Progress

We are 7 weeks away from pulling out. Everything seems to be moving at break neck speed. But yet, not. So much to do but yet lots of waiting before we empty out the apartment.

On Monday, the mechanic is coming to finish the few jobs left to do. He is replacing the radiator overflow tank and replacing the rear bushings on the sway bar. That will end all the mechanical stuff that needs to be done. Once that is complete, we will have our electrical buddy look at the rear camera system, car radio and  television set up. We will see what the costs are for all and decide what jobs we will have him do.

As far as getting rid of stuff, we are in great shape. All the big furniture pieces are spoken for. It will be just a matter of selling or donating the smaller stuff. In fact, today we are going to go through the kitchen and start paring down.

Tomorrow we are going to Ikea. We have a small list so I am sure we will come home with lots.

We are planning on taking the RV out next week to do another shake down trip. We will start moving stuff into it each time we go to it. We have been holding off on that because we didn't want it to disappear. There were some break ins at the storage facility a few weeks ago. They did not get in ours but they tried. They broke off the handle by the door and tried to use it as a pry bar. We don't want to make it profitable if they try again.

Brenda and I are creating a new blog that we will use to chronicle our journeys. As soon as we get it up and running, we will let everybody know.

This is a bittersweet time. We love Tucson and have made some truly great friends. However, we are looking forward to being on the road as well. We know that we will be back here often, yet its not the same. Every time I bring up the subject, my friends are like NO NO NO we don't want you to go.

Time to work on our check off list of things to do before we take off.

Moving Forward

We are making progress towards the final goal. So far,everything we have put on Craigslist has sold. Albeit there have only been a few small items that we have posted. We have done so well preparing for this eventuality that we are down to just the basics. It would be a little premature to get rid of everything now. We still have two months to go.

We did sell one big item today. We are now down to one car. We sold Brenda's car today. It was starting to have a few issues that would start costing more then we were willing to spend on it.

Last week, the battery was dead yet again. We knew it was going to be the alternator and we didn't want to mess with it. Since the battery was new, we jumped the car and took it to the auto parts store we bought it from. Since it was still under warranty, we got a new battery. We figured we had a very short window of opportunity to sell it as a running car. We went to the car wash and cleaned it all up then came home and took some pictures and posted it on Craigslist. Within 5 minutes we got a hit. They came by about thirty minutes later and bought the car.

We also got more of the mechanical issues dealt with. We just have a few more projects and she will be road ready. We hope to get all that done in the next few weeks so we can get another chance to take it out and get to know her better.

So far, we have put very little money into the RV. We are truly seeing what a good deal we got. So much so, that some of the projects that we were going to wait and do in Florida will probably get done before we leave.

We are feeling good about everything. I am learning that no matter how much worrying, fretting and trying to plan, life is going to happen on its own time frame. In the end, everything works out for the best.

Two months and we are on the road......

Forward Momentum

Things here are moving along nicely. It seems like all of a sudden time is flying by and we will be on the road before we know it.

Craigslist and friends have been very profitable for us. We have sold everything we have listed and at list price. Score! Of course, we have only sold some small items as we need the big stuff just a little longer. I am sure it will all go when the time comes.

We got the battery replaced and the oil changed in the RV. It is running again! We still have a few more items to attend to, but we will take it out again next week for another shake down. Between the cooler weather and running RV, we are ready.

One of my favorite things we do is sitting out on our porch in the evening talking and planning our future. We have been brainstorming and have come up with some great ideas. We are now looking at selling both our cars and getting a better tow vehicle. We had originally planned on keeping my car and getting a tow dolly. However, my car is starting to need more work and we figure why not sell it now and either get something here or when we get to Florida. There are pros and cons for whichever we do. Of course, we can't sell my car until we have a replacement and we can't get a replacement until we sell my car. So, we shall see how that plays out.

I spent some time today looking at our route and planning when and where we will be stopping. It looks like it will take us a good 8 days based on our travel plans. We don't want to kill ourselves so we will drive about 5 hours a day.

We talked with our apartment manager and she said even though we can't get out of our lease early, if they get it rented before our lease runs out, we will get a refund of the rent we paid. Our lease expires December 31 but we are leaving on the 7th. We told her we could be out by November 30th if they found someone who wanted our unit. We have a very desireable unit so we don't think it will be a problem for them to rent it out.

So as not to be text only, here is a picture of our cat, Katie, helping us learn about our RV.

Tick Tick Tick

So looking at our little countdown ticker, we are less than 90 days away from freedom. All of a sudden it feels like time is flying. We are starting to organize the logistics of the change.

We started selling some of the small stuff that we can live without on Craigslist. We have been very successful and have sold just about everything we have posted so far. We only do two or three postings at a time so we don't get all confused.

We went and tried to jump start the battery in the RV the other day but we couldn't keep it running. So, when we have the mechanic do the oil change, tune up and other little jobs, we will have him remove the battery and we will go get a new one.

Now that the weather is cooling off, we are looking forward to getting it up and running and taking it out for a few small trips before the big one.

Needless to say, we are getting very excited.

Smiling in Sonora

I have been battling a toothache for several weeks. I kept hoping it would get better on its own so I tried to ignore it. I don't have insurance and knew it would cost tons of money to go to a dentist. Well, last week it became unbearable. I was totally miserable and knew it was time to do something. I guess it was time to bite the bullet (however, it was so painful, there was no way I could.)

I did some research and looked into dentists in Nogales Mexico. I have heard good things about going across the border for any type of medical treatment. I found one online and he looked good so I called. They have an Arizona phone number so I didn't have to make an international call. I called them Monday morning and set an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. I asked for a ballpark figure and they said it would cost no more than $150.00 for an extraction.

Nogales is about 90 minutes south of us. It is an easy drive and we figured if nothing else, it would be another adventure. Getting into Mexico is really easy. There are lots of parking lots on this side of the border. You just walk across the border. No check points or lines or anything. Very easy. You almost don't even realize you have crossed into another country. There was no worry about safety. The only issue is all the guys trying to help you or get you to go into their shops.

We found the office fairly easy. It was very nice, modern and clean. Everybody was extremely friendly and helpful in the office. They gave me an antibiotic pill then took me back and put me in the chair. It was all state of the art. I had a really nice LCD TV over me and was able to watch TV while laying there. The dentist came in and looked at my tooth and agreed that the best course was extraction. He explained everything that would be done.

The first thing they did was numb the area so it wouldn't hurt while he was probing the tooth. He then said they would take X-rays to see how it looked. After the X-rays, they took impressions of my teeth in case I wanted to ever come back and get an implant. After that they cleaned my teeth to prevent infection. Then they pulled the tooth. The whole process took about an hour. Total cost of all that work? $100.00. Unbelievable!!!!! They gave me a prescription for antibiotics and pain killers. The cost for those was $11.00.

I can't stress enough how thoroughly impressed I was. They had better equipment than my expensive American dentist had. They were professional, caring, and gentle. And best of all, they were dirt cheap.

I am so glad I decided to brave it. I will have no qualms about going again for dental work or any other medical treatment. It was definitely worth the trip.

And by the way, 24 hours later, I am pain free and feeling good.

Our Trip to Hell (Or Was It Laughlin?)

We just got back from a few days in Hell....or was it Laughlin, NV? There are so many ways to confuse both of them. It was not our favorite trip ever but it wasn't completely horrible.

One of my coworkers turned 50 last week and wanted to celebrate by taking a girls' trip to Laughlin, NV. There were 5 of us that went. Now, we are not gamblers and when we decided to go along, we found there was a great state park nearby that looked interesting. We figured while the gamblers were gambling, we would explore the park and the Colorado River. We aren't a close bunch of friends, just work friends. 

There was lots of drama leading up to the trip but I won't bore you with all those ugly details. There were many times I wished we weren't going. The one thing that made it bearable was we were able to drive ourselves there so we could sight see along the way. That was a really big area of contention among the group. The birthday girl wanted to do everything together all the time.

Scenic stop on the road.

We decided to take a longer route that took us past the London Bridge. It was on my bucket list of things to see in Arizona. 

 There it is in all its glory.

Some shops in the area.

The bad news was it was at least 113 degrees outside. It was so hot it felt like our shoes were melting to the pavement. So we took some quick photos, walked a few feet then got back into the air conditioned car. Now we are used to 107 degrees but once you hit 110, its a totally different ballgame. It was oppressive to say the least.

Laughlin was just as hot so any outdoor activities were out of the question.

Views from our hotel room.

We were right on the Colorado River. The views were stunning.

We spent the first evening hitting up the casino. We had a good time without spending lots of money. We didn't hit it big, but we played all evening with our original money. There was one machine that really seemed to like me. It was called Hot Flash. Go figure! It treated me very well.

The next morning, the group got up and had breakfast. Then we decided to walk the river walk before it got too hot. It was horrible. We would go in to the various casinos to cool off then head out again. Once we got to the end, we took the river taxi back to our hotel. 

We spent the rest of the day holed up in our room recovering from the walk. After 9 pm, the pool at the hotel is adults only a few of us decided to go check it out. It was a good time to go. The water was warm but enjoyable. There was no way it would be fun to be there during the day. It was just too hot.

Brenda and I got up Wednesday morning at had no idea what we were going to do. The original plan was to stay until Thursday. Since we don't really get into gambling for hours on end and it was too hot for outdoor activities, we decided to tell the group we were going to head home a day early.

So that's what we did. I was so glad we bucked the group and went with what we wanted to do. When we got back home to Tucson, the temps had really dropped. We were so glad to be home. I would love to go back another time just to check out the state park and play in the river. 

As the plans are for now, this was our last road trip without the RV. We will be spending our time and resources getting it ready for the big move. We still want to get it ready with enough time to take some smaller trips with it to get more comfortable driving it and learning about it.

Palm Springs

We spent last week in Palm Springs, CA. My brother owns a vacation time share and had extra points he couldn't use. He asked if I would be interested. DUH, of course I said we were. So off we went.

We had a wonderful relaxing time. We were there from Monday through Friday. We were lucky in that the weather was decent most of the time. It didn't start getting really hot until Thursday night.

Tuesday we did the tram ride up the mountain. It is an incredible ride!

 Views from the tram as we go up the mountain.

It is at least 30 degrees cooler than down in the desert. Big giant pine trees. It smelled so fresh up there.







The next day we drove over to Oceanside, CA to get some much needed beach time in. It was a beautiful day. Definitely worth the two hour drive.

This is the very curvy road between Palm Springs and Oceanside.

 A beautiful beach.

This little guy sat there for the longest time just staring at me.









On Thursday we spent the day poolside at the resort then went into Palm Springs for the evening. While there, we drove around looking for some of the old movie star houses. Although they are easy to get to, they are hard to see due to walls around the homes. Among the houses we located were Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand.

They have a street fair every Thursday evening on the main drag. We walked around for a bit then had a lovely dinner.

Look who was downtown! She was definitely larger than life.









It was good to get away and just enjoy ourselves. We spend so much time thinking about and getting ready for the big move. We figured this will probably be one of the last road trips we take before moving into the RV. So glad we got this opportunity.