A Surprise for Maddie

With Maddie gone to the Leadership Conference in Orlando, FL, Shawna wanted to tackle her room.  For quite sometime Maddie has been needing some way to store and display some of her things.  She had a large desk with a hutch but it had become a dumping ground for so many of the things that did not have a 'home'.  So, we spent about 2 and a half days working like the HGTV show, "Mission Organzation", making her room a place a beautiful space to come home to!

I wish I had taken a 'before' photo but alas, I did not.  So, I leave it to your imagination that the transformation was indeed a wonderful thing.  Since Maddie has so many tee shirts from various sources (volleyball, track, school, etc.) giving her adequate storage for them was her first objective and secondly she needed a place to display items such as her trophies, Elvis collection, various track metals and teenage 'girl stuff'.

We started by completly empting the desk onto the bed, and removing the desk from her room.  Next, Shawna purchased 5 'six-cubed' shelving units, which we all, Grandpa, Shawna and me all worked at putting together.   Maddie had been wanting to display some of the art work Shawna and Davis had done for her, so those were placed on the wall in and around the cubicles. 

On the other side of the room, the desk was removed as she always does her homework downstairs.  Dale installed 5 shelves that Shawna had on her 'one of these days project' list.  Dale put up all the shelves and Shawna created a nice little reading nook by relocating the chair in her room.

Lastly, she had a couple of bulletin boards above her bed that were overflowing with her sports ribbons and momentos from her sporting events.  For her age she is very accomplished in Volleyball and Track.  We repositioned the bulletin boards and Dale put in the 'coat hooks' as an easy and accessible was to display her arrary of metals.  Above the dresser Dale installed yet another shelf.  We also put up tiebacks for the drapes.  So, the unfinished room is now a comfortable and functional space. 

Needless to say, Maddie was totally shocked when she returned home from her trip last night.  She LOVES it and was quite speechless when she saw it!  So, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, a job well done. And for Maddie a well deserved "thanks for being a great young lady"!!

"Someday" finally arrived!

After a year and a half of selling off funiture, hauling loads of things to donation, and basically thinning out our belongings, we got down to the last several very busy weeks of getting ourselves ready to launch out on our adventure and actually hit the road.

Early in February, after selling the condo we have lived in for 5 years, we moved back across the hall to the smaller condo that we have kept to rent out.   With housing pricing being down, we decided to hang on to it and wait for prices to come back up a bit. 

It seemed that each day we had so much to do.  I had 40+years of photos to sort while Dale had several last minute modifications in the trailer he was tryng to complete.  He has added a few extra shelves for me which has helped immensely in the kitchen area.

April 1st, we moved the 5th wheel from the storage area to a trailer park with hookups so we could get all our things moved in. We set a target date of April 9th to leave.  We had wanted to get our condo rented before we left Denver but decided we would turn it over to our realtor if we did not get it rented ourselves.

God's timing is always the best!  That week of April 5th a very nice couple came to look at our condo and after checking all their references, we were signing a rental contract the day before we wanted to leave Denver.  Writing about it makes it seem so simple, but each day leading up to our departure was long, tiring and stressful.  We could not wait to get on the road just to have some time to rest from all the pre-trip activities.

As it turned out, we did not quite make the Friday, April 9th departure but instead ended up leaving on April 11th.  We wanted to go to Dodge City, KS but instead only made it to Garden City, KS (333 miles) before we were ready to call it a day.  We found a Super Walmart and joined 2 other RVer's who were 'boondocking' there.  (Boondocking is the term used to describe parking somewhere other than a designated campsite and using your self-contained capabilities.)  We parked the rig and went in to ask if we could spend the night.  They were very receptive and hospitable.  So, we spent our first night on the road in a Walmart parking lot!  See their big blue sign in the background?

The next morning we headed out for Kaw Lake near Ponca City, OK.  We arrived at a Corp of Engineers Campground called Coon Creek Campground (315 miles) and settled in for our 3 night stay of R & R.  It was so nice to be at a relaxed pace after all the hub-bub of leaving Denver.  Our campsite afforded us a wonderful view of the lake.  Here is my view out the back 5th wheel living room window............

And, as usual, always tinkering and fixing something, .........here was Dale's view...........
 

Seriously, he did not spend all his time fixing and constructing.  Our second morning there, Dale got up early and surprised me with hot tea.  He had turned our chairs towards the back window and we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise coming up over Kaw Lake.

One morning Dale and I were taking a walk around the campground road when we passed a guy pulling a boat.  In the boat were two other guys.  I kiddingly asked if they were enjoying the ride in their convertible?  Dale asked if they had any luck.  That was the only invitation they needed.  The driver stopped and hollered back, "Show um the big one Kevin!"  They pulled a big ole fighting catfish up out of the tub they had on board! 

The guy in the striped shirt is actually the one who caught it.  Kaw Lake is known for its big catfish.  This year they passed a regulation that you can only take one 'cat' over 30" per person, per day.  Tough rule, huh?

We spent our couple of days there just enjoying the quiet and getting settled in our new living space.  Neither one of us could quite grasp that we had REALLY done it.  We are now 'full-timers' with a 'little house' and a 'big yard' and we can change that view at any time!   This is a concept in living that is entirely new to us.

Our First Lesson Learned On the Road: After traveling two days of driving over 300 miles we found that it takes a bit longer to travel with a 5th wheel than in a car.  So, in order not to arrive stressed, crabby and tired, we are going to make it a rule to drive no futher that 200 miles in one day.  It makes sense, what's the hurry?

Thursday, April 15th we drove the 210 miles into Fayetteville, AR where the our daughter, Shawna and her family were awaiting our arrival.  We backed our 5th wheel into the rocked area at the back of their property.  The next day we helped Shawna get ready for the birthday party/sleepover she had planned for Haydn.   Maddie flew out of Tulsa with a group from school for a Leadership Conference. 

Tonight, Sunday, the boys came over to the 5th wheel for a visit before they went in to go to bed.  It was nice, what all grandparents long to experience!