How quickly things can change. In my last entry I was bummed because the scheduled showing of our condo had been canceled. But, since then, another showing was scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19th. We were waiting anxiously to hear the 'feedback' from the realtor and low and behold the same realtor has scheduled a second viewing for tomorrow, Dec. 22nd! This could be good! We never would have dreamed that we would get any activity the week of Christmas!
Meanwhile, I don't believe I mentioned that we sold our '96 Lincoln about 3 weeks ago. We now have the Dodge truck as our only vehicle. So far, it hasn't been too inconvenient. Especially on the days I work at Iliff Square Library as it is only a couple miles from home. Dale just drops me at work on the days he might need the truck.
Our trailer is still in the shop awaiting parts to fix the awning. The new tires for it are in so we will be taking the trailer from Camping World directly to the tire shop. After that is done, Dale has a few more things to do while he still has the wood shop here in Heather Gardens available for use. Another step closer!
As Christmas approaches it seems odd for us to be all alone again. This will be the second time in the past few years that Dale and I will spend Christmas day alone. The past two years my sister Marie and her husband, Gerald flew us up to Worland to spend the holidays with them. Unfortunately, I have to work the day after Christmas and did not make plans soon enough to take the day off. :o( But, it could work out that we get to spend the day with some good friends who will find themselves all alone for the first time this year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Can you spell disappointed? Aurora, CO
Have you ever heard the saying, "All dressed up and no place to go"? Well, that was our condo today. The first and only showing of our place so far was canceled! :o( We were bummed to say the least. Well, it was just not meant to be! It did serve as a kick in the pants to get back on track. We had both let up on sorting, selling and thinning things down to just what we will take in the 5th wheel with us. It'll all happen when we least expect it.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sometimes you just have to get creative! Aurora, CO
Over this past year Dale and I have been trying to rid ourselves of unnecessary household items in anticipation of moving into our 5th wheel. Consequently, most all of our holiday decorations are gone. In October, when a friend came to visit he commented that all the other residents down our hallway had their fall decorations out by their door and all we had was "that pink thing". It is a large floral arrangement in various shades of pink. It makes me laugh when I think of it. Well, now the Christmas season is upon us and we still have that "pink thing" out by our front door! I have added our "Let is Snow!" wall decoration.
Yesterday, we got a call from the realtor that they have a showing booked for our place on Monday, Dec. 13th. We thought it would be nice to have a little something Christmasy in the house but the only thing I had saved was a shoe box full of ornaments.
We didn't really want to go and buy anything, but, low and behold, the Lord provided. The folks down the hall were getting rid of some things while cleaning out for a move. Guess what? One of items they were tossing out was a cute little 2 foot lighted Christmas tree, some small wooden ornaments and a little red sleigh! We added a few of our ornaments and some candy canes and all of a sudden "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Dale used the sleigh to spruce up the dining room table by cutting some pine boughs from the tree outside and added a few gold fruits I had saved from our dining room wreath. We added a couple red candles I still had around and our table looks festive, as well.
So, with a little cleaning and tidying up we are ready and anxious for the first showing of our place tomorrow!
At the Aurora Public Library where I work, we are busy getting ready to shut down the branch. The City of Aurora like a lot of cities around the nation are having financial problems. In November, an iniative was put before the voters that would have increased property taxes. That increase would have created a General Improvement Fund that would have allowed the libraries to remain open. Unfortunately, it failed to pass by a little over 3000 votes. As a result, 4 of our 7 branches will be closing at the end of the year.
I work at one of those branches. A lot of our materials will be distributed to the branches that will remain open but there is too much to be absorbed into the three remaining libraries. This week we began to sell books, VHS movies and audio books on tape for $1.00 each. What a deal for the public. The items are flying out the door!
About one half of the library staff will loose their jobs. Those not being laid off was decided by seniority and position. I am one of the fortunate ones that get to keep my job. In January 2010, I will begin working at the main branch. After working in the smaller libraries it will be a very different enviroment for me. But, I am looking forward to the challenge.
It seems we have been in limbo since we have sold so much of our belongings and put our place on the market. Since we do not have plans to go anywhere for Christmas we are just not into the holiday spirit. All that could change if the folks coming to look at our place like it and want to buy it! That would set us in a tail spin! :o)
Yesterday, we got a call from the realtor that they have a showing booked for our place on Monday, Dec. 13th. We thought it would be nice to have a little something Christmasy in the house but the only thing I had saved was a shoe box full of ornaments.
We didn't really want to go and buy anything, but, low and behold, the Lord provided. The folks down the hall were getting rid of some things while cleaning out for a move. Guess what? One of items they were tossing out was a cute little 2 foot lighted Christmas tree, some small wooden ornaments and a little red sleigh! We added a few of our ornaments and some candy canes and all of a sudden "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Dale used the sleigh to spruce up the dining room table by cutting some pine boughs from the tree outside and added a few gold fruits I had saved from our dining room wreath. We added a couple red candles I still had around and our table looks festive, as well.
So, with a little cleaning and tidying up we are ready and anxious for the first showing of our place tomorrow!
At the Aurora Public Library where I work, we are busy getting ready to shut down the branch. The City of Aurora like a lot of cities around the nation are having financial problems. In November, an iniative was put before the voters that would have increased property taxes. That increase would have created a General Improvement Fund that would have allowed the libraries to remain open. Unfortunately, it failed to pass by a little over 3000 votes. As a result, 4 of our 7 branches will be closing at the end of the year.
I work at one of those branches. A lot of our materials will be distributed to the branches that will remain open but there is too much to be absorbed into the three remaining libraries. This week we began to sell books, VHS movies and audio books on tape for $1.00 each. What a deal for the public. The items are flying out the door!
About one half of the library staff will loose their jobs. Those not being laid off was decided by seniority and position. I am one of the fortunate ones that get to keep my job. In January 2010, I will begin working at the main branch. After working in the smaller libraries it will be a very different enviroment for me. But, I am looking forward to the challenge.
It seems we have been in limbo since we have sold so much of our belongings and put our place on the market. Since we do not have plans to go anywhere for Christmas we are just not into the holiday spirit. All that could change if the folks coming to look at our place like it and want to buy it! That would set us in a tail spin! :o)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Out of touch way too long!
SEPTEMBER
Life seems to be going in slow motion. Marj is recovering from the knee replacement surgery she had on Aug. 7th. Things seem to be going well.
This month we took a drive up to the Mountain States Children's Home in Longmont, CO to deliver 5 quilts that Marj, Dale, Ken and Donna collectively made in the past few months. This is the second delivery we have made to them. The four of us have made several quilts for the kids at the Home.
Photo: Marj, 2 ladies that work in the office and a new student to MSCH holding one of the quilts Marj made. This little gal is one of the younger students. Most children that come to live at MSCH are in their teens.
Mountain States takes in children in crisis. They have a 155 acre farm with several homes where house parents watch over and guide the students until they can return home to their families. While there at Mountain States, the kids not only experience stability but are taught the love of Jesus. When they come to the Home, most of the students are one to several years behind their peers in their education. But, with the help of the "one room school house / home school" enviroment many gain confidence, catch up quickly and are able to return to the public school system in the area.
A lot of times when the child arrives they have nothing but the clothes on their back. The Home likes to issue each child their own homemade quilt that is theirs to use and take with them when they leave. We contribute the lap quilts in hopes that it will be a warm and lasting memory of the time they spent among Christians at the Mountain States Children's Home.
With Marj "on the mend" we took the opportunity to take our 5th wheel out for our "maiden voyage" the last week before Marj had to return to work. Since it was our first time to actually camp in it and we were not sure if everything worked properly , we choose to go to Cherry Creek State Park, just a short distance from where we live. Not to mention, we have lived here 9 years and had never visited the park! We had a great time and fortunately did not run into too many unexpected problems. Dale was surprised to find a leak under the kitchen sink.
The previous owners had replaced the faucet and much to our dismay it needed a little fixing. So, the benefit of staying close to home, we made a run to Ace Hardware and were back to the park in no time. The weather cooperated with sunny days but our first night had us waking up to a very chilly morning. Fortunately, we found the heater works great! Since it was the end of the season we have not had the chance to go again but are looking forward to it as soon as the weather breaks. That is unless we sell our condo. Then we will move into the RV and head south!
NOVEMBER
Good news! After 1 year on the market, we have finally sold the one-bedroom apartment we bought several years ago as a rental. All things considered, we have been very fortunate to have some great tenants but with wanting to live in our 5th wheel and travel, we would like to be debt free. We signed the closing papers early in the month and are very glad to be one step closer to our goal of leaving Denver.
About the same time, we also listed the place we currently live in. Dale and Marj have always been "do it yourselfers" so listing with a realtor really goes against our nature. But, we live in a condo in a secure building with rules that make it very difficult sometimes. Like, not putting up any kind of signage. However, the "rules" are the very thing that make Heather Gardens a very desirable place to live. With the approaching holidays, timing was not on our side. It is a real challenge to keep every room neat and tidy and ready to show everyday. We really don't look for our place to sell before spring but we are leaving it up to God to send just the right buyer at just the right time.
November 19th we flew to Sacramento where we enjoyed a wonderful week with our youngest daughter, Amy and her family. Because Amy's house is quite full, there was no room for us to stay there. But Amy made arrangements for us to stay with their dear friend Cynthia. What a blessing to meet that lovely lady. She was so gracious and hospitable. Each day, we would go over to Amy's and spend time with the grandkids. It was so fun to see little Sammy take his first steps and to hear Grace read! Little Noraa was quite the helper when Grandpa did a couple little "fix-it jobs". And oh, how they love books! We loved all the hugs and snuggles we got while we read oh so many books over the course of the week.
We also drove the 40 miles down to Stockton a couple times to visit with Dale's mom and sister. Dale's niece, Heather, surprised us by joining us. She and her three children were there to share in the great lunch Lois fixed. We also shared some special time with just Mom catching up with her and exchanging stories of our aches and pains. :o)
Photo: Dale's mom, Jerry showing Marj her new knitting loom.
The day after our lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Amy's, we all went downtown to Old Sacramento along the river. You can see from the photo that the day started a bit chilly but soon the sun came out and it turned out to be a sunny California day!
Photo: Amy, Aaron, Noraa, Grace and Sammy.
We all walked around enjoying a step back in time. Old Sac has many restored buildings that have been turned into gift shops and food vendors. We loved seeing the boats, trains and horse drawn carriages. We had a great clam chowder lunch at Joe's Crab Shack at the riverside and had a treat watching the draw bridge go up to let a pirate ship go through. It docked right by the restauant to let its passengers out.
From there, we said our goodbyes and we returned to the airport to turn in our rental car and fly home to Denver. A good time was had by all. Thank you Amy and Aaron for a great stay!
DECEMBER 7TH
Meanwhile, Dale continues to get our "little rolling house" outfitted for the road. He has several routine maintenance jobs to do as well as purchase new tires. Because the tires are so important for safety, he has spent countless hours researching the kind we need. He has finally found a local tire shop that can order and install the tires for us. Currently, the 5er has been in the hands of an RV shop getting some "recall" work done. They are finally done and then we will be taking it to Camping World to completed the rest of his check list. :o)
Life seems to be going in slow motion. Marj is recovering from the knee replacement surgery she had on Aug. 7th. Things seem to be going well.
This month we took a drive up to the Mountain States Children's Home in Longmont, CO to deliver 5 quilts that Marj, Dale, Ken and Donna collectively made in the past few months. This is the second delivery we have made to them. The four of us have made several quilts for the kids at the Home.
Photo: Marj, 2 ladies that work in the office and a new student to MSCH holding one of the quilts Marj made. This little gal is one of the younger students. Most children that come to live at MSCH are in their teens.
A lot of times when the child arrives they have nothing but the clothes on their back. The Home likes to issue each child their own homemade quilt that is theirs to use and take with them when they leave. We contribute the lap quilts in hopes that it will be a warm and lasting memory of the time they spent among Christians at the Mountain States Children's Home.
With Marj "on the mend" we took the opportunity to take our 5th wheel out for our "maiden voyage" the last week before Marj had to return to work. Since it was our first time to actually camp in it and we were not sure if everything worked properly , we choose to go to Cherry Creek State Park, just a short distance from where we live. Not to mention, we have lived here 9 years and had never visited the park! We had a great time and fortunately did not run into too many unexpected problems. Dale was surprised to find a leak under the kitchen sink.
The previous owners had replaced the faucet and much to our dismay it needed a little fixing. So, the benefit of staying close to home, we made a run to Ace Hardware and were back to the park in no time. The weather cooperated with sunny days but our first night had us waking up to a very chilly morning. Fortunately, we found the heater works great! Since it was the end of the season we have not had the chance to go again but are looking forward to it as soon as the weather breaks. That is unless we sell our condo. Then we will move into the RV and head south!OCTOBER
We received notice this month that Dale's Social Security Disability was approved. Now, that does not lessen the pain or make it go away but it is a relief that we no longer need to worry about having some sort of income. It has been over 3 1/2 years since the surgery so we were very relieved that he was approved.
NOVEMBER
Good news! After 1 year on the market, we have finally sold the one-bedroom apartment we bought several years ago as a rental. All things considered, we have been very fortunate to have some great tenants but with wanting to live in our 5th wheel and travel, we would like to be debt free. We signed the closing papers early in the month and are very glad to be one step closer to our goal of leaving Denver.
About the same time, we also listed the place we currently live in. Dale and Marj have always been "do it yourselfers" so listing with a realtor really goes against our nature. But, we live in a condo in a secure building with rules that make it very difficult sometimes. Like, not putting up any kind of signage. However, the "rules" are the very thing that make Heather Gardens a very desirable place to live. With the approaching holidays, timing was not on our side. It is a real challenge to keep every room neat and tidy and ready to show everyday. We really don't look for our place to sell before spring but we are leaving it up to God to send just the right buyer at just the right time.
November 19th we flew to Sacramento where we enjoyed a wonderful week with our youngest daughter, Amy and her family. Because Amy's house is quite full, there was no room for us to stay there. But Amy made arrangements for us to stay with their dear friend Cynthia. What a blessing to meet that lovely lady. She was so gracious and hospitable. Each day, we would go over to Amy's and spend time with the grandkids. It was so fun to see little Sammy take his first steps and to hear Grace read! Little Noraa was quite the helper when Grandpa did a couple little "fix-it jobs". And oh, how they love books! We loved all the hugs and snuggles we got while we read oh so many books over the course of the week.
Photo: Dale's mom, Jerry showing Marj her new knitting loom.
The day after our lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Amy's, we all went downtown to Old Sacramento along the river. You can see from the photo that the day started a bit chilly but soon the sun came out and it turned out to be a sunny California day!
Photo: Amy, Aaron, Noraa, Grace and Sammy.
We all walked around enjoying a step back in time. Old Sac has many restored buildings that have been turned into gift shops and food vendors. We loved seeing the boats, trains and horse drawn carriages. We had a great clam chowder lunch at Joe's Crab Shack at the riverside and had a treat watching the draw bridge go up to let a pirate ship go through. It docked right by the restauant to let its passengers out.
From there, we said our goodbyes and we returned to the airport to turn in our rental car and fly home to Denver. A good time was had by all. Thank you Amy and Aaron for a great stay!
DECEMBER 7TH
Meanwhile, Dale continues to get our "little rolling house" outfitted for the road. He has several routine maintenance jobs to do as well as purchase new tires. Because the tires are so important for safety, he has spent countless hours researching the kind we need. He has finally found a local tire shop that can order and install the tires for us. Currently, the 5er has been in the hands of an RV shop getting some "recall" work done. They are finally done and then we will be taking it to Camping World to completed the rest of his check list. :o)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sales, Surgery and Social Security
It was not my intention to let so much time pass before I updated our blog. I have actually had this one in the draft awaiting the insertion of some photos.
As I finished our last entry we were busy getting ready for our major moving sale. We were trying to clean out closets and rooms of items we would no longer need to run our household. We held the sale at a friend's house since, living in a condo, we have no way to host such a large event. We packed and stacked our living room for several weeks before we started hauling our things over to Dick's the week of July 19th. We were able to borrow several tables from our building which really helped to display items. We piled those tables with things, and in addition, had a huge pile of things to haul out to the driveway on the sale day.
In preparation, I made several very large signs to place on the main streets around Dick's home. Each sign simply said, "Big Moving Sale Today" and a directional arrow. It made for some extra work but putting up the signs and taking them down each day allowed us to control the time we were open. Besides our big signs, the only other advertising we did was list the upcoming event on Craig's List. Since we did not want anyone to bother Dick, we only listed a general intersection. So, on Thursday, July 23rd we opened the flood gates. From the time Dale started putting out signs, we had a constant stream of folks (several hundred) perusing our sale and helping us out by giving our 'stuff' a new home. Dick's neighbor was absolutely flabbergasted at the number of people we drew to the sale. We held the sale from Thursday through Saturday and got rid of most of everything. The remains we boxed up and brought home and put out for the Disabled Americans Veterans to pick up. We had a few items we brought back home to list on Craig's List. It is so interesting to me how our "stuff" seems so important to us but when it is gone, we rarely miss it.
Knowing I would soon be 'out of commisson' with my knee surgery, we kicked it in gear to get a few projects finished up. One of them was shopping for the carpet we wanted to put in our 5th wheel. We are very excited to get the old carpet out and freshen up the interior.
So, back to my story. I was released from the hospital on Monday August 10th. At home, I navigate the
house with a walker putting as much weight as is comfortable on the 'wounded' leg. I have a physical therapist that comes to the house two or three times a week and an occupational therapist that will be making calls on me. My overall health and ability is good so I may need little in the way of occupational therapy. She is going to work with me on energy conservation next week. After surgery, all your energy in directed to healing the wound so even the simplest of tasks take a great deal of energy to perform. But the physical therapy is another story. It seems all the muscles of my leg need to be retrained to respond. Regaining the full extent ion and bend of the knee is the most challenging by far. But, each day seems to bring a little more healing and a little more ease of movement.
Before I had my surgery, I ran across this cool website. If you would like to give the medical field and knee surgery a try, check out this website which enables you to be the doctor as they walk you through doing a virtual knee placement surgery. http://edheads.org/activities/knee/
I think some of my hesitation has been my "why or who would really care about following our daily adventures?" I don't know why I would have these thoughts as there are several blogs I enjoy reading, even some of people I have yet to meet. But, I am determined that I want to log our progress. It has to get more interesting as time goes by, doesn't it? I hope so, but for now my procrastination has left me with much to catch up on.
As I finished our last entry we were busy getting ready for our major moving sale. We were trying to clean out closets and rooms of items we would no longer need to run our household. We held the sale at a friend's house since, living in a condo, we have no way to host such a large event. We packed and stacked our living room for several weeks before we started hauling our things over to Dick's the week of July 19th. We were able to borrow several tables from our building which really helped to display items. We piled those tables with things, and in addition, had a huge pile of things to haul out to the driveway on the sale day.
In preparation, I made several very large signs to place on the main streets around Dick's home. Each sign simply said, "Big Moving Sale Today" and a directional arrow. It made for some extra work but putting up the signs and taking them down each day allowed us to control the time we were open. Besides our big signs, the only other advertising we did was list the upcoming event on Craig's List. Since we did not want anyone to bother Dick, we only listed a general intersection. So, on Thursday, July 23rd we opened the flood gates. From the time Dale started putting out signs, we had a constant stream of folks (several hundred) perusing our sale and helping us out by giving our 'stuff' a new home. Dick's neighbor was absolutely flabbergasted at the number of people we drew to the sale. We held the sale from Thursday through Saturday and got rid of most of everything. The remains we boxed up and brought home and put out for the Disabled Americans Veterans to pick up. We had a few items we brought back home to list on Craig's List. It is so interesting to me how our "stuff" seems so important to us but when it is gone, we rarely miss it.
Knowing I would soon be 'out of commisson' with my knee surgery, we kicked it in gear to get a few projects finished up. One of them was shopping for the carpet we wanted to put in our 5th wheel. We are very excited to get the old carpet out and freshen up the interior.
So, with the moving sale behind us, it was time to get ready for my upcoming total knee replacement surgery. On Friday, August 7th we checked into St. Joseph's hospital at 6 AM. By 8:30 AM I was in la la land. What a blessing that several church friends came to keep Dale company in the waiting room during the surgery.
The surgery went well. As with any major surgery, pain is part of the equation. It is almost impossible to imagine how they can go into your knee and place a piece of hardware that nearly duplicates the original! Of course, nothing is ever as good as God's design so I will have some limitations. But, overall, I should be able to walk comfortably for distances.
I recently became acquainted with Bookcrossing at http://www.bookcrossing.com/, the World's Biggest Free Book Club-Catch and Release Used Books. This is a website for book lovers to share and track books they have read. So, why do I throw this in the middle of my knee surgery post? Because on the day of my surgery I sent my first book "into the wild". Dale left it in the surgery waiting room at St.Joseph's Hospital in downtown Denver, CO. Dale and I had recently finished reading a book by Monty Roberts called Shy Boy: The Horse That Came in From the Wild. I registered it on my BookCrossing account. It is assigned a number whereby anyone who finds it can post what they are doing with the book. Ideally, I can keep track of that book and see all the hands it may fall into. Currently, there are over 800,000 members of BookCrossing in 130 countries and almost 6 million books registered. You can find or leave books anywhere; the laundry mat, a hotel lobby, doctor's offices, bus stops, etc. In addition you can get on the website and and see where people have released books in your area. Really fun, and a great way to recycle those books you want to share with others!
So, back to my story. I was released from the hospital on Monday August 10th. At home, I navigate the
house with a walker putting as much weight as is comfortable on the 'wounded' leg. I have a physical therapist that comes to the house two or three times a week and an occupational therapist that will be making calls on me. My overall health and ability is good so I may need little in the way of occupational therapy. She is going to work with me on energy conservation next week. After surgery, all your energy in directed to healing the wound so even the simplest of tasks take a great deal of energy to perform. But the physical therapy is another story. It seems all the muscles of my leg need to be retrained to respond. Regaining the full extent ion and bend of the knee is the most challenging by far. But, each day seems to bring a little more healing and a little more ease of movement.
Before I had my surgery, I ran across this cool website. If you would like to give the medical field and knee surgery a try, check out this website which enables you to be the doctor as they walk you through doing a virtual knee placement surgery. http://edheads.org/activities/knee/
We have a very busy week ahead of us with me getting the 'staples' removed from my knee incision, 3 physical therapy sessions, and Dale's Social Security Disablility hearing.
We have been waitng over a year and a half for this hearing. We have a MetLife assigned SS lawyer that will represent Dale. Our very lives hinge on the outcome of this hearing. A judge will decide if he is indeed 'disabled' to the point of not being able to hold down a job comparable to his former position at Kaiser Permanente. Of course, if it were up to us, we would love to go back in time and have all the pain and pills be just a dream. We would much rather have Dale restored to his former healthy state and be finishing up his career and following our retirement plans.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Our Decision to go Full Time RVing
This is indeed a season of change for us. Never would we have dreamed that our lives could take such an unconventional turn. Recently we have been forced to re-examine what we thought were well laid out plans. We have given much thought and prayer to our decision. As we undertake this new chapter in our lives we truly hope we will have the opportunity to "go about doing good".
Not knowing how things were going to play out with selling our place, we decided to begin looking at RV's just to get an idea of what we wanted. We decided that a motorhome would not be our first choice because we didn't want to tow another smaller vehicle behind us. We thought about a trailer because it was all on one level and getting in and out of it seemed easier. It was not until we began to look at the 5th wheel options that we set our site on a 5'er. And, as usually happens, just a few months into our search we found a used one that had most all of the features on our "wish" list.Since this was going to be our "home" we were looking for ample living space, a desk, large kitchen counter space, separate toilet room and generous closet space. The kitchen doesn't have as much counter space as we would like, but the trade off was that this one has a washer and dryer in the dressing area! It also has 3 slide-outs which expand the living room, dining and bedroom room areas.
It has been several months now since we purchased the 37 foot 1998 Carri-Lite 5th Wheel and a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 quad-cab pickup truck as a tow vehicle. Since that time, we have been working on
the trailer trying to customize it to our likes. Also, we are trying to get rid of the "stuff" that 4 kids and 37 years of marriage brings with it.
There is no denying that letting go of material goods is not easy! But, with each item that goes out the door the burden of storing it, cleaning it, and trying to find it IF you need it, is lifted. I think what made us realize that it is all just "stuff" came from storing things in Boise when we made the "temporary" move to Denver years ago. There was very little in the storage that we missed or even had need of while we have been in Denver. In fact, so much of what we thought we could not live without, actually lost value as a result of storing it. During the time it was stored, there was a fire in a unit next to ours. Between the smoke and water that came over and under the wall, many things were not as we had left them. Over the years we have been in Aurora, we have gradually reduced the amount of things in the Boise storage. We recently went to Boise to retrieve what was left, most of which will be sold in our big garage sale or given back to our kids.
So there you have it. We are at a point where hopefully our progress will be moving at a faster pace. All our entries from here on out will be updates on our departure progress and eventually journals and photos of our life of the road. We truly look forward to serving God in any way we can as we meet other campers and members of our church family along the way.
This is a brief recap of our journey to the decision to go "full-time". Full-time is a term used by people who choose to live in their recreational vehicle instead of a "stick" house. Believe it or not there are thousands doing it; and very happily, I might add. Our purpose in writing this journal is to not only keep a log for ourselves, but to enable our friends, family and loved ones to share in our adventure.
So, where do we begin? While we had not intended to stay a long time when we moved to the Denver area in the year 2000, we have been here for 9 years now. But, our plans changed as we settled into jobs. Dale was working as a Senior Project Manager for Kaiser Permanente in their Information Technology Department. Marj was working part-time as a Library Clerk for the Aurora Public Library. We had been in the Denver area for 5 years when we purchased the condo we now live in. We were both looking forward to the time when we might retire, leave the Denver metro area and move to "Mayberry" when we found it.
But, our plans are not God's plans. In March of 2006 Dale underwent a typical hernia surgery. As weeks passed and he did not seem to be recovering, the doctor's realized that there was a nerve entrapped in scar tissue. Suddenly, after many years of being a healthy guy who rarely needed to go to the doctor, he became a frequent visitor to the doctor's office. After many, many doctor visits and numerous procedures tried, they labeled it "chronic pain". Even with all the pain medication he is taking, he still suffers continually. Sadly, his medical records now consist of volumes, not pages.
Fortunately, he did have "long term disability" insurance, so after 6 months of not being able to work at his position at Kaiser, he was granted disability at one half of his current salary. Just as Dale's earnings had peaked, not only did we lose one half of his salary but all further contributions to our retirement savings through Kaiser came to a complete standstill. Now each day is a financial challenge. But more importantly a challenge as to the level of pain he will have to endure that day. Concentration and staying on simple tasks is very difficult for him but many times he pushes himself because he refuses to give in to the pain.
About a year and a half ago, Dale and I read a book called Choosing Simplicity by Linda Breen Pierce. It made us think about the benefit of simplifying our life and ridding ourselves of excess baggage. We decided we would sell our condo, buy an RV and give living on the road a try. We had always enjoyed traveling but with job restrictions, most travel was hurry to get there, then hurry to get home. Financially, we need to be out from under the burden of our mortgage. While we love and enjoy the beauty of Colorado, we are also anxious to leave the crime and congestion of the metro Denver area. We are thrilled at the thought of being able to make plans that include relaxing visits with our children and grandchildren as we travel.
Not knowing how things were going to play out with selling our place, we decided to begin looking at RV's just to get an idea of what we wanted. We decided that a motorhome would not be our first choice because we didn't want to tow another smaller vehicle behind us. We thought about a trailer because it was all on one level and getting in and out of it seemed easier. It was not until we began to look at the 5th wheel options that we set our site on a 5'er. And, as usually happens, just a few months into our search we found a used one that had most all of the features on our "wish" list.Since this was going to be our "home" we were looking for ample living space, a desk, large kitchen counter space, separate toilet room and generous closet space. The kitchen doesn't have as much counter space as we would like, but the trade off was that this one has a washer and dryer in the dressing area! It also has 3 slide-outs which expand the living room, dining and bedroom room areas.
It has been several months now since we purchased the 37 foot 1998 Carri-Lite 5th Wheel and a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 quad-cab pickup truck as a tow vehicle. Since that time, we have been working on
the trailer trying to customize it to our likes. Also, we are trying to get rid of the "stuff" that 4 kids and 37 years of marriage brings with it.There is no denying that letting go of material goods is not easy! But, with each item that goes out the door the burden of storing it, cleaning it, and trying to find it IF you need it, is lifted. I think what made us realize that it is all just "stuff" came from storing things in Boise when we made the "temporary" move to Denver years ago. There was very little in the storage that we missed or even had need of while we have been in Denver. In fact, so much of what we thought we could not live without, actually lost value as a result of storing it. During the time it was stored, there was a fire in a unit next to ours. Between the smoke and water that came over and under the wall, many things were not as we had left them. Over the years we have been in Aurora, we have gradually reduced the amount of things in the Boise storage. We recently went to Boise to retrieve what was left, most of which will be sold in our big garage sale or given back to our kids.
So there you have it. We are at a point where hopefully our progress will be moving at a faster pace. All our entries from here on out will be updates on our departure progress and eventually journals and photos of our life of the road. We truly look forward to serving God in any way we can as we meet other campers and members of our church family along the way.
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