It’s been rare in my life that I had things planned out way in advance, which is why the past few weeks have been uncharted territory. Plenty of conversations with Deborah over the last year centered around our selling the house we’ve lived in since 2011, then exploring places we’d talked about being possible new landing spots. Her illness kept that goal in a holding pattern as she battled the advancing enemy.
When the end came in June, her last communication to me insisted that I resume that exploration and to keep the passenger seat open for her to ride shotgun in spirit. Much of the plan was cemented before her diagnosis. Now, I’ve been taking steps to fulfill that promise.
There was a budget set up previously and stored on my desktop that I opened up a few days ago. After review, it was fairly complete, however there were 2 factors not accounted for. First, our income included her monthly social security. That stopped with her passing. Second, the expense side of the ledger would now be in the red, so that needed to be pared back. That task took a little creative thinking, but it’s workable now.
Some of the items that we had planned on including for our future were scrapped, but some new costs to be able to implement strategies to augment my income moving forward would depend on selling the house, second car, and most of our furniture and other things that won’t be in storage now. Whatever doesn’t get sold with ongoing garage sales, Etsy and Ebay listings, etc., will be donated to the trusted local charities before closing (whenever that turns out to be)
My ‘home’ while seeking the next place to plant ‘roots’ is in the process of being readied for the journey. Our past experience of limited ‘RV life on the road’, gave us the knowledge that there are expenses that need to be budgeted for maintenance, repairs, and unexpected emergencies, just like living in a ‘sticks and bricks’. ‘Lil Red is already in need of some attention along those lines.
I’ve chronicled the efforts to restore the outside appearance from ‘chalky pink’ to ‘Red’… Yesterday, I hooked it up to bring it back to the house so I could detail the inside properly. My standard checklist before pulling out of the storage area detected a problem. The left turn signal/brake light wasn’t working. So, the troubleshooting process began.
This issue surfaced several years ago, and it turned out to be a faulty 7 pin connector on our tow vehicle. After using electronic contact spray cleaner on both ends of the connector, I hooked up the multi-meter and could see it was working, but not the taillight.
I also replaced the fuses inside the fuse box dedicated to the tow package. Taillight still wasn’t working. Next, I popped off the plastic cover on the taillight. The bulb was blown. So I headed for my local O’Reilly’s, where we matched up the bulb and ten bucks later I was off to install the replacement.
Once it was swapped out, there was still a problem. The light worked when I turned on the lights, as all the running lights were also illuminated. But the turn signal didn’t flash, nor did the flashers. I didn’t have the heavy weight I normally use to test the brake light function, but I assumed it wasn’t working either. I’m not a mechanic by trade, or by any stretch of the imagination, but I figured there was probably an issue with the wiring, perhaps something came loose, or perhaps another fuse in the tow vehicle that was the problem.
The troubleshooting could take a lot more time, but…It was getting late, so I decided to leave the mystery for tomorrow.
The next morning, I woke to thunderstorms and steady rain, which persisted much of the day. With ‘Lil Red stored outdoors, that wasn’t conducive to the mission. Project delayed….
So… I’m reminded of the old phrase…’Hurry Up And Wait’… I want to get everything set and ready to roll when the time comes, but realistically, I have plenty of time before I truly can launch the next chapter of my life. Yes… It seems so close, yet so far away… (for now)….. But Time Is On My Side, right?
