So the trip out was filled with adventure.
Then we finally found the road to our new property. If you can call it a road.
Gravel…
Endless gravel. Everywhere you looked. Gravel. Roads full of the stuff. Very popular out here. Quite a change from what we were used to.
The paved ones were just as rough.
And no street signs. Everything was directional – east, west, north, south…
So we had to find it via our trusty (sic) website GPS directions.
The road…
So we bounced our way for a few miles to the new property.
This time, thankfully, nothing else fell off the truck.
We found the empty lot. It held three outbuildings and something called a “Conex Box” – basically a metal shipping container which is quite popular out here.
Campsite…
We set up our campsite under the trees. It was cool with a lovely breeze, sitting on a hill above the buildings.
Sweet!
We enjoyed the camping experience. Camp shower, fresh water, electricity outside – we were set.
Then…
It rained.
And the great winds blew.
We lost our tarps over our communal area. The tarps over the piles of belongings flew off exposing all to the rain.
And the lovely hill?
It quickly became a river of sticky mud.
We lost several mattresses as the rains became a river into the tents.
All this while we were at church.
But that wasn’t the last of it…
We had a few “dry” days in between. So, being unfamiliar with the area, we reset the communal area tarps, and tarp coverings.
Silly us.
Around 2am, a large storm blew threw. We spent a good few hours holding up the tarps to prevent the water from building up and causing them to collapse – again.
Results…
Needless to say, in our sleep deprived state, we realized the hill wasn’t best suited for camping.
So, while the man of the house went off to work, us women folk and children moved us into the shipping container.
It was perfect.
We thought…
Conex boxes…
So conex boxes are great. Sturdy. Rain free. And fit all of us and our remaining bedding.
But it quickly became not so great for living in as the heat outside escalated rapidly.
And escalate it did. Unusually so for that particular time of year. It was a country-wide event, and at the wrong time of the year.
The guinea pig got heat stroke. We all got heat exhaustion.
And heavy duty fans weren’t moving anything but hot air.
RV’s are the way to go…
I now know why you see RV’s parked outside houses that are under construction. They are comfortable, roomy, have heating, air conditioning, cook stoves, bathrooms and showers…
But as nice as they are, they aren’t really meant for long-term living.
Especially if it isn’t level. It’s rough trying to sleep on the convertible bed when you’re constantly trying not to roll out of it!
After a week, we figured out that we still couldn’t find anything. Everything was still in large piles on the grassy area outside.
But we were grateful that we were kept relatively cool in the AC.
The house…
Oh yes…the house!
So the house was to be set in place for us the week or, at max, two after we moved to the property. That was the goal from the sales staff.
Nope.
The heat began to ratchet up outside our rented RV. And the AC unit wasn’t designed to keep up with 112 degree exterior temperature.
The house is moved…
So the first half of the house was moved onto the property. And was promptly dropped into a ditch at the bottom of the driveway.
The second half met a similar fate down the road a few days later.
The interior was in shambles.
When they put the two halves together, the damage was revealed. Sheetrock totally demolished on the hitch side of the house – both halves.
This, by the way, was the third week on the property. And, by week’s end, we were still waiting to move into the house.
Now it was taunting us, sitting outside our rented RV.
Almost there…
The house is in place. All the damaged walls are fixed. The plumbing as well. And…maybe electricity.
But not the AC.
So we will be supplied with a window unit by the housing company until an AC contractor is available to hook us up.
But we’re almost home.
And then we can get our lives back on track.
Something to remember…
If you want to see how strong a marriage is, move.
Ditto with family ties.
We began to feel empathy with those Isrealites who were saved from slavery in Egypt.
It’s tough not knowing where you are going, or why, when you step out in Faith.
And stepping out in Faith we did.
We will discover the reason soon enough.
In the meantime, if you find yourself in a similar situation, trust where you are being taken.
And enjoy the adventure! It will give you something to talk about around the table years in the future.