High Ho, High Ho, it's off...

Well, we officially hit the road on Friday, December 29th, after departing Lincoln, NE in the rain. I think we actually saw the sun twice while in Lincoln, and it didn't look too promising when we set out. As our luck would have it, it rained the entire time we were on the road, and while we set up camp in Oklahoma City for the night.

We set out the next day for Texas. At least the sun decided to shine for a change. We did notice that the terrain doesn't change much from state to state. It's pretty much one straight line through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma (oops! Did manage to see the one mountain range in Oklahoma), and Texas. There's approximately 12 telephone posts between mile markers. That is, if the little markers I saw were actually mile markers. Who knows? We did get excited when we spotted 3 rises in the distant terrain while traveling through Texas. It's amazing what little thing you'll try and focus on. Anyway, as we got closer to the 3 rises, they began to move...they were not hills, or mounds, but 3 dromedaries. I kid you not! There standing in the corner of the fenced area were 3 camel want-to-bes, and not a Bedouin in sight. Unbelievable.

We stopped at a KOA in Abilene, dropped anchor and decided we'd stay here for a full day and get refreshed and rested. Found a hole-in-the-wall steakhouse for dinner that doubles as an aviation museum. It ended up being quite fascinating to tour the back rooms with all the war and airplane artifacts. It turns out the owner is a good friend of Gen. Chuck Yeager, and that he used to stop in once a year. The walls in the back room are priceless, as they are filled with signatures of people who served with Yeager, and others. Pretty cool.

Well, I can't have an update without some mishap, right. We decided to initiate the new washer/dryer all-in-one. It was working great until we noticed the floor was flooding. Managed to get it all cleaned up in record time with the huge bag of old towels we'd saved. Seems one should not run the washer without having the sewer line hooked up. LOL Mike was going to wait and hook-up the sewer today, but we both forgot about it and started up the washer. Glad it was nothing critical...just stupidity once again.

We hope you all have a great New Year's Eve celebration, and a Happy New Year. We'll try and keep entertaining you.

The Dog Ate The WHAT!?

"Holy Orthodontist, Batman, the Murray's dog ate Mike's retainer."
"So what's the problem, Robin?"
"Mike's dental mold is packed somewhere...probably in storage, and no orthodontist in Bloomington, Indiana would help him out."
"Holy dental floss. What did they do?"
"Bam, splash, hooray, their old dentist in Omaha, NE helped them out."

Yep, the trials and trevails continue. We managed to see Kirk and his family in Iowa City for a day and a half. We arrived the evening of the 19th after picking up the repaired camper in Clarksville, IN. We found what we thought was a rather nice campsite about 15 miles from where the kids live. It rained the entire day and night on the 20th, which made for some nice mud. That wasn't bad enough, the campground has about a thousand Canada geese. Yep, lots of goose poop outside, inside, and all around the campsite. I now know why the Germans invented the "goose step." I was not the happiesst of campers...pun intended.

Kate stayed two nights in the camper with us, so we did manage to have some fun at the campsite, and loads of fun with the family. We had to head out on the 21st to Lincoln, NE so we could get up early and be in Omaha at the dentist's by 10:30. Dr. Skradski is a doll. We loved him when we lived in Omaha, and feel even stronger about him now. He worked us in, took the mold, and the retainer was being mailed to Mike's mom's house the same day. He's a terrific dentist and a great guy.

We will spend Christmas with our son, Kevin, and Mike's mom here in Lincoln, and hope to start heading south towards Arizona on Thursday, the 28th. We wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a most remarkable New Year.

Is this what we dreamed about??!!

Well, we finally did it...we left the house behind on Friday, at 8:20 p.m. Of course, we had "planned" to be on the road by noon, but oh well. After throwing out a few more items, we crammed (and I mean crammed) the rest into the camper. We drove until 1:30 a.m. and camped at a KOA outside of Murfreesboro, TN. Dogged tired and generally in ill sorts, we crawled over boxes of stuff, made the bed, and crashed for a few hours of sleep. We had to hustle to get going so we could be in Clarksville, IN by 1:00 p.m. where we had an appointment to get something added to the trailer hitch.

We arrived at our destination around 1:40 p.m., waited 2 1/2 hours, threw the old truck tailgate into the back seat with Blizz (Mike bought a lighter one designed for 5th wheels), and started off towards Bloomington, IN.

Well, we got half a block and had to turn around and go back because the new hitch part, which was supposed to make for smoother hauling, started bucking like a bronco and sounded as though it would rip the camper in two. I won't bore you with too many details, but suffice it to say the "fix" didn't work and we left the camper in Clarksville, and drove to Bloomington sans our new home.

So far, the dream of our lives is a nightmare. It took longer to pack and clean the house than anticipated, we didn't downsize nearly enough for the camper, so it is as stuffed as a Christmas turkey, and we don't even have the darned thing to start getting it organized and living the dream. Aaargh!! BUT, we're still smiling and haven't contacted individual lawyers yet,so keep checking in. More fun on the way!

In the beginning?

Wait a minute...in the beginning chaos? It's been chaos for 40 years, why should this be different? The only difference is we are tripping over boxes, dog, each other, towels that are protecting the carpets, garbage to take to the dump, stuff to take to Goodwill, etc., etc., etc.. If we can survive the transition, we'll be tough enough to walk on hot coals and not break a sweat.

We are getting closer to our goal of hitting the road by the end of next week. We have yet to load up the camper, so we don't know if all we plan to take will fit or not. Imagine that! If it doesn't, it will either be stuffed into a last minute packing box, or be thrown out. I think that's how most homeless people handle their belongings that they tote around in the shopping cart, don't they? After 40 years of marriage, most women get a great big diamond ring. Not I ! I get a home smaller than our first apartment, but with a bigger bed and wheels. Just kidding. We are both quite excited. It's like when we first got married. We have no idea what we're doing, but we know we'll make it work.

Keep in touch! Love to all. Sandy

In the Beginning - Chaos!

The stick house is sold as of 12/8/06 and we're outta here as of 12/15/06 (assuming we finish all of the packing, furniture selling, etc, etc). First stop will be Bloomington, IN to see Sandy's folks followed by a short stop in Iowa City, IA to see the grandkids. Next is Xmas in Lincoln, NE with Mike's mom and son Kevin followed by a direct southerly route to warmer climates. The first winter will be spent in Mesa, AZ (maybe lots of future winters???) with good friends Glenn and Jalene Carter. Spring will see a trip to Mike's sister in Salem, OR and then on to Dayton, OH for the annual gathering of ham geeks at the Dayton Hamvention.

Who knows after that? Plans are to visit a number of areas in search of retirement Utopia, but who knows how long that will take or where we'll wind up?