an all day affair. We did get a through inspection of the rig and everything checked out okay except a leaky LP fuel line. Except a leaky fuel line? I know that sounds major, and it is. It means I can not turn on the propane tank without risk of blowing us all up until I get that fixed. I had almost turned it on prior to the inspection because it was so cold. Whew! I’m so very glad that I didn’t do that. The good news is that I don't really use the propane anyway. I've always been scared of blowing us up and apparently the people who owned the rig before us did too because everything is electric. So all we have to do is run the generator and everything is fine. Here's the catch though, our generator decided to stop working last night. Ha! Just our luck. It’s okay though we still have lights and can function just off the house battery. The only thing is we now have NO HEAT. Instead of being pessimistic I'm looking at this as motivation to get to warmer weather sooner than later.

Since it was so late in the day by the time the kids and I left the RV mechanic we decided to stick around the area for the night. The kids visited with their dad and I bopped around and waited on the housesitters to arrive. They arrived around 10p and I was very glad to meet them. I showed them around and they settled in. That was the final piece to our launch. Now we would be ready to go tomorrow. The next day before getting on the road officially we all decided to head to the passport office to go ahead and get the kids passports renewed. This worked out great because their passports were set to expire in June and we have some major international travel planned for that time. An hour in the passport office and that task was completed. Everything that we managed to get done while we waited to hit the road meant it wasn’t a total loss of a day. Actually, it's okay because everything worked out for the best. While disappointed with not putting miles behind us on day one, the kids and I are on the road now and things are great.

Another good came out of our delay and this one is super exciting. Since the day didn't turn out as planned and we were not technically on the road I actually happened to be sitting around when a glitch fare popped up. Because I wasn’t driving the rig or preoccupied with traveling I was able to book a flight for me and the kids to Guatemala with a day layover in Panama (a two for one deal) for only $125 r/t a piece. That's a huge score!  The kids and I loved Costa Rica so much that we can’t wait to visit another Central American country. I’m excited to get to travel to another Spanish speaking country. I'm already pulling out my 'learn Spanish' books and I signed up for an online spanish class. I will NOT be defeated this time (if you don't know what I'm talking about refer to my post about our visit to Costa Rica and being forced into complete spanish immersion). We will head there at this end of this road trip in the middle of March. I haven’t started planning the how, whats, and wheres just yet but I did come across a tree house accommodation that I definitely plan to look into. Can you imagine staying in a tree house with amazing views high in the Guatemalan jungles. Eeeeek! I’m squealing with anticipation at just the thought of that. I’ll update you more on that once I get a chance to sit down and plan some things out.

I don’t have much more to tell you at this point and I must leave this post here so that I can gt up and get ready to roll. The kids and I are leaving Georgia this afternoon with the goal of getting to the middle of Alabama if not all the way there. 


Until I see you on the road or somewhere around the globe… peace, love, and book those flights!

2 comments:

  1. Hello nomadic mama, how are you and the kids? I just want to wish you the best on your venture. Tony called and told me he and Chelle enjoyed your visit. Give the children my love and be careful out there.

    Love Dad

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  2. Hi Daddy, We are wonderful! No complaints. Life on the road has had it's up and downs (we are currently stuck at a mechanic shop waiting on a $3k repair) but we wouldn't have it any other way.

    Love you too!

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