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Downsizing Home, empty nesters, freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, usa travel

A QUICK TRIP TO WILMINGTON, NC – Food, Fun and Wonderful People!

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Linsley and I were preparing for our next adventure.  I have landed a workamping position at Jellystone Campground in Warrens, Wisconsin for the summer season 2020, we had bought our car, and now needed a way to take the car with us on our journey to Wisconsin.  We leave South Carolina on February 29, and wend our way north and west over a 5 week period, so lots to see and do along the way……

We had bought our RV from Billy and Ada, a lovely couple who had bought it brand new and lovingly used it for over 20 years.  When we bought the RV, the price included a tow dolly, but at the time we picked the RV up from Billy and Ada, we were unable to take the tow dolly with us, so our friend Janet ( a fellow RVer we met) came with me to Wilmington, NC to pick up the tow dolly.  It was about a 6 hour drive, so it was lovely to have Janet’s company for it.

The drive there and back we made in torrential rain, which really made it much harder than it should have been, but when we arrived in Wilmington, the sun came out and stayed out for the whole time we were there.

Janet met Billy and Ada, and was totally bowled over by this lovely lovely couple.  Billy pulled out the tow dolly and showed me everything I needed to know about it and how to attach and secure the car onto it.  He even gave us the magnetic lights that attach to the car once it is attached onto the tow dolly.  The one thing he did warn me about driving it back to SC was that without a car on the dolly, it could bounce, so drive carefully and at a reasonable speed.

After the tow dolly was all hooked up and ready to be driven down the road, Ada and Billy gave us a huge bag of collard greens from their garden that Billy went and picked while Janet and I were talking with Ada.  I shared pictures of our travels, our grandchildren and our newest great nephew, and then Janet and I were on our way to find some dinner and check into our hotel.

We arrived at the hotel, and had a lovely suite, which we shared, and then went for a walk in search of somewhere nice to eat.  We had thought about going to the canal district, but decided that parking with a tow dolly attached might be a problem.  Luckily, on our walk, we found The Bonefish Grill not too far up the street from our hotel.

Dinner was amazing!  I have always been allergic to zinc, which meant that I was never able to eat shellfish as it tasted like old gun metal to me.  Recently, however, while cooking shrimp, it smelled really good to me (which is a huge change from previously, when shrimp smelled awful to me), so Janet and I went to Bonefish Grill for dinner, and I told our waiter Lucas (who was incredible by the way) about my prior inability to eat shellfish.  He suggested that I try the bang bang shrimp, and if I couldn’t eat it, he would take it away.  I was ok with that, and soon he arrived with a steaming plate of bang bang shrimp that smelled divine!

I tried one of the shrimp and to my surprise, as soon as I put it into my mouth, it tasted so good, like nothing else I had ever tasted.  I couldn’t believe that suddenly, I was able to eat something that for the whole of my life I had not been able to eat, and I was loving it!

What a great start to  dinner that was.  Janet and I shared the bang bang shrimp as there was so much of it, and Lucas, our server, was very happy to hear that it was a big hit.  He brought our drinks and we had another little surprise, no, I wasn’t drunk, but my glass was!

The restaurant was very quiet, it was a Tuesday evening, and there were very few people around, so I think we got his full attention and he had more time to talk to us than he normally would on a busy night at Bonefish Grill.  He was so knowledgeable and helpful, possibly the best server I have ever had (and he was pretty cute too!)

Main course and Janet had Tuna Sushimi, and I had Salmon in a lemon caper sauce, which was delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, both Janet and I were really full, but when we saw the chocolate lava cake, we couldn’t resist and decided to share a plate between us.  It was well worth it!  OMG it was good!

After dinner, Janet and I walked back to our hotel, and basically both fell into a food coma………..

I was a little worried about the tow dolly being parked outside, and hoped no-one would steal it overnight, we had put a small padlock on it but it would have been easy to break it off…. Fortunately, no-one stole the dolly and the next morning, we were up bright and early and on our way back to South Carolina with the tow dolly in tow.  Again, we drove through torrential rain but actually made pretty good time.

We are now one step closer to heading out on our next adventure. And those collard greens…. we made a huge dinner for all our friends at the South Carolina campground and cooked two huge pots of collards.  Ada and Billy, the collards were delicious, and everyone here enjoyed them.  Some of our friends had never had collards before, but said they will make a point of eating them now they have tried them.

freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, Uncategorized, usa travel

SOUTH CAROLINA AWESOMENESS

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            Traveling to South Carolina, we didn’t know what to expect in terms of scenery.  We decided to take a trip to the mountains to see the fall colors, so we went to Ceasars Head State Park. 

            Unfortunately, the colors weren’t at their best when we went, leaves change color here slightly differently than they did where we came from, so we got there at the wrong time to see the full fall color.  That didn’t  detract from the beauty of the scenery we saw.  We could see for miles and miles and we were so lucky with the weather, it was sunny, but not hot which made it easy to walk around and take in the beauty of the whole place.           

Caesars Head State Park

We went with the friends we made here at the campground, and had a wonderful day.  We did a little hiking, took a lot of pictures, and when we went home to the campground, we all sat around a campfire and had a great impromptu dinner.

Caesars Head State Park
Caesars Head State Park
Caesars Head State Park
Caesars Head State Park

We feel so lucky to be able to travel around the country and see such amazing sights. If we didn’t become full time RVers, we would never have the chance to see this amazing beauty.

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THE DOWNSIZING PROCESS……….

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Have you ever stopped, looked around your house, and really seen all the “stuff” you have accumulated over the years?

That is exactly what Linsley and I had to do, and the thought of sorting through it all was daunting, overwhelming, ridiculous, I can think of at least another good few words to describe how I felt at the prospect of going through everything in our home……. The reality was every bit as overwhelming as the thought of it.

Well, we found out from the Estate Sales company we hired, that we basically had to remove anything we wanted to keep, and everything of a personal nature. So I set to work going through every drawer and cabinet in the house. I have to say that once you start this process, it is totally amazing just how much personal stuff you find that needs to be removed. Old letters that Linsley had used as bookmarks etc. so it’s not only going through the obvious places but EVERYWHERE! I have had a few chuckles over the things I have discovered that I had either forgotten about or thought were long gone!  A few nice surprises, a love letter that was written when we first started dating a million years ago….. hospital wrist bands from when the boys were born, and a few other gems that had been buried in our memories for years.

During this purge, we also had a handiman working on the outside of the house giving it some much needed curb appeal and as you can see from the picture (above), it now looks bright, cheerful and welcoming. Living in the same house for years, you tend to forget about the curb appeal, and I have to admit, we had been guilty of that, but with a good lick of paint and some pressure washing, she looks like a whole new house!

After weeks of combing through everything inside the house, deciding what we really couldn’t part with, we were both amazed at how easily we were getting through it all. It all just told us that we were doing the right thing and showed us that although there were ahhh moments, none of the “stuff” mattered to us more than our happiness. If someone had told me two years ago that all the “stuff” we had accumulated over the years would be this easy to part with, I would have marked them down as insane! Funny how that change of mindset happens when you’re not looking!

It was crazy that some things we had bought for the house right before making the decision were still in their boxes and we were now looking at selling them in the estate sale. I guess that’s how life happens though, you live each day and a decision made one day can affect all the decisions made for months, even years prior to that. This is where having a crystal ball would have been really handy! LOL

I have to say that the mess created by going through everything in the house was a little much for me. I am one of these very organized people, and it drove me crazy to have all our belongings pulled out from their storage places and within sight.  I had to talk myself off the ledge many times as I tried to clean around the insane clutter!  It also occurred to me in the middle of all this mess “who on earth would want to buy our old stuff?” The estate sale guy talked me down from that one, bringing in furniture specialists to assess the worth of the hand-made furniture I had brought from England with me years ago.  It turns out, however much you are used to the furniture you have lived with for years, it will appeal to someone…. We were told that although we lived in the furniture capital of the world here in North Carolina, our furniture was “different” and therefore very appealing to many of the dealers around here.  I guess time will tell on that one!

I did find a rhythm to all the madness.  I designated a big plastic tote for collecting like things…. Office supplies, toys, shoes, etc. and that helped me deal with the mess.  Having said that, I am two weeks away from the estate sale now and I feel totally burned out…

I know that I will keep going, and I realize that although this is a hard process to go through, the only way to come out the other end to freedom is to keep going!  We are close now and soon I will be able to sit here with a totally empty house, a glass of wine in my hand and breathe a huge sigh of relief that it is over.  I also know that one day, I will look back on this time and laugh about it all.  Just not right now…… hahaha

Downsizing Home, empty nesters, freedom, Roadtrips, rv living, travel, Uncategorized, usa travel

A NEW PERSPECTIVE – CHANGE OF FOCUS

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On December 31, 2018 I was laid off from my job.  After the health problems I had gone through a few years ago, my confidence was shaken to the core.  It is now summer, 2019, and still no replacement job on the radar.  This, I have to admit has knocked me off my feet as I have never in my life had a problem finding a job. Together with turning 60 this spring, Linsley and I have decided that it’s the universe telling us to go in a different direction! 

I know that doesn’t sound like the thoughts of two sane people, but with all that has happened in the past years, life is too short to struggle and try to keep everything together for other people. Our children are all set up, have their own homes and lives, and we are now reduced to the role of listeners.  We listen to their numerous complaints about each other, but they don’t want to listen to any advice we give, so after lots of heart wrenching thought and lots of research, we have decided to “drop out”! 

By that, I mean that Linsley and I have decided to liquidate everything and starting a new adventure.  

“Dropping out” has been an often talked about concept between Linsley and I over the years, but was always placed on the back burner because kids needed this or that.  It always seemed selfish to go off and have a life, but we have recently had an epiphany…

… now that the kids are all grown up….. THIS IS OUR TIME!!!

I will be writing regularly to update you on the details of what that entails, and I’m pretty certain that there will be some set-backs and some heartache along this process, but we will face it all head on, because we owe it to ourselves to make the most of our time here and have no regrets at the end of it all.

We know for sure that we are not the only people who have made this decision, and we know that there are an awful lot of people who wish that they could make this radical move, we are neither wealthy, nor special, we just have the conviction to make it work.  I’m sure we will stumble along the way, I’m sure we will have some absolutely amazing experiences and meet some truly remarkable people in our travels, and I will be on this blog to share it all, good and bad alike!

We will document from start to finish our journey to freedom!

It begins tomorrow…… we have a realtor coming to tell us what we can reasonably expect to make by selling the house.  Then the next day we have a home liquidation company who will survey our belongings and give us a reasonable estimate of what we could realize by selling it all, lock stock and barrel!  Between the two, we should have enough to purchase an RV and hit the road!  We have an RV picked out that we truly believe will serve our living needs, and plan to spend our summers up north and the winters down south.

We are not doing this on a whim, we have done a lot of research and although we will be semi-retired, Linsley will still continue to work (he has worked from home for the past 6 years and can continue to do so once we head off) which will give us cash flow to live on.  I will find ways along the way to make money too.  It is important that we go into this with a solid plan of how we will live.  It wouldn’t make sense to just run off and find that we run out of funds to live a few months into it, and we want to be self-sufficient for the long run.  One thing that we have discovered is that we are both ready to let go of all the “stuff” that for years we held sacred (belongings) and have carried around with us each time we moved.  Life is too short, we don’t want to grow old and regret not having our adventure.

This is the start of the rest of our lives and we are so ready for it!  Come along with us on our journey, live vicariously through us as we take the bull by the horns, or maybe learn how it can be done.  If we can do it, anyone can. We are totally down to earth normal folk who just want to be happy and travel and meet new people.