I'm still learning -- Day 281

For those of you that look forward to these posts, I thank you and I'm sorry it's been a while. Sometimes writing helps to understand where I'm at and sometimes it helps to bring closure to certain situations as post-processing catharsis, once I understand the lesson. Sometimes I just update on our travel adventure, just as an open letter to everyone that knows me to keep you posted as to what's going on with the Traveling Jacksons. This past month has been so full of so many things that I haven't had the time, patience, wisdom, or opportunity to process them all and then put some words down. I'm still in the middle of something, but I wanted to clear some headspace, so here I am.

July was a super busy month here at the campground, the peak of the summer and lots of activities going on. We celebrated Zoe's birthday with a week-long celebration of daily gifts and a big movie night party in the clubhouse with all the workampers. Three of the other people in our group had birthdays that weekend (no joke, June 29, 30, and July 3rd!) so it was a nice celebration that everyone got to participate in and feel celebrated. Since it was also the 4th of July weekend, there were lots of interesting events and games to keep Zoe occupied, and it was really awesome. Her highlight was the "canoe races" in the resort pool, where they put kids in inflatable rafts without paddles and they raced the length of the pool. I don't think the boy she was up against was expecting the RAW POWER of Zoe in a pool. Y'all, she's a water-sign and fully embraces that.

We also have had more opportunities to make some repairs to Fezzik. He's old, but he's tough. Just needs someone with the knowledge to get the parts that are needed and then put them in correctly. I apparently have to become that guy! The nice thing about the RV community is that a lot of the folks are knowledgeable and helpful, so for a newbie like me, all it takes is the willingness to ask for help. And while I am stubborn, I can still recognize when I'm out of my depth. I have the DIY motivation, but lack the skills. Because Fezzik is an elder statesman in the community, we have suffered and made adjustments as things broke, finding workarounds and looking forward to the day when we have the funds, tools, parts, and expertise to repair what is needed. July was that time!

The first thing that we accomplished was the oven. Most RVers don't even use their oven (because most people camp in warm areas, or for short periods of time, and when is the last time you associated a cake with a campfire?) Ours was "working," but had no numbers on the knob; there was no way to determine the temperature of the oven, which I'm told is important for baking. (I imagine my sister, who is a professionally trained pastry chef, rolling her eyes SO HARD right now.) The fix was simple, just an after-market oven thermometer placed on the baking rack, and a sharpie to mark the points, once the oven reaches temperature. But, when you don't have income, the way you spend money is different -- what you have is all you have until there is more. So if you CAN live without an oven, you figure it out. This restoration added a little bit more of a feeling of home to our mobile lifestyle.

I celebrated with twice baked potatoes

I also baked Zoe's birthday cake, which turned out a bit ... lopsided. Pro tip: Make sure your RV is level if you plan on doing any cake baking.

Not sure if you can tell, but the left side is significantly lower

The next big project was trying to fix the leaky toilet. I wrote an entire post about that (mis)adventure! I did get most everything replaced, and stopped all of the leaking. The outside hose is now new, and there are ZERO leaks in our water system (cue the sound of the crowd cheering!) However, the rear flange bolt (that holds the toilet to the floor) has malfunctioned and I now have a rocking-horse style toilet. Not fun, if you don't know how to use it. Also, the rocking breaks the odor seal, so periodically you have to purge the inside of the rig from the poop air. But we have running water like the civilized folks!

The long list of other things that still need repairing include: the hot water heater, the furnace, the handle to the fridge, and one of the outside storage doors. I have the parts for the handle, so that might happen pretty soon (if I can remember where I put it.) The rest will have to wait until they become "necessary" because we are so adaptable that we just go without at times.  August will begin the "road readiness preparation" as we start thinking about our next stop.

July was an eventful month! There was some workplace drama that I'm not going to get into, mostly because I'm not proud of the way that I handled it. Suffice it to say that I forgot who I am, and allowed that to affect my workplace relationships. We have sorted it all out, and things are back to the status quo. I'm still awesome, and that's all that really matters. Now that we're on the backside of this visit, it's time to stop worrying about what has happened here, and start thinking about where we're going next.