Time table moved up.....

[chockwald]

Originally the plan was to move into our Newell to begin fulltiming the fall of 2011. That time table has just been accelerated to February 1st, 2011! Elaine and I have been talking about this since the summer, and now things have finally lined up for us to take the next step. Two of our children have agreed to lease our Ontario, CA home starting that date, which will in turn free up money in our budget to pay off the balances on our short term debt before we retire. We're looking for a park hosting position in one of the local county RV parks, but will be "renting" a spot until something opens up. We'll continue to work at our paying jobs, and live locally until next October and then hit the road.

Soooooo, we've got about 5 weeks to wrap things up in our home, and remove the stuff our kids don't want to use, which will really be much easier than renting to strangers and having to clear out the house completely. We did a major house cleaning about 10 months ago, so the hardest part is done.

We are very excited about beginning this new phase of our lives, and really looking forward to visiting as many of our Newell friends in the next few years as possible as we work our way around this great country. If you are interested, we have a blog called "Our Newell Adventure" that I started about a year ago to document our travels, and it's URL is: http://whatsnewell.blogspot.com. We hope you will enjoy it!

[folivier]

Congrats on the new timetable. I know you both are excited to get started on this next phase of life. It will be interesting!
We're still hoping the house will sell. Had a few lookers but no offers yet. Oh well, we'll keep it listed through the summer then if nothing we'll just keep it.
Merry Christmas to you and Elaine and all of your family.
Forest & Cindy

[smagown]

Congratulations Clarke!
Ya'll come on over.
Merry Christmas.

[rheavn]

Not another California escapee! Oh where, Oh where have all the taxpayers gone. Remember you have a full hookup place in the midwest when you start traveling. Also let me know if you get hooked up with a park in SoCal as we are coming back in May.

Just another Cal escapee.....................

[chockwald]

Forest, we thought about selling, but it's just easier to lease right now. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Steve Magown....we'll be there before you know it! Merry Christmas!

Steve and Suzy....we can't wait to escape from the People's Republic of California. We'll keep you posted on where we end up until we escape!

[Richard and Rhonda]

Sounds great.

Come to WV in the spring !!!

[HoosierDaddy]

Always a hook-up here in Indiana!
Dean

[chockwald]

Richard....looking forward to seeing West Virginia ever since I heard that John Denver song years ago. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Dean, thanks for the invite.....Indiana is a state we plan to see....have never been there. Merry Christmas!

[Richard and Rhonda]

Oh yeah,

Rhonda and I stumbled (not literally) into some interesting wine country as we drove across Missouri. Keep it in mind.

[chockwald]

Just returned from an interview to become a camp host at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park, where we have stayed 3 times in 2010. They recently installed 6 rental cabins next to the RV Park and need a new host to take care of them. Apparently we are the only ones being considered, so we are excited about that.....will keep our fulltiming costs down as we would live rent and utilities free while we are hosts there! They asked us to give them a list of sites we would prefer. Since we'll have the trailer with us and our two cars we need one of the 80+ foot spots, of which there are many. Should know within the next couple of weeks.

[folivier]

Good luck with the interview! Hope it works out for yall.

[zcasa]

Clarke, just watched your Utube of your walk through the Park. Looks very nice and I can see why that is a priority to try and get it nailed down. Your plans are coming together nicely. Hope that you hear the news soon that you can be a host there.

David

[prairieschooner]

Did I hear Ralley at Rancho Jurupa?

[chockwald]

Just got our background check packets in the mail today from Riverside County. The County has given approval to add an additional camp host site (for us!!!) for the new cabins. Once we pass our background checks we will be given a start date, which I assume, based on conversations with the on site Ranger, to be February. This is great news as we are just 10 days away from moving into the Newell....WOW....10 days....

Just to clarify......we still plan to hit the road next winter. This camp host gig will give us a rent free place to stay in the area until Elaine and I officially retire next Fall. Originally we were going to head immediately to the New England area to see the leaves change this year, but now we are thinking about staying in So. Cal. until after Thanksgiving, and then heading south for the winter to visit friends in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, etc. Then, sometime in early Spring we will then begin heading toward the Pacific Northwest where we plan to stay through the summer, and then begin heading east.......we'll see what develops.

More news to follow.......

[rheavn]

Good Luck on your new endeavor & hope to meet up with you in the near future.

[prairieschooner]

If you need references...........................

[chockwald]

Went in for our "Life Scan", which is essentially finger printing, and FBI background check this past Monday (1/24). Should get the go ahead from Human Resources today, or Monday, and then we can move our coach into Rancho Jurupa.

Officially moved into the Newell Wednesday afternoon, and have slept the past two nights in the Newell as the kids move their stuff in and rearrange our home to their liking. We are parked in front with 15amps of power.

Spent several hours yesterday afternoon and evening making the stuff I want with me fit in a much smaller space. The coach is a little crowded right now, but should be clutter free by this evening.

We are both very excited about opening this new chapter in our lives.....

[folivier]

Congrats!
I can only imagine moving everything into the Newell. We've spent quite a bit of time getting rid of stuff in order to sell and downsize. And we have a LOT left to get rid of!
Enjoy your new lifestyle and good luck.

[prairieschooner]

After living aboard a boat for 13 years we found that if something comes in...another something must go!

[chockwald]

Wow! It's January 31st.....already??? Moving into Rancho Jurupa today. Very hectic.....moving a lot of "stuff" to our office warehouse for further sorting in the coming days. We've actually been living in the Newell since last Wednesday as the kids move in, and we continued moving stuff out to the garage. They are in completely, and we are out completely now. Elaine has done a wonderful job of reorganizing our cupboards and pantry to fit everything in for live aboard status as opposed to travel status. More to be done tonight, but we are getting there. I know now why we didn't move for 26 years....I hate moving!

[rheavn]

Well Clarke look at the bright side----your next move will only involve starting it up & driving to your next home.

[chockwald]

Correcto mundo....Steve

[express1]

Connie and I will need to include your new location on our next venture that way....we promise no fires!!

[prairieschooner]

how about switches?

[chockwald]

Nothing is automatic on my coach except the transmission, so throwing the wrong switch involves no dire consequences.

Matt and Connie, would love to have you. Here is our view this morning....by the way, this park accepts Passport America Mon-Thur....50% off. And there are six cabins for rent...

[prairieschooner]

How cool! another chapter in your lives. The park looks a bit barren right now but that could be a wlcome change. Last week we were told that Emerald Cove as 10% away from being full, since then it has turned cold (not quite 70 during the day) and starting to empty a bit. Still much better than some of those pictures on the news.

[chockwald]

Just finished one week as a fulltimer......now when I say I'm going home it means something totally different.....and it is a good "different".