Changes

The life of a fulltimer is full of changes, just like the weather…..you think you know what is in the forecast, then…bam, it all goes in another direction! After 9 years on the road, you would think we would know what to expect. Since I posted last, very remiss of me…….many things in our lives have changed, dramatically.

We spent the summer at Heise, then were planning on going to our fall/winter position in Lousiana. During the summer, we had schedualed a trip to the western mountains of Idaho to check on some RV lots that were for sale. We own one already in So Cal, but wanted another. The second week of Sept, we took a few days and drove over to Cascade, ID to look. On that drive up the mountain from Boise, we had an epiphany, of sorts. When we began our fulltime adventure over 11 years ago, it was with the intention of finding that “perfect place”.  We found it.

Lake Cascade is in a valley in the west central mountains of Idaho. While there we spent a lot of time exploring the valley looking for property. We found some really interesting prospects. While at the hotel one night, I called my Mom to tell her what we were up to. She is 87 and lost my Dad 4 years ago. My 3 siblings and I have tried to get her to sell her huge home and live with one of us but she adamantly refused. The last time I had mentioned it to her she went ballistic on me and I had decided to not mention it again. Sooooo, when I asked her if she would consider moving if we bought a home, not 2 heartbeats went by before she said…YES!!!!!!

What have I done? Now, instead of land, we will need a house. So, right then we changed directions and began searching in earnest. We went back to Heise and started making plans. Our workcamping/volunteer positions were in place for the next 2 years. I canceled those positions, letting the supers know the reason. All were most gracious. We decided to move to Boise with the fiver to be closer to where we were looking. Within 2 weeks, we were moved, found a house, the offer was accepted and it was in escrow.

Mom was ready to sell and move in with us immediately, but we were adamant about spending the first winter alone, to get into the swing of a totally different lifestyle. Before the first month was over, we had closed escrow and moved into our new home in the woods by the lake. Logistics were a bit overwheming, what to do with the Teton and the FL60? We had no place at the house to keep the fiver and did not want 6′ of snow piling on top of it. We decided to leave it at the RV resort we were staying at in Caldwell and keep the truck with us. We will sell them both as soon as possible. Our home of nearly five years was suddenly….not our home. A sad feeling, winterizing it and parking it for the winter. The truck is with us in Donnelly, plugged in and gathering snow. At least we can go give it a pat and excercise it when the roads are clear. In this economy, we don’t expect to sell them soon.

Our lives have changed and we are adjusting. Terry got the biggest, baddest snowblower we could find, we have new furniture and “stuff”. Our exit plans were realized and we are no longer fulltimers. This will not be the end of our adventures, just a fork in the road. I will have more tales to tell about our transition and now that winter is settling in, I will have time to tell them.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the “Road to Fulltiming”