Between the bricked laptops and my van stuck in the yard, yesterday was a pretty stressful day. Everything worked out in the end. I am, in fact, able to work on the backup backup laptop, and did so this morning. This means I can repair and/or replace the bricked laptops on my own schedule, rather than drop everything to buy a new laptop immediately, at great expense and with no research.
My home made it out of Amy’s yard, but it needed help. Despite our best efforts, nothing we tried worked, even boards shoved under the wheels. Amy called AAA to get me out, which a rollback flatbed truck had no trouble doing. The trailer was still in the yard, though. We decided to use Amy’s little Ford Ranger to hook up to it at a different angle, get stuck, and then have AAA winch the Ranger and trailer out. It’s not four-wheel-drive, so we fully expected it to get stuck. We mainly intended to use it as an attachment point for the winch. Amazingly, thanks to some smart driving by Amy, both the truck and trailer made it out without help. I’ve named it “The Little Ranger That Could.”
I hooked the van back up to the trailer and just parked in the driveway for the night. I worked in the morning, then started my drive back to New Hampshire. After an enjoyable lunch halfway with a fellow van dweller I met online, I continued a fun, easy drive to my parents’ place in Meredith. At least, it was easy until I dropped down the hill into Meredith. Traffic was awful, but only for a mile or so, and soon I was pulling up their driveway. We played a little bit of Tetris between my van, trailer, and Dad’s tractor, which he was using to push my trailer around. Finally we got me situated for the week, out of the way on the most level ground I could get into, since they live on a hill. I’m in the shade, but their WiFi is excellent, and I’ve plugged the van into the garage, so keeping the batteries charged won’t be a problem despite the shade on my solar panels.
Lister is loving exploring the yard. This is where we stayed the last time we were here two years ago, except with a new driveway I can’t park in the backyard like I did then. But Lister can still visit and watch the birds, chipmunks, and whatever other wildlife comes wandering around — hopefully not a bear this time!
Smokey Da Van 