Note: While working on a blog post today (May 27, 2024), I realized this one from our Christmas shake-down trip with Tramper was never published. So I’m publishing it now.

All pictures in this post were taken with phones. The photographer in me had to make the disclaimer! LOL.

While Tramper is nowhere close to being ready, we do have quite a bit done. We wanted to take her out during our Christmas break for her maiden voyage to see what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to be changed.

First up was a brake job that we thought could wait until after the holidays. Wrong. I learned a lot while helping Mike with this job. Mostly I learned that this isn’t my favorite thing to do. In all fairness, it isn’t Mike’s favorite thing to do, either. It had to be done, though, and it is much shorter work when there are two involved.

We headed to Mike’s mom’s property late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Until my mom passed away, we began every Christmas since we have been together at my parents’ house Christmas morning, and then we would head to Mike’s mom’s property and spend part of Christmas Day with her, too.

After losing Mike’s mom in September, it was difficult to be on her property for this first Christmas without her, but it was something we felt we needed to do, and we are happy that we went. I even grabbed some little decorations for Tramper at the last minute.

My mother-in-law kept an immaculate yard. My first thought when we pulled in was just how much she would hate all the leaves in the yard.

Jaime, Gary, and Roz came to visit with us on Christmas Day, which was nice. They’ve been coming to the farm property on Christmas Day for many years as well. It brought some normalcy to the day for us.

Roz is getting so big. She’s into drawing, and she is admiring the art supplies she received for Christmas.

One day, I’ll remember how to add captions to the gallery pictures, but for now, this is it! It’s a process.

The day after Christmas, we headed down to Nicholls, Georgia and stayed overnight at General Coffee State Park. Jeremy drove up from Tallahassee, and we were able to spend a little bit of time with him as well.

He started an Ugly Christmas Sweater tradition, and Mike joined in on the fun this year! It was so nice to spend time with him and to be at a campground again. What’s not to love about a camp fire?

I began a tradition when I was pregnant with my daughter, Jaime, of purchasing a Hallmark ornament for her. I added Jeremy when I was pregnant with him and Jaime’s daughter’s when she was pregnant with each of them to the tradition, and it has been going strong for years. Jeremy’s ornament has a Santa on it that reminded me of my mother’s Santa mugs she displayed at Christmas for years.

We were able to have our morning coffee in Tramper before leaving to head back to the farm on Wednesday, too. And the internet we are testing worked really well. We were able to stream some television out there. That is hopefully a good sign for things to come on our Alaska road trip later this year.

On Thursday, Mike’s daughter, Caryn, and her family came to visit us on the farm. Always great to spend time with them. I didn’t get any pictures. What is wrong with me?! It went by so quickly, so I’m going with a selfie Caryn took with her dad for this. Thanks, Caryn!

I also want to include some of the amazing handmade gifts that Carrieanne (granddaughter) and Caryn made out of clay. Carrie made the lady for me. Carrie is so incredibly talented. Caryn made the Nativity ornament for us, and I think it’s beautiful. I have always been a sucker for a Nativity. Beautiful work and so very appreciated.

Jaime is a very gifted knitter, and she made this beautiful neck cowl for my retirement/birthday gift. It’s made out of the softest yarn and will be worn and loved!

It was a great Christmas break, and we enjoyed all the time we were able to spend with family. But, back to Tramper.

We had some really cold nights — one that was between 30 and 32 for at least six hours, and one that was slightly higher in temperature. We learned that Tramper is leaking a lot of cold air in through the E-Track rails. We worked a couple of days adding temporary insulation until we get home so that we could (1) sleep without being cold, and (2) see what was going to work for a long-term fix. We used anti-fatigue mat on one of the tracks and window sill seal on the others to see what would work the best. I believe we are going to go with the anti-fatigue mat. It is easier to pull out if we want to, and it also does a better job of insulating.

Before this maiden voyage, we had already planned on adding rubber mat flooring and carpet on the floor as well as adding insulation on the underside of Tramper. We are also going to put a ceiling with insulation inside and a silicone coating on the outside roof of Tramper. We didn’t plan on having to insulate the E-Track system, but that’s the point of a maiden voyage — to learn what needs to be done that you didn’t plan on doing!

The good news is that the shower worked very well, and we are happy with it. The refrigerator/freezer is going to be amazing for us, too.

Onward and Upward! We have a lot of work to do still. This trip was a huge success, though!

Happy New Year, one and all.