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Time to Leave is Nearly Here!

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Jackhal49

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Finally! We are done with dealing with our "stuff." We sold, donated or just plain dumped everything we had in the house -- except for a few items we couldn’t part with, or items we have stored in the house that our son and family are going to rent.

Whew! What a relief! It really is surprising how much stuff you really do not need to live happily ever after. Mostly what we stored are pictures taken over a lifetime that I just haven’t had the time to digitize.

We have found out that living in our motorhome for a month in our front yard has been very important. It enabled us to give all the systems in the rig a complete workout. If anything is going to break it will and you can fix it much easier.

We found a leak over the passenger’s side windshield, which we hopefully have fixed. The very heavy rain showers and thunderstorms we had a couple of weeks ago drove water in and around the top windshield gasket. Had we not found the leak until later, it could have caused some real problems. I was advised to use Proflex RV and caulk in and along the entire windshield gasket. Hopefully, it has taken care of the problem. I’ll let you all know how it works out in a later blog entry; need a few heavy rain showers to give it a good test.

So far we really love living in the motorhome. It suits our lifestyle quite nicely. We haven’t really realized that we are retired. Peg still feels she is on a long summer vacation and I keep seeing ads for back to school, which makes me think I only have three weeks left of summer vacation. I think by the time we really pull out for the West, we will finally come to the conclusion we are really retired. It's exciting, but still a little scary, but I really feel I can get used to this lifestyle pretty darn quick.

We made a weekend trip down East to visit my middle-aged brother and his wife in Milbridge, Maine, which is an hour north of Acadia National Park on the coast. Very pretty area and if you haven’t traveled to the northern coast of Maine it is a must-see, totally beautiful. It was nice to be there when the annual Milbridge Days were taking place. They have a parade and other neat events, including a codfish relay race. If you are not familiar with that event, it is a relay race in which the runners have to dress in fisherman’s yellow rain gear and run with a big dead codfish. The funniest event is when the little kids do the race.

We had a great visit and an awesome feed of fresh Maine lobster right from the local docks. Yummy! Sure will miss lobsters! Have to have one more feed before we head out West.

Well, we are just about ready to go west ... just a few more items to get done. We need to have the transmission fluid and filters changed and test out the towing gear and we’ll be all set. Time is really starting to fly by and we are itching to get on the road. My foot is getting better slow but sure. I started physical therapy last week and have just started walking on the foot without crutches and even drove for the first time since the 16th of May. Hopefully, my foot will be fine for driving the motorhome in two weeks when we plan to leave. I’m still messing around with the exact route we plan to take and that is half the fun for me. Until the next entry, I hope you all are having an awesome summer!

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We looked at property along the northern Maine coast and would have bought a place to park the motor home during the summer on the spot - but our family is in the midwest and west. We decided they might think we were determined to get away from them permanently if we did that! Still, it is a great place to spend some time in the summer! Enjoy your trip west. We're in Denver right now, highs in the 80's, afternoon showers, lows in the 60's. Safe travels!

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Hi TBUTLER, Maine is a beautiful place in the summer, however, its the 8 months of winter that are killers! The north coast is awesome like Acadia and northward. It would be a great place to just have a pad with a full hookup for the summer. Just because you don't have a pad here there's lots of nice camping areas along the coast. Some of the state parks are really great and inexpensive compared to RV parks, etc. Have fun in Denver area, we will be in the southwestern area of Colorado in a month. Maybe we will see you all sometime out there. Have Fun!!

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Hi Jack & Peg,

Well, we've been full timers for just about 6 weeks now. We spent about 3 weeks in NC enjoying so many things. It is really beautiful here. We've been to the Smokey Mts, driven the Blue Ridge Prky (in our car - which was recommended to us by another full timer), seen the Biltmore Estate -wow- & found some beautiful waterfalls. We've decided we like staying in one place at least 2 weeks & driving to different places. It seems easier to be settled & you get a better chance to meet people. I hope you guys will be leaving soon. I know you're going to really enjoy yourselves once you get going. We've already learned so much & thankfully haven't had any more problems like we did the first night. One thing I will tell you, is be very careful if you need service on the road. These repair shops really don't care about you for the most part. I've now learned when I call for service, I specifically ask if they will take care of it on a certain date. We will also make a written list of the problems & have them sign off on it. If you have an extended warranty, followup to make sure they get approval before they do the work. So far, as a newbie, that's the best advice I can offer. Good luck, karen & collins

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Hi Karen & Collins, Looks like you are all having a great time! How Awesome! We still haven't left as yet due to some unforeseen medical issues, nothing really big but needs to be taken care of. We had to change our travel plans so now we will not be driving to South Dakota and then to Colorado on our way to Texas. We flew to Sioux Falls to get our SD driver's licenses and now will leave sometime next week going straight to Texas for our volunteer positions. To say we are anxious to get going is an understatement! Yesterday we tested out our towing equipment and towed the car and all worked out fine. However, we were also going to dump our tanks at the local campgrounds and our tanks were full and the coach filled with a nasty smell. At first we thought the black water tank could have over flowed into the coach, but thank goodness it was just smells. Lesson learn, don't drive will full tanks! Yucko! I have found Freightliner service centers seem to do a really good job. We have had the MH serviced by the local Freightliner center and the prices were quite reasonable. My advice for servicing the MH go to the larger centers, Freightliner, Allison Transmission, Cummins, etc. Hope you are still having a great time traveling. Take care and have Fun! Jack, Peg, and Oliver & Annie the goldens

Hi Jack & Peg,

Well, we've been full timers for just about 6 weeks now. We spent about 3 weeks in NC enjoying so many things. It is really beautiful here. We've been to the Smokey Mts, driven the Blue Ridge Prky (in our car - which was recommended to us by another full timer), seen the Biltmore Estate -wow- & found some beautiful waterfalls. We've decided we like staying in one place at least 2 weeks & driving to different places. It seems easier to be settled & you get a better chance to meet people. I hope you guys will be leaving soon. I know you're going to really enjoy yourselves once you get going. We've already learned so much & thankfully haven't had any more problems like we did the first night. One thing I will tell you, is be very careful if you need service on the road. These repair shops really don't care about you for the most part. I've now learned when I call for service, I specifically ask if they will take care of it on a certain date. We will also make a written list of the problems & have them sign off on it. If you have an extended warranty, followup to make sure they get approval before they do the work. So far, as a newbie, that's the best advice I can offer. Good luck, karen & collins

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Hi Jack & Peg,

just wondering if you ever got on the road & how it was going for you. We're having less & less "learning curves" every week & are having a great time. We're in the Charleston area now & will be for another week. We've done some sight seeing & will do a little more before we leave here. I hope all is going well for you.

Karen & Collins

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Hi Karen & Collins, Well as you will see in our new blog entry we are just about to leave. We had a few minor medical issues to take care of before we could leave. The MH is all set with the toad attached and we will pull out early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, we will have to head straight to our first volunteer position in Goliad, TX without doing any real sight seeing. However, we are very excited about our volunteer positions and are really looking forward to seeing and learning all about the local area history and its customs. I think our two goldens are wondering what is really going on, but I think they are really going to enjoy the adventure of it all. Sounds like you two are having a great time! We hope to visit the Charleston area on our return trip next spring. Have an awesome time you two. Hopefully, our paths will cross sometime! Jack, Peg, and the fuzzies Oliver & Annie

Hi Jack & Peg,

just wondering if you ever got on the road & how it was going for you. We're having less & less "learning curves" every week & are having a great time. We're in the Charleston area now & will be for another week. We've done some sight seeing & will do a little more before we leave here. I hope all is going well for you.

Karen & Collins

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