holi-DAZED

Happy New Year and Merry 13th Day of Christmas! I hope you are well and found ways to reflect and reenergize over the past few weeks. Did you have to endure any of those horrible travel nightmares? We were so glad to not be flying this season! We pretty much stayed put, assembling some amazing meals, watching our favorite holiday movies, playing music, having video chats with family, and enjoying time here with my sister and her dear friends.

However, the Jet Set Betties can’t sit still for too long! Last week we hopped on a train to Chicago for a couple of days of fun friend times! Good food, fancy cocktails, incredible live jazz, and really wonderful conversation — all so good for the soul.

Meanwhile, back in Sitka, our sweet little houses are having a bit of a rough time with this unusually cold and snowy winter. We’ve had one busted pipe already, and now one tenant reports he hasn’t had hot water for a couple of days … it’s likely frozen, so we’re trying to work with him from afar on how to deal with exposed pipes and cold weather. But the real drama started a few weeks ago when a fuel truck drove off the side of the road and burst through the decking! It took about 24 hours for them to get the truck out without causing further damage (solution included bringing *another* truck onto our small street to drain the first one of its fuel to make it lighter!). The fuel company fixed the deck and support beams pretty quickly, but ever since then, one of our houses has had been getting significant sediment in the water. After some investigation, it seems there might be a corroded pipe under the road. It’s possible that the fuel truck incident shook things up enough to cause the sediment. But the bigger complexity is that it’s likely no one actually “owns” that pipe. The road is private and the city’s responsibility ends before our houses. But the owner of the road has their own water line separate from this one, so it’s unlikely that they would accept responsibility. So … in the last few days, this has escalated to be a rather worrisome problem.

At the same time, we continue to work toward our travel dreams, and – as much as we’re enjoying Michigan – we’re still itchy to explore other places. I was hoping to have some definitive news about our next move to share in this post, but – alas – that scheme hasn’t worked out as we’d hoped. A few weeks ago, Matthew applied for a super cool job with a company called Under Canvas to be part of their set-up and take-down crew. Basically, Under Canvas is a high-end “glamping” outfit with properties adjacent to 10 National Parks across the country. They set up really nice seasonal camps and then people pay $500/night to stay in a remote spot with plumbing, the finest linens, and gourmet food. Matthew applied (and had a promising interview!) to be part of the crew that swoops through all these locations during the shoulder seasons to set up and take down the camps. We were pretty excited about this, because they pay mileage and per diem (in addition to an hourly wage) to be in all these places, which seemed like a perfect way for us to travel and earn money! Unfortunately, it turns out they’re not adding as many staff as they thought they would right now, so we’re moving on to a new plan. (Although the crew leader did indicate to Matthew that things often change once they’re up and running, so maybe there’s still a possibility for later??)

We’re still aiming to get on the move again in about a month or so. For now, Matthew is working quite a few shifts in the kitchen at Guardian Brewing, and I’m submitting applications here and there for remote-work positions. The number of job postings is kind of overwhelming! But the scope narrows quite a bit when I filter for part-time remote opportunities that fit my skills and interests. I have found a few really interesting positions, so … we’ll see. Fingers crossed!

Camper/trailer research and strategizing also continues to occupy quite a bit of time and brain space. Our thinking has really evolved over the last few months, and we’ve downscaled our dream trailer to the point where we’re now looking for a sweet teardrop camper with a sizeable, good-quality additional tent for extra space. And boy-howdy, in addition to the world having an overwhelming number of job-posting sites online, there sure are a lot of YouTube videos to watch about campers/trailers and the pros/cons of all types!

Ok, that seems to be enough for now. Cheers to you, and may 2022 be full of love, laughter, and good health.