Exploring the USA as a family
We had our first real snow of the season last night. Its been a beautiful fall in Colorado so I suppose its time for some snow. And its Saturday morning so there is no need to rush off anywhere, we can just enjoy the beauty of winter while sippin’ on a cup of joe. But, as beautiful as the snow can be I can hear the warmer temps of the south calling my name.
While handyman Tim is working on putting the bathroom back together we get a knock on the door Wednesday morning that they are going to put in a new gas line to our house. This means a lot of digging in our yard. Read more
As if preparing for our adventure isn’t keeping us crazy busy enough we decided to remodel our bathroom in the house to just spice things up a bit. The bathroom underwent some major renovations when we first bought the house but we did not mess with the floor or the door. Since we want our house to be nice for our renters (anyone looking for a fully furnished, family friendly house in old town Longmont during the first half of 2016?) we decided that the bathroom had to get new floor and door. So our local handyman Tim Pearl showed up yesterday and started tearing things up.
I can come up with good support for both answers to that question. The fact is, I am stressed. And I really should be trying to enjoy this time of gearing up for our launch. I mean, everyone else is excited for us. They say, “I bet you’re getting excited”, “I am so jealous”, “Are you all ready to go?”, “Did you get a truck yet?”. Its awesome that we have so many encouraging friends and family who are interested in our adventure. But every one of their questions and comments sort of blasts the DEFCON 1 horn in my head. There is still so much to do but we are taking it one step at a time and like Lady Macbeth once said, “what’s done is done” to which I have added “and what isn’t done still needs to be done”.
The truck? Oh I’m glad you asked (DEFCON 1 horn blaring in my head)! So the great deal I thought I found was a dud. My broker friend has a very keen eye and noticed some damage. After getting some more pictures we realized it was not a good deal at all. So we have been pursuing one in Sublette Kansas…you never heard of it? Me neither! The check engine light was on so we had a 3rd party diesel mechanic do an inspection today. The check engine light was just a broken wire on the fuel water sensor…trivial repair. I’m waiting to get the rest of the report on the truck. Maybe by week’s end we’ll have something to pull Ava with.
Sort of a trivial step in the process but finally got around to getting Ava (our fifth wheel) officially titled in Colorado in our names! I strolled the few block downtown to the DMV and was pleasantly surprised that there were exactly zero persons in front of me in line! Armed with the bill of sale, the title from the seller and a completed VIN verification form I walked out with a license plate, registration, title (actually this will get mailed to my house later), and my bank account further diminished. I should mention that my first attempt to do this was thwarted by the lack of the VIN verification form. When a vehicle (or at least a trailer) was previously titled out of state you have to have a qualified person do a VIN verification….that is, they verify that the VIN on the vehicle matches that on the title. In Colorado this can be done at emissions testing stations or by a dealership. I used the latter and was able to get them to go to the trailer instead of taking the trailer to them.
I’ve read about several folks who took up the “fulltiming” life because they were fed up with their situation, their job, their neighborhood, the rat race or whatever. And I commend folks for having the wisdom to see they are unhappy and the courage to try something different. But our story is a bit different. For one, we are not really “fulltiming” because we are only going for 6 months. But also, we are not trying to escape from anything (well, perhaps a break from some of the hustle and bustle will be refreshing).
When we moved to Old Town Longmont in 1999 I was sure it was just going to be one step in our real estate future that would eventually put us on a several acre plot outside of town with plenty of storage for stuff and lots of privacy….perfect for my introverted life! We were renovating our 1890’s house and were starting to think about a place in the country (well, I was…..I think Steph was just humoring me). We’d go out house shopping and when we would come back to the ‘hood I’d get this feeling. A really good feeling. Like I was home. But this just could not be possible. Our house was too small, the yard too cramped, no garage, a shed that is shared with our neighbor whos house is only 9 feet from ours. But there was no denying the feeling…this was home.
Nope….again, not that kind of TV. I’m talking about the news on the tow vehicle! Its been rainy and dreary here in CO and that coupled with my random decision to give up caffeine for a bit has left me sort of in the dumps. I felt completely paralyzed with what to do about trip preparation….and we’re only 10 weeks (or so ) out!! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!
My search for a truck so far has led me to believe you can only find DRW trucks in CO….the SRW’s are at least a state away. I found one in KS and another in UT recently. Essentially the same truck and price. Getting the one in Salt Lake was an easy (and cheap….$59 one way) flight but KS what a bit trickier. I debated….I thought….I dawdled….I pinched my pennies like those souvenir penny smashers….I drug my feet. When I got home from church last night I did a quick search and found an even BETTER deal than I have found to date!! My good buddy Scott Middleton at Insight Automotive is assisting me in checking it out and quite possibly buying it for us!!
So….stay tuned for more TV news!
My one word for 2015 is trust. It really became my word in late 2014 and so I decided to use it in 2015 as well. As we prepare to head out on our adventure there have been numerous items where trust plays a big role. For me trust is tricky because I sorta want it to be a one way street….I want people to trust me but its hard to trust other people sometimes. And not just people, but God.
Whats the deal with couches these days? The arm to butt space ratio is WAY out of wack. We found this out when our family grew to 5 members and our tiny loveseat in our tiny TV room didn’t have enough room for 5 butts…but only because the arms of the loveseat took up at least one, if not two, butts worth of space. We figured out that the Ikea Karlstad couch (plus the chaise for lounge-ability) would just fit in our room and had enough space for all 5 of us. The couch has arms appropriately sized for an average human arm, which is the most frequent use case for couches in our house. I watched Craigslist like a hawk and ended up scoring the EXACT unit we wanted, almost brand new (was in a family’s vacation home) for $200 and located less than a mile from our house. Well, it seems that the poofy, luxury couches that come in most RVs are designed for Popeye’s big arms and tiny butt just like the sticks and bricks counterparts.
Once again my good buddy Eric lends a huge helping hand with winterizing the trailer. Its mid October here in CO and the nights are getting chilly. It won’t be long until we start dropping below the freezing mark. So we gave the grey and black tanks a really good cleaning, drained the fresh water tank and drained the water lines. We also pulled the plug on the water heater. You’d think that draining the water lines would do the trick but we hooked the compressor up to the water inlet and, whoa nelly, there was still a LOT of water in the lines. But after awhile we were just getting air out of all the fixtures. I then poured a little antifreeze down each of the drains. I think I’m going to order some Fresh Cab to deter mice from moving into our rolling castle. I also saw a pretty clever mouse trap you can build with a 5 gallon bucket….maybe I’ll try that too.
I had really wished that we could get a trip under our belts, but its not going to happen. There are so many benefits to getting some time in the trailer before rolling out long term….but we don’t want to do it the easy way!