Sold!

Futon, gone!
Guest bedroom set, gone!
Pontoon, gone! Boo hoo :'(
File cabinet,  gone!
Safe, gone!
Heater, gone!
Extra chairs, gone!

Yep, that's our life.  Little by little, day in and day out.  What can we live without in our 5th wheel?  Sell it!

Today we hit a turning point.  With just 4 short months till our full-time date, we've come to the conclusion that we can no longer spend our time on several different options of selling our stuff, scatterbrains can't handle that sort of stuff!  Local swaps and craigslist are now out of the question...focus, focus, focus!   We need to spend these last few months on tagging and boxing for a huge garage sale.

We've set our sights on an indoor garage sale set to kick off in mid-March.  At least we can downsize a little to make room for more tagging and boxing for the final garage sale in June...can you say "hoarders"?  Lol, we certainly are not hoarders like the tv show by far but heck, we sure have a lot of unnecessary stuff around this place!

How many outfits do two little puppies need in the warm weather anyway?!?!?
I count 30 in the above photo! After this pic was taken, I found 3 more in a drawer and Willow is layered with a tee shirt and sweater! The big red one in the top middle is Rocky's winter coat, the only clothing item he owns...he's a simple kind of dog with simple needs :)

Needless to say I myself have a walk-in closet to whittle down, let alone the bins of summer clothes still in storage in our crawl space!
Ken, not so much...he's already committed to 7 pair of undies & socks, 2 pair of jeans, a couple of tee shirts, sweatshirts, tennies, boots, a warm coat and 2 hoodies...guess I get the rest of the drawers and wardrobe in our bedroom ;)  Works for me!

One of my favorite things are kitchen gadgets.
I have thought about this long and hard.
I'm a kitchen gadget-aholic!

A few things I am NOT willing to give up on...

1. Vitamix (a woman needs her morning smoothies!)
2. Juicer (love my mix of carrot & beet juice and whatever else I can find to throw in)
3. Food processor (peanut butters and dog biscuits)
4. Dehydrator (even Ken loves it for jerky!)
5. Ninja 3 in 1 Cooker (it does everything from stove-top cook, steaming, slow-cook and baking)
6. Cast iron cookware (yep, been getting used to it and absolutely loving it!)

Thankfully, our 5th wheel has lots of cabinet space!

On a serious note, I really need to say this...and give thanks.
Ken and I have dreamed of retiring and traveling the country in a camper.  We were planning to start our travels in 2015 or 2016.
Last November,  my mom at 92 years young was diagnosed with cancer...stage 4...breast, lung, bone. While in her last month of life on earth, I talked to her about our plans to sell it all and travel.  Her exact words were "oh, that sounds wonderful!"
God called her home on November 20th, 2013.   

My brother just told me that many years ago, mom and dad were planning adventures out west.  For some reason, they were never able to go.  I know mom and dad will be watching over us during our travels and enjoying the views!

♥ Simply put ♥ thank you mom and dad ♥ for all you've done for us ♥ we love and miss you both ♥

Another day closer...

So hubby and I have been busy sorting, tagging, boxing up and selling!  Today is going to be another day of taking pictures and listing items for sale on area swaps.  Many items have been spoken for by family and friends, gonna need to start making post it notes throughout the house with their names on items 'cause this ole mind can't keep up!

Took a day off on Sunday to have lunch with some friends from our old neighborhood.  Showed them pics of the 5th wheel and talked about where we're traveling to...it was great to see them and catch up on things!

Here are some pics of our 2009 Keystone Montana, 38' with 4 slides:

I will be removing the wallpaper border as well as painting some walls, adding a smart tile back splash to both the kitchen area and bathroom sink and covering the couch for starters...gotta make it more of a home on wheels than a camper :)
I'm not sure where they find these interior designers for RV's but we need to have a serious talk!

In the last month, Ken and I have become members of Passport America, Escapees and Good Sam Club. Memberships (they were very reasonable) will save us a ton of money on campsites :)

Our first travels will be in May and takes us to Goshen Indiana.  This is called an "Escapade" from the Escapees group.  One full week of RV classes, friendship & food!

After Goshen it's back home to have a huge yard sale, donate items that don't sell and head on out for our full time adventure in mid-July...woo hoo, can't wait!

Guess who wants to go with us?  Just about everyone we talk to :)  That would be awesome, a traveling caravan of friends and family exploring the US together!

On the road to fulltime rv living

Hey there!

This blog has been started to share our dream of full time living in an RV exploring the great U S of A!

After 20+ years of camping with our sons Erik and Ryan, many friends of theirs, many of our friends and family and our furry friends, Sheena, Reese, Rocky, Willow and Bullet, our full time time dream is finally coming true!  Our sons have grown, married and are currently serving our country in the military.  We'll be visiting them during our travels.

Ken & I will be traveling with our shorkies Willow and Bullet and hopefully our hound dog Rocky.  Rocky is 14 years old and we're not sure if he's gonna make it...hes got heart issues, lumps and bumps all over his body and cataracts, poor baby :(  If he's not able to travel with us, he'll live out his life happily at his lake home with his auntie Kris!

Our Rockman

Willow

Bullet

Willow and Bullet's Tent Sleepers!

We currently live on a lake in Attica, MI.  We've met many great friends here and have family on the lake. We really do hate to leave everyone but full timing has been our dream for many, many years.  We plan on visiting our Michigan family and friends every summer.

Downsizing has proven to be a huge task but its going to be well worth it!  Since we are both considered "disabled" we can only work on downsizing a couple of hours a day and the more organizing we do the more dis-organized our house is getting!  We've been selling on local swaps and Ebay as well as setting things aside for donation and tossing others. And now it's time to start on another area...ugh!

We hope you will follow us on our journey, we'll be sure to share many pictures and stories with you.

Places need to be discovered, friends need to be met, pictures need to be taken :)