And I got myself a rockin’ chair
Tony Rice (1983)
To see if I can lose
These thin-dime, hard-time,
Hell on Church Street blues.
Our site contractor had asked us to check back with him last night to confirm when his crew will be on The Mountain this week. The answer: Tuesday. Building up the parking pad and covering the muddy gap in the driveway will take two dump-truck loads of rock, possibly three. It’ll be distributed using a skid-steer, then “tracked” into the surface.
We’ll pay particular attention to a couple of things. Most important, of course, the result must be level as well as solid. Second, there should be very little (if any) transition between the driveway and the pad.
Here’s why — we’ll be asking the RV dealer’s delivery truck to back the fifth-wheel up the north driveway approach and into place. I’ve watched construction vehicles do the same with gooseneck trailers as heavy as (or heavier than) our RV, so it’s definitely doable, but the fewer obstacles, the better.
It’s hard not to think ahead to the house — and then we remember that getting ahead of ourselves contributed to the fix we’re in. We hurried and were hurried, manufacturing urgency that truly didn’t exist. More than anything else, that’s what blew up our budget, and I won’t let us make that mistake again. But first things first — get settled in the fifth-wheel. From there, we have a rough plan.
Selling the house kit, if possible, would fund prepping the site where our house will be. Selling the motorhome, then, would fund the house itself (and all that entails).
If the house kit doesn’t sell, then proceeds from the motorhome would have to fund both site and structure. Our budget would shrink. We’d also be left with a bunch of building materials — pre-cut dimensional lumber, trusses, siding, roofing, house wrap, windows, doors and more — that could be cannibalized to construct whatever we come up with or, if we bring in a pre-built “tiny home,” would provide the raw material for other projects for the rest of my natural life.
For the moment, though, our attention is on what’s right in front of us. That’ll require a shift in our mindset.
YouTube videos by Bushradical (Dave Whipple) and his wife, Girl in the Woods (Brooke Whipple), for example, have new meaning for us. Until recently we’d been picking up on skills and tricks for “rustic living,” because that’s where we’re headed. But with a stretch of living in an untethered RV immediately before us, we’re much more mindful of the “off-grid” aspect of what they do.
Another of those off-grid YouTubers, Zac Bauer of An American Homestead, is playing a different role in what we’re doing. Though his family’s homesteading lifestyle is more involved (for lack of a better term) than the Whipples’, he offers us a lot of solid advice. He’s more outspoken on matters of culture and politics, too, in ways that sync well with where Deb and I stand.
Besides, his American homestead is right here in Ozarkansas, not too terribly far from The Mountain. So his practical advice has particular relevance to us, whether off-grid or on.
It’ll be an adventure, albeit one we’ll have to figure out as we go.
I watch people. I notice how they treat each other — the way they interact, the way they judge others. It’s led me to some thoughts on the subject.
Not long ago here in Harrison, while Deb and I were having dinner and beers, a guy in our circle of acquaintances decided that we were a receptive audience for talking smack about a couple of folks who weren’t present. He was demeaning, criticizing their appearance and their simple ways.
The people he insulted are kind and hard-working. They’re friends of ours — he didn’t know that, nor did he realize that he’d just degraded himself in our eyes by slamming those he judged beneath his lofty standards for shine and sophistication.
I’ve also seen it go the opposite direction — that is, judging others less-than-worthy because they live in a nice house, drive a new car, make full use of a fancy smart phone or take pride in their appearance and that of their material possessions.
In fact, professional success and personal possessions alone are reason enough, for some, to judge a person flawed. Regardless of character or competence, honorable achievement and honest acquisition are somehow distasteful.
This has nothing inherently with liking or even loving someone — it’s about classifying people. And sure, intellectually I can chalk up a superiority complex to human nature. Every one of us makes judgements.
At the same time, I don’t get it. I tend to limit my exposure to folks who classify others for reasons other than character, or the kind of behavior that harms, actually and practically, those around them.
Progressives, for example.
Since the next round of work on The Mountain won’t happen ’til tomorrow, Deb and I hung out at the campground today. After a run of chilly days here, suddenly it was steamy, sticky and hot, near 90°F. We’re not even halfway through the month of May, and for the last couple of days it’s felt like mid-summer.
This ain’t The Deep South, but it’s still The South.
We got in a little practice for the next chapter of our American Life — we did laundry at the campground’s facilities instead of in the bus. Ok, that may seem inconsequential, even trivial, but we can attest that depending on a thimble-sized all-in-one unit has meant doing laundry pretty much every day. Using commercial-grade washers and dryers extends that to once or twice a week, though we do have to travel. And we’re stuck at the laundromat for a couple of hours.
Today’s trial run was pleasant enough. We sipped cold drinks and munched snacks on the back patio of the park office, where the air was cooler and the breeze was steady.
We’ll roll for The Mountain early tomorrow morning, I believe. On days with a lot of work to do — and this job is slated to be a one-and-done affair — our contractor likes to get started between 8am and 9am.
We expect big things. Stay tuned.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB