Getting Ready for New Adventuer

Getting Sam and Betty ready for this new life style has become interesting. Mounting the 8' ladder, kayak and canoe has been interesting on how NOT to block her view and yet have a secure travel arrangement.
not happy with the outcome but it works.

Added a bike rack to pickup for my bike and we are set to go and will leave in the morning

- Terry

Closet Disaster!

Well, we sold our Williamsport, PA home and loaded Betty while she was camped at the Riverside Campground in Montgomery, PA. It had been a month since we moved her, so Terry and I carefully stowed anything that could move or bounce around.  We are developing a 'Breaking Camp' checklist so we don't forget anything.

After a 3 and a half hour drive north to the Finger Lakes, we parked Betty in a beautiful spot between two of the Finger Lakes. Here is the view from Betty's front door:

Once Betty was all settled in, we checked inside Betty and everything looked like it had stayed in place during our first journey with Betty fully loaded. So, we relaxed a bit (which means wine for me).  Then, when I opened our bedroom closet, I discovered a mess.

We quickly determined the cause. The clothing rod had bounced off of its center support, which bowed the rod and caused one end to pop out of its bracket. Then, down it went with all of our clothes.














Here is the original center bracket:

After searching the hardware section of several stores, Terry purchased a center bracket (that goes completely around the rod) and installed it:

Problem solved!

- Amanda

Handyman on Board

+-

We've been living on Betty for just under 2 months and Terry has been very busy getting her outfitted and making repairs. Anyone considering this lifestyle should definitely be handy, or married to someone who is.

Here's a partial list of Terry's work on Betty to date:

• Fixed leak in hydraulic system
• Installed screen door bar (handle)
• Installed screen door push latch
• Modified the insides of several cupboards to better fit our stuff
• Added a handle and sliding lock to our second master bedroom closet door
• Modified the basement with shelves, hooks and mounts to keep the grill, fishing rods, kayak oars, lawn chairs, hoses, tools, Christmas tree and a myriad  of other stuff organized.
• Replaced the light bulbs in the hanging pendant lights with LEDs
• Fixed the bathroom fan when it stopped working
• Installed a latch on the bedroom door to keep it open.
• Installed a new toilet paper holder (after the original broke)
• Repaired the broken screws holding our ladder onto the back of Betty
• Added a cargo carrier to the back to hold the canoe, kayak and extra ladder
• Installed new Smoke and CO alarms (as recommended by Mac The Fire Guy)
• Mounted new fire extinguishers and glass hammers (.... Mac again)
• Installed a paper towel holder
• Installed 2 reading lamps in our bedroom
• Added key hooks to the front closet
• Replaced the bathroom shower head with an Oxygenics shower head
• Mounted a soap and shampoo rack in our shower
• Replaced the locks on the outside storage compartments

Thank you Terry!

- Amanda

Break-in!

One month after putting some of our furniture into storage, we got a call from the self-storage company.  Young Melissa calmly told me that during her every-other-day walk around she noticed that there was no lock on our unit. She opened the door and found a cut lock on the floor. On the other end of the phone, I immediately started freaking out. Our storage unit was broken into!! Not a good way to start our full time RVing life!

Since Melissa didn't know what we put into storage, she couldn't tell me what was missing. I called my son Jon and asked him to drive over and take photos. Jon drove over and sent me a live video of the contents of the unit. I compared the video image to the photo we took a month ago.  Amazingly, the contents looked undisturbed!!! Nothing was taken!!!  What a relief! My emotional switch flipped from upset and angry to happy and relieved.









So what happened?

• My Theory: A thief was attempting to steal stuff from our unit, but was interrupted.
• The Self Storage Manager's Theory: Another renter forgot his key, thought our unit was his and innocently cut the lock. When he saw the "wrong" stuff inside, he tossed the lock on the floor, closed the door and left.
• Jeremy's Theory: Someone was trying to break into their ex's storage locker, but realized they had the wrong one, closed it back up and took off! 

Actually, Jeremy's theory is the best bet and the only one that truly explains all the facts (i.e. no other units were broken into, nothing was taken from our unit, and he left the cut lock behind).

The manager assured me that his facility is safe. He's been there since 2005 and there has been only one break-in during that time -- in 2006. Jon purchased a new, stronger lock and locked up our unit. So now, we have decided not to worry -- and to continue our journey.  - Amanda

How does it feel to get rid of all your stuff?

Our inquiring friends want to know. It feels different than I expected -- both good and bad. As each item goes to donation, sale, storage or discard, my first reaction is a sense of relief. One less thing to clean, carry, pack, move, maintain, insure, worry about. Then, after a beat, I feel a sense of loss. Each item has its own attached memory which makes it hard. My sister gave me that cake plate. We bought that lamp for our first home. The kids used to play with those board games. It's also tiring. We moved 20,000 pounds of stuff 4 times in the past 3 1/2 years. I am really really, really happy to not be packing 20,000 pounds of stuff ever again.

Clothes.  Why oh why did I have so many clothes? I think my clothes represented comfort and security to me. It has always been to hard to find clothes that fit my six foot frame properly. When I do find an item I like, I'm willing to spend more money, and I keep it forever. Well, until now.

Shopping. I never used to like shopping. Now, I have an aversion to it. We don't need any more stuff. We are looking forward to a simpler life - with less stuff. We will have just enough clothes, dishes, tools and hobby items to live comfortably in a 38' fifth wheel -- and not one thing more.

Money. This thought struck me during our down-sizing: we have spent a huge amount of money over the decades on all of this stuff. I think of our down-sizing as 'reverse money laundering'. We bought all this stuff brand new at full retail prices, and now we're turning it back into cash -- at garage sale prices.

Surprise. Overall, its surprising how easy it is to make the decision to donate, sell or discard each item. It's surprising how happy I am to see it all go. In hindsight, I remember how proud I was to own all of this stuff.

Selling Stuff.  We sold a few individual items on craigslist, and then hosted our first garage sale. I thought a series of 3 garage sales would be sufficient to clear out the house.  Even though we had a steady stream of people at our garage sale (2 days), it quickly became apparent that 3 garage sales weren't going to get the job done.  So, we hired a local estate sale company to come in, organize all of our stuff, price it and sell it. Ron and Deb (and their crew) worked their tails off. They spent 4 weeks setting up the sale, putting tables in every room and displaying all of our priced items. They then advertised the sale -- and sent an email to their 950 followers. The first day at 8 am, there was a hoard of people waiting to get in -- with parked cars lining our street for as far as the eye can see.  By the end of the second day, the house, basement and garage were empty!

Insanity.  Buying your own stuff back at your estate sale. Sad, but true. Two days before our estate sale started, I had second thoughts. What if my kids wanted some of the stuff we were getting rid of?  So, I sent them an email with a link to the estate sale website which had photos of nearly everything in the sale. To my amazement, my older son and his wife did want a few items.  So, we went to the estate sale and bought some of our own stuff back (per the estate sale contract).  Crazy. 

Double Insanity. The afternoon of the second day of the estate sale, Ron called and asked if we wanted to see what was left before it was donated. You guessed it. We not only drove back to the house, we picked out a few items and took them home to Betty.

- Amanda

Missing iPods: FOUND!

It's been crazy.  We have a contract on the house, and we've been sorting all the stuff we've accumulated over the past 60 years (20,000 pounds!) into these 4 categories: Take with us on Betty, Put into a Storage Unit, Sell, or Donate. Most of our possessions are going into the "Sell" category. We originally planned to sell everything by hosting 3 weekend garage sales.  We had a pretty good stream of people during our first garage sale in the small town we live in, and we grossed $1,200.  But, there is so much stuff to sell, 2 more garage sales won't get it done.  We called a couple of estate sale companies and signed a contract with Ron and Deb.

Very quickly, it became apparent that our time to get out of the house has been reduced from 7 weeks to 3 weeks. Crazy. Luckily, Terry and I are 'get it done' kind of people, and we have hard-won packing and moving experience from the 3 moves we made (with 20,000 pounds of stuff) in 18 months during 2011 and 2012.

In the past 2 weeks, we decided what would go to into storage for the next unknown number of years and packed it up. We reserved a 2 small storage units in west Michigan - near my older son Jon and his family. Right now, we are in a motel in Ohio. We stopped for the night on our drive from PA to MI.  The not-quite-full 26' U-haul truck parked outside has our:

• Master Bedroom Set
• Kitchen table and chairs
• China Cabinet
• 2 Leather Recliners
• Artwork
• Files
• Dishes, pots & pans
• Pottery & decorative items
• Cold weather coats
• Oriental rug
• The coat tree my Dad made when he was in Junior High
• Foyer table
• Kitchen Island (which we use as a TV stand)
• Misc other stuff

Back to the iPods.  As we were getting ready to leave the house, Terry discovered he couldn't find his 2 iPods (his very old original classic, and his new iPod Touch).  We searched everywhere.  They could have been packed accidentally - in which case they are in the truck and we'll see them in 5 or 10 years when we come off the road.  Or, they could be on Betty. Or, they could still be in the house. Wish us luck in finding them!

UPDATE: We found the iPods! After weeks of being accused of moving / hiding Terry's iPod Touch, Terry found it where HE had packed it, in one of his travel bags.  He also found his missing TSA suitcase locks (which he needed but didn't have when he flew to California in July). The iPod Touch and the locks were in the same bag. Here is a photo of Terry immediately after discovering his lost items.  Verdict: Amanda is innocent.

-  Amanda

Sell the house: Done!

The first major step to our new life on the road is done. We accepted an offer on our house last night.  Now, we have 7 weeks to get Betty ready for traveling, and to clear out a lifetime's worth of accumulated stuff.

We had originally planned to host a series of garage sales in order to downsize our stuff, but after our first garage sale, I think it will be more efficient to hire someone to host one estate sale.

-  Amanda