Time keeps on slippin into the future...

Well, we are still moving in. Still a big mess. We got rid of so much stuff. Now we find we have stuff with no where to put it. We need stuff to hold stuff. Stuff everywhere but where stuff should be. So we move forward slowly getting things done. No particular order other than to do something because it is in the way of doing something else. Moved lately? You would understand.

I find it interesting how much needs to be done to support doing nothing. Wow we are bogged down with all the things we had to have in our life. It was much simpler living in the RV. No clutter as there was no room for it.

Our day started with the painter coming to touch up some stuff that did not get completed when we moved in. He was here at 7:30 am. Do you know how long it has been since I got up by 7:30. Note I said got up not woke up. I have been up many a night earlier than that and could not sleep. Anyway we had an early day with company.

If you have followed this blog, what there is of it, you have seen all the wonderful trials that have come our way. Some day I will look back and laugh at it all, I think!
Well it is amazing how we set ourselves up for problems. The Vacuum cleaner that made it on this journey, trust me many vacuum's did not make it past Goodwill, was prepped for the journey in the pod. I decided to be smart and removed the bag. You know how the thing smells after not using it for a long time with dirt in the bag. Well this was going to be a many month journey. I removed the bag. Well, I decided to sweep the floors a few days ago. The fine dust was on the floors in the cracks etc. The sweeper did a rather good job of knocking the dust loose and picking it up. Toward the end of my sweeping, I did note that it was not being quite as effective. I put it away and continued my meandering style of moving in. You know, what ever is in your way you deal with it and move on to the next thing in your way. Well, I got to the basement and needed to clean it up a little before I consider storing stuff down there. I got out a push broom and swept the floor and picked it up. Amazing how much you can get off a bear floor. I then decided to use the sweeper to pick up the fine dust. I started sweeping and it was not doing so well. So I decided the fine dust was plugging the bag. I open the door and my SMART from CA was looking kind of STUPID in TN. No bag, just dirt, everywhere in the vacuum. All in the motor and the filters, especially the hepa filter. So the next mini desaster story was born.
I decided that I needed to replace filters that were dead and dyeing, like the refrigerator water filter and now the sweeper hepa filter. Also I needed to clean out the vacuum cleaner guts. Oh yea, the air compressor didn't make it to TN. NO Room in the pod. So off to get an air compressor. And while we are out maybe we can stop by a furniture store and see about some things like coffee tables, end tables, book cases, computer desk and chairs. You know more of the stuff that were deamed not fit for the pod and it's space limitations.
I had already spoken to some new friends about where to get my water filter so our first stop was Breakfast. It was 9:30 AM and time for breakfast anyway. It was going to be a quest day. Then off to the appliance repair depot in Bristol. First stop was successful. We found a water filter for the fridge. Unfortunately they did not carry parts for vacuum's so we were directed to a vacuum repair facility, you know the one we passed a few miles back. Next stop vacuum repair store. Success once again, we found a new hepa filter. We may be able to save the vacuum from the abuse. Now to the next town, Johnson City. Made it here once to pickup some items for setting up the house and went through there on the way to Florida. That makes me and expert on finding things in Johnson City;-).
We trek our way to Johnson City. Along the path is a furniture factory outlet. I decide I want to stop as we do need some furniture. It is visible along the highway so no problem. I pass the store and take the next right. Well that simple big store is nowhere to be found. I end up going around the block which isn't a block at all and before you know it I haven't found the store and now have lost my original bearings to my original destination which was Harbor Freight to get an air compressor and all the stuff required for me to blow dust out of the vacuum I am trying to save.
We roam for at least an hour, maybe more until I finally find the original road we were on and once again see the furniture store that derailed me. In finding my bearings, I now have a big clue on how to get to the furniture store, but first, Harbor Freight. I go there and pickup the compressor and enough stuff to use it to blow out dirt and at least put air in a tire or two. Lunch time has arrived and the old bladder ain't what she used to be, so we head back toward a familiar area so we can eat. Along the way we find a Michael's so we stop to see about maybe some material to put on the door windows to kind of cover them up from being a porn site for the neighbors. They send us up the road past McDonalds and turn right to find Hancock Fabrics for the material. So we stop and do lunch along the way and take care of pressing business as mentioned above. We head up the road and find McD's and turn right. Wa la the same place I was lost at earlier. Quest is in my head so I find the furniture store. Only a couple more wrong turns until I found it. Big old warehouse no AC. 97 degrees out and they have big fan's running to stir the heat. I check out the place and there are some potentials but prices aren't that great. On to Hancock Fabrics, so I thought. I head up my lost highway and no place do we see our goal. Back and forth around and around. Finally my iPhone starts to work a bit and it shows me that I am no more than a quarter of a mile from my destination. We twist and turn more and more and finally tucked behind a huge Target store sits this little building called Hancock Fabrics. There was a target on it and I missed it. It is 97 degrees out so I pull into the parking spot and leave the engine running so Lizzie and I won't melt. Linda goes in and we sit and watch people go in and out and in and out and........ No Linda. I catch up on emails on my iphone and catch up on facebook and play a few games of sudoku and then cards. Take a short nap and finally we are at least an hour and a half into this gas wasting stop. Finally I get out of the car and Lizzie and I head in to see if Linda had given up and ducked out the back.
It seems the lady at the cutting table decided that our order was so big that she had to cut other customers stuff while using her spare time to cut our stuff. As it turns out, she had just finished when I got in the store.
Linda is dead tired after standing all that time and rather irritated, so we get back on Lost highway and head toward home. We stop and get some late lunch since it is after 5pm.
I can report the air compressor doing it's thing and replacing the filters, saved the vacuum to sweep another day. I re-swept the hard wood floors, at least the parts I can see still. It was a sucky thing and that is good. Got a couple of other small task done so not a total wasted day.
Basement is still empty and dusty. Today we try again with a happy vaccum.

We are in the house, barely...

Well, we made the trip to Florida and the Ford made the trip without smoking a tranny. I still need to check the fluid to make sure it really did it correctly though.
We closed a week ago Friday and the pod was delivered Tuesday. I started pulling stuff off the end. Like the Bear that was strapped in the end and all the stuff that Karen, Steve and I shoved in there. It didn't have much room to shift so we did good. I started pulling off boxes and staging them in the garage. I did pretty well and by the evening I had better than half the pod unloaded. Our friend Ken came over and we were able to get the couches off the pod and one in the house and the other in the garage waiting for me to decide if it goes to Texas or stays here. We got the piano off and into a bedroom where it will spend it's time. The refridgerator just barely fit in the space provided. It fit though. I connected the water line and turned it on. Water started running and I could not figure out where. Finally it started running out from under the unit and we ended up soaking up water like mad. I figured that it was busted while moving. We left the water disconnected for the time being. The second day I continued my quest to empty the pod. When I got to the piano it was over. Since that time the pod has departed back to POD HQ and we are shifting furniture what little there is of it and empting boxes. It is hard to empty boxes when there is nothing to put them in. We are realizing just how much storage was in that CA house. The built in cabinets in the family room, and den really heald a lot. We will have to purchase some book cases and shelves and the like to store the stuff we kept. arg! I am ready to take pictures. But who has time?

Yep, it is a habit. Long time between posts

Finally got my notebook out and blew off the dust. Did a bunch of updates and now I can post. We have been busy. We took the Ford out for a long tow. After getting back the Escape we drove a tank or two of gas out of it and it was working fine. Ford Motor Company called in reguards to the note I sent them concerning the car having it's third tranny put in and it being out of service for over 3 weeks. They checked with the dealer and the transmission installed had the proper build date and it should be towable. Well we gave it a try. 1600 miles worth of try. We went to Florida. We had a good trip. For one thing at no time during our trip did you find us along side the road waiting for a tow truck. A very positive direction for us, given our history of traveling lately. We went to Jacksonville Florida and visited with Doug and Dana Cody. It was great getting to see them and their new home. The community was beautiful and the homes back up to a golf course. We spent the night with them and then in the morning a snag entered the picture. I had taken the whole drive way as we had to disconnect the Escape so the rv and Ford could park in the driveway. I backed the Escape out of the drive and parked it a couple of houses down in preparation for connecting it to the RV. I started backing out of the drive and was not watching close enough evidently. I heard a noise in my rear view camera and hit the breakes. I was moving ever so slowly and hit the breaks. Just as I did that the front tire dropped off the curb which rocked the rv. The neighbors mail box was just above the back bumper and the rocking of the rv ripped the box off the pole. As it turns out the bumper got scratched. Even though the mail box ripped off the pole, it did not even scratch it as best I could see. I think the mail box won.
We headed on south to Arcadia Florida where my mom and dad live. We got to spend 3 days with them which was great. Our trip to Florida had been so delayed they were happy to see us even if it was just a few days. Oh yea, did I mention just prior to leaving for Florida we got a call from the Real estate company and our closing was moved up a week. So the trip was a quick one. We left Arcadia on Sunday afternoon and headed to Belleview Florida to visit Linda's dad and a friend of mine I used to work with at Intel in Folsom, Mark. We stayed in a nice rv park just off Hwy 75. We had a good visit with all. We had spent our mornings trying to get things done for the closing like inspections, appraisals, insurance, electric companies, city of Bristol. Minor stuff like that and took the rv to a dealer to check out a message we were seeing on the dash.
On Wed we had breakfast with Linda's dad and step mom and then headed up the highway. We needed to be in Bristol for our closing on Friday morning. We drove with little interruption and make good time. As the day pushed on it looked to me like we could make it to North Carolina by night fall. We did make it there. I decided to pull over and spend the evening in a rest area. We pulled along side some trucks and proceeded to take a nap. I was restless and decided to see how much further we would have to go to get to Bristol. To my surprise we were 120 miles away. I could have driven on in without stopping. I didn't have any place to stay so it was just as well we stopped. We got up and headed on in to Bristol. We got to town about 6am and had some breakfast at Mickey D's and then found a Wallmart parking lot to rest in until the camp grounds opened. So we had all day Thursday to take care of any last minute details.
I decided to stop by the power company. They didn't get any of the stuff I had sent them on email. Their application and my identification forms. It cost me 6 dollars to get the stuff scanned so I could sent it. Good thing I stopped. Filled out the forms and got all that stuff setup.
City of Bristol would not let me submit an application through the mail and they wanted proof of ownership. So I had to wait for closing. Well Friday arrived and closing took place so we are the proud owners of a home in Bristol. No furniture yet but it won't be long. Time to open the pod and see what we were doing back in December. Kind of like a short time capsule. Now we will see what I saved and what didn't make it. I could be in real trouble. It was a stressful time and I am sure mistakes were made. I just hope no big ones!
We have spent two nights in the house and have a bed and table and chairs. That is about it. I evidently bumped the power button on the refrigerator in the rv and it was off so we lost our freezer stuff. We have the pod arriving tomorrow afternoon so we can start unloading. Maybe we will be in a place that looks like home soon. At least on the inside.
We have been attending church at the church where Ken and Carmine are. It is great seeing them. Linda is going to play the piano Sunday. She got a warm up in Florida as she played for my parents church. During the summer they don't have a piano player. So maybe we are starting to settle in a little.
Lizzie had a nice romp in the church's yard with Teddy, Ken and Carmine's dog. It was fun to watch. I spent the day building the table and chairs and watering the yard. It has been un-seasonably hot here and humid. It is like their August weather. Tonight after watering the yard we had a small thunder storm go through. NO I didn't watch the weather. I don't have a tv yet.
So there you have it. The Ford traveled 1600 miles and the tranny is still working. I didn't smell any burnt fluid. Something else smelled but not the tranny. I need to check the fluid to make sure it is still red and clean. It has been resting the past couple of days as we drove the van.
So that has been our days. I am ready to crash after another long day, like 8 am to 9:30 pm. Retirement?

Spoke with Ford in Detroit today

We have been driving the Ford for two days now and Ford called today. They say the transmission put in the car is the proper one for towing. They say it should tow with out any problems now. I actually have the name and number of the person who called, should I have any further problems. I was going to ask for it but he read my mind and offered. Imagine that.
So we are ready to head to Florida.
We plan on pulling out for Florida at 7am on the 14th. We will see if the Ford can get to Florida without incident. Or will it be mia by he time we get there? Any bets?
Our plan is to come back to Tennessee just in time to sign papers and take possession of our new home. We will keep you posted as we head south east. We will finally get close to the East Coast.
First stop Doug and Dana's new home in the Jacksonvile, FL area. Then on to Arcadia to visit my mom and dad. We will then head north again to Bellview, FL to visit Linda's dad and step mom. And we will visit with my friend Mark, who I worked with my last years at Intel in CA. Amazing how many people I am getting to visit that I knew for years and years in CA.

Well here we sit.

Holiday weekend is over. Our friends left for Texas, to visit their family there. My family left to go back to work. The home purchase is getting the details underway and ...... What now? Still no Ford. We are approaching 3 weeks. I have decided this is rediculus and have contacted Ford Motor company to lodge a complaint. I spoke with another rv'r who has a 2009 Ford Escape. He has towed it over 2000 miles without issue. His was a 6 cyl two wheel drive. I think the 4 cyl tranny is maybe not so good for towing. I am ready to head to Florida and my tow vehicle hasen't made it to Tennessee in a usable state yet. What is wrong with this picture?
Well, as you can see, I am sitting here with little to offer in way of blogging.
Oh, yes, on FaceBook I have made connections from our San Jose days. So we are connecting with some more people we haven't seen for years. And we lived just a couple of hours away. How bad is that?

Busy Day, not......

We made an offer on the house, got a counter and are accepting the counter. So we purchase our second house in 4 months. The retired life. SCARY!
My sister and brother-in-law arrived from Cincinnati and we took a tour of the area. Showed them my wealth of knowledge of the area. "That house we looked at yesterday, here we have a nice house we looked at the other day, oh, and here is where our friends live. You got the picture. The only good part of it was that TomTom didn't have anything to say about it. I was able to do this and even ended up in VA and get back to the RV. So here we go. Next phase of the plan soon to begin, trip to Florida. My mom is going to have surgery early July so we will be heading there once the house purchase is on auto pilot. Pray please. We need it. I still don't have the Ford back from the trip here. Maybe I can burn up this tranny with less than 500 miles on it.
I spoke with another RVer who is towing a 2009 Escape. 6 cyl automatic, over 2000 miles no issues. IS IT ME?

House hunting is task at hand.

Well we have been searching for a place to call home. The idea crossed our minds to maybe trade up the rv to a larger unit that we could live in. It was somewhat appealing. Until you figure the cost of a motor home that size is better than half the cost of a house. Then you have to figure that our president and the rest of the world leaders are working on tanking all markets for a couple more years. Maybe they are going to get it right? So buying two houses in this market? A smart plan? Hay who knows. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

My mom is facing surgery soon so we need to consider getting this house hunting done and move on to the next phase of our plan to get to Florida. My sister and brother-in-law are planning on being here to spend the 4th of July with us here in TN. That will be a good time and we will learn more about this area, I am sure.

So you can see that not much has happened. Linda and I did take a drive out the roads we have scoped out and shot some pictures. Hopefully I can get some posted here soon. I know.... I said that last time. You know the best laid plans of mice and men.

And we are quickly approaching the Nascar Bristol second race of the year. I have found that all roads lead to Bristol Motor Speedway. Even when you get into Bristol Virginia on the 81 freeway, there is a sign that says exit here to get to the speedway. That way you can drive down the city streets for miles and miles to get there.

You can bet I know how to get there by now!

Oh, wait! I still don't have the Ford back. It is still in Knoxville, TN. I am loosing my mind and can't keep track of dates but I do believe it has been almost 3 weeks at this point. If I go to Florida and it isn't done yet, I wonder if they will start charging me storage fees? Maybe I can off set a storage fee, by charging them a lease fee as they have had the car longer than I have. The way I see it they have had the car 1/26th of the time that I have owned it. It doesn't look like I will be driving the Ford several thousand miles before towing it again. I can't wait for our next adventure! gag!

Happy 4th to all our friends. Let's celebrate America the country we love. Then let's get to the task of taking back our country from all the illegals and the idiots who are giving it away to them.