Another step closer

We are so close but yet so far away. That is how I feel right now. We still have way too much work to do to be ready for this full time adventure. It is coming fast so we have to get moving to be ready. Only 2 more months to work and then before you know it, we will be on the road. We are definitely getting much closer to our dream.

I can’t believe that it has been over a month since I have written a blog. We have been extremely busy moving, organizing and totally wearing ourselves out. We are definitely feeling our age. At the end of May, our youngest daughter, Kim, graduated from Med School and had to move to a new city to start her residency. Graduation was on a Tuesday and she had to be out of the apartment by Friday so we didn’t have much time. She also wanted most of our furniture so the whole process was a bit of work with difficult logistics moving from two different cities to a third city.

I was working way too much as usual so Tim did most of the hard lifting. He stressed out a bit trying to find a time that worked with Kim’s schedule and when he could get help to load in Pittsburgh and unload on the other end. He ended up moving our furniture out to her two weeks ahead of graduation. Then we had less to do that week but it was still enough for all of us. We spent most of the time loading and delivering the furniture she was getting rid of. The good thing was that after her move, our apartment was pretty empty of large furniture.

The downside was that we had another month in our apartment. We lived the month of June like many recent college grads. Here we are ready to retire and had a card table with 4 folding chairs in the dining room and a futon couch in the living room. We gave Kim our bedroom furniture so brought back her full sized bed to use. It was small but at least we had a place to sleep. Before the end of the month, Tim’s brother came and took some of the remaining furniture, including the bed. We found ourselves sleeping on an air mattress after that which wasn’t good on my back. We survived the month and moved out of the apartment.

So where are we living? I still have to work for 2 more months so am staying at our daughter Katie’s house during the week and the campground on the weekends. I should have 2 rooms on their third floor but somehow downsizing wasn’t too successful. Way too many boxes ended up in my sitting room. I thought we would each have some winter clothes, coats, and boots stored in case we come back in the winter. Where did these other boxes come from! The top pic is what I thought we would have and the bottom is the actual.

Oh well, at least I have a functional bedroom. I am hoping we can trim this down more before we get on the road. Did I tell you that I am on the third floor of Katie’s house? Never move to a third floor of a house without air conditioning during the summer, especially when it is higher than normal temperature every day. I have a free standing air conditioner that should be able to cool this space but it isn’t doing the trick. This is what I come home to every day after work. So far it drops down every night and sleeping is comfortable. I leave it set at 68 and it is 86 or so when I get back home. I just keep telling myself: only 2 months to go, I can handle anything for just 2 months.

While I am here, Tim is at the campground working hard to get us ready to go. He is busy organizing the camper and still downsizing. We definitely took too much stuff there but I think we will succeed getting it organized and the right amount before we leave. Of course, he is still working on those tools, how much do you really need to take? I am sure he will figure it out soon. Soon we will both be there enjoying campfires and hopefully finding time to relax. Then we head out on our big adventure. Next time, I will share our approach to planning our adventures.