Counting in Hours, not Days

Hello all.  It is just after 11 PM on Friday night.  We are about 12 hours away from departing for our first real trip in our Full time RV experience (total noobs).  It is simultaneously exciting and terrifying ... thrilling and daunting.  We have been living in our RV for 6 full weeks now, but still tethered to our stick house.  But now, the house is sold and we do not belong here anymore.

Our dogs even know something is up.  You can check out their page here. 

Sorry for the short post, but we are quite tired from getting everything out from the old house and packed.  Will post more after we get setup at the campsite.

Happy Trails,

Kit

Kitties are safe and sound and happy and we are three days from leaving.

The kitties made it safe and sound to Washington State. They are in the loving arms of my daughter and her sweet family. Misty was comfortable and relaxed, where as Hank was a little freaked out when my daughter picked them up from the airport.

My daughter tried to coax them out of their cages once they had them home, but no amount of coaxing worked so she had to resort to the dump method. Once dumped Hank went into hiding in the covered cat box, but my daughter took away that hiding spot as well. Poor Hank was a little freaked out to say the least. The following morning Hank was nowhere to be found and after much hunting my daughter found him under her bed. During this time, Misty was adjusting to her new surroundings and laying on top of stuff my daughter was going to sell. Misty is like that, she will lay wherever you don't want her too.

Hank and Misty are both still avoiding the kids, at least that's what I heard last. When the kids go to bed they venture into the living room. They have been around the grand babies before, so I have every confidence they will once again adjust. My daughter has kept me up to date on their progress and she is spoiling loving on them. I know they are in the best hands possible and it makes me happy to know it has made my daughter so happy to have them.

We are almost done emptying the house of stuff (junk mostly) that we are giving away. I feel bad for Kit, he comes home from work and then we work on the house until we are both exhausted. I don't know what I would do without my honey and his muscles. Oh and don't ask me how he got the cut on his forehead, he should know better than to talk back to me, hehe.

We have much to do in the next three days in preparation for Saturday. We have the front patio to clear off yet, clearing out all the closets which only have a few things left in them, packaging up a couple big packages to go to my daughter, taking out the trash, giving away the last few items we are not taking with us, folding up  our neighbor's tables and taking them back to them, cleaning out the last food items in our pantry, cleaning up the laundry room, and last but not least sweeping out the garage.

I miss picking up my camera these last few days, I think it may be getting dusty. My time with my precious will come and then I will deluge you all in photos.

Until next time,

Kat

Giving Away the Farm - At Least the Stuff on the Farm

Hello, Kit here.  The countdown is now at 6 days.  It is Sunday night and and Kat and I are winding down after a dizzying weekend of accomplishments.  It is amazing to me how much a couple can collect during 27 years of marriage and how much work it is to get rid of it.

Tomorrow, we are closing on the selling of our stick built house and will be moving out at this coming weekend.  The weather finally cooperated.  The last few weekends were complete washouts, so we could not get to clearing out the back yard, which so desperately needed it.  It would have been preferable to work on that over a few weekends, but it wasn't meant to be.  So, we are now up against the deadline, but that seems to be when we get truly motivated and get the work done.  Even if it meant working 18 hour days to get it done.  We also had to get the 2 cats to the airport Saturday morning for their flight to Seattle.  So, here is how or weekend went:

Saturday

• Took the cats to the airport to fly to our daughter and husband in Seattle
• 2 truckloads to Goodwill
• Emptied food storage.  We had a full walk-in pantry.  Tossing anything close to out of date and distributing the other to charity.  This was a 4 hour chore.
• Completely emptied the kitchen cabinets

Sunday

• Cleared backyard (we formerly had chickens and rabbits and associated equipment) -5 hours

We still had a considerable amount of useful stuff to get rid of.  Kat put a "free" add on Facebook and Craigslist.  The response was overwhelming.  In a few hours we gave away:

• A worn, but comfortable couch (it only weighed about 4 million pounds)
• A microwave and cart
• 5 full tubs of books
• Book shelves
• Gas grill
• Dishes, coat racks, pots and pans
• Clothes, sheets and other miscellaneous items

I have to be honest, when Kat gets going and in the mode, I cannot keep up with her.  She puts it in another gear and leaves me in the dust.  She does a good job of keeping me on track as I tend to get distracted.

So, now it is after 10 PM on Sunday.  I am using this time to write down my thoughts and wind down.  We still have too much to do, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The tunnel to new adventures, that is.  It is going to be such a relief to shake of the burden of our house and all of the stuff that has held us down.

It is interesting that when we talk to people and tell them why we are getting rid of everything, they do not think we are crazy.  People are taking notice and it is getting their wheels spinning.  Could it be that we are spawning a new revolution?  We may be bringing a barrage of new explorers in our coat tails.  I think that would be fine.  I am of the opinion that our possessions weigh us down and prevent us from really enjoying life.

Last night, after working all day and into the evening, Kat and I took 45 minutes to walk the dogs in the neighborhood and watched some of our neighbors toiling and working on their immaculate lawns and gardens .  We discussed how we spend 40 hours a week working to pay our mortgage, car note, cable, utilities, smart phones, etc. and then dedicate our weekends to prettying up our yards, several hours a week cleaning the inside of our homes and hope to catch a few moments of time for ourselves.  That was us, too.

We are about to move out of that cycle into a new cycle of attempting to enjoy each day first, even if it means having less material items.  But, the path to get there is not easy, as we have found.

Thanks for taking a few moments to read my rambling.

Until next time - Kit

The Kitties are flying out tomorrow

We have two cats, Misty and Hank. Misty was adopted about 12 years ago and she is now 14. I was looking for our lost dog at the time and made a trip to the pound. Misty was in with the dogs, a little white kitty sitting off in a cage all by herself and she was meowing like crazy. I instantly was drawn in by her pretty blue eyes and her sad cry for help. I asked if I could adopt her and they told me I would have to wait three days and so I went back bright and early on the third day to rescue her.She has been a big part of our family ever since. We found out she was deaf at her first checkup with our vet.  We have almost lost her a couple of times, once she got lost under our house and my husband had to climb under the house to get her. The second was a house fire we had and after throwing her out, she had gone back in unbeknownst to me. A fireman brought her out and she was barely breathing, so this great big fireman gave my tiny kitty oxygen. She was alright after a few minutes and breathing on her own.

Hank we believe is around six years old. My daughter and I decided to go looking for another kitty for her. When Josalyn first laid eyes on Hank, he reached out of the cage at her and drew us in with his big orange eyes. Hank is a strange cat, he will jump from the floor into Josalyn's arms and sometimes into mine. He is a very loving cat and will curl up on our laps, even if we don't want him to. He is a persistent little booger. Hank is also quite a little hunter, he has brought me live bats, toads, frogs, birds, shrews, and some dead critters too, most recently I found a dead chipmunk. Our neighbors said that their pond used to be full of frogs, but now the population has dwindled.

With this move into our RV, I had to make the hard decision to give the cats to my daughter. My daughter is eager to get them and have them to cuddle on. The reason we made this decision is because it wouldn't be fair to the cats to put them in such a confined small space and Hank would surely get out. We would have to worry for his safety and to be honest there's not enough space for a cat box in our cabin. Alex, my sweet son in law is in for a lot of fun, Misty can be quite challenging at times. Alex would do anything for Josalyn though. I just hope that Alex will still talk to me after he gets the cats. May the force be with you dear son, you will need it.

I will miss the cats, but don't think that my honey will. I think he is secretly smiling behind my back. Kit is not as enamored with the cats as I am. This is probably the hardest part of our move for me, I will miss my "sweet" cats.

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Well we are just a little over a week away and we have much to do still. I am like a kid just before Christmas. In the beginning I had a hard time parting with my trinkets or as my hubby calls them my junk. It was not easy giving it up, but now I can't clean out the stick house quick enough. Oh my gosh, to think this will soon be behind us is unfathomable. I can't wait to wake up on the lake, be able to walk the dogs in nature, and go fishing when I want. Oh the pictures I shall take, I can't wait. I must go clean and pack up stuff for good will and the library. I will try and post at least once a week, although I am not as gifted in words as my hubby. 

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27 Years of Bliss and 16 Days to Launch

Tomorrow is my 27th Wedding Anniversary.  I am such a lucky man. But, I think you can tell that from her picture. 

I am sure that I am not unique in saying that it is hard to imagine that 27 years have gone by.  In a way, I do have some reasons.  I spent 6 years, mostly away from home while in the Navy, then 4 years of full time college while working full time (2nd and 3rd shift);  All while Kat managed to raise 2 daughters (with some help from me).  So, in that respect, we lost 10 years, which is really quite tragic.  Our goal is to recover some of that lost time.  

 As we are now 16 days from going on the road.  It is a good time to reflect on how fortunate I am to have such a dedicated wife that puts up with my quirks and overall male sloppiness.  I love you Kat.  

Until next time - Kit.

Initital Destination - Decided

Well it is finalized.  We will be leaving our stick built house on the weekend of July 1.  The timing is right for us.  It is just prior to the 4th of July Travel menagerie.  The hard part was to determine exactly where we would park for the remainder of the year.  It is really quite a big decision.  I will still be working my day job in mid-town Atlanta, so it has to be in a reasonable place for commuting.  Currently, I utilize the GRTA Xpress bus from Conyers to Atlanta.  So, I was seeking a place that I could do something similar, but be in a place of beauty.  Conyers is ok, but not exactly picturesque. We looked at a few promising places.  Each of them having pros and cons.

• There are a few state parks, but they are just outside the range of reasonable daily travel.

• We checked out a park in Marietta.  It was very convenient to Atlanta, but it was more like a parking lot than an RV park ... not something we want to start out with.  Somewhere like that may be alright for a couple of days, but not for an extended time.

• Acworth has a small RV park by Lake Allatoona right be the marina.  It was nice enough, but it was really mixed use.  There could potentially be large crowds during holidays and there were some pretty seedy mobile home parks nearby.  So, it would work in a pinch, but not ideal.

•  Stone Mountain has 2 RV parks.  Stone Mountain Park has a premium campsite.  However, the price is also premium.  It is not a place that we could save much money (which is a huge part of our goal).  The other park in Stone Mountain is Stone Mountain Heights.  This is a very large mobile home/RV Park with large lots, laundry and a pool.  It is also very reasonably priced at $500/month.  This seemed like it would be the choice ... but, then we took a trip to Cumming.

• Twin Lakes RV Park - Cumming, GA.  This location has some high appeal as it is on the edge of the North Georgia mountains.  The autumn changes in North Georgia are stunning, plus, being north of Atlanta, the heat of summer should be less severe.  There is also a GRTA Xpress bus nearby.  The downsides of this park are: No laundry facility, no showers/bathrooms, no internet.  It is more expensive than some of the other options.  But there are some very interesting perks: 2 onsite well stocked fishing lakes; A huge outdoor activity center.  Walking trails, athletic fields, Nature Trails through protected wetlands and most importantly a dog park.  

Now, having the dog park nearby is a huge factor.  We really love walking and running with our dogs.  But they really need some time to romp and play with each other.  Then there is just the absolute beauty of this location.

This tree is stunning by the water between the reservoirs.

 Kat taking pics by the lake.

Neighbor welcoming us

Breakwall and reflection

Now some photos from Fowler Park.

One of the many boardwalks.

Climbing vine example

Boardwalk in weltland

Me being artsy

The excitement is growing for us.  We have much to do between now and the end of the month.  But the next step of our journey is coming up very fast.

Until next time ... Kit

Working hard to get on the road

Well it is Monday, June 3.  We are now into our 2nd week of living in our RV.  We are still sitting in the front yard of our stick built house with the deadline date of July 8th for departing from this life to never look back.  Right now, the stick built house is a real burden.  We are only really using it as a bathroom and shower.  The only other reason that we go in there is to sort items for sale and throw away and to see if there is anything else that we need for our RV.

Our old house has a huge fenced in back yard and our dogs loved to go through the dog door and run and play all day long.  But since we moved into the travel trailer, they do not seem to have a desire to go back there any more.  It is convenient to let them go back there and take care of business, but they prefer to stay with us 24 hours a day.  I thought it would be a huge adjustment for them to lose their yard, but they seem very content for us to walk them.  So, we are doing our best to keep them with us.  When we leave this house, we aren't going to have a yard for them to romp in unattended, so we may as well adapt, also.  The funny thing is that even after the hundreds of miles that we have run, walked and hiked with Nova and Zorro, they still seem uncomfortable pooping in front of us.  Occasionally, they will do it at the dog park, but rarely when we are walking.  I am sure that will change soon.

Really, this move is more like a major detox.  We have modified our lifestyles to living in a smaller space and we are really enjoying it.  Kat loves how close everything is in the kitchen and that it takes 15 minutes to deep clean the whole inside of the camper.  We really have a routine going already.

Well, we worked hard today, getting rid of junk.  So, I am going to cut this short.  In an upcoming posting, I will talk about how we are optimizing and organizing our space.

Until next time Kit 'n Kat.