So this is the start of our big adventure. The house has sold, several loads have been taken to the storage shed in Sundance, the 5th wheel is loaded, (boy is it ever), and we are off! Still have to return to Casper to finish up the last tasks of emptying the house and do all the other last minute stuff. Barry hasn't really had time to enjoy retirement, with all the house-selling related things and getting our belongings disposed of, in one fashion or another. The house doesn't close until Sept. 28th, and we will be enroute to CA at that time, but Kristy, our very capable (and princess-like) daughter-in-law will take the reins and get that accomplished for us. Going from owning a home, and living a somewhat normal life to moving into our 33 ft. 5th wheel with our 3 dogs has been quite the undertaking. Of course the hardest part was deciding what needed to come with us, what needed to be stored and what needed to be pawned off on the kids or taken to the landfill was quite the challenge. I know we have a lot of stuff with us that we won't need, but guess you don't know that starting out. In 6 mos. we will look at some of this stuff in the 5er and think, "Now why in the world did I bring that?" Another thing that made the decision to do this difficult was the fact that Jay, one of our sons and his family moved to Casper last year and lived about 8 blocks from us in Casper. We so enjoyed having them near and watching the grandsons grow and change. But, as many of you that know us realize, I am not one to put off until tomorrow the adventure that you can have today, as we just never know if tomorrow will come for us, and we knew that Jay and Kristy would not have wanted us to miss out on the opportunity to live on the road, so with their blessing, (and their very full house of some of our stuff we convinced that they needed), we took the plunge. With a major life-style change, our habits will also change, so as time passes, we will discover lots of new things about ourselves and the way we live. One thing that will make it easier for us is the fact that our entire married life, we have both worked from our home, so we are used to being around each other most all the time. Granted, the quarters weren't as small as they are now, but regardless, I do think we can do this without strangling each other! So far, our cell phones work very well for us and allow us to stay in touch with family and friends. Our internet service is also through our cell phones and so far that too has worked successfully. We have a mail forwarding service throught the UPS Store in Casper, so we have a physical address for mail, then we call our dear friends Bill and Julia Spicer who own the UPS Store, they tell us what is in our mail box, and we in turn tell them what to trash and what to forward to us at whatever address we happen to be at. So far it has worked well, as I pay most of our bills on line. (Can't ever seem to get completely away from that aspect of life I guess.)
It is my goal on this blog to try to keep anyone interested, up to speed on where we are and what we are doing. We promise not to tell really big fibs regarding the size of the fish we catch or the numbers of birds Barry kills! For those of you not familiar with the RVing lingo, we are what is commonly known as "Fulltimers" now. That means we sold the stick home and live exclusively in our 5th wheel. Many have said, "Gee how can you do that with the price of diesel fuel?" (Most only said that after they looked at our 1 1/4 ton Ford diesel pickup that is our tow vehicle!) Well, our thinking is, we don't have to worry about property taxes, utility bills and all the other obligations that go with home ownership, so the price of diesel fuel is what we have to whine about! And, because we don't have a really rigid schedule, if we do decide that fuel is too expensive we can stay put for days on end and not have to travel unless we want to. So, here we go! Barry and I are neither very structured, so I see this life-style working well for us. As long as the bar is stocked and the cigars aren't stale, I think we can be very successful at doing not much!
So we are off! We lived in our 5er in Sundance during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Because we are part owners in a bar there, we worked the second week of August in the bar. It was a good opportunity for us to get a taste of living in the 5th wheel. After that we went back to Casper and spend several days parked in our good friends, Nancy and Steve Mallory"s yard while we tied up more loose ends. Ya know, life just wouldn't be worth living without good friends. We are so fortunate to have many.
This "blogging" thing is new to me, so bear with me as we proceed.
I heard a good one the other day: What did the egg say to the pan of boiling water? I don't know how long it will take me to get hard, as I just got laid this morning!............. Until next time.
The Trout Bums
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