House ready to sell....meeting fellow RV'ers

Ok, the last time I posted I mentioned that we should be ready to put the house on the market at the end of the month(April). Well we didn't quite make that timeline but we will be contacting a realtor this week. We have had difficulty getting contractors to call back and get some work done but we finally got the call backs and tomorrow all the contractor work will be finished. We still have a small area of the basement floor to paint and bring everything from the basement up to the garage. That will make it easier to organize as we get ready for garage sales once the house is sold. Everything is looking fresh and clean as we have painted and put finishing touches on décor. I'm finally feeling like some light at the end of the tunnel.

I had a nice comment from Debbie at Down the Road on a recent post and she and her husband, Steve, are at right about the same position we are toward full timing. Debbie and Steve are from California and the funniest thing is they are buying their truck from a Dodge dealer in Clinton, IL about 25 miles south of Normal, IL where we live. Debbie and Steve also contacted us through RVillage. It's a new RV specific social media where RV'ers can see where fellow RV'ers are camping and set up get togethers and join groups with like minded folks. RV-Dreams has a group within RVillage and a link to their forum. Anyway, I replied to Debbie's comment and saw that she was a blogger too. She mentioned that they were going to the spring RV-Dreams Rally in Sevierville, TN and then would be traveling up to Clinton to pick up their truck. They had booked a room in a local motel in Normal. As time got closer we conversed more and I found out the motel was about a mile and a half from our home.

We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and we waited to see how their progress was in getting to Normal. (Is anyone really normal?) HaHa. Well, they left the rally yesterday morning and made good time on their way here. I told them if they had not had supper we could meet at a local Mexican grill called Moe's. (Welcome to Moe's) They got into town around 7:30 and we drove to Moe's to meet them and had a nice meal and great conversation. The only problem was...Moe's closed at 9 pm. We could have talked for another 2 hours I'm sure. The conversation flowed and we had a great opportunity to compare notes on our progress and fun talking about our trucks and rigs and our feelings about full timing.

Debbie and Steve gave us some good information about the RV-Dreams rally since we will all be attending the fall rally in Goshen, IN in Sept. It really whet our appetite to attend this fall. This time they will have their 5th wheel with them and we will also be bringing ours. We hope that the house will sell quickly and we will be living in the Bighorn this summer. I'm so ready for a new lifestyle and meeting more new friends. Debbie and Steve have many of the same interests that we have and we hope to get together again in the future somewhere where we can do some kayaking, hiking and biking. I just know that there are so many more folks like them on the road. I love to follow the blogs of others that are going out there now or have been out on the road for some time. You are my inspiration and I continue to thank you for your comments and encouragement. Thank you Debbie and Steve for making the effort to meet yesterday. Thank you Howard and Linda Payne for all that you do on your website RV-Dreams and at your rallies. I wish you all could see the smile on my face right now as I type this post. I will continue to work toward retirement and it won't be long.