#1 Decisions... Decisions...should we or shouldn't we

For years my dear husband LJ and I talked about traveling the US for months at a time, but it seems something always got in the way...kids...work..laziness.  We did travel the US on our Harleys for three weeks each summer (yes I had my own) and that was fun, but we were always on a time constraint.  Had to be back for work or to take care of the house or ran out of money.  It never seemed long enough.

We finally retired in 2004.  We thought now we can do whatever we want, whenever we want.  But, alas, we were in a routine..or in reality, a rut.  We had several opportunities to head out on the open road, but never did.  I wasn't mentally ready to leave behind the family and life long friends.  We have grandkids in Northern California.  We also have grandkids in England.  They need a place to come to when they visit.  I wanted to live close enough to see family and a house big enough to accommodate them all visiting at the same time.  LJ just wanted to travel.  So we (Ok..I) compromised.  We left Taxifornia and moved a couple hours away to Northern Nevada.  We bought the big ol house I insisted on.  Five bedrooms, three bathrooms, 4000sf on an acre with a 6 car garage...for the two of us.  You know...so there was room when the family showed up.

the big ol house

 And they did show up.  It was wonderful.  But their lives got busy.  Our California son has enough kids for a basketball team.  That's a lot of packing up to come see us.  It became terribly expensive for our daughter, her British husband and three kids to fly over the pond.  Visits were becoming less frequent.  Easier for us to go see them, be it England or Northern California.

We had made loads of new friends and loved the area we lived in.  So yes, the big beautiful house was wonderful.  And time consuming.  And expensive.  Water and utilities alone were crazy.

But, we could afford it.  We had a good retirement after all those years working.  But we didn't neeeeeeed it.  And as much as I loved it,  I'll admit there was always something missing.  But we stayed put, because, you know, it was easier than uprooting.   We had poured our heart and soul into our forever home.  Well, when we bought it that was the intention.

our harleys in Utah

Early on we sold the Harleys (been there done that for 15+ years). We took loads of cruises.  We bought a boat.  We bought a small travel trailer.  We bought atvs.  Then .....We sold the boat (too expensive and didn't use it enough).  Sold the travel trailer (too small) and bought a toy hauler. ( Now we could camp with the atvs!)  We missed our Harley trips but the Harleys were long gone and after all...how many toys do you need. (I know.. all of them, but I digress)  All the while we were spending money maintaining the big ol' house.  It did cramp our style.

our party boat...fun with the grandkids

our itty bitty trailer

the atvs

  LJ would often mention going full time RVing.  But noooooooo.  I didn't want to give up my stuff.   And I was worried that, although we had been married over 30 years, worked together and now spent 24/7 together, we would kill each other living in an RV.  Sooooo I resisted.  I won.


In the fall of 2014 we finally decided to give up the big ol house.  Made sense.  It was too big for just the two of us.  Visits from the family were so very rare so we could no longer justify it.  We sold it, had the movers come and we stored everything.  We didn't buy a house immediately but that was our (my) intention.  We moved the two of us and our little yorkie, Scooter, into our toy hauler in a local RV park.  We spent 7 months there, all the while looking for a new place.  Smaller this time...room to keep the RV...less upkeep so we can travel (Or so LJ thought).

Scooter and me

the toy hauler that was our home

All the while we were living in the RV park, LJ said we should travel around.  Poor guy.  I had a million excuses why we couldn't.  It's winter.  How will we look for a house.  Blah blah blah.  He's really not a pushover.  He's a peacemaker.  Plus I think he was a little concerned, as was I, whether or not we would truly like it.  What if full timing was a mistake?  What if we sold everything and hated it, or worse, what if being cooped up in a 400sf  "house" was too much to take and we started hating each other?  So we stayed in our comfortable rut.  And I was happy... him?  He was okay with it because if I'm happy he's happy.  But it really wasn't what he wanted.

After 6 months of searching, we finally found a place in March 2015.  Five whole miles from our last place.  Perfect views of the mountains from the back yard; an older home with a great floorplan on an acre so the RV could be at home.  AND it was 3000sf, with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms!  You know...room for family to visit.  DID I learn nothing???  I'm a reasonably intelligent woman but stubborn.  But this was it.  The house we would spend the rest of our days in.  LJ liked it, too, so decision was made.

I could sit here all day...love the view

We do love our life and our home, but here it is....two full years later.  2017.  We certainly aren't getting any younger (I'm 62...the old guy is 68).  And we BOTH actually find ourselves missing the simplicity of trailer life.  So here we are with the decision of a lifetime.
Do we ...or don't we.....