Getting into a routine 12/6/21

We’ve been in our spot for almost a week now and are starting to get some semblance of a routine figured out! Jeff has been welding for an artist here in Phoenix and has to be there by 9 am. It takes about 30 minutes to get there with morning traffic in the bus and we have to eat, pack up, and give the engine a few minutes to warm up so we’ve been getting up at 7 with the sun. We all drive over in the bus and then Jeff works while Bray and I do things around the bus.

Every day there is something different to do around the bus! Yesterday, when we got to Jeff’s job, we realized the composting toilet (which we finally got all set up… no more pooping in a bucket!!!!) wasn’t properly draining or sealed and so after sloshing back and forth through morning rush-hour traffic had leaked everywhere! Ugh!!!! It took me 3.5 hours to clean up, figure out what went wrong, and get it back together… and we had run out of paper towels!!!!

Thankfully today’s tasks were MUCH less stinky! Today Braydon and I got to do more of his wooden vehicles, clean up the stove, and wash laundry. The washer/dryer combo has run its maiden voyage! Though, I have actually only used the wash cycle. We have had a difficult time getting our Bluetti Solar Generator to top off each day… even here in Sunny Arizona. So I have only used the washer portion, but it does great! It’s so cool to be able to go to the bathroom, shower, and do laundry in our bus… it really feels like home!

We have also been working through the logistical nightmare of getting the Jeep shipped out and opening a bank account here so we can cash our checks. We have our mail that is sitting in our South Dakota mailbox being sent to us this week at a FedEx location where we can pick it up and not have to have a physical address or pay for a PO Box. Pretty cool! We have some refund checks from accounts we closed sitting there and it would be helpful to have them, but our bank is local to Pennsylvania so aside from taking them to a check cashing place, we need to set up an account here. (For some reason our version of our banking app doesn’t allow for mobile deposits even though the bank does.) And the Jeep has just been crazy – We had it scheduled and then the driver canceled on us and we still haven’t been assigned an new driver. Phil and Linda Ealy have been holding the Jeep for us and even drove an hour and a half one way to get it to the driver before finding out they canceled! Hopefully it will get here soon and we can start driving around in that instead of this 40-foot beast during rush hour.

Jeff also starts working for Hot Air Expeditions this weekend. He’s super excited! He passed his drug test (duh… lol) and went to watch his training videos and fill out his employment paperwork. They didn’t understand why he wasn’t filling out the Arizona Income Tax portion (he is a South Dakota resident and they don’t pay state income tax!) but it’s all worked out now. He will have a handful of on-the-job training sessions and then he will be officially on the schedule. There’s an ap they use to post all the shifts and you sign up for whichever ones you are available for. It’s pretty cool! This is their busy season (with everyone wintering in Sunny Arizona) so there are two shifts most days meaning you could make well over $100/day while hanging out with hot air balloons! (Yeah, I’m kinda jealous!!)

Tomorrow Jeff isn’t working for either place and it will be nice to have a day of not driving the bus! We have more projects we would like to get done and we want to sleep in!! (Well, Braydon always wakes up early, but he gets his own breakfast on days we don’t have to go anywhere so we can sleep a few minutes longer.)

Hoping to post again in a couple more days!