We’re making our way West after 3 very full weeks on the East Coast. We only had 5 events in the East, but if you’ve been reading my previous posts, you’d already know our road trip was more about seeing the people. Not all the people we could possibly see, but many of the people.
Our last eastern stop was Virginia, where we spent a full week. First, we headed to Virginia Beach for our 30th speaking tour event. We purposely planned an event in VA Beach because J’s Grandma lives there (along with a few other extended family members). Though she can’t hear a dang thing, she really enjoyed watching our mouths move.
From VA Beach, we visited our storage unit, err, friends, in Danville.
Excuse me while I take this opportunity to lament about our the storage unit. A big “what should we do?” in our life. Basically, the bane of our existence.
When we sold our house/rental property in Danville in 2015, we threw everything from it into a 10×10 storage unit. We hoarded in that 2000-square-foot house and for the first 10 years of our relationship, so it amounted to a lot of stuff, even after a few recent years of purging. At the time of the storage unit rental, we didn’t know if we’d ever have a house for furniture again, so we kept it all. Though we still don’t know if we’ll ever have a house for furniture again, we can’t seem to part with our big pieces of furniture that we spent our hard-earned money to buy once upon a time and can’t sell for a fraction of what we paid. Soooo … we complain to anyone who listens about our ongoing debate and paying storage unit fees (albeit very reasonable in Danville). Ultimately, we keep saying, “one more year” for the storage unit.
I am happy to report progress during this visit!! We purged at least 2 dozen boxes of STUFF.
If you look really closely, use a magnifying glass and squint, you can see a difference.
By the way, spending all day in a metal, exposed box while the mercury rises to 98 degrees is a grand idea, in case you wondered.
The point is, we see a difference, and that’s all that matters!
Besides sweating our arses off at the storage unit, we visited our Danville friends. I can’t say this enough, visiting all these places we’ve lived is like an out-of-body experience. I am instantaneously transported to a different period in my life. We lived in Danville from 2004-2007 during our dating/newlywed phase, so it feels like an eternity ago. And as usual, our friends welcome us with open arms!
We first spent time with Bobby (Bolt) and Tammy, exploring their new land purchase via 4-wheelers. I’ve only been on an ATV twice in my life and needed some instruction, which Bolt is always good for. But this was the first time Justin even got on one! He was nervous at first, but as with anything, he was a very quick learner.
Bobby “Bolt” taught me how to rock climb, mountain bike and now to drive a 4-wheeler through the woods! What’s next????
We visited with our other group of friends the next night at our friend Rod’s restaurant. He opened it in 2015, but we weren’t able to go last time we were in town.
The story behind this photo is that J plays fantasy football with these friends, and won this season. The trophy is passed from winner to winner (previous years’ winners in the photo here), but we chose to leave the trophy in Danville. Doesn’t quite fit in our van or NM cabin.
The story behind this photo is that our friend Jon is “Johnny Fairplay,” two-time Survivor contestant. Justin found a Survivor hat in our storage unit and had him autograph it!
Last Virginia stop was the Red Wing Roots Festival, where our Backpacker friend, Randy, was working. We thought it’d be a good chance to catch up and help out at the Backpacker booth, all while Justin could listen to music. We were a lot of help, I assure you.
We are heading off the grid for several days, so don’t expect to hear from us anytime soon!
Hah, I forgot you were friends with Johnny Fairplay!
Looks like you did make progress at least. I remember kicking myself for getting rid of some items when we put stuff into our unit but now I don't really miss it.