Honey - I sold the house!

Transitions

A lot has happened since our last post.

I've converted my pickup into a mini truck camper.

The addition of a cap and a wooden platform in the bed gives us the ability

to make quick side trips away from the Bus for a few days.

The platform installs or removes in 2 minutes

Under construction

Finished.
Storage underneath,
An air mattress on top, and we are ready to roll.

We also have a small tent that can go over the end of the truck for use
in inclement weather.

This was done in preparation of our departure in May for Alaska, and our desire
to travel some of the rough roads where I'd rather not, or its impossible, to take the motorhome.

Once we have had our fill of roughing it - it's back to the mothership for
Roughing it in Style.

The house sold

The house has been for sale for a couple of years.

We did not need to sell so we waited for the right buyer to come along...

And all of a sudden she did.

And needed us to move in 30 days...

Well we got our price so it was time to make hay.

We've done this many times before so we are somewhat of a well oiled moving machine,

and about 2 weeks after the contract was signed, we had already
done the following:

Sold the boat and Kates Car
Sold all the furniture with a few exceptions
Boxed up all our belonging.
Packed the Bus for 2 years of life on the road.

Having the proper tools helps make the job easier and speeds up the process.

The dogs - especially Gracie have been "tweaked" and are on high alert.
They know something is going on so they are staying closer nearby than usual.

If I need to find Gracie - I only need to look over my shoulder.

We are sitting on camp chairs and sleeping on an air mattress.
Queen sized at that...   Tight with 2 people and two Real Estate hungry Doodles.

Having gotten way ahead of the curve we were able to enjoy
 some time off visiting with friends.
Our first visitor in this house - our friend Matt, made the 14hr drive south to
spend one last time in the Beaufort, and completed the first and last visitor bookend.

Friends threw parties for Kate and I completing an action packed month.

Soon the movers came...

Just as the movers utilized every nook and cranny in their truck,

I utilized this "nook" of time to finish giving the doodles

a comb out and hair cut in preparation for baths.

Lucy ready for her turn

They might not be pretty but they sure smell purdy!

So its now Monday morning and we are ready to leave.
Our docs have already been signed and the proceed$ will be wired to us.
I just have one last appointment at 1pm and then we will be wheels up.

To all of our friends and neighbors - Kate and I both have to express our gratitude
and appreciation for the outpouring of love and friendship you all have shown to us,
as well as the many years of stress free living that we have enjoyed here.
You all have enriched our lives!

We now have some BIG plans and adventures ahead of us.
Alaska this Spring/Fall
The Queen Mary 2 to Europe with the Doodles next spring
And a lot more sandwiched in between.

Free of the worries of a house thousands of miles away...
The sky is the limit!

Stay tuned.

Back Home

Our time at Bluewater Resort was winding down along with our

visit with Marcel & Michaela.

Before we said goodby however we had one last day enjoying the sun and

water at our lovely site.

Our final sunrise

The creature from Black Lagoon? 

Another of the locals.

After a fun and relaxing day, we went out for a farewell dinner and just like that,

our 9 day visit was over.

In the morning Marcel & Michaela headed to MIA to catch a Lufthansa A380 to

Frankfurt, while we caught a northbound Party Bus to Disneyworld in Orlando.

Our plan was to spend 6 days.   4 of the days Kate would be gone to Chicago to

visit her friend Mary while I held down the fort.

Upon arrival however, just as I was unhooking the Towed I wrenched my back and

spent the next 5 days horizontal on the couch chewing on muscle relaxants.

We were the only folks at Disneyworld I would guess who did not partake of the parks.

The campground at Disney - Fort Wilderness is very nice.

Large well kept sites with full hookups and the price to match.

Entry to 800 loop at Fort Wilderness.

It seems that each year around Halloween there is a competition for the best decorated

campsite and some folks were really putting their creative side to work.

The pictures below were of a side down the road from us.   At night there was animated

smoke, a ghost steering the ship etc.

Across the street from us - the orange trailer door would open every so often and

a skeleton would pop out.

The people next to us had a large Spider that would sense motion and jump out at people.

We saw plenty of people walk by only to have the spider jump out at them causing

all sorts of screams!

Our next to last night I was finally able to get about and we had the pleasure of a visit

from our Sailboat buddies and good friends Hayden & Radeen who were headed south

to Stewart to re-commission their Island Packet and head back to the Bahamas

for another winter season. 

On our last day at Fort Wilderness I left the bus and we hopped on the water taxi

to visit the hotels that surround Bay Lake & the 7 Seas Lagoon.

Our first stop was the Wilderness Lodge.

It is themed after the Yellowstone Lodge and inside you can almost

feel that you are there.

After having lunch at the Wilderness Lodge we hopped back on the boat and

headed to the Contemporary Resort which you can see in the photo below.

A neat feature of the CR is that the monorail enters one end of the hotel and exits the other

end after picking up and dropping off passengers.

A photo from the door of the monorail inside the CR just as

we were about to depart the station.

Rooms in the hotel either look down upon the monorail station,

or look outward over the park. 

We rode the Monorail to our next stop, the Grand Floridian Hotel,

The GFH is a huge property with many buildings on its expansive grounds.

I cant say for certain but it must be one of the largest at Disneyworld.

The hotel has a Victorian theme.

The pool with another of the buildings behind.

The main Hotel Building

All of the hotels that we visited are situated in a circle around the shores of the

7 Seas Lagoon or the interconnected Bay Lake, and are accessible by free water

taxi that you can take about the park.

After visiting the GF Hotel, we changed taxis at the Magic Kingdom docks and took

our final taxi of the day back to Fort Wilderness.

An interesting feature of the lakes is the canal that was dug to connect the man-made

7 seas lagoon with the natural Bay Lake.

It crosses the road here and overhead, unseen in this photo the monorail also goes by.

Its an interesting feeling crossing over busses in a boat.

Back at the bus the two doodles held down the fort.

Below I was cutting some steak for dinner (not for them)

and you can see how they lay there just hoping that some would find its way to them.

(It did)

Trip Recap

On Friday morning we left Ft Wilderness and headed north.

Our stop for the night was about 5 hrs north in Hardeeville, SC at

Camp Lake Jasper.

Saturday morning we made the final 400 mile trip Home.

The map below shows our travels the last 9 weeks.

We clicked off about 7,100 miles 

and tons of great memories.

Now we are not sure what this winter will bring.

Right now it looks like we will stay parked for 6 months till May.

Maybe a short winter reprieve to Florida?

All that is certain at this point is our early May departure for

the Yukon and Alaska for next summer.

In the interim - safe travels everyone.