Good gracious, I can’t believe it’s already been TEN DAYS since we left Sitka! I feel like I’m in one of those cartoons where the days are just flying off the calendar.
It was FANTASTIC to be back in Sitka. So nice to feel that fresh, cool Alaska air, see the beautiful mountains and islands, catch up with our friends, and check in on our little houses. We played some music, took nice walks, ate delicious meals, had so much great conversation, gave and received oh-so-many hugs, and soaked up as much as we could from our sweet town. Matthew got out to our friend’s cabin for a little kayaking one day, and I got to do a radio show!
Our little houses are doing very well! 
If you look closely, you can see many types of ocean vessel in this photo: cruise ship, kayak, and several types of fishing boat. 
I got back on the radio! So fun to host a show again. 
Lots of quality time with Grace and Charlie’s fur babies: Melvin the cat and Chloe the dog. (Opal the cat was around, also, but she’s pretty shy…) 
Chloe in her most comfortable position. 
It was also nice to check in on Stevenson Hall – site of the 9-year fundraising and remodel project I was involved with. Look at those awesome windows!! 
Post-dinner walk around the block with Charlie, Grace, Cleo, & Scott, plus Oscar and Chloe. 
Ahhh … Sitka. We’ll be back again.
The main reason we *had* to go to Sitka was to do some plumbing work on our houses. (And by “we” I mean “Matthew”. I’m afraid I wasn’t much help on this project, but our friend Scott sure was!) The goal was to remap the crazy pipe route from this:
To this:
Notice in the “before” picture how the water for BOTH houses goes through the purple house first (after several crazy initial jigs and jags), then takes a long journey practically out to the ocean before heading into the shed, where the hot water heater for the purple house is located. Then the hot water goes back to the purple house while the rest of it goes through a filter in the shed, then over to the green house (where the hot water heater is located inside the house). Plus, it’s all 1/2″ copper pipes, which freeze easily unless watched hawkishly. Oh yeah, and we currently have no shut-off valve, so if anything were to burst, we have to call the city to shut off the water for our houses AND our neighbor’s.
The new plan is much more straight-forward: The main heads directly to the shed (via a new shut-off valve!), where all the water is filtered, then distributed appropriately to each house. Plus, we’re swapping out that copper for PEX pipes and wrapping them in heat tape and insulation.
This work involved spending many hours underneath the porch, often on rather cool and damp days.
Now we’re back in Virginia, making a big push on camper-building this week. One way or another, I need to get to Michigan by Monday night (9/19) to be with my sister for her next round of chemo. The ideal scenario would be to hook our little teardrop up to Twyla, load ’em both up with all our stuff, and use this trip to Michigan as the first leg west in our grand adventure! I’ll let Matthew give you the updates on that progress … stay tuned!
Pretty awesome journey! Love the pics, and the map of the wacky plumbing made simple.
Dear K & M, It was a treat to see you all and hear the progress. Safe travels and as a mariner might say, “fair winds and following seas.” Oh … what the heck, here are a few more:
“It doesn’t matter where you are going. It matters who is beside you.”
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville
Aloha, Jeff b
I feel like our little family is now famous. I can see why you like Sitka so much. 😀 can’t wait to hear more from Matthew. Miss you
It as great hosting you all.
All of your posts bring me joy, but this one especially. <3
What a detailed update on the work under the houses!! Great photos. Whew! We miss you two💕