Alrighty... I haven't done nearly enough blogging or vlogging, so forgive me for my lack of experience and expertise. I am quite aware that in 2025 anyone who was a website or blog or vlog or whatever should know how to make everything look and read perfectly... especially with the amount of AI assistance available to us. I'm not currently using AI to write this blog, so bear with me.
I'm also acutely aware that the attention span of the average person is short when it comes to any form of entertainment, especially if it's not in video form. So I'll do my best to keep this short... something I've never been great at, but I'm giving it my best shot.
Our son Codey, graduation weekend from MCRD San Diego.
Codey's death was the impetus that caused us to start traveling.
This website and blog was intended to focus mainly on traveling, as Ray and I had ran away from home for just over a week and then we took a job that required full time travel as part of our grief therapy after our middle son, Codey died March 8th, 2023. I have several blog posts I've started but haven't finished. And I do plan to finish them, and even write some more blog posts on the topic of travel. I also plan to do more videos- I have so many still photos and short videos we have taken that we haven't shared yet!
But just over two weeks ago, on January 25, 2025, our ability to get back on the road for work or leisure in the near future disappeared in the blink of an eye. We were out for a date night and had a bad accident where the vehicle rolled and both of us sustained some injuries. Luckily no other vehicles were involved.
Ray's injuries include a broken nose, broken rib and broken and dislocated toes on his left foot. He had surgery on his foot and was released from the hospital with a cast less than 24 hours after he was admitted in the Emergency Department. I, on the other hand, had 11 stitches in my right foot to close a large gash, but then was transferred to a different Emergency Department two hours away. I had a spinal injury that included 3 fractures and required a neurosurgeon's care. In the afternoon of January 26th, I had surgery to remove a fragment of bone that was poking into my spinal column and to insert posts and a rod from T12 to L2 to stabilize and fuse those vertebrae in my spine. I had a slightly longer stay in the hospital, being discharged on Thursday, January 30th.
Ray by my bedside after my spinal surgery was complete
All of our plans for, well, just about everything changed that weekend. Our tentative return date to our travel job was April 1st. Neither of us will have healed by then to return to work. Even the reason we had an extended leave from that job- to tend to our parents' health issues and some other family issues- we can't do those things... right now we are the ones needing help with basic tasks to care for ourselves! Even after healing (which is going to take multiple months for both of us), I don't know just how much I will be able to safely lift, or if sitting in a vehicle or a chair for extended lengths of time is something I will be able to handle. I know my range of motion in my spine will be limited and there's going to be things I used to be able to do that I won't be able to do anymore... I just don't know how much yet.
And of course having an auto accident and severe injuries hasn't stopped life from happening otherwise- some of those reasons we came home? Yeah, they've continued to get worse while being ignored, and I finally had a blow out early yesterday that caused more friction in the family. And I can recognize that I didn't handle the situation the best way possible, but I was honestly quite fed up with others ignoring the problem or tip-toeing around it, and I felt like I was an old school pressure cooker with no safety valve- the pressure had built up from my calm words going unheard until I blew up. I know I'll apologize for the blow up when the chance arises, as I always do, and maybe I'll be forgiven, maybe I won't. But regardless of all of it, the only thing I accomplished was releasing a lot of pent up stress but adding more stress at the same time. So... really I accomplished diddly-squat.
Aside from the somewhat vague family drama going on (any less vague and I'm sure I'd be starting up even more friction in the family), I have been brainstorming ways I can create some income, and coming up short in the immediate term. I obviously can't get a job in town when I can't even leave my own house without help (yeah, literally can't even step out to get some sun without someone else opening the back door that sticks really bad). Even once my mobility improves and I have the strength to open that door or the ability to handle the stairs from my kitchen up to the driveway, I can't drive until the surgeon clears me (quite likely at least a few months), and even then... I don't have a vehicle.
I know some folks think that there should be something we could do as far as a lawsuit or disability benefits. I thought so too at first. Numerous attorneys have listened to our story and most have simply said they won't take our case, but at least one gave an explanation as to why he feels we don't have a case... and the rational part of my brain can see every other attorney we contact responding the same way. So, a lawsuit isn't happening.
As for disability benefits, the Social Security Administration doesn't offer any temporary disability benefits, and my spinal fusion shouldn't keep me from working any longer than the minimum of a year that the SSA requires. Even if I qualified for permanent disability benefits, it would likely be a year or more before the SSA would even provide a decision in my case, and longer to receive any payment. The state of Georgia doesn't provide any short term disability benefits to its residents. And as for our employer.... since we were on a leave of absence when the accident happened, we had no benefits through our employer that could help us in this scenario.
So I've been brainstorming jobs I could get that would be 100% online. Many that aren't endangered by AI in the near future are jobs that require specialized training that I don't have and can't afford. The best idea I've come up with thus far is THIS- This website and my other website, KC Family Farm. To write blogs, to sell products from these websites, to utilize affiliate links, to make videos sharing tips and tricks I've learned both around the homestead and throughout our travels on both channels. Unfortunately, that will not bring an immediate income, nor will it be a regular income that I can rely on steadily to pay the bills. But it's the best and really only option I have at this point.
In summary, I've never been the type of person to expect a handout or anything I hadn't earned in some way. And I'm still not that kind of person. I don't want anyone's pity. I don't want something for nothing. But man, I sure would appreciate your support when it comes to sharing my posts, blogs and vlogs, and if you buy a product from my websites or use one of my affiliate links to make a purchase, I sure would be grateful. Because each one of those actions is a teeny tiny message to the search engines that my websites deserve to be higher in the search results, and each purchase is a couple dollars that will help pay our bills until I can get back into the workforce in other ways (or I can figure out how to make this a real income for myself).
Until next time, thank you and take care.