okay April 1 (departure day) has finally arrived. We spent the first quarter of the year winding down our life as we know it. I read a couple of books about being a minimalist and that really helped me to separate myself from many of my possessions. We had a garage sale with my friend Diann in early February, and I was amazed at how much stuff sold. One woman's "trash" is definitely another woman's " treasure." A lot of my friends and former customers came by to chat and shop. It really made me feel good to see so many people thrilled with their purchases, and it didn't hurt at all.
We donated everything that didn't sell, and then the packing began. I started in my art room. I am envisioning a wonderful art studio in my future, so everything that I wanted to store went into boxes marked STUDIO. Everything that I felt I would need on the road went into the RV. Ken allocated me sufficient space and even removed a pocket door and exchanged it for a storage unit as large as a door and about 6 inches deep. I can store a lot of stuff on that baby! The neighborhood we lived in was big on Estate Sales, so we held one of those on March 14 and 15. Watching the big stuff walk out the door was easier than I thought it might be. The day before we left we were down to a blow up mattress (with a not-so-slow leak) and our computer set up on the door taken out of the RV set up on two saw horses!
On Tuesday morning, April first, we got up early to load our final stuff in the RV and get checked out of the HOA. Fortunately, Ken noticed a screw in the side of the left rear tire on the truck. A set-back for sure, but what a blessing to discover it before we were driving on the freeway hauling a 30 ft RV. We quickly loaded up, went back to the storage lot to unhook. I stayed behind to make some order of the chaos while Ken got some new tires. Back to the house to finish cleaning out the garage, drop our cleaning supplies, vacuum cleaner and floor scrubber with a friend from church, and we are finally ready to go at 3 p.m. A far cry from our 11 o'clock planned departure, but we are feeling good about our clean house and new tires. Let the journey begin.
Knowing that we are going to get stuck in LA rush-hour traffic, we stop for a bite to eat at our favorite Philly Steak Sandwich place on Oceanside Boulevard. 3:50 we hit the road. It wasn't too long before the rain came. It was slow going all of the way to Woodland Hills. Between Camarillo and Oxnard we noticed three cars and a motorcycle all pulled over to the side of the road with tow trucks getting flat tires fixed. It seemed very unusual. Next thing we know, a motorist in the center lane is rolling down his window and pointing to our RV. We have a flat tire on the RV. Luckily we were right near an exit ramp and were able to pull into a shopping center parking lot. Thank goodness for our Good Sam insurance. We make a quick call and within 35 minutes Roy's Towing shows up to change our tire. It's now dark and cold. We get back on our way about 9:00 p.m. The gas gage is heading towards empty so Ken asks me to use our RV GPS device to find a gas station with easy off/easy on in Santa Barbara. I find an exit that looks like it has 7 gas stations and we travel on. Santa Barbara has a lot of one way streets. The one station that is on the side of the freeway that we are on does not have access from our side of the street. So, in the dark, in the rain, we wend our way around the block so we can come in from the correct side. We get gas and before driving through to leave, Ken happens to look up and notices that the edge of the air conditioning unit is right at the edge of the awning covering the gas pumps. We will not fit under it without tearing the AC off the RV. Another blessing. If he didn'look up, bye bye air conditioning. We have to back up into the street that we entered in, swing wide and get back on to the main street. Could anything else happen to us today?
One more hour up the road in the rain and the wind, we finally come to our exit in Buellton. By this time the office at the RV park that we have reservations at is closed. We hope we can find our spot. The resort has left a welcome packet and a map to our site. It is about 11 o'clock at night. The directions are good, the sites have lighted numbers on them. We are feeling pretty good, except for that big tree on the left edge of our site. We swing wide, but not wide enough. Now we have to back up in the dark, in the rain and we are surrounded by all kinds of motor homes and RVs with sleeping campers in them.
In our attempt to back out, we cut the angle too sharp and BANG!! the edge of the RV broke out the back window of the truck. REALLY?? Oh wait, there is more. We finally get situated in our site (it is still rainy, windy and cold), level the rig and chock the tires. We come in out of the rain and go to push out the slide out and the tree is too close to fully extend. We just pulled it back in and went to bed. We had had enough adventure for one day! We were sure things would look better in the morning, and they did! We moved straight across the road to a space with no trees, and life was once again good!
with that all behind us, we managed to get the window replaced and a new spare tire and were able to enjoy a few beautiful days in Buellton and Solvang.
On Friday we headed to Los Osos to spend the weekend with Ken and Sarah. We hung out, watched General Conference, cooked, talked, played charades, and just enjoyed spending time with Ken, Sarah and Jack.
We are going to hang out at Montana de Oro for one more day then head up to the mountains. Stay tuned for more living.
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