Life changes as the 401K dwindles - a farewell post

The past couple of months have been an emotional blur. I discovered the hospitality of Elkdom - in Dothan, Alabama, in Inverness, Florida, in Raleigh, NC. and in Asheville NC. Wonderful people doing wonderful work for others in need. And as my 401K continues to dwindle, I was especially thankful that I could park my RV in their parking lots as I traveled.

From Florence, Alabama I headed south to Crawfordville, Florida to spend a week with my friend Laura. She generously let me park my RV in her huge driveway. Her house is located in Shell Point and has a wonderfully unobstructed view of the Gulf. Like me and many other retirees I have met, a dwindling 401K was changing her life plans - hopes of selling her house any time soon totally lost and now having to take a job delivering mail to make ends meet.


Soon after arriving, Laura drove me to Apalachicola to enjoy the Florida Seafood Festival. On our way back to Shellpoint, we stopped at HoHum RV Park in Carrabelle Florida to see Gene and Vicky (left in photo) and Gail and Billy (right in photo). I met them two years ago at this park when I stayed here for the winter. My, how time has flown!



Laura and I had an opportunity to enjoy kayaking in the Gulf during my visit.

From Laura's I headed for the 6th Annual DataStormUsers Rally at RallyPark in Tampa, FL. Like the rally in Tucson, AZ last November, I learned a lot! It is quite a sight to see all the DataStorm satellite dish blue lights on top of the rally members RVs as shown in this photo taken by one of the participants. But I have to say that renewing my friendship with Karla and Larry was the highlight of the event. I had first met them at the DataStormUsers Rally the previous year.

From the Datastorm Rally I drove to Titusville to stay with my Aunt Jeanette. I had a wonderful time touring surrounding cities such as Jacksonville and Merritt Island. Jeanette and I and sometimes Jeanette's daughter Diana hiked several beautiful trails in the area. Jeanette and I also drove down to Stuart to meet John and Pat who gave us a wonderful tour of Stuart's historic downtown. I had first met John and Pat a year ago last August when I was at the Gros Ventre campground in the southern section of the huge Grand Tetons National Park.





With Thanksgiving getting closer, it was time to drive north to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend the holiday with my daughters and my grandchildren (and of course my son-in-law Geoffrey). What a pleasurable visit!


Then it was time to start heading for Franklin, TN in time to help with the Nashville Franklin Elks annual Christmas Party for needy children. On my way to Tennessee I stopped in Asheville NC and parked at the Asheville Elks Lodge so that I could visit with Sydney who is a freshman at UNC-Asheville. It was such a delight to take her downtown and share my memories of one of my favorite cities.


Meanwhile in Raleigh Mary enjoyed her 7th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mary!

Once in Franklin, it was hectic involvement in support of my own Elks Lodge. It is definitely a worthwhile project! I actually found myself in tears as I watched these children...

Boondocking in a parking lot again while it is cold, cloudy and windy, the propane furnace blowers ran often, even though I kept the temperature at 50 degrees at night and 60 degrees during the day. With days of no sun for the solar panels, several times a day I had to run the generator to keep the batteries charged. I apprehensively monitored the generator's use of gasoline.

As I left Franklin for Linden, I realized how difficult in comfort and expense is the RV lifestyle in a cold climate. It is especially apparent as I review my budget and consider the rising costs of food and propane and the distressing continual loss in the value of my 401K. I am thankful that gasoline is lower now, but I know that it will most likely rise again. I know that my retirement plans of traveling the country are financially out of reach now. I also know that my plans to build a natural house on my land on Linden will have to wait.


Once in Linden, as I pondered the beautiful but cold snowy landscape around me, thankful that it was not frozen ice, I decided that I would head back to Florida for the winter where I will have the free sun for the solar panels and will not have to go through so much propane to stay warm.

To the readers of this blog, this will be my last entry. It has been a wonderful five years of traveling this magnificent country. I have seen wondrous sights and met interesting people. All now are endearing memories, many recorded somewhere in this blog. Who knows? Maybe someday I will be able to explore this country again...

Back on the Road Again!

Buddy downloaded the picture of the tour group that included he, Jeanette, Aunt Betty and I when we toured the Jack Daniel Distillery. The picture reminds of how we had such a good time together that day. Can you find each of us in the picture?

A week later Jeanette stopped for a couple of days in Linden on her way home back to Florida. She stayed very comfortably at the Commodore Hotel. We drove to Hohenwald and checked out a few of the shops and then had coffee at the Buffalo River Coffee Company and browsed the books. We then drove to Decaturville, a quaint little town in Decatur County. We really enjoyed hiking the 2.7 mile trail at Lady's Bluff, especially with the little signs that provided name and information of the trees along the trail. Then it was dinner and live music at the Commodore - a fitting way to say goodbye, until we meet again in Florida in about a month.



The next week I packed up and drove the RV with car in tow to Florence, Alabama to attend the Alabama Renaissance Faire and meet my friend DJ. I stayed at the McFarland Park Campground that is right alongside the Tennessee River. It is a beautiful city park with all the amenities - 50 amps, water and sewer on spacious sites - and a harbor where boats of various sizes were docked. The fair was small but much fun with many in costume, including children and little dogs. And it was such a delight to spend some time with DJ and her husband while at their Thistle and Moon stall at the fair. Of course I had to purchase some of DJ's Therapeutic Shower Salts and her Arnica creme.

I am so enjoying traveling again!

Nights starting to get into the 30s! Brrr... Time to head south...

Tennessee Home

Now that I own and am living on Tennessee land, I am rediscovering this beautiful state and my Tennessean roots. Maybe I am also rediscovering my human roots, for I am also realizing all that I need to do to become totally sustainable. Consider that I do not have water, electricity or sewer. Fortunately I do have a solar energy system (solar panels, deep cycle batteries, inverter) which makes me very conscious of every amp I spend. I pay close attention to the weather so that I can plan my usage based on how sunny the day is supposed to be. However I must rely on a state park 15 miles away to get water for my fresh water tank and to dump the black water tank. This is reinforcing what I learned while in the Arizona and California deserts - conserve and reuse! And with having to take my garbage to a dumpster about 7 miles away, I am motivated to start my compost pile. And with the economy plunging as it is, I am thinking of organic gardening next year. Composting will be the perfect answer.

I read a couple of books to help me prepare, plan and build my cob house:

The Hand-Sculpted House by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith, and Linda Smiley
building with cob by Adam Weismann & Katy Bryce


In fact, I found the general exterior architecture that I want for my own house from the photo pages in the middle of the book. It is the Hilde Dawe's house in British Columbia that was built by Patrick Hennelbery. I don't want the balcony and upstairs door, nor the downstairs sliding door (perhaps an atrium door or French doors instead) and windows would be different. But the general shape of the building and the roof (I will use the oak on the land) are what I have in mind. I found these other pictures of this house by googling the web.

The books and the web sites about natural building encourage taking workshops. So I was so pleased to discover that the Ecoville ArchiTechs were located here in Linden and were giving a workshop. Even though their workshop was on stawbale building, wall plastering is the same, as well as some of the concepts about site location and orientation. The workshop was absolutely educational and fun. I met interesting people from different states, some who expressed interest in helping me with building some of my cob house next year!


I had forgotten to take my camera to the weekend workshop, but several people who had taken pictures offered to send me their photos. I've received quite a few (two photos are shown here - click on them to enlarge) and will be posting a link so that you can view them all. As/if I receive more, I will include more links. So stay tuned!

My plan is to have the bathroom and bedroom upstairs and a room below the bathroom will be a utility room that will have the composter for the toilet. And with the plan for organic gardening - vegetables and herbs - composting has become a critical piece for building my sustainable environment. I have read several books that are helping me to define my composting and gardening system.

COMPOSTING An Easy Household Guide by Nicky Scott
how to 'cook compost by The National Trust
Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham
the Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins

Everyone of these books provide useful information, however the last one (the Humanure Handbook) is one that I would consider to be the most definitive. I definitely will reread that book several times!

Other books I have purchased (but have not read yet) are:
Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds by Art Ludwig
Builder's Greywater Guide by Art Ludwig
Create an Oasis with Greywater by Art Ludwig
Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
Build Your Own Underground Root Cellar by Phyllis Hobson
Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel
Solar Water Heating: A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Water and Space Heating Systems (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series) by Bob Ramlow
Sproutman's Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Steve Meyerowitz
The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and cookbook by Albert Bates
Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Continental Climate by Mary Ellen Kozak and Joe Krawczyk
Solar Cooking: A Primer/Cookbook by Harriet Kofalk

I bought the last four books at The Farm in Summertown. My friend Andi went with me for what turned out to be quite an enjoyable day. Lisa gave us a tour of the community. With her being a long term resident, her historical view was very interesting. We also spent some time talking to Frank from the Mushroom People. He had a couple of solar cookers on display that he had made which really piqued my interest. And we had a wonderful tour of the Ecovillage Training Center where I was able to see various natural buildings up close.

So I have lots of information to help me design, plan and build my Tennessee home. With all these books I know what I will be doing during the winter months...

My brother and my two aunts (Betty and Jeanette) came to visit me last week. We looked at the site where I plan to build my cob house and I shared my floor plans and pictures of Hilde Dawe's house. We then had lunch at the Commodore Hotel - my first time to have lunch there with it's extensive menu that is different from the dinner menu and definitely will be a 'repeat' - and then toured the hotel itself. I really got a feel of the historical value of the hotel. Afterwards we went to the Mousetail Landing State Park to enjoy a walk through the Parrish Cemetery.








Yesterday I drove to Columbia to meet my brother and aunts for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. I left my car there so that we could all travel together to the Booneville Cemetery in Booneville where many of my relatives are buried, including my great grandmother Boone. My Aunt Jeanette is standing at the headstone where she will someday lie (hopefully a far away day) next to her husband, my Uncle Gib. We then toured historical Lynchburg TN, including the Moore County Jail Museum, before we took a most interesting and worthwhile FREE tour at the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg. A group picture was made during the tour, but it isn't available yet. Once I can download it, I will post it. Note the picture of the statute of Jack Daniel on the rocks that I took during the tour. He was just my height - 5 ft 2 in. Afterwards I had my first visit of the Hastings Campground - New Hope Church Cemetery near Shelbyville where my great great grandparents (Kizers) are buried.

Returning to Columbia we had an absolutely wonderful dinner at the Square Market and Cafe with outstanding live music from The Quintessential Jazz. (I could not find a web site that is about this particular group and I may have misspelled their name...) Then it was back to my car and the almost two hour drive home. A hungry Nandi was waiting for me at the door when I got home!