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Mountain Man Mondays; Planning the Exodus

I had a few questions.  Theresa asked about the small animal in one of my pictures. That’s K-Whip, the most fabulous whippet in the world. I also had lots of questions about our Monty Python gate sign. It came from AllPosters.com. We try to tell people to stay out in a humorous way.

Now on to Mountain Man Mondays!

One of the most difficult parts about our upcoming winter move to the Ozarks has been planning how we are going to get all of us (and Mountain Man’s beloved equipment) from Vermont to the Ozarks. It’s 1,565 miles from house to house and gas costs a fortune so we can’t be running back and forth and we only have one driver because my eyesight is not that great any more.

For months, Mountain Man has been planning these trips with a general like precision. He’s plotted mileage, weights of loads, gas efficiency and more in order to proceed in the most cost effective manner possible. I’ve been saying lots of “Sounds good, hmm and whatever you want dear” as my mind glazed over listening to all the guy talk.  Last week, he finalized our exodus and I think we’re all set.

Originally, Mountain Man’s wanted to purchase a 38 foot cargo trailer which he would then modify to suit our needs including a stall for Khrysta. To afford the cargo trailer, we tried to sell our RV but there were no buyers in this economy so no cargo trailer for us.

Not wasting any time, Mountain Man built the coffin box and started hauling stuff out to the Ozarks.  Next trip, he’ll be hauling more stuff and dropping off his big truck cause a guy can’t live without a big old pickup truck. In addition to stuff, he’s also going to haul the pine boards he made for the siding for our Ozark farmhouse.

How’s he going to do it? Simple you say. Drive the stuff out there and fly back?  No, Mountain Man does not fly and the closest airport is a 3 hour drive away so he’s decided to tow my Honda Element and drive that back to Vermont.

Underneath the Element will be the boards and in the coffin box will be more stuff. What’s going to be in the box of the pickup? You guessed it, more stuff. (And men think women travel with too much luggage). That way our final trip will be in the RV with the 7 dogs hauling the horse trailer behind us (and, yes, in the horse trailer, Mountain Man is converting the empty stall to haul even more stuff).

One problem. We have a flat bed trailer and there are no ramps to load the car. A problem for most people but not for the enterprising Mountain Man.  He just headed out to his shop, grabbed some steel, started welding and voila, we now have a car hauler. Here’s the photos and wow, am I ever tired just writing about it. P.S. – The pictures of him welding were shot behind a pile of lumber. Mountain Man warned me of dire consequences if I looked into the arc while he was welding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, yes, he cooks 3 meals a day too!