The Wanderlodge

 Already named Wander Woman, so there's that. Wonder Woman will also work. 

We were both overwhelmed with the hurricane and it's fallout, and the purchase of her was fraught (see previous post) so we have only made one trip to check her out in the last week. The plan is to switch attention to the farm, try to get the beds ready for next planting season, so we are moving slow on the RV front. 

The first, most urgent thing to do is to insure and register it. Tomorrow or the next day I will go do that. I had to pull out some $ from savings to pay the highway use tax NC charges (one time). 

Second, we have to get one of the bins unstuck. Unfortunately it's the one with the access to the tank system, so we can't go on a trip without fixing it. 

Third, we need to get the diesel engine and generator checked out. Normally I would have had a mechanic look at her before buying, but the hurricane blew up that plan. We knew we were going to get her anyway; the exacting detail the owner had provided, plus all the receipts, videos and references will likely be the best indiction of her maintenance. But it's good to know ahead of time. 

Now, looking back on my post about what our must-haves are, I laugh, because most fell by the wayside. First and most obvious, I didn't want a diesel, but here we are. It is a foot and a half bigger than I wanted, and I certainly didn't ask for a 34 year old rv. 

But I didn't count on finding a classic class A in amazing good shape. 

In houses, cars and RVs (furniture, clothing, et al), I lean towards older, better construction. As a former and current Airstream owner, I prefer the classic era, even when it's more work to maintain. I had never heard of Wanderlodges before, but they are a well-kept secret. There were only 4000 of them made by the Blue Bird manufacturer, and each one is custom-made. And they are solid. No coming apart at the seams in a wind. Remember, Blue Bird made school buses. Safety, something not really on my list, became it's number one asset.  

So, with the initial todo's determined, I can talk about her interior. 

Basically, I love it. It's modern and clean, but the overall impression is quality and craftsmanship. Other than the dowdy couch upholstery it's in immaculate shape. 

The leather upholstery is taupe-to-pink, changing in different lighting, My mother had a taupe leather jacket just like that color, and it calls up great memories. Her memory is always a blessing. 

Everything is well-designed and thoughtful. Also heavy - and the bus can take it. It's a 300hp Cat diesel, super heavy duty. This baby is not flimsy.

There are no slides, and both of us are happy about that. No slides means fewer headaches in and out of campgrounds. 

The kitchen is just big enough and has several space savers: built-ins include a blender base and a an ice-maker. The dinette, while not in  a C-shape, is super comfy. 

The couch is not original, and the upholstery is a little much for my taste, but we'll eventually replace it with something else. 

Lots of cubbies and storage, in the usual rv places.  It has a leather carpet cover, same as the upholstery. Sorry, that will be taken up and made into seat covers to protect the good leather upholstery from the cats. 

Speaking of the cats, a dedicated cat area is one wish list item that did not get provided. Still thinking about a solution.

Look at this control panel... more like a airplane cockpit. 

The cabinet pulls are little plastic birds in different colors. I don't know if they are original, and they are a bit hokey, but maybe a vintage rv needs a little bit of hokey.

A full size queen bed - definitely on my wish list. Tables and lights on both sides too. There's a mirror as a headboard. That bedspread is definitely going. 

Lynn getting the low-down on all the controls.  We are just starting to figure out which dial is which. 

There’s a nice, small bathroom, and a large closet, drawers, etc. The closet also has a W/D hookup, so a little less hanging clothes space if we add that. That is a loss from the requirement of 'lots of closet space' so that's a choice we'll make at some point. 

And yes, it seems  --very pink-- in these photos, but in reality, it's a very neutral background. I do wonder, though, that there were so many previous owners (4 of 5) that were men!

 

Don't make any major purchases...

...Right after a hurricane. 

It's a saga.

We had driven up from the Piedmont to Asheville last Wednesday before last to see this cool retro RV for sale on Craigslist. It's almost never that something interesting comes up in our driving radius, so we jumped on it.Yes, they were calling for 40% chance of rain that day, but the hurricane wasn't due til Friday. And yes, we had some heavy rain on the way up but Asheville itself was clear. We found the RV, fell in love (more on that in the next post) and while we were inside with the owners, it started to pour. The rv park, which was right on the river, was frantically calling owners to move their rigs because that park, like most of the rv parks in the area, was right on the river, and they were now calling for floods that night. We shoved $500 into the owner's hand and ran to our car. Well, first, my partner waved them out of their storage space so they could drive up the hill to safety. Then we ran. Torrential rain all the way to the mountain and downhill, then it stopped. The rest of the way was clear, even sunny. Was all that rain a premonition? 

https://youtu.be/nUeJ67F4Kmc?si=MtNdjxwOiST0C8tf

We had made a plan to meet again the following Wednesday, let the storm blow itself out, have the weekend to clean up and then meet and finish the deal. And get an orientation on the Wanderlodge (more on that next post.) It never stopped raining and Helene took out all of the infrastructure in the Asheville area, not to mention lives and property.) No one could get in or out and nothing worked. The owner managed to text that they were ok and as soon as a road opened up, they were leaving the bus in it's safe place and going down to Charleston til the following week. 

So we waited, trusting that it would all go through the following week. Occasionally not trusting and fearing, because what else does upheaval and devastation cause? My life was also centered in Asheville, my doctor, my resources, my friends, my former community. My bank too was hit hard, a portent that I ignored when first notified. 

They came back and a week and a half of waiting ended well. We got several hours of the owner’s time and we were absolutely sure we wanted it. But how to do the transaction when everything up there was in chaos?

The owner and I did a back and forth on ideas, and she generously offered to drive the bus to Morganton, about halfway between us and Asheville, with her partner following in her car. Morganton had been hit  less hard than Asheville and most things were open as usual. That meant we wouldn’t have to drive to Asheville again, and the return trip - Lynn in the bus and me in our car - would not be as long and not on the highway. I-40 has been incredibly busy with local roads washed out and the extra disaster aid traffic. Hwy 70 has been open, so her coming halfway made our return much easier. 

So - I had stopped by my bank, Telco Credit Union, the day before to make sure a wire transfer would go through, and do any preliminary paperwork. Find out when I get there, the office is closed and only drive thrus are open. Further, the fiber optic central system is down because the Telco administrative office is in - you guessed it - the Asheville area. They can’t do counter checks, but maybe, he said, a wire transfer might work. Somehow it’s a different process, so he said I can try to get it thru in Morganton - if - the branch manager agrees. Apparently, it’s every branch for itself right now. 

So the day of the transaction, we drive to Morganton early, just in case the branch manager refuses. I want to have a fallback plan, always. We get there and the bank is closed again, except for a drive thru. But we catch a bank employee standing at the door, talking to a delivery person and I run up and beg her to do this. Initially, she refuses but I keep begging and she agrees to ask the manager. I’m sitting outside in the sun waiting. There’s a garden seat to sit on til I notice a dead animal smell and the fallen siding lying there in the bushes. A dead bird, a casualty of Helene. I get up and start pacing.

She comes back out after about 10 minutes and says ok, they will try it, but make no guarantees. She watches me sign the paperwork then goes back inside for another 10 minutes. Finally she brings some paperwork back and I stuff it in my bag and I’m weak with relief. It got done, at least as well as we can. She chats for a minute about the effects of the hurricane there and folks she knows who are hurting. I know, and said, that she and the bank must be under incredible pressure right now, and I am so thankful they are there at all. 

We drive to the meeting place, a Cracker Barrel parking lot, just off I-40. The owner is there, she comes out with her last belongings from inside - there’s always a few last items, I think, and it’s bittersweet to leave your trusty steed to someone else. We go inside for some last instructions, about an hour, including a test drive around the parking lot. We come out to get ready to go to the notary to sign over the title. And find the bag of the owner’s belongings has disappeared. 

Now, I have always thought Cracker Barrel was sketchy, in the same way Hobby Lobby and ChicFila are sketchy. IYKYK. I would not go there, even to park. This was the owner’s idea, and she felt it was a secure place to leave the bus, so we went along with it. But yes, sketchy as hell. When we arrived, I had noticed an older blonde lady walking her little dog, I thought, at least she had a leash in hand. Sure, we are right off the highway and CB is a certain type of traveler’s rest stop. I saw her lean down while we walked into the bus and then forgot it. No one else noticed her. An hour later, it looks like she took the bag, not full of rv fixtures, but the owner’s purse, our original deposit in cash, and her personal tools. 

!@#$%!!

The next hour was fraught. The owner went into CB to get a manager and I looked around the parking lot for the woman or her car, which I vaguely remembered. There was no evidence on the security cameras or a picture of the woman, the manager told us, and at a certain point,  there wasn’t anything else we could do there. 

We locked down the bus and drove over to her bank, SECU, which was open! Their offices are in Raleigh, I guess. Anyway, we got the title notarized while signed over and a bill of sale written up. L will be driving without a tag, so we need both to get home. The teller lets us know that no, the wire transfer has not come through yet. The owner is frazzled by the theft to begin with, and I wanted to be sure she was  ready to hand over the title just yet. 

Craigslist participants can be cagey. People don’t want to give too much away to strangers. Just as we were worried the owners had taken off with our $500, (and leave 38K? Unlikely) we also knew they had damn good reason to leave - Asheville was a disaster zone. And they might have been wary of us as well, for whatever reason. 

She trusted us and gave over the title. We dropped her off to drive home with her partner, and we went back to the bus. 

It was fine, no further sketchiness. We couldn’t feel the satisfaction yet, though, til she was parked in her new storage spot. With a huge amount of trepidation, we set off on 70 to go home. 

She went smoothly, if a bit slowly, and with a huge cloud of diesel exhaust behind. Remember, she’s a 90’s girl. We got to the storage place and parked with no problems. Not really feeling anything but hunger and fatigue at that point, we got takeout and went home. 

The tension of the day started to take hold and I worked myself into an anxiety attack over the possibility that the money I sent would disappear somehow and never arrive. The problem was, I had not gotten an actual receipt or any official paperwork from the bank in Morganton. She had just given me my original paperwork back, no signature or ID number, nothing. I had no actual evidence that the transfer had been made. And I didn’t notice until that night. 

I had to take a pill to go to sleep and lurched awake at 7 the next morning to get ready to go to my bank to confirm it happened. I checked my online balance first, and yes, it showed that withdrawal. But did it arrive?  Yes, the -former- owner texted that morning and it did arrive that night. 

Now we can finally relax and enjoy our new home. We named her Wander Woman. Any similarities to Wonder Woman entirely intended. 

UPDATE 11/7 - Just to make the whole experience extra sweet, I lost the notarized title for two weeks. Found it finally, and NOW I can get it registered. Whew!!!

Weather notes

Just down the road from my old house.
But i don’t live there anymore.  

Sitting here in Hickory at 8am, listening to Helene sweep into western North Carolina, I feel vindicated. 

I sold my house in the mountains early this year and this morning I see that part of my road in the valley is under water and they are calling for landslides on the slope my house sits on. The state highway is impassable going west to the nearest large town. 

This is the worst rain I have seen in my 15 years living in that small town, and the basement must be at least 12” deep in runoff water right now, but I don’t have to worry.*

 I am currently in my girl friend’s brick house in the Piedmont, on level ground, with a good roof. Even so, we are right in the path of the storm too, and for sure her basement is flooded. She has issues with gutters and rain getting into the walls and there will be expensive repairs for her. 

But I have no property to care for, other than my car and a little cheap camper. I put a deposit on a bigger rv, but for the purposes of this storm, that is someone else’s problem right now. I have nothing to lose. 

That’s not precisely true, because I did buy an acre of farmland that is getting the absolute worst of the rain in the area. Luckily, there is just a driveway and a small plot of willow growing there, and nothing more.   No infrastructure to damage. So I am still good. 

Sometimes, having nothing to lose is like being lucky. 

But in reality, I foresaw and planned for this. I don’t want a house  anymore, it’s a liability. Repairs to housing are outrageously inflated these days, and cleaning up after a climate change event is going to be more expensive and more frequent from now on. 

Being able to pack up your domicile and move to a safer area easily is a smarter choice in my opinion. Even with a more expensive rv, and the perils and costs of the road, it will keep me ahead of most bad weather and the crazy heat. I like the odds. 

It’s too bad that homes have been identified as a profit center for greedy corporations and contractors. It used to be a path for middle class wealth building, but companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Home Depot don’t want us to keep that money. They are trying to own all the resources needed to live, so you have to pay them for the privilege of living.  Apparently, B-H also owns the largest rv brands as well, including Winnebago, Forest River and Airstream, so you can see where they are headed: Housing, at all levels, that is expensive, but cheaply made. 

Buy used. Do not buy new. Buy older models that were made better and fix them. Do not buy anything from corporations, ever. Learn how to make what you need. We are being squeezed like a toothpaste tube, on purpose.  Be nimble and ready for change. It’s coming in fast with the wind. 

* This is my viewpoint, not necessarily my girlfriend’s. Once she has sold her house, which is the current plan, we will own the Rv and the farm together. But connection to property runs deep. Houses are more than just shelter, possessions more than just things. It took me a good 6 years to move out of my house. 

Infrastructure Week

[ Update: see bottom of post for new layout. The feedback I got was really useful, and thanks to everyone who commented on the FB site]

Part of the plan for our Rving life was to have a home base that we can live on - for cheap -  part of the year. Spring and Fall are very comfortable in WNC, and summers are made more enjoyable due to our property's proximity to the mountains - a 45 minute drive or less.  Winter is the only season to escape. 

We are developing the 1 acre property as a willow farm. (Check out our blog on the farm development at GoodWillowFarm.blogspot.com.) That is progressing so our task now is to get the RV infrastructure in so we can live over there and not have to drive an hour and back to work on the property. So, while there's a basic driveway in now, there needs to be a drive to turnaround and parking spots for RVs need to be blocked out. Electricity will need to be put in for future buildings and rv spots.  A three bay barn is planned for storage and workshop space. Along the way, we need to start emptying Lynn's house in order to sell it next summer and go full time. There's a lot going on, but we've got a year to get it done. 

This is where we are now; the green blocks are the planting areas pictured above.

The property is mostly level other than a 4 foot drop in elevation from the street to the square parking area. The cost of putting in a driveway over that drop was too high to put in another to make a circular drive which was my first plan. So the following layout shows my updated plan, using a 3 point turn at the side of the property to allow larger vehicles to get in and out. All the drives are 12' wide.

Click to see larger photo. Each square on the
grid represents 10 square feet.

This plan shows future planting areas,  future buildings, a planned driveway and electricity access spots (brown dots).  There are 4 potential RV spots numbered, one being inside the barn, with space for some dry camp spots too. I think there's enough turnaround length but I have been wrong before - I thought a 40x40' parking area would allow a truck with a utility trailer to turnaround, but that wasn't the case.

This is an example of the barn I had in mind, just needs to be 40' in depth to handle a 30-35' class A in that center bay.  Notice the price - pretty sure it's much higher now. 

This plan also allows for some privacy and the willows will grow to be 8-12 ft in height so that will make it much more private. 

Why have 4 or more RV spots? One for us, obviously, one for guests, but also, being senior women working a farm, I am pretty sure we will need farmhands during part of the season, so some kind of housing will make that more doable. We might fix up the Airstream for a guesthouse in one of the spots. 

Regarding the utilities, only electricity is in the plans right now because it's available now at the street. The city of Old Fort is planning to extend water and sewer service to that street in the next 5 years, so we opted to skip a well and septic system. We'll use composting toilets, rainwater harvesting and bottled water until then. 

Any comments? Suggestions? I have a guy with a land mover who can start building up the new roadways and foundation areas this fall. I'd love to hear from anyone who has done something like this before!

NEW Layout - more room and a big 40-50' turn radius. The grid pattern in front of the barn is a possible area for grass block pavers. 

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Choosing an RV, Part 2 - Choosing Travel Kats new rig

My '69 Airstream Caravel

My first rv was a vintage 1969 Airstream Caravel 16ft. I was an artist selling work at festivals, and I needed a vehicle to travel in a 4 state area. It was cute and attention-getting, and it felt cool and retro. There was plenty of room, though I rarely used all of it - I was mostly in the vendor booths during the day. But I got tired doing all the heavy hitch work by myself,  not to mention the stress of towing.  Most festivals are weekend affairs, so I only stayed in one place for a week or less. It was too much work, on top of selling all day. I sold the Airstream for a high top van, a Sportsmobile conversion. 

Sportsmobile conversion of a GMC van

I loved that van and it was perfect for a solo woman traveling for work and vacation. It had a couch but not a dinette which I prefer, so not perfect. If I were single, I would definitely go back to a larger van format, this time with a bigger bath and a dinette.   

Our '73 Airstream Argosy

Interior of our 2013 Coleman

But I have a partner so we are looking at motorhomes, both Class As and Cs. We will be living in it full time and traveling on short trips in the summer and snowbirding it to the south in the winter. We currently have a vintage Airstream we are renovating and a 20 ft Coleman trailer that is just too small, and we will be selling or trading it in. 

In our personal circumstance, I don’t often drive, because Lynn was a professional semi-truck/trailer driver. The bigger, the more familiar for her, so we looked at Class As if they fit in our price range. But I also prefer to have a rig I could drive if necessary, and anything larger than a UHaul is new territory.

 Here are our must-haves:

Right now, we are only looking at motorhomes, mainly class Cs. Nothing larger or smaller than 30-35 ft, so we can still fit in some of the smaller state parks and that size tends to have all the features we need. 

Nothing underpowered (for a motorhome, but also true of vans and tow vehicles) 

The standard in class C and some class As is the Ford 450 10 cylinder. It’s a familiar engine in all locations, rural and town, and parts will be easier to find. I’m skeptical that diesel will be that easy, but do your own research on that.

Slides that don’t block important access. While we travel, we may not want to fully setup every night, so having to move slides just to sleep or use the kitchen sink is a pain. Even better are slides that allow comfortable pathways and use while closed. If they break, its more snug, but still livable. Slide motors can fail, at inconvenient times. 

Used, but In reasonable current shape There will be this or that needing fIxing and maybe some refurb on upholstery or wall color, but we don’t want a fixer-upper. We will want access to move in right away, not waiting til renovation is done. 

Someplace for the kitties to live. Extra bunk spaces work for traveling and sleeping, with windows, very important, and below-deck cubbies that can work as kitty bathrooms. Also, a few different kitty bunks for when we have to separate them for being bad. 

A useable kitchen space. Most are passable for coffee and sandwiches, but the assumption is you’ll cook outdoors, even in class As. A definite no is a round kitchen sink. What !@! %# man thought that was a usable sink? More than one drawer, several banks of them are better. An oven or convection oven/microwave - I like to cook. And that takes storage for kitchen gear. 

Side tables next to the bed on both sides.  I am amazed at the idea that only one person in a queen bed will have a glass of water and a phone, but it’s common. 

A large bathroom with a usable shower and good storage.

A large wardrobe, including both drawers and hanging space, not just the gym locker-size cabinets that you get in many RVs, even class Cs and As. 

A nice big dinette, preferably a half-circle layout, and a sofa or pair of recliners.

No body damage, because that isn’t easily or cheaply fixed. 

Would be nice but not a deal-breaker:

Outdoor kitchen, w/ mini fridge and sink

Room for my massage chair. Necessary for back pain. 

Our budget is about 35 - 45K. That's coming from the sale of my house. 

It’s an ongoing conversation, and whatever is currently on the market is in the running. Currently, a Forest River Sunseeker and a Winnebago Vista are bookmarked. We are waiting to get some work here done before we jump, and the market could change anytime.