In Memory

Boy I tell you…There's times I just get hit in the face with reasons why I am doing the right thing by retiring early and hitting the road.



I just found out that a long time friend has passed away from Cancer at the age of 52. He was a hard worker sometimes putting in 14 hours a day leaving him little time for anything else.



I’m thinking about you David and good luck on your ultimate journey.

Getting the itch

We have been here too long. I am getting the itch to move on. Susan now has 5 Big cat fish she is feeding. We also got a humming bird feeder and now have a humming bird to feed. Then there is the squirrel that eats the bread used to feed the fish and ducks if we forget to bring it in.



I think I have figured out that 1 month is the max I want to stay in one place. September 17th is the day we leave. We have a house sitting job while the Aerbus is in the shop. This will only be a week then we can move on.



I got the electric bill yesterday. Yes we pay electricity on top of the rent here. $29 for 38 days. Running the air conditioners, convection oven and fans, I think this is very reasonable. Much less then it was living in the house.



I watched some poor lady struggling to take out the trash cans the other morning on my way to work. I remember that. Life is so much easier living in the Aerbus.



Escrow still hasn’t closed… Another day – Another $100. Not sure I told you but every day escrow is late the buyers have to pay me $100. However, I am anxious to close so I can cancel the utilities at the house. Also I need to get our finances in order and accounts setup for the road.



As of today I have 5 more working days left. Can you imagine not working? I still can’t. With all that time I will have the shiniest motorhome in the park.

Our Cat

This is a photo of the catfish that we feed everyday. Actually all you can see in this picture is its gaping mouth with a hunk of bread in it. I have never seen a catfish come to the surface to feed until now. I always though they were bottom feeders. This guy is so big that it can devour a whole slice of bread in one gulp. I reminded Susan that she is spending over $30 a month feeding the fish and ducks and that she is not allowed to feed the Bison when we get to Yellowstone. That would put a serious hurt on our budget.



Click on photo to enlarge

Working on the road

Last week I met one of our neighbors. He said they have been here and working since last November. I figured they were living here permanently. Then the night before last, suddenly he was out packing until the wee hours of the night. I got a chance to talk to him last night and he said he was heading for Florida. I asked, So your work is done here? He said, no there is more to do here but they need me in Florida. I asked, So what is it you do? He said he is a Disaster Insurance Adjuster.



You meet all kinds of people in this lifestyle. Some of the people I have met so far Have to work and some Choose to work to support this lifestyle. As of this writing I have only 16 more working days.

It just get's better everyday

OK. Didn’t think I needed it but I broke down this weekend and bought a satellite TV system. We went with DirecTV because they are giving away the hardware for free right now, I like free. They also looked like they offer more channels for the price. We got local programming so we can pick up our local (San Diego) news anywhere in the country.



Found out that escrow will not close on the house until this weekend. That’s almost 3 weeks late. The good thing about it is that the buyer has to pay $100 a day everyday they are late. Good thing too because I figured out that it’s costing us about $30 a month to feed the fish and ducks at our present location. Not that we have to, but they make you feel pretty guilty looking up at you every time you walk over to the rail on the deck. Yes even the fish are looking up at us…



Got my Verizon bill and found out that using the Verizon network as my ISP is not costing any extra. It is included in my plan. So Cool!



So what is it about living in an RV that is different than in the house? Let’s see, I got phone, TV, Internet, all the comforts and conveniences of a house…No difference there. Oh Yeah, We got no yard work, the freedom to roam, new friendly neighbors every week, inexpensive living, awe…that’s the difference. I think we can handle it.

Filling In The Rut

Funny how you don't realize the rut you are in until you make a change. My life used to be the same routine every day and every weekend. Now that I have abandoned the stick house and moved into our house with wheels. The routine will be changing quite often. So instead of ruts they will be mere surface scratches.



Click on photo to enlarge

WORK!?

It's getting harder and harder to go to work. I didn't think it would be any different as I got closer to retirement but it sure is. I have decided to take every Monday off (indefinitely) to spend time with my Grandson before we hit the road. He is 3 years old and I'm not sure he understands what we are doing, but he now refers to the motorhome as Nana and Papa's new house.

So far living in our 300 sq ft 1 bedroom motorhome after living in our 1500 sq ft 4 bedroom house is great! We DO NOT miss the house a bit.

We started feeding the Mud Hens that float around below our deck, then the Croppy started to feed, and now we have 2 giant Cat Fish that come up and eat. I don't know what they all are going to do when we leave. After dinner every night we take a walk around the lake to see who has pulled in and who has pulled out. It's a rough life but don't you worry, we will handle it for you all ;-)



Click on photo to enlarge