DEPARTURE

The day came, and went. We weren’t ready. So, we set another day. It came and went too. Finally, we set that hard date of March 20^th. Most everything was complete. The trailer we had acquired was filled to the roof and ready to hitch to Carrie’s Dodge Dakota. We had only a few items to pack into The Phoenix and we could be on our way. Those “few” items were apparently distant relatives of the five loaves and fish and quickly displaced any possibility of walking or sleeping inside the RV.  Packing to become Homesteaders is much different from packing for a trip it seems. We soon had items that we hadn’t used in years but just might come in handy while fending for ourselves. 

The projected departure of morning quickly became late afternoon, then early evening.  Yet, with sunlight still in the sky, we were ready to hitch the trailer to the pickup and the Jeep to the Phoenix (the RV). My first goal was the trailer. With a full load the tires were looking a little pudgy around the bottom. A quick check told me they were a bit low on air.  With the expert directions of Carrie, I skillfully backed the truck up and the hitch dropped on the ball with little difficulty. The Dakota had a different opinion. As we cranked down the trailer jack, the pickup began to creak, groan, and find it’s way toward the concrete. Yet, the foot of the jack lifted off the ground before the hitch touched… a good sign.

Feeling confident that we were on our way, I jumped behind the wheel of the Dodge and slowly pulled out of the driveway… almost. “Stop!”, Carrie yelled. I stopped. I got out. I smacked my forehead.  The low ride of the hitch had conspired with the slightly steep angle of our driveway leading the trailer jack to bottom out. The term bottom out is used here to mean a situation in which the jack completely buries itself in a small portion of dirt which had to be driven over to get completely out of the driveway. Indeed, it wedged itself between two portions of concrete. It was not moving.

Determining that we didn’t really want a new lawn ornament, Carrie reminded me of the new 6 ton bottle jacks in the RV. This did the trick, lifting the fully extended trailer jack out of it’s two foot deep grave. A bit of wrangling and a different, higher, ball hitch and we succeeded on our perilous journey from the driveway to the street. After a quick trip to top off the air in the tires, I parked our rig at the curb and discovered that the Dodge had become a bit snooty. It’s rear, and the hitch, were nearly touching the black top while it’s nose was positioned firmly into the air. Yes, the pickup was ready for lift-off.

 Now if you’ve never driven a vehicle pulling a trailer before, you may be unaware of the phrase “the tail wagging the dog”. It’s like it sounds really. Imagine driving down the Interstate Highway only to have an overloaded trailer swing to one side thus causing the pickup to swing the other direction, and then back the other way when the driver tries to compensate. This is a little circus act that often ends up performing in a ditch near you!

Determining that we didn’t want the pickup and trailer to become a ditch ornament, we proceeded with unpacking the trailer and sacrificing items we thought we could live without. This exercise continued until the pickup was at least closer to the level condition it was before the addition of the trailer.  By this time it was very late into the night.

Around 1:30am on March 21st, we finally hit the road.

The first stage seemed fine, though we figured out The Phoenix was getting about 3 miles per gallon. Yeah. I was driving the RV with Cody riding along. Carrie followed in the pickup. Then it happened. Somewhere shortly before Chamberlain, Carrie called… “pull over, there are sparks coming from the Jeep!” Not needing to be told twice I quickly found the shoulder of I-90 and pulled over. The smoke had stopped rolling off the front passenger side tire by the time I had walked back. The tire itself was pretty torn up and listing more than a bit to starboard. A quick check found that we didn’t have the key positioned quite right in the ignition to keep the steering unlocked. Quite the contrary, it locked up so well I almost couldn’t get it to move. As a result, the tires were tracking wrong and tore up a tire. We would find out later that it wrecked the brakes and the axle as well.

Let me just stop for a moment and say that we are big fans of AAA! It was around 3:30 in the morning when that slightly sleepy tow truck driver came to rescue us. A pretty friendly guy for that time of the morning. He easily got us to a truck stop at the Chamberlain exit where we could also park the RV for the night. We then found refuge in a very nice AmericInn across the street that had very soft beds and a pretty fare continental breakfast. After a bit of sleep and food, we found a U-Haul and rented a car dolly to tow the Jeep to the Black Hills.

The motorhome was getting a little better mileage with the Jeep on the dolly, but it was still only around 5.5mpg. Not great. Then we got to hills. Near Wasta, SD is a pretty steep and long hill coming out of the Cheyenne River valley. The poor RV made it, but we were down to 25mph by the top of the hill. We made it into Rapid City without too much more difficulty, fueled up again, and started toward Hill City and the acreage of Carries parents.

We barely made it out of Rapid City. A very long hill lies on the south edge of town. The Phoenix had a lot of will, but the hill had more won’t. Most of the way up, we lost power. I pulled over. It started again, traveled a short distance and stalled again. We repeated this little cycle until making it over the hill and up another small hill to the parking lot of one of our favorite rock shops. 

Once again I mention that we are fans of AAA. While Carries parents came to drive us to their place, AAA came to bring both of our vehicles in for evaluation and repairs.

By the following day we determined that if the RV couldn’t make the hills here, it certainly wasn’t going to pull the Jeep through two large mountain ranges. It made the same trip back in 2004, with many other issue, but we had to unhitch the Jeep and have Carrie drive it through the worst climbs. We can't do that this time, so we realize the RV will not make the trip as is. We will be seeking a way to transport our RV to Whidbey by other means. It will still make a wonderful cabin, and will likely drive around on flat land just fine. We just need to get it there.

With that, we are safe and sound in the Hill City area and ready to have a little fun and relaxation.

The journey continues.

The Mud-hap

One of the time consuming parts of preparing for our great journey has been an intrusive law in Sioux Falls that prohibits one from parking their own RV (or camper, trailer, boat, or even car) in one spot for more than 48 hours. Yes, technically if you don't move your car, even if it's completely in your own driveway, before 48 hours you can be ticketed. Herbie down the street sat there for years until recently. Apparently our local "watch dog" of neighborhood vanity laws was unaware of the car part. He or she was clearly aware of the RV law. (Thank you, the nice letter from the City when we went over by a couple days was so friendly a greeting!)

As a result we have been moving "The Phoenix" (our RV) to an outdoor storage facility on a regular basis. The upside is that I've gotten a lot more practice driving the rig again. It's nice to be comfortable operating 30 feet of indignant motorhome whilst traveling 1,500 miles behind it's wheel at Interstate Highway speeds. The downside is that we need to keep working on it and it's not always here.

While these trips south of town are typically uneventful, a recent trip gave me an "opportunity" for a little muddin'! Now, muddin' is something usually best attempted in a Jeep or lifted pickup. You know, go out in your 4X4, find a mud hole, dive in at full speed, splash around a lot, and make the local car wash see dollar signs as you approach.

After much melting I discovered the gravel lot where The Phoenix nests had become a little, let's say... soggy. Thinking that the size of my tires would largely ignore such a minor wet spot, I positioned our bird for a landing in her roost. I lined up, started to back in, and quickly learned that the muddy looking area had delusions of grandeur thinking itself more as the Okefenokee Swamp than a parking lot puddle. The rig planted herself firmly in what would turn out to be some form of north-land quicksand. She fought valiantly in our attempt to dislodge the rear tires from the sticky clutches of this hungry puddle, but to no avail. After a bit of rocking back and forth, I soon decided that all motion was simply digging us in deeper.

I surrendered.

Fortunately, the owners of the facility had equipment capable of pulling her out the next day and we were able to return and drive her safely home again. So, our first little mishap... er... mudhap of the trip. Hopefully the last.

A New Adventure

43 years. For 43 years I've lived in South Dakota. I was three when we arrived here. Carrie was born here. Sharon was born here, moved to California, and moved back. Cody was born here. South Dakota has always been home. Still, it's time for a change.

I'm Shawn. Chances are, if you're reading this, you already know me or someone in the family. Chances are you know us all. My wife Carrie, our youngest son Cody, and my mom Sharon are about to make a massive change in our lives. We are leaving South Dakota. We will travel 1,500 miles to the Northwest to become homesteaders in Washington state. My two oldest children are, unfortunately, not coming with us. Ryan is in college and doing his own thing. Eryka is out of high school and into a career training program and is doing her own thing. Hopefully we will get them out for visits, we also plan to come back for visits.

The first question we get from friends and family is "why move away?" There are actually a number of reasons. The first, and most important, is Carrie's health. The fiercely cold South Dakota winters cause her extreme pain in her knees due a permanent chronic condition. On the flip side, the summers are too hot for Sharon's health. I don't handle the heat well anymore either.

The next reason is opportunity. As an artist whose goal is to pursue a career as a working artist, South Dakota is a difficult place to be. I need a place with opportunities for artists. Indeed, even trying to find work at all in South Dakota has been a collection of road blocks for me. I've worked in advertising and marketing for around 27 years. Yet, because of a combination of upper management experience, owning my business, and not have a University degree, I have not been able to find work here. Believe me, I've tried.

The timing is finally right for us as well. Ryan and Eryka are doing their own thing now and don't need us around really. Carrie is on disability. Sharon is retired. Cody is home schooled. I just completed my Bachelors Degree in Studio Art. Everything is falling in place.

The next big question we get is "where are you going" and "why there?"

We are moving to southern Whidbey Island in Washington. Whidbey is straight west of Everett and Mukilteo, a bit north of Seattle. The Island is around 45 miles long from north to south, 10 miles wide at the most, 3 miles at the thinner points. The south part of the island is an artists colony area. It is populated with artists, authors, actors, musicians, and crafts people. It is home to frequent festivals, fairs, and weekly markets. There are also a good number of art galleries, wonderful restaurants, and unique shops in towns like Langley, Clinton, and Freeland. The people are kind, open minded, and welcoming of new people.  Oh, and no, it doesn't rain all the time. Whidbey is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and gets less rain annually than Sioux Falls.

After a few years of research, a visit, and lots of planning, we are taking the leap and moving to an island in Puget Sound. Carrie, Cody and I will be going out to find and purchase land and then put up a house. Once we have proper shelter, I will fly back, finish packing up the house, arrange for our things to be shipped, put the house up for sale, and then drive back to Whidbey with Sharon.

We invite you to follow our adventures, and maybe mis-adventures, here on our blog and on our Facebook page. There's a badge to our Facebook page in the column to the right. (Just click on it to visit our page.) We'll be posting stories and pictures as we go. You can also subscribe to our blog by email. Just put your email address into the little box to the right and hit submit. Follow the instructions that pop up, then check your inbox for a confirmation email. Then you'll get automatic notifications whenever we post!