"Whoot Whoot!!"

Our anticipation level has soared upward after receiving new photos from Camp-Inn showing the progress of our 550 Special! Take a tour with me:

The Galley featuring the two under counter storage areas

The additional storage space in place; stainless steel counter tops still undercover!

A fender!  Our front windows are in!  The trailer is cocooned in its protective skin!  Front storage box!

The interior end where our heads will be in our queen bed, with 2 storage cubbies!

The "foot end" of our interior with 5 additional storage cubbies, plus Fantastic Fan!

So, we are getting closer and closer to our plans for our future, our Odyssey, and the excitement is sometimes unbearable!!  When we saw these photos yesterday, we were like two kids getting a present with each photo we saw!  We let our "whoot whoots", "yahoos", and "yeehaws" with each glance at the trailer coming more and more to life!

"Yeehaw"!

Memories

I've been immersing myself into many memories.  As part of our process of unloading material things, I went through my "memory box".  I created this box maybe 45 years ago and regularly placed memorabilia in it as the years went by.  A ticket stub from the Beatles concert I went to in Philadelphia in 1966.  Many notes and letters from my nieces and nephews.  Cocktail napkins from my sisters' marriages many years ago.  Some photos of family.  Birth announcements.  Old journals.  And I looked at and read every piece of this history.

However, the real tear jerker for me was reading notes from my parents to me going back to my childhood.  And my father was a doodler so I can't tell you how many scraps of paper I have with his unique artwork!  Letters that my parents wrote to me in college.  My parents are deceased, so as I read all of this, I did feel like I was in a room with them.  They felt so close.  Hence, the tears. 

It is hard to decide what to keep and what to part with.  A blender is one thing, but the pieces of our lives is another.  I haven't looked at all of these things in years, yet some of it can't be discarded, while other things can.  But having those "keepers" with me will feel like my family is with me.

Making Strides!

So we keep talking about our teardrop-to-come, and our travel plans, and retirement, and camping equipment.  We keep it alive by looking at the Camp-Inn teardrop site and participating in the forums we have discovered.  But, suddenly it isn't so much a vision or dream anymore.  We have received photos from Camp-Inn of our 550 Special being built!  Yes, it is happening!




 
It is really exciting to see the galley taking shape!

 
The 2 door openings are in place and the outside storage box is taking form!  And it is sitting on it's trailer frame!

Camp-Inn will send photos once or twice a week!  We are anxious to see the progression and feel the excitement!

Today we joined Escapees, a national RV club.  This organization offers a mail forwarding service that provides a street address in either Florida or Texas, depending where we establish a domicile.  We need this in order to register our car and trailer, get drivers' licenses, basically to have a home without actually living there.  Texas is looking like our choice, but we're still talking it over.

The little steps we have been taking are getting bigger!  The finish line is more in view now.

Go, Bonnie!

When I found this quote by Bonnie Raitt yesterday, those tiny doubts that creep in from time to time were quickly extinguished. 

"Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste." --
Bonnie Raitt, 64

Now, I accept that it is normal to periodically question ourselves about the teardrop future we are planning.  There's much to do and many unknowns out there.  We could sit here and be relatively comfortable and unadventurous, kind of accepting the status quo as these years go by.  But this sounds like a time-waster. I want to do this Odyssey because I can see my future if I do not.  I will work forever and age day by day, slowing down and losing ambition and inquisitiveness.  You know, 'the same old, same old'. 

Accepting this new chapter in our lives is not a time-waster!  This lifestyle will take us on many trails to beautiful spots, beautiful birds, beautiful people...so many new and exhilarating experiences.  We will no doubt have our challenges too, whether a fight, a mechanical issue, or fatigue.  But we will handle these challenges.  How can you stay mad when you're looking at a snow-capped mountain or giant sequoia tree?! 


So, no time-wasting for us.  "Let's give them something to talk about....".