Category Archives: Fulltiming

Next chapter

Posted on by

Our lives really work out like chapters in a book. You can define different portions of life with distinctive start and endpoints. I don’t mind closing out a chapter and going to another one, I am just not ready to finish the book just yet.

Prior to leaving Arizona, we got a few tasks completed or scheduled. The first was a chain-link fence on the eastern part of the property, about 310′ and 2 gates.

We also added a small section of ‘field fence’ to the southwest portion of the property. It is now fully fenced. We also took advantage of our absence to replace the existing flooring. It had carpeting and roll vinyl and was most likely original to the mobile home. We replaced it with LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiling). This was done while we were gone so all we got to see were pictures when it was done:

We are also able to have a quick visit from our friends George and Marcia in their trailer. I smoothed out a spot for them:

Having purchased the house in Arizona we headed back to California to accomplish a certain set of tasks so we can get back here. The first step was to help our son move to their new home. Their home was being remodeled and was not quite done. This gave us an opportunity to fix a few things around the old house and get some logistics lined up, like renting a UHaul truck and trailer.

The moving day for our son did come and so did the movers to clear out the house. The house was now virtually empty so we had to start filling up the garage. We have been renting a 10’x10′ climate-controlled storage unit for our stuff which was primarily a large oak bedroom set. We took up one side of our garage with our storage unit items along with some other items that were accumulated from our son’s move. Prior to moving all their items, a pile grew on the other side of the garage that held items for a yard sale. Oh, happy day! Not a real yard sale fan. The garage was very difficult to walk through at this time.

Time to think about the sale of the house. Clean things, repair things, paint things, replace things, a whole lot of things, to do. Now the house is ready to show, just don’t look too hard in the garage. Our realtor had it lightly staged, and had photos taken. The house was listed on a Friday in the morning. That day we had around 10 showings, the next day was close to the same number. We had an open house on Sunday where the agent ran out of flyers. It was very popular. By Monday we had 8 offers and narrowed it to the primary and 2 secondary offers. They were all very generous offers.

The offer we took turned out to be the best one by far. The buyers had an offer on their house that technically was a contingency but the way it was structured, it really wasn’t. Everything went amazingly smoothly and escrow closed in 2 1/2 weeks! And just like that, we only owned one home.

During all this escrow time we were focused on getting back to Arizona, with all our stuff. Roxie didn’t trust anyone else hauling our items so we decided to rent a UHaul truck. Our son, Aaron, volunteered to drive the truck as we had the Airstream to drive back. How does he get back to California though? He could fly back from Vegas but that was a lot of moving parts. We decided to have him rent a car, we hauled it on an auto trailer behind the truck, and he was to drive it back when we completed the move.

We got the trailer on a Wednesday and took about 2 days to load it:

Finally, we hit the road on a Friday and did the whole trip in one day, it is around 400 miles. The truck started having some unknown issues about 20 miles from our place but we made it there. We unloaded the truck the next day and Aaron left, heading back to California. We were back home, again.

We weren’t able to sleep in the house yet, though. We had to find all the parts for our bed and that took a few days, but we still have the Airstream to sleep in. On the 4th night, we were able to sleep in our new home:

We had to take back the UHaul and trailer to Kingman, about 15 miles away. Given the minor issues we had, I decided on a more rural route. Boy did that pay off when the major issue arose:

It started losing power, then gave a message about low oil pressure, then the engine shut off and I had to coast to the side of the road. Three hours later and the truck was being towed to Las Vegas and the trailer was being towed to the UHaul drop-off. Good thing we are retired and didn’t have anything pressing.

We are settling in slowly, getting furniture and TVs installed, unpacking boxes, etc. One thing that happened was I get my Starlink Dishy delivered and installed! This is it after a night of 50mph winds:

We will now take a break from our full-timing but have plans to go see fall colors in the east with our friends. Roxie is looking forward to this respite and I can deal with it also. From the time we started in May of 2017, we have spent around 1760 nights in the trailer. End of this chapter.

A change in the paradigm!

Posted on by

Paradigm

noun

  1. 1.a typical example or pattern of something; a model.”there is a new paradigm for public art in this country”

When I was working, the word ‘paradigm’ was always bandied around. Paradigm this, paradigm that. Therefore I could not resist it here!

Our last update had us put in an offer on a place near Kingman, AZ. The offer was accepted and as of this writing, escrow has closed and we own the property.

It is our ‘change in the paradigm’. We currently own two homes but we will head back to California and take care of that in due time. If anyone wants a decently priced home, with RV parking, in Visalia CA, let us know, quickly!

Escrow takes, what seems to be, a long time. Lots of things to supply, things to sign, trying to make everyone happy. Exhausting!

The last time we were here in Kingman, Roxie found a Razr side-by-side for sale and we ended up buying it. The seller was gracious enough to hold it for us until we closed, supply numerous spare parts AND deliver it! Service above and beyond the call of duty.

We came back to Arizona to be local for paper signing and checking on the property, etc. We stayed just 3 miles down the road from the property. One of the issues that arose was the septic tank had cracked on top and needed to be replaced before the sale. The sellers took care of this although they didn’t legally have to. There was one issue that arose in that the septic guy could not find the same size tank and they had to put in a bigger tank. That works.

The closing date waffled from the Friday before, to the Tuesday after MLK’s holiday. Push and pull. It ended up finally closing on Friday. Now we can start doing some minor repairs, enhancements, etc. Putting on a full security system, I added a 50amp RV connection so we are able to stay on the property. We have some quotes to fence in the front and replace all the flooring. We will be getting those things done soon.

Here is the house all lit up at night:

It has been 50 years since I personally have lived in a mobile home so there are some things to get used to, especially doing repairs.

At this location we have 2.35 acres of land, the mobile home is, ironically, larger than our house in California (so much for downsizing). One of the benefits of extra land, aside from a buffer, is there is a LOT of room for RVs. We might join Boondocker’s Welcome to help out others. Any of our friends with RV’s, please stop by if you need a stopover passing through. We can even supply some rudimentary hookups.

We also have 3 bedrooms that will not be fully utilized. We will set them up with beds so we have room for our non-RV friends.

Off we go on yet another new adventure!