On leaving home...

Aaaaand two months later another update! (I swear I'll get more frequent at updating one of these years)

So the quick and semi-uneventful bullet points of two months time:

I survived the flu! Worse and only major sickness I've had in quite a while.
My hair? Slowly growing back is to the point that it spikes a bit when wet, and has direction when combed.
My pizza delivery job? I'm picking up my final check this coming week.
Rennaisance festivals? Built a camper (of sorts) and will be living on the road as of next week.


Now for the longer version to appease the story-teller in me:

After my sudden haircut and during my sickness recovery, I received many texts and facebook messages. Both keeping my self-esteem high, and filling my heart with love at the wish to feel better soon. Not only did I recover my health, but also continued on with the assurance that I was still one good-looking mofo (Thank you, friends).  The hair is currently just long enough to get a hold of with a pinch of the fingers, as well as long enough to spike when wet and comb visibly in certain directions. And then it dries and does what it wants.....


The biggest decision of the year has been to quit this "mundane" living and travel the country with fellow wanderers and work along at Renaissance faires and festivals. So far I have some of my many belongs and clothes in trunks, but have procrastinated and will be stuffing things in boxes shortly to take with or store somewhere.  I have also quit my job delivering pizzas (as of the last day of February). I've one more check to pick up and am unnerved beyond belief. Coming up, this will be the first time I can think of in my life that I will be supporting myself from my own fundage and work. Previously, I was either being fully supported (parents, Marines, govt) or in a partnership where my income was supplemental, but definitely not the primary portion.

I should have plenty of space to take my stuff. Traded my canoe for a utility trailer, and proceded to build a camper onto it. Currently it is just the shell of the trailer with a couple of windows. Still needs a bit of work, to include inside walls, cabinetry, and a bit of weather-stripping around the door. So far although tall awkward looking, it is coming along nicely as far as livability goes. There are a few things to be desired though.

It's tall. Not such a bad thing in such that is how I designed it. Plenty of room to stand up inside beats hunkering over to change clothes, or squatting and crouching to make dinner and snacks. It does however make it a little more unstable when towing it along, what with angled entrances to gas stations/stores, wind, and bumpy roads. Although the structure itself seemed to do well, I was nervous the entire trailer and all would weeble and wobble and tilt over. I plan on getting a stabilizer bar, but imagine it will only help so much. It's also heavy. I was hoping to keep it under 1000lbs, but with no cabinets, nor belongings, it weighs a whopping 1360. My 4-cylinder is only rated for 1500. Just pulling it to Austin, I had to take it slow and feed it more gas than expected. And just to repeat, it was wobbly - So I want to add a couple of storage boxes to the lower sides to help increase the weight on the bottom. That leads int my next issue.

(Yes I'm aware this post is long; the end is almost here.)

As much as I love my Honda Element, and as well as it has served me/us well over the past several years, it was just not made for towing. So although it pains me, I'm looking to sell it for as much as reasonably possible for a decade old SUV with almost 120k mile that has seen an accident with a few pigs that required some heavy repair and an engine swap. And concurrently or shortly thereafter, I am hoping to get a 6-cyl SUV (or truck) in as reliable shape as possible for as low a price as I can. Currently the money I get for the Element will probably be the extent of my budget for car shopping. Expectations are not high that I'll come out head monetarily on this exchange...lol.

My box is parked at Sherwood faire, east of Austin by ~40 minutes. I'll be bringing a spare tent to use as storage for my trunks and a few other items. Life is about to get much more simple a bit easier, but at the same time a little more difficult and perhaps complex in a few aspects.

And I must not forget to pack my bicycle. It has always been there to bring my body where I wanted, to keep my mind where it needed to be, and to give my mouth extraordinary stories to tell about at times.

Such is the adventure I choose - full of love, full of life.

Ready for adventure! I think....