After a five-and-a-half-month respite in our nearly empty house in Garner, N.C., we are beginning our seventh year traveling up the East Coast of the U.S. And, no, it has not been smooth, by any stretch of the imagination.
First, some good bits. When we returned to N.C. at the beginning of November 2025, it was to leave for Cancun for our daughter’s wedding. Madeline and Layne had a destination wedding at a beautiful, all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, and everyone who attended had a wonderful time.
We decided to temporarily move back into our house because our most recent renter moved out at the end of October. He was kind enough to leave us some much-needed pieces of furniture to make our temporary stay more comfortable. We stored the Airstream at my friend’s house in Garner for the winter, since our driveway is too steep to pull the Airstream to the top of it.
Carl, the DIYer extraordinaire, was called upon by ALL the appliances in the house for some attention and minor repairs. Other than that, we had a pleasant stay in our house during the winter months, both of us working—me with book formatting work and Carl with a part-time job at Walmart. Holidays with family. Massanutten with friends. Seeing the monks in Raleigh. Enjoying some snow. And playing tourist in our hometown by visiting Dix Park for the first time and finding the trolls.
In mid-April, we moved the Airstream to the street in front of our house to do some minor repairs, give it a deep clean, and move back into it. Carl replaced the wheel hubs and bearings on all four wheels of the Airstream, replaced the slides on a few drawers, and repaired the back awning that had broken in Oregon last year during heavy wind.
We thought we were set. With a new renter moving in at the end of April, we traveled to Newport, N.C. to spend time with my mom and sister and get readjusted to 200 square feet of living space.
Well…now for the bumpy bits.
It was not an easy stay in Newport. The first issue that arose was no water streaming through the kitchen faucet. After some sleuthing, Carl determined that the actual head of the faucet was clogged. He was able to remove it and took it outside to blow it out. It is now working perfectly. This was on a Friday.
The very next day, Saturday, I went to my mother’s house to visit and play cards and Labyrinth with her. It was an enjoyable visit, with lots of fun playing games. When I got back to the Airstream, it was TORN ASUNDER! The bathroom was in complete disarray. Carl somehow discovered that the 26-year-old water heater was leaking. Not fun. He was able to remove it and discovered three small holes in it. It definitely needed replacing, which he did with my help a week later when the new one arrived.
But wait… that’s not all… the same weekend Carl discovered the leaking water heater, I noticed weird water spots on the hall runner. It was directly below the skylight, but we did not see any leaking or condensation. When I pulled up the runner, I noticed moisture below it. We kept watching it over the next few days and determined it was coming from beneath the vinyl plank flooring. Carl finally decided to pull up the flooring, and the subfloor was very wet. The moisture seemed to be coming from the hall closet area, where the water pump is. So, we had to pull everything out of the closet to take a look.
Long story short… it was simply a worn-out O-ring in a connection. The subfloor is dry, the flooring is back in place, and the new water heater is working perfectly. Carl is the HERO of all of this.
But I had my SHERO moment as well. While I was enjoying another visit with my mom, Carl was planning to run errands. However, after an exhaustive three-hour search, he could not find his wallet and called me to come look for it. I borrowed my mother’s car and drove the ten minutes up the road to find his wallet ON THE FLOOR BY THE BED in under five minutes.
We are now in Williamsburg and will be making our way north over the next few months. Although the first couple of weeks were stressful, readapting to the smaller living space was easy peasy. In fact, I think it was harder to live in the house for the past several months. I will miss the dishwasher, though. It was well-used while we were there!
It is good to be back on the road again, despite the bumps.
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