We are Texans (ALMOST) and other foibles

We are finding that living the dream is elusive, or to put it another way to paraphrase the Godfather movies, every time we start feeling good about our lifestyle change we get pulled back to the current reality.

The current reality is that Jo is a Texan while Bob is still a Missourian. Here’s what happened, every thing that Bob read over the last year about becoming a Texan is that you had to get your driver’s license within 30 days of registering your vehicles and that you had to register your vehicles first before getting your driver’s license. Bob confirmed the latter while getting information on registering vehicles which luckily can be done long distance by mail which was completed in early September. While talking to the Department of Transportation personnel about registering Bob confirmed the 30 day limit. So on September 30^th, well within the 30 day limit, we journeyed to Burkburnett TX to spend the night in a Hampton Inn using the last of the HHonors points Bob accrued while working, actually there are only 71 points remaining! Bright and early on October 1^st we arrived at the Department of Public Safety driver’s license station in nearby Wichita Falls. Jo was able to get her TX driver’s license since she had a birth certificate and all the other necessary paperwork. Here is where it gets real interesting.

Bob had read online that you needed either a passport or a birth certificate and he had a passport card that he got for his fishing trip with the boys to Canada in June, his birth certificate is packed away somewhere due to the move. It turns out DPS does NOT accept the passport card. At this news we were very distraught anticipating another 18 hour round trip getting Bob’s license by October 10^th. Every cloud has a silver lining as it turns out the limit was just changed to 90 days so Bob can get his license on our way to TX for the winter. We plan to spend a little time in Livingston at the Escapees Rainbow Park and then it is off to the Port Aransas area near Corpus Christi for about a month.

Another foible deals with the satellite antenna for the roof for our television habit; let’s face it we are TV-oholics. At the very last minute, in fact the day the antenna was to ship from the distributor to the dealership we switched from Dish Network to DirecTV. All through this we were adamant about our desire for ALL the high definition channels. Turns out there are two Winegard satellite antennas for DirecTV the 3003 (non-HD) and the 3005 (HD); this situation is a bunch of if only, if only we had known that the Trav’ler model had two different DirecTV models and inquired about the part number, if only the dealer who had previously ordered the 3005 for customers had caught the different part number since they knew we wanted HD, if only the installer had wondered why there was 4 coax cables at the roof location and only 3 outputs from the 3003, if only we had noticed that although the 3003 and 3005 have three LNBs the ones on the 3005 are a little bit bigger since they are dual satellite LNBs. We have to give credit to the dealership who did not say it was not their problem and realized their part in this mess. We have to take responsibility for our part and we did, agreeing to pay for part of the new antenna since the distributor would not agree to assume any part of the cost of the mess. The dealership agreed to assume most of the cost of the new antenna and we were about to agree to the deal.

But on a whim we decided to email the sales manager at Winegard and explained that through no fault of Winegard we ended up with the wrong satellite dish for my RV and wondering if there was anything we could do. We really have to give a lot of credit to Winegard because even though they had no fault they went the extra mile to make sure that a customer was happy. For the price difference between the antennas Winegard shipped the correct unit to me, we paid for the old unit to be taken off and the new unit put on and the old unit shipped back to Winegard. Luckily the hole in roof and mounting plate were the same size so that work did not have to be repeated. So now all we have to do when we get to our site is turn the dang then on and it automatically aligns itself. We have 130 channels of HD programming and two dual tuner DVRs with a lot more capacity than our old Comcast DVRs, a TV-oholics dream!

Working in reverse order we just have to talk about going forward while towing the fifth wheel (really good), turning (pretty good but nerve racking) and backing up (not so good)! Bob’s driving lesson on the way out was brief but it covered going forward and turning pretty well. We were in the far end of a Big K parking lot so there was not a lot of landmarks to help judge how well Bob was doing. Add to that is that you can really only see one side of the fifth wheel the backing up lesson left a little to be desired because we had a whole lot of fun when we finally arrived at our current location the Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar MO. Although there were pull thru sites available the park prefers that long term units be parked into sites that are not pull thru. Plus Bob knew he would have to do this sometime in the future so we went for it. Bob’s very limited previous experience has been with boats which he found out is a lot different than backing up a fifth wheel. After about 15-20 minutes of futile attempts the guy parked next door helped Bob get the fifth wheel into our site or we think Bob would still be trying to get that accomplished and it is almost 5 weeks later.

As I am writing this we are getting a very steady rain and the early October temperatures are colder than normal with potentially a hard freeze in the very future so we are getting itchy to head to warmer climates. Our plan is to get a driving lesson from one of our friends next week who is a RV veteran, finish getting out of storage what we think we might need (if it will fit that is) and then in early November our first big trip to Branson and then Texas where Bob can finally become a TEXAN!!

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

2 Weeks of Full-timing

But not yet living the dream : )

We are currently living in our new home in an RV Park just south of the Kansas City area and have been for about 2 weeks now. As the date for the deliveries of the fifth wheel and the truck got closer and closer there was some confusion. At first it looked like we would be able to take the truck and pickup the fifth wheel after all. Then the truck was delayed a week and it looked like we would drive to Michigan to inspect the fifth wheel and then pay for it to be shipped back. The day before we were to head to Michigan we got a phone call that the truck was to be delivered later that day. A quick change of plans resulted us picking up the truck at 6p and heading to Michigan the next morning. Bob had 800 miles to learn how to drive the Ford F-350 and then 800 miles back.

We were able to spend a night at the dealership as part of our inspection and the next night we camped in a state park on Lake Erie. We walked along the shore and saw one of the best sunsets we have ever seen and we thought, yeah, this is living the dream!

The next day we were getting off at an exit to get gas and as Bob turned right there was a tremendous lack of power as the progress slowed to a crawl. We were barely able to get to the side of the road under an overpass. The dashboard indicator read 'trailer brake wiring fault' so we inspected the power cord but it was OK. We have emergency road service from Good Sam Club so we called them. They put a RV technician on and he directed Bob to check the breakaway switch. Turns out the cable for the breakaway switch had gotten caught on the fifth wheel hitch and became dislodged causing the trailer to think it was disconnected from the truck so the trailer brakes were locked. Reengaging the breakaway switch did its magic and we were back on the road again.

That night is when the fun really began, so to speak. We decided to try a night at Wal-Mart parking lot and use the generator and the fresh water in the onboard tank. We stopped in Marshall IL and confirmed with the Wal-Mart that overnight parking was OK. After buying a few things we turned the generator on and immediately noticed that just a few things were working; the bedroom a/c and the microwave was about all that was working, no TVs were working (turns out one of the breakers on the generator was flipped so that is why only a few things were working). Without TV to watch we decided to read and then it became really interesting, the bedroom a/c started just putting out warm air (turns out the outside air was not hot enough for the a/c to work properly). Since we were worried about the generator we turned it off and opened up the bedroom windows to get the cross flow breezes, turned on the exhaust fan in the bathroom and read with battery powered reading lights lying in the bed. Are we living the dream yet?

We really thought the worst was behind us but boy were we wrong. The next morning we started the generator so we could microwave some breakfast treats when we heard some beeping and noticed the LP gas and Carbon Monoxide detector beeping. Because we were worried about the generator the night before we hastily turned the generator off and opened the door to get a breeze. When we realized it was just the battery low indicator on the detector we then tried to start the generator to charge the batteries. Here's the rub, there was not enough battery to start the generator. Here's the worse rub two of our slides were still out, Jo was worried about this very thing so we put in the living room slide the night before. Bob was trying to decide how to manually start the generator or how to get a wrench and manually retract the slides when Jo had a great idea, to hook up the power cord from the truck to the fifth wheel and see if the batteries on the truck would provide enough juice to retract the two remaining slides. This worked like a charm and in no time we were back on the road again thanks to Jo. We drove all day getting into our new location for awhile at the Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar MO about 5:00 p.m. and after setting up the fifth wheel we wondered if we were about to start living the dream.

But then reality set in again as we are trying to figure out how to organize and we are busy all the time. We have been unpacking, organizing and then moving stuff from one area to another as we try to figure out how to live in our new home. We were so accustomed to having stuff within our fingertips that now we have to pare down and not everything can be in the bathroom but where do we put the extra stuff; in the cabinets over the recliners, in the cabinets over the couch, in the entertainment center, on the cargo tray, or in the rear basement? We have moved things a couple of times as we adjust. We still have a lot more in storage to go through but only the important stuff will even make the trip, the rest goes to Goodwill in Belton. We have yet to "live the dream" but plan on that as soon as we are organized and are on some beach somewhere.

Our next update will be about learning how to back up this beast, the issues with our satellite antenna, becoming Texans, and other things we are certain that will crop up.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Stumbling along (Update Part 11)

We are now in an extended stay place having left our house so that the estate sale people can setup for our Estate Sale August 27-30. We were a little concerned about our home inspection because of the number of items found but our agent assured us that most inspection reports are a lot worse. There was a lot of work that could be done by Bob and the remainder was done by a professional contractor.

While that work was being performed we began packing and sorting things into piles to go to storage and to go with us to the extended stay. We were still sweating the appraisal since appraisals have gotten tougher in this new era. As the appraiser was leaving she told us we could keep packing and that we did not have anything to worry about. As if we did not have enough to worry about with the inspection and then the appraisal we were not prepared for the phone call we got the day before we were going to the extended stay place. The people in the room that we were going to be using had their stay extended so we no longer had the room. There was not another 2 room setup at that facility. There was a sister property in the area so we took a room sight unseen and that made it interesting when we checked in.

As far as the extended stay room goes let me say that we are going to have way more storage in our new fifth wheel than we have in this place, more hanging space, more drawers, more everything including square footage we swear. We ended up the first couple of days with boxes all over and we had to buy flat plastic storage trays that would fit under the bed. We also remembered couple of things we left behind so we had to take a couple of 30 mile roundtrips to retrieve them.

Bob started calling to get insurance quotes on our new home and vehicle since the new Ford F-350 could be available between August 27th and August 31st which is the date we close. The fifth wheel could be available August 31st to September 2nd. The buyers close on September 4th and take possession on the 5th. Although the plan seems to coming together nicely we feel that we are stumbling along on this roller coaster ride; just when we start to relax we remember things we left behind in our rush to get out of the house or we remember more things to do. We have way more stuff in storage that will fit into our new home because we decided to wait and do the really serious culling until we had to. Once we get everything organized in our new home we have adopted the motto that "if something comes into the fifth wheel something has to come out" so we shall see how that goes.

We still have a lot to get done before we start living the dream and we plan to periodically blog on our progress so stay tuned.

We would like to remind everyone that if they would like notices of when updates to the blog are posted that you can sign up for the yahoo group that I have set up and you will get an email when it is posted. The yahoo group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

You can subscribe to this blog posts and/or comments by making selections under 'Subscribe To' or you can join the yahoo group which will notify you whenever a post is made, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/,

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Update on progress towards full-timing Part 10

It has been quite a whirlwind since my last post!

We started interviewing Realtors the week of July 13th and talked with the wife of someone I used to work with on Thursday, July 16th. We clicked with her so good that we decided we did not need to interview anybody else so we signed with her the very next day. After signing she took pictures and video for the ad and went to her office to put the listing online. While she was putting the listing online she got a call to setup a showing on Sunday morning. We spent Saturday mowing and weeding to make sure the outside looked good and we had more things to do when we got a call from the scheduling service that a showing would be in less than an hour. We needed to take our showers since it was getting close to time to go to Mass so we asked for an hour and 15 minutes later which was OK to the interested parties. While I was taking my shower we got another call from the scheduling service and another couple wanted to see the house at the exact same time. They waited in the driveway while the first couple was there. We went to Sam’s Club to kill a little time and then to Mass turning our phones down. Leaving Mass I checked my phone and there was a message from our Realtor saying one of the couples wanted to see the Seller’s Disclosure statement which indicates high interest. This info is supposed to be online but there was a glitch. Our Realtor gave permission for the agent to go back into the house knocking first in case we were there since there were two copies of the home info with disclosures in the binder on the island. We were to put a copy in between the locked front door and unlocked storm door after we got home. When we got home one of the packets was missing so we thought he might have been there but put one in the door anyway. Shortly after we got home we got a call and were told there was an offer and our Realtor was on her way.

The first offer was not all we wanted so we countered and they had until 5p the next day for the counter since by now it is about 9:30p on Saturday. We did not budge much due to the short time on the market and the incredible interest. On Sunday they countered back and we countered and then they countered. With the house on the market less than 24 hours and the incredible interest we decided to hold our ground and sweated out a few minutes before we got the word they had accepted. We feel very happy with over 98% of asking price and we are paying none of their closing costs. We close on September 4^th and they take possession on September 7^th pending a successful inspection and appraisal and financing on their part. They have been pre-qualified and are getting a 15 year loan so without asking for any help on closing costs we think financing should not be a problem.

We signed the contract for the house sale on Monday. We had already spec’d out the fifth wheel and were already in the queue for it to be built but the formal order was received in the mail on Monday which we had to sign and get back to the dealership in Michigan. Offline for the fifth wheel is expected the week of August 31^st meaning we may be able to do our inspection of the fifth wheel before we close if we can get there and back. We then drove to a Ford dealer and ordered our Ford F-350. Delivery time is between 6 weeks (week of August 31^st) and 8 weeks (week of September 14^th which is the week we have flights to Denver). On Tuesday we interviewed Estate Sale people and set that up for August 27-30. We also called Extended Stay places and reserved one. Although we could stay here in one of the bedrooms we would have to be out every day from 9a-6p while they are setting up the sale (August 17-26), running the sale (August 27-30) and cleaning up for a few days after the sale. A few days would be OK but more than 2 weeks would not be fun so we will go on a mini-vacation. On Wednesday I reserved a slot in the RV park south of here. Estate Sale, extended stay, RV park are of course all dependent on the timing of the house sale.

That is assuming that the inspection at 3p on Friday, July 24th does not torpedo the deal. We thought we were told it takes about 2 hours so we gave them 2 and ½ hours but they were still there. Now they were walking out the door when we drove by but they were STILL there. We started freaking out so we called the guy who was filling in for our agent since she was on vacation and he said he would call the buyer’s agent and call us back. The buyer’s agent said the inspection went “pretty well” and that he would get the Inspection Report on Saturday and meet with the buyers. We may hear on Saturday or at the latest Sunday the 26th.

If the inspection does not torpedo the deal, which we think it won't but you never know, we will begin deciding what goes with us on our mini-vacation and the rest goes into storage until we can move it into the fifth wheel.

It will be hectic over the next few weeks and stressful until we hear about the inspection but we know it will all be worth it and cannot wait to start full-timing.

Til next time!

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Update on Progress to Full-timing Part 9

Although we still have a few things to work on before the house is shown by Realtors we have taken a some huge steps in our progress towards full-timing. We have finished everything that needed to be done before we called the two couples who already expressed an interest in the house. Well we have called them, one couple said they would like to see the house and we will try and set that up early this week and one couple said no that the thought of a move was too overwhelming so no.

Achieving this milestone made us realize it was time to pick out our new home. After an exhaustive search of units already at dealers determined that none of those had the options that we needed, especially dual pane windows and extra insulation since we will be full-timing, we have decided to order a brand new unit. Dual pane windoews and extra insulation have to be done at the factory and usually are only put on units that are ordered. We have selected a 2010 Carriage Cameo F35SB3. For 2010 Carriage has made options we were going to buy anyway standard with the Cameo and with no price increase a 2010 could be cheaper than a comparably optioned 2009 so we are happy about that. We are currently getting bids from 4 dealers and will choose the dealer this week that provides the lowest cost for our new home delivered to an RV park near here. We will not be getting our tow vehicle, a Ford F-35o dually diesel, until our home sells. A couple of the dealers are a fair distance away but are very competitive in their pricing so this should be interesting considering the added cost to deliver the unit. We plan to live in our new home while the Realtors are showing our old home. We are low maintenance people and the hassle of keeping the place clean and not worrying about the cats getting out if we are not there. Plus we figure it would be best for prospective buyer to not see liter boxes and wonder about pet odors, etc. Ordering a unit instead of getting one off of the lot that takes 6-8 weeks may force us to live here for awhile, but hopefully only a short while.

While all this has been going on we have compiled our list of Realtors and will begin calling them this week to setup appointments. We also want to talk to one Auction company and explore that possibility. Depending on what advice the Realtors offering for further staging, or for the need for professional staging, will determine when the house goes on the market.

We do have to correct an earlier posting, the one dealing with the end of an era for airline flights. We have a trip planned to Denver in mid-September that we originally thought was going to be after we were full-timing and more importantly after Bob had some experience driving the rig. Since it took longer than expected to get the house on the market we will not have the tow vehicle by mid-September so we are taking good ole Southwest to Denver and staying in the Hampton Inn.

Since we are in a mad dash to get the house sold and our new house ordered we can now guarantee that any travel related posts (Albuquerque, Clearwater Beach, etc.) will be after we move into the 5er.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Update on Progress to Full-timing Part 8 (plus Canada fishing trip)

As we were finishing up on everything that needed to be done we decided to check in with the two couples that expressed an interest in the house figuring we could do this FSBO and save Realtor fees. One of the couples said they would think about it and to call back when we were ready to show them the house. The other couple was out of town and said they would call when they got in town. They did call back a few days later and wanted to see the house the next day. Immediately about 50 more things that needed to be done sprung into our minds so we had to tell them we needed more time. It is amazing the things you have to do when someone else is going to walk through your house. Unfortunately you just cannot stuff everything into closets or the bedroom that you can close the door when entertaining. This was also just before Bob was leaving for Canada for a fishing trip (more on that later). Bob is now back from Canada and there is a few days more work to be done and then we will call those couples back. We did rent a storage unit before Bob left for Canada mostly for the stuff that will be going with us to the fifth wheel and for stuff that we will decide if we need later. Since we have gotten rid of a lot of stuff we were able to get a smaller unit at a fairly cheap price and can go month by month.

Since my last post we have pretty much finished the staging upstairs, although as we progress further we now think we may need to get professional staging advice, guess we are not as good as we thought we would be with 'accessorizing'. We did go to an RV Bootcamp as part of Escapade 2009 in Sedalia MO in late May. Escapade is a yearly gathering of members of the Escapees RV club where seminars on full-time RV'ng and product demonstrations take place. The weekend before the Escapade a Bootcamp is held for potential RV owners and newbies where system basics and a general overview of the lifestyle is given. For the most part it was fun and informative although the session on RV fires was a downer since only the negative side was given; e.g., all RVs are poorly made by unskilled labor, fires happen all the time, they are fire traps, your pets will die, and you have 20 seconds to live. There was good information on fire extinguishers and detectors but way too heavy on the negative causing us to pause and rethink our strategy. After we talked with other RV owners we calmed down a little and now are back on track.

We have split up what needs to be done before the FSBO candidates see the place and are concentrating on that list. We hope to be done with that next week and show the place before July 1st. This date keeps moving out because there is just so much to do. A week may go by and all we get done is normal upkeep; cleaning, mowing, laundry, etc. How did we ever have time to work?

O Canada; as mentioned previously Bob just got back from a week (Saturday to Friday) of fishing in Canada with his buddies Mark and Gerry on Thaddeus, Ord and Moose lakes in Ontario. As with any trip of this distance (approx. 900 miles) there are stories to tell. There was bad traffic in both directions; heading north a bad wreck near the Missouri river that had both sides of I435 backed up for miles. Then there was road construction in Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota that caused delays in both directions. What is being called the "great yellow trash bag incident of 2009" occurred as we were just about out of Iowa heading into Minnesota. Bob packed some of his stuff; pillow, bedding, rain gear, life vest, etc., into a yellow trash bag and put it in the boat. As Bob was sleeping and Gerry was driving a driver pulled beside him and was waving frantically. Not sure what the problem was Gerry pulls over to the shoulder and hits the warning grooves rattling the entire van rousting Bob from a deep sleep. The first thought was a blown tire but upon further review the yellow trash bag had flown out and probably hit the driver who was waving frantically. Figuring the stuff was behind us we proceeded to the next exit and proceeded south to the next exit, luckily they were only about a couple of miles apart. Long story short is that we found everything except the life vest on the road, it had been run over and the pillow was ruined but everything else was found and in good shape and we headed back on our sojourn north.

Bob was last in Canada in 2001 so he noticed improvements on the road from I35 to International Falls. The road was more 4 lane than he remembered, plus there were clear skies and a full moon such that he was able to see the horizon when driving at 3:00 a.m. on the way to International Falls. Bob usually ends up with that stretch of driving and 2 lane roads with construction and heavy rain and dark, dark, dark was the normal conditions. The border crossings were also much worse than expected, especially on the way back since it was a Friday and most fishing trips to Canada are Saturday to Saturday instead of the Saturday to Friday for this camp. Due to all the delays what normally takes about 18-19 hours took 20.5 hours. Arriving at the camp we noticed what appeared to be a huge mass of mosquitoes and we thought we were in for it. Turns out they were not mosquitoes but a harmless bug that was just annoying due to the swarm of them. The weather was cold enough there may have been only one mosquito bite the entire trip. The cabin was a very pleasant surprise, it was probably the best cabin except the privately owned Eschbach cabin the very first year Bob and Mark went to Canada in 1982.

The weather may have been cold but the fishing was pretty good for Walleye, Northern, Smallmouth Bass, and one 36" Muskie caught by Mark. For conservation purposes there are now size limits on the fish and one day a lot of walleyes were caught but every single one of them was either over the limit or too small. Mark caught a very nice 26" walleye and both Bob and Gerry caught walleyes that were over 20". The Northern caught were not spectacular but numerous and fun to catch. The surprise of this trip had to be the number of very nice Smallmouth Bass caught, the most caught on any trip to Canada that we could remember. The biggest was Gerry's 3 plus pounder. More pictures can be found on http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Since we are in a mad dash to get the house ready for the FSBO candidates first and then Realtors I can now guarantee that any travel related posts (Albuquerque, Clearwater Beach, etc.) will be after we move into the 5er.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

You can subscribe to this blog posts and/or comments by making selections under 'Subscribe To' or you can join the yahoo group which will notify you whenever a post is made, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/,

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited, including pictures from the Canada fishing trip, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Update on Progress to Full-Timing - Part 7

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last blog entry. I really am a bad blogger but I promise once we start full-timing it will get better. I have entries on Albuquerque and Clearwater Beach that I want to do plus fill you in on where we are and what we are seeing.

It is taking longer than we thought to get things done. We realized that the entry way would need to be re-tiled. The house was built in the 80's and they set the tile in thick mortar that they did not mix properly so some areas were loose and it was terribly uneven. This turned out to be a dusty and messy adventure, not as dusty as the great kitchen disaster of 2008 but pretty close. First I had to level the floor with mortar and then use thinset to adhere tile to the new mortar. Only had a couple of tiles that I had to redo where new mortar adhered to old mortar but not to the tile. Painting the entry way door on the inside to cover up a bad stain job finishes the entry way. For the great room we spray painted the fireplace insert and vent fan covers, bought and installed roman shades and just finished up valences. In the full-timing arena we setup mail forwarding service and are changing addresses.

We are in the midst of staging the upstairs rooms and will start cleaning out garage and will spruce it up next week along with cleaning siding and windows and a touchup on the painting outside. It has been unbelievably rainy this spring so the outside work has slipped a little.

So as you can see we are getting real close. I would like to be finished in May and talk to the potential FSBO prospects and start interviewing realtors. We are heading to Sedalia in late May for a bootcamp for potential full-timers at the Escapade.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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I am a REALLY Bad Blogger (Update #6)

A lot has been going on as we prepare to fulltime this year we just have not had much time to blog about it. As mentioned previously we have shredded or burned countless bags of paper. It is amazing how much has your name and address or account number or SSN or all of the above. It is more amazing that we keep finding stashes of paper everywhere.

We have had a number of garage sales and have donated a bunch of stuff to charity. Some stuff we do not plan to use to stage the house was given to family. The last major collection to get rid of is my HUGE Star Trek collection that has a lot of really neat stuff but no place to store in 5er.

In January we changed to Bank of America for nationwide access and we think we have everything transferred over. We are in the process of going paperless on all of our accounts. We have mostly finished the major renovations inside; just finished the master bedroom and the guest room upstairs. Next inside tasks are the garage and a fresh coat of paint on the finished basement. When it warms up we will have yet another garage sale, put a coat of paint on the front stoop since the new concrete patching clashes with the old concrete, and spruce up the landscaping for better curb appeal.

In the very near future we are going to change to Escapee mail forwarding so that we have time to change everything over to the new address. We plan to talk to realtors in March and put our house on market shortly thereafter in late March or April. We are contemplating an auction since our place is lakefront on a 70 acre lake and there is not that much lakefront property available at one time in the KC area.

During our garage sales we posted a sign in our garage that the house would be on the market in Spring 2009 and got a couple of nibbles so we plan to call them before we talk to the realtors and maybe we can sell it quickly and with no realtor fees : )

We plan to buy Carriage Cameo F35SB3 fifth wheel after we have selected a realtor and know what else needs to be done. We then plan to live in RV park 7 miles from house so no liter boxes showing or chance of cats getting out if they show house while we are not there. Doing this will allow us to leave the home staged and come back once in a while to clean, mow the lawn if it goes that far, etc. Once we move to 5er we will have post office hold mail and pickup when we check on house. That way we will know if everybody we need to have new address has it.

First trip in the 5er will be depending on when the house sells since we will not be getting a tow vehicle until the house sells. We will be going to Escapade and bootcamp in May in Sedalia one way or the other.

It is becoming more and more likely that any travel related posts will be after we move into the 5er.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

I am a BAD Blogger (Update #5 on progress)

I truly had planned on more frequent updates but I have been busier now than I have ever been. There is always something to do and updating the blog keeps sliding down the list. I really wanted to get this post out now so that I can wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Around Thanksgiving Jo and I realized again just how thankful we really are, and odd as it seems we are somewhat thankful for the economic crisis. If I was still working I know my retirement date would be slipped due to the downturn. Since I am retired it has forced us to cutback on some spending and for the most part are living off of our pensions with a little dipping into our non-401k savings. Full-timing will be cheaper than living in our old sticks and bricks so we may be able to go for a few years without touching our 401k's allowing them to rebound. If there had not been this downturn we may not have adjusted our spending and when the next downturn hit it could have been a disaster for us as we would have depleted our 401k's in the mean time.

There has been no time for blogging since we have been working on the inside of the house now that the arctic blast has hit. We have finished our office/bedroom including revitalizing the old woodwork, the hollywood bath and are finishing the upstairs master bath. That only leaves the master bedroom and the guest room upstairs and a fresh coat of paint on the finished basement. When it warms up in spring we will have yet another garage sale, put a coat of paint on the front stoop since the new concrete patching clashes with the old concrete, and sprucing up the landscaping for better curb appeal.

I hope my next blog post will be travel related; I am hoping to do my historical review of Albuquerque in the very near future so stay tuned.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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Update on progress towards fulltiming - Part 4

Flexibility is key when working on an effort this large. When the weather was hot we worked indoors painting and when the weather cooled off nicely we went back outside for more yard work. Now as the weather turns cold we will head back inside.

As I write this I am sitting in the garage running our second garage sale in two weeks. I cannot believe how much "stuff" two people can jam into all the nooks that exist in a house. The office/bedroom is a perfect example. We were going to clean it out and move everything out so we could paint. When finished painting just the stuff for staging would be moved back in. In the office we had two bookcases, a loveseat sofa sleeper with ottoman, filing cabinet, computer desk, rolltop desk and of course the closet. It took us a week and a 1/2 just to get the stuff out of the ottoman, filing cabinet, computer desk, rolltop desk and the closet.. By that time it had cooled off so we went back outside.

Neglected maintenance accounts for most of the work that is being done, especially in the back yard. Whenever we had the gumption to do work outside we invariably concentrated on the front yard and then pooped out when that was finished so the back yard suffered. For the longest time we needed to clean the concrete in both the front and the back so the cooler weather allowed that opportunity. The powerwasher and a neat attachment for cleaning flat surfaces got a work out on the driveway, sidewalk and stoop in front, the patio and deck in the back.

After patching some of the concrete in front that had been eaten away by salt and after the concrete and the deck were cleaned we then sealed them. We may decide in the spring to paint the concrete in the front for better curb appeal but at least now we won't have to clean them again.

While it was still hot we cleared out the coat closet in the foyer and the linen closet in the hallway. All the wall hangings were removed and the furniture (hall tree, welcome posts, etc.) were moved out. The hall tree was in the country style so we chose a paint color in the same family but a lot darker and painted the hall tree. The walls were patched and painted and the closets were painted white. The bare minimum of stuff was returned to the closets so that we don't have to do that again.

In addition to garage sales we have attempted to sell some items on craigslist or ebay. For the longest time nothing sold but here recently things are picking up. We put things on craigslist and ebay that would be hard to sell at a reasonable price at a garage sale since everybody is bargain hunting.

We also found some time to visit our local RV dealership since they just got in a brand new floorplan that is appealing. We were able to see our favorite from this brand and the new floorplan and compare them side by side. Later this month we are driving to Chanute KS to visit the factory of our other favorite brand and see three floorplans we like there.

As more and more stuff heads out the door we can begin to see how big the place really is without too much stuff we had in it. We can also start to see the end of the trail, that is getting the house on the market, happening in early Spring. We did not waste an opportunity for marketing and hung signs in our garage sale stating house would be on the market in Spring 2009. We got a couple of nibbles because of the marketing so we are encouraged by that. Both nibbles are a couple of months away from seriously looking so our timing just might mesh with theirs.

I hope my next blog post will be travel related; I am hoping to do my historical review of Albuquerque in the very near future so stay tuned.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Update on progress towards fulltiming - Part 3

I had previously mentioned that the logjam of the basement had been finished. The problem with logjams is that they can re-form downstream. After almost two months the great kitchen disaster of 2008 has mostly been completed. I have a message for all those that thought someday Jo would wise up and realize what a dope I am and that would be the end of our marriage; well if we can survive the kitchen I think we can survive anything - but this did come closer than any other event has ever come.

The comedy of errors known as the great kitchen disaster of 2008 actually began a few months ago when I mistakenly thought that 23 year old appliances could be a part of the home sale. In my defense the appliances were black and stainless steel which is all the rage now, but mostly black instead of stainless instead of the current rage of mostly stainless steel. I felt that with a little spit and polish that they would be fine. As 23 year old appliances are prone to do they began failing in earnest over the last few months. As June rolled around we only had one burner on our cooktop that worked pretty good; an oven that got hotter but you never knew which temperature or how even the heat was and a microwave we were afraid to use because the next time it broke it probably could not be fixed. So for those keeping track we now have had to replace a furnace, oven/microwave built-in unit and a cooktop this year already.

As it started to heat up outside we moved our activities inside and painted the kitchen ceiling in late June. Then it was on to the wallpaper. I feel that whomever invented wallpaper should be dug up and have their bones scattered all over the four corners of the earth but first I want to dance on the grave. This is the second room where we have had to remove wallpaper and although we hate to admit it this wallpaper did come down easier than the other room. Once we tried to remove the glue though the paper on the Sheetrock starting to disintegrate so our only option was to sand the glue; a huge dusty mess even though we tried to place tarps over everything the dust got everywhere. What we did not realize was that this was going to be the small mess (more on that later).

About this time the oven/microwave was installed and the cooktop was on order. A few years ago we had Granite Transformations put a countertop around our sink and on the island with the cooktop. It took a lot of research to find a cooktop that only required slight modifications to the cutout and one that expanded the hole which was easier than making it smaller. Granite Transformations wanted the cooktop on hand so that they could measure it exactly. Now it has been said that every cloud has a silver lining and the silver lining of the great kitchen disaster of 2008 has to be the modification of the cutout; the technician was right on time, used cool tools to do the job and even attempted to cleanup after he was done even though the glue dust was everywhere. The cooktop slid right into the slot and then I began installing it.

For those that do not know this I used to be a project manager one thing that has been said about projects is that they always take longer than the estimate. Well I estimated this job to be about a couple of hours since there were only two connections to worry about; electrical and the venting for the downdraft and both were already there. We had disconnected both to get the old cooktop out so we were familiar with the setup. Projects take so much longer because of the unexpected; the electrical connection was from the front of the new unit instead of the back like the old one and the conduit would have interfered with putting pans in the island so the junction box would have to be moved. Turns out this was the easy fix because the venting for the new downdraft went in the opposite direction than that of the old. Since the space was tight it was impossible to get one elbow on each end to be able to connect. After 4 trips to various hardware stores and a few days the 2 hour job was done. A shout out needs to go to Smith Brothers hardware in Raytown. I have been in town almost 30 years and whenever I needed a part that no one else had I was able to get it there.

While dealing with the frustrations of the cooktop installation I began to use joint compound to patch all of the areas damaged by the wallpaper removal. Because of the less than stellar results of our first wallpaper and painting effort I decided to liberally apply the spackle and then sand it even. Well the last liberal thing I had done prior to this was to vote for Jimmy Carter in 1980 and that was a mistake too. I should have taken the time and built up the areas slowly instead of the mudslide effect that I used. If we thought that sanding the glue was dusty it was absolutely nothing compared to the dust raised by the sanding of the mountains of mud. The kitchen looked like China during the Olympics and we must have looked like people during the SARS scare with our masks on. So much dust was raised and moved throughout the house that I am quite sure that five years from now we will open a cabinet in our RV the dust will have followed us there. The sad part is that there were still areas that could have been better.

So we now think we are in the home stretch as all we have to do is prime and paint. As we started putting the primer on; after setting up the tarps for the umpteenth time, the primer was not adhering so it was off to Sherwin Williams. We were using latex primer since we try to avoid oil-based as much as possible and the latex was interacting with whatever glue was left over. With oil-based primer on brush and roller we proceeded to prime all the walls including all the nooks and crannies prevalent in kitchens. We then made choices to improve our coverage; darker tone of paint, different rollers, type of paint, etc. and painted the kitchen hoping we were done. We now know for sure that we are not great painters because a second coat was needed but the result was better than expected after looking at the walls after sanding.

As the paint was drying the next job tackled was the antique brass knobs throughout the kitchen which did not match the new stainless decor. Replacing all the knobs and hinges was not practical due to their unique nature and the cost. A can of spray paint to the rescue after deciding between three different varieties. We decided to leave the hinges alone and leave some brass on the knobs. I setup a painting station in the basement with nails to hang knobs on for spraying and drying since there was 42 knobs to paint.

When the second coat of paint was dry we pulled the painters tape off and began the massive cleanup so that we could put the kitchen back together. All the dishes in the cabinets had to be washed even though the cabinets were covered with tarps during sanding. As we are working room to room we are beginning the decluttering so more stuff was identified for our next garage sale. A new under cabinet light fixture for the desk in the kitchen was added and all the freshly painted knobs were put back on. A good before picture is not available but here is the after picture. We will do our final staging of the kitchen as we go out the door as well as paint the pantry.

The kitchen has not been our only activity as a huge dent has been made in our library. When cleaning out the basement I found a dozen boxes of books to go with our hundreds of books in our bookcases. My old college books were donated to Better World Books (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/) who among other things directly sent more than 1 million books to Books for Africa, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Feed the Children. Our other books will be offered to family members and then sold to Half Price bookstores.

We have started watching staging shows on HGTV and believe we will try that for ourselves and then get feedback when we interview the realtors.

Even with the setback of the great kitchen disaster of 2008 our target is still doable which is the house on the market in early spring. I was listening to Dave Ramsey recently and he thought that once the election is over and the grass starts coming up next year that the housing market will get better and that suits our timing just fine. While it is still hot we will work on going room to room (office, foyer, etc.) and then when it cools off finish up outside (deck, siding, etc.)

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

Seattle area (Historical 2001-2003, 2005-2006, 2008)

We have been coming to the Seattle area since we first came here for our 10th wedding anniversary. We chose the Seattle area because the weather in July on average is absolutely perfect for us; little or no humidity with an average high of 70 degrees, overnight low average is about 50 degrees, and about 1 inch of rain for the entire month of July and August. The first year we planned on being downtown with no rental car but got a huge jolt when I called all the HHonors properties in the area. The first few had no rooms available and when I finally found some rooms available the lowest rate I could get was $199 and could have spent up to $299. Turns out the MLB all star game was in Seattle at that time. After about 2 dozen phone calls and multiple web searches I was getting desperate. I finally called the Pacific Reservation Agency and told them what kind of places we generally liked and right off the bat he knew of a couple of places. We ended up choosing the Silvercloud Inn in Mukilteo (http://scinns.com/12home.htm) about 30 miles north of Seattle and we could not have been happier in fact 2008 was our 6th trip to the same hotel. We had to skip 2004 due to the evaluation trips for the ESN (formerly ICSI) procurement and our 2007 trip was superseded by the ESN Enterprise meeting in Portland OR in July so we vacationed in Oregon after the meeting.

A couple of stories will really show why we like the weather here. On one of our trips we were walking back from our anniversary dinner and the tide was coming in with a strong breeze in our face and we got a little chilled by the experience. The temperature at the time was 70 degrees. When we called back to KC to talk to family we asked what the temperature was there and the comfort index was 115. The last trip in 2008 was a little warmer than usual and a little more cloudy and rainy than usual. The weather forecaster mentioned that it was going to be hot the next day; 75 degrees, and that a new high for an overnight low could be set if the forecast of 62 degrees was met. Contrast that to KC where everybody cannot seem to wait until it is in the 80's.

There is an abundance of sightseeing opportunities in the Seattle area. No matter where you are you are a short distance to mountains or islands or the coastline. The snow line in the mountains at this time of year is about 11,000 feet so you pretty much can see snow capped mountains year round. Mount Rainier National Park is one of the most scenic areas that you will ever see. Drive along the 400 mile self-guided driving tour called the Cascade Loop from the waters of the Puget Sound in Seattle across the Cascades and the Bavarian community of Leavenworth and into the Columbia River Valley which is a high desert climate that has excellent orchards for cherries near Wenatchee. While in Wenatchee also visit the Ohme Garden which Herman & Ruth Ohme developed themselves and maintained for over 40 years. Ohme Garden sits on a vista and is an evergreen oasis in the high desert. After visiting the garden continue on the loop back into the Cascades and alpine lakes and then loop back to the Seattle area and the waters of the Puget Sound.




Right across the Possession Sound from Mukilteo is Whidbey Island where you can visit Coupeville where Practical Magic was filmed and eat the best mussels that you will ever have, the Penn Cove mussels. Langley is an artsy community on South Whidbey that takes you back to the simpler times in the Pacific Northwest. Many buildings there are on the National Registry of Historic Places and the eating establishments are top notch, especially the Fish Bowl. If you are staying at the Silvercloud, or you park your car in the nearby parking lot, you can walk onto the ferry and a bus will be there to take you directly to Langley (the Langley express) or anywhere on the island for free. A can't miss place to visit is the Deception Pass and the amazing bridge on the northern most point of Whidbey Island.








Right in Mukilteo is the Mukilteo Lighthouse (or Elliot Point Lighthouse) that is just steps away from the Silvercloud Inn. Mukilteo is a local Indian word for "good place for camping" and I find that ironic since we love this place so much and we are embarking on a lifestyle of camping across these United States. Although the lighthouse was recently turned over to the city the navigational equipment is still utilized and maintained by the Coast Guard.




The Washington State Ferry system takes you to a lot of places not accessible by car, or more convenient on the ferry. One place not to miss is the San Juan Islands. This is one of the longer ferry rides where your destination is still within the United States; depending on your departure location it can be as long as 4 hours. But along the way you will see incredible scenery and the very good possibility that your trip will include whale watching as close to 90 of these wonderful creatures ply the waters near the San Juan Islands. We drove to Anacortes and walked on to the ferry there and although we did not see any whales on this trip the scenery was worth the trip. We arrived at Friday Harbor and walked around. We ate at the Downrigger which served excellent fish sandwiches on the waterfront. We visited shops, a bakery, just sat looking at the water, all in all had a great day and then we boarded the ferry for our ride back to Anacortes.

If you are visiting downtown Seattle the first place to see is the Pike Public Market. This is a daily farmers market that has seafood and other artsy booths. This is where you can see the fish tossed from behind the counter to the buying customer, but try to catch it better than Niles Crane did in the classic Frazer episode. Near Pikes Market is the original Starbucks with the risqué logo that was toned down once Starbucks went national. There is an aquarium, maritime museum, and countless shops and restaurants along the Alaskan Way.

I struggled whether to list sightseeing first or food first because the eating in the Seattle area is probably the best in the country. During our six trips here (I was also here twice on business trips where Jo did not join me) we have had the best of the following dishes:

• clam chowder (cream based) at Ivar's (multiple locations)
• clam chowder (broth based) at Fish Bowl in Langley
• fish and chips at Ivar's (multiple locations)
• halibut at Ivar's or Arnie's in Mukilteo
• salmon at Ivar's or Arnie's in Mukilteo
• mussels; Penn Cove mussels
• fish taco at the Tin Fish in Mukilteo
• oysters
• sourdough bread from the Alaskan Sour Dough Bakery on the waterfront
• cherries from an orchard near Wenatchee; be sure and try the Van and Lambert varieties in addition to the Bing and Rainier
  
• cookie; the gold rush from the Alaskan Sour Dough Bakery
• fudge from the Rosehill Chocolate Company in Mukilteo

In addition to those mentioned above I would also recommend the following places to eat:

• Old Spaghetti Factory (Lynnwood and Seattle)
• King Ludwig's in Leavenworth for German food
• Crab Pot in Bellevue or on the waterfront; get the Seafeast for multiple people
• Elliot Oyster on the pier
• Winslow's Way on Bainbridge Island; get the seafood wrap
  
• Padrino's Pizza & Pasta; free delivery-recommend the pasta bella and the baked spaghetti
  

I have a lot of things identified to do when we are back in the Seattle area in our fifth wheel and have a couple of months to get everything done. Here are just a few of the items:

• Skagit Valley; tulip festival in April
• Snoqualmie Falls; Salish Lodge has a die for expensive brunch that you can sit at the window overlooking the falls
• eat at Dahlia's Lounge
• eat at Fisherman's on the waterfront
  
• eat at Voula's Offshore
• eat at Cafe Nola on Bainbridge Island
• eat at Shanty Cafe on Elliot Blvd; great joint serving great homestyle breakfast and lunch since 1914
• Mount Baker
• Mount St. Helens
  

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NOTE: See more photos from this and other places we have visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

End of an era; our last airline flights

As I write this my wife and I are packing for our last airline flights and we could not be happier. When you are working you need to be able to get someplace fast so you put up with the incredible hassle of flying. For someone who traveled a lot for business and for vacation via airline flights you get used to the hassle but it was even beginning to wear on me. As much as I was looking forward to 2008 being a low business travel year for me at work I cannot begin to express how happy I am being retired and the progress being made to getting our home sold, but more on that in a later post (part 3 of the ongoing saga towards fulltiming coming soon!).

The worst thing about using airlines for vacations, even more than the packing and prep work for flying, is that we leave our babies behind. Our cats JJ and Sandra stay in our home and Jo's friend visits them every other day but we miss them, did the feeders work? did they run out of water?, etc., and they miss us. The best thing about our new lifestyle is that our cats will be going everywhere with us.

The hassles of travel begin as you are preparing; 24 hours in advance you need to get your A from Southwest. I can say I am not a big fan of the new boarding process. In the old days when I traveled a lot I was able to get a lot of exit row seating. Now with the new process I go from too early to clicking again immediately and ending up with A35 when I used to be an A2 or A3; I am convinced that somehow there are folks electronically ahead of us in queue!! This has happened the last two times I have flown; both on vacations by the way.

After the boarding pass you begin packing so that you can lug heavy suitcases to the car and then to the airport. I noticed that airlines have started weighing bags, ours came in at 44.5 pounds or we would have had to pay, whew. Now I see where some airlines are beginning to charge just to check bags. Then you have to go through security and wait for the privilege of being crammed into seats way too small and aisles way too narrow, only to be jostled about by turbulence along the way to your destination. Once you get there you have to wait for your checked bag; if you are lucky that is. At breakfast during our current vacation we overhead a family that has been without luggage for two days already. They were planning on moving to another hotel and the airline was going to charge them to get their bags to the new hotel; the airline said the deal was to the hotel when the luggage was lost. The airline was also balking at paying for clothes and necessities for the family because it had only been two days. Just makes you want to travel more doesn't it?

Once you get your luggage and rental car and get to your hotel you have to unpack everything you packed and try to get used to a new bed and pillow. I usually do not sleep very well the first night because of all the hassle and this vacation was no exception.

The new era of travel will begin when we start fulltiming in our fifth wheel. There will be NO packing involved as everything we own will be with us. We will be sleeping in the same bed every night with the same pillow. Moving from location to location will involve disconnecting from water, sewer and electricity and pushing a button moving the slides in. Then backing up the truck and connecting the fifth wheel to the truck and off we go. We plan to drive no more than 200-250 miles per day and staying at some campgrounds for up to a month.

As promised earlier I will periodically have tips of various natures to share; this one is for business and personal travelers who use National Rent-A-Car. Honeywell and National have a contract that allows you to bring the car back and not have the tank full. National will only charge for the amount of fuel used at an agreed to rate. With gas prices climbing higher and higher you can usually save my tax dollars if you do not put gas in the tank and let National do it. For my recent vacation the going rate for gas in the Seattle area was $4.43/gallon. I was charged $3.81/gallon by National. That is not the biggest difference that I remember; once I was charged $1.99 in Albuquerque and the going rate then was about $2.85.

So to all those that are still taking airline flights wherever you we wish you luck and we will be thinking about you as you deal with the ever increasing hassle of travel.

Tip on shredders

I plan to include any helpful tips in the future in the main posts that I create but this one is so good I decided to make it a separate entry.

While shredding the mountain of material I began to worry that we would have to buy another shredder after we burned the existing one out. That is when I got an excellent tip from my wife's nephew and that is to buy lubricating sheets for your shredder from Office Max or Office Depot. Since our shredder had never seen a lubricating sheet I immediately ran one through and could tell the difference right away. After about 1/2 the recommended time between sheets I ran another one through and then one at each recommended time so now it is only occasionally that a new sheet is needed as our shredding pile is greatly reduced.

Update on progress towards fulltiming - Part 2

I know it has been awhile since my last post but I was waiting until we could declare victory on the dreaded basement, and now we can! Finishing the basement coupled with our first garage sale (more on that later) has finally broken the logjam in our very cluttered abode. Imagine approximately 1000 sq. ft. of unfinished basement stuffed from floor to ceiling with only a couple of very narrow paths to navigate through. Now imagine a corner of that same basement with stuff for the next garage sale, Christmas in October, and another corner with stuff accumulated from the relatives that will be gone through before the next garage sale. The rest of the basement is clutter free and ready for the furniture and other stuff that the professional house stager tells us to remove for the sale showings. Depending on timing this furniture and stuff will be for the next garage sale or the estate sale at the end.

The garage sale also did wonders for removing some of the clutter. There were good bargains to be had, about $1000 in exercise equipment for about 10 cents on the dollar but hey it is gone and is now a place to hang cloths in somebody else's basement :) Although we did earn almost $300 it was a lot of work, so much that we decided it on only one more garage sale.

To keep our eyes focused on the prize we recently journeyed to a local RV dealership to look at 2 of our favorite floorplans. One of the them had just sold so it was in the shop getting prepped for the new owners. Seeing them outside you do not realize how big these units are so seeing them in a garage was an eye opener. The slides were also in so we got to see how cramped it is with them in and also how easy it is to open the unit up, simply at the push of a button. We plan to keep visiting every few weeks because we left there so fired up!

I am also pleased to note that I have been keeping in touch with some of those I left behind and are still working. This of course involves food as you know it had to as we meet for lunch. I also keep up with goings on at the old plant via the RIN (Retiree Information Network) and I got to say it is pretty good.

We are still working on the outside work while the weather cooperates. The new grass seed is doing quite well, the trees have been trimmed, new plants have been added, retaining wall was fixed, and tons of mulch added. Have some edging and mulching left to do along with some brush cleanup. Then we will tackle the painting and cleaning of windows and doors, cleaning the siding and concrete. At some point we will get a professional home stager to give us some advice.

I imagine some are wondering if we are still planning on fulltiming with the gas prices and supply questions swirling about. To be honest it has caused us to pause a little but I think that has been good. We have talked about how we may have to stay longer in places and thus move more slowly across the country but we are still planning on it and really looking forward to it. Our fulltiming 'carbon footprint' will be significantly less even with the diesel. Instead of trying to heat and cool a 3500 sq. ft. home and all that goes with living in a sticks and bricks we will be in a 400 sq. ft. RV in 70 degree weather. Every time a situation arises which may impact our fulltiming plans we talk it through and so far have emerged each time more determined to live this lifestyle.

Finally I have made some updates to the KC list based on some suggestions.

Till next time,

Update on progress towards fulltiming

Although progress on getting the house ready for sale has been made it has been slow going since my last day on January 22nd; I cannot believe it has been almost 6 weeks already! Think about how fast time seems to go during Christmas break or vacations and then double or triple speed is how fast retired time goes!

It has been a little too cold to spend a lot of time in the basement which is the first really big task so we have concentrated on the inside of the house. We organized the pantry & cleaned out all the refrigerators and freezers. We worked on the filing in kitchen desk, office desks, computer desks with stuff ending up in the shred pile, garage sale pile, recycling pile and throw away pile. I think I have shredded more in these 6 weeks than while I was working and have recycled a lot of paper. With all of the stuff we have accumulated over the years we are going to have a huge garage sale as part of the subdivision garage sale weekend in May. I then organized our 7 years of receipts that we will have to maintain. For this we used the Ziploc large bags and crammed one year into one bag. That way I can get three years in a box that used to hold only one year. Each year I will then shred the oldest year and relabel the bag.

Other news of note since I retired. I am drinking less caffeine, doing more exercise and getting more sleep. One of my Lenten obligations this year is no sweets and I am dieting per Weight Watchers and the "Eat This and Not That" book resulting in an approximate weight loss of 8 pounds to date with a lot more to go. Our 22 year old furnace bit the dust last week so that was an unexpected expense but a brand new furnace has to be more appealing than an ancient one.

We attended the RV Show at Bartle Hall and was a little disappointed that one of the floor plans on our short list was not there but the other two were. There were also a couple others that caught our eye but right now our current leader (subject to change w/o notice, etc.) is the Carriage Cameo F35SB3. We will not be buying on until the house is on the market at the earliest so it could be a while.

The next two big tasks to tackle are the dreaded basement and yard work.

Kansas City is NOT boring (restaurants, sightseeing)

When I think back I became real serious about restaurant lists and well known for it when I was made aware of a comment quite a few years ago that Kansas City is too boring a location to have a complex-wide meeting. I developed this little travel guide, the world according to Baskerville as it were on KC and sent it out. After this I began to be looked at for identifying the best places to eat whenever I was on a business trip; sometimes asked about a location even if I was not going to the meeting. So without further adieu here is your travel guide (both restaurants and sightseeing) for KC. Please note I did add a vegetarian section in response to a comment.

Top things to see or do (in no particular order)

• Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Home, and Farm
• Zoo
• Arabia Steamboat Museum (1850's steamboat sank in the Missouri River, tons of artifacts salvaged, restored, and on display)
• Local Theater (WSJ calls the New Theater Restaurant one of the best Dinner Theaters in the country, American Heartland in Crown Center, and others keep talent in the KC area - the shows are excellent!)
• Liberty Memorial (WWI museum)
• Union Station (restored to 1930’s glory, now has Science City and other attractions with good restaurants – connected to Crown Center via walkway)
• Professional soccer (indoor and outdoor)
• Professional baseball
• Professional football
• Nelson Art Gallery
• Crown Center
• Plaza
• Alexander Majors House (he founded Pony Express)
• Lyric Opera
• Gambling on River Boat Casinos
• more multiplex cinema houses than you would believe
• Missouri Town
• Kansas City Museum
• Toy and Miniature Museum

Here are the best places to eat (in no particular order)

Best BBQ - anyplace in town but the most authentic is Bryant's at 1727 Brooklyn and Jack’s Stack’s menu includes lamb and fish.

Best Steak - Hereford House, Majestic

Best Filet - Main Street Inn in Grandview

Best Mexican - Manny's or any place on Southwest Blvd. for authentic Mexican, but it is not New Mexican, it is Mexican.

Best Italian - Il Trullo, Lidia’s, Carmen’s, Milanos, Garozzo’s

Best Breakfast – Corner Café (local) or First Watch (chain)

Best Chicken Fried Steak - Stroud's

Best pan fried chicken - Stroud's

Best Sunday Brunch – Peppercorn Duck Club

Best Desserts – Andre’s (local) or Chocolate Bar at Peppercorn Duck Club (local) or Cheesecake Factory (chain)

Best Reuben - Pumpernick's

Best Pizza - D'Bronx

Best Mashed Potatoes - RCs

Best Salmon Patties - Family Cabin

Best French Restaurant - Tatsu's

Best German Restaurant - Rheinland

Best Chinese – Genghis Khan’s Mongolian Grill at 39th & Bell (local) or PF Changs (chain)

Best Mongolian BBQ – Genghis Khan’s Mongolian Grill at 39th & Bell

Best Seafood – Bristol (local) or McCormick & Schmicks (chain) or Bonefish (chain)

Best "joint" – Main Street Inn in Grandview MO

Best upscale – 40 Sardines

Best Tenderloin sandwich – Main Street Inn in Grandview MO

Best sport’s bar – Nick & Jakes

Best vegetarian – Bluebird Bistro (local) or Sweet Tomato’s (chain)

This is a lot to absorb so I'll summarize the things to do and places to eat for you.

Overall Top things to do

Truman Library

Steamboat Arabia

Zoo

Plaza

Nelson Art Gallery

Crown Center/Union Station

Liberty Memorial

Overall Top places to eat

Tatsu's

Bryant's

Main Street Inn

Stroud's

Il Trullo

Rheinland

Lidia’s

40 Sardines

Jack’s Stack

I know I probably left out some places to see or eat, but these are my personal favorites, others may have differing opinions, especially on BBQ

YMMV