A Summer of Chaos

Life while sitting still has been anything but ‘sitting still’. I’ve been so busy since returning from our 8-month journey in May. 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.

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.

While we were busy dealing with RV issues this summer, we decided that we would throw a move in there too! Heck, why not? 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! We should be closing at the end of this month! Woohoo. 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’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. While I do plan on a few trips out here and there, the next big trip is in the making.