Author: Rae

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An Angry Sky

WOW.

That’s all I can say about the massive thunderstorm that just passed through here, Petersburg, where the rig is parked. I was trying to do some computer work, but my inverter kept cutting out, so I shut down to let the computer charge for a bit and ran out to Walmart. While I was at the checkout, the sky just exploded. The thunder was so loud that I swear I felt the building shake. I’d planned to grab some Subway for lunch (I could eat Subway every day and it is TONS cheaper in the US!) and would have eaten there to let the storm abate except for one tiny detail: all my windows and roof hatches are open.

The hatch in the kitchen doesn’t have a cover, so I came home to a pretty soggy sink (no big deal). But my biggest concern was the windows in the study, especially the one by the desk. Luckily, nothing important got soaked. The rain is still coming down hard. Hopefully, it’ll take some of the mugginess with it.

As for the inverter, it keeps giving me an E01 error reading which means that I’m trying to run something (my laptop) with a bigger wattage than what the inverter is rated for. I’m pricing higher wattage inverters, but am afraid to buy anything right now with everything being so uncertain. 🙁

By the way, the inverter claimed that my batteries were at 12.8 volts, the solar controller said 14.2 volts, and the batteries themselves said 13.1. So I definitely had a full charge. 🙂

I’m not doing anything exciting again today. My friend’s health is poor, so I expected that we’d get, sum total, four or five really good long days together to go explore. For the rest of the time, I’d be parked in her yard and we could see each other a little during the day or go out for a meal, with me occasionally running out and doing touristy stuff on my own. So everything is going pretty much as planned except that I’m afraid to spend any money. 🙁

I’ll probably be heading back out to the hotel tonight and will pick some inexpensive touristy thing that’s open on a Sunday in the area of Norfolk. One thing that I am doing for sure in the next few days is getting to the coast so I can have a picture of my feet in all three oceans during the biggest adventure of my life. 🙂

I don’t really need to be back in Canada till the 18th (having decided to accept the advice about not worrying about customs) and if I have to, I could get there in one really long day, but I really want to do it in two. So I have to be pulling out of here by the 17th at the absolute latest so I can arrive on the 18th by late day. That gives me all of next week, plus three days of the following week. So if I want to get to Canada on time, I need to start the work on the rig by Thursday of this week. So if I don’t have an answer from the insurance by Wednesday, I’ll need to start the work and be prepared to pay out of pocket.

It would actually be easier to get back to Canada from my current location than from my friend’s. From there, I’d be taking the Eastern Shore route through Maryland and Delaware, then have to cut westward to avoid Philly and NYC, adding heaps more mileage.

From here, I can take I-95 to just shy of DC, by-pass on I-66 to I-81 in West Virginia, take I-88 at Binhampton to Albany, and then from Albany it’s a straight shot north on I-87, which becomes autoroute 15 in Quebec. This sounds like a crazy detour, but it’s less than 60 extra miles and all the way to Binghampton will be very familiar. I haven’t done the bit between Binghampton and Albany, and I haven’t been to Albany in years, but I know the region. So I’d be looking at an easier and less stressful drive.

Well, it looks like the storm has passed because the sky is getting a blue tinge. It feels heaps cooler and there is a breeze.

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Home Truly Is Where I’m Parked

After dinner this evening, I headed back to the hotel to grab a few things then I pointed the rental car in the direction of home. I knew that home would be warmer than the hotel, but it would have my bed and my cats. My cats… I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see them. They are fine. The temps today were in the 90s but the rig is nowhere near an oven, so I know they were okay. They seemed pretty happy to see me, too.

I’ll be spending a good part of tomorrow at home, but I will probably head back to the hotel for the night. I hope I can renew the room for several more days beyond Monday, but when I tried to book for the full week online, there was absolutely no availability.

I was quite angry to get a 5:30AM wake up call today when I fell asleep around 5. The call request was left in the system after the last person checked out. The call startled me so much that I wasn’t able to get back to sleep till almost 7AM and by 9AM, my body had decided it was daytime and that was that.

I don’t expect to hear anything from the insurance companies until noon Monday at the earliest. If I want to get back to Canada to attend the family event on the 19th, I just may have to get the repairs started without knowing who will be picking up the tab. I still don’t know how I would pay for them even if I was to get reimbursed later. But there’s no sense driving myself crazy with this over the weekend.

Now, reader Gary said something in a comment today about a cold beer and I think that’s a good idea. 🙂

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A Long Overdue Hampton Roads Homecoming

Around 5 this afternoon, I was finally able to take off and do the 45 miles that would take me to the end of this segment of my trip. I never thought I would be so grateful to see an Econolodge; I’m staying at the same hotel I stayed at four years ago. Would you believe that I was given the same room?! Hilarious!

I texted my friend an “OMG, I made it!!!” message, took a shower, and headed over to pick her up. I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to finally make it. The emotions were almost overwhelming.

I’d joked that I had sent a ‘huge’ Amazon order over to her place. It turns out that said order arrived in pieces so there was a ton of boxes waiting for me. We loaded up the car and came back to the hotel. It’d been so long since I’d made up the order that I didn’t remember most of what was in those boxes. It turns out there was a lot of useful stuff, including a new electric blanket with a timer on it. 🙂

My friend had bought tickets for the midnight premiere of The Avengers (thank you!!!) so we headed out for a very late Applebee’s dinner that will double as brunch tomorrow. The movie was awesome and hilarious and totally worth the insanely long day. It’s 3:45AM right now and I can’t remember the last time I was up so late. I’ve planned a well earned sleep in. 🙂

 

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Slowly Getting an American Disguise

I’m driving a North Carolina plated car right now, have a wallet full of Jacksons,  my cell phone area code is for North Dakota, and whenever someone asks for an address in the US, I have one in Virginia to offer. I think I could pass as an American to the casual bystander, but I definitely need to work on my twang! 😀 The accent here isn’t nearly as strong as what you get when you hit the Carolinas and Georgia, but’s still a little tough.

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The First Bit of Good News

I just got in from fetching the rental car. My insurance company is definitely paying for five days, not ‘two or three at the most’ as they said they would. I am very happy about that! So I have the car and motel for sure until Monday morning and then we’ll see what happens. I can renew both, with the car being out of pocket, but at least I’m squared away from the weekend.

My rental car is a four-door Accent, but it’s not as nice as mine as it doesn’t have power doors, mirrors, and locks. Or a manual transmission. I’m used to driving Miranda as an automatic, but I get flustered driving an automatic car. I haven’t yet done the ‘step on the brake and the gas at the same time thing’ when I try to stop that I am guaranteed to do at some point. 🙂

The mechanic just came by to touch base, saying he was upset that I didn’t have my rental car yet. I explained that it took a while, but I got it by the time I needed it, so that is fine. You’ll never guess what he said next! He asked me if I needed to borrow a generator so I could leave the AC running for the kitties since he knew I’m heading out overnight! But it has not been nearly that warm and with roof hatches, open windows, and ice water in their bowl they will be just fine. But isn’t that thoughtful?

He also thinks the appraiser is going to go to bat for me and is fine with my sitting tight until we get the go ahead to get going. I have a few more things to do here, then I’m heading out around four. Unless I get word from the adjuster, I am hoping to have 24 stress-free hours. Keep all your appendages crossed for me! 😀