Monthly Archives: September 2012

It’s Never Easy, Is It?

Posted on September 13, 2012 | 14 comments

Oh crap! Crappity crap crap crap!

Cancer, or, the threat thereof, has reared its ugly head again. Tomorrow, I get a biopsy of my left clavicle to see if there’s a lesion. I had a skiing accident on January 20 of this year and my orthopedic oncologist isn’t completely happy with how it’s healing and wants to be absolutely sure that the clavicle doesn’t have a metastasis. We’re leaving as soon as we can whether or not the result is in. If the news is bad, we’ll come right back home to get treatment. If the news is good, well, we haven’t wasted any time.

A short background: 2 days before Christmas in 2009, we found out that I had breast cancer. 2010 was a blur of chemo, radiation and surgery. Late 2011 and early 2012 brought more surgery for reconstruction. In the middle of the reconstruction process, I got slammed into on the ski slope and broke my collarbone. (One broken bone in 30+ years of skiing is not so bad!)

I thought my doctor visit this week was going to be a quick sign-off that all was well. Not so. Rats!

Here’s one thing I know: No matter how afraid I am, no matter how stressed out I become over this, it will not change the outcome. So, I haven’t lost any sleep. I’m still preparing for the trip but squeezing in some pre-op tests.

It’s crappy that we have to go through this, but our plan remains unchanged. Tomorrow I go in for the biopsy and then, in a few days, we’ll be off on our adventure and, god willing, we won’t be coming back until the money runs out!

– Jane

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Posted in Barriers

Tagged Barriers, Before we go, Cancer, Jane

Barriers: “When are you leaving?”

Posted on September 12, 2012 | 5 comments

Hope this doesn’t sound whiny…But, if anyone wonders why we can’t/won’t give an exact day for departure; think a little. For a vacation, book a ticket, reserve a room, maybe stop the paper and find someone to feed the dog. You’ll be back in a week, so some things don’t really matter. We are trying to plan a year’s bills, empty our bedroom/prepare the house for another tenant, clear and organize the basement, clear David’s mother’s house (you know the rule; if you haven’t used it in 12 years, it is trash), finish the camper, create a home we’ll live in for months and make a 1995 Toyota reliable. We had to stop working before we could really assault our to-do list in earnest. We have lists that started more than 2 years ago, they’ve been revised, transformed and nearly completed. Last Friday the list had 15 tasks completed, 12 yet to do. Now, Wednesday evening there are 5 to-do’s on the main list taped to the fridge. (and I’m blogging instead of doing them!)

Fortunately we were saved tonight with a spontaneous friendly pie visit. We love spontaneous visits from friends.

The biggest laugh of the day came when this picture arrived in my inbox. I spent 6 hours today clearing out more than 50 years of junk and lumber from the basement and under my mom’s porch. And, fortunately, there was someone there to capture the scene in these photos.

…this one needs a bit of explaining. 15 years ago, a fox had a litter of Kits under the porch. In such a dry place the food remains mummified. The “skate-board” was yet another relic circa 1968. Perhaps the other question is who took that picture? David will never say…

There are clear instructions to “Not fill above the line”

– David

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Posted in Barriers

Tagged Barriers, Before we go, David

What “Barriers there Be”…

Posted on September 11, 2012 | 2 comments

When we first conceived of traveling by the sun and seasons as our guides, we thought of retirement. A long way off and not guaranteed for any of us. (Remember, working in a hospital gives a skewed view of life; everyone there is sick. In the real world, only a proportion of people are sick)

Then we began to dream about what we would do. Early morning sunrises in the woods drinking strong coffee has always been nice. We like to hike. We like to ski. Even sitting on flat water in a kayak looking at birds is nice. (Actually, I like to work too. Work is one of the most native states. I lose myself in work: PT, projects, gardening, whatever…there is a bliss in accomplishment) But our skiing and cycling fitness is better now than it will be in 15 more years when the bills are all paid. Once we decided sooner would be better, we had to figure out HOW.

Then ALL of the reasons we couldn’t do this thing came to mind:

MONEY, TIME, PLACES TO SLEEP, JOBS, BILLS, MONEY, A HOUSE IN BALTIMORE, PEOPLE SAYING “YOU CAN’T DO THAT”, HEALTH INSURANCE,…

Truly the biggest barrier to any of our dreams is inside of our heads. Once I believe the “Talk”, I cease to plan and cease to accomplish. Think back. What kept you working so hard to get through school? What are you dreaming about now? I’ll be trickling out a few examples of barriers that jumped in front of me so far on this journey (before we even left town)

here is a bottom view of a 1957 trailer tongue…not what you want pulling your dreams around, supporting the full weight of a camper

– David

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Posted in Barriers

Tagged Barriers, Before we go, David

The map of where we may go…

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 13 comments

(I’m trying something new. Well, everything we are doing with the blog is new, so newness is relative here.) We created a map to show some of the places we may visit on our Tramper Voyage. We have a nice paper map, with many little push pins.

It works well at home but this is a blog, so I used Google Maps to help create this lovely USA & Canada map. It might even be somewhat interactive. You know, with the little thingies that let you zoom and move the map.

It’s really not likely that we’ll be able to go to even half of these wonderful places in 6-12 months at our planned slow pace. The map is a good prompter for what we want to do and see. Structure, too, is good. The “What by when?” question is easier to answer. Although we do already have the answers: What – have fun, be very active, meet nice people, see beautiful things, appreciate life while not on the clock. When – from the day we leave until the money runs out!

Jane

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Posted in Maps

Tagged Before we go, Jane, Maps

A few pics of The Tramper

Posted on September 6, 2012 | 5 comments

The seating area turns into our bed – a bit smaller than a double. A neighbor said “I hope you two really like each other!”, since, I suppose, she could see that we’ll be in an itty-bitty living space for a while. Fortunately, we like each other very much! That light fixture is vintage, restored by David.

Here are a few pics of the (mostly) finished Tramper, before we load it with all our stuff. Many more details about the renovation and more photos of The Tramper can be found at www.goodoldrvs.com. Type in “David Grant” in the search box in the upper right corner. It really tells the story of just how much work David has put into this renovation!

Since I’m still in the steep upward slope of the learning curve on using this blog site and we have a million things to do to get on the road, there probably won’t be too many more posts before we go! But, you never know, I could get inspired…

Jane