Ground Fault Interruption!!

As I sit here now, amidst the breeze coming through open windows on a 77 degree sunny day, it is hard to remember the days and weeks of preparation as we packed to leave St. Louis.  It was cold, I remember that.  There was snow, and wet, and stress.  I remember thinking about what to pack. I grabbed a bunch of shorts and it seemed like a faraway dream as I stood at the closet door in long pants and Under Armour® to protect me from the chill. At that moment I wondered who could imagine wearing shorts. (I am wearing them now).

I was worried about all the cats and Clivebarker making the trip. Would they get enough to drink? Would Clive eat? Would our animals forgive us for making them endure an adventure that was fun for us, scary for them? Would it be fun for us? Would they have enough room in the RV to play? Would I be able to work effectively? Will I be allergic to the animals in close quarters?

Who worries about these things?

Me.

I can worry about anything and my neurotic tendencies were in full swing.

I worked to calm my mind, but I was leaving my house, which was my safe place and my refuge, and venturing out where there were more unknowns than anything else.  We we both leaving comfortably safe habits and places and things behind. The rituals that shaped our days and nights all year long (and truthfully carried us through some of the challenging times of 2010) would be no more.  No baths in our tub of wonder.  No easily accessible laundry, no car to jump in when a whim struck.  Our people would be far away. New patterns, new adventures, new rituals.  You have to leave a lot behind when you are packing for a small space. It turns out a 30' RV is not that big.  We were facing a lot of unknowns.  I knew that all of these challenges and concerns would be a great way to test our mindfulness practice and our determination to walk gently through the things that scare frighten us.  What better way to face unpredictable life life than to jump right into the unknown?  One of the things I love about Ginger is that without her I would not have made many of the choices that helped create the best of me. Without her I also wouldn't be trying to decide what shoes to take and what I wouldn't need for three months. It is not an easy decision and right now I fear I should have brought another pair. Let it go, Lisa.

We were busy the weeks prior to our leaving.  In addition to  holiday preparations and getting the RV ready, we also decided I would need to move out of the little house. It was a lot.  We were stretched thin and exhausted.  A lot of the hard work fell on Ginger, but I tried to help as well. I was focused on the technology we'd need on the road and was hoping to get a chance to test the setup I had put together.  No dice, of course.  Everything moved so fast.

We got to know the breaker panel in the RV VERY well. Sadly.

We were planning on leaving the day before Christmas Eve so we could have a  visit with my parents and do a test run.  Sadly we encountered some electrical issues the day before we were scheduled to leave. We were mostly packed up and I was testing out the technology when things started going very wrong. One of the breakers in the  breaker kept tripping and we couldn't figure out why.  We worked on it late into the night and got up the next morning and started in again.  We were having no success and the tensions were rising when our friends Jill and Jason stopped by on their way to an early lunch to see the RV.  Jason jumped in and started helping Ginger troubleshoot.  Jason worked all morning and into the afternoon with Ginger and after hours of tinkering they found a bad outlet and repaired it.  Such kindness.  They went off for lunch and we started to finish packing.  We were so excited to be back on track only having lost a partial day! But when we plugged everything thing in we realized that somehow most of the outlets were now dead again.  Hopes dashed, we decided to shower and get a bite to eat.  As I stepped into the shower I heard Ginger talking to Jason on the phone and when she told him what had happened he insisted on coming back over.  I went and got take out while they worked.  Spending Christmas in St. Louis was beginning to be a real possibility.  I was bummed. Jason brought even more tools over and he and Ginger worked into the evening.

Seeing the icicles on the RV kind of made me sad for it.

This was what we were escaping. Nice we got a taste.

Once again they announced success and this time it looked like it was going to stick.  We'd leave in the morning, on Christmas Eve day, in time to spend a few days with my family before heading South.  Only that was the day St. Louis got hit with a pretty good snow.  I had gotten up early and started packing and was almost done when the snow hit. Once again our plans didn't materialize and we were disappointed, (and crabby) but we did eventually get to see my folks for a short trip before we left on our adventure. We were able to get on the road the day after Christmas, after a surprising amount of work that was left to do.  After being packed and ready three separate times one might think it would have been easier.

It gave me a lot to think about.  The best laid plans get kinked up, and we are going to have even more unexpected adventures happen as we motor down the road.  Navigating unexpected interruptions (or even catastrophes) with a sense of curiosity instead of disappointment is something I am working on.  I am sure there will be plenty of chances in the coming months.  The first night in the RV we discovered the guy who installed the macerator pump left some things unhooked.  Ginger heard things spraying where there should have been no water. Oops. I  thought it was supposed to sound like that. Everything is dry now, thank goodness, and we laughed awfully hard as we laid things out to dry. We lived, so did our stuff. I guess this is all part of the game.  It is our latest adventure, right?