Special relativity

According to good ol’ Albert Einstein, time is relative – the rate at which time passes depends on the observer’s frame of reference.

According to Lauren and Scott, we concur.

Some days can seemingly drag on and on, while other times it feels as though entire weeks pass by in the blink of an eye. Case in point – January coming to a close marks the end of our 3rd month out on the property this winter. Even more shocking is the realization that we only have 4 weeks left before we head out to start our 2025 travels.

And even the weather is trying to tell us the winter is ending. After enduring a couple weeks with below freezing overnight temps we’re back to warm, spring-like days with highs in the low 80s.

But, even though it feels like winter has sped by, we’ve done our best to make the most out of our winter on the property and have been able to check the majority of our project items off the list.  Since arriving in November:

  • We got a post office box and figured out how to get deliveries while down here.
  • We registered the truck and 5th wheel in Texas (with new Texas plates!).
  • We claimed Texas as our domicile state and stopped paying Oregon state income taxes.
  • Lauren painted the bedroom walls.
  • I changed my health insurance provider, found a local dentist and primary care doc, and scheduled a few check-ups.
  • And we’ve completed about 90% of the first part of our water solution (installed the tanks and pump house/shed). We now have a way to store and distribute water. The second part of the water solution will be setting up a water catchment system next winter so we can start collecting water and move closer to being fully self-sufficient.

Here are some pictures of the nearly completed water setup.

As for things we still need to do before we leave at the end of the month… We still need to have Bryan (the contractor who did our excavation and septic work last winter) come out to dig us a trench and lay down the plumbing from the pump house over to where we park the 5th wheel. We also need to insulate the inside of the pump house and set up the solar panels to power the pump. Oh, and we need to get our Texas driver’s licenses.

But we’ve already reached out to Bryan to get on his calendar, we have most of the supplies needed for the insulation and solar panel work, and we’ve made appointments to get our licenses next week so we should be able to get everything done in time. Which is good, because I have a feeling these remaining 4 weeks are also going to feel like a blur and before we know it we’ll be leaving the Chihuahuan Desert and heading west to California.

2 thoughts on “Special relativity

  1. Dad

    We appreciate your more frequent updates! Keep them coming as it’s always interesting to see what you’re doing by improving and solving problems.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *