‘YAHOUIE LOUIE’ IT’S OFFICIAL, OUR HOUSE IS SOLD AND WE ARE ALREADY 92 MILES AWAY:))

HERE WE ARE 336 MILES EAST OF LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA  TONIGHT

Well as it turns out Sunday night was our last sleep in the house.  Monday morning bright and early we hit the decks a runnin.  Busied ourselves all morning with a lot of very last minute things and keeping a close ear to the phone waiting for Andrea at the Pioneer Title Company to call saying everything is complete and the house is 101% officially sold.  That call came at exactly 11:45 while Kelly and I were standing in front of the house checking with each other that we hadn’t forgot to load anything into the Motorhome.

ALL LOADED UP AND ABOUT READY TO GO

Five minutes after that phone call Kelly was in the Jeep and headed for Wickenburg to pick up the final documents at the Title Company.  I did a final check of our shed and closed the doors.  One of the last things I took out of the house was our sirius satellite radio music source and once I did that the house fell silent like a tomb.  In my opinion once the music dies the soul of the house is gone.

EVEN SAID GOOD-BYE TO ALL MY STUFF IN THE SHED

KELLY BROUGHT BACK SANDWICHES AND COFFEE FROM WICKENBURG FOR OUR LAST SIT DOWN ON OUR FRONT PORCH….IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER 2 P.M. AND FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER WE WERE GONE

BELIEVE IT OR NOT I’VE ACTUALLY GOT A BIG SMILE GOING ON HERE BUT IT’S JUST THIS DAM CRANKY OLD FACE OF MINE

KELLY LEFT TONY OUR HOUSE BUYER A LITTLE WELCOME SIGN OUT FRONT

I had quite a time with myself saying good-bye to everything today.  Said good-bye to all my photogenic birdy pals, my wheelbarrow, all my cactus plants, our big Eagle statue, all the chairs on the porch, our backyard patio, my watering pails, all the Mesquite and Palo Verde trees, my bedroom, the birdfeeder, our Saguaros, all the dust on our picture frames, my recliner, all the rocks and stones we had carted home from the desert over the years, the fence I built, our backyard fire pit, my garden tools, my, my, my, well it just went on and on and on seemingly forever.  And with every good-bye I added a thank-you.  I always make these kinds of situations harder on myself than I really need to make them but that’s me and it’s always been me.  I get attached to stuff.  Had just finished doing a walk around the whole property saying good-bye and thank-you to about everything in sight when Kelly rolled in from Wickenburg.  She very smilingly had the final house sale documents in hand as well as a couple sandwiches from the Local Press Sandwich Bar, a couple coffees from McDonalds and 2 huge apple fritter donuts from Bashas.  Wow what a celebration eh.  We went over to our front porch and had us a last sit down as we ate our goodies.

It was exactly 2 p.m. when Kelly checked our American bank account on line and ‘yessssereeeeeee’ there was the house sale money safely in our account and that was it at last.  It was finally over and done.  I hooked up the Jeep, we did one last quick walk through the house, closed the front door, locked it and walked to the Motorhome.  It was 2:18 P.M. as we had the big wheels slowly rolling out through our south gate for the very last time.  Thirty seconds later we were at the end of Ghost Town Road at highway 71 and there in front of us went a red pick-up truck by with someone giving us a big wave.  It was Janna from the Mike and Janna duo probably heading home to North Ranch from the post office.

ROLLING SLOWLY OUT OF OUR YARD I SNAPPED THIS LAST PHOTO OF OUR FRONT YARD CACTUS GARDEN

KELLY CLOSES THE SOUTH GATE BEHIND US….IT WAS OUR LAST LOOK BACK

Well which way on highway 71 will we go.  East or West??  West it was as I made the wide right turn and watched Congress and the Weaver Mountains slowly begin to slide away in my rear side view mirror.  Rolling westward out of town we chatted a bit about our life and times in Congress over the last nearly 5 years.  But that conversation didn’t last long and as expected the reality of change suddenly kicked in, our spirits lifted and as the past drifted further and further away in my mirror we began chattering excitedly about our future travel plans.  Well as excitedly as a couple 70ish people can chatter that is.

HEAD WEST YOUNG COUPLE HEAD WEST

MY OLD FRIEND HARQUAHALA MOUNTAIN LOOMS ON THE HORIZON

WE WERE SOON PAST HARQUAHALA AND EVEN WHEN WE REACHED I-10 AN HOUR LATER I COULD STILL SEE HARQUAHALA FAR OFF IN MY MY REARVIEW MIRROR FADING INTO THE HAZE

Can’t even begin to describe how happy we felt and even though we have driven this stretch of highway 60 west a half dozen times or more we gazed ahead at the distant blue mountain ranges as if we had never seen them before.  The weight of the past year regarding our house sale had lifted and we soared like Eagles down the road.

EVEN PHEEBS IS HAPPY TO BE ON THE ROAD AGAIN GOING SOMEWHERE SEEING AND SNIFFING NEW THINGS

BY THIS POINT WE WERE TRULY SOARING:))

LAST LITTLE SETTLEMENT ON HIGHWAY 60 BEFORE I-10 AND HEY I ONCE NEW A REALLY NICE GIRL BY THAT NAME MANY MANY YEARS AGO……….AND YOU WOULD KNOW WHO THAT IS GB:))

HEADING DOWN THE ON-RAMP FOR I-10

HEADING WEST ON I-10 QUARTZSITE IS JUST MINUTES AHEAD IN A LARGE LONG VALLEY THIS SIDE OF THOSE DISTANT MOUNTAINS

Our first night’s destination was Quartzsite Arizona for an overnighter before moving further west.  Gassed up at the east end Chevron then headed off to find us a quiet spot in the desert.  We have been to Quartzsite many times over the past 10 years so we knew exactly where we were going.  Luckily there is hardly anybody here yet but a month from now there will be thousands upon thousands of RV’ers swarming absolutely everywhere.   Mid January in the Q is the largest RV event in the world.  I like Quartzsite best without the swarm…………..

AHHHHHH, NO SIGNS OF ANY HUMAOIDS ANYWHERE:))

So where will we head for in the morning??  Hard to say and it depends on some decisions based on a couple unexpected variables.  We’ll see how things shake out when the sun comes up.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Police officer pulled this guy over for speeding and told him that his eyes were bloodshot, and asked him if he'd been drinking. The guy said "Your eyes are glazed, have you been eating donuts?"

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How do snowmen get around?
On their icicles.

Q: What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
A: Snowflakes.

What does Santa call reindeer that don't work?
Dinner.

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Christmas is just plain weird. What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree in your living room eating candy and snacks out of your socks?

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Q: What do you call a bunch of grandmasters of chess bragging about their games in a hotel lobby?
A: Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!