Wow! What a journey Janeway was. As you can see, I wasn’t as consistent with my blog as I would have liked to be, but I am making this post in an attempt to recap all that happened on my journey and to show some photos that I took along the way. After my last post, I continued with construction and got the entire structure enclosed. I decided that it was time to take Janeway on a test run, so I set off and hauled her to my dad’s house in Weatherford, Texas, about 3.5 hours away. The journey started off well and while driving, I found her relatively easy to pull contrary to what I was expecting. However, upon arrival I noticed two major hiccups…… and when I say major, I mean MAJOR. I arrived in Weatherford, eager to show my dad the progress I had made, but upon opening up the door after I had arrived at 10pm, I noticed something strange. As I opened the door, I could see stars…… stars? The hinged section of my roof had blown completely off driving down the road. I expected that the roof would be so heavy that it wouldn’t have taken flight during the journey; however, I had forgotten to disconnect the lift assist pistons I had installed, and the rope that I had secured the roof with was snapped like a string. You can imagine my embarrassment. Half laughing and half utterly defeated, I decided to go to bed and face my shame in the morning. Maybe on my way back to Austin I could find the roof on the side of the road and salvage it. But when I awoke the next morning, I found yet a second problem. The frame of the trailer had bent between the main frame and the hitch. The weight of the structure had begun to exceed the weight capacity for the frame of the trailer. It was ok enough to get home, but this was a challenge that I would have to face as well, and I hadn’t even finished all of the construction yet. Also, I report that on my way back to Austin, no roof was to be found.
When I got back, I took a day to rest and regain the courage it was going to take to solve my new challenges. The following day, I began reconstructing the roof, which ended up being ok because I was able to make modifications in the best interest of the design. The second hinged roof was much better. The next solution was to rethink the frame. A huge thanks goes to Scott from Brentwood Metalworks who graciously took on the challenge of adding supporting steel to various parts of the trailer, and after the modifications, it could hold up to twice the current weight. Two supporting side jacks were also added to help support the structure while at rest and to give a break to the forward part of the trailer frame.
Construction then began as normal. Other than literally being robbed while I was sleeping one night inside the trailer (nothing of consequence was taken except for my favorite pair of Doc Marten boots), construction was uneventful. Except for some interior details, I finally wrapped up around June and set off from Sasona onto my journey. I stopped at my uncle and aunt’s house (Jeff+Teana) to spend some time with them and continue to work on some of the interior details. I had completely moved in all of my personal belongings. I lived a very minimal lifestyle with my computer, clothes, kitchen, pet snake, and other minor necessities. After spending a week with them, I was in need of some cash for my contingent travels. The construction had taken longer and was more expensive than I had anticipated. Throughout the year, I was working on a project for Down Home Ranch that was being installed in phases as funding was accumulated. So I set out for DHR to complete phase two of their construction. It was the first time that I had been completely self sufficient as far as power and food was concerned. Also while there, I came across one of the ranch hands that needed to rehome her dog. He was a one year old pitbull mix named Loki, and he was adorable. Since, I had considered getting a dog to take on the road with me before, I decided to spend some time with him to see if we were a good fit together. Loki has been by my side ever since, my new best friend and protector. I spent a week finishing up my work there, preparing to set off. Now, the original plan was to travel the country, but I no longer had the funds for that, so I decided to see how far I could get, and when half of my money was gone, I would turn back around for Austin.
My first journey took me to Angelina National Forest in East, Texas. I stopped in Nacogdoches at the Wal-mart to stock up on groceries, propane, and other supplies. The national forest did not have power hookups for me to use, so I made sure that my power bank was fully charged and that my solar and wind system were fully functional. However, at 9:30 pm, 5 miles away from my final destination, in the middle of NOWHERE east Texas, one of my truck tires blew out. Well, this was just another challenge that I was going to have to face. I pulled over just off of the highway, disconnected Janeway, jacked my truck up, and went to lower my spare tire in order to replace the flat. However, I had purchased my Ford F-250 Superduty used as a former repossession, and therefore it had not come with the appropriate custom key required to lower the spare. At this point, I began to crack a little. It’s 10:30 at night on a lonely highway with 18 wheelers zooming by at 70+ mph. After several phone calls, no emergency roadside assistance was available and the nearest tire service center (40 miles away) didn’t open until 7am the following morning. So I prepared the camper, and Loki and I hunkered down for the night. Fearful that I was going to be hit by a passing vehicle in the night or approached by a stranger, I locked all the entrances and set the alarm system that I had installed. I had a recording of Psalm 91 on my phone, which I turned to the lowest volume and left playing all night. We awoke just before 7am the next morning and called the tire service center. A service man arrived around 8:30 while Loki and I were having breakfast and making the best of our first “camping” night alone. The repair man had informed me that passenger tires had been installed on the truck and were not sufficient to carry the load that I was hauling (reminding you that it is July in Texas). He put on a loaner tire for me to make it to camp site. I packed up and finally made it to the National Forest. We got all settled in, and Loki and I took the truck to the nearest town for the replacement and upgrade of all 4 tires on my truck, an expense I had not been expecting. I also had the tires upgraded on Janeway as well to increase the carrying capacity, just in case those tires became fatigued as well.
Loki and I were in the forest for 5 days, camping next to a natural spring (which was also our bathing facility) and enjoying a very relaxing time living self sufficiently, without even cell phone service. During that time I had noticed as well that the axle on Janeway was also under considerable stress and was carrying more than its intended capacity. I had to make some tough decisions. Was this trip really safe? Had I really thought through the weight of the structure and the logistics of hauling it long distances? I thought I had, but the overall weight of Janeway was more than I had expected. So, I had to make the tough call. Loki and I would enjoy our time in Angelina, but it was safest and wisest of us to make our way back to Austin. It was a sad decision to make, but the Janeway journey was ultimately not worth my safety. I had learned a lot, faced many challenges, overcome them, and in the end made the wisest decision that I could. After leaving Angelina 5 days later, I made my way to Sam Houston National Forest just north of Houston. We might have been going back, but we could take our time doing so and enjoy it too. This camp site was very nice. It had nice bathrooms, electricity, many park amenities, and ice. Along the way many people were interested and impressed with Janeway and would stop to ask questions and take a look. Loki and I had a lot of fun and relaxation in this beautiful national park and stayed there for 3 days. After that, we packed everything up and headed back to Austin. I stayed with my very generous and lovely friend Kristopher while I got a new apartment and new clients to start working again. I was broke, I hadn’t fully achieved my goals, Janeway was in a storage facility, but I had accomplished many things of which I could be proud and learned many valuable lessons along the way. With the help of my parents, my grandparents, my dog, my friends, and many kind strangers along the way, I had my adventure…. but all in all it was MY adventure.
Janeway was eventually sold to a very nice man who made some customizations to her and now travels with her to music festivals with his wife and dog all over the country. Who knows, you might even see her out there one day. if you do, tell her Braxton and Loki say hello.
stranded on the highway
stranded on the highway
