The World As We Know It Has Changed

Yes the new adventure has begun. Joan and I left our family and friends, our house (not home) and all things familiar to us on Monday 3/19 headed for Oregon. Both of us resigned from our previous jobs Friday 3/9. We spent the next week finishing up last minute projects and preparing for our Going Away Party on St. Patrick's Day.

Joan and I invited all of our family members, co-workers and friends to stop by so we could have one last chance to see them before we left. We took the MH to the lake and set up so that anyone interested could see where and how we would be living in our new lifestyle.

The party was a great success. Joan's cousin Charles set up his portable wood-fired oven under the oak trees and along with Joan's brother David and nephew Will cooked pizzas and meatball subs for anyone that was hungry. Charles built his trailer-mounted oven a little over a year ago and has become a well recognized and sought out vendor at numerous local farmer markets and festivals around central Florida. His business Paradise Pizza is becoming quite a success. If anyone is interested he also caters private parties, so don't hesitate to look him up.

Joan and I did our best to count heads and best we can figure is that we had about 155 folks stop by to see what we were doing and say goodbye. My mom and dad spent several weeks getting their home on the lake ready for the party and they got so many compliments from our guests. I did my best to repair all of the ruts left by the motorhome and to clean up after the party.

Monday came quickly and we said our final good byes. We left the lake just after lunch and headed out. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we're not on vacation. Joan had one request; that we drive out of Florida before we stopped for the night. So we did. We drove for about 4 1/2 hours and stopped for the night in Hahira, GA at Cain's Creek RV Park (nice little Passport America stop). We slept in Tuesday and broke camp mid-morning headed to Oxford, AL to spend a few days visiting with Joan's brother Jimmy and his family and my cousin Odis and his family. While we're in Oxford we're staying at Talladega Creekside Resort (another Passport America site).

We're learning quickly that it's not a matter of 'if' something will happen; it's more a matter of 'when' something will happen. During the drive between FL and AL we discovered that the dash AC was not working as well as it should. So we stopped at a local RV shop in Oxford and sure enough there was absolutely no freon in the unit and there were a couple of leaks in the system. So the parts were ordered and our stay here will be just a little longer than originally planned. No problemo; we'll use the spare time to acclimate to this new lifestyle pace, ride the bikes and paddle the kayaks. Which we did.

Friday night we got both families together for supper. As we were leaving for the restaurant I noticed a couple of new lights lit up on the car dash? Oh boy! More adventure. So first thing Saturday morning we headed to the local dealership. Luckily it was nothing major; a loose vacuum hose and the gas cap was not on securely (that was weird as we last got gas on Tuesday????).

The weather here was great so we decided to take the bikes out for a ride. We rode 120+ miles including Cheaha Rd and Cheaha State Park. And just as we were pulling back into the RV campground one of the local dogs decided he didn't like motorcycles. He showed his displeasure by running up to me and biting me on the leg. Ouch! And he tore my jeans! Come on now. I don't have that many pair to begin with and these were one of my better pair.

I'm glad we allowed ourselves 4 weeks to make the trip across country. We should still have time for a couple of sight seeing stops before we report for work 4/15. So far so good. We are having a great time and feel really comfortable even with our little 'road bumps'.