The new old truck

December 16 2017, the house is ready, the motorhome is in the driveway and is also ready. The truck has our bicycles in their racks, all systems checked, all new towing modifications tested and ready to go.

"The Bus" and new towed truck

I almost forgot to tell you about the new to me old truck that used to be mine when it was brand new. I’ll keep the unraveling of that cryptic message short. I purchased the 2005 Dodge Ram pickup new and sold it to my brother when my dad gave me his chevy pickup, which by the way I had also purchased new, but that’s another story.

This past summer Dave told me when his wife Lois retired in August they were going to buy something new and would probably be selling the Dodge. As I was now a home owner again and making frequent trips to Lowes and Home Depot, I told him to keep me in mind as I might want to buy it back.

Dave had kept the Dodge in excellent condition and it needed nothing except some modifications before we could tow it behind the motorhome. I installed all the towing equipment myself, a lubricating pump system for the automatic transmission, the tow bar base plate, the braking unit and the necessary wiring for these components and the tail lights.

Base plate for tow bar

modified tail light wiring

Our old towed vehicle, the Jeep Grand Cherokee has a new job as personal vehicle for my daughter in Law Kristie. I'm sure she's glad she has it as rough as this winters been.

Getting in traveler mode

The summer of 2017 went by in a blur. Millie and I both had our list of things we wanted to do at the new house, plus we still had the condo and were preparing it to be sold. All too soon it was fall and we started thinking about our winter journey to Florida. There was never a doubt that we would go, we just had to decide which projects to finish up and which to postpone till spring. 

The house has redundant camera security systems, one wired and one wireless. Both have night vision, motion activation and record any incidents. We can go live with any of the cameras from anywhere we are and check out the house. The heating system is online so I can monitor and control it. The water is turned off, the new windows lock, the garage door is in hurricane lockdown, and I think everything is ready. The community gates are manned 24 hours by security guards and security cameras. We feel very comfortable leaving.

The second week of December found us switching from prepping the house for hibernation to revving up the motorhome for our trip south. 

The motorhome is sporting a new paint job; all systems have been serviced, checked, filled, lubed, etc. Our only worry is did we forget to pack something and yes we always forget something. I’m speaking mainly of favorite personal items we wouldn’t want to be without. We don’t worry about clothes or food, we’ve been doing this long enough to know what we will wear and we’re not pioneers, there will be grocery stores everywhere we go.

We're back!!!!!

We’re back! On the blog that is. In the next flew postings I will explain our absence and catch up on our travels. The short answer to our six month lapse in posting to the blog is….we bought a house.

I know, I know, we had the perfect plan, lock the door at the condo and just go; winters in Florida, summers exploring the USA and never having to worry about cutting grass, etc. It was a good plan and it worked right up until it didn’t.

We just outgrew the condo, Millie and I still have a variety of things we like to do and over time we filled the place with craft supplies, sewing materials, tools, metal detectors, etc. When we made the move to the house neither of us could believe all the stuff we had squirreled away.

Everyone who knows us was surprised when we purchased the house because we never discussed it with anyone. There wasn’t a lot of weighing the pros and cons of it, once we decided to do it, we just did it. We knew we wanted to stay near the beach and had a dollar amount we were comfortable spending. That narrowed the search area and it didn’t take us long to find our perfect house.

Our new to us home is on the south end of town just down the street from Myrtle Beach State Park, which will be our primary beach access. We now live in a golf course community, within its gated walls is a 191 acre Country Club. We don’t play golf but I enjoy riding my bike on the miles of golf cart path, usually in the afternoon after the last golfers play through.