Back in Huntersville – Working & Playing

Travel Stage: After Kitty Hawk, before Boone & Asheville
Date Range: April 17 – May 4, 2016
Summary: After the Outer Banks of North Carolina blew us inland, we head back to the Farm in Huntersville/Cornelius area where we were in the fall to do lots of work. We are also joined by some fellow full-time RVers that we met just a few weeks before.

​Coming back to Huntersville (30 minutes north of Charlotte) again was like a sigh of relief. We had been travelling and touring pretty hard since Fishersville and had endured a fair share of bad weather. When we arrived back on the farm it was sunny and gorgeous out, and we knew we didn’t have to go anywhere for a couple weeks! 

Working

​We were looking forward to this down-time to get some serious work done. Not only with our online ventures, but of the “odd-job” variety like we did in the fall. Our contacts in the area had no shortage of projects for us to tackle.

1. Dishwashing – After an unexpected employee shortage, we stepped in to help our friends out working in their restaurant, The Pickled Peach in downtown Cornelius. Neither Tom or I had ever washed dishes or bused tables at a restaurant before, so this was an interesting new experience! And can I say even fun? Yes, we had fun. Not to mention the AMAZING perk of being fed the best soup, salads, and sandwiches in the south! Plus the most beautiful coffee I'd ever had in my life.

2. Fixed the restaurant door – A couple weeks prior to our arrival a smoke detector went off in the restaurant and the fire department broke in to save the day. However, the door was left a little bit beat up. Our job was to fix the door, lock, and the framing that was smashed in the action.

Before

After

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After

3. Custom Waterfall Lighting – Tom and I designed, ordered, and installed a custom lighting system for our friend’s infinity pool waterfall. Now she can change the LED light colors via a remote! Oh snap!

4. Farm work – Grass needed to be mowed and the tractor needed some maintenance. Remember Tom and the tractor? Well, let’s just say there wasn’t much persuasion needed.

​Our friend then gave us a long list of landscaping and house projects she wanted to get done, and a few more things popped up at the restaurant. We found ourselves with more than enough projects. In fact, we weren’t sure we were going to get them all done before we had to leave!  

RV Workforce Reinforcements

​We had originally planned to meet up with our friends Robert and Crystal Stamper who we met in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Blowing Rock. Since we had so much work, we asked them if they’d like to join us in Huntersville to finish our list. To our delight, they did!

​It was so fun to have two full-time RV families boondocking out at the farm. Robert, Crystal, their two kids Dakota and Katie, and their dog Duchess fit right in. 

​We were so grateful to have them help us out – it took several days of all of us working to get everything done. Luckily, our friend’s house is right on Lake Norman, so when we got too hot and sweaty a nice dip in the lake was the perfect thing.

Playing

​After all that hard work it was time to play! We took one afternoon to really enjoy all that Lake Norman had to offer and headed out on the boat. We had a blast swimming and tubing with the Stampers. It was the perfect wrap-up to a long week’s work! 

Time to Say (A Soggy) Goodbye

​The day before the Stampers left it stormed and rained like crazy. The ground was soggy and there were even puddles in some places - including right in front of their fifthwheel! A bridge was built to cross it, and away they were .

​We hung around to do a final project on our truck, which was a Valve Lash Adjustment. It wasn't super difficult, but it required some acrobatics on Tom's part. :) 

​We left the next day bound for Lenoir, NC up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. From there we were going to visit Boone again and we were very excited!