Further to Bob’s entry the other day and before the Insiders/Out girls introduce themselves we thought we’d make a quick post chronicling the move from our beloved home onto the bus and our departure from the searing heat of the Miami summer to the temperate bliss of our European tour.

The last week in the house was different for us all. While Sam reminisced over our time whilst packing I was making the final touches to the bus, trying desperately to get all the toxic stuff out of the way at least a few days before our little lungs crawled aboard – actually, in the last week, during an impromptu trip to Home Depot, Harper began walking! Aside from this massive development, Harper, unable to fully comprehend what was happening and why her world – that prior to our packing was expanding daily – was beginning to shrink, started to feed off our stresses and became increasingly agitated. Mateo on the other hand became increasingly excited. In the end we had two kids who couldn’t sleep for different reasons, and as Sam and I rushed around trying to get things in order our family and our house kind of imploded simultaneously as each of us added tangentially to the others situation.

When we started packing we decided to limit ourselves only to what we could fit on our bookshelves (not including sheets and clothes), but despite sticking to this almost until the last day and taking the triumphant photograph above, we buckled under the strain, convinced ourselves it would be better to actually SEE the clutter on the bus before we really stripped down, and so ferried and loaded truck load after truck load of crap into an already tight and rapidly diminishing space.

On our last night in the house after delivering the final pieces of furniture to our friend’s place on the beach and selling a bunch of art that we couldn’t take with us we sat in the dark in front of our fire place and ceremoniously burned all of our old bills, check books, letters, invoices, pay slips, contacts – everything that symbolized an organized, steady existence.

The next morning saw us drenched in sweat and cleaning products. When we woke up, we stripped our foam king sized bed and cut it down to queen size with a dangerously sharp kitchen knife that Richard sharpened for us. With the left over foam we made cushions for the couch and a mini mattress for Mateo. The weather had turned overnight and was now raining, forcing us to dash our final few truck loads when the rain abated, a circumstance which accentuated our fleeting status. On the final run, after saying goodbye to the one cat we could find (a neighbor is watching them while we are away), we drove from the house, Sam fighting back the tears. It was surreal. Happily the moment we set foot on the bus, a welcoming, steady aura enveloped us. The rain stopped and Harper, who hadn’t been sleeping miraculously passed right out on the bed despite a lack of curtains and me installing a clothes rail with a power drill less than six feet away.

It was hot. During the day, during the night, there seemed no escape. Even laying ontop of the sheets with fans blasting right on us and the window open we found it hard to sleep the first night. The next morning I made a fire and cooked our chicken’s eggs. I spend the day tying up loose ends at work, organizing the disastrous interior of the bus and making plans to trade in the car.

We arrived at the airport in good time. Our morning trip to Car Max wasn’t a success. They didn’t offer us enough so we will continue payments until we get back and try to find a buyer. This was Harper’s first flight. Mateo, a seasoned traveler took it all in his stride, vegetated to in-flight movies and even hung together well in the face of jet lag. I managed to cajole 3 extra meals out of the flight attendant and spent the flight crouched at Sam’s feet – we didn’t get to sit together.

For the next 2 months we will be in and around the UK. After a a short trip to London and Paris at the end of this month we will hire cars and travel to the Outer Hebrides to spend a few weeks in a cottage surrounded by nothing but moss, low lying grass and the dramatic swells of the North Atlantic sea. Sitting here now in my parents house after 4 formative years in Miami it feels like forever since I was here, almost long enough to forget much about life in the UK. By comparison 2 months does not feel long enough to reacquaint myself with the life I once had, but that’s really not the point. If anything this is a chance for my family to meet Harper and for Harper to get a taste of her roots. But by the looks of it, she is already well connected.

Harper aping her contientious guardians by sucking the condensation from an ice cold can of Stella courtesy of Virgin Atlantic (the can was not open)

In contradiction to the many stories we have read about nomads and their poultry, quite a few people have told us that our plan to take chickens with us on the bus simply won’t work. Their warnings range in severity from stressed chickens, to dead chickens to the more sinister “your chickens might be fine, but what if the eggs are poisoned and you don’t find out until its too late?” All of this nay saying is beginning to make us have second thoughts about taking our three beloved birds with us when we hit the road. One thing we are sure about, however, and something we often use to reassure the many chicken worriers in our lives, is that our three cats, Little Fuz, Leviathan and No Name, definitely won’t be coming with us.

Yesterday we passed the one month mark for moving out of our house and onto the bus. As we begin to pack up our things, deciding what few personal effects we will be able to take from the mountains of junk we have accumulated from four years in Miami, an uplifting sense of freedom is far out weighing any sentimentality. The only things we are really having a hard time leaving behind are our cats.

Their mother, Baboon, a stray we took in as a kitten, moved out soon after giving birth to them in 2007. They’ve been together all their lives and we are all they know. We thought about taking them to my Mum’s in the UK, but the quarantine laws are crazy and we can’t afford electronic tags. We also considered donating them to a farm, but as they are used to domestic life we felt they would be much happier with a foster family. They’re really awesome pets – super chill, tons of personality, and mostly outdoor. We love them and would hate to separate them, so while a few friends have offered to take one or even two of them, we wanted to see if any of our readers, preferably based in South Florida, would be able to offer a home to all three.

In case any of you have space in your lives for the unfortunate casualties of the Transit Antenna lifestyle, here’s a little introduction.

Little Fuz:

The alpha male of the group, Little Fuz or Fuz for short, was the second born – the first born, his brother Gary, sadly disappeared one day. I’ve had cats all my life, but I’ve never met one quite like Fuz. Maybe it has something to do with his crazy mother or the fact we had him neutered before puberty, but Fuz is nuts, ironically. Bursting with personality, Fuz is more like a puppy than a cat; an eternal cherub.

At any given moment you can guarantee that you can find him doing something funny. Whether its crawling under rugs, chewing on things or simply charging around like a horse with a wild gleam in his eyes this cat is sure to brighten even the dullest of days. Pros: Handsome, head strong, easily personified. Cons (which are actually just Pros that require an acquired taste or a big heart): Randomly swipes at you when you walk by, eats shoes, cries occasionally if lonely.

Leviathan:

Third born Leviathan, or Prince Leviathan as we often call him, was the largest and smartest of all the kittens.

While the Little Fuz was busy swimming in the water bowl, Leviathan was sleeping. He was the first to walk and always last to finish eating. Sam hoped he would fulfill her dreams of having a fat cat – a role that Fuz seems to be working hard towards. Like most cats Leviathan conserves his energy well, but unlike most cats does little else. As an adult he is the epitome of a cat, lethargic to a fault. At any given time of day or night, Leviathan can be found sprawled full length on a bed, couch, under a bush, anywhere he feels undisturbed. And even when you disturb him, he rarely moves. Blessed with a long fur dissimilar from the rest of the cats and softer than a bunny, Leviathan is the perfect Ying to Fuz’s Yang. Two brothers could not be more different, and still equally awesome. Pros: Extremely placid, graceful, silky smooth. Cons: Tinny meow, collects burrs, occasional hairballs.

No Name:

The runt of the litter, No Name is the only girl. Initially a bit of a bitch No Name’s tom-boy days came to an end when she hurt her wrist as a kitten.

After comforting her she became inseparable from people and will now sacrifice any activity, luxury or comfort just to be near you.

Sometimes a little creepy and/or annoying (creepy when she gets the sense you think she is being annoying) she is the sweetest of all cats. Everyone who comes over can’t believe how small and needy and still she is. Oddly, even if you kick her out, she always appears back inside, often at your side. Having corroborated this after thoroughly checking the house for secret entrances we have come to believe she might be some kind of witch cat and as neither Sam or I have experience in the dark arts regard her with appropriate caution. Pros: Extremely cuddly, pint sized, quiet. Cons: Periodically sheds hair on back of neck perhaps as a result of flea medication, rich nutty aroma, evil?

At the end of the day, despite how much we love them, we simply can’t entertain the idea of bringing them along. Not only do they shed fur, harbor parasites and require a festering tray of grit in order to shit, they also have little sense of trust; fleeing from you the moment they are taken beyond the boundaries of their territories and over reacting by bearing their claws at the slightest hint that you might be coercing them into anything other than sheer self indulgence, even if it’s for their sole benefit. Actually, when you think about it, despite the many things we accept cats can’t or rather won’t do such as protect property, engage actively in mutual play, swim hypnotically through a salt water tank of corals or fetch anything, ever, all they are really any good for is companionship of an evening, however, even this if often limited to the moments just before or after they eat and even then you have to not mind a fishy sphincter in your face too much and/or being play clawed, which lets be honest, is often is just the same as being real clawed!

Nevertheless, despite all their intrinsic faults, cats deserve to enjoy the run of a stable (not on wheels) home, a garden to call their own (despite lacking the equipment to technically claim it) and some semblance of routine. As such, our decision is not so much based on how the cats are no longer good for us, but rather about how we are no longer good for the cats, and how it wouldn’t be fair to include them in our plans. Somewhat starved of attention of late owing to kids and pressing bus schedules they would already be thankful of a loving family. Their personalities, each special in their own way, are purrfectly balanced both individually and as part of the whole. Interested parties please contact us via info at transit antenna dot com. Serious applications only please.

Please note that all of our cats are super kid and chicken friendly and amazingly none of them meow for food or bring dead things into the house!

We’d like to give a big warm thanks to everyone who has helped us with donations so far. Without your kindness and generosity we would be struggling far behind.

In addition to continuing product endorsement these preliminary thanks will be given in chronological order not by size of gift. We value all donations no matter how small and have been genuinely touched by the willingness of all those listed below to assist us in our endeavors.

Firstly we’d like to extend a massive thanks to Sam Caylor at Caylor Supplies (www.caylorsupply.com). Without him, his son Archie and their college Lee we would never have made it back to Miami. After arriving early one cold January morning to their impressive hangar filled with machine tools and greyhound memorabilia these boys worked tirelessly all day, pulled no less than two transmissions from various coaches parked on their property, fixed our shifting problem, switched out all our tires, bequeathed us with a bunch of spare parts and only charged us for labor. Anyone in need of MCI advice, services or parts should definitely give these guys a call. They ship to anywhere in the US and specialize in used and some new parts at knock down prices.

Secondly we’d like to thank, promote and pay homage to Leon Griffin at WVO Designs (www.wvodesigns.com). After finding Leon’s revolutionary business online we called him up for a donation. Not content with simply providing us with what we had asked for his generosity extended beyond all reasonable expectations and at the last count had gifted us with over $2,000 worth of equipment including but not limited to a Basic Raw Power Centrifuge with a 1000W Bolt-on Heater (pictured above), 3 way Solenoid Valves (pictured above), a Raptor fuel pump (pictured above), a Monster Transfer Pump and a Heated Pickup. An industrial engineer, Leon has applied all his know how to the use of waste vegetable oil as a fuel. His products are amazing. He is amazing. Short of building him his own shrine on the bus we wanted to again give thanks for his rampant charitableness. Without Leon we would surely be running a Flintstone-esq operation, circulating coolant around the bus by sucking on hose until blue in the face and filtering raw waste vegetable oil by swinging quarts of the stuff above our heads in a pair of Sam’s unwanted stockings.

A big thanks goes out to John Gaither from Atlantic Control Products, inc (www.atlanticcontrol.com) who with very little coercion sent us three aab solid state timer relays (1 x trailing edge single shot adjustable part # HRPSD22TS and 2 x timer delay on release adjustable part # HRDB121). Thanks John and ACP. Every little helps!

Next up we bow to the ITT Corporation (www.itt.com), a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company operating on all seven continents in three vital markets: water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. Having contacted them through their website about a donation of a water pump, namely the Flojet Triplex Automatic water system pump model # R3626-344, we received a phone call over breakfast one morning to say that the pump was on its way. Not a bad start to the day! A few weeks later, however, the pump had not arrived, but we were again very happy when Customer Service Representative Sharon Mannarelli, despite finding no record of the promised donation in the companies files, took us on our word and shipped not only without question, but with the very best of wishes. Sharon is currently working on getting us a Flojet Inlet Strainer for our plumbing system. With any luck we are near the end of the three week lead time. Any news Sharon?

Of course its fabulous when companies are doing well enough to be able to make charitable donations, we couldn’t do what we do without them, and the smaller and more independent the company the more impressive the gesture, but what is really remarkable is when individuals who ostensibly stand to gain nothing forfeit hard cash for the mere satisfaction of giving to a worthy cause. Here follows a couple of personal heartfelt thanks to a few such individuals.

First up on the hallowed podium of Transit Antenna catalyzed altruism is Nestor Alfaras, a kindly gent who after going out of his way to arrange for us to collect a 40 gal aluminum fuel tank that we agreed to purchase for $75 from his craigslist.org advertisement ended up giving it to us for free! Nestor had been heading out of town the week we called him and told us we could collect the tank from his wife in his absence. Thankfully, he arrived home early from his trip and on the day we decided to head down to his home near FIU was busy rearranging trailers in his front yard with his son. After a brief chat about our project and some recent news concerning emissions of pollutants in Asia he gifted us the tank with pleasure and wouldn’t even accept $5 for his son. What a guy!

Joining Nestor in that special place in our hearts we have Mike Simmons, a name sake of my uncle, the photographer Mike Simmons, who sold us 4 deep cycle batteries. Mike is the wholesale business. His company, Bilateral Sales (www.bilateralsales.com) buys and sells unwanted excess inventory and unused equipment globally at competitive prices. After meeting us in the car park of a charming adobe tobacco store in Fort Lauderdale, apparently the first of its kind in the area, we caravaned to his storage facility where he charged us a knock price ($520) for four Trojan batteries (which for the record we have not adequately tested yet) and then proceeded to give us a tour of his facility, offering us a variety of electronic goods. We mentioned to Mike that we were in the market for a 24V charger/inverter and a battery isolator to which he replied “what about a seat?” and pointed to a beautiful yacht helmsman’s chair:

After politely protesting that we couldn’t possibly Mike insisted that he would never get what he paid for it and helped us bundle it into our car. In the confusion, Mateo managed to remove the cap off one of the batteries and thrust an unwitting index finger inside. Thankfully he was not horribly scarred and we drove away happy. The chair is amazing and with suspension, adjustable firmness and lumbar support is very comfortable. Also after researching the chair, which is a Mariner, online we found it to be valued at around $800. Thanks, Mike!

In addition to those who have kindly volunteered their time, experience or equipment we’d like to save this spot for all those who have donated materials. Ranging in quality from brand new or once used to detritus found at the bottom of a dumpster, and in volume from scraps to whole truck loads, the many hand-me-downs and windfalls that these individuals have sanctioned have enabled us to move ahead far quicker than our own meager wallets or resources would allow. Worthy of such accolades are Locust Projects (www.locustprojects.org) and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova (www.fulanoinc.net) for allowing us to salvage materials from their exhibition “An Uneven Floor”. Win McCarthy and Addison Waltz for breaking down their loft bed so we could take the wood. David Rohn (www.davidrohn.net) for various doors, plywoods and insulation materials. New World School of The Arts (www.nwsa.mdc.edu) for MDF, plywood and shims. Dorsch Gallery for insulation and plywood. Praxis International Art (www.praxis-art.com) for half a crate from their dumpster. And our neighbor Diego for a desk he no longer wanted.

And now a special thanks to three people who we could not have attempted this without.

Firstly thanks to Lori Kelly for allowing us to park our bus on her property. Without her patience and hospitality we would be truly screwed. Secondly, thanks to Lori’s partner Richard Haden (www.richardhaden.com) for his applied expertise regarding all things wood and for the loan of his equipment and transportation. Without his openness, understanding, and lack of sentimentality toward tools we would be far behind schedule. Without his experience and advice, however, we would probably be finished by now, but the bus would likely look like crap and fall apart after the first hundred miles!

And last but by no means least, a very special thanks to our friend and Transit Antenna Founder, Bob Snead, who not only flew with me to Arkansas to collect our bus, but has worked extremely hard both initially in Arkansas and again on a second trip to Miami in an attempt to set us up with a system that will hopefully ensure that the second phase of his project, our lives for the next few years, are not as beset by mechanical issues as his were.

Finally we wanted to give credit to some folks who although seem unable to help began speaking to us with the very best intentions. As we see it, even though in the end these guys couldn’t give us anything due to either financial constraints or product availability, their willingness to communicate and interest in our project not only separates them from the countless others who outright refused to engage us, but elevates them, regardless of whether they graciously declined or simply stopped writing back to a level to which many would do well to aspire to.

Thanks then to Sheila Kerr from Windstream (www.windstreampower.com), a company of just 14 who are unable to donate a pedal generator to us due to their commitment to other worthy causes such as the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and doctors in Kenya that need to keep mobile blood units cool. Thanks to Xantrex (www.xantrex.com), manufacturers of RV, marine and commercial vehicle products whose tech Don Wilson was looking into a Prosine 3.0 24V inverter/charger for us. Thanks to Tony Williams from North Star Energy Services, inc (www.northstarenergyservices.com) manufacturers of portable solar generators who wasn’t able to donate a full system, but offered various necessary components for a photovoltaic trailer set up. And thanks somewhat preemptively (as she still might pull something out of the bag for us) to Dagmar Gatell from Granite Environmental (www.erosionpollution.com), specialists in Erosion Pollution Control Products and Site Specific solutions for Industrial Spill Clean Up Applications and emergency use who although have not said no definitely will likely not be donating a hot water bladder tank due to their enduring efforts in the face of the continuing ecological tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.

And what the hell, thanks to everyone who hung up our calls or moved our emails to their trash cans without a seconds thought as without you we wouldn’t have the basis for comparison by which all these other stellar organizations and individuals shine so brightly in our weary world.