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Ready or not.....

Jaimepoulin1

Entry posted by Jaimepoulin1 ·

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blog-0276296001382315357.jpg We are going to set sail Friday, October 25th. Ready or not, here we go. Michelle thinks I am goofy because I refer to everything on America in nautical terms. The other day she asked me where something was and I told her it was on the starboard side of the bus near the galley. She just looked at me for a minute or two before moving on wordlessly. I know sometimes she looks at the choices she has made in her love life and just thinks quietly "Why?"

I say ready or not because although we put this trip together in a couple of months the both of us are starting to feel like it has been going on forever, and forever is a really long time. We have shed 95% of what we own, rented out the house, filled a storage unit with memories that we cannot replace, had get-togethers with co-workers and old friends, re-homed two very well loved cats, and generally turned our lives inside out, all well still working and outfitting the coach for us. I don't know if all that makes us ready or not, but ready or not, we're going! I particularly like the trips to the storage unit. We have taken some boxes back and forth to the house 3 times or so. Funny.

Michelle has been the best. Divorced for 5 years prior to meeting me, she had put a tremendously large effort in to building a stable life for her and the kids. Michelle's life centers around routine. Everything has it's place and she determines that. I can ask her on any given day where anybody's anything is and she will know instantly. She works hard. Same career for 27 years. And she is giving it all up to drive around in a 40' bus with me. I really don't know what she could be thinking.

For about the last ten days we have been living aboard America. We could not find any place open past the 15th so we made an agreement with our tenant that we would be in the front yard until we left on the 25th. They were agreeable but I am not really sure they are too keen on it. Our yard is not that big and their view from the front window first thing every morning is me in my bathrobe perched on a gravity chair in their front yard wearing a robe and drinking coffee. Gotta be a little weird for them.

At the tail end of last week Michelle said she had enough of living in a small home in front of her big home and made arrangements to move it, temporarily, to another place. We like this place much better. It has power and is paved and now we feel like we are getting somewhere!

I do know what we are ready for.........I think we are ready to go. We need to get to the fun part, this has been a lot of work and not without its frustrations. We are ready to get in the coach and drive. Not look behind us for a while. Just vamoose. Scram, get out of Dodge!

You can follow our travels on facebook.com/everywhereamerica


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rtrdtower

Question?.. Why did you find new homes for your cats?. We have traveled part time 3 to 6 months at a time over the past 20 years using a 23 ft travel trailer (3 cats) and now a 34 ft motor home for the past 6 years (2 cats) Our cats have always traveled with us. There are a lot of full timers and part timers out there that have their fuzzy kids with them on the road.

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Jaimepoulin1

It is a great question and one that we frankly agonized about. Michelle and I are both animal lovers.

For us it came down to the welfare of the cats. They are both outdoor cats, avid hunters, and super enjoy their outside time. While living in Maine, we had plenty of both open space and woods for them to play and hunt for hours on end.

Cats are more or less creatures of habit and in my humble opinion, do not adjust well to new surroundings. I do suppose that if you raised them in a mobile environment from birth, it would be different but not in general.

We figured that our options were to re-home them or bring them with us and confine them to the coach. We were both very frightened that if we let them off the coach at anytime that they could simply either eventually wander off or worse, find a hiding spot and not come back. Or get lost, or succumb to what ever predator was out there. By rehoming them, we did realize there would be a short period of adjustment in their lives but that they eventually would become very comfortable once again.

It was also very important where they would up. We were not going to simply let anyone have them, it had to be the right fit. In the end, Zen (3 years old) went back to live with the couple that gave her to us. They live in the woods, and Zen's mother still lives with them. There was a short period of adjustment but everyone is doing great. We have been able to check in on her and are glad that she has a loving home.

Vinnie (10 years old) ended up going to an elderly woman that very much loves animals and already has a dog and another cat. She has a rolling piece of land and is next door neighbor to Michelle's mother. She too has mad a wonderful adjustment and is both receiving and giving great love to her new caretaker. Both have plenty of free area to roam, hunt, play and live peacefully.......

I am grateful for your concern.

Jaime

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