Time for an update!

We left Tallahassee and drove for 3 days to finally arrive in Sedalia MO. We had a few problems the first day on the road, the engine was overheating going up hills, so when we arrived in Birmingham AL, we went to the CAT service center and they fixed our problem (which ended up being a dirty radiator).

The next day, we drove to Paducah KY, very nice little campground, the whole group went to eat at the Flamingo Row, a very good restaurant, very unusual food but absolutely delicious.

We finally arrived in Sedalia on Sunday, quite tired but happy to finally park and set up for a few days. We met a lot of friends we had not seen for quite a while, including a couple (Shirlee and Jack) we first met in Mesa AZ two years ago, they are from Riverside CA. It was good to see them again.

Days are busy in a rally, between visiting the vendors (and spending money) and going to educational seminars, days go by very fast.

Today we went with Shirlee and Jack to a local diner, a real landmark in Sedalia, it was built in 1947 and has been serving the famous “Guberburger”; hamburger topped with peanut butter, yes you read right, peanut butter, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo since then. We just had to go try this concoction, unique to Sedalia, and it was surprisingly good. Unfortunately, they will have to permanently close their doors in September, to make way for a wider highway, it is quite a shame.

This afternoon we participated in the “Coach enhancement tour” and opened our coach to visitors so they could admire the changes we made, the feeback was very positive and we met lots of new people that way. It is actually really fun to see what clever ideas people come up with to improve their motorhomes.

The only problem with these rallies is that you end up eating way too much…. but we do cook and eat in the coach once in a while…

Tomorrow we have more seminars to go to and there will be dinner and entertainment tomorrow evening

Finally! We are ready, Yeehawww!

After weeks of preparation, (we worked our butts off) washing, waxing, caulking, sorting, garage-selling, packing, giving, cleaning, organizing and loading, we are finally ready to go on our adventure of a lifetime. At one point I was so tired I was actually looking forward going to the dentist for my root canal, just so I could sit on a chair for a few hours and relax LOL

We plan on traveling for the next 2 years or so, we debated for a long time on how we could do this. We thought about selling the house, or leasing it, finally we found the solution. Thanks to Derrick and Brandy (Bear’s grandson and his girlfriend) who are going to house-sit for us, we can travel without worrying about the house, but still have a place to move back into when we decide to plant our roots again.

Lord knows I am not too good at organizing, it never came naturally to me, those who know me since I was a child actually know that I was born a total slob. I had to work very hard to learn to get organized. Bear thankfully developed a real talent at keeping track of my stuff, like my glasses, the phone receiver, my keys, etc. etc. wich mysteriously end up in the strangest places. Living in 300 sq ft for the next 2 years will probably help solve this problem. I did a great job this time! I am so proud of myself, the bins are so well organized, it is a thing of beauty, I am not kidding, take a look, did I do good or what! Can’t be any better than that! (patting myself on the back) (Giving credits where credits are due, Bear helped a great deal).

We packed everything except what we forgot of course, but we haven’t found out what that is yet, we will surely find out once we need it, whatever IT is.

We will be traveling in style, thanks in part to Rick, our friend. He is putting together a line of durable dining and kitchen accessories for RVers. His “Durable Elegance” line is aimed at luxury RV owners (which we are obviously not) but he used our RV to take the “Glamour shots” of his products. He gave us 2 place settings of absolutely gorgeous break resistant bone china dishes, a wonderful set of silverware, plus break resistant wine and water crystal glasses. I tell you what, we can dine in style and show off big time!

Our dealer finished the installation of our new wood floor today, all we needed done was the finishing baseboard trim on the hallway wall. We love the floor, it changes the appearance of the coach completely, makes it look so much classier. They did a wonderful job.

Next on our schedule, we will be camping in Tallahasse on the 21st, where we will meet with 3 other couples, and we will caravan together to the Bounder Rally in Sedalia Missouri.

Life is great in our “Humble but seriously upgraded Bounder” (wink wink to Lola!) LOL LOL

Answer: Ask me to hold a Garage Sale.

Since February Florida had seen so little rain that fires were burning everywhere, some days, depending on which way the wind would blow, we couldn’t even see the house across the street, the smoke was so thick. For months people were praying for rain, but nothing was happening, that is, until I planned my first ever garage sale…

Garage sales are not my “cup’a tea”, I don’t go to garage sale nor do I enjoy holding one. For weeks you empty closets, attic and cupboards and pile things in the garage until you create a maze of junk into which you can easily get lost. You have to put up with this junk until the day of your garage sale, hoping that crowds will rush to your house and buy all of it, so you will make enough money to repay you for all those weeks of hard work, breathing dust and bravely diving into boxes full of forgotten junk and dead bugs. I would diagnose this behavior as delusional, it ain’t gonna happen, you know it, your friends know it, but that does not stop your from hoping it will happen….

Since Florida had been enjoying months of good weather, Garage Sales were a popular way of spending those sunny and mild Saturday mornings, making you feel so good because you are “saving money”. (Explain to me how the act of spending money
suddenly transforms into “saving money” when it comes to garage sale shopping). Having less money in your wallet at the end of the day should be a clue that somehow, something unorthodox happened to the “saving” part of it?

My way of dealing with junk normally had been very efficient; everything that still looked good that I had’nt use in the past 5 years went to Goodwill, everything that was nicked, didn’t work anymore or was plain broken, went to the trash. That sometimes, was the subject of heated discussions between Bear and me, because we don’t always agree on what is “still good” and what is not.

I’m babbling….

The point of this story is, after 4 months of drought, the Saturday of our Garage sale, we had a Tropical Storm, it rained the whole time the garage sale was on, that is from the moment we left the house to go put the signs up 6:30 AM, until the end of the sale at 3 PM. After that, the rain stopped, the wind picked up a little bit, and washed all those clouds away. Sunday was a glorious day, no rain, just sunshine, of course, by then, the garage sale was over and we were left with piles and piles of junk…..

A few brave souls, the die-hard garage sale addicts braved the bad weather to come and spend their money on our stuff, only the hard core ones did though , because mildly addicted never thought anybody was crazy enough to have a garage sale on a stormy day.

The people at the Goodwill store were very happy that it rained on Saturday, they ended up with all the remains of the garage sale, 3 trips to Goodwill later, we could finally see the floor of the garage, which made me think that frankly, had I had my way, this would have happened a lot sooner, Goodwill would have had a little more stuff, we would have been a little (very little) bit poorer, but a lot less exhausted.

The bright side, we got the spend the day with Debi, Kimmie and Shane, and that was fun, they helped a lot, actually they did all the pricing, selling, counting and the negotiating, I hid myself in the house each time someone would show up, simply because I had not clue how keep a straight face and make people believe that they were getting a good deal and they couldn’t live without my junk, since I was so darn happy to see it go in the first place…

Anyway, it is done, we now have space to store the “good junk” the one we really want to keep, the one we will get out of the boxes when we move back into the house in a few years. For now, we have to concentrate on packing our “indispensable stuff” into the motorhome and start living our dream.

In not too long, it will happen, the countdown is on, we are leaving on June 18th.