RETURN TO THE MAINLAND

Four months went by in a flash. July 28th was here before I knew it. We were headed home. Our plan was to stay with our daughter and her family for a few months. We had given ourselves that amount of time to search for an RV we could afford, and make our travel plans. We planned to explore the area between our hometown of Snohomish, WA and Phoenix, AZ,  where a number of Kim’s family members lived. We figured it would take 2-3 months to find the motor-home we wanted.

Well, let me tell you, when the Universe supports your intentions, boom -  things happen. The first day we went window shopping for an RV, we found one we really liked. We had started looking at Class A Motor Homes. We saw a number we really liked, but we out of our budget range. Kim had once talked about getting a 5th wheel, but I said no. I wanted to have a small tow vehicle.

Well, never say never. We were looking at various options at Poulsbo RV, in Everett, Washington. http://www.poulsoborv.com/  Bob Anderson was the salesman we were dealing with. He patiently showed us a number of options, and just as we were narrowing things down, I thought it would be a good idea to look at 5th wheels just in case. I hadn’t been in a 5th wheel rig in about 20 years, and let me tell you, things have changed.

So it was back to square one. I much preferred the feeling of a 5th wheel.  We found one we liked at the Everett location. It was brand new and really maxed out our budget allotment. Bob looked online and found one he thought we’d like up at the Mount Vernon store. We took a drive up there, looked at it, and knew it was the one. The ceilings were higher, and it had a more spacious layout. It felt more like a home. A much littler home than I was used to, but a home nonetheless.

Next stop, a truck to pull it with. We made a few calls, checked a few websites, and found a Ford F-250 Super Cab LB SRW truck at Bickford Motors, right in our home town. http://www.bickford.net/ Our salesman was Dan Hudson, and before I knew it, we were the proud owners of a new (to us) truck.

A quick trip to the bank for two cashier’s checks, and we had our rig or rigs. I’m learning the lingo here. Apparently the 5th wheel is a rig. The truck itself is a rig. And together in combination the truck and 5th wheel trailer is a rig. If Kim’s Aunt Maria and Uncle Bill were travelling with us in their motor home, we would then have a traveling caravan of rigs – I guess.  Like I say, I'm still learning the lingo.

And to top it all off, I knew the Universe and Angels were with us because the truck color (Arizona Beige Metallic) matched the trim on the 5th Wheel , which by the way is a NuWa Hitchhiker II 32.5 UKTG LS – translated for other virigins means it is made by NuWa, the model is Hitchhiker II and it is 32.5 feet long with a U shaped kitchen and triple glides. Glides apparently are the same thing as slide outs. We have two in the ‘living room’ and one in the ‘bedroom’.

The process of finding and purchasing the rig, which we thought would take a few months, took less than 2 weeks, from “We’ll take it” to “Holy crap – we have to drive this home now?” I actually suggested that they deliver it for us, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards. It was a matter of just jumping in and doing it. Or rather for Kim to jump in and do it, and for Betsy to follow behind in the little Ford Focus thinking there is no way in hell she will ever be driving that thing!

THE HISTORY

In late 2008, my husband Kim and I decided to try living in Hawaii. At that time, I was the Program Administrator for Angel Therapy Inc/Doreen Virtue LLC. There were a number of classes being held in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii the next year, and it appeared I would be traveling from the Seattle area to Kona almost monthly in 2009. Our children were grown and on their own. There were no grandchildren on the horizon, and we weren’t expecting any for 1-2 years. Kim, who had retired from the commercial fishing industry, and was currently working as a photocopy repair technician, left his job to come with me to Hawaii. Sounds like a dream, right? We packed up our household belongings and put them in storage. Our daughter and her family moved into our house, and we hopped a plane to Kailua-Kona, off on a new adventure.

The only thing certain in life, aside from death and taxes, is change. Two months later, change happened. I parted ways with the company I had worked for. Kim and I found ourselves scratching our heads and thinking, “Okay, what’s next?” We knew we did not want to go back to working traditional jobs. We discovered we liked the warmth and sunshine of Hawaii. The tradewinds – yes; the humidity – not so much. We had four months left on our condo lease, so we took the time to talk about our next step. Kim had always wanted to travel and see the US and Canada. I found that I didn’t like being so far away from our family and friends. After crunching some numbers, we discovered we could afford to buy a motor home and travel for a few years. Kim set about researching the full time RV lifestyle online. I primarily sat on my butt and let him. I had a number of writing projects floating around in my head, and I used my time to get some of them down on paper. After all, we still had four months to do all this planning.