Our new home is completed and things are moving along....

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Well, it’s September. We are getting photos in the mail weekly of our new 5^th wheel being built. We are SO excited!! It’s our new home. Our future. Our new lifestyle. What a change it will be from our current life. I try every day to imagine our new life,…. The open road before us; unscheduled destinations; new “friends” we encounter along the way; moving at our own pace; beautiful new views of mountains and lakes and sunsets…. Never seeing anyone we are familiar with; never knowing where anything is in the grocery store; never seeing a familiar landmark…. It’s our new life and it’s only 8 months, 25 days, 6 hours, 48 minutes and 24 seconds away!

9-8-16

Yesterday a stranger who had read somewhere where I had posted that we were buying an Augusta Ambition, messaged me on FaceBook. We wrote back and forth until very late at night. She and her husband are looking at them and they had questions which I tried to answer. They only live 45 minutes away from the Augusta factory in Michigan. I didn’t think much about it at the time.

Today, I had been calling and emailing Debra at the factory, asking for more photos (she isn’t very good about sending us photos every week). Tom and I had just gotten home from work and I looked at my cell and there was another message from the woman in Michigan (Her name is Debbie). It said, “We saw YOUR 33QS today! We were at the factory. It is STUNNING!” I was so excited I started getting tears! She sent 7 photos! It looks great!!! Tom and looked through them! This is our new home! It’s almost done! The slides are in. The refrigerator is in. The fireplace is in. The backsplashs are done. It’s beautiful! We were so excited!!

Then I saw it. We had paid more to upgrade the window treatments, chairs and bedspread to a LUXE pattern. The window treatments were LUXE, but not the right LUXE pattern. I was sickened. It doesn’t match the backsplash. It’s just so blah and boring! I emailed Debra and it wasn’t a super nice email. She wrote “Manhattan” on the order and they are Manhattan but I asked for the swirly pattern which, when I looked at the website, I think it’s “Countryside”. I had asked her repeatedly for fabric samples and she always had excuses and promises, which she never followed through on. She responded right away, saying she would check it first thing in the morning.

The next morning, on the 9^th, she emailed and then called before 8:00AM! She saw that it was ordered as Manhattan but knew I had asked for the swirly pattern. She said she has already ordered it changed out! She promised it would be changed out and ready for us to pick up on October 3rd as promised.

9-23-16

A week from now we will be leaving for Indiana to pick up our new home. We plan to christen her Honalee. I have everything packed that we will need for 4 nights we plan to spend camping. I have made campground arrangements for our stay in Indiana and for one night of our trip back.

Tom has ordered a credit card that we can get airline points. That way, we can earn points to fly back to Kansas City to see the kids when needed. I have State Farm set up to insure it until we sell the house. I plan to call South Dakota and get a new address in October. It’s coming together but there are so many loose ends still and I spend way too much time worrying about these details.

I had another physical yesterday and blood work. For the first time that I can remember, my blood work was stellar! Perfect! Not one thing out of line! For 61, I’m doing great!

This is a subject that is hard to write about. We have two dogs. Sammie is 13 years old and Kiwi is 7.5 years old. We love them both. The reality is that our lives have changed directions. When we first got the dogs as puppies, it hadn't entered our minds that we would ever be on this path in retirement. And suddenly it occurred to us that, although some people do, we could not take the dogs with us on this journey. We plan to travel and move constantly. We plan to park at a campsite and take long day-trips to see the sights. This is no life for a dog. And, Sammie is so old and frail that it would be added pain for her. So, I set about looking for the perfect home for Kiwi. The local shelter lets people post photos on their adoption website and they screen anyone who calls. Then they call us and we choose to call that person or not. So, we took the big step and submitted of Kiwi photos. Here they are.

 She is so sweet. She is gentle and never angry or aggressive. Just a loving dog. Right away we began getting phone calls. Even though the shelter screened them, we got some crazy people calling! One woman didn't want Kiwi but offered to help us find a home for her. NO! One woman said she wanted a dog for her father because he was home bound. She assured us she would go over to her dads and take care of the dog. No! One man called and was just nuts....NO! One couple called and they sounded okay. They lived in Newton and both were pastors and they had one other dog also. We made arrangements to meet them the next weekend but then they called and said something had come up and they were not interested after all.

Then, Nancy called. I had a good feeling! Nancy and Rod had adopted a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel a few years ago from the Newton Shelter and happened to see Kiwi's picture. Their dog is Buster and he's a Cavalier too but his coloring is darker. We made arrangements to meet them at the house they are moving to soon, in BelAire. It was perfect! Very nice people and their Buster was great with Kiwi! Kiwi sniffed around and although she was nervous and curious, she did fine. She and Buster got along great! Then we made arrangements to have Kiwi spend the day with Rod and Buster a few time. Those day visits went well. Nancy and Rod assured us that they would keep Kiwi forever, they promised not to re-home her. That was my biggest fear so this reassured me.  We had a couple overnight visits and then came the day. Rod and Nancy came to our home to pick up Kiwi. Here are a photo of them when they came to get her.

 Rod and Nancy, with Kiwi and Buster.

 And this is Buster and Kiwi at her new home. 

We didn't allow Kiwi on our couch because it was a fabric couch and she left so much hair on it. So, when Nancy text me a few days later and said, "Kiwi is so polite. She looks to me for permission before jumping up on the couch!", I had a good laugh!  Nancy continues to send photos and updates of Kiwi and I can't express how happy that makes me! Kiwi goes to doggy day care frequently and is enjoying it! A difficult decision but it sure did end well!  Especially for Kiwi! I think she is happier now!