03/18/2018
Yes, it's been a while since I have had anything to say on here. But it's not because of lack of interest. It's because of lack of time!
My Better Half and I have made a monumental decision. We are selling our house and everything that's in it, buying an RV, and hitting the road FULL TIME! We are going to be VAGABONDS! In England, they're called "Travelers" and elsewhere in Europe, they're called "Gypsies," whether they have Gypsy heritage or not. They just TRAVEL around, making their living and living life on the march.
We've seen some of Europe and the Caribbean and are ready to see the REST of the USA!! SO. We've had our first garage sale. Even though it was successful (sold a lot, but not all of it), I don't think I EVER want to do that again! Besides being stressful, I have had enough of the RUDE people. They completely overshadowed the NICE people, almost 4-1. The rest of the furniture will either go WITH the house when it sells or be donated somewhere. Tried to let our children have their pick of things, but they aren't interested in Mom's and Dad's belongings.
For those of you who haven't followed us for very long, we lost almost everything we had 10.5 years ago when our house was struck by lightning, blew up, and burned down. Any and all antiques and "family" possessions that the kids might have wanted (except a few film negatives), was gone. So, everything that we own is either less than 10 years old or early Thrift Shop purchases. And who wants someone else's 10-year-old junk, unless it can be had for a song? Few people.
ANYWAY, as soon as the house is restored to "curb appeal" shape, we're putting it on the market. And will buy our selected RV. And pick which direction we'll head to first. The "Odyssey" will last either 5 years or 5 minutes -- depending on whether or not Jimmy can stand me in an enclosed space for that long!
The game plan goes something like this. We want to, during that 5 years, see/do/participate in:
* visit all the lighthouses on the Eastern Seaboard, from Bar Harbor, Maine all the way around to Corpus Christi, Texas. Soon have been sold, some discontinued, some torn down, but they were all in commission at some point, lighting the way for ships to come to our shores.
* visit all the "old" baseball parks. Actually, only Fenway Park (Boston), Wrigley Field (Chicago), and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) are left, but we want to see all of the places where old baseball was played, where people fought to get into the games because baseball was LIFE to those people. Back before professional football players knelt to become a disgrace to America, back before soccer invaded America, back before...
* see all of the (baseball) Spring Training games at least once for each team.
* see all of the National Parks and most of the State Parks. Or at least we'll try. Once you've seen Yellowstone (we did that in 2015), the rest of the parks will be all downhill!
* hometowns of great Americans.
* filming locations of great events (The "Field" of Dreams, bank robberies, Arizona Memorial (Hawaii), etc.).
* homes and hometowns and industries and inspirations of ordinary Americans. Just so we can say that we've SEEN America!
During this Odyssey, we will have, on the side of our motorhome, a sign that says "Chasing 75..., degrees!" That means Florida (or southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California) during the winters or points NORTH during the summers.
So, if you see us traveling down the road, give us a honk! The Two Old Farts Traveling (and the accompanying Five Finger Paragraph!) will be coming to a town near you!
