No words can describe how hard Chuck and I worked getting ready for our great adventure. If we thought hunting for the coach was a chore, it was nothing compared to the task we were facing. We had a house to pack up, things to get rid of, and fine tuning to do to our Blue Skies dreamboat. I had already started doing a lot of packing in July when we got back from our honeymoon. We knew we were going to move so I'd started going thru things and packing stuff we weren't using. Faced with the fact that we were not buying a house but putting things in storage put a different light on the boxes I'd filled thus far. I went thru what I'd started with an eye for getting rid of as much as I could. My neighbor who was selling her house suggested I put stuff in her garage sale so I struggled with getting as much stuff together for that as I could bear to part with at that point. It was difficult cause I've been a pack rat all my life. Saving things that I "may" need someday or one of our many kids "may" need some day had always been my mantra. When Chuck and I informed the kids of our plans we began giving them as much stuff as they would take. We were also storing a lot of their things so we started getting on them to find places for their treasures. We had a house with a full basement, full attic and 2 car garage. It's amazing how much a person can store in that much space. Mom and dad had given us permission to store things at their house as long as we kept it within reason. So I had to scale back on what I'd always defined as reasonable. If it wasn't valuable I either threw it away or donated it to charity. At the garage sale I marked almost everything a nickle and what didn't sell we toted off to the Goodwill store. My youngest daughter was just starting out with a new apartment so I was able to give her most of what she needed. Since Chuck and I are both limited with health concerns and weight restrictions I had to get a lot of help from the kids and friends to do the brunt of the moving. Thank goodness we had plenty of both or we'd have never gotten it done. I quit my job at Toyota on the 2nd of November and we hit the road on November 23rd. So those 3 weeks were non-stop days of intense labor. Lot's of planning & keeping our eyes focused on our goal, not to mention some pretty strong prescription pain meds and teamwork. The fact that Chuck and I both agree on so many things & both equally excited about our new adventure kept us on track.
Since Chuck was planning on working from the coach and since we are both avid computer users we had to make a desk area for our computers. We took out the dining room table and chairs to empty up some space & hired a cabinet maker to build us a 72 inch desk top to match the counters thru out the coach. We bought some cabinets and Chuck altered them a bit to fit. The results were beautiful. Plenty of room to hold our 2 computer towers and moniters plus his work laptop and the printer.
We also knew the bed was going to be an important issue. Chuck and I've both had surgeries on our backs and I have fibramyalgia and we were used to a waterbed. There's no way to take a waterbed onboard a motorhome. So we had to do some serious bed shopping. The motorhome came with a brand new mattress, still wrapped in plastic but it wasn't thick enough or by any means comfortable enough by itself. We finally decided on buying a 4 in memory foam mattress topper which was the perfect solution. We ordered it online 3 days later and it came in an 80lb package about the size of a 25in. TV. We unrolled it and laid it out on top of the mattress but it was anything but flat. Lumpy and bumpy and twisted and curled. We wondered if it would flatten out and fit but within a day it was perfect. By the next day it didn't even stink. The first night we slept on it we knew we'd made the right choice. It was wonderful. In fact, it was even more comfortable than our waterbed.
Another issue that was serious for me was the small clothes closet. I had CLOTHES! And of course Chuck was gonna need a couple changes of outfits too. It took me considerable time, not to mention adding and subtracting and carrying in and out to decide what I would need and what I could LIVE without. Since the weather was going to be variable we'd need some warm clothes and some summer clothes. We have 5 small drawers and several cabinets in the bedroom. I was able to pare down our wardrobe to fit comfortably. We share the drawers for undies and socks and jammies. The tshirts, sweatshirts, jeans & shorts are folded into the overhead cabinets. I've even got a little space left over. I'll probably need it by the time we head back north.
I'm happy as can be with the kitchen. In reality, I've got more storage in this kitchen than I had in the house. Including drawers. The important thing was to bring things that could serve double and triple purposes. I found several good tips in blogs I'd read from other full timers. One thing I forgot to do though, was make sure they'd fit in the microwave/convection oven.... oops! Oh well, I can always find what I need at thrift shops. Florida is full of Flee Markets! We are all set to hit the road and surpisingly enough, we've lived thru the preparations!
I've posted pictures for you all to see.... click on the link below
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=enxxrx4.11bbo66w&x=0&y=pgog6o
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2 comments:
Deb and I can certainly appreciate all that you two went through in getting ready for your 'Great Adventure' and while some of the details and time-frames may be unique to each of us, I'm sure that all of our fellow 'Nomads' who have chosen to enter this life-style on a full time basis have suffered through a generally similar experience of finding new homes for our possessions, both the 'treasured' and not and the decisions to be made on just what items (and how much weight) we could carry with us. It was quite exhausting, both from a physical and mental standpoint; however, through it all, our eye was always on the prize and we're so happy to have made this choice and we continue to enjoy every minute. As much as we looked forward to starting on our travels, at the time we had but a vague idea of what we might encounter along the way but the dividends of all our work have far exceeded expectations.
We trust that the same is true for you - we can hardly imagine that it would be otherwise.
Cool to see the shots of Chuck contemplating and later building and installing the computer desk in your RV. Keep up the nice work with your blog and photos - we'll look forward to your future entries.
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