We Now Have a Home Base & Other Stuff

It seems like it has been a long time since my last blog update – and it has been! There have been many activities and achievements and there has also been some long periods of not much of anything. This update will try to summarize all the main events of the last month. At the top of the list is we now have a new (to us) home to use as our home base for continued RV travels. Plus some other stuff to include as well.

Transition Time

It has been three years and three months since we sold our large 4-bedroom house in Christiansburg, Va. I also retired from a finance position in my 43 year career at Federal-Mogul in the same week that we left our home and moved into our brand new 41 foot 5th wheel coach.

We are both very happy that we chose to take this slightly unconventional early retirement route. We have been to so many cool places and have seen so much that we never could have done without being in the fulltime RVer mode. It was a once in a lifetime adventure. Free to travel full time without an empty house to be concerned with back home.

Why end the full time travel now? Our most recent travel planning was to take two more years to see the far west states and then a long loop up into Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Obviously, the Chinavirus was the catalyst to decide on changing to a part time travel plan. Pat and I both enjoy good health, but are in the over 65 group, so would rather stay on the conservative side instead of risking exposure.

From reading other RV travel blogs, I understand that many national and state parks have either closed or else limited their operations. In addition, some of the northeast states are requiring a 14 day stay for travelers from 31 states with higher infection rates.

Many places of interest are still either closed or have limitations. And of course wearing a mask is being mandated by local governments when inside and even outside at many places. There have even been reports of small towns not welcoming any out of state visitors from states with higher Covid rates. It has to be difficult for them as tourism can be a large financial benefit.

Our plan now is to take a few months off the road and focus on fixing up the house with a few updates. Perhaps a trip south in January to March this winter. An escape from the frozen tundra! All depending on how the Chinavirus situation looks.

Wearing my financial hat, the purchase of a home is just a change in our investment strategy. A shift in some funds from stocks/bonds to real estate. Some would say a more conservative portfolio. Stocks/bonds would usually return 8-10% while real estate is more in the 4-5% gain per year. But, who really knows in the current crazy markets and times we live in.

Home Purchase

So with the decision made, we began touring many homes that were on the market. Actually, there were not that many on the market for Covid reasons. We did see about 8-10 houses that all were close to our criteria.

And our criteria was: 1) all the living areas and laundry on the main level. A ranch style. 2) A full basement for all the hobbies, 3) Two car garage for cars and workshop, 4) Close to town and grocery stores, 5) Quiet location away from busy roads. 6) Close to our kids in Christiansburg/Radford area.

The house that met the criteria is located in Radford, Virginia, just 20 minutes southwest of our prior home in Christiansburg. Both in the southwest part of the commonwealth. The owners had not listed it or retained a realtor. In fact they had only recently decided to sell it and move to Florida.

It is a little older home being built in 1956 and then added on to twice over the years. The last major remodel appears to be from 1989. Including the finished basement, it has over 4,000 sq feet. It will be a major change from our current 500 sq foot condo on wheels!

I plan to provide some future detailed blog posts on the home’s updating progress. It will be a change from my normal RV travel posts to a home improvement blog. At least for a few months. Our new normal. 🙂

We closed on the home on Aug. 3rd and gain possession on September 1st. In the meantime, we are hunkered down at our RV park at Ft. Chiswell Virginia. Spending many of our days looking at furnishings and planned upgrades.

Calvin & Suzanne Visit

Our full time RV’ing friends, Calvin and Suzanne stopped by the Ft Chiswell park for a nice 6-day visit. It did rain many of the days, but we were able to work in several 4:30 happy hours and a trip to Fancy Gap for a lunch and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was great to see these guys again! We traveled together to the northeast in 2018 and to New Mexico and Colorado in 2019. Then we spent a few Covid restricted months together in Clermont Florida. That was a crazy three months!

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Pat’s Indiana Trip

Pat made the week long trip to see her mother in Indiana and make 100+ meals for her freezer. This was one of the 2-3 visits per year to make sure that her freezer is full for her 92 year old mother. I stayed behind to work on some house planning, besides my mother’s place is not currently allowing visits, so I will continue the frequent phone calls.

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Wythe Shooting Range

This nice range is about 20 minutes from here and provided some much needed target practice with the new Glock 19 gen 4. It is chambered in 9mm, the same as my Beretta 92fs that I have had since sometime in the 1990’s.

I’m looking forward to getting back into trap shooting again at one of the local gun clubs. Chasing the clay pigeons with my 12 gauge has always been a lot of fun. Along with the competition with the other club members.

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If you have not followed the news, this year there has been a significant increase in firearm purchases followed by an ammo shortage. It is hard to find ammo these days and what is available has doubled in price. Many of the purchases are from first time buyers. All due to the riots and looting across the country. Mostly in the large blue state cities, but some also spilling over to the suburbs.

I would encourage everyone to support the 2nd amendment and obtain some good training along with it.

Wrap Up

That’s all for this update. I’ll try to have some more frequent blog posts as we gain access to the house and begin making updates. I’ll be documenting the changes. We also hope to take a small 3 day RV trip in the fall. A fall foliage trip.

Take care and God Bless.

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