Things have been so hectic the last few weeks, well since October 21st to be exact. That was the day we had a signed offer on our house and all the drama began. These folks from Arizona came to look at our house and our neighbor's place. Heard from our agent they were going to deal on a home in White Salmon so figured we were done. I guess they changed their minds on that one and tried to deal on our neighbor's and that fell through. So the next day they were asking a couple questions on our place, made us an offer which we countered, and they then accepted. Turns out they were going with a VA loan and we then had to sweat if the appraiser would come in at value, which after much nail biting he did. Then we agonized over what to do with our belongings which we decided to store in Hood River. The VA loan process was always so fluid with no closing dates, etc., that we were left hanging for the most part. We even had to extend the closing date as things got hung up in underwriting. But then that changed too and we closed 3 days earlier! Ack! It was a stressful process for all involved and I am so glad we are all done.
It all fit, just barely! And I can think of about a dozen things I wish I had out of there that we had brought with us. Simple things like a stapler and critical things like an electric blanket! LOL!
The storge unit place let us have this truck free for one day. It took 3 pick-up loads, 4 U-Haul trailer loads and 1 and a half big trucks loads later and the unit was full!
One last look at the house before we pulled out. It really was a beautiful home and a beautiful place to live. But I am excited about the future! This move is the first time we have traveled any great distance with the trailer. We had a hard time decideing which way to go to Reno; go down I-5 or go down via Bend, OR., which is what we usually do. We decided on Bend and had a reservation at La Pine in an RV park there. I followed Larry in the car. This would also be the first time we would be feuling up towing the trailer as we just never went that far from home with it before. We were also worried how far we could go on a tank of gas so anytime we had a nice gas station we could easily pull into we did and topped off the tank. Good practice anyway. I have to say Larry did really well and on the 2nd day of our trip was even cruising around a grocery store parking lot and making it look easy. He has always towed a boat so he isn't a complete novice I suppose!
So we got Cascade Meadows RV park which is kinda like a pasture with hook-ups and Wi-Fi!!! It was fun really!
Okay who forgot to wash the window? LOL! This was our view out the back window! Sage loved the cows!
The park host told us to not use the hose for our water but to fill up our fresh water holding tank as they had been getting some freezing temps and it was to be 19 degrees that night. So we filled our tank 2/3rds full and figured we would be just fine since we had the "Polar Package" on our trailer. LOL! We kept the furnace going all night and the trailer was 69 degrees when we woke up. But everything was frozen! Oh my.....what a way to start the day. We could get a little water and pump activity in the bathroom but that was it. Our biggest concern was being able to hit the road and not crack something. After posting our dilemma in the RV forums (everyone there is so awesome) and a call to our dealership (they're awesome too!) we decided to hit the road as we had a long day ahead of us to get into Sparks. Later that afternoon we decided to stop along the road and dump all the fresh water we put in the night before to make our load a bit lighter. Larry felt confident everything he put in came out so hopefully no cracks and water in the belly of the trailer. The rest of the trip went smoothly until we got almost to the RV park. Larry pulled over because his old GPS said "you are here" but no RV park. My new one showed we had about 2 blocks to go. He turned the truck off to come back and talk to me (I have no clue why he didn't just phone me, lol!) and when he got back in the battery was dead. Turns out it was the original battery in a 2001 truck and I'm sure that 2 degree temp just did it in. We jumped it and went the 2 blocks to the park whereour daughter, son in law and grandkids were waiting. Wow what a day it was! Our sonin law helped set up the trailer and then Larry and he went to Home Depot and got heat tape and insulation and we have anything exposed covered now and we have been fine since. I think our coldest temp here has been 21. It took a few days to get situated but we are pretty comfortable now. This is an amazing RV park. Our daughter and son in law stayed here too while they we house hunting and they told us the managers were super nice and they are. The rigs they get in here are AHMAYZING!!! You would expect to see Britney Spears or Brad Paisley step out of them. The cars being towed are Lincoln Navigators and Mercedes! Geez, I can't even imagine. We got lucky with the weather too as our first day here we had super high winds that I thought were going to knock us off our blocks! So thankful we weren't driving in that. Simply put, we wouldn't have. We would have had to pull over and wait it out somewhere on the road. Guess that's it for now. We got pre-approved for a home loan and went out with our realtor, John, yesterday and looked at 6 homes. Some had wonderful RV access but the houses we kinda sad or the house was awesome but no RV access. So the hunt is on!!! I will have to correct any typos later. We are off to look at a home for sale by owner this morning.
