5/12/06 – Friday: It was cold and rainy today, so we had an at home day. This really is beginning to feel like home. We have everything organized except the cat’s latrine and the laundry basket—we keep moving them around.

We went out early in the day to try to catch the train the New Haven so we could go to the Yale museum of natural history, but the trains only run during rush hour. We stopped at Hammonassett State Park and Wiley walked down to the beach, but it was really cold and wet, so we just came back.

I made potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It’s fun to cook in the camper because everything is so compact and accessible. I brought my good pots and pans and knives—we’re not vacationing, we’re living here. I also brought my “company” towels--little touch of luxury!

I read my book for a little after lunch and then fell asleep on the couch. Wiley reviewed his maps and planned the next part of our journey, and then he fell asleep. He’s doing a great job, not only as navigator, but also as tour guide.

We watched a little tube in the afternoon (first time in quite a while), and caught up on our email and blog. Then I made turkey burgers on the George Foreman grill (great invention!), tossed salad and oven fries for dinner. Yum! We finished up with a piece of the Ghirardelli chocolate that Mark and Heather brought us on their visit.

If the rain stops, we’re going to go to New Haven tomorrow and catch that museum. We’ll stay one more night at this campground and then head out tomorrow morning for Mystic Seaport. We might also go to an Indian reservation near there.

5/11/06 (Thursday): It was a very long day today, all driving. There aren’t any campgrounds or good rest stops anywhere between Harrisburg, PA and mid-coast CT! We stopped at a shopping center at lunch time and got the oil changed in the truck. Ate a sandwich in the camper. Wiley did a little grocery shopping and I rested and read for a while. We took interstates most of the way. There were several places in NJ where the roads were very rough, with steep grades. The interstate was interrupted by long stretches where it was under construction. We knew there was going to be a toll to cross the Hudson River, but imagine our shock when the fee was $25! It seems that because the 5^th wheel hooks to the bed of the truck (as opposed to a bumper hitch), we get charged like an 18-wheeler. We didn’t hit as much traffic in the NY area as we expected, but when we got to CT the traffic was extremely heavy. It took us 4 hours to travel roughly 62 miles! We finally got into the campground (Clinton, CT) at 7:30, had a sandwich and fell into bed. We didn’t even hook everything up. At least the rain held off.

It’s supposed to be rainy and cold for the next couple of days, so tomorrow we’re going to try to find a museum or something indoors to do. Wiley is looking forward to doing a little salt water fishing, too.

5/10/06 (Tues.): Great day today. We went to Hershey, PA, in the morning. They have a free tour that’s probably one of the best free things I’ve ever done. It covers the whole process of making chocolate, from the cacao bean growing and picking through the manufacturing process. It’s part written, part video and part ride through a mock processing plant. There’s also a mock-up of a Hershey Kisses plant where kids can make and wrap their own kisses (we skipped this part), and a very large gift store. We also skipped the gardens (there’s an admission fee, and it’s a little early for most of the flowers in this part of the world) and the amusement park (which is only open on weekends until summer).

We took a trolley ride that was very interesting. Milton Hershey had several unsuccessful attempts at making caramels. He actually went bankrupt twice, and was on the verge of a third bankruptcy when he had the idea of dipping the caramels in chocolate, which was popular in Europe, but not well known in the U.S. At the eleventh hour, he went to the bank that was about to foreclose on his business and convinced them not only to hold off on the foreclosure, but also to lend him enough to fund the new chocolate business. The owner of the bank personally guaranteed the loan. Hershey went to Switzerland to learn the chocolate business. He missed the boat back to the U.S. (literally), and was very angry that they wouldn’t refund his fare. I think he probably had a change of heart within a short period of time, though. The boat was the Titanic.

The new chocolate business was a huge success, and within a few years, Mr. Hershey went from bankruptcy to great wealth. He married, but was unable to have a family of his own, so he and his wife endowed a school for underprivileged children which is still operating. It’s a pretty fantastic operation, with a number of beautiful homes, staffed with house parents. There are all kinds of facilities and the kids get a first class education and training in the careers of their choice. They can even get scholarships to college. When Hershey died, he left his entire fortune in trust to the school, and it’s now worth billions of dollars.

When we left Hershey, we headed for Lancaster—Amish country. It was an odd combination of tourist traps and beautiful old farms with bearded Amish men working the fields with mules. We stopped for lunch at Miller’s Smorgasbord, which was well worth the $21 each tab. We sampled pickled beets, potato stuffing, chicken pot pie and shoo fly pie. Wiley ate a lot of shrimp. While we ate, we watched an Amish farmer raking the alfalfa hay with four mules. The mules were very well trained—they turned the corners of the field by side-stepping in unison! Unfortunately, the other side of the old fashioned farming was the big truck spraying liquid cow manure—quite odiferous! It made me stop and think about the true meaning of “all natural” and “organic!”

We also visited the Mennonite Visitors Center and saw a film and museum about the history of the Mennonites. I was surprised to learn that it’s a very old Christian religion, dating back to the Inquisition. The major reason for the break from the state religion of Switzerland (where the religion began) was that they believed in baptizing people old enough to make an informed decision to accept Christ as their savior. They were called Ana Baptists, meaning that they were re-baptized. The religion spread to Germany and other European countries, where the believers were horribly persecuted. Some members migrated to the U.S. with Quakers and settled in PA. Their religion emphasizes community service and simplicity in their personal lives. At some point after they came to the U.S., another split in the congregants occurred because some church members thought they should be even less worldly. They became the Amish.

Speaking of simplicity, I’ve been thinking a lot about how Wiley and I are simplifying our lives by leaving our home and most possessions behind. Actually, I think people who live less worldly lives are not living more simply. It’s hard and complicated work to raise and process your own food, forego modern conveniences and take care of your own family and community without government support. Wiley and I are living without so many possessions, but we’re certainly not without conveniences. We have a cell phone, laptop, heat and air conditioning, running water (including a shower and flush toilet), and a truck. We’re trying to re-prioritize. There’s a big difference between doing what’s urgent and doing what’s important, and it’s very easy to lose sight of what’s important when circumstances seem urgent.

We’re leaving tomorrow morning for CT. Wiley is eagerly anticipating some salt water fishing in CT, RI and MA. I’m a little nervous about driving around New York City, but it’s got to be done. We’ll time our trip to avoid rush hour. We’re taking the interstate, and we’re going to limit our drive to about 4 hours. We’re hoping to make our way up the seacoast the rest of the trip. The only stop that we’ve already planned is Cape Cod. Otherwise, we’re winging it. Spontaneity is great fun!

A few odds and ends that might be interesting:

We’ve been in touch with the people who handled our estate sale—the check is in the mail. We made $1300 from the first part of the sale. They still have some of our stuff, which will be sold at auction.

We also contacted the real estate company that’s managing our house. We were not happy to learn that the tenant (or one of his friends) was smoking a cigar in the house. The real estate agent promised to make the point (again) with the tenants that there’s no smoking in the house. We also asked him to remind the tenants that the dog isn’t allowed in the garden. The good news is that the deposits have cleared and will be in our bank account by tomorrow.

We’ve traveled 1377 miles so far. Our average gas mileage has been 9.72 (that figure includes some days when we traveled without the camper attached, and some days when we were either driving up and down steep hills and/or driving in stop-and-go traffic). That’s pretty close to the 10 mpg we’d hoped for. The average price of gas has been $2.89/gallon.

Our expenses to date total:

Gas - $468.25
Groceries - $46.06
Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $41.50
Snacks - $14.29
Camping Fees - $268.95
Admission Fees: $39
Camper Repairs/Improvements: $105.60
Laundry - $3.50
Entertainment/Gifts – $21
Restaurant Meals - $98.15

We budgeted a total of $2100 for the trip, we’ve spent $1,106.30, and we have $993.70 left (assuming I’ve set up my spreadsheets correctly!). We’re a little more than ¼ the way into the trip time-wise, but more than halfway distance-wise. We’re definitely going to have to cut back on restaurant meals! We had hoped to do some dry camping (Walmart parking lots) or at least camp in some low-cost parks, but Walmart no longer allows overnight parking, and cheaper campgrounds have not been convenient. We’ll have to try harder on that score, too.

You’re all in our thoughts. We hope you’re enjoying our adventure vicariously.

5/9/06 – Tuesday: We had a short day today. We left Upper Marlboro, MD, and drove to PA, between Hershey and Lancaster. We’re at a KOA campground near the Susquehana River. We were surprised when we rounded a curve and saw some really big cooling towers for a nuclear power plant. There was a historical marker noting that it was the site of the 3 Mile Island accident!

We drove into the little town of Elizabethtown to pick up some supplies. I got a very nice haircut at a little salon on the main drag. Back at camp, I took Monkey for a little walk. She’s really enjoying this trip. When I got out the leash, she jumped into my lap and stuck her own head in the harness! Then she walked down the steps of the camper and set out across the grass like she’d been doing it all her life.

Tomorrow we’re going to Hershey and possibly Lancaster for a tour of Amish country. If we don’t get the Amish country tour in tomorrow, we’re undecided whether we’ll leave or do it Thursday. There’s a big storm coming this way, and I hate the idea of driving in the rain. Plus, I’ve been dreading this part of the trip. There’s no way to avoid the congestion of New York City unless we get into the mountains, which is also some stressful driving. Wiley’s been doing an amazing job of navigating on this trip. He’s managed to find nice campgrounds and figure out approximately when we’ll get to where we’re going.

It’s funny how the things that you worry about usually don’t happen. We’re having a great trip. I’m so proud of us for living our dream. It’s been very scary at times, but none of the things we worried about have happened. And there have been lots of unexpected pleasures. We’ve met some great people. The couple who manages this campground spent a lot of time talking to us about their experiences.

I’m hoping that the trip around NY will wind up being just another one of those things I worried about that never happened.

Monday, 5/8/06: The weather forecast last night looked so bad that we decided not to leave for PA today. Instead, we did a little research and figured out that we were near a Metro station (D.C.’s subway). So we decided to visit the new American Indian museum. We waited until rush hour was over and drove about 10 miles, parked at the station, and had a very nice trip to downtown. Every major city should have good public transportation. The stations and trains were clean and safe, information regarding routes and schedules was clear and the personnel were helpful and polite.

The museum was different from any I’d ever been to. The focus was not on artifacts, but on people. There was extensive written documentation about different groups of the people of the Americas, with a few artifacts to represent the cultural and spiritual attributes. I thought it was too much reading. I’d rather read a book than stand in a crowd and read. We did enjoy the movie, though. We left earlier than planned, and went to the national botanic gardens. It was rainy and cold outside, but we felt like we were back in FL in the gardens! The orchids were fantastic, and there were a number of plants we’d never seen before.

We got our second winds in the gardens and decided to take the Metro a little further to Alexandria. We enjoyed a long walk (about 18 blocks) from the Metro station on King Street to Old Town. We started at the Visitor Center and got maps and information on a walking tour. I wish I hadn’t forgotten my camera—Alexandria is a beautiful and historic city. We saw “flounder houses,” which have a flat, featureless and windowless wall on one side, where the roof is steeply pitched. The other side has two windows way up at the top that look sort of like the eyes on the side of a flounder. We also saw “spite houses,” which were built in the alleys between two existing buildings. They’re very narrow, and stick out into the alley, which is why they were called spite houses—they slowed down traffic in the alleys, thus thwarting or “spiting” a perceived nuisance. There were some cobblestone streets, which were paved with the ballast stones of 18^th century ships. Many of the houses were built in the early 1700’s, some by sea captains when Alexandria was as important as New York and Boston as a port of entry. We saw several places that George Washington frequented, including his town house and church (Christ Church). When I was a kid growing up in Washington, D.C., I had the Revolutionary and Civil wars all confused in my mind, because there is extensive history of both wars in the area. It’s a fascinating place, and we had a good day exploring.

Sunday 5/7/06: We’re still in the Upper Marlboro, MD, area at Duncan Family Campground. This morning we ran some errands, then drove out 301 to my Uncle Dean’s house. We visited with him and my cousin Kenny and his fiancée Susan for a while, then went to a park where there was a surprise birthday party for my Aunt Dottie. She turned 80—she looks great!

It was fun to see my cousins, Donna, Diane and Dottie (nicknamed Duke) and their families. Coincidentally, my cousin Donna and her husband Dave just started full timing in their motor home, and were planning a trip to Maine this summer! Needless to say, they’re going to visit us for a few days while they’re up there.

We’re really enjoying the new flexibility in our lives. Each evening, we sit down and decide where we’re going and what we’re doing the next day. But we feel easy about changing our minds if something (like a chance to see relatives) appeals to us more. We’re planning to leave for PA tomorrow, but the weather forecast doesn’t look so good, so we may change our minds and stay another day. I don’t want to drive the 5^th wheel in rain and wind.

Thursday 5-5-06: We “nested” today. Did some housekeeping first thing, then sat around and read the paper. I kept noticing things that could be reorganized to work better. We’ve got it feeling like home now.

Wiley packed us a nice lunch and we headed out to see Stratford Plantation, the house where Robert E. Lee was born. He didn’t grow up there, though; he grew up in Alexandria. The land (1500 acres) was originally bought by his father, Thomas, who built a fantastic mansion for his wife, Hannah. Robert’s brothers, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, were Declaration of Independence signers. While we were going through the house, I was thinking about how tumultuous those times must have been. Just imagine having three sons who (in the eyes of many citizens) were committing treason! The two younger Lee brothers, Arthur and William, were diplomats. The house is amazing. There are eight chimneys, four on each end of the house. In Robert’s day, the two clusters of chimneys were connected by a platform. The family slept up there on hot summer nights, and sometimes even held dances. We ate our picnic lunch in the shade of some very large, old trees. I saw bluebirds, which I haven’t seen in many years.

Lucie, I thought of you today. The docent who gave us the tour was so knowledgeable about so many aspects of life in the 1700’s and the Lee family. The group we toured with was quite impressed. She was dressed like an indentured servant, and we all felt as though we’d traveled back in time. Daily life was so much more difficult then. She described how the cook and helpers spent 10-12 hours every day cooking in a room that could get so hot that there were little boys whose only job was to keep the hems of the women’s dresses wet so that they wouldn’t catch fire! They were responsible for feeding the very large Lee family and constant groups of guests every single day. Then, during harvest and planting time, they cooked for the field hands as well in order to free them for harvesting and planting. Imagine how much bread they had to make from scratch every day!

After lunch, we drove through the countryside to a little town right on Chesapeake Bay. The countryside is beautiful here. The azaleas and dogwood trees are in bloom. Also snowball bushes, forsythia and a tree with pale lavender clusters of blossoms which someone told us was called a “paloma” tree. I never heard of it before, but it’s lovely. Wiley hoped to do some fishing, but there was no access to the water. It was a beautiful drive, though. Lots and lots of history in this area! Westmoreland Park, where we’re staying, is situated between George Washington’s birthplace and Robert E. Lee’s! We did a little shopping instead. We wanted to build a little shelf over the sofa, both to have a place to sit a glass and also to keep Monkey from getting down behind the sofa and into the exterior storage space. We bought the materials at a little old fashioned hardware store, and Wiley installed it when we got back.

I called a few of my relatives who live in this area tonight, and it turns out there’s a surprise 80^th birthday party for my Aunt Dot. We’ve been invited to attend on Sunday. It’ll give me a chance to see my cousins that I haven’t seen in about 15 years. We’ll have to drive to Annapolis (about 3 hours), but at least we won’t have to take the camper.

Last night I set up some spreadsheets to help us track our expenses. We’ve budgeted $2100 for the trip up, and at least $500 of that is earmarked for gasoline. It’ll be pretty interesting to see what the trip costs us, and it will be helpful to know what to expect on future trips. We’re not particularly trying to economize—we’re rather frugal by nature—but I suspect we’ll be surprised by some of the ways money trickles out of our hands.

That’s it for tonight. Got to get my beauty sleep!

Thursday, 5-4-06. Much better day today. We enjoyed a great night’s sleep at the KOA. It was very quiet, and we slept with the windows open under a heavy blanket. The temperature in the daytime has been in the low 80’s, but at night it feels quite cool (maybe 50’s). Great sleeping weather.

There were free Belgian waffles and coffee at the camp store, so after we hooked up and got ready for the day, we had a nice breakfast. We hit the road about 8:30 (on I-95). There was very little traffic. We’ve noticed that once we left FL, the drivers have been very polite. They don’t tailgate, they actually let you merge onto the highway in front of you, they use their signals, and they get back in the right lane as soon as they’ve passed you, and I haven’t heard a horn since we left FL!

My cousin Art gave us excellent directions, and we had no trouble finding the mall where we were able to park the rig easily near the restaurant. It was great fun catching up with Art and Ginny and showing off our new home. They camped for many years, starting in a tent and moving up to larger trailers. They haven’t been camping in some time now, but I think Ginny has the bug again! Thanks for such a nice treat, Art and Ginny!

We went a little further on I-95, then took off on 301 toward Westmoreland State Park. It was a pretty ride through lots of Revolutionary War history. We saw Patrick Henry’s birthplace in Studley, the Garrett farm where John Wilkes Booth was captured after he assassinated Lincoln, and several historic towns. Westmoreland State Park is in the Northern Neck of Virginia, right where the Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The park sits on top of high, sandy cliffs, which are loaded with Miocene era marine fossils.

As soon as we got set up, we hiked a lovely trail through a hardwood forest, which angled steeply down to a swamp, ending at a beach at the base of Horsehead Cliffs. We saw an eagle sitting in a tree on top of the cliffs at the beginning of the trail, and a nuthatch creeping down one of the trees. We didn’t have time to do much hunting, but each of us found a shark’s tooth. In a little creek that flowed out of the swamp and into the river, we saw two animals in the water. One was definitely an otter, but I think the other might have been a small beaver or a muskrat (I have to look up muskrats—I’m not sure what they look like). We hiked back admiring the sunset over the river.

We enjoyed leftovers for dinner, and plan to turn in early. Tomorrow we’re going to have a quiet day with no driving. We’ll probably hike back to the beach. While we’re camped here, we’re going to go to Baltimore for the day one day and do the tourist bit. Another day we’ll tour the historic sites in this area. We leave on Monday, probably heading toward Hershey, PA

5/3/06 – Wednesday: Today was a little too long. We got a late start because we explored Magnolia Springs State Park (where we spent the night). The park was the site of a Confederate prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. The spring was rather small, but very pretty. It bubbled up out of a deep hole in a sandy bottom. There were LOTS of turtles (at least 15-20 at a time popped up everywhere you got close to the edge). We also saw some large bream (fish). We also visited the Bo Ginn Aquatic Education Center. Admission was included in the camping fee.

We finally left around 10:00 AM. We planned to stop somewhere for breakfast. Big mistake. We didn’t find a restaurant until noon—and we were very hungry and more than a little cranky by then. The roads in SC were pretty bad. We started out on US 1, which had been so beautiful through GA. It was bumpy and had a good bit of traffic. At one point, there was a low bridge sign (12’ 8”). I didn’t pay attention to it until we were almost under it. I slowed way down, but it was too late to stop (cars behind me). Just as the hood of the truck went under the bridge, I looked up and saw gouges in the underside where others had scraped. Whew!! Now I know that we’re shorter than 12’ 8”!

There were quite a few Revolutionary War sites in SC. We especially enjoyed passing through Camden, where there were some historic homes. The little town of Patrick was surrounded by large tracts of pine trees. We didn’t notice any lumbering going on, which seemed odd since the trees were planted in rows. Then we saw the sign for the pine straw festival on the town hall. We started noticing that the ground under all the pine trees was raked completely bare!

Just before Columbia, we cut over (a long way) to I-95. It was also in bad shape, and it had lots of fast moving traffic and trucks. We wanted to get at least as far Raleigh so that we could meet my cousin, Art, and his wife, Ginny, for lunch in the Richmond area on Thursday. We finally pulled into a KOA campground at 8:45 PM (about 10 hours with me behind the wheel). We won’t put in such long days in the future.

After we set up, we headed immediately for a BBQ joint the campground host told us about. We were their last customers of the day. I enjoyed a BBQ pork sandwich (I almost never eat pork, but when in SC, do as the S Carolinians do)—delicious!

Even though it was late, I decided to journal the day for the blog. I got carried away, downloading the pictures from my camera and adding them and going into great detail about the day. I clicked on “post,” and then went to view the site. Nothing! Over an hour’s work, and it was not updated. From now on, I’m journaling first in MS Word and saving it. Then I’ll copy it to the website.

Tuesday, 5/2/06: It was really great to see Julie and John one last time before we left. After a pleasant breakfast with them, we left around 8:00 AM. If we had planned it, we couldn’t have had a nicer day. We’ve decided that we’re going to stick predominantly to major roads, but not the interstate. We started on 301 near Ocala, and took it and U.S. 1 today. We went through some beautiful country: horse farms near Ocala, then cattle ranches and woodlands with scattered southern towns. There was a lovely old frame church in Citra near the intersection of Hwy 301 and CR 18. It had unusual windows with arched panes on all four sides. Doves were etched on several panes. 301 was mostly dual lane and there was almost no traffic.

As we neared the GA state line, the wild flowers in the median were gorgeous—bright yellow, red, purple and orange. It sure looked better than shaggy pasture grass, and I’m sure they saved mowing costs! We went through our first weigh station at the GA state line. The signs indicated that trucks, pickups, trailers and 18-wheelers all had to stop, so we did. They waved us on, and we never did see how much we weighed. At some point we need to stop at a truck stop and weigh our truck and trailer and then both together to make sure we’re within the towing capacity of our truck.

As lunchtime approached, we came upon the Okeefenokee Swamp Park. We’d been there once before and taken the boat ride through the swamp (a neat thing to do, if you’ve never tried it). This time we decided to pull into the picnic area for lunch. They’ve added some old cabins and a gift store—very quaint. One of the cabins dated to the Seminole Indian wars (1835?), when it belonged to the Wildes family, who were massacred. What a great lunch break! We really feel like we’re on vacation now.

Another interesting stretch of road (I think we were on US 1 by now) was at Alma, which bills itself as the blueberry capital of GA. There were quite a few blueberry fields (groves? patches?) along the way. The blueberries were all green, which was interesting, because we know the blueberries in FL are ripe—Wiley’s sister, Cathy, picked some just before we left! The cornfields got progressively younger as we headed north, too. There was Zellwood (FL) corn in the supermarket when we left, and by the time we got to GA, it wasn’t even knee high.

We decided to call it a day near Augusta, GA, in a state park called Magnolia Springs. We’re camped beside a pretty little lake right now. We took a 1.4-mile walk on the nature trail before dinner. We saw a tiny little ring-necked snake. It was very pretty—dark red in color. I thought it was a fast-moving earth worm at first! There was also lots of sassafras. I have fond memories of my Girl Scout days when we plucked the young shrubs and chewed the root for its delicious licorice flavor. My grandmother made tea from it. We had a nice chat with the campground hosts. They’re workampers, like us, and this is their first assignment. They’re enjoying it a lot.

I made macaroni with tomato/meat sauce and canned asparagus for dinner. Not fancy, but it sure tasted good. We’d worked up an excellent appetite, and the lake view was as good as the best restaurants we’ve ever been to.

We’ve come roughly 400 miles so far. We’ve filled up twice--$59.29 in FL (20.5 gallons) and $52.67 in GA (18.8 gallons). That’s about 10 mpg, which is about what we expected. Hopefully, by avoiding the mountains, we’ll be able to keep it at that. We’ve budgeted $500 for gasoline for the whole trip (assuming about $3 per gallon). Gas was $2.89 in Orlando, and went down to about $2.78 in GA.

Monkey is taking it all in stride. We checked on her several times today to make sure it wasn’t too hot in the camper and that she was okay. She was usually either curled up beside the bed or on the couch. She’s eating and sleeping well. When we got to camp, I put her on the leash and took her for a short walk. She likes that!

We’re going to look at the spring head tomorrow, and then head out by 8 AM. We hope to reach the NC/VA border tomorrow (via US 1). Then we’ll be in Richmond for lunch with my cousin, Art, and his wife Ginny on Thursday. From there, we’ll spend a couple of days in the Baltimore area. After that… who knows? We’re on vacation!

The adventure begins...

4/25/05. Here we are in front of our rig, a 1996 Fleetwood Prowler 5th wheel and a 2005 Ford F150. We're leaving May 1 for Camden, Maine, where we'll be Workamping. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it means that we'll work part time for a campground in exchange for our site, water, sewer hookup, electricity, cable TV, WiFi, laundry and a small salary.

View from the campground

Doesn't it look gorgeous?! It's right on Penobscot Bay. We're looking forward to exploring New England.

Right now, we're vascillating between excitement and terror! We're trying to rent our house, but so far our applicants have not had good credit. We just had a likely candidate view the house tonight, and we're really hopeful about her. It would just be her and her fiance--no kids or pets--which is a big plus. She'd also like to rent partially furnished, which would save us a lot of trouble, and it would mean we could keep some of our favorite pieces. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get someone who'll love our home as much as we do!

We've spent the past six weeks having an estate sale, storing our sentimental items, donating what didn't sell, and generally purging a lifetime of "stuff." Then we started painting, repairing, replacing carpeting and cleaning the house. We've also been visiting family and friends that we won't see again for 5-1/2 months, and doing all the paperwork involved in changing our address and canceling services. It's been very stressful, but we're done with the worst of it now.

It's very exciting to be making such a dramatic change in our lives. We've dreamed of this for 19 years, and now it's really happening! We'll be posting details about our adventure as often as we can. In May we'll be taking our time driving from Orlando to Maine and seeing the sights, so we may not always have internet access. Once we settle into the campground, I hope to be able to post more often (including pictures). Stay in touch--we'll be back in late October!

4/30/06. We rented the house! We're so pleased to have a nice young couple. They were enthusiastic about our house and garden, and we think they'll take good care of it. They have a small terrier, and we weren't keen on having a dog, but they were such a stable pair that we decided they were the best fit.

Well, we're all done packing the camper. We leave tomorrow! Wiley built shelves in the little closets in the bedroom, and we put all the clothing that would usually go in drawers on the shelves (there's only one drawer in the bedroom area!). We knew that we could only carry about 1000 pounds of cargo, not including water and wastewater, so we put our bathroom scale in the driveway and weighed everything as we loaded up. It looked pretty funny--our neighbors already think we're crazy, so this just confirmed it. I took a picture, but I'm too tired tonight to download it.

I found it kind of interesting how the weights turned out:

Food: 85 lbs.
Pots, Pans, Dishes, Utensils: 46 lbs.
Truck Items and Tools: 21 lbs.
Paper Goods, Kitchen Cleaning Supplies & Batteries: 56 lbs.
Small Appliances and Electronics: 62 lbs.
Books and Office Supplies: 30 lbs.
Bathroom Cleaning, Toiletries: 11 lbs. (more to be loaded tomorrow)
Sewer/Sanitary: 22 lbs.
Patio Stuff (Chairs, umbrellas, etc.): 58 lbs.
Tent Camping Equipment: 97 lbs.
Canoeing, Fishing, Hiking Equipment: 48 lbs.
Tools: 84 lbs.
RV Equipment (cords, levelers, handles, jacks): 27 lbs.
Bedroom Storage: 39
Linens (bring your own towel when you come to visit!): 19
Clothing: 161

Grand Total: 874

That leaves us a little room for what's not packed yet (refrigerator stuff, camera and a few small things), plus we can carry a little fresh water. Not too shabby!

We visited Wiley's parents after our long day of packing and ate pizza and delicious apple cake (thanks Ed and Teresa--we want that recipe!). It's been very difficult saying goodbye to all our friends and neighbors. Even though it's only for the summer, we're used to visiting often. We know we'll be seeing friends and relatives we don't see often, and we know we'll be making new friends, but it's still hard. Wish we could bring you all with us! We do hope that many of you will visit us this summer. We can sleep a couple in the camper, or we can rent a primitive cabin for overflow.

We're going to clean house and load a few last minute things tomorrow morning, and hope to leave by early afternoon. We will stop in Ocala tomorrow afternoon and spend the night with our friends Julie and John. We hope to be in Richmond by Wednesday (we'll call you when we get close, Art and Ginny!).

May peace and love abide with you.