Yep, we are… after a year on the market, our house in PA has sold and we are eight weeks away from freedom. We are feeling scared and excited at the same time. Luckily, there has been plenty to keep us busy.

We started two years ago when Bill retired from his dental practice. Going through closets, sorting what was still relevant and making a large pile for a yard sale. Going through boxes stored in the attic to see what was really needed, and what was just sitting there. Thousands of tough decisions were made in the process of downsizing from a 5 bedroom house, to a 31 foot 5th wheel trailer. We managed to trim down the furniture and belongings we are keeping to all fit in a 10 x 20 storage unit.

Three of our boys were living with us when we began with this crazy idea. Two finished college and became stable, employed members of society and got a place of their own. The other was proudly a Navy veteran and moved into the house of his dreams and is now college on the GI Bill. We are so proud of them and being away from them is the hardest part of our future plans to travel the country. But, we do plan to Skype video chat and come back to PA to visit often, meet up for Christmas in Cape Hatteras, and invite them out to stay with us somewhere on our travels.

Another tough aspect of the readiness process was whittling our resources down to minimal. Clothes, cooking gear, entertainment, health and first aid, are all down to the least amount of what we think we will need. One rule of thumb I used was: if we don’t need it often and can buy it on the road, then it doesn’t go. Much of that can be figured out on the road.

At this point we have had our final yard sale and the house is empty. All that is left is an airbed and a borrowed fold up table with our fold up chairs. It’s nice to still have counter space and a laundry at our disposal, but that will be changing soon. Our rig is having a satellite dish installed and will be back in a few days. Then we plan to wash it, load it and customize it. Trying to figure out some space saving solutions to the coffeemaker and our numerous spices. We also need to figure out some extra shelving and hooks. We’ll need our thinking caps for this next phase…

Angie is handling the sudden furniture disappearance well and seems to be anxious for more adventures.