We had wanted to get back to this historic Cuban section of Tampa since a quick visit about ten years ago. Plus we had the benefit of having some family along with us. A beautiful warm day to have lunch and visit.
Historic Ybor City & Family
Parks On The Air – First Activation
One of my many hobbies is Amateur (Ham) Radio. And a sub-section of the hobby is setting up a portable radio station in a park and making as many contacts as possible with other ham operators. While I have been a “Hunter” for several months, this was the first time activating a park and have the hunters look for me. I selected a local state park, made reservations for four nights, and had a blast. My radio callsign is KC9LC.
SW Virginia Vacation pt. 2
Well, that month sure got away from me. I had planned to complete this post of our short week RV trip within a few days of the first post. But then my project list and all the other normal summer activities have happened. Such is life. Too many hobbies and interests and not enough time! It has been a great summer so far as we are beginning to see the end of the extreme hot spell and some more fall like temps.
Relaxing in Virginia
We have enjoyed some downtime after our ill-fated attempt to get in some RV travel prior to our wintering in Florida. It has not all been resting up and trying to recover from the nasty Covid virus. Actually, it has been somewhat of a busy four weeks since arriving back at our Virginia home. Relaxing in Virginia….
It’s Been Awhile!
We have really been enjoying the spring and summer in the Virginia mountains and our new mid-century home! So much so that I kind of got away from regular blog updates. It has now been over two months since the last post! I have missed writing and creating posts that document our activities and happenings in life. I will endeavor to catch back up.
Clermont Florida – Our January Home
Clermont Florida – It was nice to arrive on a sunny 80 degree day after a pleasant drive south. Our home for the month of January is the Orlando suburb of Clermont. This is the same place that we stayed during the “shelter in place” order back in February through June. We have several day trips planned and hope to get the Vaccine scheduled in as well. It should be a relaxing and interesting month at our January Home!
Asheboro, NC – first stop winter 2020
We debated whether to travel at our normal slow pace (150 miles and stay a few days), or just bite the bullet and drive like a demon bat and get to the warmer climate. The slower pace won out since we can still get out for hiking and walking about in the 40-50 degree weather. Even with the virus running loose there must still plenty of things to do. So, our first stop was in the small friendly town of Asheboro, NC.
Fall 2020 Updates
We have had another busy three weeks. Some great fall weather with temps in the 70’s and mostly sunny. With a few cold snaps thrown in. I suspect the cold will be making more appearances very soon. We both work on projects during the day and then spend some time relaxing at night watching a program or two. So, here is a quick recap of our last three weeks of transition and our fall 2020 updates…
Updates On Our Home Without Wheels
It has now been six weeks since we gained access to our new to us home in Radford, Virginia. We finally moved in about two weeks ago after the movers brought some furniture from the storage unit. In between and most everyday, we spend our time cleaning, painting, and making upgrades. And all this work is after we have spent the last three plus years on the vacation of a lifetime. We have been blessed. But, we decided it was time for a change, so buying a home base and travel part time seemed right. Today’s blog will provide a quick summary of our new home updates at the Virginia Command Center.
Home Improvement Plans
Pat and I now have access to our new home! We closed on the house on August 3rd, but allowed the sellers to remain until September 3rd to be able to sort, pack and move all of their possessions. Now with full ability to spend some time and inspect everything in more detail we have several short term and some more longer term home improvement plans.
Overall Plan with Rough Timing
We both really love this large old home. So many possibilities. The house is really in good shape but needs a few updates and some TLC. Here is a high level plan for the next few months:
Basement
I have always loved having a full basement. Space to do all the hobbies and entertainment plus extra storage. Although, I am committed to downsizing our clutter even further that we did almost four years ago now. And not building it back up either.
There are five rooms in the large full basement. We had some thought of opening up some more space by taking down an interior wall, but decided to try the current footprint to accommodate our hobbies and for storage.
Paint everything – They currently had old 70’s paneling in some rooms and wallpaper in others. So it is down with the wallpaper and painting everything. We bought a huge inventory of Sherwin Williams paint when it was on sale. We are doing all of this ourselves. It is tiring work but well within my skill level. Most of the painting will be done by the time the flooring is installed.
New luxury vinyl plank flooring – The old floor covering was some very old and worn carpet. The new vinyl plank flooring is an amazing product. Lasts for a millennium (ok, only 50 year warranty), 100% waterproof, and can withstand tremendous weight. It is the 20 mil commercial grade as opposed to the 12 mil type from Lowes. And looks like a beautiful natural hardwood. Having the installation done and glad that we are. The tear out and floor prep are some rough work.
Working with a local Christiansburg flooring store (Floored) we chose a product made by Calivinyl called “classic acacia.” It has a warm wood tone and shows a nice wood grain pattern. The installation is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30th.
Lighting – The current in ceiling florescent lights are not too bad with some new bulbs, but I plan to add several LED can lights as well to brighten some of the darker corners.
Pool Table – The billiards guy will load all the parts and pieces from the storage unit and bring them here for installation in the basement. The slate top is in three sections and when assembled and set up, you can’t tell that it is not one piece.
Main Level
Kitchen – The current kitchen is very nice with cabinetry custom made by a local company (Normans). It is also dated as it was installed in 1989. The counter tops are the blue formica that was popular at that time.
We are having three quotes performed for the kitchen remodeling. Will have to see how much of a dent the quotes put in our budget. This will be the first time that we have had major kitchen updates in all of the homes that we have owned, except for the flip house in Indiana. Might as well get what we want now to enjoy for several years to come (I hope).
Hardwood Floors – I have been cleaning and shining the hardwood floors with a product called Bona. A microfiber mop with a cleaner and shine liquid solutions. A couple of rooms may require refinishing at some point.
More Painting
Many of the main level rooms have some fresh paint, so we do not have to go through every room like the basement. But a few rooms do still have the dreaded 70’s wallpaper. That is time consuming and tiring to remove.
Some other rooms have a color that we may want to change as well. I hope to be able to attack the garage/workshop this fall too, but will focus on the house first.
Movers/Storage Unit
The movers are scheduled for Oct. 5th to bring over our larger pieces of furniture from the storage unit. After that is finished, Pat and I will make several more trips bringing smaller items over to finally empty the unit. The end of that era! I am glad that we paid a little more to have a very clean, heated and air conditioned unit. All of our stuff was in good condition, except for being dusty.
Pool
The prior owners had installed a very large 10,000 above ground pool. It even has a heat pump to keep a pleasantly warm temp. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will be in our long term plans. There is a decent amount of daily work when it is open during the summer months and we plan to take some RV trips over the summer.
So, will decide in the spring whether to sell it or not. We did swim a few times before closing it for the winter last weekend. It is now winterized and covered.
Furniture
The last several weeks have also been busy visiting several furniture places. We sold or gave away most of our old furniture and are using our old bedroom pieces for a guest room.
It was some period of sticker shock adjustment to realize how expensive the really good furniture is these days. In years past, we bought the more reasonable (cheap) stuff as we had kids still on the loose and I was more focused on the savings accumulation years.
These new purchases may be the last major furniture buys before we are off to the senior care facility. Might as well go with some decent stuff. For the living/home theater room, we finally chose a sofa and love seat made by Flexsteel. Pretty cool stuff as it has all kinds of features like motorized adjustable headrest, lumbar, and footrest. With a 10 year warranty on the leather and mechanical parts.
The bedroom furniture selected is an Amish made set from Ohio. They have a three month lead time to custom make all the pieces. We decided on this after seeing how poorly made some of the other competition makes their furniture. It should arrive sometime around Thanksgiving. Pat decided on the Rustic Cherry wood and finish. A darker, red wood in a classic style. We purchased from Vernon at Dutch Boy Furniture in Wytheville, Va.
The new mattress is coming from a company called WinkBed. The custom make each mattress, roll it up, and ship it to you in a big box. I think it was a 150 pound box. Will be interesting getting it inside, but I have a 2-wheel utility cart.
Wrap Up
It has been a busy few weeks after six months of a combination shelter in place in Florida, relocating north to Virginia, and then waiting to get possession. We still have many things to do before a possible winter trip to Florida. It should be fun!
We met another RVer couple and they are both ham radio operators as well. Their motorhome is parked two sites down from us so I reached out and invited them to a 4pm happy hour outside in our small RV yard. Hank and Selene have been full time RVers for over 10 years and continue to enjoy the combination of RV travel plus enjoying making radio contacts with their friends. Safe travels to our new friends.
More detailed pictures in the next update as we begin making some major changes to the place.
Take care and God Bless.