May 26, 2016 - Another update
In the spring of 2015. after 3 year of traveling around North America, we decided our wandering days were over. So we moved into an apartment in central Halifax and put the motorhome up for sale. It was a half-hearted attempt at best-I don't think Arch's heart was in it. And now we have itchy feet again and have decided to use it as a "mobile cottage" and spend our summer checking out various locations around the Maritimes. I will be updating this blog after (and maybe during) each trip. So come tour our beautiful East Coast home with me.
November 25, 2012 - thought I would update you as to what really happened changes are in this colour.
On Feb 2, 2012 we closed the sale of our house and our new life began. I am trying to decide how to dispose of all our worldly goods. Arch is worried about being homeless. And so we leap into the unknown.
In the spring of 2015. after 3 year of traveling around North America, we decided our wandering days were over. So we moved into an apartment in central Halifax and put the motorhome up for sale. It was a half-hearted attempt at best-I don't think Arch's heart was in it. And now we have itchy feet again and have decided to use it as a "mobile cottage" and spend our summer checking out various locations around the Maritimes. I will be updating this blog after (and maybe during) each trip. So come tour our beautiful East Coast home with me.
November 25, 2012 - thought I would update you as to what really happened changes are in this colour.
On Feb 2, 2012 we closed the sale of our house and our new life began. I am trying to decide how to dispose of all our worldly goods. Arch is worried about being homeless. And so we leap into the unknown.
How did we get to this point in our life? It’s a long story. We are seventy somethings, in good health, with a desire – as Oprah would say – to live our best life. Many of our friends and family are ill with chronic conditions that affect their lifestyle, others are dead. We decided we did not want to be burdened with the responsibilities of home and business ownership anymore but rather get out and experience the world. We put everything up for sale and the house sold sooner than we thought it would. We’ve rented it from the new owners for the next 5 months- they are working in Europe for 3 months and want time to organize their life when they get back. That works for us as it gives us time to plan our new life.
Although it is for sale Arch still owns The Bay Hammock Company and the building that it operates from. It is in a great location, on the road to Peggy’s Cove and Arch loves it. But, it has not been easy, trying to run a full time business selling a seasonal product and it was consuming all of his time and energy. All summer he would have no time for golf, fishing, or fun with the family, all things he wanted to do.
So we made the decision: Offer the business for sale. Remove the financial pressure that goes with operating a full time business, make it fun and run it on a seasonal basis until it sells. This feels right.
We still own the business and are happy with that. We parked the Adventure Bus there last summer and lived in it. That was a good idea and great test of our ability to live in it. And we learned a lot.
So where and how do we live, that is the question.
The original plan was to rent an apartment in the city but, as we share a home with a dog and a cat, we discovered that we are very limited in where and what we can rent. If we are living in an apartment we want to be downtown, in the heart of the action. Walk to the theatre, movies, restaurants, etc. You know, real city living. And travel and play golf. We looked at all the apartments downtown that took pets and did not like any of them.
That was a bit of a problem and we started to rethink our plans. I have always dreamt of circumventing North America in an RV. We talked about the possibility and decided – why not try it. One baby step at a time.
We’ve made a few decisions:
1) We will sell Arch’s car (a B200 Mercedes) and keep mine (a Smart Car). Actually we sold the Smart Car and kept the B200 - more space.
2) We will sell most of our possessions and put in storage only our art and things with great sentimental value (there are still a lot of decisions to be made within this decision).
3) We will buy a previously owned (already we have learned that the industry hates the word “used”) 5th wheel and a truck. Not sure how big. Purchased a 2001 Class A motorhome - now dubbed the Adventure Bus. It is easier to travel with two animals who don't exactly love one another. Princess generally travels in the bedroom while Tara stays up front with us.
4) We will buy the 5th wheel first and park it on our property at Bay Hammocks for July and August and live in it while running the business. This will allow us and our pets to grow accustomed to RV living.
5) We will sell Arch’s car and buy the truck in September and in mid-September we will set out to explore and play golf in Nova Scotia and PEI. We kept Arch's car, purchased a dolly to tow it and had a great time in PEI and Cape Breton.
6) If that works we will head out to explore the Eastern and Southern USA in late October. So here we are in Jekyll Island Campground making plans for our next stop, somewhere in Florida.
How is that for leaving ourselves a lot of “outs”?
I invite you to join us as we explore all the opportunities and challenges along the road to living our best live as a “seventy something”.
