OPERATION HELP US GET HOME & STAY THERE!
Donation protected
HELLO good people out there!
We are Oscar & Belinda of Hood2Homestead with O & B (our blog www.hood2homesteadob.com)
So here's what happened:
We rebuilt a 1979 GMC Class C Motorhome from the chassis up to be the tiny house that we live in while we build our dream container home out in New Mexico. We finally packed up everything, saved up money to start the build, and headed out from Baltimore with ourselves, our 2 dogs, 1 cat, my kids, and a good friend of ours into the RV/tiny house and our SUV. Everyone was coming along to help us get our car out there and to help build a fence around our off-grid property when we get there.
We go to Roanoke, Va just fine on day 1, Friday June 12th. On Saturday June 13th, we tried getting up a big hill and the transmission blew a gasket on the RV and spilled all our transmission fluid on the highway. Long story short, we ended up having to tow the tiny house 2 times to 2 different mechanic shops and paid to have the transmission rebuilt with newer gears and all. That set us back $1650 for the mechanic and $680 for 5 nights hotel and the rental car to get our dear friend back to Baltimore so he could get to work. He graciously took off a week's vacation to help us and spent the whole week in 1 hotel room with us and the animals. We were able to get the kids' flights back to Baltimore changed and the fees waived by Southwest (they ROCK!).
We headed down to Nashville the next day and started hearing the motor sputter. It slipped a few times and halfway between Nashville and Memphis, guess what? Yup. Another breakdown. Another hotel, each one dirtier and smaller and ironically more expensive than the next. We spent $300 on another mechanic and went on our way.
We decided to take all local routes all the way to New Mexico from the little town of Halladay, TN and check into a small motel only 12 miles down the road and guess what? ANOTHER BREAKDOWN!!!
So now we have been forced to spend all the last bit of money we had for the trip on getting our RV tiny house transported to our land (so that we have something to live in while we build) and also rent a minivan to take our pets and just a few things from the tiny house the rest of the way to Albuquerque.
The estimate came in at $905 so far and the van rental will be about $747 according to Expedia.
But we are still in good spirits, the kids are fine, we are all getting along, the pets haven't gotten sick despite the anxiety of moving, and we are trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
We just need a little bit of help to pay for the RV tiny house transport and the minivan rental, just in case we have to spend more time in hotels unexpectedly and have to change the kids' plane tickets again (it would be $400 this time).
We know that everyone is hurting right now, we know. We are too. I'm a barber and haven't been able to work since COVID shut us down back in March, and my wife has her own personal chef service and went from 4 clients weekly down to just 1, so we know.
But if you can find it in you to donate a little and help us out, we'd be able to travel with less anxiety and to just focus on driving safely there.
We just need to get there. We've been on the road already for 10 days for what was supposed to be a 4 day trip. We're tired, we're running out of money, but we're together and we're in GREAT spirits! So thank you in advance. Really, from the bottom of our hearts.
--Oscar & Belinda
PS, to even get this fundraiser started and book our minivan, we had to drive 20 minutes to the nearest larger small town to sit in a truck stop parking lot to get wifi via our tethered hot spots on our phones. So when we get back to the motel we're staying in now (the Deerfield Inn in Parsons, TN), we won't even be able to monitor anything or respond to anyone! SMH. Murphy's Law is in FULL EFFECT in this trip, lol!
This was the first breakdown
This was during the second breakdown
The truck stop where we've been for the last 2 hours trying to connect with the outside world and get a new plan of action going!
The estimate for transporting our RV tiny house to our land in NM from Parsons, TN.
We are Oscar & Belinda of Hood2Homestead with O & B (our blog www.hood2homesteadob.com)
So here's what happened:
We rebuilt a 1979 GMC Class C Motorhome from the chassis up to be the tiny house that we live in while we build our dream container home out in New Mexico. We finally packed up everything, saved up money to start the build, and headed out from Baltimore with ourselves, our 2 dogs, 1 cat, my kids, and a good friend of ours into the RV/tiny house and our SUV. Everyone was coming along to help us get our car out there and to help build a fence around our off-grid property when we get there.
We go to Roanoke, Va just fine on day 1, Friday June 12th. On Saturday June 13th, we tried getting up a big hill and the transmission blew a gasket on the RV and spilled all our transmission fluid on the highway. Long story short, we ended up having to tow the tiny house 2 times to 2 different mechanic shops and paid to have the transmission rebuilt with newer gears and all. That set us back $1650 for the mechanic and $680 for 5 nights hotel and the rental car to get our dear friend back to Baltimore so he could get to work. He graciously took off a week's vacation to help us and spent the whole week in 1 hotel room with us and the animals. We were able to get the kids' flights back to Baltimore changed and the fees waived by Southwest (they ROCK!).
We headed down to Nashville the next day and started hearing the motor sputter. It slipped a few times and halfway between Nashville and Memphis, guess what? Yup. Another breakdown. Another hotel, each one dirtier and smaller and ironically more expensive than the next. We spent $300 on another mechanic and went on our way.
We decided to take all local routes all the way to New Mexico from the little town of Halladay, TN and check into a small motel only 12 miles down the road and guess what? ANOTHER BREAKDOWN!!!
So now we have been forced to spend all the last bit of money we had for the trip on getting our RV tiny house transported to our land (so that we have something to live in while we build) and also rent a minivan to take our pets and just a few things from the tiny house the rest of the way to Albuquerque.
The estimate came in at $905 so far and the van rental will be about $747 according to Expedia.
But we are still in good spirits, the kids are fine, we are all getting along, the pets haven't gotten sick despite the anxiety of moving, and we are trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
We just need a little bit of help to pay for the RV tiny house transport and the minivan rental, just in case we have to spend more time in hotels unexpectedly and have to change the kids' plane tickets again (it would be $400 this time).
We know that everyone is hurting right now, we know. We are too. I'm a barber and haven't been able to work since COVID shut us down back in March, and my wife has her own personal chef service and went from 4 clients weekly down to just 1, so we know.
But if you can find it in you to donate a little and help us out, we'd be able to travel with less anxiety and to just focus on driving safely there.
We just need to get there. We've been on the road already for 10 days for what was supposed to be a 4 day trip. We're tired, we're running out of money, but we're together and we're in GREAT spirits! So thank you in advance. Really, from the bottom of our hearts.
--Oscar & Belinda
PS, to even get this fundraiser started and book our minivan, we had to drive 20 minutes to the nearest larger small town to sit in a truck stop parking lot to get wifi via our tethered hot spots on our phones. So when we get back to the motel we're staying in now (the Deerfield Inn in Parsons, TN), we won't even be able to monitor anything or respond to anyone! SMH. Murphy's Law is in FULL EFFECT in this trip, lol!
This was the first breakdown
This was during the second breakdown
The truck stop where we've been for the last 2 hours trying to connect with the outside world and get a new plan of action going!The estimate for transporting our RV tiny house to our land in NM from Parsons, TN.
Organizer
Bella Prattis
Organizer
Rio Rancho, NM
