So much has happened over the last two weeks that I hardly know where to begin! In the months leading up to this moment we established a love/hate relationship with Facebook Marketplace. I have never had a FB account but Jeff had and he grudgingly agreed to reestablish one for the sole purpose of using Marketplace. At first it seemed like a waste of time as the larger items (car, truck and camper) did not sell fast. In fact, only the Corvette sold through Marketplace, the camper sold through RV Trader and the truck sold the old-fashioned way - a sign in the window.
Anyway, we started adding the furniture and more expensive tools to Marketplace and it almost became a full-time job to manage the inquiries and the purchases. But by the time we were two weeks from closing we were living in an empty house with nothing but beds. A family member teased Ivy and asked, "so, did they sell your bed and make you sleep on the floor?" "As a matter of fact, yes," she answered. Ha!! The family member felt so bad because he thought that surely we had not sold our daughter's bed. Yep! She still had bunk beds that we knew we would never need again so we sold them a few days before we moved and Ivy slept on a mattress on the floor. Not so horrible!
I say the house was empty but we had been shoving stuff in the garage for weeks with plans for a huge garage sale. Jeff advertised on FB with a very witty title of "Free Beer" and I put signs out all over the area. The signs won the day and we were inundated with garage salers. Never in a million years did I imagine that we would sell it all. I actually made a last minute inquiry with a donation place that picks up stuff in a big truck but by the end of the second day we gave the last of it away to a woman who was opening her own shop at the flea market. It was a win-win and she took everything that was left. We actually made a good amount of money too!
Here you can see the "Christmas" section of our garage sale. A neighbor that had just moved in around the corner came and bought some camping equipment. It was late in the day so I had started giving anyone who bought something a free gift. This sweet young girl took almost every single Christmas thing I had. She said that she didn't have any decorations so we loaded her up. We ended up enjoying the giving away part way better than the selling part.
Here is another section with the aforementioned camping equipment. We got it all from a dear friend as a wedding present. 18 years later we sold it on our way to full-time camping. Not sure if that friend had any idea back then that his gift was more of a prophesy about our life together as a camping family and our future in an RV. Thanks Nuke Mabley!
Right after the garage sale we brought the RV to the house and started moving in our clothes and bedding. The next morning the girls went to a car wash for their swim team and Jeff and I continued to move. After three months of #downsizing our house I was amazed at just how much stuff we still had. Miraculously we found places for all of it in the camper - well, almost all of it. After the car wash I brought the girls back and we continued to load stuff. The girls had so much that I had to tell them to put the overflow in the truck and car. We did the best we could and headed to Pecan Park RV resort, a not-so-resort just one exit north of the airport in Jacksonville. We made plans to stay there during the week of closing so that we could get everything out of the house, make final storage unit runs and clean the house. We accomplished all of that over the next few days and then it was closing time. I have to say that the actual closing on the sale of our house was extremely anti-climactic. I expected to have all sorts of emotions ranging from excitement to relief with some sadness in between. There was none of that. We signed the papers and ran some errands while the buyers signed their papers and then our check was released. Our realtor Kim grabbed it for us and we went out to lunch. Done and done!
Later that day I took the girls to swim practice and I was feeling nosy. I drove by the house and realized that I was not sad at all. Instead I had an overwhelming sense of relief that it was no longer my problem. We will definitely encounter new problems but unloading that responsibility and getting a check in the bargain made it all worth it! #debtfree
So back to our realtor Kim. I know I have mentioned her before but she deserves another mention. Kim became a part of our family and was invested in our journey from the very beginning. After closing she asked to come see the RV and we were happy to show her our new home on wheels. She brought bubbles and gifts and even invited another friend who joined us for a toast. It was a lovely send-off and we cannot thank her enough for taking the time and making the effort.
This is how well Kim got to know us - Irish whiskey for Jeff and this beautiful book with a National Parks Pass for our family. So awesome! We love you Kim! Cannot wait for you and Andy to join us.....
After a very busy week at Pecan Park RV Resort that included a swim meet, dinners and lunches with friends and family and my last event as a planner, we hooked up our RV and headed down the road. Our first stop - Helen, Georgia.
We made pretty good time and we are now set up on a beautiful site that backs up to a small creek. Ivy has spent every waking moment in the creek catching mud puppies, frogs, crawdads and salamanders. She is in heaven and we could not be happier. Zeke is also loving his many daily walks, Lucy Pearl is enjoying the sweater weather and Jeff and I are so happy to be here that we periodically stop and hug.
There is so much more that I could write about in this post but I will save it for next time. We are so excited to be here and so thankful for our friends and family who have supported us and encouraged us over the last several months. Thank you God for your amazing grace on our lives and our family.
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