Barely Christmas

I mentioned last time that Margret & Cameron were coming over for our annual January gift exchange. We took some video this time & I thought, what the hell, I'll share.


I spend time with very silly people. :o)

Today is a calm one, which I think we're both glad for after the rush of opening weekend. Jimmy & I are out on the town of Gainesville, FL. Currently enjoying a chai & a sandwich (something called "Da Bomb" which is, indeed, quite tasty) at Maude's Classic Cafe, downtown. I visit this coffee shop at least once a year and it's always very pleasant - colorful, quiet, and not too crowded! Later on tonight I will have the distinct pleasure of getting to see my friend Brian, who went to high school with me in Wisconsin and now lives here in Gainesville. Getting to see old friends during our travels is always something to look forward to!

Then tomorrow we're going on our first "mini adventure" of 2013. I've been wanting to visit St. Augustine, which is about an hour and 40 minutes from here, for years, but we've never gotten around to it. Founded in 1565, it's the oldest city in our nation. Between the unique architecture, rich history, cobblestone streets, and nice weather forecast, I'm sure it's going to be an amazing trip! I'll take pictures, of course. Anyone local have particular recommendations for what we should see?

5 and a half days 'til we're off to Arizona. I am determined to make this a good year.

Strange men on the roof, elf-toed shoes, & passive aggressive Christmas presents. THIS is how we do holidays in FLORIDA.

Welp! Spoke too soon! Suuuuuuuuuure "we were able to get the trailer fixed both more quickly & less expensively than we were expecting," but it wasn't until after we set out for Florida that:

1. The recently "fixed" bedroom slide-out started making weird clunking noises.
2. We discovered that the "fixed" awning pole is a totally different size than the old one, meaning that the awning is now too far above our heads to actually do much in the way of protecting porch-sitters from the elements.
3. We realized that the roof antenna is gone. Just... gone. No idea where it is. Missing entirely. Not a big deal, I guess, but I wish we'd known about it earlier so we could have had it repaired.
4. The truck radio stopped working (again).
5. Annnnd, to cap it all off, we just found a huge hole/crack in the ceiling fan cap in the bathroom.

Just what I want: some creeper on
the roof staring into my bathroom.

*sigh*

This is one of the Truths about Road Life. It doesn't matter who you are or what you're driving; the repairs are never done.

But anyway, at least we made it to Florida safely. And got a spot. 

(Sorry. I have to rant for a second. This is the one faire of the year where our camping space is not reserved in Barely Balanced's contract, so we have to get here right away in order to get our spot. We were told that the campground would be open on Tuesday morning, so we arrived on Monday night and parked in a rest stop down the road, ready to get in here first thing in the morning to set up. Well, we pulled in at something like 9:30 am and the place was already nearly full. What the hell! Our spot from the last two years, with a 30 amp connection, was already gone. There's something parked in it that doesn't even look like it's set up to use a 30 amp. I don't know, I could be wrong, but the free-for-all-ness of this makes the event manager in me cringe. We got here the day we were told we could, yet with everyone having already showed up the day before (did we miss a memo??) and the willy nilly way everyone's parked, there was only one place left that we could even get into with the size of our trailer. My obsessive compulsive need to streamline and organize is flashing angry orange at me. Ugh. Okay. Rant done.)

Despite the excitement of being back on the road, I've been fighting off the blues lately (God bless genetic predispositions to bouts of depression!), so ranting is unhelpful anyway. How about some happy things? There must be a few of those around...

Jimmy's delightful, new, custom
one-of-a-kind Barely Balanced shoes!

I believe I promised a photo of Jimmy's silly new leather shoes. Here they are. He tells me that the bottom section is a very dark blue that will become more apparent as the shoes are worn in. They were made by a man named Peter Jelen, who he met at the Maryland faire this year, and they are really gorgeous. Price was reasonable too. I'm thinking about getting some next year!

Another happy thing is the fact that there are two adorable little kittens next door to us. They were both outside on leashes today and Ghelkyn & Kerfuffle were beside themselves with interest, their little noses pressed up to the screens as they stared at the little ones outside. I enjoyed watching the whole thing immensely.

To Zaki from Ghelkyn and Kerfuffle
Merry Christmas, you stupid dog.

And finally, who can be depressed at Christmas? Jimmy, Margret, Cameron & I have a tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts in January when we get back together after the holidays, so we'll be doing that tonight after the group does a line-through in our living room. Cameron & Margret have been doing a show together by themselves for the last couple of weeks in Ft. Myers while Jimmy's been concluding his family business, so everyone seems to be looking forward to the opportunity to get some practice in on the regular show before they start performing it again this weekend! Lines first, then CHRISTMAS! I bought English holiday crackers* (not the edible kind, the kind with paper hats and stupid jokes inside), and even the kitties are getting in on the fun. They got a present for Cameron & Margret's dog, Zaki, and wrapped it with typical cat flair.

* Of course I did. I'm still on my Anglophile kick from last week.

I suppose if we're having company over tonight I'd better get cleaning. Right now I'm swamped beneath a pile of cardboard that I'm using to build the prototype for the Best and Geekiest Cat Tree Ever, rolls of tape, utility blades, measuring tape, markers, and everything I had to throw out of its cupboard in order to find said items in the first place.

Get on with it, whiner.

We made it to Georgia! But UGH, what a trip...

Writing to you not only from Georgia (yes, we made it - eventually), but more importantly from my very own cozy little love seat in the newly-repaired trailer! Last night we got to move back in to our home after nearly two months of feeling like refugees, and ohhhhhh, I cannot tell you how good it felt to sleep in our own bed!

Of course we were still up at 3:15 am vacuuming out 2 months' worth of those stupid not-ladybug-just-pretending-to-be-things that had moved in in our absence, but it wasn't as bad as the Great Stink Bug Invasion of 2012, so there's something to be grateful for.

The trip down was a nightmare. Neither of us had gotten more than 4 hours of sleep the night before because we were trying to get as much work done as possible before leaving Wisconsin. And since we have to deliver Jimmy's grandma's car to his mom, we were driving separately.

Ok, point of order? First of all, I rarely drive. James gets carsick if he's a passenger, and I don't particularly like driving, so it works out to both our satisfactions. The last time I'd driven was probably in Grayson's Prius in early December, and I'd never driven Jimmy's grandma's car at all. So here I am, dead tired, driving across across the freaking country in a car I'm unfamiliar with, which has a terrible blind spot and starts developing engine troubles and making scary whining noises the longer it goes, Kerfuffle is HOWLING in the back seat, Ghelkyn is throwing up every several hours, at some point I spilled hot coffee in my own lap, and then the noises get even worse in the mountains of Tennessee in an almost no visibility rain storm. My knuckles were so white and stiff at the end of that drive that I had to pry them from the steering wheel.

Also, may I just say that James told me it'd be an 11 or 12 hour trip, and I didn't look it up until it was too late, but apparently he was thinking about the trip from Chicago to his dad's. Google Maps says the trip was over 14 hours. And I don't know exactly when we left Wisconsin, but with all of the stops for various emergencies, it took well over that for us to have arrived at 4 am.

And then, of course, everyone in the house was asleep, so we couldn't find the keys to our place, didn't know where we were supposed to sleep in the house, and ended up moving half of our luggage from place to place twice before we finally figured it all out.....

I spent most of the next day in a coma.

Well, that is, after I woke up after another mere 3-4 hours of sleep to get the trailer ready to take to the repair place for it's 9 am appointment.

Ugh.

But! Now we're getting back into the swing of things!
In a bizarre turn of events, we were able to get the trailer fixed both more quickly & less expensively than we were expecting. I don't know if our luck has changed or we're just starting to become more pessimistic about home maintenance expenses. Either way, we only spent one night sleeping at James's dad's house and it feels great to be back in our home.

The opportunity to be mistress of my own domain again has filled me with a new energy. I get like this at the beginning of the faire season. I feel inspired to do all sorts of projects: redecorating the trailer, building a geektastic cat tree, sewing a steampunk outfit... I just want to create something, you know?

I also really want to bake! Crumpets, scones, and mince pies, specifically. I kept myself awake on that long drive by listening to the Harry Potter audio books, and every time I listen to them I want nothing but tea and english breakfasts and pubs and all things UK for weeks. It's been raining non-stop since we got here, and I missed the sound of rain on the roof - it's one of my favorite things.  Waking up in a pile of warm, cozy blankets, to the sound of rain, and enjoying a warm mug of tea? Perfection. Sooooooo today I went to World Market and came home with this:

That ought to hold me for a while. Now I just need to figure out where to get the ingredients for mince meat!

Um.. in other news, Jimmy's new Barely Balanced shoes have arrived and he is super pumped about them. He's been breaking them in by wearing them everywhere, and the looks we've been getting from muggles... I mean, people in restaurants and stores have been pretty awesome. ;o) I'll take a photo as soon as he stops whizzing around in them like some sort of deranged, elf-toed cartoon character.

And in other other news, Grayson got a new RV! So goodbye, Appa! Can't wait to see the new place when we all meet up in Arizona, and here's hoping that his road trips will be a little bit less of an "adventure" from now on... (What am I talking about? See here and here!)

And now I think it's time for another cup of tea and some cuddling time with the kitties, who are, I believe, even more relieved than I am to be home. :o)

2012 Wrap-Up: Butter-Related Sniper Attacks, Early Warning Signs of My Boyfriend's Insanity, & the VAGINA DRINKING GAME!

I'm curled up in bed right now with my computer, taking a short break from doing some genealogy work for James in order to write a post. It's been too long. Yes, I know. I'm sorry. The ground outside is covered in snow, the kitties are scampering about, and I'm sipping coffee, reflecting on what a whirlwind month it's been.

Grayson & I at Pemberton

The ChristkindlMarket is over and done with. So many stories that I never posted. Again, I know, I'm terrible. The pigeon that came to visit us everyday, my ongoing battle of will with an obnoxious panhandler named Mr. Fabulous,* wearing so many layers that I felt like the kid in A Christmas Story, my awesome co-workers who had Dr. Who fetishes and sang holiday-themed tip songs with me, my adorable bosses (and the delicious chocolates & toffee!), the Bears fan security guard who'd stop in to tease me about being a cheesehead, the really sweet guy who worked next door with his delightful grandparents selling amazing German food*** (with a Peruvian twist!) and kept us girls warmed up with pineapple-laced cider! I met so many interesting people with unique wares and unique stories! 

* There were a lot of panhandlers, and I have no objection to them doing their thing. Hell, I made friends with some of them. But this guy broke the code. He got in between me and a customer as he was handing me money, interrupted my upsell, and started begging.** Not cool. There is a code to street work, whether it's vending, performing, or panhandling, and interrupting someone else's sale/performance/bit is the CARDINAL NO-NO. So I reported him to Security. Who tried to kick him out. Which, of course, didn't work. Mr. Fabulous spent the rest of the the market giving me dirty looks whenever he walked by and interrupting my sales with bizarre non sequitur sniper attacks. i.e. yelling "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER!!!" as he passed. (It was actually really funny.)

** Side note: this guy's M.O. is to get into people's personal space, stick like glue, and annoy them with a constant stream of whining until they pay him to go away. It's just rude.

*** Ohemgee Käsespätzle!!!

It was like a renaissance faire in its camaraderie. Everyone was freezing together, so the tea & hot chocolate places started giving free or discounted beverages to employees; everyone checked in with each other to congratulate or commiserate about the sales day; if the wind blew something away from a booth, a neighbor would always return it; there was always someone to watch your booth for a minute if you had to run an errand; and at the end of the day when the cold had warped the wooden panels we needed to fit into our booth windows, everyone would share the same mallet to pound them in, and help each other secure their buildings for the night. Even frozen to the bone, on the most pathetic sales day, the people were awesome. I had a great time, and hope I can do it again next year!

At the last house on New Year's Eve -
Jimmy always manages to
find something to juggle...

Then came about a week in Pennsylvania with my family for Christmas and New Year. Jimmy & I rang in 2013 with a party in the woods about 20 minutes northeast of my parents' place, going from house to house within the neighborhood of this fabulous community I had the great fortune of meeting a few years ago. Many of the homes were built by the very people who lived in them, and each host had set out delicious food and drinks... there were people of all ages, and there was just such warmth, and the sense of welcome that I feel every time I get to spend time with this community. There was salsa dancing, playing in the snow with puppies, laughter, toasts at each house, live music at midnight (instruments appeared from everywhere and people started to play Auld Lang Syne) and we met some really wonderful people too - one of whom actually lives out in AZ and invited us to go to the ice caves in Flagstaff with him when we're there in February & March! I can't wait!

And now James & I have been back in Wisconsin for another week and a half. His grandma passed away in December, sadly, and we were tasked with wrapping up her estate. We've been here in this tiny little town sorting through a lifetime's worth of posessions, taking things to Goodwill or the Historical Society, sorting out valuables that we'll be taking to Jimmy's mom, and packing everything else up for storage. It's been an overwhelming task, but we are so blessed in that a handful of friends traveled here from Milwaukee, Chicago, Stevens Point, and elsewhere to lend a hand. I hate to ask for help, but we really needed it, and I'm humbled that the call was answered.

Despite the massive amount of books and decor in this house, the biggest project has been sorting through the paperwork. Oh, Lord, the endless boxes of paper!! Newspapers dating all the way back to the 1940's (some of which are really cool - see photos below!), every single greeting and holiday card Jimmy's grandparents ever received, boxes and boxes of research for the books his grandma helped write at the Historical Society, more boxes of information about local and state history, Netherlands research (the town is very Dutch), and I cannot even TELL you how much information on the family's history - family trees, at least 6 boxes of old black & white photos in addition to all the more recent color albums, family mementos.... That's been my job. Finding, sorting, and organizing all of the paperwork.

Insert mental picture of my bulging, blood-shot eyeballs practically frozen open after doing this for 16 hours a day for a week and a half. And I'm still not anywhere close to done.



But! There have been some bonuses! I've found some absolutely hysterical photos of Jimmy as a little kid. This one's my favorite:

Early warning signs...

(I can't help it. I start laughing every. single. time. I look at it. I found about 10 little wallet-sized versions of this, so I took one that I'm going to laminate and keep with me for whenever I need an ab workout!)

Also, luckily, we've had a few excuses to get out of here and take a brain break! It just so happened that while we were here, our friend Amanda was directing a production of the Vagina Monologues at Paradigm in Sheboygan, and we went to see opening night. It was wonderful.

The last time I saw the show staged (almost 10 years ago - yikes!), all of the women in it were college-aged. The cast for this production was three women at staggered life stages, and I've got to say, having women of a variety of ages and perspectives presenting the material brought something new and really special to the show.

The Vagina Monologues is one of those pieces of theatre that gets so over-hyped, so celebrated and discussed, that you hit a wall with it at a certain point. (Or at least I did, being very active in both the worlds of theatre and women's rights, especially in college.) You're so sick of hearing about it that you forget why it's being talked about in the first place. In this case, it's because in the right hands, it is a deeply moving, deeply relevant, beautiful, powerful, and important piece of commentary and of theatre. And Amanda and her cast were absolutely the right hands - they treated the stories in the show with respect, understanding, warmth, and a real desire, I felt, not just to say the words, but to share moments with the audience, to be true to the women they were speaking for.

I am so glad that I got a chance to see this show. :o)

I am also very thankful for this director's interview that Amanda did. I am thankful that Jimmy & I had beers when we watched it and took a swig every time she used the v-word.


I am thankful that after doing so, our beers were gone, and that for some reason we then felt silly and happy and got a good night's sleep! VAGINA DRINKING GAME FTW!

Oh! And I was really amused to meet a blog reader while I was at the show too! It's always a bit of a jolt to meet a stranger and have them say, "Oh! You're Casey! I read your blog!" A good jolt, of course. It's just funny because I always assume that the only one who reads it is my mother. Hint: If you like the blog and want me to write more often, write me a comment once in a while! I always feel like I'm just writing into the void for my own amusement, but if you follow and write back, it's like a conversation and I'll feel more inspired and motivated to keep up my end of it!

That's all for now. My coffee's cold and it's time to get back to the pile of genealogy. One day left to scan in as many photos as possible and add them to the Freer Family Research Compilation! Tomorrow we start the long drive back to Georgia to get the trailer fixed, and before we know it we'll be off to Florida again, then Arizona. I have loved the peace of being in this tiny little town, a short walk away from everything we need. It's been a charming mental break, pretending I have a house that isn't on wheels and thinking about how I'd decorate it (mostly fantasizing about having a library/study, and a walk-in closet/dressing room!)... but the road is calling and I can't wait to get back to another year of adventure!

Carolina to Chicago. Via St. Louis. And Chicago. And Mooresville, NC. And St. Louis again.

I... don't even know where to begin. When, at the start of my last blog post, I wrote "Today is Friday. Our last day of freedom before everything goes topsy turvy again," I had no idea just how freaking topsy turvy everything was about to go! It's December 9th now, just over 3 weeks later, and this is the FIRST time I've been alone in a quiet place long enough to write about anything!

Long story short, in the week following that entry I covered 2,738 miles of road, despite the fact that Point A and Point B were less than 750 miles away from each other. Remember when, at the end of the last blog post, I asked you to wish me luck because I was about to take another road trip in Grayson's seemingly cursed RV? Well, you fail at the luck wishing test. Thanks, guys. You must have accidentally wished for an interesting story full of twists & turns instead.

So here it is.

We didn't need that, right?

Sunday night. Last day of the North Carolina festival. Jimmy & I briefly stopped by the cast party to say our farewells, and then started packing down the trailer, as planned. Grayson came to our place to help me guide Jimmy out of the very tightly parked camping area. We failed miserably at this. Note photo at left of awning pole nearly ripped from the side of the trailer. Whoops!

Knowing that, thanks to this mishap, he'd have to get the thing to a repair shop before we take off again for next season anyway must have been Jimmy's motivation for then taking off the next morning and driving about 100 miles without the bedroom slide out fully retracted. Please read that again. Yeah. Can you just see this thing going down the highway with our bedroom sticking out the side? *headdesk*

Meanwhile, in Appa-Land...
After sending Jimmy off into the night, we went back to Grayson's RV, hooked the dolly up, pulled the car onto it, and took off. We went about 30 feet before someone flagged us down to tell us that one of the basement (a.k.a. underneath storage area) doors was flapping open. We stopped, we fixed it, we said thanks.

"No problem, man! Hope that's the only trouble you have on your journey!"

I wish he hadn't said that...

A mile outside the festival Grayson says, "Oh! I know what I forgot! I haven't secured the storage pod on the roof!"

No big deal, right? He said he'd stop as soon as the shoulder got wide enough to pull over & fix it safely. Only problem was that we didn't even make it that far before the RV stopped. Of its own accord. Just like last time when we got stranded in a corn field in Ohio, the engine started whining and stressing, and then we had no power. Only this time we were going uphill when it happened, and as we rolled backwards down the hill, we jackknifed the car on the dolly, scratching it up, and effectively preventing us from going forward OR backward. And we were stopped dead in the middle of the right lane of a two-lane highway, with traffic building up around us.

Well, shit.

There was nothing we could do. We called AAA.

Trying to get Appa loaded up...

It seemed to take forever for them to arrive. In the meantime, we acquired not one, but two police cars and three police officers to keep us company and direct traffic around us. (How embarrassing.) Then a tow truck that couldn't pull us arrived. Then a tow truck that could pull us arrived. So with an RV, a jackknifed Prius on a tow dolly, 2 police cars with blue lights flashing, 2 tow trucks with orange blinking lights, 2 cats watching everything from the windows, all personnel involved running around, and rubbernecking traffic, it was quite a scene!

Tow Truck Guy #2: "Hey, can ya turn on yer 4-ways?" 

Grayson: "Sure! I- wait, my what?" 

Cop #1: "Hazards. Yankees call 'em hazards." 

Grayson: "Oh! Sure!" 

Me: "We just got called yankees!!" 

Everyone else: *Stares at me like I'm an idiot.*

I took pictures. Grayson got mad at me for taking pictures. Life as usual.

Doesn't he look cheerful, bathed in the light from two police cars??

Lessons Learned. (Or Maybe Not.)
Okay, so if you were with us last time when we broke down in Ohio & had to be towed to Pennsylvania, you'll remember the following salient points having to do with that AAA experience:

1. The address AAA gave us for the repair shop ended up being an being an ice cream shop.
2. When we eventually found the proper address, it turned out that the place did not even work on RV engines.
3. When we told AAA this, they pretty much threw up their hands and wished us luck.
4. When we found a place that could work on the engine, they sent someone out to tow us there, but counted it against Grayson's tow limit for the year, despite the fact that the only reason we hadn't looked for a place on our own in the first place was that AAA said they were towing us to a place that could fix it.

Soooooo...... this time we knew it was down to us. After a lot of phone calls last fall, we learned that to get an RV's engine looked at, you have to take it to a place that works on semi trucks. They're the only ones who have the space and the proper equipment. (Shouldn't an emergency roadside assistance service be aware of this?) We found a place called Race City Diesel. It was after hours, so we couldn't call, but figured it was a safe bet. Got towed. Afterward, realized that even with all that time at a standstill we still hadn't secured the storage pod. Decided to do it in the daylight. Slept in the parking lot of Race City Diesel. Went inside the next morning, feeling confident that we'd done it right this time.

Not so much.

Oh, sure, they worked on RV engines! They just didn't work on RV transmissions, which, as they informed us, what exactly what we needed since Grayson's transmission looked completely shot to hell.

The place that could work on RV transmissions? Two miles away. And guess what? After using up two tows for that one trip to PA, Grayson had been warned that he could only get one more free tow this year. Which we'd used the night before. Which meant that this one was all on us. Crap.

Called AAA. Explained the situation. Sure, they'll send someone out; we just have to pay for it. Fine, whatever. The wait's going to be an hour. Okay, fine. At this point, we're a half hour away from where we started the night before when we're supposed to be almost to St. Louis by now. The clock is ticking away, and we've both got to be in Chicago in a day and a half to start our new jobs at the ChristkindlMarket. Let's just get this done.

An hour comes and goes. We call AAA back and get the same woman. Grayson's got her on speakerphone.

Her: "Oh. Oh, did you want me to send someone out to you??" 

Grayson: "I thought you did that an hour ago." 

Her: "Oh. Sorry about that. The- the tow truck's- it's running behind today. It's running late. It should be there in 45 minutes."

Seriously?

We wait some more. We forget to fix the storage pod again. The tow truck shows up. It's the same guy from the night before. Grayson pays something like 80 bucks to get towed two measly miles down the road to A& M Transmission where we meet a guy named Mike Tabacco (I am not kidding. I can't make this stuff up.) who, we discover, has been out to the festival, has seen Jimmy's show, loves cats, and agrees that Appa's transmission is shot but thinks he can rebuild it for half what we were expecting the cost to be.

The lesson: If your RV's transmission is going to die, it might as well be in NASCAR country, where every other repair shop seems to have spare transmission parts lying around!

The other lesson: AAA roadside assistance is great, as long as you're familiar with every repair shop that exists in every place in the United States of America that you might be traveling.

At this point it's time to make a decision:

1. Stay in North Carolina with the RV while it's being repaired so we can get it out of there A.S.A.P., or 
2. Leave it there, get to Chicago for our first three days of work, and then come back to get it on the weekend, cost in time & energy be damned. 

Oatmeal's SUPER helpful in the car.

Since this Chicago job was new and we wanted to make a good impression on our new bosses, we opted for the second choice. It would be an adventure, right? Appa was left in Mike Tabacco's capable hands, and Grayson & I loaded the cats into the Prius and took off for St. Louis. (We forgot to fix the storage pod again.) We made it there at some stupid time in the wee hours of the morning, slept, dropped off the cats in his parents' hands, and left for Chicago, where we arrived at night with enough time to load in our stuff...

Night Night. Sleep Tight. Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite. (For Reals.)
Where we're staying in Chicago is the apartment where Grayson used to live. His roommates have apparently not had much success with finding someone to replace him. The last person to move out left a little present behind, so we arrived, sore and exhausted, to a broom, a bag of bed bug killer, a spray bottle of alcohol, and instructions on how to use these items to keep safe from hungry nighttime visitors.

At the edge of sanity already and with nothing more than an air mattress to put on the floor in an empty, apparently bed bug-infested room, I could have cried. But Grayson found me a box spring to put my mattress on and sprinkled a generous helping of diatomaceous earth around the bed while I sprayed down every surface with alcohol and did breathing exercises. Bless him.

(Side note: I have not seen a single bed bug since I've been here. But this white bug-killing powder is now EVERYWHERE and does not come out of clothes easily...)

The next morning, off we went to our new jobs at the ChristkindlMarket in Daley Plaza. The job's been full of so many adventures all on its own that I'm going to write a separate blog post about it later. Suffice it to say that while the job is great, our co-workers are fun, and our bosses are wonderful, what we didn't know coming into it was the location of the booth we're working! We're in the very last hut on the farthest-away corner from the main market area. Outside the fences, and right on the corner of two main streets where the tall Chicago buildings create a wind tunnel that blasts right into our booth.

And because Jimmy hadn't arrived in Chicago from Pennsylvania yet, I didn't have my winter coat that first week. Three 9-10 hour days of temperatures in the 20's & 30's, with 20-30 mph winds in my face. By Friday night, Grayson & I were even more sore and exhausted, as well as dehydrated, frozen, and cranky. So when we got off at 9 pm, took the train home, threw a couple of things in our bags, and hopped back into the Prius, it was not with the same sense of adventure that we'd had when we chose Option 2 a few days before....

30 More Hours of Driving This Weekend? Sure, Why Not?
We drove all through the night in shifts - one driving, the other sleeping - erring on the side of me driving more so Grayson would be rested enough to drive the RV the next day. At about noon on Saturday we arrived in Mooresville, NC. Mike Tabacco showed us the repairs he'd made, and with very little ado* we were back on the road to St. Louis. Again. Thankfully, this time Appa was driving like a champ.

* Grayson did finally secure the storage pod!

Trying to stay warm during the trip to STL.

It'd been about a 12 hour drive the night before, and it was another 12 or so on this leg. We drove until Grayson was bleary-eyed (luckily it was SO COLD in that thing while driving that neither of us could sleep too much) then pulled over at a truck stop to sleep, making it to his folks' place the next morning.

It's impossible to go to Grayson's parents' house without being fed delicious food by his amazing family. We put the RV in storage, spent a few relaxing hours with them, and then hopped back into the Prius and headed back to Chicago. Got there in the evening with a bit of time to spare and passed the hell out so we could get back to work the next morning. By the end of the weekend we were pretty pleased with the adventure we'd had, but I'd just as soon not have to repeat it!

There's more, but I'm damn tired of writing, and frankly it's been too long since I posted! Hope you've enjoyed this installment of our adventures. Rest assured that even more ridiculousness is coming soon. Like introductions of a whole new cast of characters, primarily made up of the crazy/homeless people I've gotten to know while working in downtown Chicago! Meathead, Trash Man, Strip Tease, The Column Conversationalist, The Prophet, Mr. Fabulous, and, my personal favorite, She Who Doesn't Give a Fuck!

(Oh. And Grayson's pet toffee-eating pigeon.)

Tschüss!

And the Packing Frenzy Begins - Holiday Adventures in Store!

It's 48 degrees here in Huntersville. The perfect weather to be outside, bundled up in fleece, long socks, cozy hats and scarves, and long-sleeved gloves. Just got back from Grayson's RV,* where I helped him put up and secure his awning. Today is Friday. Our last day of freedom before everything goes topsy turvy again.

* After a brief stop in the short wooded walk between his place and mine, of course, to take a few deep breaths of cold, green-smelling air and just enjoy the quiet... So lovely!

Tomorrow brings the start of the last North Carolina festival weekend. (Where has this show gone??) And on Sunday night, as soon as the cannon goes off, there's going to be a mad scramble to pack up and bug out! For us, anyway. A lot of people wait until Monday or Tuesday to leave. They attend the cast party, get a nice long sleep, and have a last Monday morning breakfast with friends before starting to pack up and heading on their way. This festival marks the end of the season, and many rennies who are heading off for holiday plans won't see their faire family again until things pick up in January.

In years past, Jimmy & I have done that too. Slept hard on Sunday after a long, crazy weekend, and took our time getting ready to go before heading to family for Thanksgiving. This year, however, James is going to be in Suitcase Shakespeare's production of MacBeth in Chicago, so I decided to look for work there instead of spending all of the winter break with family. Grayson & I both landed jobs at a chocolate shop in Daley Plaza's ChristkindlMarket.* The only problem is that the job starts on Wednesday, so we've got to book it up there!

* A German Christmas Market in Chicago which runs from November 20th to December 24th. Wonderful Christmas shopping with unique gifts, food, performers... I attended a few times during the years I lived in Chicago and loved it. Can't wait to be a part of it!

On Sunday night, as soon as we close, Grayson & I are going to throw my things in his RV and take off. First to his family's place to drop off his RV and cats, and then we'll take his car up to Chicago on Tuesday so we can settle in and get ready to work the next day. Jimmy will be leaving on Sunday night too, except he has to head to Georgia to drop off our trailer for the winter, then he's heading up to Pennsylvania to my folks' place to drop the kitties off for a vacation with Grandma & Grandpa (and get an amazing Thanksgiving meal, darn him!), and then by Friday he'll be back in Chicago to meet up with us.

The three of us are temporarily living with Grayson's old roommates, who recently had a vacancy open up in the apartment, which is perfect. Inexpensive rent, and no obligation past the month we're there. I love how things always work out in this life. It teaches me that while it's good to plan, research, and be prepared, a solution will always present itself. And that's a good feeling!

My packing buddy.

Now I just have to pack, and it's proving more difficult than I had anticipated.  I reasoned that if I can take just a small backpack with me for a month of traveling around Europe, two months' worth of necessary items shouldn't be much more of a challenge, right? Well... only problem is that when you're traveling around Europe, you sort of expect to be wearing the same two changes of clothes and washing them in hostel sinks. I've got to bring enough layers of warm clothing to get through 50 hour work weeks outside in Chicago winter when I won't have time to do that much laundry, weekends that will probably involve going to see friends' shows and holiday parties, an air mattress and bedding for Jimmy & I, and then everything I need for a few weeks with family after that, which will involve dressing more nicely. Computer bag, toiletries, all the Christmas gifts I've purchased thus far, and who knows what else I'm forgetting. Good Lord. Thank goodness Grayson's Prius has a lot of space in it!

Oh man, and I've still got to get the cats' stuff packed up for Jimmy. And wrap all of our glassware in dish towels, pull everything out of the way of the slide-outs, clean the toilet and sinks for winter storage, and put plastic on things. Oh! And refill my CTA card! Oh my gosh, why am I still on the computer??

Breathe. There's time.

But I'd still better get to it.

Wish me luck, not only with the packing, but for another road trip in Grayson's RV. Remember what happened last time?? Yeesh.

North Carolinians! Stay indoors!

Today is a dangerous day to be out and about! Sheesh! Nothing is safe!

Not the LAUNDROMAT...

Those could have been MY CLOTHES that caught fire!!

Not TACO BELL...

No, Taco Bell. I am "temporarily close."
You are temporarily closed.

Not even SUBWAY!

This photo doesn't even show the MOP-WIELDING MANIAC
that was probably OUT FOR MY BLOOD!

I'm going home to hide.