Industrious Men

Hi Peoples,

WOW! The new owners are serious about re-doing my former home. There is a term, that contractor’s use when they tear out the interior of a house and start over with just the shell. It’s called GUTTING, which is an appropriate term for the process. Well the new owners have not gutted the house but dam close. (see pic’s) The Kitchen and cabinets are gone. One of the bathrooms only has the toilet and the sink remaining. All the closets have been ripped out, the interior doors, windows. They are doing it right. They are able to do this way because no one is living in the house. He tells me that he should be able to move in by the end of January. That seems optimistic to me because he is going to replace all of the wiring and much of the plumbing in addition to all of the stuff he tore out. However if anyone can do it I think this guy can. They arrive at 8 am and have never left before 7 pm. He is here today with his crew (Saturday). They have been here every day following Christmas eve, it will be interesting to see if they show up tomorrow.

Cazey and I are getting along well. I am actually sleeping better in her embrace than I was in the house. I think it will even be better when I get one of those memory foam mattresses. Little by little I am sorting through my piles and putting the essentials in the trailer and the truck. When I get the that done I will add the luxuries or the I wannas, as the weight and space allow. I also need to start thinking about other things like mail forwarding, internet access and residency. Yes residency, even though I will be traveling from state, the government likes it when you call one place home and apparently it makes a big difference which state you claim as home. I haven’t figured it all out yet but I will before HTR day (Hitting The Road day).

My TO-DO list is longer than I am tall and that’s saying something. I am just prioritizing each item and knocking it off of the list as I go. One problem, as I knock one thing off it seems like I remember another couple of things I need to add. Eventually it will start getting shorter. Another problem is I keep loosing my list, it’s written on a legal pad and I keep putting it down and forgetting where. I guess I need to put it on the computer. I am experiencing another problem that seems to have gotten worse. I remember something that I need or want to do and by the time I move to where I need to do it I forget what it was. It just happened. As I wrote the line “I guess I need to put it on the computer” I remembered something I needed to look up, so I clicked over to the internet and in that small space in time I forgot what it was I wanted to look up. There is a bright spot though. While rewriting “I guess I needed to put it on the computer” I remembered something else and I immediately wrote it down. For all I know it might be the same thing I forgot in the first place. Hopefully, I won’t loose the paper I wrote it down on.

As I mentioned before I am on an eating re-learning program. I am doing very well, and rather than mention this on each post, I will just end with my last weigh-in. I was at an all time high of 295 pounds in November, and I decided to cut a few things out of my dietary intake. Like Peanut M&M’s and Potato chips that were supplemented with buttered popcorn and mini Almond joy’s, while laying in bed watching TV. After cutting that out I lost 15 pounds. Then I started the program on December 18th and I am currently at 268 pounds. My goal weight is 225, so I will end each post with the number of my current liteness.

268 lbs

See Ya

My first time with Cazey

The pottery pictures are posted as promised. I was really pleased as to how they came out. The pictures don’t completely show the nuances of the glaze but a picture rarely captures what reality presents.

Last night, Christmas Eve, Cayze (my travel trailer) and I slept together for the first time. She has that rear slide out Queen Size bed and she seemed a little tight. Perhaps it was because it has been awhile since any has slept with her or it is more likely that I am just big. I’m 6’3” so I have to sleep corner to corner, but surprisingly I slept well. I think I will get her one of those memory foam mattresses instead of the 4” slab of regular foam that she now has. It was cool here in Florida last night (around 68 degrees) and come early morning it rained and cooled things off a little more.

I am completely out of the house and I spent most of yesterday setting up my computer and desk in the warehouse. I had a couple of minor glitches but I finally got back online. I was almost surprised that everything actually worked. I had to reroute phone lines some 200 feet from the house to the warehouse and hook up new jacks. I expected to have more problems related to power drop due to the distance but everything seems fine. Even the TV is working fine without a signal booster.

Man the new owner was here today ripping out walls and closets. I didn’t think he would be here on Christmas day but here he was with a crew of four and the dust was flying.

Now I am having trouble finding stuff that is in the piles. In my haste to get out of the house I neglected to mark the boxes and now I have to search through them to find stuff. Well at least now I don’t have a deadline as to when I find any particular item.

Christmas was great, I spent the morning with my son (Jay), his faïence (Mari), her sister (Allie) and her mother (Nina). It was a very comfortable gathering. I acted the fool as usual. Allie got a small fluffy stuffed sheep and when they handed it to me to feel how soft it was I pretended to blow my nose on it. Anything for a laugh, I love it when people laugh and I love it even more if I am the one causing it. They gave me some things for Cazey, a couple of RV books a really cool backpack and some neat sandals. Later I went to my friend Jo’s and she got me some plastic space saver spice holders that fasten to the inside of the cabinet door and a album that holds tons of CD/DVD,s. with out their plastic cases, thereby saving allot of storage space. And as you RVers know, saving space is the name of the game.

As I was cleaning up and packing I ran across some stuff that I had written several years ago. One of the things I had written jumped out at me and I have decided to put it on the back of my trailer.

WHO’S LIFT ARE YOU LIVING?

Now I can honestly say mine.

Goodnight

Moving out.

Well, obviously I was unable to get the tool photos in the web album where I wanted them, therefore you are unable look at them. After Christmas I will try again.

I finally closed on the house in December 19th. I got a little bent out of shape because of all the EXTRA charges and PENATILIES but there was nothing I could do about them so I didn’t get too wound up over it.. It seems like everybody has their hand in the cookie jar. If I had it to do over again I would not have used a realtor. I would have used BUY_OWNER. I told the Realtor how to sell the property but all he did was stick 2 wire signs in the front yard, hung a lock box on the front door and put an MLS flyer holder on the mail box but never put any flyers in it. After several days I put a sign out front describing the unique features of the property and within 20 days, had a bidder. Any way it’s over and I am not going to dwell on it further. I only am expressing it here to let my readers know so that they won’t make the same mistake. In addition I informed my Realtor that I didn’t think he earned the Twenty K that he and the other Realtor split.

I did get an extension (Dec 23) to get out of the house. I am almost finished. Every thing is in piles in the warehouse. Pile 1 = Things to sort through and keep or sell. Pile 2 = Things that my friend had stored at my house and will come to pick up. Pile 3 = Things to sell, give or throw away. Pile # 4 = Tools and Equipment to sell. I will put some pictures of the warehouse and the piles on this entry.

I have decided to make another change. I have started a weight loss program. I am tired of my feet hurting, and I want the extra mobility for my adventures. A friend expressed that it might be a mistake to try to make additional changes with so many other things changing, and I had to agree that she might be right, because the diet program is taking up a lot of extra time and it is not an easy thing to do, but on the other hand, since there are so many things changing why not add one more and do everything at once. So far, I think that the second option has been the right decision. It will all eventually end up being one big change.

I am not sure if I mentioned that for the past 8 weeks I have been a pottery class at the local high school making Christmas presents. I am going to take pictures of the pots I made and post them on my next post. I don’t want the people I am giving them to, to see them before Christmas.

I have 95% of the stuff out of the house. I need to take some time to prepare Cazey Twofive for my move in. I still need to connect the phone cables and the TV cable. I haven’t figured how to get the hot water heater on board Cazey to work yet. I don’t plan on taking cold showers. I have a whole list of things that I need to purchase, repair and modify before I will be able to “Hit The Road” (HTR). That is in addition to sorting, storing, selling and / or disposing of all the material items.

Well I am tired and I will close for today. Check in after Christmas for the pottery pictures and the next up date.

Tons of stuff for sale

Wow! I got a lot of stuff done this weekend working in the warehouse. I hired two laborers to do most of the lifting and moving. The Warehouse is 40 foot by 30 foot and packed wall to wall with tools and lift parts. I have sold a couple of thousand dollars worth of the smaller hand tools on E-Bay and you wouldn’t even know it by looking at the warehouse. I wish that I had taken some before and after pictures. Even though we got a lot done we still only just scratched the surface. We removed the shipping container that I had in there to secure the more expensive tools and we also cleared out a bunch of junk for disposal. I took a ton of pictures of tools and parts to sell. I will make a web album to put the photos in so anyone can access them. If you see something that you are interested in e-mail or call me at 561-370-4962 and we can make a deal. Here are a couple of examples of I have. Just click on one of the images and it will take you to the entire album. There are large power tools (drill press, welders, table saw, band saws etc, and small hand tools (hand electric sanders, drills, bench grinders, wrenches, tool boxes, etc. I am also selling my 2005 Harley Road King (see pic) I will make another album for lift parts which I will offer to my competors in the automotive equipment industry.

I am supposed to be out of the house by the 14th December (4 days till closing) but I have asked for an extension after the close to be able to move all of the stuff out of the house and into the warehouse. I would have liked to have had a garage sale before Christmas but there is no way. In addition to getting the stuff out of the house I have to get Cazey Twofive (the travel trailer which is my new home) ready to cohabit. Now understand this, our relationship is strictly a platonic. After all Ms. Twofive and I just met; we aren’t even friends yet, although it somehow feels like an arranged marriage. I have to run 3 pvc pipe lines one for phone lines, one for cable TV and one for water to the trailer from the house which is 175 feet away. This is what we were going to concentrate on Sunday but we ran out of pipe. I will get another 200 feet on Monday and finish it.

Well for several days I was not able to publish on my blog but today it works. I got all the pipe installed for the trailer water, phone and cable. The water is connected and the phone and cable are in but not yet connected. I have a big installation job in Pompano and several service calls. Work is winding down but it is still taking up much of my time and is slowing my transition from the house to the trailer. My new mantra is “I get there when I get there”. I am refusing to get bent out of shape over anything not going exactly to plan.

Enough for today

Getting closer

I finally bought my trailer. I made a new decision. It seems like I do that every day now and somehow I think I will be doing that right up until I leave I’m a flip floper. I decided not to get the toy hauler and opted for a K-Z Sportsmen 2505 for substantially less than I would have had to pay for the toy hauler. I will modify this unit to fit my needs. I have also decided that the Harley is a luxury item that I don’t need, I will get instead, a lighter on/off road bike that will serve for short trips to the grocery or exploring off road for that perfect dry camp. I close on the house on Dec 14th. Man have I got a lot of stuff to do. There is still ton’s of stuff to dispose of.

For most of my life I have lived for the destination and I am finding myself continuing to do that. Everything I do I seem to do with the destination in mind. That destination now has become hitting the road. The last 10 or so years I have made attempts to live the journey (ie, live in the moment) with little success. It is some what of a dilemma in that it is necessary to plan for my needs in the future while at the same time fully experience the journey as I go through it. I am finding myself focusing on when I get this thing done or that thing done then I can enjoy what I have right here in front of me. Perhaps this whole adventure is about my desire to live in the moment as it appears that Jim and Chris and George and Tiaoga do. Jim and Chris are my inspiration and George is my hero. I guess you could say I am a (sort of) George wana-be. I say sort of because I don’t plan on doing as much dry camping as he does. I plan to stay at different parks for as much as three months at a time, depending on the adventures presented to me at any one location. Having said that, I will need a TEAM to assist me. So I am going to follow (steal) George’s example and gather a team to experience these new adventures with.

The first team member is Mr. Lyca Rock. A 2006 Chevy one ton work truck that has been my business partner for almost a year and a half. My second team member is Ms. Cazey (K-Z) Tofive. Cazey and I have just met and we are just a little leery of each other. We will have three or four months to get to know each other before we hit the road, while I dispose of all of my junk. As I stated before I have worked out an arrangement that will allow us to park on the rear portion of the property I just sold until the end of March. That makes April first 2008 HTR day (hit the road). I will up date you as other team members join our adventure.

First Cazey and I have some discussion regarding her accommodations. The forward section (in front of the entry door) is currently comprised of four small bunk beds which I plan to remove and install my computer room/office on one side and storage on the other. I also plan on removing the couch for more storage. Storage is one thing that Ms.Tofive is in short supply of. Cazey is in complete agreement that these modifications need to be done, however she is not looking forward to the mess I will make during the renovations.

Well see you later
Ken

Decisions, decisons, decisons

Reviewing my previous entry’s it is clear that I am feeling some distress regarding the decision to go into full time RV’ing. I will try not to bore your with these concerns unless it becomes overpowering. The funny thing about expressing my fears here is that it seems to relive some of the pressure. I think fear is a natural reaction to the radical change I have decided upon. I believe other RV’ers who read these entries and have made similar decisions will recognize my madness and those who might be contemplating making a decision of this type can recognize that their concerns are a normal progression of facing change.

Some of the many decisions that I have made over the last few weeks and months are, what type of RV I want, what I can afford, how do I dispose of my belongings, how can I make enough money on-the-road meet expenses. Each decision seems to require more decisions as I prepare to down size my life.

I have decided on a travel trailer and to use my 2006 work truck to pull it. I initially wanted a toy hauler because I have a 2005 Harley Road King Classic and I had planed to use it to cruise the area around where I end up camping. I have since decided that the Road King is a luxury that I can do with out because it is limited in its scope of function. So I have made a new decision to get a lighter motorcycle that can travel on and off road that I can load behind the truck and in front of the trailer. So the need for a toy hauler is not required. The problem with a toy hauler is that the ones that I liked were 30’ or more long and I felt hauling that much length around would be more that I wanted to tackle. Then there is the cost factor. Last weekend I went to a local RV show. Talk about a kid in a candy store. The new units have so many cool features and look so pretty that the older trailers can’t really compare. One dealership had a new 07 left over trailer that he made me an unbelievable offer coming down from $45,000 to $32,000. Other used 05 trailers I was looking at were $20,000 and did not have half the features. However there were two draw backs, the money (which I have but it would take a bite out of my nest egg) and size. The new trailer was 34 feet. That plus my truck makes me longer than an 18 wheeler rolling down the road. Eventually I dropped the toy hauler requirement and bought a 2000 K-Z Sportsmen 2505 in good condition and at a very good price. Yes it’s older and not as pretty but it works for me and it was very easy on the pocket. I will pick it up December 1. The previous owner will then instruct me on the trailers operation and features.

During the process of preparing to make this move I ran across the blog of a full timer named George. George’s blog is called “The adventures of Tioga and George. George is sort of my hero. I say sort of, because George does not stay in any one location for more than a day or so before moving on unless he has to get a job to meet expenses. I plan to stay in one location anywhere from one week to three months. George has a large internet following. He posts nearly every day and has some great information on his web site which is.

http://www.vagabonders-supreme.net/

Am I crazy?

Some mornings I wake up and think to myself “Are you nuts?” What are you doing? At these times I feel like a circus performer that is balanced on a large ball, only this ball is rolling down the side of a hill and I am scrambling to keep up. So much to do, so much to decide, am I doing the right thing? If I let my head follow this fear thinking I would have to crawl into a hole somewhere and never come out. The reality is that the ball is already rolling and it would really hurt if I tried to stop it now. Besides it’s what I want to do. So if any of the doubts turn out to be a problem I will deal with them as they arise. I have never been the type of person to just wander around from place to place. I have always had a home, family, work or organization (Army) to which I have been attached, roots if you will. This move seems totally foreign to my way of being.
I have a friend who, when we were young men, decided to travel the world with just a back pack, his self confidence and a plan to guide him. His plan, as I understood it was, warm weather, palm trees, large bodies of salt water and soft bodies of warm women. I saw him as a potted plant that could be moved from place to place and still thrive. Yet I saw myself as a tree that could only survive if rooted to safe spot. I had even written a poem that described myself as a tree.

If I were a tree.
I would be a southern yellow pine, tall and strait.
Rough on the outside, soft and warm on the inside.
Deep rooted, dependable and useful to the world
Children would swing from my limbs and dogs would pee on my feet.

Now I find that I have a new plan. When it gets cold drive south, when it gets hot drive north.

So, on with the adventure.

Doing it

Well it looks like I have a contract on the house and I am planning to sell off the business piece by piece. I have an agreement with the buyers to put my Travel Trailer (when I get it) on the property for three months after closing in order to dispose of my stuff. I am in serious buy mode for the trailer now. I have my eye on several that are interesting but are not the perfect trailer for me. I may have to buy the "not perfect trailer" if push comes to shove.
I am both excited and fearful. It's a big step, letting go of the security of home and business. Risking that I can earn enough money to sustain myself with out depleating my nest egg. I could wait in hopes to earn more before I cut the umbilical cord, but how much is enough? How much more could I put away in a year, two or five. My body is telling me that five is the most I that I have if I continue to do the very physical work that I now do. Will that be enough? It seems that my decision must rest on which resource do I spend? The money I have saved or the number of healthy days I have remaining? I choose to risk not having enough money at the end, for the health to really enjoy the experience ahead of me now. I am going to seize the moment, follow my star, full steam ahead and dam the torpedoes. I have enough confidence in myself; I can do this and come out the other side. That makes the decision less scary. I can't wait to hit the road, but first I must divest myself of my possessions.
I have negotiated with the new owner to put my trailer on the property in order to sell, give, toss and otherwise dispose of the accumulation of things that I will no longer need. Not only a home full of stuff, but a warehouse full of tools and equipment that is a dream past. A dream shop, where I could make stuff and fix stuff and have a place to put stuff. Been there, done that. Now to dismantle that dream for another. I must choose, what I need to take and what I need to dispose of. That will be an adventure in it's self. There is lots of junk that has little value, piece of cake, dump it. There is the stuff that has value but little emotional attachment, good for Ebay or garage sale. Then there is the stuff that I will take with me, (less than one percent). The stuff that has high emotional atachment that I can not take? Big problem, because I do not want to have the monetary expense of renting a warehouse to store stuff. Fortunately there isn't allot of that kind of stuff, some of it I can give to family.
Today was a good day. I got about fifty items cleaned up photographed and ready for Ebay. Now do that another ten or fifteen times and I will have most of my stuff on the net. Today was mostly small items. The big stuff 100 lbs or more will be no shipping, you pick up items.
Well I guess I will spend a little time putting some of it on Ebay tonight so I will sign off for now.
gOOch

Getting things done

Even though I am working toward full time RV’ing, life goes on. I have work and friendship obligations that continue to take up my time and energy. Which I gladly do, well the friendship thing I gladly do the work thing comes out of necessity. Yesterday my friend Joellen came up to see the project that I have been working on for her. She is very talented and makes jewelry. Jo has decided that she wants to sell her creations at art shows and venues of that type, however in order to enter the shows she has to have a booth and display that has to be approved by the show promoters. So I have been building a display table that will impress the judges and assist in her acceptance. I have made this table to look like a real marble counter top even though it is very light weight and easy to carry and assemble. Yesterday was the first time that she has seen the display and I think she really likes it. I was relieved, because the cost of the materials has been much higher than I had expected and that expense is hers. I will try to include a picture of it in this entry if I can. This will be the first time I try to load one on to the blog.

The picture does not show the polished surfaces of the faux Marble but trust me it looks quite real. I think the judges will be impressed.

till another day

gOOch

My first blog entry

Hello cyber peoples. This is my first blog attempt and the reason I have decided to start a blog is because of some friends of mine Chris & Jim Guld. Two people who are living their lives to the max. They are full time RV’ers, long time Geeks and have a blog site called Geeks on tour. Check them out at Geeksontour.blogspot.com. I learned how to set up this blog and get Gmail and a whole bunch of other stuff from their site. They are also one of the reasons I have decided to join the ranks of “FULL TIME RV’er”. They are having too much fun and I am jealous. So I am selling my business and my home and hitting the road. There in lies the current problem, today’s market is not exactly the best time to be selling anything, but I am undaunted. I will sell and I will purchase the perfect RV for me, then, watch out USA.
Currently my dream RV is the 2008 All American Sport 281FB. A Toy Hauler by Forest River Mfg. I already have the perfect tow vehicle. A 2006 Chevy 3500 one ton utility truck. Now when I say utility truck I am not talking something like a Ford Exploder or even a Su-bourbon, No. I’m talking “man truck” with tool bins all round and ladder racks and macho stuff like that. I can put my Harley in the back of the trailer (It has its own separate private garage to sleep in). Then, when I get to where I’m going I can earn a few extra bucks fixing things. My motto is “If it’s mechanical and I can’t fix it then it ain’t broke. My current business is automotive lift repair, which I should be able to do on the road as well as other odd jobs. I see no reason not to be able to make at least enough to pay expenses just working a couple days a week. Any way that’s my plan and I’m sticking to it.
I am excited about doing this. I’m single and 61, I got nothing holding me back. I do not want to wait until I don’t have the physical ability to see the things I have always wanted to. I will worry about what’s next when I get tired of Full Timeing, if i ever do.
Well time to go. See you round the next bend.
gOOch