Since we are stuck immobile for another few days, I've been pondering ways to keep the blog relevant to the topic of full-time Airstream travel. While I know watching us renovate a house doesn't seem exciting, it is really part of the travel experience. We need a home base that we can leave behind easily, without maintenance obligations piling up behind us every time we hit the road.

So, our process of making our house "road worthy" is absolutely a part of what we need to do. If we do it right, we'll still have the freedom to travel. The trick is to keep the house low maintenance and affordable. That's why we are making this investment of time and money now.

It hasn't been much fun. In the last week, we had an electrician, a handyman, a tree trimmer, a landscaper, and a chimney sweep come to visit and provide services for the house. This week we'll have a a roofing team, flooring team, a plumber, a pair of drywall finishers, a painter, and gutter service. To get all this to happen, I've spent hours on the telephone and collecting estimates. Then I wonder if they'll show up, or even return my call.

I'm beginning to think that the appeal of being "on the road" is really more about not having the hassle and expense of a house behind you. But why kid ourselves? Owning a house is a substantial complication and we knew that going in. The interesting part will be discovering whether we can get the house to fade into the background and no longer occupy such a large slice of our energy and time.

It's hard to be optimistic about that after the week we've had, but in a few days or a week, things will look better. In any case, the countdown to departure is looking better. If everyone performs as promised we can leave as early as Saturday. That means we'll have time to go visit some national parks in northern Arizona or Utah.

I mentioned this to the roofer today. I said, "We live here now -- we can always go see the Grand Canyon later." He coughed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Bull---!" (Have to admit, I was surprised at his audacity, considering he was there to give me a quote. All the other contractors tried to agree with everything I said.)

But he was right. When you live somewhere, it's easy to overlook the great things to do right in your backyard. There are many people here who have never been to the Grand Canyon despite having lived here for decades. It's always a place to go "someday". That's a trap we could fall into as well. I'll have to watch for that. So if we can possibly swing it, we will lock the door and leave early, and get back to the business of seeing America one day at a time.