3 more days!

Today is party day for Ron's retirement and our Bon Voyage!  Just 3 more days and we are on the Road.  Everything is in the RV, and tomorrow we will empty the garage into some of the kids' cars.  Ron will tear down Lucinda (our tandem) and load the Toad (our jeep, aka storage vehicle) withour bikes and hikey/bikey gear.  We'll hook up the Toad (Jayne Cobb) to Serenity (the RV) and after a couple of stops in town at Colerain (for a new windshield wiper) and maybe Camping World if we think of anything "last minute" we need.

Then it's on to Jacksonville, FL, to visit my sister, Renee, and brother-in-law, Dave.  They have a little farm there with some chickens, ducks, rabbits and dogs.  They grow som veggies and have a boat to add some fish.  Dave hunts deer, turkey's, and I don't know what all.  So if they get a goat or cow and can make cheese, they will be all set.  Oh, they might need a pig, cause everybody needs bacon!

After a couple of weeks in FL, it's up to Asheville, NC, to camp and play with our mountain biking friends.  A week there, then back to OH-IO, for Chloe's play.  On to IN for a few days, going up to Goshen, IN, for the Escapees RV Bootcamp to learn what we don't know.

Three days at Bootcamp and we go to Littleton, MA, for Ron's Adventure Cycling Leadership Course.  Once he does that, he can lead cycling tours around the country--won't that be fun!  Aaaawwww, now we start to really relax and head up to Martha's Vineyard to see friends.  Up to Nova Scotia for a month just a wonderin'.   Back to Maine for a month, exploring Acadia National Park, climbing Mt. Katahdin (maybe), Ba' Ha'ba, and more.  Hopefully fiends and family will join us some there.

To finish out the summer, back to OH-IO for Ron's nephew, Derek and Rose's wedding.  Then we are "free fallin' " with no specific plan, EXCEPT south in the winter, North in the summer.  We expect to spend some of winter in AZ and be in CA in the spring of 2015.

Well, we're off to party at Big Mike's.  Sallie (Kaylee) signing off for now...

One week to go!

Well, we've got one week to go!  7 days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes and on and on!  Can't wait to be on the road.  I'm tired of packing, squeezing, tucking, cramming everything in Serenity.  Been living in her for 3 weeks and starting to feel like home--we got the pictures hung, creating our special places, getting settled.  We're ready.  I've been ready for a while but had to get everything in order--a place for everything (almost) and everything in its place.  There is a lot of preparation to be a full timer, but it is worth it to take the time (for us about 3 years) to plan carefully, allow yourself some breathing room.  Do your research--join some RV groups on Facebook and other places, folks are always willing to help you out as you find your own way.  Most important is not to lose your excitement for the adventure you will embark on!  Think of all the glorious places you will go, what you will see, what you will smell, what you will hear, what you will feel!  There are no words!

Crazy Life!

OK...so we had a wonderful time in Africa (separate posts coming on THAT trip)!  We bought our awesome RV motorhome in November...a 2014 Forest River Georgetown 328TS.  We named her Serenity (all you Firefly fans) and she is a Class A, 34' long, 3 slides and a washer/dryer (haha).  She is a good ship and will carry us around the 'verse for many years.

We have had a horrible winter in Indianapolis, so we had to put Serenity into heated storage.  At the end of December we found our "toad" (that's the vehicle you tow behind your RV if you want).  He's a Jeep Liberty Sport, cute as a button, and we named him Jayne Cobb, a Firefly wild man.

After we both recovered from the flu, we headed full blast into preparation for "full time" RV life.  Ron's retirement date was set for March 31st, and, is my nature, I pulled out the poster board and created my planning charts.

We brought Serenity to Ruckle Street the first week of February, because we needed time to get her packed and figure some things out!  Do you know how many things you need to know about a home on wheels?  I measured and spent hours at the Container Store, and Ron started looking online for tow packages, solar systems, and other goodies.  Then we started unloading the "sticks & bricks" house (another RV term, but you get the idea).  How we can have so much stuff after the two huge yard sales we had last June, I'll never know.

We started putting things away in Serenity and moving them around, and moving them around again until I found all the right places.  We bought storage boxes, and bins, and racks, and hooks, and any other organizers we could find.

We met with the realtors, Karen and Mike, and listed the house.  We emptied it (giving a lot to the kids, thanks to Adrea and Glen for bringing a truck), EXCEPT for the garage, a two-car garage, very large and now very full.  We had everything cleaned and Mike took photos.

So that brings us to Wednesday, March 5th, still below freezing, and we moved in!  Holy Cow!!!  Zoe, our pug, thinks we have lost it and stays on our heels constantly!  It's Friday, March 7th, and we are sitting at Colerain RV, our great dealership, while they UN-winterize Serenity.  We are taking her back to Ruckle where we will fill the water tanks and start emptying the garage into the appropriate cubbies in and outside of Serenity.  Sallie ("Kaylee") signing off for now.