A bit of time has passed since my last blog entry….a lot of things have happened, and many more have changed. When we started our fulltime adventure, it was to find the "perfect place" to land. We have been looking for 9 years and seen most of our wonderful country. This past year has been a time of change. We were planning on spending last winter workcamping in east Texas. We were on the job less than a week when we were summoned to So Cal to care for Terry’s Mom (82), who had fractured her back falling off the roof of the house we had bought so she would not be homeless! Sooooo……we ended up moving her to an assisted living facility this past summer and putting the house on the market. It sold last month and is ready to close escrow. Terry’s Dad passed away about 2 years ago.
My Mom is 87 and still active and healthy. She really should not be driving, so does very little of that activity. We lost my Dad four years ago and Mom adjusted well. We periodically asked her if she would like to come live with us. We were willing to get a two bedroom fiver to accomodate her, or even to settle down and buy a house. She has always declined the offer, stating she was happy in her home of over 25 years with her memories and familiar surroundings. The last time we talked about her moving was this past summer. We had been looking at property in eastern ID with the intention of getting something that we would have when the boys were ready to move and take care of us. They are adament about taking caring for us in our feeble years. When I told her what we were considering, and asked if she would come, she went ballistic! (OK….I sure won’t go there again!!)
We had been working hard all summer and had not found anything we were really interested in, so we planned a trip to the western ID mountains last month. We knew of a buy-in RV resort in Cascade that we wanted to check out. We rented a car and drove to Cascade and spent three days looking at property. We found several interesting prospects, including a house that we really liked.
While there, I called my Mom and told her what we were doing and asked one last time if she would condider coming to live with us if we bought a home. In less than 2 heartbeats, she said YES! OH LORDY…what have we done? All of a sudden she is ready to up and sell the house and come right up! Sooooo…..to make a long story short, we committed to finding a house and getting off the road. We went back to our summer place and announced what we were doing….talk about shock, not only were we in that state, but everyone else was too.
We packed up the fiver and moved to Caldwell, ID two weeks ago and started hunting in earnest. We ended up looking at dozens and found one we really liked. Our offer was accepted and we are now homeowners…all in the space of four fast weeks! We should be moving in about two weeks. We will have a lot of preparation and purchases to make, number one will be a snowblower!. Number two is a huge generator to power essentials when the power goes out! New winter clothing…technology has changed since we have been in snow country…..
We will finally live another dream we have had forever….living in the mountains, by a lake. Fishing, boating, hiking, bicycling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling…all are on the agenda. We will have room for company and hopefully our home will be full of cheer and good times. Our families are all eager to see where we are settling and are planning trips. My Mom is ready to come now, but we will have to wait a bit for that. She is planning on starting to get rid of things and getting the house ready to market.
Yes, ’tis true….the O’Keeffe road trip is nearing an end. We are a bit ambivilant but know this is the right thing to do. Family comes first and a new adventure begins. Send warm thoughts and we will continue our adventure….just down a different path.