Author: jamiefeinberg

Exploring Women’s History in Seneca Falls! 

| jamiefeinberg

Today was fabulous. After waking up from a pretty good night’s sleep at a travel plaza in Warners, NY, I did my morning routine and fielded emails before reheating my breakfast on our stove for the first time! Ross had to help me figure it out but it was worth it. 

After Ross was up and had his coffee and breakfast, we headed toward our first destination – the National Women’s Historic Site in Seneca Falls! I have wanted to see it since I was 16 and passed the sign on the highway during a college trip. Literally a dream deferred but it was worth it! After some fun games getting the RV parked (tons of free parking available but not oversized), we headed into the site. We saw a brief film that gives an overview of the movement (and I had a coughing fit) and we saw some wonderful exhibits. Having worked up an appetite, we headed to the RV, grabbed the lunches we had packed and walked across the street to the Elizabeth Cady Stanton park to have lunch by the canal. (The foliage here is wonderful!) We even stumbled on an open air market with live music, where we bought some local coffee for Ross and shared a few gluten free chocolate chip cookies as a treat. (Not on the diet but the cookie indulgence went well.) 

We stopped in the Wesleyan Chapel, where the Women’s Rights Convention of 1848 was held, and we dropped off our things before beginning the walk to the Elizabeth Cady Stanton house. While we were there, we checked out some locks on the canal. 

After the guided tour we experienced an absolutely moving performance by a woman who portrays Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I idolized her in many ways (not all) as a kid and getting to experience this was seriously as good as it gets. After a brief stop at the National Women’s Hall of Fame (free because they were closing in a half hour), we packed up and did a driving tour of the Montezuma National Refuge before finding a place to crash for the night. 

Sorry for the lack of photos – we are trying to utilize free wifi and it’s not very good right now. 

What an epic day. Thanks for reading and talk to you soon! 

Day 1 – Heading to Upstate NY

| jamiefeinberg

What began as a dreary day turned sunny and warm while we drove. We passed some gorgeous towns in New Hampshire and Vermont, including Woodstock and the Killington area, but Quechee was the best and perhaps worth a return visit. A tad touristy but in a super New England way; driving over the Quechee Gorge was amazing! 

Ross’ favorite parts of today were napping and using the walkie talkies. Upstate NY thus far wasn’t as scenic as VT or NH but we got some really neat views and bridges here and there. We took a great route that only had us on the interstate for about two hours. 

Tomorrow we explore. Can’t wait!

Eight days until departure!

| jamiefeinberg

I can’t even believe I’m writing this. The summer flew by, we packed up Ross’ studio, and next weekend we begin our epic RV adventures!

I have so much to do. As does Ross. But we are ridiculously excited to begin.

Our car visits the mechanic Monday, so fingers crossed that we can keep this thing going for a while without major expenses. The RV is happy except we don’t have a working hot water heater, but we lived without it all summer so we will let it go for now. (Estimated to cost about $350 and no guarantee the part would fix the problem.)

Tonight we perform our first church concert, and we have lots of family and friend visits planned on top of our mad dash to digitize and store before we leave. Thanks to everyone who is fitting us into their busy schedules.

Send us some happy car vibes and lots of energy. We will need it!

We’re in!

| jamiefeinberg

Well, we’ve now been living in our RV, more or less, for almost a week. It’s still pretty messy as we organize things, but we’re in and we love it! We are still in the midst of projects and organizing in storage and at Ross’ studio as well (where I have my computer for the summer) so life is crazily busy.

But it’s so good. I am so much less stressed now, on a day to day and moment to moment basis, than I was at my last job. It may be crazy, but I know we’re on the right path.

I should be getting my first paycheck from Jean’s tomorrow. Godspell is going extremely well. I’m really looking forward to adding the band. I’m very proud of our work and happy my body is so far cooperating with the craziness.

Our next goal is to embark on the Whole 30 diet – the more difficult auto-immune protocol for me and the regular version for Ross. We had a bit of a propane scare so we aren’t using the stove yet – I’m hoping we can get that figured out before we start the diet.

We’re still seeking a cheap car for Ross. My car is tiring and the writing seems on the wall there too. Let me know if you’ve got a cheap car in NH that runs well.

Money is tight, but life is good. Thanks for reading!

We’re Getting an RV!

| jamiefeinberg

Closing is set for Friday, June 10. We’ll be looking at an RV payment of $211ish per month plus whatever we pay for insurance (expecting a quote by the end of the day)…and we are so excited! It’s beautiful and it’s very us and we can’t wait. Keep those fingers crossed that all goes as planned and that we can find a cheap (to us) car under 2K to keep us on budget. Hoping to have her moved in to her summer home (is it a her? Ross, any thoughts?) by the following Sunday!

False Starts and Next Steps

| jamiefeinberg

I’ve been lying in bed for about an hour. It’s 2 a.m. Since I can’t sleep, I thought I’d try a blog post.

Things are not looking good with the RV. Although we can get it drivable for $1400, they weren’t able to find a part (the air pump) for the truck! They even called Ford. And I really don’t want to travel cross country with something no one can find parts for. We also still don’t know about the inside of the RV. So we are leaning toward selling and we have no clue right now if we can make back close to what we paid or not.

Meanwhile, Ross’ car was totaled after we were hit in an accident. They gave us money for it, but we really didn’t want to be shopping for a cheap car just for the summer. So we are at a real crossroads. Options include:

Buy a junk car for under 2K. Buy a more expensive vehicle that can become our primary vehicle, perhaps one large enough to tow something (storage or a pop up) if we have to tent it or rough it for a while. We could at least tent it this summer.

Buy another RV ASAP through a dealer with financing while my income is higher. Definitely a junk car in this scenario…hopefully trade in RV for at least a few thousand in credit.

Some combination of the above options.

So this week, we expand our car and RV buying search. Awkward time as it is my last week working with the Arts Alliance, but so it goes. I do think all these struggles and challenges are bringing us a lot closer as a couple. Please send us some good thoughts and help discerning next steps. We can use it!

A Place to Live – But No RV?

| jamiefeinberg

I’ve drafted so many blog posts in my head recently. Blogs about dealing with the extra levels of stress of planning combined with chronic illness & the related battles to figure that out. Blogs about how hard things are. Blogs about simplicity. Blogs about pulling through adversity. Blogs about the fact that Ross was rear-ended and now on top of RV repairs, we have to car shop, but I am really uncomfortable buying a car when we don’t know the status of our RV.

But I finally have some good news to share, so that’s more fun, right?

Jean’s Playhouse agreed to allow an ad trade for a discounted or free campsite for us this summer. Part of the compensation when we work there is housing, but the idea of living in dorm style housing, presumably single-sex and with other people, didn’t seem that appealing to us given that we’re married and much older than many or most of our co-workers will be. So finding a campground seemed like the perfect thing – we get a place for our RV and can try things out and learn with less pressure, and Jean’s gets to save money by not having to house us.

So I sent out a bunch of emails, beginning with the campgrounds in Lincoln and North Woodstock (the next town over), about housing us for a few months. Two out of my three top choices replied – one was positive, but didn’t have any space left (maybe next time); another just couldn’t accommodate a longer-term visitor (KOA). So I emailed our other choices, who were 20-30 minutes away but mostly great options. One of our top choices in terms of livability, Tarry Ho Campground in Twin Mountain, called me within a day or two of sending the email. I was so excited! The more we talked, the more we realized we’d met at a networking events a couple of years back, she knows my father, she had fantastic memories of our conversation, etc…

So after meeting her in person with Ross and touring the campground, I’m thrilled to say that we have a home for the summer! God willing our RV will be drivable and livable so that we aren’t tenting it. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. As soon as our RV is ready (or as soon as we want to move in), we’ve got a campsite with our name on it. And get this – we’re working for our site! No cash at all. Their seasonal sites rent for $1,950, so between Ross and I, we’ll be putting in 195 hours before the season is over on November 2. (We hope to leave by the beginning of October, but it’s awesome to know we can stay longer if we want to.) We’ll be doing a mix of marketing/social media work (me) and music/working the new food truck (Ross) and possibly whatever else needs to be done. We know it’s a lot of hours to fit in, but we’ll be coming up with a plan to make it feasible, and we can absolutely stay for a couple of weeks at the end to knock out the rest. (After all, if we each put in a couple of 40 hour weeks, the work would be almost complete!) Although there’s a 30 minute commute to Jean’s, it’s only 11 minutes to Ross’ studio, which is great for him and great for us if we need to escape camping for a bit.

IMG_2741We hope some of you will come up and visit us. They have gorgeous river front campsites with water and electric as well as other sites for tents and RVS, plus bath houses, a pool, an ice cream stand, a food truck as of late June and supposedly great wi-fi. They’re also being super-nice about accommodating both of our vehicles. So besides metered electric, which I think we’ll be paying for, we will be living rent free this summer, which will really help justify our 30 minute commute on a tiny salary. 🙂 My goal is to keep saving money even on our tiny income. Whether that’s possible or not will largely depend on what our health insurance costs are. Really hoping they’ll go down significantly when our income changes at the end of the month!

My last day of work at my current job is May 27. I’ll be so glad to be able to move on. Thanks so much for reading, and please send us happy & inspected quickly RV vibes, as well as a good cheap car for Ross!

Planning and Plotting

| jamiefeinberg

It’s out! The word, that is, about my departure from the Arts Alliance. I am also deeper in the planning stages of our tour. After some dramatic back and forth with Judy, I have learned that the Carpenters booking hasn’t gone as planned. So we have two gigs in September, hopefully followed by a performance at Contact East, a booking showcase in New Brunswick. After that, we leave New Hampshire. Whoo-hoo!

Our itinerary is purposefully loose right now. My brother lives in Kalamazoo, MI, so if it isn’t too cold yet, we hope to drive through upstate New York (or maybe Canada) and visit him. After that, we will head toward Iowa to visit our friends. Depending on the weather and our mood, we will stay for a few weeks or even a month. After that, we continue south. We will stay in Arizona for December, primarily the Phoenix and Tucson areas if everything aligns, and then I’m thinking the San Diego area for January, which is typically the coldest month. Plus my sister lives there! After that our options open up as it warms, so our exact path can be adjusted based on booking and our interests. We also may need to visit Florida to become residents there at some point….time will tell. We’d like to make our way towards CO, OR and WA in the spring or summer as we think there are a lot of towns with potential there.

This adventure requires a lot of faith…particularly in my own abilities to pull this off. It’s a good thing I have never lacked for self-confidence….

In the coming weeks, we need to start pitching ourselves to local campgrounds…discounted site for program add at Jean’s and maybe a bit of work is the hope. Keep us in your thoughts, and thanks for reading!