Summer do-overs

This summer, we found ourselves in a transitional period, leaving behind our life of full-time travel and entering an unexpected interim period of stability, at our new cottage in Myrtle Beach. We strategically formed 20 goals to reflect this transition. Some helped us plant our feet in SC. Others gifted us nostalgia in New England. A few even positioned us for our future as homebuilders in the White Mountains of NH. We checked off 19/20 of the goals, but the biggest goal of all wasn't on our checklist. It was to end the summer feeling less discombobulated than when we started. And we did that, much thanks to the smaller stature of our goals. No big challenges were necessary this year, because the challenge was to find the comfort and ease that had been evading us for the past year.

As a result, we checked off a lot of our goals several times over. Some of these we've already talked about, like our multitude of delicious coffees or fresh baked breads, or the ample walks on the beach that helped ground us in our new city. But there were some goals that, even as we checked them off, we knew that they still had unrealized potential. These goals weren't a "one and done" deal, and we wanted to give them the attention they deserve.

Celebrate a milestone

We celebrated a big milestone at the start of summer, which was Tanner's 13th adoptaversary. We knew, though, that this wouldn't be our only milestone, considering Mac and Piccolo's adoptaversary was right around the corner. And while Tanner's was special because of the longevity of his bond with us, the cats' was special because it was their first. These cats really got thrown into the deep end with us. We had no idea that their first year with us would bring job loss, home relocations, and so many other life stressors. But through those obstacles, we all grew a bond of trust and love. We didn't just celebrate the fact that we got them a year ago. We celebrated all the moments that proved to them that, it doesn't matter what curveballs life throws us. They're ours, we love them more than anything, and they can trust that. That's not an easy thing to prove to 2 cats who had recently been surrendered to a shelter. They left a stressful life, got thrown into the unknown, and then found us. Then our circumstances shifted so fast that we inadvertently thrust them into even more stress they didn't deserve. We felt guilty about that for a while, until we realized that the circumstances didn't matter, as long as we showed them they were safe and loved. That's really what this celebration became.

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Do a craft project

We checked this goal off also on Tanner's adoptaversary, when we made a paw print keepsake as part of the celebration. I, however, had a different project in mind. When we rented our cottage, something we noticed right away was how many of our neighbors maximize their curb appeal. We get it – the houses are really cute. They're all beachy pastel colors with awning-covered front stoops. On the few mornings that weren't unbearably hot, I'd take my morning walk around the community, and I'd get inspiration for front door decor. I grew up with a very crafty mother, and even though I never plan to reach her level, I do enjoy dabbling in hands-on creative projects once in a while. In the RV, I didn't have space, but at the cottage, I have plenty. I really wanted to try my hand at making a wreath from scratch. My experiences with wreaths were minimal. When I was in 3rd grade, my mom taught me and a couple of friends how to make Christmas wreaths, but I grew impatient and kept mine mostly bare. Then when we had our house in MA, I added gold berries and a bow to an otherwise plain pine wreath. The bow was handmade by my mother, but I added the bead bunches all by myself – all 5 of them! I know, I know. You may have actually seen this wreath in previous blog posts, as it graced our RV's door during Christmastime. The beads may not have been a huge craft feat, but they did stay attached for all these years!

I had a lot to learn if I wanted to make a wreath from scratch, but I dove into YouTube tutorials and figured out all the supplies I needed – and I needed all of them. All the craft supplies I had back at our old house were long gone. I needed brand new wire cutters, a glue gun, and all the parts for the wreath itself.

I ordered ribbon and had it sent to the MA home-base, and while we were there, I enlisted my mom's help in fashioning another bow. I packed it safely in a box and it became part of our 1000-mile big haul down to SC.

Even when things got stressful with prepping our trailer for storage, I kept my eye on the prize. The day we brought Buggy to Hideaway RV Resort, we needed to let him cool down once we turned the AC on. I mentioned that we went and got coffees at Bad Ass, but afterwards, I asked Anthony if he wouldn't mind us stopping in at Old Time Pottery. We had never been, but I knew they were supposed to have some home decor supplies, and so I thought they might have faux flowers. Boy did they ever! The whole back corner of the store had baskets upon baskets of them, and all the spring florals were 75% off. I had hit the jackpot.

My plan was to continue the coastal chic decor of our house by using mostly blue and white florals. I had chosen turquoise ribbon for the bow, and in case I was feeling extra adventurous, I also bought waterproof battery-operated string lights.

Another week and a half went by before I had enough free time, but after a whole summer of planning and preparations, I was ready to try my hand at my first official from-scratch wreath. I eventually found my groove, adding the big flowers first and then filling in gaps with smaller ones, and after a couple of hours, I had completed my masterpiece!

And yes, I added the string lights for extra flair.

Find a Facebook event and just go

Our First Friday ArtWalk was a bit of a let-down, but the following day, we had another event on the agenda. Once the algorithm picked up my interest in Myrtle Beach, I started seeing posts about the "Inaugural Duck Fest." The highlight of the event would be a rubber duck race to raise money for various local charities. We had stumbled upon a duck race one time during our travels, at the 4th of July celebration in Luray, VA. The ducks all took a swim in the creek, and the first one over the finish line won. It was a small race, but this one in Myrtle Beach was supposed to be massive – so massive, in fact, that a helicopter would dump the ducks into the pond at the start of the race. This we had to see!

...Only, we couldn't. The event was in July, during our New England trip. But then, imagine my delight when we returned to Myrtle Beach, and I saw new posts announcing the "rescheduled" Duck Fest. Evidently, bad weather back in July forced a postponement, and they moved the whole event to August 8. We added it to our calendar.

It was another uncomfortably hot day, but if we were going to be out anyway, we wanted to take full advantage. The event took place at Market Common, an area we hadn't yet explored, and Saturdays are also the day of their weekly farmer's market. We went early to peruse the market vendors and the nearby shops. We read that the helicopter drop was scheduled for 3:30pm and the race would start at 4pm. Market Common has a manmade pond with a filtration system, so the plan was to drop the ducks into the pond on one side of the footbridge and they'd slowly drift in the current made by the filter. First duck to make it under the footbridge would win the grand prize for its associated charity. The ducks were color-coded according to which organization they represented.

Shortly before 3:30pm, we made our way into the crowd on the footbridge, and soon, the helicopter began circling above us.

At first, it was a sight to see. A big bag of ducks opens and the ducks fall into the water below. The crowd cheered. I giggled. But I think we were all expecting all the ducks to drop at once, where instead, they released several groupings. The excitement dwindled quickly, culminating in a mass "What now?" once all the ducks were in and the helicopter flew away. We still had a half-hour before the start of the race!

Lots of people decided to go back to the market, but we instead crossed the footbridge to check out the park on the other side of the pond. That's when we realized that all the people that left were going to miss the race! Two men in kayaks were scrambling to collect all the ducks, but they had gone rogue. Many had already been taken by the current and were headed towards the footbridge.

The main event was no longer the race. It was Man vs. Duck, and the ducks were winning! The guys were really de-duck-ated, though. One even flipped his kayak over and ended up in the water. Eventually, they gave up.

They had barriers that were supposed to hold the ducks in, but they were far too small, especially when the ducks were dropped from so high up. We wondered what they could have done differently – have a net? Not drop the ducks? (But that sounds boring). Just drop them all in a free-for-all and let the race start immediately? (Sounds less boring). We watched as one green duck pulled way ahead. We don't know if it counted considering he con-duck-ted himself against the rules, but we sure hope that charity got some compensation for the duck's efforts. The remaining spectators took notice, and we all applauded when he crossed the finish line.

After that, things got more chaotic. The current caused most of the ducks to drift towards our side of the pond, at which point most of us figured we should help retrieve them. Many kids took the "finders keepers" approach. We didn't have much use for our own rubber ducky, but we can't deny the Duck Distribution System. One of the ducks clearly chose us, and so we kept it.

We helped retrieve a few more ducks out of the water, at which point we saw the kayak dudes jump back in for cleanup.

It certainly wasn't the smooth pro-duck-tion they were hoping for, but we noticed something about the community that day. Like the ducks, everyone just went with the flow. We found entertainment value in the whole thing. No one was critical or angry (granted, those who came back at 4pm to find a non-race might have been, but we'll never know). Everyone made the most of the situation, and we all got souvenirs, whether we were supposed to or not!

Anthony and I left the mayhem and decided to walk the length of the pond to find out if the "victor" was still floating. He was! We found him about 3 quarters of the way to the other side of the pond.

Word on the website is that they're gearing up for another Duck Fest in 2027. Hopefully they'll have fewer obs-duck-les next year.

Does this mean we were 0 for 2 on successful Facebook events? Depends on how we look at it. Sure, both this and First Fridays seemed to have some organizational detriments, but our hope was to use these events to get a sense of our Myrtle Beach community, and in both cases, we did. Plus, we came away with some great stories and memories. And we did end up finding a good use for our rubber ducky souvenir.

Make progress on the land

In our summer recap, we left this goal on a cliffhanger. We weren't able to park the RV on the land, and so we barely did anything there except install new trail cameras. The big progress point, however, was supposed to be purchasing 2 additional acres as part of a border extension. Our "land lord," aka our neighbor and seller, offered us this acreage last summer, but we needed to delay the purchase due to our financial situation at the time. W had every reason to believe we could close on the purchase while we were up in NHut those weeks came and went. We pivoted and made a plan to do the closing remotely. Due to many miscommunications, lost emails, and one person who seemed to not understand even the rudimentary parts of his job, months went by, and we grew more frustrated. If it was only about the Summer to Remember goal, we wouldn't care about closing in summer versus later in the year. But it wasn't about the check mark. We were already coming down the wire on being able to line up contractors for a 2027 build, and this additional land is where we decided to put our cabin build site. We didn't want to put deposits down on construction-related things if we didn't legally own the land yet!

Finally, at the end of August, we got word that all our paperwork was done, and we could schedule our closing. We purchased the additional acreage the Thursday before Labor Day Weekend. Once we were positive that this land would in fact become ours, we also moved ahead with our construction plan, paying a deposit to get our cabin design finalized and the materials engineered.

We still don't know if a 2027 build is possible. This depends on if we can find a company who can squeeze in a smaller cabin project among their larger home builds. We're only allowed to build in the warm seasons when the ground is thawed, so this limits our timeline. We knew that the process of homebuilding would involve lots of twists, turns, and setbacks, so we're taking it all in stride. We're just happy to be moving forward.

We're ending summer in a good place. We have our SC cottage. We have our cabin build in the works. And we have our beloved Buggy, who is getting long-awaited repairs soon. We're finally starting to feel the effects of our decision to get off the road. We did it so we could find the zest for travel again, and slowly but surely, it's coming back. We don't have any definitive travel plans yet, but we have the little glimpses of wanderlust that are starting to bubble again. We need to get through the repairs, so that way Buggy will be ready when we are. And we're feeling more ready every day.