The story begins......

It has been an interesting few days.   We were supposed to close on Wednesday at 11.  It got postponed until 3:30.  Then again until Thursday at 2.  Of course we were ready to go on Wednesday so having to sit for one more day was stressful.  There is always that little fear at the back of your mind that things might just go sideways at the final hour.  We didn't sleep much on the Wednesday night.  I was up at 5 restless and ready to pull out of the driveway.

Finally 2 rolled around and we arrived at the office to sign things over.  It happened ...............finally.  We no longer owned a house.  We were houseless..........not homeless.  The first feeling I had was "OMG what have I done!!!!"  It really was scary.  What if we don't like this life.  I think the stress and lack of sleep was hitting us. 

However we went back to our ex-house and hitched up Serenity (who was now parked in someone elses yard) and headed out.  It was 5:01 Thursday May 26 that we officially started to roll.  We headed north. 

We drove until after midnight and finally stopped at a rest area somewhere near Boston.  It was right on the highway of course and very noisy but we did manage to get a few hours sleep. 

Friday was sunny and HOT.  We continued our drive to Maine and arrived at our campsite around 2.  We were tired and hot and we couldn't get the hitch to release.  We tried pulling forward and backing up.  No matter what it just wouldn't release.  Finally we just decided we were not going to unhitch.  We were too hot and stressed to deal with it so we finished setting up everything else and went in for a cold drink and to sit in an air conditioned 5er for a while.  Once we relaxed a bit we decided to tackle it again.  One of our neighbours came over to offer some help.  Of course once other men detected someone with a problem they all came over.  It didn't take long to get it done.  We unhitched finally.  I felt better then.  It seems that we are not supposed to take the weight off the truck before releasing the jaws. Who knew.   It was the opposite with the little Jayco we owned before.  We hope we have this little problem solved and as today is moving day we will soon know.

On our drive up here we stayed on the interstate all the way.  The roads were so bad we bounced everything in Serenity all over the place.  Good thing we strapped the TV down tightly.  It was so bad even one of the blades on the ceiling fan broke off.  Good thing I wanted to replace that one anyway with one with a light in it.  Looks like it is going to happen sooner than later.  Everything had moved and bounced.  The shower head fell and broke the little loop thing holding it to the wall.  Something else we have to replace.  Sheesh. Wonder how it would have been if we had of left the interstate for some back roads!  I shudder to think.  Today we move again.  This time we are not so stressed and we feel better (read more rested) with everything about this life.    We will cross the border later this afternoon. 

So until next time stay safe and watch out for the other guy.

The wheels will roll

Today we close and the wheels will roll.  We had it all planned where we were going to be for the next few nights.  We are still parked in the driveway and we are already learning the meaning of the "plans are made in jello" phrase.  The closing was delayed by 4 hours and that already throws a monkey wrench into our plans.  But no matter.  We are free and we don't have to be anywhere by any set time and we have the rest of our lives to get there.  WOW what a feeling.  Of course everyone we talk to asks the same question, or rather same two questions, the first one with a look of surprise and a bit of doubt............"you are going to LIVE in your RV? and then comes the look of envy and "where are you going first?"

The people who bought our house were here last night for their walk through.  They are a nice couple with two children.  I hope they enjoy the house as much as we did and I hope they make a future full of memories there. 

I still can't believe that we are going to roll today.  I thought this day would never come. 

I will close with one word today...................YAHOO!

almost there

Wow the past two weeks have gone by fast.  I can't believe we pull out in just two more days..... or as the kids say 2 more sleeps :)  I made our first reservations today.  The first of many.  We are heading up north to Maine and plan to stay there for 2 nights.  Then we cross the border into NB.  I am so excited and still a bit stressed.  Still having those mixed feelings..... I am sure you know the ones.....excitement mixed with the "oh no what have I done?" feelings.  I am waiting for the feeling of relief we will have when we roll out of the yard on Wednesday.  We have been living in Serenity for nearly 2 months now and I must say we really havn't noticed a huge difference from living in the 2500 sq foot house.  I guess that shows just how much of the house we actually used. 

We have been so busy.  The house is empty, repairs are done and addresses have been changed.  We are going to domicile in Florida so our new address is out of Pensacola.  Maybe I can get cut rates on Walt Disney tickets now. 

We had our yearly dentist check ups and I am happy to say our teeth are shiney white and we don't have any need for further work. 

We went out for a farewell breakfast with some friends.  As excited as I am to roll it is hard to leave friends.  We will be back and I know we will hook up again.  In fact we are going to be back in the area for the RV Dreams rally in Hershey in Sept. 

I have been driving around the area doing some photography.  I am planning to do a photo journal of our travels and the adventure starts here.  It has been fun to see places with an eye for pictures.  I am having fun playing with the camera and learning what it will do.  Here is some of what I have taken so far.

Blue Marsh Lake

I wish they had over night camping around this lake but unfortunately it is only day use. 

This is Reading at night.  We went up to the pagoda which sits on a hill overlooking the city.  Such a nice view.

The edge of the pagoda with a cherry tree in bloom. 

Union Canal hiking trail.  Easy wide walks.  Perfect for the beginner like me.  I would like to take the bikes out there for a ride before we leave, if it ever stops raining long enough.  At least with all this rain we know Serenity doesn't leak!

Until we meet somewhere down the road .......stay safe and have a wonderful week.

2 more weeks.

Two more weeks to go and we roll out the driveway.  The timing on this is not the best because we roll just before the memorial weekend. Not having any way to predict that we would be on the road for the holiday weekend we did not make any sort of reservations, and we all know how much the CG prices go up when a holiday weekend rolls around.  Our plan was to head north to Canada stopping for a few days in New London, Salam and a few other places on our way north.  We don't want to spend a weekend camping in a Walmart parking lot so we now think we will just head north moving until we cross the border.  Once in New Brunswick we can moochdock in my sisters yard and my parents.  I don't really know how long we will stay but that is the beauty of this lifestyle.  We will stay until we want to move. (or my parents decide that we are leaving. heheh right Mom?)

The last item on the inspectors list was taken care of this morning and by tomorrow we should have everything we want to keep moved out of the house and we just wait for closing.

Be seeing you soon somewhere down the road.

Getting closer and closer

My daughter flew home today after spending the past week visiting.  We had a great time taking photos and exploring the area together.  It was nice to see the area through new eyes.  We spent a day in Philadelphia exploring history and a day in Atlantic City exploring shops.  Both days had great photo ops for us.  It was sad for me to see her leave today but I will see her in a few weeks when we leave here and head north to Canada to spend some time there. 


As full timers Canada will be our first destination.  After that who knows but we will end up in Florida for the winter.  That is going to be our state of domicile and we will need to get drivers licences and plates for the truck and trailer.  We have already set up mail forwarding out of Pensacola using the service provided by Good Sams RV club.


We have been busy getting the last things done here.  There were a few things that came up with the inspections and we have one last thing to fix which will be done next week.  After that we just have to wait for closing.  The inspections went quite well.  We really had very little to take care of and for that we are thankful.  We realize how lucky we are to not be in an upside down situation as so many are. 

Tomorrow we are planning to take the dogs for rabies shots.  It is required to take them across the border and even though we have never been asked to produce proof of rabies shots the one time I didn't have the proof would be the time I got asked.  We have also been camped here in the driveway since getting home from Tennessee around the 20th of April and we are in dire need of dumping the tanks.  Serenity has her back wheels crossed!!  So after the rabies shots we hitch up and haul her up to Cabelis to give her a good inside cleaning. 

We are both looking forward to the day we roll out the driveway for the last time.  As I was warned I am feeling mixed emotions as we wait for the last day.  One minute I feel goosebumps and the next nerves take over and I am scared to death.  When Ira and I first talked about doing this I was sure this was what I wanted.  I was told that it is common to have the "are we crazy" thoughts and I was sure that I would never have those.  Well......guess what thoughts are going through my mind?  However, I know these too will pass and the day we roll out the driveway will be amazing.

Counting down the days.  See you soon somewhere down the road.