New York City to Chattanooga, TN

The leaves were beginning to change and the nights were growing colder and my will to exist was growing dimmer…as will happen in the cold weather. It was definitely time for me to begin the journey south and westward.  I was certainly not going to make the mistake of passing another winter in the Northeast.  I was excited to get on to the next projects and some fun visits along the way.   I stopped through New Hampshire for one more visit with Scott and Adriane.  They have had a challenging year, to put it mildly.  Adriane is battling the aftermath of surgery and ongoing treatments for a rare form of sarcoma (click here for more info and to help out)  among many other life stressors.  I roasted them a chicken for dinner and popped it in a pot for soup the next morning – it wasn’t much, but I hoped I could make a minor dent in the mountain of stress, at least for a brief moment.   That night was damn near freezing cold and my heater needed some maintenance I just wasn’t prepared for at that time.  I woke up with an icy cold face to a pretty sunrise and I knew I had to make tracks south and fast!

I was excited for the next stopover – to have some time with my favorite niece, Kiyomi, who is starting her new chapter in New York City.  Not an easy place to get going, and she is bravely giving it her all.  I managed to get a place to park for free for 3 nights, in the small hamlet of Valhalla, just north of the city.  The nose of the bus was literally 10 feet from the train tracks to take me into the city.  I was looking forward to seeing my cousins, Don and Jo (on my Mom’s side) where Kiyomi was staying, as well as their ‘kids’ Eve (and Christine) and Amy (and Dave) – I hadn’t seen all of them in around 16 years (which, coincidentally, is the last time I was in New York City).  I was surprised they were all able to get together on the morning I was coming into the city – they organized a wonderful brunch and it was so nice to catch up with them. I wished I could stay longer. (see pix in previous gallery post!)

The subplot of this portion of my trip was that my house batteries were on their deathbed.  I knew when I bought the bus that they were around 6 years old, which is about as long as lead-acid batteries last.  I was hoping they would just hold out until I got to Spencer, TN, where I was planning to do some major power projects.  They must’ve seen it coming and lost their will to live.  It didn’t help that my parking spot was under some trees and there was very little sun happening to juice them up.  Their voltage dropped below 12 and the monitor that shows the % of battery life was just showing “- - -“, instead of a number.   The 12 volt systems were limping along (this includes my fridge – which was flashing in distress and creeping up in temperature – mid 40s at this point).  My DC system – run through my inverter – those are the normal plugs, to charge my computer, for example – was not functioning.  When I turned the inverter on, an alarm would sound.  This was distressing to say the least, but I did not want it to ruin my visit. I just hoped things would hold on a bit for 3 days.

I had a wonderful afternoon and evening running around NYC with Kiyomi and she took the train back with me to Rita.  We were toasty under blanket and I got the heater to at least pretend to warm us a bit.  I knew it needed some serious attention, but I just couldn’t deal with it when I was cold (this is a serious flaw I have…I don’t function well when I’m cold!).  Getting to spend time with Kiyomi definitely warmed my heart, though.  We spent the next day roaming around Valhalla, we had lunch in an iconic ‘upstate’ pub and there was a beautiful park in front of the dam.  We found a way to hike up to the top of the dam and had a beautiful view of the lake and fall foliage.  We said our goodbyes at the train in the evening – it was too fast of a visit, but I was so grateful we had it!

My next stop was supposed to be heading to Pittsburgh, to see my Aunt Rosie and my cousin (BFF) Becky was also coming down. I was really excited to see them! Unfortunately, I realized the issues with my batteries and heater made it a really bad idea to add 4 more days to the time it was going to take to get to Spencer TN/Wanderlust Waypoints (the place to work on projects!).  I was kind of heartbroken, but it was the right decision to just get down there.

I had one last cold night, fretting about the fridge full of food – 45 degrees is too cold for me, but not cold enough for my refrigerator!  I woke up freezing and cranky in the morning and buttoned things up and got out of there as fast as I could.

I had to figure out what I was going to do, as I had a meeting I needed to attend, and my computer was dead as a doornail and there was nowhere to charge it.  The town of Valhalla proved to have no solutions.  I finally decided I would just go to a Starbucks nearby/on my way out of NY. Seemed like a good solution.  I found one on the map and headed over.  Sadly, what had looked like a giant parking lot on the map (as is the norm at many shopping center coffee houses) was actually an apartment building with a private lot, and the Starbucks lot was tiny and very crowded. I didn’t even dare drive into it.  I turned around and headed across the street and parked in a Burger King lot, that wasn’t much bigger!   To my dismay, Starbucks were blasting music and it was very crowded.  Luckily, I found a chair near a plug and set up my laptop. I was distressed, it seemed impossible to attend my meeting there!  I had the delusional thought that maybe my laptop would charge from zero to 100% in the 40 minutes I had. Hahaha!!!  I finally had to accept that I was having a meeting in a very loud place and I would just have to get quick with the mute button.   The 90-minute meeting seemed to go OK and I was grateful I was able to focus my full attention on it. It was the lunch rush by the time I returned to Burger King, grateful to see Rita was still there and with no tickets or anything.  Getting out of that parking lot was another story. I tried to figure out where I was going and I also needed to find a place to stop for that night.  I decided there was no way I was spending another night without heat – it was going to be down in the low 30s that night.  I wanted to book an Airbnb.  The BK lot was so chaotic and I was getting really stressed out, so I decided to just put in my final destination in the gps (3 days away!) and get the hell out of the city – I figured there’d be a rest stop with sun and trees where I could catch my breath and figure out where I was going.  I am less and less of an urban girl all the time.

It seemed to take forever to get someplace that felt calmer. There was a lot of traffic and eventually (after more than an hour or so) I found a place to stop – it was a gas station closed for remodeling and no one was there, and it was in the sunshine.  I booked an Airbnb for the night in Pennsylvania and sent the message that I was coming in a 22 ft bus.  I had a long drive ahead, so I got on the road as fast as possible.   I was looking forward to a shower and a warm bed!

About an hour from my destination, I was tired and it was getting late fast. I decided to stop to fill up with diesel – my gas app said there was a Sam’s club not far off track, with the lowest prices around.  I headed there, only to find the place was jammed with cars. I got in line to wait and inched slowly towards the pumps. I realized the pumps did not all have diesel. I jumped out to see what the deal was.  I was in the wrong line.  I had to get over to the far side of the station to the only 2 pumps that had diesel.  A kind person realized what I was doing and hopped out of their car to help direct my back up and run interference with the other vehicles,  so I could get out of line and over to the other side.  Finally waiting in the right line!  I eventually get to the pump.  It says to insert membership card, credit card OR debit card.  It seemed to be missing a critical AND between membership card and payment card – it was not at all clear anywhere that a membership card was *required*. So I tried a few times to put my credit card in until I realized the cryptic messages about not being able to read my card meant they wanted a membership card.  Very annoying!!! I threw my hands up and got back in Rita to make way for the people behind me.  At that same moment I also received the first message from my Airbnb host – telling me he could not accommodate Rita in his ‘free onsite parking’ and that *maybe* I could find something on one of the nearby streets…. No no no, this would not do!!   The light was fading and it was still an hour drive to that location. To arrive and have no place to park was simply not an option!  I pulled over into a parking space in an empty area of the shopping center lot.  I was looking at options and realizing that I was probably going to just have to suck it up and freeze my butt off in a Walmart parking lot for the night.   I was tired and in no mood to get creative.  As I was looking on my phone, a car pulled up across from me and started waving at me.  I figured it was some people interested in Rita or wanting to have a peek inside or something like that.  I never in a million years would’ve guessed what was coming next!!

I extracted myself from the driver’s seat and went out the front door to see what they wanted.  A kind looking woman said “Are you OK? Is there something we can help you with?”.  I was very confused.  I said “no, I’m fine  …??” She said “Oh, we were behind you at the gas pump and noticed you didn’t fill up and then saw you over here, we were just wondering if you needed help”. Wow… I said “Well, I didn’t realize you needed a membership card, and then my Airbnb canceled, so I was just stopping to figure out what to do next”.   Then this amazing angel said “Well we can solve that – take our Sam’s club card! And if you’d like we have a spare room and you are welcome to come and stay with us!” She assured me they weren’t weirdos! Which is EXACTLY what weirdos might say... but they didn’t LOOK like weirdos... I was stunned, fascinated, grateful and overwhelmed.  I said yes without even hesitating! (partly because I was far too curious about what was going on to not find out -are people really this nice or are they in fact, weirdos? I just HAD to know).  She handed me a card, gave me her address and phone number and said to fill up, get some dinner or something and then come on over!

I went back, filled up and then parked again to process what was going on.  I googled the address to look at the neighborhood – just doing my safety due-diligence.  It was about a 30 minute drive, and it was dark by now. I was operating in the dark on many levels. I just went.  When I arrived, I parked in the visitor area of a nice neighborhood of tidy duplexes.  I decided to just go in and say hi and be sure they still wanted me to stay, before bringing anything inside.

It was a beautiful home, Kristen and Rafael had just moved in a month earlier. They had a guest room ready to go with a big bed and guest bathroom.   It turns out that Rafael is Venezuelan, so I got to speak Spanish.  He said I speak with a Mexican accent. I felt proud of that.  They were an amazing young couple who met on Tinder, and got married last year after dating for a year.  They were so adorable together and I loved getting to hear their story.  I could’ve talked with them all night, but a hot shower, bed and a little work were waiting for me.  I couldn’t believe how kind and generous they were and how lucky I was to have met them.    They even gave me a little capybara (they had a whole jarful! Without a doubt, the sweet and lovable capybara is this couple’s spirit animal!). I named him Etters (the town they live in) and gave him a special spot, keeping Chaco company, on the dash.

The next morning, I got on the road relatively early. I had booked a hotel for that night, great deal I found at a Red Roof Inn in Wytheville, VA.   It was another long day of driving.  I was fantasizing about turning the heat up and lounging in a hotel room for the night.  And that’s exactly what I did. I set the heater at 82 degrees F, so I didn’t have to wear clothes or use covers…and I ordered some food from DoorDash.  It was a pretty great night.  I had a hard time extracting myself from that toasty room into the 35 degree weather the next morning, but one more long day of driving would get me to the promised land... Spencer, TN!

I arrived at Wanderlust Waypoints before dark, but just barely.  I finally met the infamous Johnny Blayze, whom I had been corresponding with on and off for over a year (I originally thought I was going to buy a bus and bring it there and build it out myself from scratch. OMG I am SO glad that didn’t happen! I adore Rita and never could’ve built something like this myself).  After a little chit chat, I immediately dug into the heater.  I figured out what I had to do (remove a nut from the bottom, which was not easy to get to, had to disassemble a bit of it) to remove the nut and cleaned out all the built-up soot.  I was able to get a small cleaning brush from the inside all the way out the bottom.  I got it nice and clean, but of course I was black from fingertips to elbows (I saw that coming, hence why I didn’t want to undertake this task in a place without extra water and cleanup).  But it was worth it, because I finally had a nice, toasty fire roaring in the heater that night.

The weather in the area was mostly total crap - it was gloomy and rainy much of the time, but it was definitely warmer than up north!  Also, even when it was sunny, my spot only got a couple hours of sun per day at most.  More than depressing, it was bad for my solar panels!  When I first arrived, desperate for sun, I decided I had to go elsewhere for the day to park in the sun.  I was about 30 minutes away from Fall Creek Falls State Park, which sounded nice. I hoped they had a big, sunny parking lot, and I could maybe see a waterfall or 2.   We were in luck, great, full sun till after 4pm!  I had a lovely mile hike and met a number of interesting people along the way.  It was a good day for my soul and solar.