Thanks for the support and encouragement

All of your supportive and encouraging comments are much appreciated right now.  I have been blogging about this, the end of our sticks and bricks time, in part to relieve the stress and also to encourage anyone who is thinking about it, to get started.  Hopefully this will also show them that this phase will pass and we will make it to our goal of becoming full time RVers.

I was thinking about my blog this morning and came to the conclusion that this process is somewhat like a long illness.  It is with you every day, some days seem harder than others, and your friends and family get tired of hearing about it.   Like with an illness, we have had help from our doctor, the handy man. I do know, in my heart, that we will get thru and recover fully. 

Today (Wednesday), I finished my jobs by 1:00 o'clock!

 

Looking down on the garden, from the deck, before spreading the bark.

Craig cut and emptied the bags, and I spread them with the rake. 

It took less than an hour to do the job!  Big improvement!

This is the collection of paints and stains I dealt with today.

More:

I didn't take a picture of the empty shelf or space on the floor, but they have been sorted, emptied as needed, some put out to dry, and loaded up to take to the hazardous-waste place on Thursday. The motor oil has been poured into plastic containers, and I hope the HW people will tell me where to take it.  The rest of the van space has been filled with "to the dump stuff"!

Meanwhile, Craig went out and got our new smoke/carbon monoxide alarms as well as 40 boxes into which we will start packing his science fiction collection, to send to his nephew. He also installed the alarms, but grumbled that the California guidelines on where to install them are quite a mess.

So after a busy, but productive day, we indulged in home made Buffalo chicken wings.  I know, high in fat, but oh so good!

Do you enjoy an occasional forbidden indulgence?

Late Night Thoughts

Sometimes late at night, when I should be asleep my mind just won't relax. I'm sure many of my thoughts are similar to ones many full-timers have. Last night as I tried to fall asleep, I decided that today I would do a post about all the questions and thoughts that were running thru my mind at the time.

Funny thing is, now in the light of day, I really can't remember most of them, or can easily answer them for myself.

I guess they all revolve around one big one. "What if this is all a big mistake?"

I know no one can answer that for us.

I keep thinking of Aesop's fable about the dog who sees his reflection in the water. He has a bone in his mouth and so does the dog in the water. Trying to grab the other dog's bone, he loses his own.

We have a good life and live in a beautiful place. Are we reaching for an imaginary better one?

Today was an absolutely perfect day here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The temperature was just perfect, no humidity, no wind, no bugs. I spent some time out on the deck listening to the birds and watching my deer friend and her two fawns. Craig decided he wanted one of our summer favorites for dinner, a large plate of tomatoes with fresh basil, a balsamic vinegar dressing, fresh provolone and mozzarella, with a crunchy fresh baked sweet baguette on the side. No problem! He just zipped down to town to our wonderful local grocery. A perfect meal, enjoyed together.

I think it's quite normal to have a few misgivings about what we are about to do. Do I want to stay here? NO! Maybe I'm just a little bit afraid of the unknown. For me the story ends with the sale of the house. "And they lived happily ever after..." 

I'm tired of waiting. I'm ready to start living the sequel.

I know we will never be able to come back and live in this house again, but if we don't like full timing we can always settle down somewhere else. And if we love the RV lifestyle as much as I expect to, there will still come a time when our bodies will want to stop traveling.

We are going to talk to an investment advisor this week to get some advice on how to set things up after the house sells. I know we should have an "exit" plan.

The house is not listed yet, but having some ideas and information in advance will lessen the number of unknowns. We need to talk to at least two companies. I want to find the best one that will do it all. Investments, ATM card, money market account, and online bill pay. When all is said and done and the house does sell I want to have the information we need to make the best decisions for us.

Do any of you use Charles Schwab or Fidelity?

Any suggestions on what companies to consider?

Why Dream?

Why dream?  Because without dreams life will pass us by.

I realize that the future cannot be predicted 100%, but I believe that if you have a dream, and are willing to do things that are required to set the scene for that dream, then it may happen.  If you sit back as do nothing, life will take its own course and will eventually just end.  

We don't get do overs.  

But we do get opportunities.

Dreams can change or be changed by ourselves, or by conditions we cannot control. 

 Some people believe in miracles and or luck. 

 I believe people make their own luck, and chance is a better word than miracle.

I believe in hope, but I don't expect hope to turn my dream into reality.

Daily countdown:

534 days, or 1 year, 5 months, 15 days to go.

Exercise Goal:

1000 miles on the treadmill,  2.25 miles today

Total walked = 126.25 miles

Someday I will be hiking in National Parks!

The first WHY NOT on my list

I've never really given a lot of thought to off shore drilling, either pro or con.
I've seen the rigs in the distance and thought, "hey they aren't so bad,"
Even after the oil spills from ships have come into the news, I had hoped that improved hulls and other technology would prevent more of them and so quietly accepted the transportation of oil from country to country on the big ships.

When I travel down to Southern California, I have passed some small oil fields, and thought that the strange pumpers were not  intrusive on nature.   Once in place they just rock back and forth.  What about the pipelines?  If there are ways for the wildlife to go over and under, well they don't mater either.

But with this spill, my feelings have changed.  The coastal ecology is very fragile and will be damaged for a long time.  It will come back if there are no further insults to in the future, but if we keep in drilling off shore, there is no guarantee it will not happen again and again.

So how does this all turn into a Why Not to going full time in an RV?  It has made me wonder how responsible driving around a huge gas or diesel motor home is.

But, I really want to see the country. Perhaps taking a long road trip in our Prius with a tent, or just staying at home, would be kinder to the environment.

Nah!  This house sucks a lot of energy too.  And those fulltimers who stay put in campgrounds for months at a time don't use as much power as I do.  The thing is that we want to travel for a couple of years.

This is a reasonable consideration.  Our pleasure, vs the good of the world.  Can our not going make a difference?

Daily countdown:

547  days, or 1 year, 5 months, 28 days to go.  

Exercise Goal:        

1000 miles on the treadmill     3 miles   today.    

Total walked = 107.5 miles   Plus pool time.

         Someday I will be hiking in National Parks!  (or not)

I feel myself changing

I don't know how this will end.  Full time, part time, smaller sticks ...  I do know I feel myself changing.  I feel stronger.  I feel that if I can be positive most days and do a little something towards reaching my goal, I will be able to choose to go full-time or not.  I will not give up the dream because someone or something (other than health failures,) make me give up.

This weekend someone very close to me has gotten into very serious trouble.  In the past I would have lead the charge to rescue or help him out.  This time I said NO.  We will not be drawn into someone's black hole.  Craig agrees with me on this. But saying no was incredibly hard.  I am growing.

Count down to ?

568  days, or 1 year, 6 months, 20 days to go.  

Exercise Goal:        

1000 miles on the treadmill  

   4 miles  today (all at one time!)  941 to go

                   Someday I will be hiking in National Parks!

I must be CRAZY!

597  days, or 1 year, 7 months, 17 days to go.  

Exercise goal: to walk 1000 miles on the treadmill

0 miles today,  989 to go  (Pool day)

To Trash:   

• 10 things from a drawer.
• Large bag of stuff from garage, including 4 large plastic jugs I had saved for some reasom!

I must be crazy!

I was lying in my nice warm bed last night thinking about going fulltime RVing and started to think about my life as it is now. Where I live, my workspace, and the peacefulness of my life.

I thought I must be crazy to contemplate giving it all up.

I am an artist. For over thirty years I sold my work at local Art and Craft street shows. They are an incredible amount of work, but for years they were the best way for me to show and sell. People would see my work, and if they liked it and it fit into their life, they bought it. My income was low, but my husband always made a good income so anything I brought in was "extra." It was enough to help the kids with college expenses. In some ways it is a self-supporting hobby more than a job or business

About ten years ago my husband built a Web Site for me. animalhead.com And eventually I was able to stop doing shows and sell exclusively thru the web site. They see my work, and if it fits into their life and they like it, the buy it. BUT I don't have to set up on the street every other week and carry finished work in inventory. My income is small, but it does help pay for my health insurance.

When we bought our house twenty-two years ago, one of my priorities was to have a studio room. That I have! I also have lots of other space and garage space for the storage that I feel I need. Many of my artist friends have far less room.  My space is perfect for me.

 The location of the house is beautiful and easy to get to.  We are in the Santa Cruz Mountains and are surrounded by forest.  But at the same time we are very near a major highway and it only takes 10 minutes to get to town. Craig still works part time at one of the many computer companies in the area.

 I’ve had customers who upon getting out of their cars, look around and say things like “This is a bit of paradise.”  Or  “You are so lucky to live here.” 

I know that.  But I’ve been here for long enough and I want to make a change. 

I must be crazy, but my heart is in this and I can't let the idea go.

We shall see ...

Reading blogs is helpful

I have been thinking about Rving for a long time.

Since I cannot just go out and buy an Rv and hit the road just yet, I am starting to do my homework, learn as much as I can, and in a way live the life vicariously by reading RVers blogs.

I have found so many sites on the internet that give information about rigs for sale and such. I have also found several interesting clubs and groups that offer both get-togethers, information, chat groups and so much more.

So to start I am reading blogs written by people who have made it to full time RV living, or are still working toward it. I have found it quite interesting to first sample a blog by reading a few current entries, and if I like what I see, I go back to the beginning of their blogs. This way i can get a view of the things they have gone thru to get to where they are today, and also get to know them.

I must admit I tend to skim over the blogs that are about their holidays or grandchildren at this point. I'm looking for "how they did it" or ""useful hints" or "problems I might be able to avoid."

Likewise, I hope in this blog I will be able to contribute useful information for anyone who might read it in the future.

for now the countdown is :636 days until my 65th. birthday.

I am going to go clean out one drawer.