Just in case you'd like to see the house that we left ... It was a great place to live for almost 10 years. We had lots of gatherings there ... But, 10 years is enough and we're ready for a new adventure in our COOL motorhome. We will miss the hot tub tho .. we will be partial to RV parks with jacuzzis since we had such a nice one at the house.

I went diving this morning while Chris put this together. Kind of choppy, only got one bug. This is great, Chris. I love you. note from Chris: Yes, I love you too! And, I think this deserves a photo so folks can see how you go kayak diving ...

Thanksgiving day: This seems a perfect time to start our new blog "Odie's Roadies" because we are so overwhelmingly thankful for our wonderful lives. We made a life decision in May of this year to sell our house, buy an RV and live on the road. We would make a living by setting up wireless internet in RV parks and performing other computer services. Well, the house closed on Monday of this week, we've been living in the RV in a Park in Fort Lauderdale for the last few months, and we're ready to take off!

RV Lessons

Well, it had to happen sometime, and I guess this is as good a time as any. We're having some problems with the RV. The air conditioning just stopped last Thursday. We had it looked at and determined that the problem was electrical. When we took off the cover for the breaker panel you could clearly see burnt wires ... NOT a good sign! We determined to take it to Fort Lauderdale RV Sales and Service first thing Monday morning. We have a couple other things that need to be done as well - install the Bilstein shocks, service the generator, and find a small water leak. They told us they would 'get right on it' since the RV is our home, but it still might take a couple days (and who knows how much money). So, thank goodness the house hasn't sold yet! We do have an 'almost-signed' contract on it though .. yeah! We grabbed all the computer stuff, a few clothes, all the food from the fridge, and moved back into the house for what we hope is just a couple days. The problem apparently has to do with plugging in the RV to power that wasn't sufficient. I'll see if I can get Jim to write the details. Bottom line, Jim ran right out and bought a little device that will test the line before you plug the RV in. Apparently this is something that every RV owner should have and you should never plug in until you've tested it first. OK - lesson 1 of 2,375!

Stowing

My only vacuum cleaner is a dust buster and it takes me all of 15 minutes to do my whole home! Our 30 foot Safari Class C motorhome has everything we need and nothing more. It's so cozy and practical and life in the RV park is a social experience ... a real community. We are settling in to the RV life. 'Settling in' wasn't exactly our plan ... the idea is to go on the road ... but, we take life as it comes. Right now, while the house is still on the market (see it here then click on the listing for Royal Palm Acres) it's best to stay put and keep servicing computer clients in our current business. So, we live in an RV park in the middle of Fort Lauderdale. I want to write a little about what life is like: Yes, we have less space than we did in the house! That's an absolute. But, what did we do with all that space we had? We cluttered it up! I'm actually looking to the RV to teach me the concept of 'a place for everything and everything in it's place'. I have never learned that. In fact, I had a philosophy that everything should be out and in sight. I preferred filing systems that were bins hanging on the walls rather than filing cabinets. If I put something where I couldn't see it - I lost it - plain and simple. Out of sight, out of mind. In the RV it is essential that everything have a place and things be kept in their place. We still leave a few dishes in the sink, and I leave the toothpast and makeup on the small counter around the bathroom sink but, when we start driving, everything MUST be put away. So, we vow to drive the camper at least once each month even while we are 'settled' so that we keep in practice of stowing everything. Hopefully, we will drive somewhere for at least an overnight jaunt, but any kind of driving counts. This month we drove to the workshop of our friend who built our custom cabinetry for the computer, printer, and entertainment system. We would have taken at least a weekend trip except this month we had a weeklong dive trip. We were on a boat in the Bahamas with our dive club Kayuba. The weather was perfect and we had 3-5 beautiful dives every day. You can see photos here.