Being Stranded With No Vehicle

Truck Repairs

I haven't been writing much on my blogs because my father had a stroke and is in the hospital. Of course, it happened the same time our truck (and only vehicle) had broken down. I cannot complain about this truck. We bought it in 2006 and it is a 2003 Dodge Dakota and at that time it had less than 20,000 miles on it. We both loved it immediately! Never had one problem with it. No repairs or being stranded somewhere. Until now.............. I am lucky that I have some wonderful, giving family members. If it wasn't for my cousins, I wouldn't have been able to get to the hospital.

Vestal, NY Museum

Now the reason for our breakdown was due to the brakes line rusting and the brake fluid was spurting out. We had gone to Vestal a couple of weeks ago to see some grave sites of various family members we had been doing research on. The brake fluid light came on. So we stopped and got some and added it. It worked fine. We went to my father in law's house and came home.

Our truck carries a load of 34 bales of hay.

A couple of days later, when my husband returned with our load of hay, he had no brakes. Yikes! New York state is all hills. I kid you not! Without brakes he could not go to the auto parts store to buy anything. He had to order them online and wait, and wait.............and wait some more. Then he'd have to order something else, another part or a tool to do the job. Very difficult time for us. We lived without a vehicle for 8 months in the past, but we were better prepared. I also had a friend who took me shopping and we had a guy who would deliver hay. Our horse feed was also delivered by a local feed store. Now we were not prepared at all and had even gone through most of my supplies and preps. I know what I will doing in the next few months.......PREPPING!!!!

Our 2003 Dodge Dakota

I am happy to report that yesterday, my husband and my cousin, Gerald worked on the truck and today  he has gone to the store. Testing it. I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying it works fine. I really NEED to be at the hospital with my father. He is 93 years old and he needs his family nearby. There is a chance he will get better enough to go home, but not really counting on that happening. The thing is that he thinks at times I am my mother (I look like her), so he looks to me for everything.

My son, Jeffrey and my father.

I know his time is short now. Having a stroke is the first step in this process. I am ready only because he told me this months ago. He said nobody in his family lives this long. A few months back when his doctor tried to give him medication for his blood clot he refused it. He said he was ready to go be with my mother. And I know he means it. My hope is that he will be able to go home and die there. It is what he truly wants. Not to die in the hospital.

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole

Living Without Motor Vehicles

I am a member of a Homesteading forum. Those people there, pretty much know what I am about. Because they are of the same kind as I am. I lived for over eight months last year without a motor vehicle. I still wish I was. The motor vehicle has pretty much ruined our earth. We live out in the country in a secluded area, but we are only 6 miles from the nearest town. This summer, I plan on training my horse, Tawny how to drive. Then I want to get a buckboard to drive her to town. She is a little powerhouse. The other two horses are a tad too spirited for me to drive anywhere. If I hitched them up and took them to town, the town better look out!

I have friends who have a 90 acre homestead, where they raised their 12 children, and they never drove a motor vehicle. They live 7 miles from town, and most of the time they walk, but they do use a horse and wagon too. They are well known all over the country, and probably world wide too, as The Christian Homesteading Movement, but have changed the name to The Catholic Homesteading Movement. Their focus is really on homesteading, so you can be any religion to attend their classes. You can only imagine a homestead as peaceable as their's! It feels like it's back in the 1700's.

Anyway, last year, my husband rode his bicycle with one of those carts that you carry children in, to town. He bought all our supplies, and brought them home. The only problem he had was that the big hill on the way took him a hour to walk to the top pushing the bike (couldn't ride it up it and he's in great shape!). Of course, our supplies included a 5 gallon can of kerosene for our lamps and a 5 gallon can of gas for the generator, plus groceries. So it can be done.

The county we live has a bus transit system that you can call ahead and make arrangements for them to come to your house and pick you up. It's called Dial-A-Ride and it would cost me $36. to and from Norwich, which is about 14 miles away. So I can always use that if need be. 

Copyright © 2005  Kathleen G. Lupole