I'm sitting at the airport in Las Vegas waiting for my connection to San Jose with Tchaikovsky playing in my earbuds to try to drown out the noise here. This is one of my least favorite airports, but it's been almost a month since I've seen Reid so I dropped the Navi off at the St. Louis airport this morning and I'm headed to Mountain View this evening.

I spent the past week at an RV maintenance class in Whittington, IL. $1640 seemed like a lot for the 5 day class so I wasn't sure if I'd feel that I got my money's worth.  I'm so glad I decided to participate. It was a small class with me and 3 other guys. I've seen a lot of training in my day and this was one of the best.

It could be that I was motivated given the fact that I've already had a number of maintenance issues on the Navi even though I've only been on my journey for 2 months. But mostly it was the instructor—Terry Cooper or Coop (the Texas RV professor) who made what could have been a very boring and complex topic interesting and understandable. I actually got excited about reading my RV user's guide.  I don't know if I'll be able to maintain or repair everything that comes my way but at least I have the confidence to give it a try and the knowledge to explain what's going on. Terry Cooper and Steve Anderson started an RV Inspector program and I wish I would have known about the program before I bought my RV. I got lucky and it seems to the Navi is fairly solid for her age but she could have turned out to be a lemon.  What they're offering is similar to the home inspection business only for RV (or potential RV owners).

While I could go on for more training and potentially become an inspector to help others enjoy the RV living/lifestyle and make a little money, I think I'd rather help them market their quality program.

Steve runs the Workamper program which matches RVr's with employers (usually campgrounds) and work opportunities. Combining Terry's 40 years of RV maintenance and teaching experience with the Workamper program seems an excellent match. I found them both to be energetic, professional, highly competent and exceptionally caring. One of the guys in the program was 79 years old and his AC did not work in his Roadtrek.  Even though the training was over for the day, Terry spent extra time with Ralph to see if he could help him resolve his issue.  It turned out to be an easy fix and I was impressed with his thoughtfulness.  We all had some little issue and in addition to covering the prescribed material and hands on practice, Terry helped us either fix or troubleshoot each of our issues.  I really like these guys and will do what I can to help them promote the RV inspection business.  And, I'd say I got more than my money's worth with the increased confidence in handling and maintaining my own RV.

So, I'm off to California for a week to help Reid find a house there. We plan to make a quick trip to Houston over the 4^th and then I fly back to St. Louis to pick up where I left off with a visit to the Dancing Rabbit eco-village in Rutledge, MO and then the Abundant Life eco-village in Fairfield, Iowa, followed by a Winnebago factory tour in Forest City, Iowa which should be a good accoutrement to the RV maintenance training.           

My visit to The Farm in Summertown TN

I got here last night after a drive that should have been 3 hours that turned into 7.  I left Fred and Susan's in Southeastern TN with Siri on my iPhone as my GPS guide and wasn't paying as close attention as I should have.  I used my driving time to re-connect with my mom and blindly drove where Siri directed.  I should have been going NW but was in fact going NE.  Two hours into the trip, I stopped for coffee at McD's and realized I was 4 hours from my destination.  A little rain, a major accident that brought traffic to a standstill and a bit of arduous mountain climbing for the Navi eventually got me to my destination (a lovely home owned by Farm members--Mary and Phil).

M&P offer rooms in their home bed and breakfast style w/in the 700 acres or so that make up the Farm community.  Phil was a part of the 1500 young people who followed then leader--Steve Gaskin from San Francisco in refurbished school buses to Summertown TN in the early 70's.  They were looking for a more humane way to live together than the world they found themselves in following the Vietnam war.  Phil said they were a bunch of English majors trying to build a community together.

M&P are in their early to mid 60's and built their home 6 years ago after living in a mobile home for 15 years to acquire the cash to build the home outright.  Their home is a part of a land trust so they couldn't take out a mortgage on it.

Mary is a retired pediatric nurse and Phil is an media professional.  Phil said he got his start audio recording early community meetings and branched into video about 20 years ago.  I love the idea that they open their home up to guests visiting The Farm and that I get to hear from them what it's been like to be a part of this community for the past 40 years.  

Friday morning they drove to Nashville to pick up a young couple from the airport so I ventured out on my bike to the community store and to the swimming hole.

The swimming hole

It appears that many of the people who live here raised their kids and 40 years later are the older generation now.  It's a rural community with with a mix of gravel and hard top roads.  Homes are positioned down dirt roads off the beaten path.  It feels like a better planned layout than what I saw at Earthaven in NC though both are quite well known in intentional community circles and both have been in existence for some time.

Phil says they had a huge transition in 1983 when they went from a commune to a co-op because they couldn't pay their bills in the farming business.  Many left because there were no jobs close by and they didn't want to take jobs from the locals.  They now have about 200 people living on the property most who are retirement age.

The visitor coordinator told me they're now known for transistor sized, radiation detection devices created by a community member that's brought them a great deal of notoriety.  They're also specialize in mid-wifery assistance and training.  They also have a tofu manufacturing business on site.

As I write this post, I'm sitting in a rustic old store at the heart of the community taking in the action around me.  I ate a hearty late lunch of barley veggie soup and am enjoying the air conditioner (not quite as powerful at M&Ps and the strong and free internet connection.

Phil graciously drove me around on a quick tour of the community Sat morning before I left. Here are a few photos from that tour.

Surprise fireplace inside

Straw bale structure with grass roof

Feeling nostalgic, Phil told me of a time when he first arrived when all they had was one huge washing machine for the entire community called the Brontosaurus.  He said you'd put your name on the list to wash your clothes and sometimes your name came up at 2am.  He'd be notified somehow (this was before cell phones and internet) grab his clothes and ride his bike to the laundry facility and throw his mesh bag in with several other community members.  He said it was someone's full time job to keep the Brontosaurus working.  Given the fact that they now shop at Costco and Kroger and have a washing machine in their home (they do hang clothes out on a clothes line to dry), times have certainly changed for them.

Hanging out with my peeps

After I left the Dancing Tree Festival at the Heartwood community in Blue Ridge GA, I knew I wanted to spend time with my dear friends Susan and Fred so I intentionally headed their way.  I didn't realize that the 2 Rivers Campground where I stayed to re-charge was less than 5 miles from their new home in Calhoun, TN.

So, I had the opportunity to hang out with them for 2 days before heading to the Farm community in northwestern TN.

I met Susan and Fred 10 years ago when I delivered several Train the Trainer workshops in Jakarta and Bangkok for what was then Unocal.  Fred was one of the participants and I got to meet Susan one night when we had dinner.  Susan took me under her wing and showed me around Bangkok the next day.  She's one of those people with a bright, shining countenance and an adventurous spirit and I was immediately drawn to her and spending time together was a highlight of my first (and what I thought would be my only) trip to SE Asia.

Several years later, Fred and I were both hired to work at Chevron in the Drilling Learning and Development group.  I was delighted when he and Susan moved to the Heights and we got to be neighbors for a short period of time before they spent two expat years in Angola.  Since then, Fred has been working rotation spending half his time in Houston and the other half in the foothills of TN with Susan and Gunny (their German Shepard) in their brand spanking new custom home built especially for them.

I was lucky that Fred was home when I visited so I got to spend time with both of them exploring their property, enjoying their home, watching movies, shooting my new handgun, eating out, eating in, sleeping in, hiking (see photo below of Susan and I on the hike), meeting Susan's mom and step father and joining Susan and her mom for a class on Hinduism.

Thank you Fred and Susan.  You really know how to soothe my soul even in the hot heat of summer.

Hanging out in the Heights, TX-  Fall 2010

Hiking in Calhoun, TN Summer 2015

  

Visiting an old friend in Highlands, NC

One of my first boyfriends when I was 15 was Mark Robbins.  We re-connected on Facebook a number of years ago and he became my financial planner for a while.  I've visited him in beautiful Highlands, NC each year for the past 4 years.

Since I was in NC, I called him to see if I could drive the Navi up the mountain for a visit.

It was another one of those skinny, windy, wet drives up and the Navi always balks at those steep climbs.

Mark has met a gorgeous and talented woman who owns a majestic hunk of property with horses and gardens and a guest house.  They've been so kind as to let me park my Navi on the property and stay in the guest house in a big comfy bed with a real shower.  This morning I got a tour of the property.  Here's just a glimpse of the deck that connects her office, yoga studio, and the horse stables.

She's an accomplished professional who owns horses on the side.  She even collects semen from the stallions and inseminates the mares.  Now that's a woman!  Mark met her at a yoga studio in town where she also teaches classes.  I'm going to get to participate in her yoga class in the morning.

This kind of living is so grand and opulent.  They are blessed to have found one another and to be able to share this lifestyle.

More photos or our time together:

Visit to the Earthaven Eco Village near Black Mountain, NC

I made it to the Earthaven ecovillage on Thursday night after a 7 hour drive from Louisa, VA with sketchy directions, a detour from an accident, rain, and mountainous climbing on narrow wiggly roads. The campsite they had saved for me was small and muddy so I went in search of someone who I could talk to about parking the behemoth where it would be out of the way and on relatively solid ground.

Jerry came out with his rain coat and found a site that he thought would work in the parking lot just outside of one of the buildings where all the action was. The only trouble was, it required that I make the loop and come back around because backing up was not an option. So I hopped back in the Navi for the maneuver when I saw in front of me a long, thick branch hanging about 9' high and extending across the road that I had to drive under. While I need 11', there was no way around it. The a/c casing was already damaged so I took it slow and drove forward hoping that I'd do no more damage to the poor Navi.

Honestly, I felt like leaving.  However, near the entrance, I found a wide open parking area near their mailboxes with a decent gravel surface and I parked there. I put on my rain jacket and walked up to the evening program at the bldg they call Council Hall. (The last photo in this post shows an interior picture)  Diana Leaf Christensen was giving a presentation about Earthaven and I was keen to see it. She was somewhat of a celebrity to me as I had found and watched several of her YouTube videos talking about ecovillages which partially inspired my journey. She's known globally  in intentional community circles.  The Council Hall is a community built, octagonal shaped building constructed with resources from the land. It was quite lovely. There was a mixture of people in attendance---some who looked kinda like me and others who looked like young and old earthy hippies.

After the presentation, it was getting dark and my home on wheels was a bit of a hike in the dark so I decided to head back there for a night of dry camping (that's camping w/out any hookups). At least the weather was pleasant if not a little dampish with all the rain. Earthaven feels like I would expect Costa Rica to feel. Lots of lush greenery and creeks and birds and rain.  Here's a photo of of the White Owl building where we took our meals.

While Earthaven was at the top of my list as one of the key eco villages that I wanted to visit, I felt I needed a good reason so I wasn't one of the many who just come to visit out of curiosity. So, I signed up for a Restorative Circles workshop held there Th-Sun and paid my $140 via PayPal for the privilege. I decided to stay to attend all day Friday and leave on Sat morning. Interspersed with the workshop, 2 tours were scheduled so people like me could get a feel for the place.

I have to say, it wasn't what I expected. There were some interesting structures, truly very colorful but there was also quite a bit of junk and scraps and trash around that violated my sense of order and aesthetics. There were quite a few temporary looking structures.

Clark led the tour. A man who looked to be in his mid 60's who lived there for 14 years. Once you become a member, you can build your own structure, that would need to be completely off the grid. Or, you might get lucky and be able to occupy one that had already been built and vacated—assuming it was to your liking.

Arjuna who was one of the founding members of Earthaven showed us her home which was truly lovely but it took 3 years to finish. She used skilled and unskilled labor. The unskilled labor consisted of volunteers who came to Earthaven to learn how to build straw bale homes---not a bad way to get your house built but I don't know that I'd would have the patience to do that over a 3 year period.

I had a chance to visit a 26 year old, young man (G.V) who had lived at Earthaven for 5 years. He said he lived an itinerant life until he found Earthaven. It was easy to live a simple, rustic life that didn't require him to work off the property until he fell in love and they became parents. All of a sudden he was faced with needing to make a living as he wanted a nicer place for his family to live—at Earthaven.  He shared a dream of buying an adjoining property previously owned by the Aspen company---called the Mountain School who educated troubled boys. They were no longer in business there and the facility was vacant and for sale.

G.V. felt that Earthaven had a lot of bright, creative people who were great in generating ideas and even in doing the work but he said their biggest shortcoming was in the planning. Earthaven used to earn money offering quite a number of workshops until a guest contracted Hep C. Authorities came in to investigate their water and other retreat facilities and many of the members didn't want to have to conform to regulations so the workshops dwindled. It turns out the guest contracted Hep C before she got to Earthaven but the damage had been done.

G.V. felt that if they could renovate the Mountain School facility and hold workshops there, they could provide the attention to detail necessary to be successful in running workshops. He'd like to bring other intentional communities together to share effective practices and while they could tour Earthaven, they wouldn't be as disruptive to the residents living there when so many guests are staying on property. G.V. said it was a bit like living in a zoo with visitors regularly touring the place.

That made me that much more concerned about how I impact the communities when I visit. As much as possible, I want to find a way to do so within boundaries they've already set up—like visitor weekends and/or workshops. Driving in to Earthaven on the rainy Thursday night in my big gas guzzler made me feel like a fish out of water. However, everyone at Earthaven was quite gracious and hospitable to me.

I met another young guy from the Dancing Rabbit eco village in NE Missouri and introduced myself and asked him the best way to initiate a visit since it was another one of those well known, well established communities top of my list. 

Additionally, I met 2 other workshop participants who thought I might like to visit their communities in Georgia when I told them I'd really like to find a place to live that offered four seasons. It turns out that they (Ken from the Heartwood community in Blue Ridge, GA and Tina from the Earthsong community in Athens, GA) had also attended the Co-housing Conference in Durham. I just didn't get an opportunity to meet them there. They shared some of the special qualities that they enjoy about their communities. Both sounded enticing so I told them both that I would like to visit. The good news is Heartwood is having a gathering called Dancing Tree next weekend in Blue Ridge, GA a beautiful part of the US that I've visited a number of times on vacation. They'll both be there so I plan to head that way to check that out.

I left Earthaven Sat am after breakfast as the others were heading to the workshop. I wanted to focus my attention on getting my banged up a/c repaired. I spoke to a company earlier in the week who agreed to order the parts that should arrive in Raleigh in 2-3 days. Five days later I still hadn't heard from them so I called them and left several voice mails explaining that I was in a holding pattern waiting to know about the parts.  Turns out the guy who orders was out so it would be Monday before I'd know anything.  I didn't really want to drive 3 hours back to the shop in Raleigh. Hanging out in one place and waiting for days does not jive with my mode of operating but when it comes to RV repairs, I've found there's a lot of waiting. On my way back towards Raleigh, I stopped into a Camping World in Statesville, NC and it turns out they had the parts in stock AND were able to fix it right then and there.  It wasn't cheap but it will teach me to make sure the Navi can clear an awning before driving underneath.

So, it's Sun night, I'm parked by a beautiful, babbling creek in Marion, NC at Buck Creek RV park and my a/c works. The babbling creek is wonderful but it's still muggy and warm here so the a/c will make it easier to sleep.

P.S.  Here's a photo of the inside of Council Hall at Earthaven.  One of the participants took a nap during the lunch hour and we started the workshop with him sleeping in the middle of the floor.  I was sitting in the back when I took this shot and off to my right, Arjuna was working on her computer at a slightly hidden bench seat table.  Diana rolled out her yoga mat next to her and laid down to take a nap.  I like the way people take care of their needs.  How many times I would have liked to have done that during some long meetings at work.

So what are some of my key learnings from my visit to Earthaven?  They've been around since the mid 90's.  I thought they'd have more figured out building wise and community wise.  They seem to be in the middle of a big transition.  Clark told us they're going through a legal re-organization and everything is on hold until that is settled.  I'm sure the Hep C scare played a role. 

G.V. told me they think of Earthaven as an experiment in how one can live on the land.  I admire their efforts to do that and I found them honest in sharing what has worked and what they're still working on.  Diana mentioned in one of her books that it takes money to live in an intentional community.  While young people like G.V. are attracted to places like Earthaven because it is off the grid and close to the land, it isn't free.  This reminded me of the young couple at the Hummingbird Community that I visited in NM who are living a very, very simple lifestyle.....as close to the land as I've seen.  I wonder how it feels to be living that way when there are other community members (albeit at a different stage in their lives) living on the 500 acres of land with many more creature comforts (like indoor plumbing, heating and cooling systems and protection from the elements).

Do they desire those creature comforts?  If not now, will they during the second half of their lives?

Because people come and go in the community, they seem to be re-learning what others before them have learned.  I expected the buildings at Earthaven to go from a basic "lean to" to more homes that look more like Arjuna's without the 3 year building process.  Do communities share what they are learning or do they isolate themselves?  Do the elders share with the new entrants what's been tried before?  Do the young people listen? Do they build simple because that's all they can afford and then abandon those structures for another new idealist to experiment?  

I think that G.V. had a great idea in bringing communities together to share what works and what doesn't.  What can we do for young people for whom a college degree no longer guarantees a job and a livelihood?  

My new friend Tina from Earthsong in Athens shared a great idea where they're trying to bring baby boomers with money and a desire to live in community together with young people who have talents that need to be nurtured to support one another.  I love the idea of that kind of cross fertilization and support for one another.  I don't want to live in a community of people who look just like me.  I want to live in one where all the generations are respected for the energy and talent they bring--at whatever point they are in their lives.

Update on Heartwood Community and the Dancing Tree Festival

Today is the first day of my nearly 7 week trip that I feel depleted and tired. I've spent the past 7 days as a guest in two different states surrounded by beauty and loving hosts and welcoming friends but the introvert in me is like an electric car that needs to be re-charged. So, for tonight, I found an RV park near Benton, TN on a river. It's hot but the a/c is working and I thought I'd take some time to add to my blog. I'm hoping the evening air cools off so I can sit out and read “How Yoga Works” on the river bank. Robin and Mark gave it to me to read when they heard of my interest in getting back into yoga and given Robin's background as an Iyengar yoga instructor. It's been a great read so far as it talks more about the philosophy behind yoga than the physiology.

Last Thursday, I left Mark and Robin in Highlands, NC and drove 2 hours through the mountains to Blue Ridge, GA—a place I've vacationed a number of times. I even thought about buying a second home there because it is so easy to make a direct flight from Houston to Atlanta and drive the 90 minutes to the mountains of NW GA.

So, when I dined with Ken and Tina last weekend at the Restorative Circles workshop at Earthaven and told them I was looking for a place that offered four seasons, they both recommended that I visit their communities—Earthsong in Athens, GA and Heartwood in Blue Ridge, GA. It turns out that Heartwood was hosting a festival called Dancing Tree over the weekend so I thought it would be a good time to visit and get a feel for that community.

Ken Banwart started the Heartwood community about 5 years ago with another like minded, wealthy entrepreneur. He bought a house up on the mountain and refurbished it to his liking. His co-conspiritor—Bill decided to build his home from scratch and plans to have it finished by October. One of the “community” authors whose work I read said you need money to start a community and it appears they are both the financiers of the community that's being started there. Ken's home is full of creativity and intimate spaces and it's obvious that he built it to be shared by others. He graciously offered me a place to stay while I was there. In addition, his lovely and talented daughter, Magan, flew in from NYC to collaborate with her father on a work related project. Tina drove over from Athens (her and Ken are dating) for the weekend and brought two Earthsong community members Baxter and Laura to join the fun at Ken's home. We visited and participated in yoga and community meals and listened to live music---the instrumental kind and the kind of music that critters make around Ken's house—croaking toads and confused roosters and chickens.

Before all the other guests arrived on Friday, I had the opportunity to hang out with Ken and his close friend Julian for their regular Thursday get together where they work on the latest creative project around Ken's house, harvest fresh vegetables from Ken's garden and Julian prepares a sumptuous, meal with the booty from the garden.

Julian is an accomplished painter and poet and lives nearby in a home with electricity but no running water. Ken gave me a copy of the book of poetry that Julian wrote. Together they plan to turn a selection of poems into a theatrical production. Magan arrived around 9pm from the airport in Atlanta and I enjoyed getting to know her and appreciated hearing about the great adventures that her and her dad had shared together. All of my new friends were warm and welcoming and generous with their thoughts and talents and hospitality.

Heartwood represented a departure from the type of community that I thought I wanted to visit as they are newly forming. However, Ken inspired me to visit when he said it's the kind of place that new members could have a hand in co-creating. They're especially interested in offering retreats there and with my training and development background, that piqued my curiosity.

While Ken and Bill's homes are quite spacious and thoughtfully crafted with communal gatherings in mind, I didn't get to see where the other few in the community lived. I did see some of the common structures like the outdoor stage down by Burdine Pond and the outdoor yoga platform, the gardens, and outdoor workshop. It was inspiring to see two men like Ken and Bill heavily invested in nurturing and growing a community with like minded people interested in healthy living and collaboration in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Heartwood was my 7^th community to visit to date. All of them have offered features that I like. For example, gracious hosts willing to open their homes and hearts and to share their experiences with me. Beautiful locations in the mountains. Cool, crisp weather with water views. An affinity to outreach and retreats and workshops that would allow me to contribute my experience and talents. Twin Oaks offered the opportunity to blend work and living like no other community I'd yet seen with their income sharing model but I'd have to spend more time there to truly understand how it works in reality. They do have a 3 week visitor program and a conference there in the fall so I might participate in one or both of those to get a better feel.

So far, I'm so thankful to have met such creative, open, gracious and kind people who enjoy sharing their lives and journeys with me. It's been enriching and empowering to see what's possible.

Receive automatic email updates

Reid figured out how to add a widget to this blog that allows readers to receive automatic updates via email whenever I add a new post.  I hope you use it and follow me and I really appreciate your feedback whether it's public on the blog (thank you Margaret and Barbara for that) or privately thru email (thank you Lubos and Diane for those).  It's much more enjoyable to write when I get to hear your questions, comments and/or reactions.  

I visited the Twin Oaks community yesterday afternoon. Aurora (who I met at the FIC board meeting in Boulder) hooked me up with Paxus who guided me on my tour. Pax greeted me and because the temp had dropped and rain was threatening, we first walked to an old wood building and I followed him up a flight of steps to a community closet. It reminded me of the resale stores where I buy my clothes....with a twist. It's a place where the 100 or so who live in the community can put any clothes they're willing to share with others in the community. Pax picked out a purple Columbia rain jacket. It's a job for someone in the community to wash and mend the clothes in the “community” closet and hang them neatly in the closet for others to choose what they might like to wear. If a member finds an item of clothing they want to keep, they're responsible for taking care of it.

Twin Oaks is known for their hammocks which they've been making since the beginning of the community—some 48 years. Pax showed me the area where they are made. Evidently they used to sell exclusively to Pier One (headquartered in Corpus Christi, TX....I was surprised to learn) but 10 years ago, Pier One decided to go for a more polished look. Later, they changed their mind and came back to the Twin Oaks community who decided not to partner with them because it was more lucrative without the middle man.

Twin Oaks (and their sister community “Acorn”) is also known for their heirloom seeds. This business is evidently doing exceedingly well. Keenan, who took over my tour when Pax had to run, explained that they needed some land to plant and grow cantelopes (for example) beyond the 500 acres they currently use for other purposes. Acorn got the soil ready, planted the seeds and watered and weeded the crop just so they could harvest the seeds later.  They offered to let their neighbors keep the crop produced if Acorn could keep the seeds.  It's a win for Acorn and their neighbors.   

As I drove on a road leading to Twin Oaks, I saw what looked to be an old abandoned saw mill next to a river with a waterfall. It was so interesting, I had to slow down to take a look. I kept going when I saw someone working there. Turns out it was Keenan who was doing some work there to refurbish the beautiful old bldg. It belongs to an 81 year old neighbor who is considering selling or gifting the property to Twin Oaks. Keenan has been helping to restore the inside of the bldg while the neighbor decides what he wants to do with it.

As I walked thru the bldgs on the tour, I was intrigued by the Twin Oaks income sharing philosophy and wanted to learn more. All the structures are shared by the community. Each member has a room to live in and they share common areas. Some of the residents left the doors open so I could see into their rooms. Nice sized, basic. The common areas I saw which included kitchen, living, etc though were dark and aesthetically felt discombobulated and a little dirty to me.  I wonder if they have a space for anal retentive neat nicks?

They offer a 3 week visitor orientation program where visitors can live and work in the community to get a better feel than I was able to get in a 3 hour tour. There's a waiting list until Sept to get into the orientation program. I'd like to get on the list and give it a try to see how I would like this exceptionally unique community.  They offer a "communities" conference every Labor Day.  Perhaps I can attend the conference and then try out the visitors orientation.

Thank you Pax and Keenan for a wonderful, last minute tour of the very famous Twin Oaks community in Louisa, Virginia.  I'm going to see if I can get a tour of their neighboring communities while I'm in the area.

I took the Navi to Bill Plemmons RV while I was in the Raleigh area to have them look at my AC to make sure the damage I did to the AC casing on top didn't extend further.  A few days earlier I noticed water dripping on the new wood floor when we used the AC and I wanted to get that checked out.  It turns out that I did do more damage than I expected and I need a new AC unit.   The good news is they can get it in 2-3 days and install it for me this week while I'm in the area.  It'll be a newer, more efficient unit that's also aerodynamic with a lower profile.  While it'll probably cost about $1500 to repair, they told me of another case where a guy was driving an RV and hit the AC unit on the roof so hard that it caused $30K in damage.

Reminds me of the incident that Greg and Chris and I ran into when I was dropping them off at the Raleigh/Durham airport.  The goal was to get them to the airport early enough where we could have a healthy breakfast in the Navi.  I headed towards 1 hour parking.  Before I made it to the toll booths designed to pay for the parking, there were signs hanging down saying, clearance was 9.5'.  My Navi needs 11' so Greg and Chris yelled for me to stop since I was paying closer attention to the booths ahead than those signs and I had stressed to Greg when he was driving that the Navi needs 11' clearance.....so be careful.   I was inches from hitting the 9.5' clearance sign.  So Greg got out to direct traffic, I threw the Navi in reverse and backed up on a 4 lane curved road with cars coming towards us so that I could move over 3 lanes to the exit lane to correct.  Just another fun incident In Search of a Simpler Life. 

Co housing in an RV

Well I dropped off my lovely friends and fellow sojourners--Greg and Christine at the Raleigh/Durham airport this morning for their direct flight back home to Boulder.

During our week long trip from Boulder to Durham, NC we shared conversation, meals, laughter, space, fuel expenses, scenery, naps, stretch breaks, incidents and most of all fun.  Here's a photo of us in front of the Navi parallel parked in front of the Marriott where we stayed for the weekend and where the Co-housing Conference was held.  You should have seen the look on my face when the guy who valet parks for the hotel told me I was going to have to parallel park the 24' behemoth on the street.  I can't even park my 10' Jeep Liberty.  Maybe the better way to say that is, I don't like to parallel park and thus have avoided it most of my life.

Last night we took a long walk back to the hotel after a tapas dinner and found the Museum Hotel.  Interesting since I used to live in the Museum Tower in Houston.  We toured the exhibits and found this curious exhibit.

Chris and I cracked up as Greg interacted w/the exhibit.  Turns out if you lock the door, the view into the bathroom is somehow obscured.    There were two men's rooms and two women's rooms that looked just like this.  They must have hidden camera's watching the faces of visitors trying to figure out if the washrooms or real or just a facade.

Another silly moment involved each of us leading the others in one of our favorite yoga moves at one of the rest stops.  My favorite is shavasana.  Greg and Chris followed along as I demonstrated then we collectively shared other poses.

One morning on a McDonalds coffee run, we saw a sign in a small town advertising the upcoming barbed wire convention.  I didn't know there were enough different varieties of barbed wire to warrant a convention.  Who knew.

This was a photo of a sign we saw during our wait in the long traffic jam trying to get out of Denver the first night.  It's nice to know that Metro Cannabis is civically-minded enough to help with trash clean up along the highways of Colorado.