Our youngest son and 15-year-old grandson arrived from Wichita, KS at the RV Park in Roanoke around mid-day on Thursday.  We fixed sandwiches for lunch, then drove to the house in McKinney.  I organized the work I wanted to take to the Dickens of a Christmas, and we just moved stuff around mostly while watching the Cowboys play.  It wasn’t your standard Thanksgiving.

Friday morning, we all got moving early, stopped at Waffle House, then Nell and the boys dropped me off in downtown McKinney with artwork and a couple of boxes of used frames.  This event came up sort of unexpectedly for me, in the middle of moving things from the house to the RV.  I was offered a shared space for the one day at a very low booth fee.  The only setup required was to just hang my work on a 7×10 foot panel.  It wasn’t the professional booth display we normally have, but at least I had some work on display for the passing crowd.

While the downtown square had a good crowd circulating around between shops and restaurants from late morning on throughout the day, fewer flowed onto the side street where we were.  We were in the very first block off the square, and it wasn’t bad, but I’ve seen larger crowds pass through art booth areas at other festivals.  In all fairness, with retail businesses opening the night before, we were competing with the big box stores for the day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers.  And they weren’t buying art on this day.  Fortunately for all my new artist friends, a very talented group, by the way, this event runs through the entire weekend, so they still have two more days to score some sales, and I hope they do.  They’re a good bunch of people.

We were set up under a 20×20 tent, with four corner booths inside, and one outside.  I shared one of those corners, so there were actually six of us at Laura Moore’s “outdoor gallery”.  An opening at each end of the tent created an aisle for people to pass through.  Although, since we were in the middle of the street, I think as many, if not more, passed us by on the sidewalks on either side.  It was a fairly eclectic range of art, with digital equestrian paintings, landscapes, bold abstract color, and figurative and portrait work.  The group included Debra Woodward, Vicky Saylor, Lisa Temple, Don Matschull, and Elizabeth Lane, who I shared a space with.  It was a friendly, outgoing group of artists, with not a single obnoxious ego in the bunch.

In addition to a couple of her own great paintings, Lisa Temple manned a booth for Heart of Hope, A Portrait of Sudan, with a collection of paintings that tugged at the heartstrings.  The best explanation I find at the moment is on Anna Rose’s blog.

It was a congenial group, and that was a good thing, because we spent a very long twelve-hour day together.  Slow sales and a not-terribly-enthusiastic crowd can make for a tiring day.  Everyone was ready for the 8pm shutdown.

But my day was a walk in the park compared to Nell’s.

On the home front, Nell was struggling.  What was to be a simple, though busy, day of people picking up furniture at the house, doing some cleaning once the furniture was out, returning the cable box, etc. turned out to be a really tough day for her.

A couple of days earlier, she had begun to get some swelling in her right hand, along with some pain.  Experience told her it was gout.  She’s a tough gal, and works through a lot of stuff, but this didn’t let up.  On Friday, the day I spent in downtown McKinney, she had the buyers of our living room and bedroom furniture scheduled to arrive at 10am to pick everything up.  Our son and grandson left during the morning with a van load of stuff, and she was prepared to get cleaning done in the house.  The furniture didn’t get picked up until around 2pm.  Then, to add to the frustration, when they were removing the washer and dryer, the cold water shutoff apparently failed.  They turned off the water outside at the front of the house, and finished moving things out.  Fortunately, they discovered the problem before disconnecting the water hose, so there was no damage, but the water is shut off to the house, which meant Nell couldn’t do any cleaning.  A plumber is scheduled for Sunday afternoon (not bad for Thanksgiving weekend).

In the afternoon, Nell went to the hospital to deal with her hand, which was by then very swollen and very painful.  After being prescribed drugs to deal with the gout and the pain, she returned to the house, where she and Hemingway, the Schauzer, sat on the floor and read.  She ended up accomplishing almost nothing she had planned, and with her right hand immobilized in a removable soft cast.

She picked me up at 8pm, completely worn out, and the two of us were so exhausted, we just headed for a motel to call it a day.  After a reasonably decent night’s sleep, we started today off with breakfast at Waffle House again, then made the rounds to Goodwill, Time Warner Cable, AT&T (in the middle of all of this, Nell’s phone died), and Home Depot.

Two trips to Home Depot got me the correct end cap (a garden hose cap, actually) to put on the cold water tap at the washer/dryer connections.  That allowed us to turn on the water to the house, and do a little bit of cleaning.  At some point, we decided that we’ve been at this almost continuously for an entire week.  No wonder we’re dragging.  We loaded more stuff in the back of the Trailblazer, and headed to the RV.  We stopped at Catfish King to pick up dinner for later, drove to Roanoke, unloaded the car, walked the dog, and turned on the RV furnace because a cold front has moved in.  It’s 50 degrees with a 20mph wind, and forecast to go down to 38 tonight.  That’s not a big deal, I know, but we’re paying more attention to these things now, because we want to stay warm without using too much propane or running up the electric bill.

We have a lot to learn, but Nell just made an interesting comment.  The house is empty, and lifeless, as empty houses tend to be.  The motorhome is filled with out belongings, and we’ve already put up a cork board display of photos.  We’ve been relaxing in the new reclining loveseat for about a half hour or so now, and Nell looked up from her book and said, “It’s good to be home.”

We’ve got a couple of things to work out at the RV once we can focus on it alone, with no traditional house to deal with.  They are important issues that need to be fixed very soon, but as frustrating as things can get at times, especially when one is exhausted, we’ve learned that things do get done, and it all works out.  Right now, we’re snug inside, two people and a dog, kicked back and taking it easy, at least for the night.

Tomorrow… well, we’ll deal with tomorrow when it gets here.

Sunset at Northlake Village RV Park

We’re settling in, even though getting here required a detour. On Monday, we fired up the onboard generator just to give it the necessary workout. It ran for a few minutes, then died. When I tried to start it again, gasoline leaked from the carburetor intake. Not good. We made an appointment to take it back to North Texas RV in Sherman. They said be there at 8am and they’d get us in first.

So we spent the rest of Monday taking things to the RV and running errands. We called Chelsea at Northlake Village RV Park to tell her we’d be a day late. She told us it wasn’t a problem. We crashed early, which means we woke up early on Tuesday. I’m talking 3:30 – 4am early.

We were at North Texas RV before they opened at 8am, and Larry the generator guy had us fixed up and on our way shortly after 9am. The new carburetor he had installed a few weeks ago had been set with the spring on the intake valve too tight at the factory. Not something he would normally expect, so it was a surprise to him as well. There was no charge. The service manager said, “Hey, we installed a new carburetor. It’s supposed to work.” Those are good guys.

We spent the rest of Tuesday taking more stuff to the RV, along with a couple more stops at Walmart and Target. I should note that each time we took a load to the RV, we put it all away. Then, when we went back with the next load, if we had to reorganize a little, we did, but this way, when we stopped each day, we could easily move around. I hit the wall early Tuesday night, and stumbled (literally) to bed around 8:30.

This morning, Wednesday, we took the last few things to the RV, and got on the road at 11am. At 12:30, we pulled into Northlake Village and checked in. Being newbies, rookies, beginners at this RV living stuff doesn’t phase these folks. We were told where the property manager lives, and that an RV mechanic lives directly across the street from us. We should get good advice to get us through the winter here.

We’re spending the night here, then going back to the townhouse in McKinney tomorrow.  We don’t have TV working here yet, and we want to watch the Cowboys.  Since the big TV, living room and bedroom furniture are all still there, we’ ll spend the day, and probably the night there.  People will be picking up the furniture on Friday, and I’ll be doing an art thing in downtown McKinney, so it’s easier to just stay on that side of the metroplex tomorrow night.  And we’ve still got to clean the house once it’s empty.

What’s it like here? Well, here is a collection of photos. Northlake Village is an old mobile home park which is being slowly converted to an RV Park. There are a few “permanent” units that have been here a long time. But even with a couple of them right across the street, one doesn’t get the “trailer park” vibe. You’ll notice some rigs around us that are $100k and up. We’ve got plenty of space around us. We have a garbage bin that we’ll put out at the street once a week. Wifi is a little slow, but perfectly adequate. So, here’s where we will call “home” for the next few months until we hit the road.

Our space backs up to a "greenbelt". Plenty of room around us.

A little old, a little new... on wide, well-maintained streets.

Another view in the other direction

Full hookups: Electric, Water, Sewer

Looking up from the greenbelt

New territory for Hemi

Dinner being prepared in the galley

Pork chops, baked potato and zucchini medley... on new plates and placemats

Writing this blog post

*   *   *

It’s 8:30 pm now, and it’s really, really quiet.  We are elbow to elbow on the reclining loveseat… or we would be if Hemi weren’t curled up on a pillow between us.  We had the windows open and the attic fan going until dinnertime.  Now, everything is off and buttoned up…

And we’re cozy in our new home.

…

This is pretty much all that’s left, and maybe a third of this will end up in the RV (less, if I can do it).  Some of it is show booth stuff that is normally in the cargo trailer, part of which can be seen on the right.  The show stuff will go in the RV’s basement compartments, and the cargo trailer will go away when we start travelling.  Part of this stuff will either go to the dump or to the Salvation Army.  I’ve got a 6-foot ladder that will go with us only if I can find a place for it in the basement storage pass-thru.  Otherwise, we have a folding footstool that will go for sure.  There’s really not much else in the garage.  This is a townhouse, with no yard, and since we purchased it new several years ago, we left a lot of stuff behind that we just didn’t need anymore.  (We have experience in divesting ourselves of stuff.)  We kept a box of Christmas lights, and we’ll get a small tabletop Christmas tree to get us through the holidays.

Remember these boxes of frames?  I contacted Laura Moore Fine Art Studio in McKinney to see about donating them to some organization.  Laura has a gallery as well as studio just off the square in downtown McKinney.  Turns out the 3-day weekend after Thanksgiving is “Dickens of a Christmas” in McKinney.  Laura invited me to share a space in an outdoor gallery tent she’s setting up.  I’m only doing the Friday, and it’s just a 7-foot wide ProPanel, but I can put some artwork up for sale.  Laura also suggested selling the frames there as well at bargain basement prices.  Then, Laura will arrange for those that don’t sell to be donated to the annual student art show that is presented by The Art Club of McKinney.  That’s a win-win.  Her attitude was that if I could sell some of them, that’s just a little more “road money”.

The reclining loveseat arrived yesterday.  We had it delivered to the house, and we’ll move it to the RV tomorrow.  We had it delivered without the backs attached, which will make getting it through the door of the RV a lot easier.  The backs slide on and clip into place.  We had the microfiber upholstery treated with a stain repellant as well, so this should be pretty easy to keep clean.  The loveseat sits on rails running the full length of the unit, front and back.  The rails have slots in them, which we will use to anchor the loveseat to the floor with screws.  It’s heavy enough that it will probably not move much, but better safe than sorry.

This piece of furniture is really comfortable, and is going to be well used, I suspect.  Hey, we never said we were going to “rough it”.

So, here’s the plan… (No, we haven’t moved in yet.  This photo is from our weekend at Ray Roberts Lake State Park back in the summer.)  The loveseat will replace the fold-out sofa on the left.  There is an animal rescue donation drop-off nearby, and we’ll see if they’ll take the old sofa before taking it elsewhere.  The single chair on the right, just past the door, will stay temporarily, but will probably go away eventually for a cabinet that can house a printer and other items (maybe even a bookshelf).  We’ve re-thought the prospect of keeping the big Epson Artisan 810, since we’ve altered our vision of the art business a little.  One of the kids is going to inherit that printer, and we’ll get something smaller that will suit our needs.  The TV in the dash will come out, and the space possibly used to store road atlases and campground guides.  A new flat TV will be installed above the door on the right (between the cabinets) on an adjustable arm.  (The little monitor above the windshield is for the rear camera.)

The dinette table will stay as it is.  We have four chairs, two of which fold and fit under the bed.  When travelling, two of the chairs are attached to the dinette leg with wide velcro straps.  Before we do too much travelling, the flooring will be replaced.  Our intent is to keep the carpet in the bedroom, then go with vinyl flooring from the bedroom through the kitchen and living area all the way to the engine “doghouse” (the hump between the pilot and co-pilot seats).  We’ll keep carpet over the hump and under the front seats and feet for sound deadening purposes, although we do want to put new carpet there.  The carpet in that space is showing some wear.  We’ll use a couple of rug runners to soften the look of so much vinyl, I’m sure.

As Nell was getting ready for work this morning, we laughed about the likelihood that for the first few days in the motorhome, we’ll be stepping over boxes and containers while we find places for everything.  The good news is that starting tomorrow, Nell is off work for nine days.  That should give us time to at least do what we need to vacate the townhouse, but also set up housekeeping in the motorhome.  After that, I suspect we’ll be rearranging the RV for quite a while as we learn what works and what doesn’t.

We’re very close to not having to donate any furniture.  Well, when you consider what we took for some stuff, I guess we are sort of donating it, but it’s just about all spoken for.  The buyer is buying the fridge, and everything on the back patio: chairs, bistro table, baker’s rack/plant stand, an old wood bench that’s falling apart, and all the pots!  Our next door neighbor is taking the bench on the front porch, and the big pots that are there.  (I’ve almost stayed awake at night wondering what I was going to do with all the big dirt-filled flower pots in the front and back of the house.)

Three weeks ago, we were beginning to feel the early throes of panic.  Now it’s possible that all we’ll have to dispose of – of any size  – is the box spring in the guest room.

I’ve made another pass at things upstairs, and there is nothing left in any drawer of any cabinet (except the bathroom).  One closet is completely empty, and the other, a walk-in, has a couple of things on shelves that will go to the RV, and some of Nell’s winter clothes.

I’ve gathered almost everything upstairs in tubs or boxes along one wall of the guest room.  This is almost everything from the studio as well as the office desk.  It still needs to be sifted, but it’s getting closer.

Tomorrow I think I’ll take advantage of the cooler weather and spend some time in the garage.  There’s some sorting and organizing still to be done there.

I spent some time on the phone with the office manager at the Northlake Village RV Park, where we’ll be spending the winter until Nell retires.  We have a specific site reserved, storage for the cargo trailer inside a gated area ($1.00 per day), and an assurance that the site manager will greet us and help us get parked and hooked up.  This is a pay-as-you-go operation, so we’ll only pay for each month up front, with no lease.  They seem to be very easy to deal with.  The monthly rate is $475 plus electric for an oversize site for the motorhome.  The site has full hookups: water, electric and sewer.  Each site has a trash cart, which is picked up once a week at the curb.  There is free WIFI throughout the park, although the manager did say it’s not super fast.  That’s an adjustment I’ll just have to make when the time comes.

We changed sites from the one we originally picked out.  During our conversation, the manager agreed with me that the first location, on a corner, was pretty exposed for sitting out the Dallas winter winds.  I wasn’t really excited about that.  Looks like we’ll go in the back of the park where it should be very quiet and not much traffic going by.  And there’s a sizable greenbelt right behind us which may be a good dog-walking area.

My concerns are beginning to shift from getting things done in the house before closing to getting the RV relocated and learning how to maintain all the systems and protect things through the winter.  Isn’t it ironic that we spend a great part of our lives acquiring more and more stuff, and wanting bigger and bigger houses, and then get excited about living and travelling in a 300 square foot box…

Even though we won’t be actually hitting the road yet, we’re only a few days away from loading the motorhome, moving it from storage to an RV Park, and setting up housekeeping.

On our way to La Z Boy to order replacements for the two recliners that didn’t fit, we stopped by Rooms To Go.  And found this reclining wall-hugger love seat.  For the space we have, it’s perfect.  We spent a lot of time sitting in it, measuring it, learning that the backs can be removed to make it easier to get into the motorhome, and ended up ordering this instead of separate recliners.  It’s perfectly comfortable with two of us sitting on it, and takes up less space than two recliners.  And the cost of this unit is equal to the cost of a single recliner.  It’s being delivered in a couple of days.  It is microfiber, and we’ve ordered it with extra spill protection.

On the furniture disposal front, our oldest son came up from Houston, and we loaded the big entertainment center from the living room into his truck.  It now resides in his living room.

And my brother and sister-in-law arrived from West Texas yesterday, and after a really nice visit, we loaded their SUV up with all of my mother’s old bedroom furniture, which we’ve been using in our guest room.  Today, the guest room has only a box spring and mattress.  They also took some of my better older, framed drawings.  The walls look a little bare in a couple of places, but it’s okay for now.

The house inspection went very well.  We were delighted that the inspector only found three minor things, a slow drain in a bathroom (can you say Drano?), a faucet in the kitchen that needs work, and some adjustments to the dishwasher.  We’ve got a plumber scheduled to come tomorrow to deal with those things.

Our oldest son-in-law is coming up from Houston this coming weekend to take the office cabinets home with him.  Aside from always being willing to help, he’s pretty handy, so while he’s here, we’ll put him to work helping remove the existing sofa-bed from the RV, and getting the new loveseat in and anchored down.  We may take a couple of things to the dump and to the Salvation Army while he’s here as well.

Nell has sold or found takers for just about all of the rest of the furniture in the living room and master bedroom.  All that’s left (I think) is the refrigerator in the kitchen.  That is all scheduled to be picked up on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

This morning, as I was puttering around the house, I went through my closet and filled another large trash bag with clothes to go to the Salvation Army.  I’ve still got too much left, but I’ll thin it out some more over the next few days.

Now I’ve got to go through what’s left of my small art library and see what books I absolutely can’t live without.

If all goes well, we are scheduled to close on the house in two weeks.  Decisions about what to get rid of – and what to keep – are getting tougher – and more urgent.  We’re in a dangerous mode right now, one of “put it in a box, we’ll take it to the RV, and then decide what to do with it”, and that just won’t work.  So, with the clock counting down, I have to make some really tough decisions about art supplies, artwork done, framed artwork, frames, etc.  My artist friend, Ron Guthrie says the books can’t go, because they add too much weight.  He’s right, of course.  Well, maybe a couple will go.

I went through all the art stuff just a few days ago.  I emptied out some tubs, consolidated some things, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.  There’s still just too much.  Up to this point, it seemed easy, because it was a sort of abstract philosophy of “we’ll find a place for it”.  But that’s silly and unrealistic.  Just “finding a place for it” is what I’ve always done.  And it’s why I have so much stuff I really don’t use much.  So, today, along with doing a few things on the list Nell left for me this morning (It’s really not a bad list.), I’ve started tackling the art stuff again.

I’ve narrowed the large tubs down a lot.  In addition to the two that are in the cargo trailer, I’m down to these two.  The top one has framed art and the bottom one has a small number of empty frames (8×10, 9×12).  These large tubs with frames represent a lot of weight, so they’ll need to be distributed properly in the “basement” storage compartments.

I kept frames that I absolutely knew I would use for festivals and art fairs, and boxed up the rest, as shown here.  These are probably destined to a local school or art club, an idea tossed out by my artist friend Deborah Secor in Arizona.  Narrowing the number of frames down is a major improvement, because these add a lot of weight to the motorhome.

I’ve also gone through my art supplies (the small stuff), and eliminated a lot, ending up with more empty small tubs that can be used for other things in the motorhome.  There are, of course, more of these smaller tubs that contain unframed artwork, small (mini) frames, framing tools, precut illustration board and foamcore board backings, scrap board, sketch pads, etc.

What I have now for actual drawing and painting supplies (aside from pads and illustration board), are:

a) the french easel, which will be used outdoors of course, but will also set up on the dinette table for painting indoors;

b) the big tackle box that I’ve had for years.  The supplies inside that tackle box have changed over the years, depending on what my particular focus was.  It now holds all the usual little stuff like razor blades, erasers, and clips of various sizes, but it is now primarily my paint box, where brushes, paint, and the other little painting supplies will be stored.

c) the small tackle box, which is primarily for drawing and sketching.  This little box is handy to carry when I want to go out and just sit and do some outdoor sketching, or for when I want to sit and draw while sitting in the recliner inside in the evenings.

Progress.  A little at a time.

The clock is ticking.

Artists come with a lot of baggage.

And this isn’t all of it.  Keep in mind, I’ve already been through this stuff a couple of times.  It’s just time to go through it again.  There are two more large tubs, like the bottom two on the right in this photo,  still loaded in the cargo trailer… full of framed paintings, and another smaller one filled with small paintings.  And there are more frames, and other items in the garage.  It can’t all go,  of course, at least not in its present form.  But this is the first time most of it has been pulled together in one spot.  There’s some serious soul-searching and hard, tough-love decisions that have to be made now.  I’m fortunate, though.  What I have here is nothing… nothing… compared to what many of my artist friends have accumulated in studios they’ve used for years… rooms or spaces that were dedicated strictly to their art.  Since my studio was a space that had to be ready for conversion on short notice to grandkids’ play and sleeping quarters, I actually have very little here.

But that doesn’t change the fact that all of this, and more, has to be whittled down to fit in the motorhome, along with all the things we will need for day-to-day living.

And, then there are the books… and the palette and the brushes.  And you know this isn’t all of the books.

And let’s not forget the show equipment, all the stuff we carry now in the cargo trailer… all the things required to set up a booth, a little mini art gallery, on a parking lot or town square or city park.  The tent… the display panels, tables, chairs, and all the hardware that goes with it.  This, of course, is why we ended up with a Class A motorhome, with all the basement storage compartments.  The EZ-Up tent will go in a narrow pass-thru.  There’s a wider pass-thru that will take the display panels.  The largest tubs of art and spare frames, along with tables and chairs will go below as well.

But I’ve really got to start consolidating stuff.  And deciding what I can live without.

We had bought La-Z-Boy’s Conner recliner, when what we needed was the Pinnacle.  There’s a 5 inch difference in width.  And in a motorhome, 5 inches is a lot.

The existing fold-out sofa is going away.  As you can see, it fits very snugly between the kitchen cabinet and the back of the driver’s seat.  So…

The La-Z-Boy Pinnacle is pretty much the same chair, but it’s five inches narrower than the Conner.  (What you see here is a catalog photo.)  I remember sitting in one, but it was the rocker style rather than the wall style, and the rocker seemed a little wobbly to me.  The wall style just felt much more solid to me.  So, we’ve cancelled the order for the first two chairs.  We will drive out to take another look at Northlake Village RV Park Sunday afternoon, and we’ll stop by the same La-Z-Boy store and order two of these instead.  It’s a small glitch, but all is well so far.  A lot of people go for leather, but we’ve had leather furniture and find that we just don’t prefer it.

We will have to get the sofa and the extra chair out of the motorhome, and then we’ll drive the motorhome to the La-Z-Boy warehouse in Dallas.  They will load the chairs into the motorhome for us, and then we’ll have to anchor them to the floor later.  One feature of the La-Z-Boy chairs is that the backs slide up and off to separate them from the seat.  The next search will be for a very skinny table to put between the two chairs, something just big enough to put a couple of drinks on.

We’ve decided to hold off on the rest of the RV modifications for now.  There just isn’t enough time to get cost estimates and get the work done before we have to move into the RV, although there is one that we probably will try to do.

The existing TV is in the dash.  We really don’t want to sit with our heads turned to one side to watch TV, so this has to change.  We want to remove the TV and turn the empty space into map and guidebook storage.  Our intention is to mount a small flatscreen on an adjustable arm above the door.  Then we can watch TV from the recliners in comfort.

We had wanted to replace the flooring,  including the carpet over the “doghouse” (the motor hump between the driver and passenger seats), but that will have to wait.  The existing flooring is perfectly liveable.  We simply intend to change it out to update it and make the place our own.

In other preparations, I’ve got to start going through the art supplies and equipment.  There’s way too much stuff right now, and some of it has to go.  And we’ll need to make a couple of trips to Walmart, Target, and probably Camping World to pick up some things we’ll need when we park the motorhome at the RV Park.

The inspection of the house is scheduled for this afternoon.  It should be interesting to see what comes out of that.

We have an offer on the house!  It’s not the greatest offer, by any means, but it’s an offer we can work with.

It’s been a bit unsettling, to be honest, just sitting and waiting for the house to sell.  We keep a neat house, but there’s a difference between that and trying to maintain a showplace all day every day.  “Showplace” may be a bit strong, but one does have to keep the house ready to be shown at any time.  And let’s be honest here.  How many of us keep our house ready to be shown to strangers at any time?  When I’m painting, I find myself delaying some things, wondering if I can get the studio cleaned up in time for a showing.  Artists don’t function well under those conditions.

The offer will require us to close in less than 30 days.  That gives us roughly four weeks to be ready to vacate.  This is not like renting a U-Haul and spending the day before closing moving the furniture and clothes from one house to another one.  This is going to call for some interesting timing, I think.  We still have modifications to do on the RV.  We could live in it now, but we’d rather have the major things done before we do.  We should be getting the cost estimates for that shortly.  I called the RV place and told the owner that we needed a front burner position in his work schedule.

It’s time to go back through the house again… closets, drawers, garage… and do another round of clearing out.  We have to keep the house staged in case something goes wrong with the closing, and we still need furniture to live on.  Once the RV is ready to live in, we can move as much as possible over to it, but we can’t live in it until it’s relocated from storage to an RV Park.  I’m thinkng we may need to spring for a one month storage building rental, so we can move furniture, etc. out of the house just before we close, then distribute it from there.  And another trip or two to the Salvation Army is obviously in our future.

There will be a mad rush to get things done in the last two weeks, and then we’ll move into the motorhome.  Nell intends to work for a few more months, so we will, in effect, go into another holding pattern.  We’ll need to find a decent RV Park within a reasonable commute to her office.  During that four months, we’ll learn what we need to do to live in the motorhome during the winter (at least we’re in Texas, although I’d prefer to be a little further south… Dallas winters haven’t been enjoyable the last couple of years).  We’ll acquire the things we’ll need for living in RV Parks and campgrounds.  We’ll adjust to the new living environment of the motorhome and get to know it intimately.  We’ll get acquainted with the various systems (water, sewer, propane, electrical, etc.), and hopefully get a lot of kinks worked out regarding internet use, TV reception, RV maintenance, etc.

And I’ll learn to work at the mini-studio/workstation, and maybe start doing a little more outdoor painting on decent days.  We’ll get storage and books and art supplies figured out (and, I suspect, unload a lot more stuff before we actually hit the road).  And Hemi the Miniature Schnauzer will get acclimated to his new home.

We’ll also need to work out the best way to tow the Trailblazer.  I’m beginning to have serious doubts about towing it backward on a tow dolly.  The more I research, the more I learn about the hazards of towing a car that way.  There’s a significant additional expense we’ll need to deal with if we opt for a transmission lube pump and tow bars, but since the Trailblazer is rear wheel drive, that’s the sensible option.  I’ve got a lot more research to do.  Fortunately, I’ve got some time to figure it out.

So here’s the deal:  with the sale of the house, we pay off the motorhome.  The Trailblazer is close to being paid off.  For temporary living, I have found at least one RV Park within an easy commute to Nell’s office.  The monthly rental of a space with full hookups, including electricity is approximately one-third of what we pay for our present mortgage payment plus utilities.  Hopefully, by mid-summer we should be kicked back in a campground somewhere, listening to the breeze in the trees, scratching the dog’s ears, and wondering whether we should do anything the next day or not.

There are some things that need to be worked out, of course.  But it’s not a bad plan.

When you’re new to the RV world, it doesn’t take much to make you smile.

Something that would seem silly to others is a moment of delight to you.  Like that moment yesterday, when we were out in the motorhome and stopped for gas.  I started filling the tank while Nell went inside the gas station store.  When she came out, I went in.  When I came out, I was suddenly struck by the sight of that 36 foot motorhome sitting at the gas pumps.  Wow, I thought.  It’s huge.  And then I got a big grin on my face.  That was our motorhome, and just the sight of it out somewhere besides in the storage lot was a real treat.  Like I said, it doesn’t take much.

Getting the generator running…

We had driven north on US 75 to Sherman, Texas.  The day had started with dense fog, which made for a new experience.  We had waited as long as we could, but finally decided to head out in the fog because we had an appointment at North Texas RV.  We had been given the name of a fellow there who was supposed to be an RV generator expert, and we needed help.  Due to our own neglect over this past year, the generator had not been run often enough.  When that happens, the gasoline turns to varnish, and causes havoc with the generator.

We were pretty apprehensive about it, hoping the generator itself hadn’t been damaged.  Larry, the generator guy, spent less than an hour and a half, first just getting it to start, then working on the fuel pump and the carburetor.  He assured us that the generator itself was fine.  Then, after a bit of work, he got the fuel pump working properly.  The carburetor was another story.  He did get the generator running, but the carburetor was pulsing, or cycling, or whatever you want to call it.  Larry did give us the option of accepting it at that point, to hope that possibly it might smooth out and run properly (not much optimism there, though), or replacing the carburetor.  We decided that life wouldn’t be much fun if we were constantly worrying that the generator was going to die any minute, so we opted for the new carburetor.

Apparently, as an  RV ages, some of the parts become more expensive.  The carburetor for this 14 year old generator was a couple of hundred dollars more than a newer one.  So, it was an expensive fix.  I could spend a lot of time kicking myself for letting this happen, but then again, this was a 14 year old carburetor, and could have gone bad any time anyway.  And it’s a sealed unit, so there’s no such thing as rebuilding them.  It apparently has to be a new carb.  While Larry was working on the generator outside, Nell was sitting inside in comfort, reading a book.  Once Larry got going, I spent most of the time sitting next to him, watching.

The carburetor had to be ordered, but we were assured next day delivery, so we all agreed that I would return on Tuesday for what Larry said would be about a half hour’s work.  We headed out around 11:30am.

Interior modifications…

From North Texas RV in Sherman, we headed further north another ten miles or so to Texoma RV in Denison, Texas.  The young RV tech that had been helping us with minor issues earlier in the year had recommended Larry Koiner at Texoma RV to do the interior upgrades and modifications.  We had originally thought we’d tackle those things ourselves, but our kids, who had done some flooring installation in their home, suggested very strongly that we might really want to let someone else do the work.  Since they are in their early forties and we’re in our sixties, we listened to them.  We walked through the things we wanted to do with Larry Koiner.  He took notes and measurements, and by the time we left, we felt he understood what we wanted.  He’s going to give us some estimates for the various pieces of work:  the flooring; the workstation/studio; replacing the fold-out sofa with two recliners (which we now need to start searching for diligently); the installation of a flat screen TV above the door and facing the recliners; and replacing the existing old tube TV in the dash with some kind of useful storage.  He figured it would take about a week to get everything done once he has everything in hand.  Now we wait for the cost estimates to see if this is all feasible.

An offer on the house…

While we were out dealing with the motorhome, our real estate agent called with an offer she had just received.  We’ve gone back and forth with counter-offers on Monday, Tuesday, and now on Wednesday, we are waiting to hear back on our latest counter.  Regardless whether this offer is the one or not, we need to be ready to move quickly when the the right offer does come in.  So, we are moving forward with getting things the way we want them, so we can move in easily.

A new carburetor…

On Tuesday, I drove the motorhome solo back to North Texas RV in Sherman.  Bad timing on my part put me there right at lunchtime.  Larry the mechanic had a lunch date with his wife, and I sure wasn’t going to interfere with that.  Larry pulled the RV into a work bay so it was in the shade for me, and I spent the time stretched out on the sofa with a book, with nice cool air circulating in through open windows.  He got the carburetor replaced pretty quickly after lunch, and after a painful, but not unexpected visit to the cashier, I was on my way back to McKinney with a properly functioning generator.

Did I mention that we are a one-car couple?  Nell needed the car to commute to work, so I walked the one mile to the RV storage facility, and walked it back when I returned.  It was a productive day, but I wasn’t quite able to crash and relax just yet.  Another real estate agent had scheduled a showing of the house.  I was home for about an hour, then snuck out through the back as the agent arrived.  It was good that the Texas Rangers had last night off for the World Series.  I think I fell asleep on the couch pretty early.

So now we wait for the cost estimates for the interior modifications.  I’m starting to look around the house again, thinking that, although we got rid of a lot of stuff already, there’s still quite a bit that will need to go quickly when the house does sell.

But we are moving along.  And while things slowed down a bit for a while, the excitement is starting to build up again.

We are so ready.

This past Saturday, a real estate agent scheduled a showing of our house.  We’ve had quite a few showings, but no offers so far.  A showing on a weekend is rare, so we optimistically did all the sprucing up chores to get it ready.  In all honesty, there’s not a lot of “getting ready” to be done for a showing.  We keep the place on “show standby” at all times.  But we put away the dishes that were drying in the sink (admit it, you have them, too), did a quick dusting and ran the vacuum cleaner.

The showing was right at mid-day, around lunchtime, and it was a beautiful day.  So we gathered sandwich makings, chips, canned drinks, and a cooler with ice, turned on all the lights and ceiling fans in the house (it really helps make the place look and feel nice), and locked up.  With Hemi the Mini Schnauzer along, we headed over to the storage place to have a picnic in the RV.

When an RV sits for an extended period of time, especially in a lot next to open fields, small critters are a problem, especially mice.  We had already tried dryer sheets.  No luck.  Then we tried mothballs.  We found out Saturday that mothballs not only really smell bad when you leave a lot of them around inside a completely closed up space, but they don’t seem to bother mice at all.  So, after opening all the windows and the door, and after cleaning up inside the closet and a number of drawers, we pronounced the RV acceptable for a picnic.  We agreed that we’ll continue to try various methods, but the real solution will be actually living in it, which we hope will deter most critters.

So we had our little picnic at the dining table while Hemi lay on the floor looking hopefully out the screen door, watching for rabbits, I’m sure.  It was a pleasant little meal, even if we were sitting in the middle of a parking lot full of boats, travel trailers and motorhomes.  Come to think of it, that will probably be the view at most RV parks, anyway.  I’m more looking forward to the time we’ll spend in state parks across the country.

Now, we normally eat in the living room, with plates on our laps.  We’re not terribly formal.  But this little meal at the table in the motorhome was so pleasant that, at one point, I told Nell that I wondered if we were making the right decision by removing the dining table and installing a desk/workstation/mini art studio.  She looked at me, smiled, and very kindly said, “No, sweetie, we’re really going to need the workstation.”  This morning, as I was touching up a painting, it really struck me:  Oh, yes we are!

The workstation in the motorhome will have a 7-foot flat work surface, sitting on two cabinets.  Inside one cabinet will be our Epson Artisan 810 printer and all the computer-related stuff (we’ll work with the laptop).  The other cabinet will hold art supplies.  Of course, there is overhead storage as well.  There is no doubt that the workstation will be an absolute necessity.

Incidentally, we’ve taken some measurements, and determined that we do have a place for “1000 Mile Checkup” in the motorhome.  This limited edition lithograph of a pencil drawing by Robert “Shufly” Shoofelt was one of the first Christmas gifts from Nell after we were married.  For 21 years, it has hung in a place of honor somewhere in our home.  Because it suffered a little smoke damage in the fire a number of years ago, it’s lost a lot of its value, but we both love it, and we’re happy it can go with us.

The people who looked at the house on Saturday, returned the same day for a second look with their realtor.  They’re from out of town, so we’ll have to wait and see if anything comes of it.

Meanwhile, we continue to just sit in a holding pattern, with no second thoughts, no hesitation.  Life on the road may not turn out to be quite the way we envision it.  But a lot of that will depend on how we approach it.  And the only way we can make it work is to be in all the way.

We’re ready to take the shot.

American Ruins, 11x14, Gouache

I suppose I could call this a plein air painting, but it would really be stretching the truth as far as the generally accepted understanding of “plein air” is concerned.  It was painted outdoors, but I was sitting in the shade of my brother-in-law’s back deck, working from a laptop image.  I’ll have to find a term for that kind of outdoor painting.  When we make our lifestyle change and start living and travelling in the motorhome, I expect to spend a lot of time painting outdoors, both actually on location, and also sitting under the awning wherever we’re parked.  At any rate, this was started on the deck in Ohio, and finished in the studio in Texas.

It’s a view of the barn at Highway 36 and Wilson Road near Centerburg, Ohio.  I took a number of reference photos from different angles, so there may be a couple more paintings of this old barn yet to come.

What I do want to do is find a way to combine my art, in all its forms, with the time we spend traveling, to produce something which people, myself included, will enjoy.  It would also be good to sell some things along the way.

You can read the entire article here:

http://ralphparker.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/3277/

The House…

Considering the economy and the housing market, we’ve had a decent number of showings so far, but no nibbles.  We’re staying calm because there’s no reason for us to panic right now, and we have left ourselves room to negotiate.  Right now, we’re just hoping the idiots in Washington don’t screw it up for all of us.  (You’ll notice I didn’t specify a party.)  The hardest part at the moment is just staying ready for showings.  The house is staged, but we are living in it.  Even though we’re pretty neat, there are always the little things to be done, like a couple of glasses to be washed from the evening before, the morning coffee cups, last night’s newspaper, stuff like that.  The bed gets made early, and any shifting of ottomans, etc., gets done.  I may or may not run the vacuum.  Sometimes I just wait until there’s an appointment scheduled, then do it shortly before the appointment.  That just-vacuumed look goes a long way toward making a good impression.

The realtor uses a scheduling service which, so far, has given plenty of advance warning for appointments to show the house.  We get a one to two hour window.  “Realtor Jones would like to show the property between 3 and 4pm today…”  That gives me time to do any last minute adjusting, time to turn on the lights in all the rooms, etc.  I can get the dog’s harness on him, so all I have to do is hook the leash on him.  When the realtor arrives, I can usually see them park across the street, so I quickly get the dog leashed, and we head out the back through the garage while the realtor is working the lockbox on the front door.

Since we are now a one car couple, I just take the dog for a walk.  I can position myself down the street where I can see when the realtor and potential buyers leave.  In the triple digit heat we’re having right now, I don’t want the dog nor I to be out in it any longer than necessary.

-

The RV

This past weekend, we met Paul, the mechanic, at the RV.  He had two new deep-cycle batteries and new shrouds (covers) for the rooftop air conditioning units.

I have a real problem with heights, so I observed from the top of the rear ladder while Paul walked around upright on the roof, removing the two old covers and replacing them with new ones.  We did buy the RV “as-is”, but some disclosures would have been nice.  The rear shroud had a hole in it, and was held together on the underside with duct tape.  The front one had a section missing completely, probably cracked sometime in the past by a tree branch, then stripped off by high wind.  Of course, I should have climbed up there and crawled around if necessary before we bought it, but we’d have bought it anyway.

We replaced the two deep-cycle “house” batteries.  The old ones were nearly three years old, and even though they were full of water, they barely showed in the “charged” area of the tester.  The “milk carton” crate was bought at WalMart, and now holds extra motor oil, hydraulic fluid and distilled water.  The crate will keep the bottles from rolling around.  Incidentally, the mechanic said we could use automatic transmission fluid in place of hydraulic fluid.  Good to know in the future, because it’s cheaper and easire to find.  Obviously, there’s still lots of cleaning to be done in all those seldom seen places like this one.

There was a hope that the old batteries weren’t providing enough starting power for the Onan generator, but even after the new ones were installed, we’re still just getting a “click” when the start button is pushed.  The next step now is to have it looked at by a generator guy.  In this heat, there’s no way we’re even going for an hour’s drive without the generator operating so we can use the house air conditioning.  The dash A/C just doesn’t get the job done at this time of year, because of the amount of space that has to be cooled.

Nell measured the cockpit blackout/privacy curtains.  We’ll probably order them from http://www.greatrvaccessories.com .  Nell says their price is about the same as what we would have to spend if she made them herself, and theirs are already sized, hemmed, and come with the rings/hardware already attached.  The existing ones are probably the original curtains, and the sun has really done a number on them.  It’s not really noticeable from the inside, but when they’re pulled across the front windows, they’re pretty sad and tacky looking from outside.

The photo above shows the new cabinet door hardware we bought and installed a week ago.  We’re trying to eliminate as much of the old shiny brass look as possible.  We also bought a new ceiling fixture that’s directly across from these kitchen cabinets, the one above the dining table.  That will get installed at some time in the future when it’s not so hot.

We picked out the new vinyl flooring this weekend also.  Now we need to get an estimate on the installation cost.

Every time we do a little more with the RV, Nell gets a little more excited.  Her target for retirement is the end of this year, but it’s her intention to continue to work until the house is sold.  It would be nice if the house would sell before the end of the year.  One of the things we need to do now is zero in on a couple of decent RV parks within an easy commute to her job.

And so we continue… one step at a time.

We’ve found an RV mechanic who was referred by the folks at the RV storage place.  We met with him for the first time, at the RV, this past Saturday.  The first thing he’s doing is getting two new deep cycle house batteries.  The existing batteries are about 2 ½ years old, and although the cells were full of water, they were beginning to show on the weak side when he tested them.  It’s possible the weak batteries aren’t providing enough starting power for the onboard generator.  I know I could swap the batteries out myself, but he’s getting them at a reduced cost, so we’ll call it a wash cost-wise.

It will be hard to know if there’s a serious problem with the generator until we can get it to crank.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to run the generator for about four months, so we’re hoping it isn’t seriously damaged by lack of use.  It did run beautifully when we bought the RV, so if there’s a problem, it’s our fault for not running it often enough.  The mechanic did reassure us that if the
generator had been low on oil, it would have shut itself off before doing any damage.  My hope is that the biggest problem is gunked up fuel lines, and that it’s a problem that can be resolved without a new generator.

Paul, the mechanic, works at an RV service company in addition to doing this work on his own.  He checked out the roof, and proclaimed it in very good shape, although both air conditioning units need new covers.  Both of them have been damaged, with part of the fiberglass covers torn off.  As one who doesn’t like heights, I failed to go up on the roof when we bought the RV, so I can’t say if the covers were already damaged or not.  I did climb the ladder behind him and confirmed one of the damaged covers, and our 15 year old grandson went up with him and confirmed the other one.

Having a mechanic to work with is going to help us make sure everything is in good working order.  We felt good about the dealer’s assessment of this motorhome, but it is 13 years old after all, with high mileage, so now is the time to get a second look and reassure ourselves that it’s ready for move-in and travel.

Aside from meeting with the mechanic, we removed all the cabinet hardware.  That consisted of 41 cabinet and drawer handles (all identical).  We bought a can of spray paint (Rustoleum), and test sprayed one of the handles.  On Sunday, we looked at the handle after it had dried, and decided that we weren’t pleased with the way the painted handle looked.  So we went to Home Depot and bought new handles, then went to the RV and installed them all.  They’re sleek, simple and clean, and the entire interior has a cleaner, up to date look just with that one change.

We’re going to get ballpark estimates for redoing the vinyl flooring.  We may also let them replace the foldout sofa with recliners.  We would find and buy the recliners, and let them do the replacement labor.  Where we may not be able to get the new recliners through the door, their normal approach is to remove a window and bring them in that way.  While the spirit is willing, at 67, I find that there is something to be said for letting the professionals do some things.  A lot of this depends on the cost, of course.

What’s important is that we’re moving forward.  One thing I need to do is find a nice RV park somewhere within a short commute to Nell’s job.  It’s going to take a while for the house to sell, but we need to know
where we’re going when it does.

And… along those lines, I just got a call from the scheduling service.  Someone wants to show the house this afternoon.  That’s always a good thing.

*  *  *

I guess I also should try to find someone to do the flooring update for us.  The kids are concerned that it might be too much of a job for us, especially since they live out of town and can’t help us.  I have to admit, I also hadn’t thought about what we were going to do with the sofa and captain’s chairs while we’re removing old flooring and carpet, and installing the new stuff.  I suppose we could rent a storage room for a month to put the sofa and chairs in.  Then again, it is summer in Dallas, and we rented an RV storage space without electricity, so we wouldn’t be able to run the air conditioning while we’re working.

*  *  *

Speaking of the sofa, we looked at recliners the other weekend at Ashley Furniture.  I’ve read where several people replaced their sleeper sofa with dual Ashley recliners, the ones with the console in the middle.  We saw a couple, but they don’t come in pieces, so they won’t go through the door of the motorhome.  We’ll continue to look.  We may have to go with separate recliners with a table in between.

*  *  *

We’re still trying to decide which is best:  replace all the outdated brass-looking cabinet hardware; or try to paint it all to give it a bit more updated look.

*  *  *

Hemi the miniature schnauzer is doing extremely well with his “no bark” training.  We came within sight of three dogs while walking yesterday, and the most he did was whimper a couple of times.  Sure, he backslides occasionally, but even the other dog walkers in the neighborhood have mentioned how much he’s improved.  We have two more sessions with the trainer.

*  *  *

Now that the townhouse is on the market for sale, we’re in a strange sort of limbo.  We’ve always kept a neat and tidy home.  But now it has to be spotless every day, all day.  So, the day starts with chores that I used to let sit until after lunch.  Surfaces get dusted and the carpet gets vacuumed about every other day now.  It’s not a lot, and is usually done in a half hour or so, but then it has to stay that way all day.  I find myself avoiding making footprints in the carpet!  I didn’t realize how much time I had spent during the day on decluttering and boxing stuff up.  Now that it’s all gone (well, almost all of it), there’s none of that to be done anymore.  I love being able to paint all day without feeling guilty, but it just feels wierd.  We’re sort of disassociated from the house now.  We already have another place to live, so we’re just maintaining this place.  It’s kind of an odd way to live.

*  *  *

We’ve had the house listed for two weeks, and had one appointment to look at it so far.  This is going to take awhile.  In this market, we knew that, of course, but it would sure would be nice to get a good offer fairly quickly, and find ourselves having to move into the RV on short notice.

*  *  *

We do need to take the RV out for a run again soon, even if it’s just for a day or just overnight.  We need the practice.

Church at Centerburg, Ohio, 5x7, Gouache

Covered Bridge, 5x7, Gouache

I can envision, after a day or two of sightseeing in a new location, sitting down at the mini-studio in the RV, or even outside under the awning, and turning out little sketches like this while Nell relaxes and reads.  Of course, there will be a lot of sketches like this done outdoors on location as well.

I’ve posted several little studies like this on my art blog.  You can see them here.