Just About Ready to Go!!!!

Just eleven days until we pick up Erin and start our summer/fall adventure. WooHoo!!! We decided to stay in the house until sometime next week. Might as well use the house water and sewer instead of filling up the tanks in the motorhome. Plus, it's really been easier to organize in the MH. I've had just about everything out of the cabinets and closet and re-sorted, rearranged and labeled. Dan cleaned the basement storage areas and rearranged those also. Looks like we'll actually have some extra space even after he includes tools and a small air compressor.

He made some dividers for the cabinets so canned food and such will stay better organized while traveling. Just normal accelerating and braking can really mess up the cans. Our MH has such a smooth ride that very few things shift around during travel, but I hadn't found a way to keep the cans from sliding around. That rubberized shelf liner just gets wrinkled up. I do put the coffee pot in the sink and the toaster oven and 2 or 3 other items in a basket on the floor while traveling.

Dan sold the dump truck to the Village of Rochester last week, so the only work vehicles left are the Kioti tractor and the old 1983 Dodge Van (otherwise known as the Brogdon Bus). Gretchen drove the Brogdon Bus in high school and had several "adventures" with it; but I won't elaborate on those here.

Dan has purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck so the bikes won't have to lay in the bed of the truck. Three bikes will fit on it. Really nice!! And he began moving some of the tools into the front garage in preparation for a sale when we get back to Rochester in the fall. He had already sorted everything, but things were really crowded in the back garage and it wouldn't be very easy to display everything.

I just need to move food from the freezer and fridge and all the food will be in the MH. Sorting through the spice cabinet was quite interesting. I found 3 jars of chili powder and 3 cans of cocoa and numerous spices that I'm not sure how old they were. If I couldn't smell them when I opened them; they were history!! And I'm not sure why I even bought some of them. I bought some new spices and they now have a "date of purchase" marked on them.

We still need to go through a few clothes and decide what do to with them, but we are really close to being ready to leave. Monday I'll start calling to stop the paper, cable TV, trash pickup and all that stuff. A friend will be picking up our mail at the post office twice a month and sending it to us. We have switched everything to online bills and payments except for one insurance statement, so we don't have much mail. And our neighbor is going to mow our yard.

I didn't start out to write so much, but since this blog is also a diary of sorts, I guess I can write whatever I want to. :) We will be back in the fall to finish working on the house to put it on the market. Some might ask why we don't get that done now and then travel, but without going into detail; we have decided this is best for us.

So June 2 it's off to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding, then to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams rally; Burdett, KS to visit friends; Denver to visit Jean (Gail's sister) and Steve; Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac in their NEW home; and then on to Seattle for Lucy's birthday. And we'll be stopping along the way to enjoy this wonderful country and all the beautiful sites and scenery, and posting pictures.

AND, we're so happy to have Miss Erin traveling with us.

More later........

No, We Aren't Traveling Yet

I didn't realize how long ago I posted, so thought I should bring this blog up-to-date.

We returned home from the race on April 29th. Had a wonderful time in Alabama even though our drivers didn't do well at the racetrack.

We've been busy continuing to work on the house. Sarah and Chad were back this past weekend so Sarah could check out the alterations on her wedding dress. It looked great, except for the hooks for the bustle, soooooo, those are being changed; and I'll pick it up on Saturday. She wanted to take it with her, but we'll be taking it to Ohio.

Sarah did load up their car with some more stuff, so our inventory keeps dwindling. And we hauled more stuff to Stephanie this week. We hope to get the living room furniture off to Goodwill this week along with another trunk load of stuff. Then just have the kitchen cabinets and some other miscellaneous to deal with. I've downsized the kitchen once already, so shouldn't take long to finish it.

We plan to start living in the motorhome this weekend. :) Sure am getting tired of not knowing where things are. Of course, it will take awhile to remember where we've put things in the motorhome, since I keep rearranging the cabinets.

And Dan has sold some more equipment, so things are progressing.

Not sure when I'll post again. My laptop is in the shop, but I should have it back in a day or two. I'm posting from the Rochester Library today.

Can't wait to start this fulltiming.

Still Here!!!! Sorting, Hauling, Planning

Yes, we are still in Rochester; and I have not been very good at writing on the blog. But we have gotten a LOT done in the past few days.

Sarah and her fiance, Chad, were home for a 3 day weekend for a wedding dress fitting and we conned them into helping clean out the basement. And what help they were!!! Also moved several items to the storage building for pickup later by the kids. Stephanie, Taylor and Erin came on Saturday and helped also. Sure makes for faster work when several are helping. And we had pizza at Gallina's on Saturday evening. It's a family tradition when any of the kids are here. Sarah and Chad slept in the motor home since there are no extra beds in the house. It's really nice to have hookups at the house.

I'm working 3 days this week and next so probably won't get much other stuff done. I was exhausted when I got home today. I do enjoy my job, but don't like having to be at work at 5:30 AM. And it's pretty fast-paced for several hours as we admit kids and send them off to surgery. But even though I enjoy my job, I am more than ready to make a change and really start this fulltime lifestyle.

And speaking of fulltiming; Erin, our eleven year old granddaughter, will be spending this summer with us as we travel. We're really looking forward to that. She has traveled with us on some other trips and we've always had a good time. Sure glad she likes spending time with grandma and grandpa. She'll be adding her thoughts to our blog; and she bought a new camera with money she has saved, so I'm sure she'll post pictures also.

We'll be leaving on April 19 for Talladega, AL for a Nascar race; then back home until June 1 when we head to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding and then on to Branson, Kansas, Denver and Seattle. Erin will start traveling with us on June 1. She will fly back home in August to start back to school, and we don't have any specific plans after August.

I'll start posting more regularly when we start traveling.

More later.....

Jury duty is finished - Still sorting

Jury duty is over, and I have to say it was actually a good experience. VERY tiring. Listening to all the evidence and realizing that you are responsible for making decisions that will affect another person's future is a pretty awesome task. I was more tired each night than if I had worked a full day. We were not allowed to take notes, so the mental challenge of not only listening, but remembering can be very difficult. AND the judge admonished us not to talk about the case to each other or anyone else, so my mind was filled with all this information that I was unable to organize very well.

But it was interesting to see how we all worked together as we deliberated and how much we all remembered together. Glad I don't have to do this very often, but I would do my duty again if asked.

Have started a more methodical approach to sorting our "stuff". We previously moved everything from the office to the dining room so Dan could work on the plumbing issue, so that room has been empty for some time. And we've cleaned out the dining room, except for the table and chairs and the boxes for the kids, which are going to the storage facility. And the utility room is less cluttered and more organized.

I decided on Friday to start at the north end of the house and work my way to the south end. So the large bathroom has been throughly sorted, with just the necessary bathing items left in the room. Now on to our bedroom on Monday and the walk-in closet. I'm really going to adhere to the rule, "If you pick it up, make a decision about it before putting it down." In other words, "Don't just move it to another place".

Sarah and her fiance, Chad, will be here on Friday for a wedding dress fitting on Saturday. We've asked them to help carry things out of the basement and to help move some furniture to the storage facility. That will be a BIG help.

So, we are still in Rochester, but making progress. Thanks to those of you who keep checking the website for new info. We'll be going to Talladega about April 18 for the Nascar race and then to Ohio June 1 for Sarah's wedding. Then I'll start posting more often.

More later......