What happened

Our lake turned into Pea Soup today. It never was the clearest lake but today I sat and watched as a green cloud came over the entire lake in a matter of minutes. It was the strangest thing. I think it has something to do with the weather. It has been quite hot and humid here and I was told that a lake will 'turn over' with changes in temperature.



As you can see in the next photo, Susan's fish are barely visible in the muck. I hope we don't see them floating belly up tomorrow.





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Well, It’s over

The last long weekend of the summer has come and gone. I got admit, it's a good feeling to just sit back and watch everyone else packing to go home. It's really nice to already be home. I look at all the long faces from what were happy faces just yesterday and remember back when I was one of them. We will never travel during the weekends if we can help it. We will do our travels during the mid week when most are at work.



The site we have is a really nice site during most of the time but being right next to the tent sites it gets pretty wild during the holiday weekends. I thought it would be fun watching the crazies come and go but it gets pretty trying at times. Well it's all over now and we cane once again mellow out.



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My Mechanic

It's always a good feeling to have a good mechanic if things go wrong. My grandson can probably do as good as some of the guys I've used.



Labor day, the last big camping weekend. This place is PACKED. I have to keep going out and reminding people not to double park and block me in. They are 3 deep here. The tent area is a mess with trash and the lake is equally as bad. Can't wait until Tuesday so we can clean up this place and get back to normal.

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Retired!

Today’s the day! After 4:00p today, I am officially RETIRED.

It’s a done deal

I finally got the check for the house. Closing of escrow was 28 days late. But…Not only did I get the check, I got $100 a day for everyday it was late. It was in the contract that the buyers would pay me $100 for everyday Escrow was late. I was anxious to close but didn’t mind making $100 a day for nothing. Now I need to find another way to make $100 a day for nothing.

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.



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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.



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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 ;-)



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I'm online!

I finally got the data cable configured correctly. I am now on the internet via my cell phone. It is very sloooow, but at least I am there. I can at least check my e-mail and update my web site. At least I have free weekends and evenings so it won’t cost me a fortune.

We are paid up here at All Seasons through September 17th then the Aerbus goes into the shop to have another look at my burnt spark plug problem. I have a small hand full of other items for them to look at also before we hit the road. We have a house sitting job for that week so we won’t have to be living in the service center parking lot. If they happen to get it done before we are done house sitting I will just have them park it in their storage lot. If we are done before them then we will be living at the service center until their done. After that we will shoot up to Julian, CA for a while.

I talked with the office staff here at All Season to see if we could reserve this choice spot for December but they said they have someone that wants it as soon as we move out and will most likely become a permanent. We really lucked out to get it when we did. It is a well sought after site.

Our House

Have a look at our new back yard. Somehow we lucked out and got the best spot in the whole park. No one else has a deck over the water. It's going to be hard to leave this place when we are ready to travel.

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Sometimes things just work out right

I got a call today from the RV park where we will be staying through the month of August.  She said she was a bit confused because I requested a monthly rate but was scheduled to arrive on the 25th of July.  She asked if we were still going to stay through the month of August.  I said we will pay the weekly fee for the last week of July and a Monthly fee for the month of August.  She said good because she has a monthly site she wants to put us in.  She said it is the best site in the whole park.  Right on the lake on the end with a built in patio with patio cover.  SCORE!

Whew! The sale is over!

Today was the big Estate Sale.  We are REALLY glad that’s over.  We really unloaded a lot of stuff and made a few buck, of course not even what it was worth.  Well we are just glad to get rid of it.  The rest is going to a charity and what they don’t want is going into the dumpster we ordered.  Most of the furniture is sold and I will be calling a second hand store to see if I can get rid of the rest.  We are moving into the motorhome next weekend so the house has to be cleared out.

 A lot of people asked us where we were moving to and it was fun to just point to the motorhome that was parked out front.  We met a few X fulltimers during the garage sale and got some ideas on where to go and what to see.  None of them told us we were crazy and shouldn’t be doing this.  They all said they had a great time.  The ones that weren’t fulltimers were envious.  I know the feeling, I’ve been there.

No time to say Hello - Goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!

WOW! I didn’t realize how close we were. Last night I took a look at the calendar and found out that I better get on the ball here. Escrow is closing in 2.5 weeks and we have a lot to do still. The plan now is to be out of the house a week earlier on the 25th of July. We need to get out so it can be cleaned, repairs done and fumigated for termites. Fortunately I found an RV park near by to setup in for the month of August so I can finish up at work. I hope I can get in a week early or we will be living in front of the house for the last week of July.

OUCH!!

I have had it only 3 months and already put a new windshield in it. The Saturn got nailed by a rock off a truck. We were on our way back from taking the Aerbus in for warranty work and got whacked. Like I said before, I thought Warranty work was free. This one cost me $192.00. I guess you could say I got a bargain though. The glass shop looked up the cost of the glass and said there must be some mistake. It said $250.00 just for the glass. Then they looked up the labor and said, must be another mistake, it says 4 hours labor. Then they quoted me $192.00 complete materials labor and tax. Well I don’t know what the glass cost but the labor time was right on. It took the guy 3.5 hours to practically dismantle the whole car to get the windshield out. They had to have lost money on that deal. Come to think of it, so did I!

Hunting for a place to live

It’s looking like August is a bad time to be finding a place to live for a month. It is still summer and Southern California is a popular place. We check some of the nicer campgrounds near work since I plan to still be working for the month of August. They all said they may have an opening but I will have to check back as time gets closer. I would rather line something up now rather than wait until the last minute. One put me on a waiting list and said they have always got people in that was on the list. I am not too terribly concerned. It’s just nice to know ahead.

Another trip to Lancaster

We just got back from another trip to Lancaster, CA to get some more work done on the Aerbus. We ran into another fulltime couple that we met the last time we were there. I am sure that will happen once in a while. It has happened to us twice now. It’s a small country…



Yarman’s Driveshaft did an outstanding job of getting rid of my vibration at 60 miles per hour. The Aerbus is a pleasure to drive now. If you are near Lancaster, CA and in need of any driveline work, give Yarman a try.



The trip home was a bit easier this time. Usually we dread going home. This time is was different because we know it will only be one more month and we will become official Fulltimers and “Free To Roam About The Country”.