Goodbye House....we sure had good times there!!!

Summary of the Janis RV Trip Aug 2015 to Dec 2017

Summary of the Janis RV Trip
Aug 2015 to Dec 2017

Aug 2015 California
Sept & Oct 2015 Utah
Oct & Nov 2015 Arizona & New Mexico
Dec 2015 and
Jan&Feb 2016 Tucson area, Az
March 2016 Texas
April 2016 Arkansas & Oklahoma
May 2016 Colorado
June, July & Aug 2016 Wyoming and Montana
Sept & Oct 2016 So Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois
Nov 2016 Kentucky, Tennesse, Alabama
Dec 2016 & Jan &
Feb 2017 Florida
March, April
& May 2017 Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina
June 2017 New Jersey
July & Aug 2017 Maine
Sept, Oct & Nov 2017 New England following peak leaf season
Dec 2017 North Carolina

Roll-Away Party June 27 2015

Thanks to all who came to our Rolling-Away Party....We will miss you all terribly!!! Come visit us "on the road"!!

A Fish Story

July 10 Living Life Out Of A Can, a fish story.

We arrived at our camp in Marina, just north of Monterey, yesterday and had a tight back in spot. Backing a 34’ 5^th wheel is a Vilia Adventure for sure.  We favor a gradual approach. Best described as backandforthbackandforth.  With the kind help of a volunteer neighbor, I had eyes on both sides of the RV and slotted it in.   As I was setting up Vilia,  my neighbor on the other side arrived back to his site. Carrying a cooler, he said over to me, “I bet you like to eat fish”.  Hmmm I thought, that’s an unusual hello. Turns out he was returning from some sponsored fishing excursion and had caught more than he could consume and fit into the small freezer compartment in his trailer.   He offered and we gratefully accepted four meals worth of blue cod and lingcod.  Dinner last night of fresh caught cod combo, with planned asparagus- carrots with garlic and marjoram, and a salad of heirloom tomato and ripe avocado. What an unexpected treat!   He was an interesting fellow. Constantly had a can in his hand. Diet Coke until 5 then off to Coors Light for the night. This morning, 7 AM Diet Coke.  His clothing style was quite reminiscent of the graphics favored by ACDC, he sported a two foot tall skull with a bleeding jaw logo on the back of his trailer. Said he tested tires for Harley Davidson. Just came back from the Salt Flats going 219 MPH. Came back here and threw out every bit of household salt he owned. Never wanted to taste it again.  Had hurt his knee and was limping. Said he was embarrassed to tell Harley he hurt himself. I suggested he tell them he was in a bar and someone kicked him in the knee.  He replied that, hell, he’d been stabbed three times, he couldn’t tell Harley he was kicked by somebody.   I said a more tactful version of the sentiment, “well allrighty then, I think I should go get this fish on ice”.  We did have a couple of extended conversations after that. It became apparent he was a good intending fellow with an enjoyment of bending the truth. He had no room for more fish, but left today for nearby Santa Cruz for a month long fishing trip. Catch and release, I hope.

July 8th, 2015

July 8^th, 2015

So our time frame change to get going on July 2^nd did step up our pace to get the house empty.  I did the house on my own.  I worked three summers of my five or six college summers for a moving company, packing up houses and moving them. Some old trade secrets came handy, like making “false” floors of card board sheet within a carton to separate layers of breakables.

Anyhow, everything we’ve kept beyond the stuff in the RV is in storage and we are off.  With the calendar change we ended up filling the time in Napa at the Skyline Park a lovely County Park and RV camp in the hills of East Napa. We enjoyed it as an extension of our farewell to Napa Valley and did some sightseeing and dining out. Tomorrow we are off to Monterey.

"The most felicitous meeting of land and sea in creation."

– ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

This is from the Pebble Beach web site. It is hard to describe the place much better. It is dear to us for its incomparable beauty, and will be a highlight of our journey as the place for the formal start. 

House is Rented

So I forgot to say...Our prior potential renters did not work out but we quickly had another suitor who then needed the house by July 3.
That put us on a faster track re: packing etc. We have a signed rental agreement and have been going bonkers packing to get ourselves ready to go, July 2.
It is no easy task to go through decades of accumulating and weeding out what is to go and what is worth holding on to. But now, we are getting close and rooms are getting empty.
We are using a combination of commercial storage and using the two sheds at 1578 as lockouts for the stuff we want to hold.
In addition is the stuff we bring with us on the road in Vilia. That has been hard also.
Many of the commentaries I have read online from folks in our mode have said you lighten the load as you go and do not accumulate. With that in mind we are trying to start out super lean. But I know we are still going with too much stuff. More on that as we go forth...

Almost there

So we are now 4 days away from the adventure. Vilia is parked in front of 1578 Chablis Circle.
This will be our home for the next two years.
It is not easy leaving St Helena. Beautiful town, setting and lots of great friends.
However, we have held on to this dream for too many years to not fulfill it.
Re: hard to leave St Helena...Our FedEx lady dropped off what will be our last package from them today. She's been with us for some years and is aware of the transition. She said she would miss us as it was one of her favorite stops. Small town serious? Our FedEx delivery person knows us...