Escapade is History!

We left the Escapade around 10 a.m. this morning. While some people had to be pulled out by tractor due the mud, we made it the first time. We were the last of our group of Fulltimers to leave. There were 755 rigs at the Escapade and 1100 people. Met a lot of new people and added a few to our “Class of 2005,” bringing the total to somewhere between 160 and 170 rigs.

We drove for several hours and stopped at Old Shawnee Town in Illinois. A couple interesting buildings and you could see where the main street once stood, but the town has actually been moved and all that remains were the few buildings. It is on the Ohio River and the town was subject to flooding several times, so that is why it was moved. We continued on and stopped for the night around 4:00 at Lynneville, Indiana, at a city park. There are motorcycle events here this weekend, so we may regret staying here. Hah. Not really. It must be like motocross as they have hill climbs, etc. Surprised we were able to get a site for the weekend, but plan to stay and get some laundry done, etc. Terry says, however, that since the dirty clothes don’t reach to the top of the shower, it’s still not time to wash. Hah.

Earlier this week, we had two contingency offers on our house. We accepted one. Then the next day, we had an actual offer. We made a counteroffer and were waiting to here up until 6:00 last night. My realtor called at 6:15 and apparently the people who made the offer were not pre-approved and were not able to get funding through the lender they chose. In the meantime, another offer had been made and since the time had expired for the first offer, we were able to accept this second offer. I am quite pleased with this one as it is one of our son’s friends and classmates. He is a very nice young man and it will be a good house in which to raise a family. He is a local and his parents live just outside of town. The realtor emailed me the documents, I printed them, signed them, scanned them back into my computer with my new multi-function machine and then emailed them back. All this through the cell phone, because that was the only web access I could muster this morning.

Things are going well. We are meandering on our way to Charlottesville to see Jocelyn and Tom. Hope all is well with everyone reading this.

Till next time . . .

Dale

PS: I will add some pictures tomorrow, so check back.

Rain, rain, go away!

We had our first BOF (Birds of a Feather) meeting for the Fulltiming Graduating Class of 2005 this afternoon. We are officially an uncertified BOF group. Hah. Most of the BOF's are uncertified. Keeps things much simpler that way and fewer responsibilities. We had a nice crowd and then most went out to dinner. They went to a neighboring town and we decided not to go. Neal (our Wheaten Scottie) apparently had had a seizure while we were gone in the afternoon. Only one, but we wanted to get him cleaned up a little and watch him closely before leaving. He seems to be okay. The meds he is on keeps him well most of the time. In fact, we have only seen 2 seizures since March 28. And no clusters, which is remarkable. I gave him his meds on time tonight and gave a little extra to cover him.

While we were here and everyone else was gone, the staff came around and said there was a storm coming in with 55 mph winds and wanted to know if the people were in their units so they could put their awnings up. They weren't, so Terry and I helped get them in. I believe they would have been okay until they got back, but later we had more storms, and they would have been trying to get them in with bad rain, etc. The ground has not totally dried out from the weekend, so we aren't sure just how successful we are going to be at getting the 37 1/2 foot Damon out. Not worried about the toad, as it is 4-wheel drive. They will have tractors to pull people out, but we don't really want to do that with the big motorhomes. No place to attach a strap and all have fiberglass caps on the front which could break. Oh well, just hope and pray the rain stops and we are fairly well dried out by Friday. We have to be out by noon. Would just stay if we could. They might have to rethink their strategy as I don't think they could pull everybody out.

We did go over to the grandstand for door prizes at 7:00. They had to delay them because of the weather, and a lot of people didn't show up. Since you must be present to claim your prize, we thought we stood a better chance of winning, but no dice.

Tomorrow we have sessions all day we want to attend so it will be busy. Should be a good day.

Till next time. . .

Dale

I keep thinking I will get some pictures of the rally to post. I will try and remember to do that tomorrow. Oh, we got a couple contingency offers on the house this week. Accepted one. Then yesterday, we got a straight-up offer. There were a few things we didn't want, so we countered, but said that was the bottom line. We shall see. We may have sold the house.

Escapade!

We arrived yesterday (Sunday) and were really disappointed at the apparently poor organization of the parking. We sat in the "holding pen" until they were ready for our group, even though we caravanned and were all here at the same time. This seemed to be the rule.

It was pouring down rain and we were lucky we didn't get stuck. The grass needed cutting, which made it really deep and spongey every place we stepped. What a mess. But I would not complain about the site as we know when we come to something like this we are going to more than likely be in a field, but it certainly was not laid out where we were supposed to go. They had to close our row right after us because there was so much mud, rv's were getting stuck and they only had one tractor to pull them out. So after waiting to get parked together, they split up our group. Fortunately we got into our spot without any problems and got set up.

We went to get registered. I guess I'm a little biased toward the Goshen Fairgrounds where the last 2 Fall Escapades have been held. Much nicer facilities, buildings are closer, etc. The main events here are held in the grandstand, which is outside. It is partially covered, but you can still get wet. And you have to climb stairs to every event they have here. Bummer.

Oh well, we are among friends and that is important. We are having fun at the seminars and going through the market areas. Terry's buying up what he wants. I haven't seen anything that has caught my eye yet. We did get new badges. These say "home is where you park it," denoting our full=timer status.

The rain stopped last night some time and we are finally drying out today.

I'm not sure how many units are here. They anticipated a lot of cancellations with the fuel prices, but I don't think that happened. They are still searching for places to park units that are coming in today.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Nothin' but fun!

Well, sleepin' in every day, nappin' when we want, riding the bikes, walking the dogs. Does it get any better than this?I think I'm going to like this full-timing, I believe.

We had more campers come in yesterday. We visited with a lot of new people on our bike ride and then went to the pitch-in last evening which was right next door. Very convenient. Several of the people are going to be presenters or vendors at the Escapade. The campground is full of people going to the Escapade, as I am sure Wal-Mart will be tonight (Saturday night).

We are enjoying every day. No worries about mowing the yard, etc.

The house is being shown again tonight. Hopefully we will have it sold sometime soon.

Till next time . . .

Dale

Fulltiming, Day 1

This morning at 10:45 we left the house for good, so I guess that makes us officially full-timers, although Terry says since we have been living in the motorhome for three weeks that it started back then.

We headed out to the state park to dump the holding tanks. I went ahead first in the “toad” while Terry followed behind me in the motorhome. He had some traffic, so the distance between us got a big further. I pulled into the state park road and since there was no traffic on that road, I sat and waited for him to catch up. I was watching in the rear-view mirror. Imagine my surprise when I saw the Damon in the distance fly right past the state park road. I have to tell you. . . my marriage flash before my eyes. He has LEFT me behind! I started to reach for my phone and then realized that he had my phone on the dash in the motorhome. I had no phone, no radio, etc.

I drove back out to the entrance and turned west behind him. Just as I did that, I saw a motorhome coming toward me in the distance. I thought, “That must be him. He realized his mistake and turned around.” So I made a u-turn and went back to my appointed spot to wait. Once again, the motorhome flew past the state park road. It wasn’t him. So back I went, turning west again on 36. This time I got down to the high school and there he was. He had turned around in the school parking lot, having realized soon after he passed the road that he had missed his turn. We turn back to the park and our next attempt at leaving was better. We were at least BOTH in the motorhome, both phones and both radios with us.

It took us about 6 hours to reach our destination. . . Rend Lake in Illinois, just 20 miles from DuQoin, where our Escapade will be next week. We met up with our friends, had some supper, and join the group at the “campfire” later. Though our campfire was really citronella candles as the humidity is so high and the temps hot enough, no one wanted to build a fire. Plans were made for the pitch-in Friday and the caravan to the Escapade on Sunday. Surprisingly, there are only a few of us who have been to previous Escapades, the others are all Escapade neophytes! They are in for a great surprise. It will be the most fun for all. I believe everyone in our group is a full timer, which makes for a special bond among these homeless friends.

Tomorrow, we are going to tour the “Odyssey.” This unusual motorhome can see seen on the website. I have been intrigued by it since I first saw it on line and it is parked not too far from us right now and the owers are in our group.

Looking forward tomorrow to a day of fun and relaxation with the rest of the full timers.

To those of you who email me, my insight address is no longer active. Please use:

dapace31@msn.com



Till next time. . .

Dale

T minus 1 and counting!

That's right. . . just one more day . . . today! And then we are OUTTA' HERE!!

Yesterday we drove back one last time from Goshen, having delivered our last load safely. . . mostly yard equipment and tools.

This is our last day in Mooreland. Today we are seeing one last doctor, then storing the boat, jet ski, then the Sport Trac. I hope to wash the Tracker and the motorhome. Want to make a good impression on the rest of the full-timers.

Tomorrow morning when we wake up, we will batten down the hatches and start rolling. Probably stop at Marvin's for propane first. Cheapest place around. He is a farmer here in the county and has a propane gas business as well. Wonderful guy.

Irene continues to show the house. Had 2 showings yesterday and is confident that she will get it sold.

We are headed for Illinois for the Escapade, but meeting up with friends first for the weekend before driving in to the rally.

Should be a relaxing day today. Have several things to do, but the cleaning, sweeping, trashing, etc., is done and overwith.

Will now start focusing my entries on where we go, what we see and people we meet!

Till next time . . .

Dale

Bye, bye, Jeepster, bye bye

Well, the Jeepster is history. The new owner got here early today and had plenty of help. It was clear they had done this before and they wasted no time figuring how they were going to get the job done. And they did get it done. Took a little time.

The new owner has a Jeepster his wife drives and is building a Jeep pickup. He was very happy with it.

So now I am inside finishing the dishes for lunch. I cleaned the carpets in the house this morning. They look much nicer. I will do the ones here in the motorhome tomorrow just before we leave to take the last trailer load up north. That way it will have time to dry before we get back here.

I will get back out to the garage and finish sweeping the barn out where the Jeepster sat. Later today we hope to take the boat over to the storage barn.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Mooreland

Back home again in Mooreland, but not for long. Plan to make the last trip north with what meager possessions we have left sometime this weekend. Maybe up and back in 2 days. Ugh. But that will be it then, hopefully.

The VW is gone. The Jeepster is supposed to be picked up Thursday or Friday. Makes a big difference when those are gone. Boat and jetski go to storage then and perhaps a car.

Spent today in Indy visiting with Terry's doctors. All is well and no big objections to us taking off for 6 months, so we should be on our way soon.

The house was shown again last night. That was a surprise. Glad we weren't in the shower. :-)

Till next time. . .

Dale

Light at the End of the Tunnel!

Well, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. House is 99.9% cleaned out. Just have some towels and washcloths for our daily showers. Have all but one bay of the barn cleaned. Still have stuff in them. One bay is the Jeepster and parts and another is the VW and parts. Both are up for auction on ebay and due to finish tonight. They are to be moved out some time in the next week, so that will leave most of the barn empty. Still have the boat to go. Terry has to replace the one part he had machined, then fog the engine, then it goes to storage. The upstairs has a few boxes and that is it. So I do believe we will get it all in one more trailer load. We had a dumpster in this week and have it about full.

We arrived back in Goshen tonight with another trailer load. Going to sit and watch the race tonight and unload tomorrow. Will be signing a lease tomorrow with our new tenants and that will be finished. Do have a few things to do on the apartment yet, but will get that tomorrow morning probably.

Everything seems to be falling into place, although I would like to have been at this point a lot earlier. It's been a hard summer with trying to clean out the house we've lived in for almost 30 years. Haven't had much time to visit with old friends or reminisce.

We did spend time in the last 2 weeks working on the motorhome and rearranging things in there and taking out what we were sure we wouldn't need. Don't have much room for even what I want to take, so am having to re-evaluate periodically.

We have about 12 days before we leave. Am anxious to be in the position to just stop and "smell the roses" instead of always hurrying to get one place or another. I see all the ads for fall festivals and activities and wish we could partake, but I guess we will soon be able to do that.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Trailer Trash

Well, we are back in Mooreland AGAIN! Going to get another load into the trailer. We figure we have another 2 perhaps 3 loads to go up north yet. One load will be the John Deere and the air compressor, etc. But we are definitely getting down to the wire. I unloaded the refrigerator last night after we got home, so we are cooking meals in the motorhome. We are just showering in the house now.

We have our motorhome in the yard, awning out and the dogs' pen out now. A lot easier at night if they want out. We don't have to go running all over the yard in our nightgowns looking for them! And they get their fur wet if they go into the yard at night. Yuck.

We have to get this trailer loaded quickly and back to Goshen this week. We are signing the lease with our newest tenants on Sunday. Everything then is rented.

Our great adventure begins September 21st! I can't wait.

Till next time . . .

Dale

To sell a house!

We started out this week in central Indiana working at emptying the house. . . a seemingly never-ending task. But we ARE making headway. Met with Irene, my friend and former colleague who now is in the real estate business. She showed the house on Friday, twice actually, to the same person who brought back a family member for the second go-around. It seems she loves it, talked a little with a neighbor, and it may be that we will get an offer this week. Wow. Thanks, Irene.

We brought another trailer load to the house in Goshen yesterday. Worked all day at unpacking what we are leaving here and sort through stuff. Suffice it to say, we will be having another yard sale next year to get rid of even more stuff! This evening Mom and Dad came over and we chatted a bit. I took them over to look at the apartment we are re-doing and to see the new countertops. They are beautiful. While we were there, the new tenants arrived, just doing a drive-by. I invited them in to see the new countertops. Turns out Dad knows the fellow from years ago. Small world. They are a very nice couple and I believe they will be an asset to our little tenant community. That makes all of our rentals rented and we are pleased and happy with them all.

We are going to work in the apartment tomorrow and try to finish up a few things that need doing. Then we are headed back down to Mooreland to get another trailer load. We figure we have 2 more loads. Hopefully we can get it all in. One of the loads will be the John Deere and the air compressor.

We are getting anxious to get on the road. September 22nd is the date we leave. May have to come back to Mooreland for the closing on the house, but I believe we can spare some time for that. :-)

Till next time . . .

Dale