Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Twin Lakes RV Park NC
Twin Lakes is part of Encore RV Resorts/Thousand Trails in Chocowinity NC. On first examination this is a pretty nice campground. The sites are pretty large, trees are in good locations for the most part and they have picnic tables and fire-pits. The sites were not level mostly because of the tree roots in the ground and they are all dirt. The campground is in a great location for day trips to the Outer Banks, lots of kayaking opportunities even right at the campground as there are a lot of channels and great walking and biking in the campground it self! If you like to go somewhere to just hang out, Greenville isn’t far away and has a lot to offer as well as a local artist who makes me great metal statues and leaves them all over town. The center is like a zoo of metal animals. Washington has a great little water front to go explore as well. The pool area looked wonderful but was not open, the laundry room was small but worked great and the prices were good! The bathrooms didn’t seem to have great ventilation and the stalls were no well situated.
The worst thing about this camp ground is their septic/sewer system. First we were never told that our site had an individual tank that needs to be pumped. One of our neighbors told us as they were trying to empty their rig and were having difficulties. We have never been to a campground where each site had Its own septic tank, these tanks were 250 gallons and not vented. What does this mean, it means emptying your tank is extremely challenging, it causes pressure in the system so when you pull your lever, it drains and then pushes back up the hose. You have to open and close the lever and help the hose to empty. The pressure would cause the hose couplings to leak, all very gross! The worst part is if the tank wasn’t emptied prior to your arrival and you went to empty, what a mess. Also if it rains it raises the level. Pretty much every time you empty your tanks you have to ask them to come empty the ground tank. We almost tried to change campground but decided to wait it out!
The septic issue is supposed to be fixed which will help this campground a lot. Also it doesn’t seem like they do a lot of upkeep in between campers such as raking the sites and cleaning fire pits. They do seem to go around and pick up trash which is more than I can say for a lot of area of NC. I know speed bumps are an essential part of campgrounds but they don’t need to be so big, even at a crawls pace these are very jarring! We scraped the center stand on the motorcycle and a camper lost a snap pad coming in at one! There is a beautiful sign at the entrance but you can’t see it because the bushes have grown to large.
With a little upkeep this is a very nice campground and the staff was great to work with!
Earthling Bar Shampoo & Conditioner
This is my first product review but I thought this might help a lot of people I know! Last year a friend we met at a campground mentioned shampoo that came in bars. She was interested in it because the reviews stated that it stopped hair from falling out.
When I first heard about it I could not imagine washing my hair with a bar but living in an RV weight and size of products matter so I kept looking at this product, reading about it. After I finally used up what I had on hand I ordered a bar of shampoo and a bar of conditioner from Earthling Company.
My first time trying it I thought the shampoo was harder to use than bottled shampoo, now that I am used to it, it is pretty easy. It rinses clean and doesn’t seem to leave as much suds going down the drain. Again this may not be of concern to most but when you live in an RV you need to be careful what goes down your drain! The conditioner is the bigger surprise it is remarkably easier to use. I just take the bar and run it down my hair, I let it sit for a bit then rinse. Again it seems to rinse nice and clean and I definitely don’t get all the heavy leftovers going down the drain. I find my hair stays easy to maintain using minimal extra products. For those that don’t know me all that well I have medium length hair that is very frizzy, curly and wavy. It knots up just looking at it! I am somewhat a minimalist so a couple of years ago I stopped coloring my hair and try to use as little print as possible.
Overall I am pretty happy with the product and ordered more. The first too bars I started using January 27 and by March 19 the bars are maybe half gone using every other day! The only down side is I don’t see any reduction in hair loss!
When I did a reorder I also ordered 3 of the soap saving bags in hopes of a better way to store the soaps for travel days, the idea of hanging them was intriguing. The bags hang well and work well for body soap and shampoo, with body soap being the best. For the shampoo it took some getting used to. The conditioner does not work at all in it. At least for me I need to be able to glide the conditioning bar over my hair.
I hope this helps someone else that has considered trying this product or one like it!
Thousand Trails Orlando
The first thing we learned at this campground is it is very popular. We were told check in is noon and do not come any sooner as you would be turned away. We pulled into the road leading to the campground around 12:30 and couldn’t believe our eyes, we were behind about 15 campers. When we got to the gate to check in we asked if it always like this and he said no, the park lost electricity the day before and told people coming in to wait til today. They would be checking in around 150 campers and we were number 42. I will have to say even though it was a bit of a wait it went pretty smoothly, they definitely have a great check in system.
It was first come first serve, so they asked what site we wanted or what area, not having been there before we really didn’t know so we just said easy and big!!! We seemed to drive around in circles but finally go to our site. We had no problem getting in, it was fairly level and the sites are actually pretty big. Most of the sites have a pad but some don’t. There are a lot of seasonal sites here but most of those are still campers and not park models, although there are a few. There is also a new section that have huge cement pads and patios. I think if I had to pick one thing bad about this place is getting from your site to the pool or dumpsters. It is like a maze with no way for short cuts!
There are lots of amenities, pools, hot tub, store, tennis, pickle ball, laundry, bath houses and a pond with an alligator! The pool is nice, kept pretty warm for a nice evening swim. The hot tub was too busy to try. Just to give you an idea how big this park is when we ride out bikes up and down the roads either following the one way or going on all the roads we clock 6-7 miles. Again there are good side walks here which allowed us to check out some areas without taking a vehicle.
This is a great campground for visiting all things Disney as they are not far away. There is a lot of other things to do as well, there are quite a few breweries in the area such as Suncreek, Clermont Brewing, Dead Lizard, Crooked Can, and Orlando just to name a few. There are also a lot of nice road to motorcycle on without having to be on the highway. We even took a trip to Daytona for the first day of Bike Week to earn our coin!! Down the street was an Orange Grove with animals and tour through the grove, this was close enough to ride our bicycles to as well as other stores.
Florida Holiday Travel Park
We stayed here for 2 weeks under our free Thousand Trails membership we received when we bought our camper. This campground is located right off Route 19 in Holiday Florida. Let me start by saying this is a pretty good campground but for obvious reasons a lot of people won’t like it and a lot of people like us will.
First if you don’t know us we have a 40’ Momentum Toyhauler, towed by a dually GMC, so we are long and tall. When we first came into the campground we got hung up a bit because of Covid they want you to check in on line which we did instead of stopping at the office. The part that lacked was telling you the best way to get to your site. Our site was right out front which should have been easy but we were traveling in the wrong direction to pull into our pull thru site, so we had to drive through the camp ground. Most of the roads are wide enough the problem comes with the carports that hang into the road which makes taking some corners rather challenging. We had a few tight spots but made it through. After assessing we found that there were many better ways to achieve getting to our site. This campground is made up of probably 80% full time spots with some over night spots in-between except for the front pull through sites, where we were. I am thankful that’s where we were put. Like I said a lot of people don’t like this type of set up but the campground was kept clean, and nice looking. it had lots of amenities, most we did not use, like the pool and game area. It was beautiful, sorry I don’t have any pictures. Our site like I said was out front, close to Route 19, which is very busy, and we had a great view of the Winn Dixie parking lot, where on one day had a car accident with tire explosion. This would be horrible to others but perfect for us, we could walk to get groceries, watch the action out front and bicycle to most everything. If you don’t know Florida they have a lot of side walks and bike trails, we could safely bicycle to Restaurants and breweries, no gas and lots of exercise. We even went to Tarpon Springs twice. We really love being in that area.
It is also a great location to kayak, we only went out twice but that’s cause there was so much to choose to do. I would definitely use this campground again. The sites themselves where a mix of good and not great as they were pull thru, hot top, fairly level with a cement patio. The width of the hot top was not quite wide enough for our rig. The services where a bit hard to get to, the water was towards the back, the sewer was in the hot top and the electric was on the opposite side but it all worked out! We did have a picnic table but not fire pit! My worst thing about this park was the constant traffic in and out a lot of which was too fast.
Kayaking Florida
Silver Springs State Park
Our second winter in Florida and we finally got to kayak the most talked about Silver Springs State Park in Ocala. Let me tell you it did not disappoint. I knew we had a chance of seeing Monkeys, I did not realize we would also see Manatee, alligators and an abundance of turtles. Also amongst our sitings were a couple of Hawks, lots of water foul and a wood pecker.
We took the Fort King Paddling Trail out, other than a hawk we also saw a few alligators. We did the mile out to the main river where we could go right on the Silver River toward Ray Wayside Park 4.6 miles away or do just the circle back to the launch. We decided to head right toward Ray Wayside Park. I am glad we did as just around the corner is where we saw all the monkeys. They ranged from what appeared to be adult size and a few babies.
The paddling downstream was obviously easy, we went about 2 miles and decided to turn around as it was getting late and knowing that the paddle back would be a lot harder. We saw so many turtles, it was amazing. There were some really large ones and small ones too! Same with alligators, we saw babies and big ones all sunning themselves.
On the way back upstream we again saw some of the monkeys as well as the manatee. A fellow paddler told us about some manatee hanging in a small pool area, so I took some more pictures of them, they were hanging more on the surface of the water as it was more shallow there.
We then ventured back to the take out, all in all we kayaked 5 1/4 miles in 3 1/2 hours which made for a great day!!
Brasher Park/Durney Key Island
A few days later we went back out to Durney Key Island off of Port Richey. This is not a long paddle but a nice way to spend a day. This island is about a mile off of Brasher Park, a lot of boaters of all types stop here to have lunch, take a swim or just hang! It’s pretty small but has a nice beach area. We took a lunch with us and hung out for a couple of hours. We started off on our own but had many visitors during our time, lots of dog visitors too!!!
On our way out to the island we saw a lot of pairs of dolphins, it is always a pleasure to see dolphins, I have not seen this many at one time, it was great!!! Even while on the island we spotted a pair swimming by! The water going out was smooth as can be with mild winds, later on the way back it was a little more choppy but not bad at all. Because we went around the island not he way out our total trip was 2 1/2 miles with only 1 hour and 20 minutes of paddle time. This is usually closer to 1/2 hour each way but we stoped a lot to watch the dolphins.
New Camper
After owning so many different RV’s we each have our own likes and dislikes, needs and wants. For Bill he wants to stick with two axels and under 40’. For both of us we would like a TV that you sit more across from. I wanted a camper I could see outside while sitting on the couch. One thing we decided was to change to Grand Design, although they are not perfect, (no RV is) it seems to be better for full-time RVing. The Momentum is the Grand Design Toyhauler. When we were looking we had two models in mind unfortunately no one seemed to have them. The one dealer that did was Lazy Daze in Knoxville! They had a few different models, they had a 349 that was sold but we could still look, they had a 381 which was the same as a 351 with a longer garage so it gave us an idea of what we would or wouldn’t want. We also looked at a 376 just to rule it out.
After going in and out of the two we were most interested in we definitely were leaning more to the 349. We did a lot of research and went back a couple more times. Neither was perfect but no camper is. One had better TV placement but a shorter garage, an extra bathroom and an okay Pantry. The other had not so great TV placement but better than ours, a longer garage and a pantry that would offer us more than we had now. The other things we were looking at were the lack of outside storage and possibly the lack of overall storage vs a better camper and a better layout.
After more research and a lot of going back and forth be decided on the Grand Design Momentum 349M.
We have now owned our Momentum for a month, it is almost set up completely. Overall we are definitely lacking in storage but We are really enjoying the layout. We had a lot of items we used for storage in the Vengence that would no longer fit in the Momentum. Our freezer is larger so no need for our ice maker and the Momentum comes with a built in Vac so no need for our cordless Shark vacuum. We have been able to make it work but there are times when we wonder if we made the right decision but overall we are pretty happy with it after all I can see out many windows when I am sitting down. The real test will come when we get it weighed.
Full Timing During Covid
Covid started ramping up as we reached South Carolina, we had just left Daytona. It was the second day of Bike Week when we left. By the end of Bike Week they were already shutting down vendors. By the time we were due to leave Lakewood Campground Myrtle Beach was starting to shut down beaches, the campground decided not to open the stores and cafe’s they had, the office was limiting access, and the St. Patricks Day Walk in Murrells Inlet was cancelled.
Our next stop was set to be my brother’s for a week in Charleston SC. They were still working so we weighed the pros and cons, talked to my Brother and Sister-in-law about their opinion and decided to continue as discussed. We were pretty careful even in the house we maintained a social distance, we used one bathroom that we kept clean. We still went for a few motorcycle rides, stopped at a few breweries but still maintained social distancing. We were only supposed to be there a week then go to a campground in GA for a week to spend time with Bill’s Sister Deb. GA was ramping up pretty fast so we opted to stay at my brothers another half a week and made plans to stay at Mountain Glen in Tennessee to sort of wait out Covid and to see if the Canadian border would reopen so we could go to Alaska as planned.
While in Tennessee we still practiced social distancing but we did go for motorcycle rides, exploring the area while taking precautions, maybe not enough for some of you out there but it worked for us. The roads in Tennessee did not disappoint, they are some of the most windy and mountainous roads around! We met some real nice people while at Mountain Glen, work campers that were there, Nelson and Lynn, another couple from NJ, a couple from GA as well as a couple from NH. We also were able to visit a few breweries while in Tennessee, some we could have a drink at others we could only take out. Our favorites were Calfkiller in Sparta, Monkey Town in Dayton, Five whits and Naked River in Chattanooga, we even tried some Chattanooga Whisky! We also checked out several waterfalls. Another thing we did to occupy our time was to research the toy haulers we looked at at the Tampa RV Show. We started talking about it again when we were at my brothers as he is thinking about getting one too. We continued to talk about it and even located a dealership in Knoxville that carried the brand we were interested in. Lazy Days in Knoxville was the only dealer around that carried models similar to what we wanted. Long story short, we ordered a new RV due to arrive in August. So at this point we have given up on Alaska and have decided to stay in Tennessee to be back to Knoxville for August.
Even though Mountain Glen doesn’t have a pool it didn’t matter as it was alway 5 degrees cooler on the Cumberland Plateau than in the valley.
We stayed a few days in Alabama at a resort that is part of Ocean Canyon Resorts. They are similar to a time share in that you purchase a site but also you can stay at their other campgrounds or affiliates. The campground was ok, but honestly what they want you to pay I would not pick Mountain Lake as our home campground. The nicest thing about it is it was right on the Tennessee River but the river is pretty dirty.
We have not been to Memphis before so we chose our next campground in the proximity to Memphis. We found a campground in West Memphis, if you are like me you would have thought this was still in Tennessee. Nope, here is a little geography lesson…. You have Memphis TN, West Memphis Arkansas, and South Memphis Mississippi. All bordering each other. Tom Sawyer Campground is located right on the Mississippi River, this place by far has the largest sites with easy access. They even situate the sites so that, which are all pull through, so that if you have a fifth wheel you pull in from the opposite direction so that if you have a large back window you can see the river. The river is too swift to swim or kayak, however we did get to watch tug boats all day long and some where very large. They also offer free laundry, no one does that!! This is kind of where the niceness wears off. There are very few trees, none in the section we were in so it is very hot! They don’t have a pool and the bathrooms were few and far between and just ok. The other nice thing along with the river they had 3 ponds on site where you could fish and they were loaded with turtles. I for one enjoy watching the turtles. It was good for walking and as we found out just before we were getting ready to leave it was also connected to bike trails. We were able to go for a few rides but had we found out earlier we could have ridden our bikes to Memphis, most days were too hot but that would have been fun!
Next we went to Parker Crossroads Campground in Parker Crossroads TN. The campground was nice. We had a pull through site that was easy in and easy out. Most of their sites had a deck with table and chairs of some sort which was kind of nice. They had a pool which we used 1 time and of course a laundry room. Their small store was open but no other activities. The nice thing about this area was some nice riding such as Natchez Trace Parkway, it was close to some state parks for hiking, Natchez Trace State Park and also The Parker Crossroads Battle memorial. This was actually very interesting and hopefully will never be torn down. It’s been a long time since I took history so I had forgotten quite a bit. This park was made up of 7 different locations in town. The first one was the largest and was a park that you walked around and their were different points to stop at where there was a platform that would tell you about that location and what took place there. We drove to every location and walked the ones that had the trails and it was fascinating, just a little reminder about our history in the USA, it was well thought out. The campground also put on a really nice July 4th fireworks show.
Our next location was only about an hour away at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, what a cool place. First the ones thing that everyone should know is that this place even though you have a reservation it is first come first serve and there is no set check in or check out time. Thank fully we got there a bit early in the day as not all sites are created equal so to speak. Technically they are all pull through sites but because of the way this place is situated the sites are too hilly to pull forward to leave and being able to make the turns. The sites are all really long but they are narrow with some drop off to the side and some of they drop off at one end. We could not pull up so that we could open our back as we would not have been able to level the camper. We had to chalk the truck tires to insure the truck wouldn’t roll down the hill in case of a failure. Despite the sites not being wide or level the campground had a lot of cool things. Now mind you not much is open in the park due to Covid such as the pool or the game room They did have two events while we were there. The first weekend was a Horse Cart racing which drew a huge crowd, mostly in the lower section which we were not allowed unless we paid. The second weekend was dirt bike racing. We were there for 2 weeks but because of the first event we did not know there was a creek for swimming. We tried to kayak it but only made about 1/4 of a mile do to trees blocking the creek, no worries we found that the swimming was great. We spent the next few days enjoying that and met some really nice people. This campground was created by Loretta Lynn as a way to share her home with her fans. This property is actually the town of Hurricane TN which she purchased with her husband over 30 years ago. She later built a house behind the original house to move into and started tours. There is also a museum, a couple of stores and a replica of the mine her daddy worked in that you can walk through and it tells you a story about the mine. Even though this campground needs some serious updating I would go back again.
The next 2 weeks we spent at Old Mill Camp across the street from Cummins Falls State Park. We found this when we first went to see the Falls but they were still closed. This is a fairly new campground, the sites are large and easy to get into whether you get a back in or pull through. They don’t have a laundry room which is a huge downfall but they do have great ice cream! We were able to get a pass to go to the falls for 1 day. This is a fairly steep hike back out but I made it. This particular falls has a nice swimming hole. My most memorable part of this campground was a baby Blue Jay who would come hang out with us, you can check out my FB page to see videos of her. I will go back to this campground and hope to see the bird too!
Now we are in August at a campground in Heiskell TN, Raccoon Valley. The sites are nice, good size, the people are great. We can’t go into the office, the hall is closed as well as the bathrooms, and the laundry room can only have 1 person at a time. We are about 40 minutes from Knoxville. Most restaurants are open with seating inside but spread apart, and masks must be warn. The riding is great but we knew that already, Tail of the Dragon, Great Smokey National Park, Cherohala Skyway!
Now we just hang here waiting for our new Fifth wheel!
On the Move
Here we are 5 months into being full time and starting to be on the move after spending the winter in Florida. Let’s just say this has not been without issues. We have not yet found the secret to finding the right fit campgrounds. When I do find the secret I will sure to share it!
When looking for a campground we look for price and the ease of getting in and out. We started with a site at an Escapees campground, which fits the bill but very basic. The second, Oak Springs RV Resort was an ok campground was pretty tight getting around and a lot of messy trees! We has to clean the leaves off the camper constantly!
Our third campground we booked in December as we wanted to spend the week before Daytona Bike week in Daytona we thought met the bill. Generally I ask the same questions, we would like full hookup pull thru and long enough for our 40’ Toy-hauler. Back in is doable if there is enough room to actually back it in without the potential of damage. This campground was Sunshine Holiday Daytona an Encore Park. Their site states they may change your site but only to a like site. We arrive at 2pm check in time, the office closes at noon and there is no one in the campground to talk to to help out. We get out site drive to it and our first words are “you’ve got to be kidding me”. The site was very narrow with a cement patio and a tree right in the middle of the back of the site, this a back in site also! We get out to inspect further, if we could get our trailer in we wouldn’t be able to open the slides or the back to get the bike out.
We drove back out front to figure out what to do. After trying to reach someone from the campground we walked the campground looking at other sites. We looked at sites that were empty and that we could easily get in and out of, we matched those to ones not on the board of people coming in that night. We picked a site and set up, we didn’t take the bikes out because we weren’t sure where we would move to after the office opened at 8 am.
Come 8 am we go to the office, talk to the woman working who stated the people for that site were supposed to be there on Saturday and they haven’t heard from them. She said stay there till we call you. This is all well and good but we still can’t take the bike out until we know we have a site. We decide to go check out some other options just in case. We found that the race track has a campground with water and electric and they had openings for less money. We call the campground back but still no definitive answer. We go back to the campground to ask for our money back, they said they still had no answer from the other people so they gave us that site. Even though we lost two days with the bike the office people made this work for us otherwise I would not have nice things to say about this campground. Good thing is we now have another option for next year!
The saga continues…now a week later and we are heading to a campground that I paid for (mistake) several months ago. I am reading the pamphlet again for Ocean Lakes Family Campground and see they don’t allow motorcycle to drive through their campground….WTF. I call they say yup we can trailer it or push it, ok yeah we are going to push a Goldwing. They say they have a parking lot we can leave it in…we will see what they looks like.
It is now a few days later and here is what happened. We arrive and yes they do not allow motorcycles in their campground, they do however have a lot to put them in. The lot is at the beginning of the campground and our site is on the ocean side 1/2 to 1 mile away. We use our motorcycle a lot do get groceries, we would not be able to do that at all unless we walk back get the truck or wagon to get the groceries….What a waist. To make matters worse you can’t even unload the bike and ride it to the lot even once to get it there we would have had to unload right in the middle of the entrance road. With all the stuff that has to come out first, no this ain’t happening. I do not recommend Ocean Lakes Family Campground at all if you have a motorcycle. We ask the person waiting on us for a manager, it is the weekend so they are not there, so next we ask for a refund except the first night as we will stay the night and find another campground. He does this no problem, I am guessing they get this a lot.
We get to our site which is supposed to be big rig friendly it was barely long enough to fit the fifth wheel, so much for even using our deck. Other than that and the barking dogs the site was nice. We unhook, mainly because we had to and started our search for another campground. Bill call a campground he found, it happens to be right next door. They also are not super motorcycle friendly but at least have a section for campers with motorcycles as well as a gated area for people with bikes not camping in the designated area. We rode over and checked out a few sites, there was really only one we could fit in. We couldn’t book it that night because they wouldn’t be able to guarantee that site she said come back at 8am and you can book that site. Not ideal but it will work as long as no one come in the rest of the day and takes that site. The following morning we get up head over book our site at go back to our site, take a walk on the beach and pack backup.
Lakewood Camping Resort is nice, the motorcycle area is actually more like a campground, there are some trees and no cement. The campground is doing a lot of upgrades to sites which is nice on one end but the fact that our site as well as the others around us were a mess. We unhooked and before I put the rug down I was in search of a rake. One of the grounds people came and raked the area for my rug but left the rest…I will find a rake later to finish the site.
Myrtle Beach is beautiful the people are nice but the fact they are so against motorcycle is annoying.
For now here is the list of questions I will ask when booking future sites; We need a site for 40′ ToyHauler Fifth Wheel, 14′ high so no low over hanging limbs, Pull Through preferred, full hook up, and oh do you allow motorcycles!!!! I am sure this like will change and be added too!!!
RV Cleaning
My husband Bill does most of the camper maintenance, washing, waxing, fixing! He goes through a lot of products trying different things to see what works best. He is always on the internet researching what products are for a particular job then he will go out and buy the product and try it.
This is what he has found so far. For washing the awning he puts Simple Green in a spay bottle sprays it down, rolls the awning up for a few minutes. Usually 10 or 15 minutes, puts the awning back out he then brushes it with his soft vehicle washing brush on an extension pole and rinses it off. The awning almost looks brand new.
Another job he hates mostly because he can’t seem to find a product that works great is washing the roof. We have a PVC roof so you want a product that works well. Again after a lot of research he found Dicor Products Rubber Roof Cleaner. https://dicorproducts.com/product/rubber-roof-cleaner-concentrate-spray-bottle-refill-container/
His research told him the 32oz bottle would clean a 40’ camper, although he was skeptical it did clean the whole roof. He purchased a small scouring pad with a handle on it to do the scrubbing. This process took a while with a lot of elbow grease but he was pleased with the outcome.
The Reality
After July 1, 2019 as my husband would say “Everyday is Friday”. Well that worked great for him but for me I could not do any planning until he took his next step and gave his notice. Once he decided to do that and had all the “ducks in a row”, paperwork had to be filed with the NH retirement system and a lot of other stuff. In August he finally gave his notice and told the department. This was bittersweet, it was a big part of our lives for 33 years, saying goodbye was not easy. Next was my step, I drafted a letter for my clients telling them of my plans. I emailed it to the ones I had emails for and mailed to the others. I thought I was doing great, until of course I found that probably 80% of my clients did not receive the notification, it went to their junk box. I did not plan on that happening. The house was already on the market and as clients came in if they didn’t receive my letter they were a bit shocked to say the least. Most however were happy for me but sad for them!! There were a few other snafu’s along the way, a couple of my clients read the letter thinking that that was I was done as of August 30th when Bill was done. That was not the case but it wouldn’t be that long after as it turned out.
Well 9 days after the house went on the market we got our first offer, it was for the full asking amount, Yeah!!! Now we are two weeks in we have an offer now it’s crunch time. Over the next four weeks, we sell everything, bed room set, living room set, dinning set. Yup now we are sleeping in the camper but I am still working out of the house. A bit of a pain but it is working. We still have a ton of stuff, yard sale time! We actually did quite well however we still ended up with 3 or 4 loads to Savers, similar to Salvation Army and a few runs to the local dump. Where does all this junk come from?? We thought we were doing so well, boy were we wrong!
Now it is September 22nd, everything is either gone, in the camper or in the Penske truck ready to head south. Oh a few important facts I left out. My shop equipment is being packed up to take to NC to my Niece who is also a groomer. With out the help of 2 great friends I don’t think we would have gotten all of that stuff moved in a weekend. The closing is on Monday and we plan to leave shortly after that is done. We booked a site at a local campground and stayed there the night and took care of a few things.
By Monday around 2pm we were done signing on our house and on the road, phew, that was exhausting. Still no time to relax, now we are heading south Bill towing the camper and me driving the Penske truck. We would stop around 5-7pm to find a place to stay. Truck stops never work out for us, always too full! The first night we stayed at a rest area and the second night a Cracker Barrel. The third night was the best part, staying at my brother Brian’s and visiting with them for 2 days (thats where we left all the grooming equipment for them to take to Melissa).
On Friday we made it to Sumter Oaks and on Saturday we emptied what was left in the Penske truck into a storage unit and turned in the truck.
You would think now we could relax a bit……not so much stay tuned!
Vagabond2019 