A Summer of Chaos

Hello out there in blog land. Do you believe it’s been exactly 3 months since my last blog post! Life while sitting still has been anything but ‘sitting still’. I’ve been so busy since returning from our 8-month journey in May. But alas, I haven’t forgotten you.

So you may be wondering what in the world we’ve been up to. When we arrived back in Virginia, it was a whirlwind of catching up with all the things we’d put off since we left last September. This included scheduling doctors appointments, both for the crew and our beloved Perl girl :-).

You can’t go out on the road for 8 months and not need a tweak here and there. And Perl was no exception . We’d been having issues with her slide the entire way up the eastern coast. It started in Florida and continued on and off until we arrived home. There were also a few other little things that needed to be checked or replaced.

It turns out the slide wasn’t going to be an easy fix. Nor was the price going to be easy on the wallet. Ah, the life of an RV’er. I knew what I was getting myself into but it still hurts. Especially when you’re driving a 2013 coach! This slide has been a particular issue for this Winnebago model as noted in RV forums out there. I was hoping to dodge the bullet but alas that wasn’t going to be.

Along with the major slide repair, we had a ripped awning, leak under the fridge, she was due for an oil change and a few other little things. The RV repair shop was backed up a month when I rolled our girl in there the first part of May. I didn’t bust Perl out of there until mid-July. We headed on over to Kings Dominion’s campground and had a few days of fun.

But wouldn’t you know it, it didn’t last long. She went right back to have a few pieces of ‘unfinished business’ (aka, shoddy workmanship) taken care of. There was also the issue of the toad not responding to what the RV was telling it to do. Or perhaps it was the RV not telling the toad what it needed to do.

This resulted in a minor fix on the toad. But unfortunately, it uncovered a new issue on the RV. There is an electrical problem on the RV side. Turn signals don’t blink correctly, when brakes are pressed, flashers go………..you get the idea, right? Ugh!! So back to the RV repair shop for a quick check up to see if they could uncover any obvious issues.

Guess what? They couldn’t. So they recommended I bring Perl to a Ford dealer that handles trucks. Since she sits on a Ford chassis, perhaps they can do a diagnostic test for the electrical. So off she went, over an hour from home. And don’t you know it, they’re backed up too. I’m still waiting to hear from them and listen to the dollar signs add up some more.

That is the update about my Perl girl. While we were busy dealing with RV issues this summer, we decided that we would throw a move in there too! Heck, why not? I don’t know if you’re a faithful reader or just hopped on board but this is the story of how we became RV’ers. We thought we were going to be full-time for close to three years. But as is the norm, circumstances changed and we found all of us home (six total) living in 1500 square feet. This was not part of the deal.

Goodbye lil’ blue

But alas, an opportunity presented itself. The tenants at our rental property informed us they’d be moving out July 30th. So, we put the house on the market because, to tell you the truth, we’re tired of being landlords. But during the 10 days the house sat on the market, we began thinking. First it started with me. I was looking at the listing on-line. Wow, that’s a pretty nice house, I always liked that BIG basement, kitchen and dining room. Those bedrooms were a good size and had big closets.

It could have stopped there but then we realized we were going to have to pay quiet a bit in capital gains tax if it sold. We could avoid the tax if we occupied it again for at least two years. You do see where the thought process is going, right? The mortgage was only $200 more and the house was almost 3x’s bigger. We would cover the difference with rental income from my brother, who coincidentally was looking for a room to rent. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. The lightbulbs turned on and we had made our decision.

It was clear that it made absolutely no sense to sell. We decided we’d move back in and sell lil’ blue. I’m sure you know what ensued from there. Packing, packing and more packing. The entire month of July was preparing for the move. The first part of August was the actual move. The Monday following that weekend was ‘hurry up and get lil’ blue ready to sell’. An entire, grueling week trying to fix up, paint, and prep the other house. All the while going home and living in total chaos.

Hello again my old love

Things are finally settling down a bit. We are enjoying the extra space. We still have a few boxes here and there. Lil’ blue had multiple offers within a week of listing. That we’re truly grateful for! Our last home sale was terrible and the house sat on the market for eight long months. We should be closing at the end of this month! Woo hoo. I have vowed not to move again for another ten years unless I have to. The next move will be into an RV full-time.

I’m now finally able to catch a breath and get caught up with you guys. I have so many blog posts I want to get out. But alas, I may be pulled in another direction shortly. I’m hoping to get a seasonal work-at-home job with Amazon. If any of you have heard about working for Amazon during the holiday season, you know that my life will not be my own. They will pretty much own me from Thanksgiving until Christmas with mandatory overtime a norm.

You see, I want to fund my next trip out. Yes, I’ve decided to keep Perl for a while longer. I’m still not sure how much longer but the crew still has so much to see and do. If I put in some time with Amazon, that will allow me to save up a good chunk of cash. If anything, I could pocket that for all those repairs that love to pop up here and there.

I’ve been in a state of wanderlust for the last few weeks. During this time, I’ve been thinking about the next trip. I’ve planned a route, plotted it out on the map and have a general timeframe in mind. The planning has begun so be prepared for an update with all the details in the near future. I will disclose a little hint as to the general direction, yellow……..

While I do plan on a few trips out here and there, the next big trip is in the making, I will do my best to head back here and post for you guys within a week or two. Thank you for being so patient with me.

 {HUGS} from the Crew!

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