CH1

Rick had spent the last few days packing the trailer now Alexis was helping him load the Range Rover for their summer vacation.

The trailer had a lot of supplies, a whole lot of supplies and they still had to make a final stop before they got there.

Now they were loading the Range Rover with food and clothes. They would stop and get all of the perishables the same time they got the final item(s) they needed.

"You got the list pumpkin?" Rick asks her. They had this down to a science and each year they still add to the list. They keep this up and they are going to need a whole new trailer, since they couldn't enlarge the SUV any.

Problem was it was already brand new. This Range Rover was a 2014 Land Rover Range Rover SUV. 3.0L V6 Supercharger 4x4 8-speed Automatic with 510 horse power. It had yet to make this trip. Their previous Range Rover had been retired.

"Here you go dad." As Alexis hands it over since she was in charge of it.

"Looks like we still need the suitcases of winter clothing, two more cases of freeze dried fruit and all of the cases of MRE's. Do we have to take the MRE's?" Rick moans.

"Yes dad. They are part of the emergency food supplies. If we get snowed in from an early storm we may be stuck there for a few extra weeks. Or something even worse could happen." Alexis reminds him of why they even have the list.

"Yes I know, but it's like eating colored cardboard." Rick moans a little more. He's exaggerating a little and he knows it.

Alexis just glares at him until he can't take it anymore and stops moaning and loads the cases.

Alexis goes up to her room and packs her final suitcase with winter clothes. She knows there are already winter clothes there that they left from last time but taking more gave them some security.

She dragged the suitcase down the stairs and down to the car and left it for her dad to load into the car. On her way back upstairs she passed her dad taking his suitcase with his winter clothes down to the car.

Alexis picked up one of the boxes of freeze dried fruit and took it downstairs then came back for another.

While Alexis handled the freeze dried fruit Rick took care of the cases of MRE's. He was really tempted to carry them down to the car and then leave them behind where Alexis wouldn't see them. However he also knew she was right. He just didn't want to eat the things.

"How are we doing on the list?" Rick asks her.

Alexis pulls it out to see if there was anything left as she has been checking them off as the do them.

"All done dad. We leave early in the morning we should make the last town by noon so we can get the rest of the items." Alexis puts the list away.

"GREAT! You go lock the car and I'll order pizza then we can get some sleep for tomorrow." Rick is excited.

Alexis runs downstairs with a little more enthusiasm than she had hauling all this stuff down. Once downstairs she presses the button on the fob. 'Bleep'. Then she floated back upstairs smiling all the way.

Alexis soooo wanted to get the summer vacation started. It had expanded over time. They used to just go out for a few weeks at the start. Now they stay there for months. Last year when they left it had just started to snow. It took them longer to get back to the city but it was so pretty.

"Night dad, don't make me get you up in the morning." Alexis warns him as she heads for her room for the night.

"Ha, ha." Rick responds back. Though he knew it was a threat she would keep if he didn't get up soon enough.

One time they had taken too long into the day to load the old Range Rover that he was tired and he didn't get up when he was supposed to. Alexis had already eaten breakfast when she went into his room with an air horn. Like you would use at a football game or something.

And she had used it with unrestrained liberal use of it. He was convinced he had lost his hearing permanently.

Alexis was up in the morning and after taking a shower she went downstairs with her trusty air horn in hand, only to find her father in the kitchen munching on a breakfast bar.

"Morning dad." Alexis greets him and places her air horn down on the breakfast bar as she sits.

"Breakfast?" Rick asks her lifting his eyebrows a couple of times at her, as he hands over a breakfast bar. The refrigerator was empty since they were going to be gone for several months.

Alexis takes it from him. "Thanks dad." Ripping it open and taking a bite. "Got the money?"

Rick points to the bag at the door leading downstairs. They had agreed that they needed cash instead of relying on their debit/credit cards for everything.

It was time to get going if they wanted to miss most of the morning traffic.

As it was it still took them 6 hours to get to Malone, New York. The last big town they would see for the next several months.

Rick pulled into the co-op just outside of town. This is where they stop to get the wood pellets for the pellet stove.

They both got out and went inside. "Mr. Castle and little Castle. It's good to see you two." Evan greets them. "I take it you're here for your yearly bags of pellets."

"Hey Evan, yup time to start our annual summer vacation." Rick greets him.

"Just how much do you already have out there?" Evan didn't understand why they bought some each year.

"We did manage to use a number of bags last year. That early storm in the fall caught us a little by surprise." Rick explains.

"Well you unhook the trailer and I'll get the guys to start loading it." Evan tells him.

"Thanks Evan, we'll go into town and purchase all our perishables and be back in about an hour or so." Rick explains where they are going next.

"We'll be ready for you to back up and hook up and go. No worry." Evan guarantees.

Rick unhooks the trailer and sets it up for the kids to load the bags of pellets while he and Alexis head for the groceries.

Actually they buy all their food here not just the perishables. They each push around a cart filling each one up without any trouble. Then back out to the car they unload it all into boxes that they had pre-loaded into the car.

Then back inside for two more carts worth. This load also went into still more boxes. Then back inside for the third and final trip.

"How we doing on the list pumpkin." Rick asks her since they had a list for the food too.

"Just the fruits and few fresh vegetables left to go dad." As Alexis has been checking off the items as they box everything.

Several hundred dollars later they go pick up the trailer and pay for the pellets then drive to the butcher to fill their coolers with half a cow that has been butchered into packages that have been marked what is in them.

Finally after almost 4 hours in town the go fill the car and fill their gas cans that are also on the trailer.

It was going to be dark by the time they got to the house and then start the process of unloading everything.

They traveled on little two lane roads for a little while until they turned off onto a dirt road that they drove on for a long time.

Eventually they turned off of this road onto a little trail that slowed them down considerably thanks to the trailer they were towing.

Eventually they went over a little bridge that her dad had built that allowed them to cross a small stream. It was the only access to the house.

Now they were driving with trees crowding them on both sides having to go even slower since the trail was even more uneven here.

Then they had to stop completely. They found that a tree had fallen across their little trail.

"You pull out the cable off of the wench and I'll get the chain saw." Rick offered.

"Got it dad." Alexis knew what to do. She had to do this once when she was little, only that time it was a lot harder for her since she was so much younger than she was now.

Rick eventually showed up with the chainsaw out of its case.

"Be careful dad." Alexis knew her dad was handy and they needed the chainsaw when they got to the house during their time here, so he had used it several times before. But still she worried.

It took two or three pulls to get it to start. Rick went to work cutting off the limbs before he made his first of several major cuts.

It took a little time but he soon had cut out a section that they could now move out of their way.

Putting the chainsaw away he came back to the front of the car. "Help me with the line." Rick asked her.

Together they managed to put it around one end of his cut and connect it. "Stand back pumpkin in case the line snaps or comes loose." Rick waited until Alexis was behind the car before he started up the winch.

He soon had one side part pulled off to one side, then with Alexis's help he had the other part pulled to the other side of the trail.

It was only just wide enough for the Range Rover and trailer to make it past with inches to spare.

Due to the delay it was dark by the time they made it to the house. So they couldn't see it very well.

"We need some light pumpkin. I can't see to back the trailer into the carport for us to unload it." Rick tells her.

"I'll get it dad." And Alexis hops out and opens the house. Picking up the flashlight they left at the front door last time she headed for the electrical box and started turning on the power.

The roof and the carport were covered with solar power cells.

Monocrystalline, or Single Crystal, is the original PV technology

Made with high efficiency crystalline solar cells for long-lasting use

Aluminum frame for extended outdoor use

Bypass diode minimizes power drop caused by shade

Weatherproof for superior durability

Ideal for areas with high sun exposure

Easy to install and maintenance free

Includes: 2 x 150 Watt crystalline solar panels, 30 Amp digital charge controller, 300 Watt inverter with USB port, mounting hardware, voltage tester, and 20 ft. of wiring

There were 4 solar cells on the carport roof alone. Plus another 4 on the second floor roof and 6 more on the first floor roof.

In addition they had 4 solar hot water cells on the back porch cover that helped create hot water.

In addition they had a pair of wind mills with another pair of outhouses located between them. Alexis affectionately had started calling them an outhouse, since each was about the size of one. This is where the power the windmills generated was controlled and then routed to the other outhouse that housed the batteries.

The batteries were just a back-up power system in case it was needed.

The water came from a small stream not far away. Part of the stream was funneled down to a pipe connection where a pump was located. The flow of the water powered the pump. This was their main water source.

Last year they had a well drilled and had a small cistern installed that held rainwater. All of this flowed through a filter and UV light system to purify all of the water no matter the source.

All of the waste water went out to a septic tank and drain field. The pumps for the drain field were only powered from the windmill and battery system.

There were two 500 gallon propane tanks that were used to power the A/C forced air system, located about 15 feet from the house. Though they tried very hard not to over use it. It was also what they used to cook with in the kitchen and powered the 3 tankless water heaters.

The solar hot water was stored in a tank that the water heaters took their water from. Since the water was pre-heated the tankless units used less propane to heat the water up if it was needed at all. They had 3 tankless units as 100% back-up to the solar hot water system.

The house itself had 2 bedrooms, both on the second floor along with a single bathroom. Both bedrooms were open to the lower level with a Jack and Jill bathroom between them. Access was thru a door for some privacy but if you really wanted to you could get into each bedroom from the main room downstairs.

Downstairs was a very large main room with an open kitchen with a monstrously large pantry, mud room with storage room, and a laundry room. The dryer was propane powered so a lot of time they dried their clothes outside. There was not a formal dining room since Rick didn't think it would be necessary.

The kitchen refrigerator was a combination electric/propane unit. Everything in the refrigerator had been removed and packed out to the first dumpster they could find when they left here last year. They would need to fill it up again with what they had bought back in town.

There was also a small basement that only covered about half the house. Down in the basement were two large upright and two chest freezers. All four run on electricity and over the winter they were powered off of the windmill system and the batteries. So everything they left behind from their previous trips should still be good.

And all of the meat along with some of the perishables would go down here tonight.

While the house did have forced air the main room downstairs had a pellet stove in one corner. It was large enough to heat the entire house. Plus the sofa and loveseat have pullout beds.

The back deck was where there was some outdoor furniture that was presently stored up against the house under the porch cover and strapped into place for its winter stay.

There was also an outdoor kitchen type area where they could butcher the meat they would hunt for.

At first Alexis had turned her nose up at watching her dad catch or kill something and then prepare for storage or get ready to eat immediately if it was smaller. She knew it was meat, but seeing where it came from first hand was just a little hard when she was younger.

There was a modern BBQ that was propane powered but there was also a fire pit for late night star gazing or open fire cooking.

They already had 2 cords of wood that hadn't been used up last year that Rick would add to as the summer went along.

Soon Rick could see what he was doing as Alexis continued to turn on the house. She had to close the main water line drain so she could turn on the water. The water pipes were drained of water for winter storage.

The solar hot water tank also needed to get filled. The water system would be ready by morning so they could take a hot shower.

Rick backed the trailer into the carport and disconnected the trailer and pulled the car around to the front of the house so they could unload it tonight.

The carport had a large storage out at the back of it. This is where the two quads were located, along with all the gasoline and all of their camping gear.

2008 Yamaha YFZ250 for Alexis.

2012 Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI Auto 4x4 EPS Special Edition for Rick.

Alexis had started with something smaller when she was 6 years old. But Rick had exchanged it for what she has now when she turned 10. Now she was 11 and would turn 12 during the summer.

At first Rick was scared for her, but over the years she had gotten to be pretty good at it. Enough so that he didn't think too much about it anymore. However he figured she was going to need a larger one when she reached 15 or 16 years old. This one wouldn't have the size or power she would want for much longer.

Almost everything on the trailer could wait. A lot of it would only get unloaded days from now. For now the Range Rover had to get unpacked along with the coolers on the trailer.

It took a lot of work to get the freezers down in the basement filled. At the end they were both just barely dragging their suitcases up the stairs to their bedrooms.

Alexis would have told her dad goodnight, but frankly she was just way too tired to do even that.