With me posting only every other day instead of daily, you might expect each post to be twice as good. But that’s like crossing the International Date Line and expecting to have the same day you had yesterday…

I realized why I am so stymied right now. We are caught between two worlds. At one time this was a travel blog (and it will be again!), and then I promised it would become a house renovation blog. At this point it is neither, because we can’t go anywhere and yet there’s nothing happening to the house either.

This is what most people would refer to as a stable, normal lifestyle. A lot of people prefer an uneventful life: get up, go to work, come home, watch some TV, repeat ad infinitum. They like to avoid surprises, at least those of the unsettling variety. We have an opportunity for that right now. We could easily settle in here. Just enroll Emma in the local school, start attending the PTA meetings, join the local uke club, and enjoy a completely safe and reliable lifestyle in a lovely spot in suburbia.

But if this break from full-time travel has taught me anything, it is that I am not cut out for that. I may lost a few of the more prickly edges in recent years, but I am far from ready to sit still. I love where we are right now, but then, I’d love where we are going, too. I have become a travel junkie.

And it’s not just me. I suppose some people might have thought that a year or two on the road would have caused us all to “get it out of our system,” or “appreciate being home more,” but the opposite seems to have happened. Having lived in the Airstream for two years, we can’t seem to get out of it. In the house, we have a ready made bedroom, with curtains, bed, new mattress & pillows, and a pair dressers. It has a lovely view of the Santa Catalina mountains, and beautiful morning light. So why are we still sleeping in the Airstream in the carport, where there is hardly any light and much less space?

Because it is home. Eleanor logically points out that if we slept in the house, with the sinks and showers still not fully operational, we’d have to go back to the Airstream to brush our teeth at bedtime, a small nuisance. But I think a lot of people would be eager, even desperate, to get into their new house — the one they’ve owned for nearly a year, and have only slept in once. Let’s face it, what she’s really saying is the Airstream is more comfortable. That is a direct result of living in it, and loving it, for two years.

At some point, we will sleep in the house, and if we can get somebody to show up and actually install the countertops, the rest of the details will fall into place, making the house fully functional.   At that point, however, it will probably be too close to our departure date.   So we’ll just spent a perfunctory night or two in the house and then take off in the Airstream.   Score: Airstream 362, House 3.

Absolutely nothing has happened on the house since last week.   But we did receive a package of glass tile from the UPS truck on Monday.   (Mail deliveries are a big part of our daily excitement these days.   Emma loves to run out and catch the mail truck, hoping for letters or magazines addressed to her.)

The box of tile means that when Contractor Chris has a chance, he will be able to finish the hall shower.   Since we are expecting a house guest on Thursday, who will be sleeping in the house, a working shower would be appreciated as soon as possible.

Come to think of it, when we leave Tucson, our guest Christine, and our previous guest Brett, will both have slept in our house many more times than we will have.   Perhaps that is why we bought it: guest quarters!

This fall our friend Doug Keister will be releasing his new book, “Teardrops and Tiny Trailers.” He’s the guy who wrote “Mobile Mansions,” “Silver Palaces,” and “Ready to Roll,” all books about vintage trailers and RVs.   I think we have them all.   Doug offers signed copies of his books if you know the right people.

Fortunately by reading this blog, you do.   If you care to buy any of his books and want a signed copy and want to support this blog, use this link to buy books from Doug Keister.   Right now only Mobile Mansions and Silver Palaces are available as signed copies, but I’ll post a reminder on the blog when “Teardrops and Tiny Trailers” comes out.   Using the special link above means I get a small kickback on the book sales.

Uke song of the day: “The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea” as performed by George Harrison. This is a fun one, but it requires the somewhat tricky E chord, which I haven’t mastered yet. Chord tabs here.