Slowly but surely

 
It has been a bit simply because prep work takes time and well there just isn't much to  show or to say about it.   

How things are done sure have changed since we built our current house 44 years ago.  The equipment available is so much bigger and more efficient.   When gravel was put in the footings, the operator directed where the conveyor pointed to sling the  gravel by walking around using a joy stick.

Basement Prep

Pink concrete pumper truck

Nobody was riding on a concrete smoother (or whatever that contraption is called) 24 years ago.

Early morning fog - our view from the future front porch

One of the biggest issues that faced us early on was that they weren't able to dig down as far as we wanted because of the lay of the land.  Water would have drained towards the house.  The solution is to bring in lots of fill, then sub oil, then top soil.  We've found a source for the fill.  We'll know by Friday whether the sub soil we found will be available or not.  Top soil is still evading us.

Slag fill - free for the cost of hauling

More slag fill 

At 7:30 this morning we could hear the beep beep of a large truck backing up.  By 8:45 they had the I-beams set. When things happen, they happen quickly  It is all the hurry up and wait time that is killing us.  

Here come the beams

The truss guy measured for the trusses this morning too and then let us know they are running three weeks behind.  Sigh.

In addition to the house progress, behind the scenes the lagoon has been dug and trees that had to go in order to get electric to the house pushed.  We are waiting for our chipper guy, Korte Tree Service, (we've been waiting five weeks so far) to finish clearing  the way so the electric company can do their thing. We were warned they were four weeks behind.  The electric company is behind too and won't get us on the schedule until everything is cleared.  Two steps forward, one step back.

 Today was overcast, but the weather held out and we now have footings for our new house.  It was fun watching the workers do their thing.....

 It's been 14 days of behind the scene progress.  Water figured out.  Electric figured out, which will require the removal of many trees ($$) and of course running the lines to the house ($$$) and a four to six week wait for Callaway Electric to be able to come out and do the work.

Every time we have turned around we have gotten rain.  Usually not a  lot, but just enough to keep Bruce from finishing digging the foundation and put the footings in.  Imagine our surprise when, even though we got a good soaking yesterday, workers were able to start framing for the footings   Oh happy day!

All things considered, we are hoping to get into the new house sometime next Spring.  In the meantime we are happy to know we will have  one more Thanksgiving, Bake Day, and Christmas here.  Probably even Easter, and get togethers in between.  We aren't finished making memories in  this house yet!  Until next time.  

Big machinery / baby steps

Our Vision - in black and white

 

The past few days we have watched with trepidation the dozer operator move dirt around  At one point I was scared we would end up with foundation walls jutting out of the ground, rather than a nice gradual step down from the porch we envisioned.  We talked about moving the house down the hill further but the dozer operator, Carson, convinced us all would be good.  We gave him the go ahead to do his thing.

Today we lunched with dear friends and then came  home to this:  

Jim is standing in  the bedroom 

  

Footings, walls, floor, fill next.  Lots of rain in the forecast.  This house will get built on God's time.

Home is where the heart is

 During the summer of 1981 we began the journey of building a log house on 22 acres of land in Callaway County.  Together Jim and I designed the home during many late night sessions, long after our three children were safely tucked in each night.  Jim then bought the lengths of logs he needed from Gastineau Log Homes, hired a semi-retired builder, grabbed a chain saw and spikes and set about building.  I may have simplified things just a tad, but you get the idea.  During the past 44 years the house has taken on a life of its own as our lives evolved, with walls being moved or removed, rooms added on, garages built, and on and on.  The house became a much loved home.

Now we are in another phase of our lives, which means our needs have changed drastically.  The focus is on what is best for us, yet keeping an eye out for large spaces for family get togethers.  After much praying, talking, God Nods, looking at various other options, we made the difficult decision to divide the acreage, sell our current home, and build a single story home on the ten acres by our pond.  

Come to find out, that decision was the easy part.

After many delays, with the biggest gotcha being the surveyor from 44 years ago did not properly register the land with the county (Yes, we've been paying taxes on it, though.  We're still scratching our heads over that one)  It only took the survey company six weeks to do a new survey.  I'm not going to talk about $$.  Plans completed, builder hired, construction loan final (we will sell this house when new house is complete) and survey registered, we are off and running!  

Yesterday was a push trees - many, many trees - kind of day.

Heading into the forest...

Do things look a little different?

Today - digging the foundation!  It is getting real.

Digging the foundation

So close to finishing, but then the 30 minute down pour came that made it too slick to continue

View from the road.  The house will be nestled into the far trees.

 

    

 

There’s no place like home

TUESDAY, September 3, day 44

Our host at this Small Towne RV Park is quite the character.  The owner is a skinny middle age dude with a long scraggly beard.  The park is surrounded by collapsing buildings and there are only 8 or so sites on weedy gravel.  No bathrooms or showers.  Yet, I think he thought he was operating a five star operation.   He seemed truly offended when we declined the outside rug he offered - told us it came with the site, so we used it.  Each site had its own scented bag lined trash can.  When we exited the trailer in the morning we were greeted with a copy of the local newspaper on our doorstep.  Really, I can’t make this stuff up.

It was difficult and a shame to pass historic site and national park sign after sign, but we made each other put our blinders on.  We are on a mission.  I was amazed at the great number of oil rigs we saw as we sped through North Dakota.

WEDNESDAY, September 4, day 45

Today we traveled through South Dakota and Minnesota and finally called it a night at the Flying Goose RV Park in Palmer MN.  What a beautiful park on a private lake.  It would not have taken much to convince me to stay put and rest there for a few nights!

THURSDAY, September 5, day 46

On the road, listening to John Grisham’s book, The Racketeer (really, really good) - heading to Wisconsin to visit our friends Dennis and Kris.  It was so good to see them and catch up on each other’s lives over the best apple pie ever (every bit as good as the one she made the last time we visited!). Kris made killer brats, potato salad and beans for supper.  The perfect dinner for travel weary guests.  I pooped out halfway through the Packers game and we headed to bed.  The end game is in sight.

FRIDAY, September 6, day 47

One last visit over coffee and cinnamon rolls (I made Kris promised not to make breakfast) and we were on the road again.  Home.  We were so happy to make it to Hannibal, MO.  Only a few hours left.   The place looked really good to us.  Greg mowed the grass just the day before and it looked like a park along the road and pond.  We can’t thank him enough for taking care of things while we were gone.

A little bit about Sadie Jo.  She does not mess in the house ever.  Well, almost ever.  Unless she wants to get a point across.  You know, just let us know she is not pleased with us.  When we first embarked on this adventure she pooped on the trailer floor the first few nights.  Then when she felt she had gotten her point across, she never had another “accident”.  She was so excited to get home!  She happily ran around and around.  Then the moment we turned our backs, she pooped in the middle of the kitchen floor, then sat prettily next to it until we noticed.   Nice welcome home present Sadie.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure.  It is one we will never forget.  Dang it feels good to be home!  How many miles did we drive you ask?  Only 12,295...

THURSDAY, August 29, day 47

Today is a beautiful sunny day.  Temperatures are the usual 40 something.  The geese are heading South and so are we.

FRIDAY, August 30, day 40

We stayed at the Purdue Lake Provincial Park last night.  Primitive and sooooo cold.  We were on the road early this morning.  My copy of the Milepost that tells you mile by mile through Alaska is three years old (yes, that is how long I’ve been planning this trip).  We trusted it about where gas would be available… the gas station was out of business.  This has happened quite a few times, where business had closed since the book was published, but it never much mattered.  Except this time.  By the time we arrived at the next service station, our Toyota informed us that we had a 10 mile range left.   Way too close for comfort.

We may not have electricity, but we won’t go hungry....

Lesson learned:  Never pass up a gas station!

We skipped Prince George.  It is a large city needing more time to explore than we were willing to give.

Finally  the Iceland Parkway towards Jasper, Lake Louise, and  Banff.  As we entered Jasper, there was a herd of elk eating grass along the side of the road.

Here I will say, I was totally unprepared for this portion of the trip.  I had no idea that these places were very popular tourist towns with many shops, and tons of tours available to see the sights.  There was absolutely no place to park a trailer and no place to stay.  We saw some beautiful scenery along the way but quickly realized Jasper, Lake Louise, and Banff were destinations that had to be carefully planned, not someplace you could just drive in to  and enjoy.  I think Lake Louise was the most surprising.  I truly thought there would be a busy pullout where people would be checking out another gorgeous lake.  Wrong.  Lake Louise is a mountain town and ski resort.  Tourists reminded us a little bit of Branson, with the overflow parking for Lake Louise looking a bit like a SDC lot.  We high tailed it out of there.  We drove through Banff, mostly because we needed gas again.  It is a very old, very well preserved town, but not for driving around with a travel trailer in tow.

Banff

View of evening walk in our primitive campground in Banff

Finding a place to stay was the biggest challenge.  We set our sight on a provincial park about in the middle between Banff and Lake Louise, hoping most people would be trying to stay closer to one town or the other.  We drove through the campground the first time and saw that all sites were reserved.  Just on the off chance we had missed a tag, we drove through again.  Just as we were about to give up, Jim noticed a green tag clipped on top of the red reserved tag.  It was available for one night only.  Thank you God (yes, I was once again praying).  I cannot tell you how many times I have said a prayer and it has been answered!  So we stayed at Rampart Provincial Park and watched car after car drive through hoping to snag that one last site that we had already taken.

SATURDAY, August 31st, day 41

We left our site in the rain once again.  We have not been unhooking the trailer during these one night stops, so getting going consists of securing the inside of the trailer.   Even though it has been raining, the beauty peeks out around every corner.  The mountains dodging in and out of the fog are especially fascinating, but impossible to capture on film.

Today we took off on the Trans Canadian Highway.  There were quite a number of animal crossing  tunnels over the road.  That was neat to see.  Tonight we stayed in a very full Bridgeview RV Park in Lethbridge.

SUNDAY, September 1, day 42

We are still on the Trans Canadian Hwy and After many weeks of Mountain View’s, our systems are being shocked by the wide open farm country we have just entered.  Oops.  We forgot to get gas. Again.  Thankfully we only had to backtrack 5 or so miles.  We were finally waved through our final border crossing at Coutts/Sweetgrass with the usual questions of how long have you been in Canada (which time and we can’t remember at this point), what have you bought (nothing, we can’t afford it) and do you have an Cannabas products on you (never got into that).

MONDAY, September 2, day 43

We spent last night in Lewistown, MT at Mountain Acres RV Park.  I must say clean bathrooms and a hot shower sure felt wonderful – especially since the showers were free, unlike in CA where they charge you to shower after you’ve already paid premium prices to camp there.  It felt strange to exit the camper this morning and not have to look around for bears, plus the temperatures are already in the 80’s.  What a change a few days can make.

Since we took a trip west through Montana, Utah and many western states just a few years ago, we are intent on making time with the goal of home.

Hello Montana!

The spaces are wide open with mountains in the distance and the grasses golden.  Very pretty.  It seems the little towns we are going through have a Casino in every storefront – in restaurants, bars, and miscellaneous stores.  I cannot imagine how much money people throw away every day hoping to get rich.

We are now sitting in a tiny RV park, appropriately name Small Towne RV Park, in Terry Mt,  where the guy insisted on helping us plug in our electric.  The plan is to make it to Wisconsin by Thursday, a quick visit with our dear friends Dennis & Kris, and then home by Sunday evening or Monday.  The end is near and we are very ready.  If you’ve read this much, more power to you!