tomorrow

Well, tomorrow the saga at Lazydays ends and our future begins. We stayed in the bays last 2 nights while the tile in front of the fridge set.  It rained most of the afternoon, so we shopped for a few things for dinner this afternoon. I bought honey and lemon juice to make Bees Knees , thanks to Tom (and Nina) for the recipe: 2 oz gin, 3/4  oz honey, 1/2 oz honey.  Mix FIRST, then shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Don't be like me and fill the cup with ice first. The honey solidified, so don't do it...

Lucky deal -the tile that was replaced didn't get scratched when the slide was closed.  Glory day!  Winnebago is known for this problem so they started replacing the tile with carpet.  So we're good.

So we have our Exit Pass.  This is really it, the end.

We'll be back in a few weeks to have a window replaced so we'll be staying at Topsail Preserve RV Park near Tallahassee for 10 days at Santa Rosa beach. 

wish us luck tomorrow!

We're Still Here

We are still waiting to take off on our adventures, but it seems that one thing or another is delaying our exit. Lazydays is doing everything they can, but geting appointments for off-site work at Cummins and Freightliner is causing some delays.  The work is minor, so everything should be in perfect working order once we are off.  We will head on out of Florida and head west until spring.  Luckily we have no schedule and our stay is free.  They gave us a rental one day and also put us up at Country Inns one night.  Right now we're waiting for an appt with Freightliner so they can fix the cruise control.  Since we have no where to go while it's being repaired, I hope we can stay at Country Inn again - it was really nice!

In the meantime we had time to take the dogs to a pet-friendly beach in Ponce Inlet.  Wilbur and Louise had never seen the ocean.  Ken took them in the water, but they seemed more interested in the surrounding vegetation.

When we first arrived in Tampa, we took some time to take a drive and see the Gulf.  The beach and park were deserted so it was all ours to explore.  I wasn't used to the heat and the wind, but it felt good.  I HATE being cold, so I can get used to this. 

My brother Ken also took us to Ponce Inlet for dinner at Inlet Harbor. What a gorgeous breezy evening on the water.  This is not a vacation, we don't have an agenda, and we don't have to go home because we don't have one!  We're home wherever we park - and that is how we planned it all this time - how great is that??

The other day, we went to the tax collector's office in Tampa to get our car registered and driver's licenses. What a zoo but at least that's done, because we have no idea when we'll be able to take care of it otherwise.








Yesterday we put the pets in daycare and drove over to Daytona Beach to pick up the rest of our boxes that we had shipped down here in September.

We spent most of today unpacking and putting everything away and believe it or not, we still have lots of storage.  I guess we did a pretty good job of getting rid of everything we don't need.  Our life is in these 25 boxes. We shipped our clothes, Christmas decorations, kitchen items (I even bought the pasta maker), towels, coffee maker, radio, office supplies, files, who knows what else.

I did have to buy sheets because we didn't know what size bed we'd get (it's an RV King, narrower than a regular King and had to be ordered), but see how much storage is underneath?  The bed was loaded with decor pillows and bedspread, plus the pillows I bought, so they all went under the bed.






We also bought lots of RV supplies like hoses and such, lounge and recliner chairs (I had to have both, cause you never know).  And today we roasted a chicken in the slow cooker.  No tricks, just place seasoned chicken over vegetables and cook on high a couple hours - perfect every time.

I think we are finally done spending.  Now we're just waiting for an appointment with Freightliner so they can fix the cruise control.  It might be a few weeks before it gets in, but we're in no hurry and they're letting us stay for free, so we'll make the best of it until we're on the road. And our dogs approve.

Perpetual vacation

Much has happened in the past few years, but the short story is we decided to travel fulltime in a motorhome more than a year ago.  It was a long and arduous journey - selling, storing important items, shipping everything for the motorhome to Florida so I'm sure my brother may never speak to me ever again, and getting rid of the rest via donation, selling or letting the picker take the rest.

                Let me give you the short version.  Last summer we decided to get the house ready to sell.  We had already put in a new tankless water heater and new Rinnai boiler that also hangs on the wall, very state of the art.  We had the landscaping redone and steps to the backyard rebuilt.

We hired another contractor came in and cleaned out the pond, added a fountain to aerate it, then we added 6 Koi last year and 4 big ones this summer.

They all seem to be thriving, and once we fished out about 3 dozen catfish, the goldfish started growing and propagating.  We also had the decks and most of the inside repainted, insulation added, driveway resealed, and many other upgrades

When all the work was finished,  we finally put up the house for sale in August 2014 just before Labor Day.  Not a good time and the only potential buyer was turned off by the smell of smoke, so we took it off the market for the winter.

I had my left hip replaced on March 17 2015 and told my family to destroy any ashtrays and cigarettes, so I have been smoke free since.  Think of the money I've saved, my health restored, and the house smelling fresh and smoke-free! But it's ironic that the buyers both smoke.

We have also shipped 25 boxes to my brother in Florida which will get when we have a home.  We'll go shopping when we get there to find a Class A RV for our home for the next few years.

After the picker came and took away all the books and much more...

Empty spaces, everything gone.

Mementos are now in storage...

an empty house symbolized by an empty closet.

The car is packed for the trip to Florida.  Can you see one of the dogs in the picture?  Don't worry, they had plenty of room on their plush dog beds behind the front seats and the cat ran free.








And.....off we go to greet our future!