After the price of a starter motor and alternator were deducted from our checking account, we found ourselves forced to buy a new battery. This made me begin to realize the expectations of a vintage RV are that, well, there are no expectations with a vintage RV.
I started my health journey terrified of what the future held. Now, here I am — in the ‘future’ from when I was diagnosed — and I have come to learn that a “no news” type of health-lifestyle is exactly what I want.
Snaking through rhododendron and laurel tunnels, we were lead to eighty-foot tall granite rocks that overlooked a secluded part of the mountain’s forest.
Despite feeling minuscule while walking, massive amounts of ground can be covered so that when standing back, the reward of physical exertion — of simply having a will and legs to carry that mental power — That reward is all that is needed to keep going.
Our Clark Cortez motorhome’s story has had different starts: In 1965 in the frigid state of Michigan, it came off the production line before moving to the sunny state of California. However, our story with this RV begins in 2019 in the all-seasons state of Virginia.
No doubt we will properly celebrate our wedding and journey somewhere new for a true honeymoon, but until then these mountains of West Virginia welcomed us and gifted us tranquility.
“I’m so happy we eloped,” one of us said — It doesn’t matter who because we both felt that way. Eloping meant this — him and me, intertwined fingers, talking and truly seeing one another.
Should we upgrade to discs and calipers — or should we stick to the original drums and restore them? This is the question L and I proposed to each other prior to getting our 1965 Clark Cortez motorhome’s braking system operational. Here’s what you need to know if you are considering the conversion.
For a moment — for an afternoon — Andy and I were able to escape it all and simply take our cat on a leash for a walk in the mountains . . .
Canada is wild and fresh and breathtaking. Canada is alive and vibrant and has an energy you can feel as it courses through your veins. Canada is adventure and serenity mixed in this bundle that is hard to describe but easy to experience. Canada is not rumored to be the words “friendly,” “open,” and “passionate” but instead it lives by these definitions. Canada is pure freedom in the most beautiful and simple way that can only be experienced underneath those grandfather trees or by the shore when filling your lungs with air as you breathe in. Canada is all you need and yet still finds a way to brim with the ‘more’ you only found you needed when you arrived. But finally, Canada is also puppies in taxis and let’s be honest — Is there anything better in the world than all of this?
When we tell people about our British Columbia kayaking with whales trip, I’m continually surprised at their response: “Surely, that didn’t happen,” they tell us through laughter. Maybe they say this because they cannot believe we both made it out of Canada — not only alive but together. I like to believe, however, that they say this as a compliment — That the only way they can fathom our magical trip is by believing I simply created the entire story . . . .
To say there is a virus, that decisions are made that do not make the most sense, that the world seems to be crumbling around us, and that life is hard — sure, we are all experiencing this. However, if we pause to focus on the positives, there are also parts of life that are super rewarding, incredibly beautiful and these are the parts I’m holding onto.
It was Day One of our kayak adventure when Andrew asked loudly, “L, is this yours?” We stood in the middle of the charming Paddlers Inn, a floating lodge off of a remote British Columbia island. Go figure he would be showcasing only this for my entire new kayaking group to see . . .
“I cannot believe we made it,” Andrew and I kept saying, verging on tears and hugging each other. Against all odds, we did made it to British Columbia’s unbelievably gorgeous Telegraph Cove. Here was the start to our whale kayaking and wild camping adventure . . .
“Expedia cancelled all of your flights,” the airline representative told us the day we were supposed to travel to Canada for a week-long whale kayaking and wild camping trip. “This happens often with people that book through Expedia. If I could say not to do one thing in the future, it would be not to book through Expedia.” And was only a glimmer of our nightmare travel due to Expedia’s mess-up.
