The Re-Entry Part II: Bear Wrestling

Journal Entry #41

October 6, 2022

Okay, not really bear wrestling. But since I have your attention, did I mention that re-entry to “home” life after a year of van life is a bitch? It sure feels like bear wrestling.

We returned to “home” to Ithaca after our family camping trip with a significant amount of dread. The house needed immediate attention. Nearly six years of tenant occupancy showed. That the house was considered “broom clean” was a generous term for the condition the house was in.

We spent three long days on what we would call “basics.” First, the kitchen. I spent easily the better part of the day easy-offing (a new verb, I think!) the oven and stove. One of the tenants apparently loved to fry food, and the white gas stove was caked with grease. The kitchen is circa mid 80’s. One curse we must live with for now is that ALL appliances are white! Uggh. The inside of the oven was no better. The refrigerator was a bit scary too. As were the toilets and bathtub.

The wood floors in most of the house (outside of the very dated linoleum kitchen and bath floors) were dusty and deeply scuffed. All of the walls were dirty and pocked from years of furniture bumps and picture nail marks, which were poorly filled. We decided a full interior paint job and some floor polishing were necessary.

Kitchen beginning to get much needed love

Tom winced alot over these work days. He could see all of the MANY things that needed immediate fixes. Dead outlets, three way switches that were disabled, strange/ugly light fixtures, grass growing out of gutters, downspouts incorrectly placed. Our days inevitably included Lowes or Home Depot runs for various necessities. At the end of long days of housework, we would sit on our porch and review plans and priorities for the next day.

The porch, blissfully, is in reasonable shape. It was one of the features that sold us on the house. At the end of our “workdays” it was a pleasant respite and a way to begin to greet our neighbors.

The porch - best room in the house!

Our nightly escape? Well, the van, of course. Each night we retreated back to the van and slept there. Cozy. Clean. Comfortable, known. Since we took possession of the house over a month ago, we have only very recently slept in the house. (But more on this in a later post.)

Escape to the van! Our comfort zone.

Backyard view… from the van.

While the house was relatively empty we worked to make cosmetic improvements. Why was the house still empty, you ask? Because all of our furnishings and belongings were tucked away in two places: in a storage unit just outside of Ithaca and for special items like art, in a basement in Akron. But as we completed floors and painting we knew it was time to reckon with our stuff and begin to absorbing it into the house.

Here’s the thing. We thought we had done a reasonably good job of shedding stuff upon our departure from NJ. We sold, gave away, or otherwise parted with loads and loads of belongings. But in the last weeks of packing up, as time grew tight and deadlines approached for us to get on the road, the remaining time left was used on readying the van. We shifted away from donating and selling and finding homes for things. In the end we figured we’d just have to kick a few cans down the road. Opening the storage unit in Ithaca was a rude awakening.

SO. MUCH. STUFF. Here were the all the proverbial cans we had kicked —staring us down and laughing at us (picture demonic laughter, friends). We managed several carloads ourselves and then broke down and booked a mover for the furniture and remaining stuff. The trouble was that we knew more items awaited us in Akron. Ooof.

Way too much stuff. Oyvey.

When we were on the road we occasionally discussed our future plans for potential upgrades to the Ithaca house. The little 1500 sq. foot clapboard farmhouse has great bones, a terrific long driveway, generous yard and a free standing garage. From afar it was easy to fantasize about construction ideas. Our plans ranged from short/medium term projects like converting the garage into workshop and pottery studio (this plan is still on the short list). Or reworking our staircase and adding a second full bath (currently we have 1.5 baths) Longer term, more significant visions for changes included tearing off the entire back of the house which is currently quite higgly-piggly, very haphazardly “added on” and poorly laid out.

Now that we are up close again, the structural “messiness” of the house is our reality. All the cobbled on, handyman special work sends Tom into occasional rants. He is a quintessential engineer — he wants to clear all the “crazy” out and get to work on big stuff. The challenge of this?

1. Money. It doesn’t grow on trees, alas.

2. The dearth of available labor/crews. It seems there is a construction boom in Ithaca (thanks in part to some significant Cornell expansion on College Hill) as well as general skilled labor shortages - an example: to get an arborist to come and provide a quote for removal of a failing tree in the front yard we had to get on a month-long waitlist and then pay a non-refundable deposit for him just to come assess and price the work.

I was able to talk Tom off the cliff of taking on big projects for now. We agreed that our goal for the next several months would be this: Make the house “move-in-able”. Live in it, mostly, as it is. Rather than attempt major improvements immediately, we would focus on settling into the neighborhood and community.  Frankly, the transition from full time van life to full time house is life is a big enough adjustment as it is.

The way I see it, the house needs to be cozy and comfortable. Yes, the house is a bit wonky- it’s easily closing in on 130 years old. But it is charming. What matters to me is — can I hang some art? Is there a place for a few of my favorite curios and books? Does it feel warm and welcoming?

No art up, but starting to feel more cozy…

Warm twinkly lights for our favorite room!

The thing is we lived in a van for a year with the outdoors as our living room. To live “out and about” is central to how we hope to live here. We picked a small house in Ithaca because we knew we could make the Finger Lakes our living room. The idea is to take advantage of the range of outdoor activities and the culture, music, food and wine/beer scene of this vibrant college town.

That said, after days of being buried in clean up and painting, I would be lying if I said that we were enjoying much of ANY of these aspects of Ithaca yet. More often, when we tucked into bed in the van at night we talked about what a pain in the ass it was to be suddenly confronted with:

1. Easily fifteen times the space of the van that is in some state of disrepair and,

2. The vast quantity of belongings that, frankly, have completely overwhelmed us after spending a year with so few things at all.

Truth be told, more than a few times we considered just packing it in and getting back out on the road again.

A “Gimme Coffee” time out from house improvements and taking in some good vibes in the ‘hood’

The good news was we did have a temporary escape valve. Several months ago we had bought tickets to Bourbon and Beyond, a four day music festival In Louisville as my birthday gift. It was in mid-September. We knew we would be threading the needle to make it work during our “move in month” but we figured it was a good excuse to swing through Akron on the way back to collect the art in storage and carry it back to Ithaca.

The concert couldn’t have come at a better time. After several grueling days, of cleaning, painting, and attempting to sort through our things this newly acquired four walls had completely exhausted us. We happily bugged out in the van again. Frankly, we relished being on the road, even if it was just a brief respite, and prospect of four days of live music and sipping Kentucky’s best.