Crunch Time!

(Craig) First, I'd like to apologize to those friends that I haven't spoken to in awhile. It's been a bit hectic.
Now that we are unemployed (big smile), it is truly crunch time. Furniture guy is coming to get it all this Wednesday. We've sold or given away many things. Our friends Phil and Regan threw us a going away party last Friday. It was great to see some old friends and hear some FedEx war stories :) There was quite a snowstorm that day, so some could not make it. No worries! We'll keep in touch. Phil and Regan (ok, more Regan) are expecting their first child next month. Congrats! We want pictures.
My son, Josh, deploys later today for Iraq. Karin and I will be heading down to Ft Carson in Colorado Springs to see him off. Last tour son...then you're done.
Busy! Busy! After the furniture is gone, then we'll do one final cleaning. After that, bring the trailer over to load it up, making sure that we don't exceed gross weights, tongue weight, etc,etc. We'll put the cats in and take them for a spin. Head to an empty parking lot to get some practice in....backing up especially. We still have some minor maintenance to do on both the truck and trailer, but should fit it in this week.
Are we ready to go as of today? NO :) But pretty close!
Our day of departure is gonna be next Sunday, the 28th. We'll make a short trip south to Pueblo, CO and stay. We plan to be in Dallas on April 1st, visiting an old friend that I grew up with. Scott and I were floorguards / DJs at a skating rink in Tucson. We've reacquainted through Facebook and I can't wait to see him and his family. He's an avid cyclist. Scott, if you read this....we've had no time to get on our bikes!! Take it easy on us when we get there :)
I'll post again in the near future....when the dust settles.

Karin's Last Day

(Craig)
Yes, today is Karin's last day at work! So, she slept in and called work to let them know that she'd be late. How funny!
Karin has been with Charles Schwab for many years. But the three hours of daily commute has been a drain on her. When we initially began to look at workamping, I could see in her eyes that she was thinking that this may be her "out". Yes, she may be the "Prom Queen from Frugal, Minnesota", but hey, being frugal isn't a bad word. Some people associate the word "frugal" with "cheap". I may have been one of those people at one time. But now I associate "frugal" with "smart".
So as I go back to work this evening, Karin's fellow employees will be throwing her a party to say goodbye. Karin has one of those never-ending smiles :) I'm sure that she will be missed.
Me? My last day at work is Monday. No party for me....I've only been there for maybe 2 months. That's ok......my boss must like me. He gave me a neon Bud Lite Lime sign the other day. What will I do with that?
Other news. Furniture guy is coming to look at and price our furniture on Friday. We'll see how that goes. I now have transferred all relevant files, pictures, etc. from this desktop computer to our new laptop. Karin is also going to keep her Apple. So this desktop will be on sale as soon as I clean it up.
My son Josh is coming up for the weekend. He has a four day pass. That means that his deployment to Iraq is very near. No specific dates yet. We both appreciate your emails and comments that thank him for his service and wish him well.
We plan to be in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, April 1st. That is set in stone. We want to be ready to leave by the 21st of March. Our actual journey is looking at starting on the 28th/29th. On the way to Dallas, we will have a couple of stops. We have three legs on this trip. Denver to Dallas, Dallas to Minnesota and Minnesota to West Virginia. Many stops in-between. And yes...there are going to be more pics popping up very soon!
We chose and signed up for our roadside assistance plan this week. We decided on CoachNet. We just found many more positive comments about them. We also joined Passport America. PA is a membership club that offers 50% off at associated campgrounds. And, we have purchased Microsoft Streets and Trips software. We tried several programs, and were happy with this one. It works great to plan out trip..each leg, each stop, and what is there to see between point A and B. We also have a GPS unit to use.
With those of our friends that are local, we are planning to see you before we go! I will let you know as soon as we have a couple of dates setup.

Now, we GOTTA get out!

Well, here's a quick picture of the rig. We had a weight distribution hitch and sway bar installed.

(Craig) Do you remember my last blog? The mother and daughter(s) that had me trapped in the basement in my robe? Messy house? Cat puke? My Unabomber look? Maybe I should write a book titled "How to rent out your home". Yes, the mom and daughters applied that day. The property management company contacted us last Friday, highly suggesting that we accept them as tenants. And this past Monday, the lease was signed. They move in April 1st. No turning back now...... we gotta get out!
I gave my 2 weeks notice at work. I do have a friend that is going to jump in and take my position. It's a rather easy job, working at the liquor store. I'm gonna miss my coworkers! Great guys! Great owner too. And I'll miss some of the regulars: Jeff, Smiles, Rafael, Tex and last but not least, Sasha.
What did I learn while at the store? Budweiser is (at least there) still the "King of Beers". The 90 proof peppermint schnapps must be chilled. They still got Boone's Farm and MadDog 20/20 on the shelf ( please excuse the gagging noise from my teen years). Here in colorado, if you (the employee) sell to someone underage, then you and the store owner are both ticketed. Employee fines are hefty. I've been told $5K-$7.5K. Ouch. Store owner, $25K-$50K! So I'm carding everyone! "Sorry lady, I card everybody!! Now set aside your cane and show me some ID".
Back to Workamping. We are nearly there....almost ready to go. Need to sell Karin's car, and also the household belongings. I have someone that will come by and make a bid on the furniture.
We switched to Geico for insurance on the truck and trailer. The trailer has a "fulltimers" policy on it. Since we'll be living in it "full time", we must cover it as such.
The next big thing that is coming up is that my son, Josh, is heading back to Iraq for his second tour. The date is up in the air, but he's looking at leaving within the next two weeks. He's a tanker in the Army. He is my buddy....my pride and joy. His girlfriend just left and went back to Thailand. I know that was tough on him. And now he prepares to leave himself. Once he gets back from this tour...he's done. I can't wait.

Harrison Ford

(Craig)I felt like Harrison Ford a little while ago. I'll tell you why in a minute.

As you know, we have the house up for rent. It's been shown 5 or 6 times now. If it's going to be shown, we get a phone call to let us know the day and time of the showing. Well, guess what I didn't get this morning. A phone call.

As I sat in my robe in front of the computer this morning, I heard voices. Hmmm...maybe it's the neighbors walking by. Nope! It's our realtor bringing someone to see the house!! OK...I'm in the basement, in my robe and that's it (you can use your imagination, or better yet, don't) when I hear the front door open and people walk in. I can only remember four words going through my head at that specific moment. "Ain't this a bitch".
Yeah, it's funny now, but it wasn't then! I ran in a small circle about three times before stopping and saying to myself "I'm trapped"!
So I yell up to the realtor..."is someone there"? (yeah, I know....duh!)
He leans over and looks down the stairs. With a slight chuckle, he says "didn't you get a call"? I respond that I didn't. He apologizes and I tell him not to worry. Show the place but I'll be locked in the bathroom down here. He says that he has another showing for here in 20 minutes. I tell him that I'll slip out in between showings.
So I hear him showing the place. Sounds like a woman and her daughter. They seem to like it! She wants to fill out an application now, because the last three places that she liked, she filled out the paperwork, but was then told that each place had been rented. She likes this one and wants to apply now. I wonder if she heard me applauding from the bathroom? :)
So they leave. I have a few minutes to get out before the next showing. Hurry, hurry!
I look around the house. We've had it spotless for every showing before this one. But for this one: the bed's not made, dirty clothes on the floor and a couple of fresh cat pukes in the spare bedroom. And with all that, we get the first application submitted. Ironic!
So, quick!!!! Make the bed...pick up the clothes....and yes, clean up the puke (ugh).
Throw on some jeans....where's my shirt?? Ok, just throw on a jacket. No time for socks. Put my boots on and out the door.
As I step out the door, I hear his voice...yes, the realtor! He's bringing more people right now! He can't see me yet. He has to turn the corner. I have a few seconds. What do I do???
I run. I run the opposite way, thru the snow, turning the corner, rounding our fence and run all the way to my truck. I felt like Harrison Ford, running thru the snow in the movie "The Fugitive". Why did I run? No clue. Did he, or the people with him see me? Probably. I'm sure he chuckled again if he did see me.
I get to my truck....how funny. The woman and her daughter that were just looking at the house are parked next to me. I see her filling out paperwork. I smile. They don't know it's me. The daughter, probably, 10 or 11, sees me. She immediately locks her door. OK, I don't blame her. I haven't shaved yet and I'm wearing a hoodie. Can you say Unabomber?
I drive away and call Karin. She didn't get a phone call either concerning the showings. So I shared this story with her....whining as to the hell I've been thru already this morning. There was a momentary pause, an eerie silence on the line. Then, it came. No, not just some chuckles. All out snorting, soda-out-your-nose, uncontrollable, hysterical, pants-peeing, crying.....laughter. So, after about a minute of this, I joined in. Laughter is truly the best medicine :)

Retirement Notice

(Karin) I gave my official retirement notice at work on Friday morning. What a load off my mind. I was going to give them notice at the end of the month. But my boss was going to give me an 'annual review" Friday morning. I just could not let him go through with all that. Everyone seemed so happy for me and Craig.

Anyway, we put the sway and weight distribution equipment on the trailer this weekend. David Hall of Trailer Source in Wheatridge CO www.trailersourceinc.com has been great at explaining how all this works. Just a few more odds and ends left.

I am researching how to COOK HEALTHY while on the road and love homemade soups, stews and brown rice. Craig likes plain hamburgers and Italian. Since these dishes take time and propane to make, I hope to find cookware to speed the process.

Anyone have healthy cooking stories to share or know of healthy canned or frozen foods without MSG, preservative and those chemicals.

Poker, Kayaking and Budgeting 101

(Craig) Not too much has happened within the last week. We have listed our townhome through the property management company. It's been shown twice since listing it five days ago. Here's the location online:

http://propertiespluscolorado.vflyer.com/home/flyer/home/3122045

Overall, pretty happy this company. We'll see how the rental process goes.

As for budgeting, we've had a general idea of all income and expenses leading up to this trip. Now, 6 weeks prior to liftoff, Karin and I got together and fine tuned the budget. We are going to do our best to comply with two rules that we started with: do not use any savings and start the trip nearly debt free. It's so easy to type that, but a little harder to follow! I'm the Poker Player, and she was voted Prom Queen in Frugal, Minnesota! Kinda reminds me of Dr Doolittle's Push Me-Pull You.
So, here's the budget in a nutshell: Income is the remaining paychecks that we receive. We plan to work up to about 10 days prior to leaving. Other income includes the vehicles and household items that we'll be selling. I also wanted to include my winnings from the 3 or 4 poker tournaments that I'll get to play prior to us leaving. I quickly reminded her of my infamous run in poker tournaments during the month of November 2009. I cashed (made money) in 6 out of 8 tournaments. She then came back with the fact that I cashed 0 out of 7 times in the following two months.
So we'll leave my upcoming poker winnings out of the budget (for now).

As for expenses, well here's a quick list: money to pay off two small credit cards, insurances (truck/trailer/landlord/umbrella/health), mortgage, utilities/cable, food, truck/trailer registrations, pre-trip preventative maintenance on truck/trailer, bike, kayaks & accessories, laptop, RV membership club fees, roadside assistance fees, fuel, campground fees, reserve funds for emergencies and some other minor miscellaneous items.
The initial figures had us within $300 of a balanced budget (President Obama, Karin is available for budget consultation). A couple of minor tweaks (or one cashing of a poker tourney) puts us on the road with a smile!
We love the outdoors! Hiking, biking and kayaking/rafting. My bike was just a little too big for me (or I shrunk) so I sold it a couple of months ago. We have another one in sight. As for the kayaks: we prefer a performance IK (Inflatable Kayak). I learned in a "Hardshell", but when it comes to anything over class III water, I get a bit nervous. I can "roll" a kayak....but the higher the class of water, the faster you need to roll back upright. Many kayakers instantaneously roll back upright. With me it takes a second or two. That's enough time to kiss a rock or two.
So, we tried out the inflatable kayaks last year. What a blast! Good up to class IV water. Oh, what are the classes of water? You can look here, just scroll down when you get there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater
Karin and I took several trips last year for kayaking. South Platte River (just south of Denver, CO), Clear Creek (Golden, CO) and the Arkansas River (near Salida, CO). We truly love it! But rentals add up....so we're going to get our own gear for this trip. We will be near the Gauley and New Rivers in West Virginia. Many pictures to come!

FaceBook and the Scott Brown Trail

(Craig) I just joined FaceBook (FB) this past November. Karin has been on FB for some time now. It's been a wonderful way to keep in touch with my local friends that I've lost track of since I met Karin. To all of those friends....I apologize. And please don't blame Karin. That's just love. When we met, we both felt that, for some reason, we had so much catching up to do :)
FaceBook has opened up another door. You see, in my teen years, I grew up and worked at a skating rink in Tucson, Arizona. Many of us that worked at, or skated at Skate Country have found each other through FB. It's been a wonderful experience talking to people that you haven't spoken to in 30 years. While some of my friends still live in Tucson, others have relocated to other parts of the country.....Nevada, Missouri, Texas, California and other states. So I will keep each and every one of them in mind as we plan each leg of our trip.
So in my last blog, I mentioned that we were initially looking to head to Minnesota, which would take us through Nebraska and South Dakota. Well, that has changed.
One of my friends from Skate Country, Scott Brown, left a message on FB for me concerning that blog entry. The message was:

Hey here's a suggestion drive south! LOL!!
With Scott living near Dallas, Texas.....I knew what he meant.

Colorado in April can be a bit tricky. Blizzard one day and 60+ degrees the next. And we are heading North? Ok, Scott you have a point! Plus, more importantly....Karin agrees with you ;)
Here we go.....Plan B....and we'll call it the "Scott Brown Trail".
So, South to Dallas, Texas via Amarillo. Then North to Minnesota, through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. We'll get more specific as it becomes clearer. Thanks Scott! This should make the trip a bit warmer.
So much left to do, but things seem to be falling into place. The property management company is coming tomorrow to take pics for renting out the house. Here are some other things that we are looking into and will let you know as we decide: GPS? Bank Accounts? Mail? Generator? Computer/Laptop? Printer? Roadside Assistance? Insurance for vehicle,trailer,rental property,health,umbrella policies? RV ownership/discount clubs? Cell phones? Online access? I'm probably leaving out a couple of things.