Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Mt. Rushmore & Devil's Tower
We spent two nights at Mountain View Campground in Sundance, Wyoming. Yesterday (Tuesday) we visited Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and Devils Tower in Wyoming. We also visited Deadwood, South Dakota. We had a full day of sightseeing, and to top it off, had a fantastic dinner at a small cafe in Aladdin, Wyoming.
Today we continued our eastward journey, and at this time we are in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Tomorrow will find us in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. We will be visiting some friends from Shiprock RV Park in Arizona for a few days. From there we will be heading toward Detroit to visit the Henry Ford Museum.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Back On The Road
We finally got the last box packed and moved out of the house Friday afternoon, and hit the road about 4:30 in the afternoon. We couldn't believe our good fortune in the lack of traffic until it ground to a halt just east of North Bend. It took close to 2 hours to make it over Snoqualmie Pass, but when we made it to Easton, it was wide open again. We made it to Moses Lake about 9:30 Friday night. We pulled out of Moses Lake Saturday morning, and are currently in Missoula, Montana. We will be heading for Reed Point, Montana today. From there we will head to Sundance, Wyoming where we will stay 2 nights to take in Devils Tower National Park, Mt. Rushmore, etc. While there we will be able to get the coach organized, as we kind of just threw everything in Friday afternoon just to get going.
The trip to Missoula was uneventful, under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 80's. We woke up to about 40 degrees this morning. The sun is shining, and soon it will be back in the 70's. So in order to get ready to hit the road, I'll just add a few select pictures, and update from Sundance.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
The "New" House
We took possession of the "new" house on Monday the 13th. On Thursday the 16th we had a permit in hand to begin the remodel. We started the demolition on Tuesday the 21st, and by Friday the 24th, the house was gutted in and out, and the yard was cleaned up. The attached pictures show the before & after.
Joyce has been busy getting the "old" house packed up as we have to be out of here and on the road on the 31st. Kristin has been here helping with the packing. She leaves for Austin next Wednesday, and by then things should be in pretty good shape.So far I have just moved some of the garage stuff as I've been busy at the "new" house. We've pretty much made the decisions relating to new window size and locations, siding type and color, etc. so the work can progress in our absence. We will be heading out in the motorhome on the 31st, headed for the east coast. When we come up from Arizona in December, the house will have new windows, new siding, new electrical, new plumbing, new heating system, and sheet rocked. Then we will need to know what we want to do for cabinets, fixtures, appliances, trim, paint colors, etc. When we get back from Arizona in the spring, we're hoping that it will really be a finished "new" house. We have total confidence that Randy will get it done.
Don't know why the picture post in the middle of the text, but here are some before & after shots.
Joyce has been busy getting the "old" house packed up as we have to be out of here and on the road on the 31st. Kristin has been here helping with the packing. She leaves for Austin next Wednesday, and by then things should be in pretty good shape.So far I have just moved some of the garage stuff as I've been busy at the "new" house. We've pretty much made the decisions relating to new window size and locations, siding type and color, etc. so the work can progress in our absence. We will be heading out in the motorhome on the 31st, headed for the east coast. When we come up from Arizona in December, the house will have new windows, new siding, new electrical, new plumbing, new heating system, and sheet rocked. Then we will need to know what we want to do for cabinets, fixtures, appliances, trim, paint colors, etc. When we get back from Arizona in the spring, we're hoping that it will really be a finished "new" house. We have total confidence that Randy will get it done.
After
During
During
Before
After
After
Before
I will be bringing the motorhome down this weekend as we need to get it loaded up too. We are scheduled to be in Maine on the 18th of September, and plan on staying there for 3 or 4 weeks. Then we will move down the east coast where we will most likely pick up I-10 to head west. We will probably arrive in Apache Junction around the middle of November. We'll be traveling with 2 other couples. Maybe then, we'll be able to sleep more than 4 or 5 hours a night! 
Don't know why the picture post in the middle of the text, but here are some before & after shots.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Renters
We are now officially renters. Our sale was final yesterday (Friday), and our "buy" will be final on Monday. In the interim we are renting back our ex-house until the end of the month. The 31st will find us headed east in the motorhome with the state of Maine in the windshield. It seems a little odd to know that we no longer own the house that we've occupied for 20 years. It looks the same, but seems weird.
As for the replacement house, we will have possession on Monday. With a little luck, we should have a permit to begin the remodel work on Wednesday. We plan to start work as soon as possible, and consult with the Electrician, Plumber, and the HVAC person before we head off into the sunrise. If all goes per plan, the house should be habitable by the time we get back from Arizona in the spring. We have a lot of confidence that Randy will "Git Er done".
On another front, Kristin and boyfriend Cody arrived from Austin Thursday night. This is Cody's first visit to Seattle, and he's trying to get acclimatized. Seems odd for someone to be wearing a long sleeved flannel shirt when the temperature is around 80. He's used to 100 degrees with more humidity. He finds it interesting that he can wear a jacket in August. But for me, it's perfect shorts, sandals, and Hawaiian shirt weather. Cody heads back to Austin this Tuesday, and Kristin is here until the 27th. We'll be putting her to work with some packing and moving. Since we're only going about half a mile, we can do it all with a pickup truck.
Today we're having a BBQ for some of Kristin's friends. Josh, Brynn, and Colt will be here. He was 2 weeks old yesterday, and starting to look a little bigger. Mom and Dad aren't getting much rest yet, as he's on a pretty intense feeding schedule. These will be their "good old days!!"
Enough for now, and I'll try to get some pictures of the "new house" for the next edition. Ernie
As for the replacement house, we will have possession on Monday. With a little luck, we should have a permit to begin the remodel work on Wednesday. We plan to start work as soon as possible, and consult with the Electrician, Plumber, and the HVAC person before we head off into the sunrise. If all goes per plan, the house should be habitable by the time we get back from Arizona in the spring. We have a lot of confidence that Randy will "Git Er done".
On another front, Kristin and boyfriend Cody arrived from Austin Thursday night. This is Cody's first visit to Seattle, and he's trying to get acclimatized. Seems odd for someone to be wearing a long sleeved flannel shirt when the temperature is around 80. He's used to 100 degrees with more humidity. He finds it interesting that he can wear a jacket in August. But for me, it's perfect shorts, sandals, and Hawaiian shirt weather. Cody heads back to Austin this Tuesday, and Kristin is here until the 27th. We'll be putting her to work with some packing and moving. Since we're only going about half a mile, we can do it all with a pickup truck.
Today we're having a BBQ for some of Kristin's friends. Josh, Brynn, and Colt will be here. He was 2 weeks old yesterday, and starting to look a little bigger. Mom and Dad aren't getting much rest yet, as he's on a pretty intense feeding schedule. These will be their "good old days!!"
Enough for now, and I'll try to get some pictures of the "new house" for the next edition. Ernie
Friday, July 27, 2012
A Big Day
We were just getting settled in last night for another exciting evening of TV watching about 9:30pm and the phone rings. It's Brynn telling us Josh is on his way to her workplace to pick her up to take her to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. Seems as tho baby will make his appearance earlier than expected. So along with Brynn's parents we settled in for a long night of waiting. After over 10 hours of labor, Colt Elijah Fowler arrived on July 27, 2012 at 8:40 a.m. weighing exactly 7#0oz and 19" long.
He is beautiful from head to toe with lots of hair of a golden hue with a tinge of red. Nurses said if he had waited for his due date he would have been an 8 or 9# baby and longer, so Brynn was happy he arrived early. Brynn did really well thruout the process along with encouragement from Josh. Both of them are overjoyed at their new addition. Now granddog Jake will have a brother.
He is beautiful from head to toe with lots of hair of a golden hue with a tinge of red. Nurses said if he had waited for his due date he would have been an 8 or 9# baby and longer, so Brynn was happy he arrived early. Brynn did really well thruout the process along with encouragement from Josh. Both of them are overjoyed at their new addition. Now granddog Jake will have a brother.
I'll also include a picture of Ernie and I with the 'sold' sign outside our house. We took this same picture 20 years ago when we bought it (I just have to find it!).
Monday, July 23, 2012
Moving On
Our house sold in 7 days, and the short sale we've been working on since September came through a couple of days later. We've gotten past the inspection, and had the appraisal on the sale. We had an unexpected oil tank discovered on our property that was decommissioned last week. The furnace was tuned up today, and now we're just waiting to close on the 10th of August. We will be renting the house back until the end of the month. We did our inspection on the short sale house last Friday, and the appraisal will be this Wednesday. It should close on the 13th of August. We decided to have the house renovated over the fall and winter rather than to go with our original plan of renting it out for a year or so, then renovating. Our friend Randy will be doing the remodel. He is working on plans so we can get started as soon as we take possession.
The 1st of September we will be heading out on an adventure that will take us to New England around mid September. We'll be traveling with our Moses Lake friends Mike & Joyce, and meeting up with Jim & Marcella (Boise Idaho) in Ohio. The plan is to head south from Maine to Florida, then west to Arizona, and arrive in Apache Junction around mid November. Along the way we will be visiting people we know in Minnesota & Wisconsin, visiting the Rock N Roll hall of fame in Cleveland, the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Gettysburg, and other histric sites. Since everybody in our caravan plays golf, we may try to golf in every state along the way. We should have good weather along the way, and we don't need to be anywhere at any particular time, so it should be a great trip.
We will be back in Seattle for 8 nights from the 19th to the 27th of December. We'll fly in, rent a car, and stay downtown at the Camlin Hotel. Then we can catch up with friends and family for a few days before returning to the sunshine of Arizona.
So for now it's pretty busy here trying to get everything wrapped up, and we hope that we don't forget something important. Once it's all done, and we're on the road, it will be nice to not have to worry about the house while we're away. I can't wait, Ernie
The 1st of September we will be heading out on an adventure that will take us to New England around mid September. We'll be traveling with our Moses Lake friends Mike & Joyce, and meeting up with Jim & Marcella (Boise Idaho) in Ohio. The plan is to head south from Maine to Florida, then west to Arizona, and arrive in Apache Junction around mid November. Along the way we will be visiting people we know in Minnesota & Wisconsin, visiting the Rock N Roll hall of fame in Cleveland, the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Gettysburg, and other histric sites. Since everybody in our caravan plays golf, we may try to golf in every state along the way. We should have good weather along the way, and we don't need to be anywhere at any particular time, so it should be a great trip.
We will be back in Seattle for 8 nights from the 19th to the 27th of December. We'll fly in, rent a car, and stay downtown at the Camlin Hotel. Then we can catch up with friends and family for a few days before returning to the sunshine of Arizona.
So for now it's pretty busy here trying to get everything wrapped up, and we hope that we don't forget something important. Once it's all done, and we're on the road, it will be nice to not have to worry about the house while we're away. I can't wait, Ernie
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The day before the 4th of July (or the begining of summer)
The house is officially "on the market", and there's been quite a bit of activity. We left last Wednesday for a few days of sun in the Moses Lake area. We met up with Mike & Joyce, Bill & MaryAnn, and Jim & Marcella. Played some cards, board games, and golf for 5 days. Had an all around good time.
While we were gone there was a agents open house on Thursday, and a buyers open house on Sunday. When we got home Monday evening around 5:00, we had to vacate almost immediately, as there was an agent showing the house at 6:00. We also have one coming this morning (July 3rd) at 10:00, so we need to make ourselves scarce again. We're hoping that this process Doesn't take too long.
The trip back from central Washington saw the new windshield ($2400) in the motorhome get a nice rock ding at approximately the 300 mile mark! We can't believe how many of these (dings) we have had in 4 years. This is either #5 or #6. That is in about 30,000 total travel miles.
The Chevy Cobalt should be getting an engine transplant later this month. Hopefully that goes smooth so it can go to live with Kristin in Austin this fall. The Mazda is still reposing in the garage, waiting for a new owner. We will soon be a one car family.
The short sale house that we have been waiting on for the past 10 months could be wrapping up soon. That will give us something to do ( ha ha ) before heading out in the fall. So, with a little bit of luck, the next post will be about the SOLD sign on the house, the successful engine transplant in the Cobalt, The new home for the Mazda, and our "new" house. Ernie
While we were gone there was a agents open house on Thursday, and a buyers open house on Sunday. When we got home Monday evening around 5:00, we had to vacate almost immediately, as there was an agent showing the house at 6:00. We also have one coming this morning (July 3rd) at 10:00, so we need to make ourselves scarce again. We're hoping that this process Doesn't take too long.
The trip back from central Washington saw the new windshield ($2400) in the motorhome get a nice rock ding at approximately the 300 mile mark! We can't believe how many of these (dings) we have had in 4 years. This is either #5 or #6. That is in about 30,000 total travel miles.
The Chevy Cobalt should be getting an engine transplant later this month. Hopefully that goes smooth so it can go to live with Kristin in Austin this fall. The Mazda is still reposing in the garage, waiting for a new owner. We will soon be a one car family.
The short sale house that we have been waiting on for the past 10 months could be wrapping up soon. That will give us something to do ( ha ha ) before heading out in the fall. So, with a little bit of luck, the next post will be about the SOLD sign on the house, the successful engine transplant in the Cobalt, The new home for the Mazda, and our "new" house. Ernie
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