Sitting too Long.......

The last time I took the coach out was on July 7th. After that, I drove it twice just to move it to my neighbors driveway when I had my garage sale.  It has sat for almost 2 months without moving. The house batteries are not charged. The inside lights do not work. I should have started it up a few times or driven to a local park - or something- just to keep the house batteries charged.  I was so busy working on the house and dealing with other stuff that I didn't think about it.

I don't like using the generator. It worked at the dealer when I picked up the coach, they turned it on to show me what button to press inside the coach. In June, when I tried to use it in South Padre, it did not work, my son-in-law and his brother tried to get it started without any luck. I didn't go anywhere to have it looked at because I don't want to use it anyway. Solar panels can be expensive, but maybe I will get them anyway.

Today, I plugged the coach into an outlet in my garage for a few hours so I could turn on the lights.

I've been moving a lot of stuff out of the house. I've decided NOT to have another garage sale, it's too much work and I've already sold most of the "good" stuff.  I'm taking books and magazines to the library and have donated some shoes to "Share Your Soles".  The Animal Welfare Agency near my home will take donations of towels, sheets and blankets.

I received a postcard in the mail from an organization that will pick up "stuff" on Monday Sept. 26th, all I have to do is call them at least 48 hours before the pickup date. They ask you to place the items "curbside". The only problem with this is Monday is my trash pickup day - how do I make sure the donations don't get picked up by the trash collectors. They want you to attach part of the postcard to the donation. I can probably make some copies of the postcard - as I will have more than one box to put out.

Of course, some items are going into the coach. I've been sitting out in the coach, trying to figure out what I need to take and where is the best place to put everything. I still have empty cabinet and closet space, I don't want to take too much stuff with me, but I don't want to sell or donate something and then have to buy it again later on.

Since I have the space, I will take some of my sewing and craft supplies. I won't be taking my sewing machine, it's big and heavy and doesn't always work right. I enjoy doing "handwork" and can work on small projects.

Although I don't plan on spending a lot of time in cold weather, I am taking my favorite pair of boots and some warmer jackets. And some hats, scarfs and gloves. I am thinking that the space under the dinette seat will be a good place to keep these cold weather items.

Travel books are still an issue. I am ok with limiting other books to one or two and exchanging them along the way. But, the travel books are hard to part with, even though I can get a lot of the information online. I am not always online and I like to look at the maps and information on the pages, adding to the list of travel books are the campground directory and the Passport America and KOA directories.

I have an accordian type folder with tags for all of the states to hold my maps and a limited number of travel brochures. Luckily this fits nicely into a denim totebag that I have, this makes it easier to carry and keeps it from expanding too much. I will store this bag in the space between the passenger seat and the dinette seat.

It's challenging and exciting to be able to fit all of my possessions into such a small space.

What do I really need? What can I do without? What will I miss?
I did not miss anything when I was traveling in the coach for 5 weeks in June and July.

What will I gain?   "Wide Open Spaces......."

I want to leave NOW.  Of course, I'm not ready - still packing up stuff to donate and my daughter is coming in from Colorado on October 3rd to help me pack the things that will be shipped to her house.

So now I am hoping for someone to fall in love with my house, someone who likes to garden and someone who needs an extra large garage for puttering around in. Small house, big yard. The great outdoors.

Thoughts and Quotes..........

Most folks are about as HAPPY

as they make up their minds to be.

                                -Abraham Lincoln

Seek FREEDOM

and become captive of your Desires

Seek DISCIPLINE

and find your Liberty

                                  -Frank Herbert



xxxx   xxxx
When you live in your
 HEART
magic happens
ooo

Northern Exposure

Do you remember the TV show, "Northern Exposure" about a small Alaskan town?

I liked this show, although I probably only saw a dozen episodes. I don't own any DVD's, but was thinking of getting the entire series of this show on DVD, to take in the RV. It would give me something to watch on rainy days or on days I can't get an internet signal.

I recently came across some quotes or sayings from the show.

A person has three choices in life.

You can swim against the tide,

and get exhausted

or

You can tread water and

let the tide sweep you away

or

You can swim with the tide,

and let it take you where it wants to go.

It's just human.

We all have the jungle inside of us.

We all have wants and needs and desires,

strange as they may seem.

If you stop to think about it,

we're all pretty creative,

cooking up all of these fantasies,

it's like a kind of poetry.

I guess what I am trying to say is,

I don't think you can

measure life in terms of years.

I think longevity doesn't necessarily

have anything to do with happiness.

I mean happiness comes from

facing challenges and

going out on a limb and taking risks.

If you're not willing to take a risk

for something you really care about,

you might as well be dead.

We hold in our hands,

the most precious gift of all:

FREEDOM

The freedom to express our art. Our Love.

The freedom to be who we want to be.

We are not going to give that freedom away

and no one shall take it from us!

I don't remember the actors name, on the show he would
 report the town news and offer up this type of advice
 on the towns radio station.



Breaking Free

What is my calling in life? Do we all have a calling in life?

I've been working more this tax season than I have in the past 3 years. I sold my tax practice in January of 2008. I have slowly been increasing the amount of tax work I am doing every year. It's seasonal and I really do enjoy the work, and since its cold and snowy and rainy with no sunshine, I may as well be making a little money because I can't do much outside.

I know I don't want to be in the Midwest for winters anymore, and I want the freedom to travel around.

I have been telling everyone around me about my plans to sell my house and get an RV and travel, I mention workamping at the National Parks and of plans to go to Alaska in 2012.
Doing taxes comes easily for me,  I have a sixth sense about helping people with their taxes, pulling info out of them, asking them about things that pertain to their taxes that they didn't think about and didn't originally tell me about.  But, is this something that I should be doing forever? Should I try to get a part time "tax preparers job" when I am out roaming the country?  Will I ever stop doing taxes...............

I'm tired of thinking about it, and hope that once I am out of here, that the decisions will make themselves clearer to me.  I'm hoping that some freedom and open spaces will help me to see what my next step on this journey will be............