Tuesday, May 24, 2005

We survived the yard sale, and then some

I don't believe it. We actually survived the yard sale and everything is gone now. We couldn't have done it without the generous efforts of friends who jumped in and organized and reorganized ad nauseum. What would you do without friends????? Parish the thought. We will miss them all terribly when we're on the road.

We also have other news. We traded our RV for one with slides and more closet space. The more we arranged and rearranged the more we knew that it wasn't going to work. We had a great RV for vacationing but not for living in. To do what we intended to do required an RV you could actually live in. One with a refrigerator that would hold a few groceries and cupboards that would hold dishes and cooking utensils. And closets that would hold enough clothes to keep you from going crazy trying to keep them laundered. We bought a 2005 Fleetwood Southwind 32 foot with double slideouts (galley/livingroom and bedroom). What a difference it makes. We haven't taken delivery of it yet. We're still waiting for escrow to close so we can finalize everything. The escrow isn't closing until June 1 and we're supposed to be leaving on June 3 so you can see that we have a lot of unloading and reloading to do between the two RV's in a matter of one or two days. Could it be any more stressful than that? Why does life have to be SO dramatic? Oh well...as John Lennon is often quoted as saying, " Life is what happens to you while you were making other plans."

We have 8 working days to go (yes...we're counting ) and I swear, as many doctor and dental appointments squeezed in as well. There is not one day that we don't have an appointment of one kind or another to prepare for the long long trip. Advice to you other soon to be fulltimers. Don't wait until the last minute to get it all done. You may think you have to schedule the appointments right up to the last minute but it's not a good idea. A month or two ahead of time in the big scheme of things is not a bad thing. Who knew that retiring would be such hard work?

Dale nor I can believe this is really happening though. We both agree that we just cannot imagine what this is going to be like to actually get into the RV...drive off into the sunset and not have any schedules or jobs to worry about. It just doesn't seem possible that it is really going to happen. At a time in their lives when most retirees are settling in and pitching camp for the golden years we are selling our lovenest and hitting the trail for parts unknown. To be fair, though, the last I read there are over 750,000 fulltime RVers out there doing the exact same thing. It is a new lifestyle that appeals to a large segment of the population. The way we figure it, is you have a long long time in your truly golden years to settle down and stay home day in and day out waiting for the final days. We've got our health so now is the time to pursue dreams and have adventures. Someday we won't have that choice and we'll have to settle down to a mundane routine existance. In the meantime, we're keeping those roads hot and pioneering with other RVers just waiting to swap stories over a campfire on a river's edge or at a picnic table plunked down in the middle of a bluegrass festival. Yeeeehawwwwwwwww!!!!




1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11:29 AM

    I can't believe you haven't received any comments to your latest communication, so let me be the first to respond. Whew...it sounds as if you are earning that retirement by working hard up to the very last minute. Don't let the current stresses get you down. Just focus on what's ahead...the open road and all the beautiful country waiting to be explored.

    Take good care of each other.

    Much love, Nancy

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