Redirection Road

Been a bit since I hopped on here. Life has been crazy to say the least and I am still adjusting to it…..

The whole finding a home thing has been weird. Prices are still way off and to stay within my budget, I had to look all over. I needed enough square footage to fit my stuff, a bit of land and near to some sort of civilization. I found a couple anyway. I am not too near civilization. This may or may not turn out to be a good thing……only time will tell. I had a terrible inspector so I have purchased the money pit, much like the movie. Also, I had no way of knowing that no one, absolutely no one will come up the mountain. So getting repair people, contractors and just general things is proving a challenge.

PLANET CLINTWOOD

Oh, I forgot to mention that I moved into the mountains. The Applachian range to be exact. I now live in Appalachia! I have lived all over the United States and Canada, in all types of conditions. I have lived by the sea, on farms, in urban areas, huge cities, suburbia, in the foothills, wine country and even the desert. However, the one type of living I have not done is mountain living. Interestingly enough, I have family (my dad’s side) who hail from the Smokies and are mountain people. It is unlike other types of living, just sayin. Still adjusting…..

I have moved to Planet Clintwood. It is place set off from everywhere else. You have to leave the planet and go to the regular world to get anything! There are basically no services here. People don’t work here. It is the oddest thing that even the people who live here wonder about. ??? If someone wanted to have an instant clientele and busy business, all they would have to do is move here. Everyone needs everything and no one provides anything. So yes, Planet Clintwood……

CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS

MOVE DAY

So I am getting a little ahead of myself here. The actual move day, leaving Louisa, was intense. There was this huge storm that raged the whole way down. My drive was 7 hours of torrential rain, ice, fog and general traffic mayhem all along the ridge. I took what is supposed to be the quickest way down, but always seems like the long way down. I go across the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains till I get to the Appalachian range. Let’s just say, mountain driving in the winter is dicey at best.

My first big hurdle was getting over the first big ridge just outside of Charlottesville. Of course, there was ice, fog and wind crossing the gap. It was scary……😳 It is one of those rides where you can see the whole mountain range (because you are on the top) and there are nothing but S curves with a long drop and short stop. Once, I made it over that one, I breathed for a moment. 64 & 81 are the main travel routes for everyone on the east coast so traffic is always nuts. Most people are not from here and drive like it!!! I have not been down this stretch where there was not a road closing accident. Of course, move day was not exception.

FIRST NIGHT

It snowed during the night and I wondered if they would actually attempt to come up the mountain. It was a question. It stopped and the day warmed to 34 degrees. The movers were beasts and got up here and actually parked in my 45 degree driveway. They were some moving fools! I was impressed and I have a three story and they did not complain one bit. So that part of the move was good. It took absolutely all day to get everything out and unwrapped. Thankfully, they set up the beds. I didn’t get to sleep in them as I was clueless to where sheets and blankets were. Me and the pud fought over the space on the couch for much of the first week.

SECOND NIGHT

The arctic storm hit…..

Three feet of snow upon waking and was in awe at the beauty before coming to my senses and realizing I was trapped….🌨️❄️☃️

I just assumed that it was the city’s plough and how nice they cleared my drive a little. Still too icey to drive down without plunging into the snow field across the road. I ended up calling the city as the road kept filling with snow because of the storm was just hanging out. I found that they do not have many snow ploughs in the county and my area was not on any list. The guy I talked with actually said I could “hope” they may come by…..! In fact, the whole town, county and mountain shut down. Nothing was moving and no one was leaving their homes. I couldn’t as I was trapped! My only option would be to hoof it, but in three feet of snow…..

It actually got down to -11 degrees when my heat pump went out….😳

I panicked, of course…. I haven’t a clue about anything in the house. I have walked around and realized things are not as I was told so I am now concerned about freezing to death. I had this vision of Circe and myself huddled in the living room under her blanky.

The heat did come on, but it was not the heat pump. I did know there were two propane tanks on the side of the house and evidently they come into play as a back-up heat source. (I see some of you shaking your heads saying of course, but this is a new home and I have been here all of 48 hours.) I did call the service guy and he asked if I had heat, of course and yes, so he said he was only taking calls from people without any heat. It makes sense. He was supposed to come and check the unit when things calmed down, but I have not heard from him at all. No surprise there….

Through all this, I couldn’t get down my drive as it was a solid sheet of ice and no one would deliver here for the same reason. So all my stuff was waiting for me at the post office for the time when I could get off my driveway. The lady at the post office calls me the lady with the driveway! Kind of says it all.

I did eventually get off the driveway with the help of my neighbor. Who, by the way, is the guy in the snow plough. I did not know this till I talked with the previous owners. He came by and helped me get off the driveway. He scraped a section free of ice so I could get down….. This is the wonderful thing about living in the mountains, your neighbors take care of you. You are kind of in it together.

I had such a big stack of mail and boxes at the post office that they gave me one of those big postal bin/carts to run out to my car. I still have trouble getting some packages here as no one wants to go up my driveway.

MANY MOODS OF CIRCE

Circe seems to enjoy it here. Lots of things for her to bark at and chase. I am working on a fence so she can run about outside. We walk daily about the property. Much of the land is mountainside and forested. Beautiful, but challenging terrain.

Yet another storm came through…..

On the plus side, I have the most stunning views. The sunsets can be witnessed in my living room nightly. Every window is a Zen moment and the mountains are breathtaking. Also, at night, I can see the town lights since I am so high up.

Pretty much I panicked the first few weeks here not being able to get anyone up here and not sure what is up with my new home….. I have clung to my cousin (who is a saint 👋🏻 hey!) and dialed out many crazed calls to her about being adrift on Planet Clintwood. I have wondered many times if I did the right thing moving here, but only time will tell.

I will leave off here. I will have much more in February. I should also mention that the area is a cultural bonanza. Art and music thrive on the mountain and Jazz rules. There is so much art, theater and music that it does make up for the other shortfalls. More to explore later…..Not sure how many are still with me here on the journey, but it is nice to be back online and I will be posting more.

I leave you with Circe…..

Be Well