We are hoping to leave fulltime on the 28th whether we have a buyer or not.  Not that worried.  It's only been on the market for 1 week.  It will totally depend on if we have the garage emptied by Sunday night!  We are SO close.  But Steve can only work on the house on the weekends as he is swamped at work.  If we cannot get the last "stuff" to the garbage/goodwill/storage, we'll just come back after our trip to WA.  Our son graduate in Aug with a second degree and I guess that and doc appts would give us a good reason to stick around.  I'd still rather continue on and fly back later    I hope we are all on our way soon!  We won't worry, it'll come.  Think how far we have all come this past months/years!  Hang in there Cheryl & Kelly & Trace!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I/we have been missing in action for quite some time.  Well, here's an update... finally!

On Thursday, May 22, after 3 solid days of working in the garage and sweating like pigs, Craig was irritated and out of the blue said, "Call Mike!"  (Mike is our realtor.) That was Thursday, May 22.  Mike came over and spent 2 hours walking through the house with us.  Three hours after Mike left we had a showing the next day.  The looker fell in love with the house, but was concerned about his drive to work.  Later that afternoon, we signed a contract with our realtor.  This is when the clock actually started ticking.  On Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day), and less than 72 hours later we had a showing... and a contract!  Well, things moved awfully fast and we worked diligently to get everything done.  Over the past few days we became zombies.  No joke!  We could not think (or reason) and were literally walking in circles.  A dear friend and my sister came over Friday and Saturday and led us around like lost puppies because we simply could focus no longer.  Lo and behold, we finished picking up the last pile of stuff Sunday after church.  Closing was this morning.

While all of this was going on, we purchased our tow vehicle (Ford F-350) and... AND ordered our new home on wheels!  It will be ready approximately the last week in August and we will pick it up in Elkhart, IN on the way to the Fall rally.  What perfect timing!  Chris (at the factory) knew we wanted to attend the rally and knew we were under so much pressure to get out of the house that he literally took us under his wing and helped make it all happen for us.  We are so grateful to him (and for him) that this would not have been possible without him.

So, dear dreamers, there you have it.  I have not had time, yet, to update my blog.  I slept 11 hours each night for the last 2 nights so, needless to say, we are exhausted and I have just not had time.  It is, however, on my list of things to do. The good news is we can actually taste FREEDOM!

See ya down the road!  Yes, REALLY!!!  We are so blessed!

P.S.  Three years of dreaming and here we are.  How awesome is this!!!???!!!

Jo and Craig,

Congratulations on your successes.

Are you still going with the Lifestyle?  If so, which model so we can look it over in advance.  (Sorry, my memory isn't like it used to be, so I can't remember everyone's choices.)

Terry

Hi, Terry. Do you remember long ago when I was once counting the days, hours, minutes, and seconds? Well, our time has finally arrived! We are currently building a Luxury Lifestyle 38RS. The factory (Chris Grathen, more specifically) has been absolutely AWESOME and have allowed us to make changes. I can expound more when I can get to my laptop!

cheryls-other-half wrote:

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cherylbrv wrote:

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how awesome to see more graduates!


Wish I could say I'm enjoying the adventure but I'm still sitting in my brother in law's driveway (actually rig is -- I'm in the house) with a dislocated hip twice this week. I'm going to need surgery which may not get scheduled until next week. BIL is going away for a week and invited us to house sit. Not sure what I'm going to do after surgery as I won't be allowed to climb stairs (ie into the rig) and I don't think I should plan to live here for 6-12 weeks. PIBE it (play it by ear) I suppose.

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SSDD (same SH*T), different day

Cheryl is worrying, (as usual). She neglected to mention the following minor events with the RV too: Discussed in a separate post by me.. As we always like to say, EVERYTHING has a reason

a) no shore power (not even 15/20 amp)
b) RV main batteries (from 2008) dead-er then a doornail
c) ran out of gas
d) (previously discussed), slide lost two ONE INCH locking nuts!)

Sigh, It is still great, I look at the beast, parked here, and say, wish I could get back in you...

more later after other battery questions.

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 Dibs on the movie rights to your story. Seriously, your campfire stories will be worth the 6 beer cover charge.  I'm in.

...."hard to see, the dark side is".... YODA

We have been FTing since the 2ns week of May. I LOVE it! Although we do not actually leave MI with trailer in tow til Oct. Getting used to the new home. We took the advice of some who had gone before us and bought used. We have a 2001 31" Dutchman bought from an older couple who summered in it and stored it in the winter. It is in great condition. And (terribly important to me!) it has a great front kitchen with a huge pantry, and a big bathroom one can actually move and function in! We are currently in NC for our daughters wedding sans trailer. We will be staying at Fontana Village Resort for a long weekend for our daughter's wedding. And we are staying in a park model, so I feel right at home. Then a few days at the daughter's house in Franklin. After that we will head back to the mitten to do yearly maintenance on the trailer, and get her ready to roll. Staying at a sweet spot for the summer in which I am proud to say we survived our 1st tornado/straight line winds (scary stuff, and put your awning up in high winds!!!) in the trailer.

Good luck to all of you waiting on pins and needles. IT WILL HAPPEN! We had to jump through a few hoops last year to get the house sold, truck bought, trailer search, ect..., but it eventually it all came together. I can't wait to meet some of you our on the open road! We have no internet at summer spot, so my post are sporadic, I cannot seem to post from iPhone. If you would like to see the story of the storm it is on my blog sherylesage.com. Take care class of 2014!!!

LibertyLinda wrote:

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We are officially 2014 Grads: we closed on the house today! We are now full timing.
Thank you RV Dreams and the 2014 Grads! You have been invaluable to us in our journey to get here and will continue to be as we head out of the gates :)

-- Edited by LibertyLinda on Thursday 10th of July 2014 07:59:37 PM

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 WOOT Linda and Scott.  Did I mention that the last one to sell there house gets a bottle of booze from everyone else :).  Just Kelly and I left so get ready to shell out :)

Don't forget about us Trace.  We're out on the road, but our place isn't sold yet either.

Thanks Trace

I dropped the price twice so the buyers are getting a good deal.  But I am already living a minimalist life so the hit isn't so bad.  I will recover just fine.  But the deal isn't done until I have the cash in hand. Good thing is they are borrowing from their 401K so they don't have to get a mortgage.  I usually recommend not borrowing off the 401K but in this case it sure helps me out!!

Trace how is the work situation unfolding?  I'll be getting a new job in STL but I have all the confidence in the world that things will work out.  I have even more finance models in my spreadsheets - if that is even possible.  I have plans A, B, C, D and working on E and F.  Kind of like putting a puzzle together. Eventually all the pieces will fit together, but in the mean time we work on different areas at a time until it is all done.

Congrats Kelly and Bill!

Congrats David and Sharon!

Debbie when and where will you and Steve be on the east coast.

Eileen and I just left the Winnebago GNR in IA and are headed to NH and Boston, then we'll be headed down the east coast to FL eventually. We hope to see as many of the 2014 grads as possible.

LibertyLinda wrote:

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We have officially left our home town and are on the road as 2014 Graduates! We are meandering our way up to Elkhart, IN to get mor/ryde suspension/brakes and then will meander over to Madison, SD to get our domicile situated. Oh, and we landed our very first work camp job (did I already say that?) about 80 miles east of Dallas for the fall/winter/spring (6 months). So before we get to that, we will visit Scott's son stationed in Ft. Riley, KS. That's about all of it. I will hone in on finding a travel nurse job near our work camp job if possible - the no money coming in makes us nervous. But, we planned for it. That's our update. See ya on the road - oh, and it feels GREAT!

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Congrats Linda and Scott. 

Tyler TX has a big hospital (level 1 trauma center).  They're not too far away. They're the medical hub for east TX.

Red