Christmas was a "fly by the seat" experience this year.  And New Years was a bit of a "R & R" kind of a thing.  My body is spent and my mind is tired.  The physical and mental obsticales of the last three weeks have been intense, to say the least.  We started a week before Christmas by planning to move on Saturday.  We figured that a local move, with a smaller truck was the best approach.  A morning and an evening run should do the trick, and anything else that would not fit could simply be shuttled to Copper Hill before the end of the month.  The good thing about plans is that they give you a direction in which to head.  The bad thing is, sometimes, you lose your compass. 

We lost a packing day due to a snow storm that was threatening to hit us on Friday.  I think that this time I have finally learned my lesson... its not the weather, but the locality.  Having grown up in Michigan, snow is a way of life.  The road crews are skilled and the budgets are padded with snow removal and road clearig funds... and every year, people get practice driving in snowy conditions.  Not so here in Virginia... not even in the mountains.  Many times this year, I heard folks say "Well... we haven't had much snow in the last decade..."  The question is, why would anyone assume that this year would hold that pattern.  Of course... it didn't. 

We unloaded the truck as the first few snow flakes becan to fall.  We then decided to fetch a tree, in the hopes of trimming and decorating that evening.  Quickly we dashed up the road to the first place that we saw with trees for sale... it was a nice tree for only twenty bucks.  We dropped it off at the house, then mounted up the mini van and moving truck and headed down Bent Mountain.  Bent Mountain is a beautiful drive... Lots of scenery and switchbacks.  It took us about 30 minutes to get down, by which time, there was probably an inch on the ground already.

Our plan was to get back to the Elliston house, get my truck and get back to Copper Hill... We didn't even make it on the interstate before we encountered problems.  The road was now coated with a thick layer of compacted show on a slope up to the overpass which needed to cross.  We were stuck there for about 45 minutes before they finally backed a salt truck up to give us a gravely surface to ride. 

The Interstate was a night mare... we were stuck there for about 4 hours, which was normally a 20 minute ride.  We actually made it to our exit, but decided that it was not  going to be wise to ferry the back roads, so we just turned around to return to Copper Hill as is.  We never made it.  the snow covered road back up Bent Mountain was too steep for our mini van, so we had to turn back around to find lodging.  Comfort Suites was quite accomodating.

The next morning, I tried bent mountain alone, and it was passable, so I went back for everyone else and we made it home.

We were there for several days, unable to travel due to the roads.  I had no shovel, no boots or gloves.  We had no firewood. I have never been so unprepared in my life.  All of these things were 30 miles away.  If only I had my truck... there were tools and supplies in the lock box. 

Soon though, the roads were clear and I was able to hitch a ride to Elliston from my land lord, Bill. Once there... I began shoveling out my truck.  this took almost 2 days, thanks to the tractor operator that happened by to finish the work of clearing the driveway.

On Christmas, we had an Ice storm which knocked out power for 36 hours.  All we had was our wood stove and some pretty wet wood.  We would have been pretty cold were it not for Bill... he had wood to spare.  We lasted the power outage and began the process of finishing out our move.  We collected essentials like chainsaw gas, rock salt, boots and gloves. 

Since this time, I have cut a stack of firewood that should last us several weeks from a pile of wood that Bill said that we could have... locust.  He says it burns hot, but I think that I have a bit to learn about wood stoves and using them to heat a house.  The new year came and went, and we are pretty much settled now... lots of boxes and such, but that will take time.  We are commited to tossing as much as we keep, and simplifying our lifestyl as much as possible.  We are also eliminating some debt. 

This is the beginning to the homesteading lifestyle.  We like the area, as it has lots to offer.  Art, music, old fashioned lifing and good milk.  I can actually drink milk again.  It has been 18 years since I could really drink milk.  Come spring, we will be getting chickens and goats.  But, I suspect that we have a lot to learn between now and then.

Till Next Time,