Voilà! Asheville and gone again...

 Asheville and then gone...

For Part One of this odyssey, click here.

This is Part Two where my friend and I leave Asheville after dropping off my car load of stuff and head South. 

From Asheville we headed to Saint Augustine for the night. It was too long of a drive. We ended up having a decent seafood dinner at a loud touristy seafood restaurant in Saint Augustine Beach after a very harrowing wrong turn into a dead end street. Poor Roger thought he could get through behind a building but..oops!..that was not the case. He went about half way down the street before he realized it was a total dead end, not even a cul-de-sac to turn around in.  Which meant he had to back up 27 feet of RV with another 10ft of car hauler on this narrow street at apparently the exact hour all of the residents arrived home. And no one was interested in waiting for us, instead they just yelled at us because "people are always turning around here, it says 'no outlet'". Ok. Thanks. That was so helpful. We made a mistake. No one died and nothing was run over. Roger persevered and was still smiling once we got turned around. Whew.

Also, there was zero social distancing or mask wearing at that touristy restaurant. Thank goodness for being vaccinated. 

Saturday we arrived at the Lion Country Safari RV Park outside West Palm Beach where Belle lives with her very patient and sweet boyfriend. We dumped the RV, loaded up the dog (Miss Mina stayed behind in the air conditioned comfort of the RV)and headed to the Hilton Canopy hotel which backs up to Belle's condo. We were immediately whisked away to dinner at PB Catch. Lovely and quiet and not touristy- the perfect antidote to the previous night. The seafood was excellent. Drinks followed at the Leopard Lounge. Check out their cool ceiling. 

I loved this painted ceiling with faces. 

 After dinner Belle and Mitchell came back to the room to see Carlos and it was such a happy reunion. Roger's daughter, also living in West Palm for the winter, stopped to see Carlos, too, as she had lived with him last summer.  I'm sure Carlos was totally confused but also so happy to see all of these people that had disappeared on him.

And Sunday was sad. Belle came out to the RV park to see Mina and then Roger and I made a mad dash through Lion Country Safari. Well, as mad a dash as you can make on a busy Sunday. 

Belle looking a little two-headed with me behind her. 

But look how happy she is to see Mina.

Belle brought both Carlos and Mina home as a teenager and then promptly moved away-

 leaving her pets with me. 

Sigh. Isn't that how it always goes? 

This ostrich pecked at everyone's decals.

A whole line of cars was waiting for him to get out of the road and 

he took advantage and inspected everyone's windshield.

Once the animals had been seen, Roger and I  parted ways.  He headed to his daughter's to pick up some furniture to haul back to Colorado. I drove to Tampa to see Bunny. While I am confident that I don't want to live in Colorado full time, I am certainly going to miss my friend.  I'm working on convincing him he can live in two places. 

Miss Bunny was just as happy as Belle to see her family pets. Carlos was not quite as welcoming to Bunny's boyfriend without Roger around. Carlos takes his family protection VERY seriously. Fortunately, that was short lived. 

Me, Carlos, Bunny.  

He really was happy to see her even though he looks concerned here. 

Carlos frequently looks concerned. 

We had a lovely quick dinner at the boyfriend's parents' house and then I came back to her house and crashed. All of that driving just caught up with me. 

I stayed an extra day at Bunny's house, ran some errands and then met the sweet boyfriend and family for another dinner at Bartaco. Confusing ordering online but the tacos were yummy. I just wanted someone to take my order, though, rather than figure out how or if I had ordered my dinner. 

Tuesday morning Carlos, Mina and I were loaded in the Subaru and off. 

All of this traveling is just exhausting.

My goal was Savannah. I had booked a boring hotel on the highway since I had the animals with me. But then I had an Aha! moment. I REALLY wanted to see downtown Savannah. It's hard to leave Carlos in a hotel room though because he opens the door and lets himself out. But I downloaded a walking tour on my phone, told Mina to behave and off the two of us went to explore Savannah. And O!  Driving into downtown I had the instinct to just ditch Asheville and move to Savannah. How beautiful. 

There were statues...

It even SMELLED good. We gave up on the tour pretty quickly- I got turned around reading the map- and just wandered. So many people out, the parks are gorgeous, the downtown historic district was amazing and I just don't understand why I'm not living in one of those beautiful historic townhomes.   I WILL go back. It's also on my Zillow morning real estate porn list now.

And trees dripping Spanish moss...

Plus historic buildings with gorgeous stairs.

The next day I loaded up the animals and decided to visit Tybee Island before we left the area. Only 30 minutes from downtown, it seemed a shame not to go. But...it turns out dogs are not allowed on the beaches at all. So I went to the Lighthouse-climbed all 150 stairs to the top- and took a picture of the beach at least. It looked so inviting.  Again, I will go back.

The Tybee Island Lighthouse.

My legs were sore for dayyyyyyssss.

And the beach. No dogs allowed, $300 fine. Bah humbug.

And then...

we headed North West.   Arrived in Asheville early evening. And have been here ever since. A total of 3200 miles traveled to get here.

I did wake up the first morning in this very sparsely furnished apartment and think "what the Hell am I doing?"  I have a blow up air mattress, two chairs and a folding table. One friend in Asheville, another couple in Hendersonville just 30 minutes away are my only connections. 

Then I remembered the rule I used when I moved to Colorado full time. Do it like you mean it.

Also I reminded myself that there is no law that says I can't change my mind. This is an exploratory adventure. I can live just about anywhere. This is my time to figure out where that will be. 

So I researched parks, museums, contacted a woman about a silver working class, joined MeetUp, and  perused Bumble. (Bit of a waste unless I'm looking for Conservative Christians...a group I have soured on.)  Took the first two days to put the apartment in order and stock the kitchen.  Joined a MeetUp group for Taco Tuesday. Met some new people. Visited the arboretum and walked Carlos until we both dropped. It's exhausting being social after a solid year spent with basically one person. But.  I am doing it like I mean it.

So much green at the Arboretum.

Friend Diana is coming this weekend. I am slowly getting plans in place for the rest of the month. I do want to go spend some days in Savannah. I've heard its a great place to visit, but not so great to live. I need to see for myself. 

Voilà! I'm in Asheville...

 Voilà! I'm in Asheville, North Carolina.

O. If only it were that simple. 

I am in Asheville. Sweet friend Roger drove me here and by that I mean he DROVE every single mile of the trip to Asheville and then down to West Palm. The little Subaru was on a car hauler behind the RV, loaded with my stuff. 

This was terrifying. One of those situations where you better hit your mark.

Eeeeeee!

I did it! Whew!

Carlos, Mina and I sat in comfort in the front seat of the RV and helped navigate. Well, I sat in the seat and helped navigate. Mina sat in my lap most of the trip or under the emergency brake and she tried to sit in her most preferred spot- under the brake pedal-but I think we convinced her that was a bad idea. (That involved the hand brake and some yelling with me butt up trying to pull her back out.)

Mina Kitty tucked up in my lap. Like having a nice warm blanket.

We FINALLY convinced her this was NOT the place to sleep.

It wasn't pretty though.

Carlos slept under my feet, for some reason terrified that the "house" was moving. He was ok on the highway but the stopping and starting absolutely put him over the edge. 

Eventually the animals settled under my feet and under the emergency brake.

For about 2000 miles.

We left Saturday, April 17 from Golden with one minor problem. The RV stabilizers did not retract so they were dragging on the ground causing Carlos much anguish. What a racket! A quick stop at Camping World where Roger pulled in, asked the first people he saw if they could help and they did. I'm not even sure those people worked there but they knew what to do. 

The first night was spent in Salina, KS at the Hog Valley RV and Treehouse Resort. Expectations were low but it was actually a lovely spot.  On our way we stopped at the Dish Room in Burlington, CO for dinner. OMG. Out in the middle of nowhere and they had Wagyu beef and seafood and it was excellent. Definitely recommend if you are going that way.   We arrived at our campsite at 3am due to the delay with the stabilizers. Roger was still smiling. I was in awe. 

Next was Bentonville, AR and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Please go. Alice Walton of the Walmart family founded it as a non profit charitable organization and it is admission free due to her. The visit is worth it just for the buildings and grounds. Dogwoods and redbud trees were blooming as we walked the extensive trails that were dotted with  sculpture. Inside there was a special exhibit of Crafting America which sparked a debate of what was art and what was craft.  Definitely most of what was in the exhibit was labeled craft but qualified as art in my book.

Crystal Bridges Museum

Look at those red buds. The blooming trees were magnificent.

That ceiling!

The landscaping! 

I had never heard of this place.

Now I want to go back.

In Memphis the next night we stayed at the Graceland RV park right across the street from Graceland. We figured we would just take Lyft into downtown Memphis, have some Barbecue and then Lyft back. After a lovely messy dinner at BB King's BBQ we stayed for the live music. Wandering outside at 10:30pm (granted it was a Monday) we tried to order a Lyft to go home. Nada. Crickets. Nothing. I tried Uber. Nothing. We wandered over to the Peabody Hotel thinking maybe we might have better luck there. Nope. I asked the valet and he gave me the number for some taxis. Nope. A couple of policeman were walking out of the hotel and I stopped one, asking if he had any suggestions. At this point it was almost midnight and we had come close to resigning ourselves to just getting a hotel room and going back to the RV in the morning. The police conferred and finally offered to take us back to the RV park as long as we didn't mind sitting in the back of their patrol car. Being desperate, that sounded like a splendid idea. 

After over an hour of trying to find a ride home, 

we finally were locked into the back of a police car and returned to the RV park.

Let me just say, the back of a police car is not limo material. Pretty sure no AC was coming our way. The seats were the plushest molded plastic, no seat belts. At least the plexiglass divider was clean! And no, there are no handles on the inside of back seat police car doors, so we had to wait for them to let us out. They even managed to miss the turn so we were treated to a flash of the lights and a squeal of siren. Even though we assured them it was perfectly fine to drop us at the entrance to the park, they insisted on driving in and letting us off at our door at almost 1 in the morning.  The neighbors were giving us the side eye the next morning. So. While there has been plenty of police brutality and police aggression in the news recently, there are good cops out there. We had two of the nicest cops ever. 

We did make a run through Graceland the next morning as Roger had not seen it and EVERYONE needs to at least see the Jungle Room once.

Me, in the Jungle Room, at Graceland.

I am not wearing suspenders, that's my iPad guide.

And obviously, RV travel is not the best for hair styling. O well.

A stop in Nashville was uneventful because apparently everything shuts down on a Tuesday due to COVID. That's ok, we were ready to have a quiet night. 

Finally we arrived in Asheville.  We unloaded my Subaru which had been lounging in back of the RV on a car hauler. All of the stuff inside was dropped at the apartment which will be my home for the next few months.  We took my "landlady" out to dinner at the Lobster Trap that evening as a mini thanks. Yum. It's been ages since I've had lobster and this did not disappoint.

And then....

the trip continued. 

Sixteen hundred miles down. Another 700 miles to go in the RV before Roger and I parted ways.

More to come.

The Next Step...

 The next step....

is sorting. And more sorting. Tossing. Paring down. Examining the flotsam and jetsam of my life. 

I truly thought I was well prepared for the move. Everything was in a box or wrapped or otherwise contained. Multiple trips were made to the dump and Goodwill. The local thrift store bought most of my furniture for pennies. Beds were given away.

But no. 

I had ordered a 15 foot moving truck from UHaul  A real live moving van could not get down my road or out of my drive. Fifteen feet seemed plenty big. I mean, I had given away or sold most of my furniture. I lined up a neighbor and a "professional" to actually move the boxes. Friend drove the UHaul down from Golden since that is where everything was going for storage.

Moving day arrived and I panicked realizing there was still the artwork to secure. A quick text to my sweet sweet neighbor meant last minute help. The van and friend arrived. At the appointed hour, neighbor showed up. And where was my "professional" mover that had stopped by, looked at all my stuff, agreed to a price and assured me he would be at my house at 3pm?  I texted him at 3:15pm and asked if he was on his way. His reply:

"Got caught up down in Canon City I can't make it sorry I just been busy"

Cañon City is an hour away. What an asshole. That is the nicest thing I could say. Not even the decency to give me a heads up. 

So. Friend and neighbors and I loaded the truck. And realized that basically the cabin had 3 levels plus a shed and a 15' truck wasn't big enough. Five hours later, the truck was filled, the excess was stored in neighbor's garage and we were all exhausted.  I can not say enough about how fabulous everyone was. No complaining, no disappearances, absolutely everyone had an attitude of "well, we need this to be done so let's do it."  Honestly you cannot buy friends like that. I am so fortunate. 

Closing was the following day and I got to meet the young couple who bought the cabin. It was a bit shocking to hear they had not SEEN the place until that morning. Their brother/realtor had looked at it and sent them pics. I'm sure they were having flashes of "why the Hell are we buying a house in the middle of nowhere?" but it's to be a second home and retreat for their extended family and small kids so it will be perfect. 

After closing, friend drove the UHaul to Golden while I followed in my car, and then we spent the day unloading. The next morning we got a trailer and drove back the 3.5 hours to the neighbor's garage and picked up the rest of the stuff. And drove back. And unloaded it.  Not one grumble. Not one dirty look. He deserves an award for patience. That was Saturday when we finally finished. We had started loading on Wednesday.

Not one photograph was taken of this process. Didn't have the energy.

And then what do you do when everything you own is in storage and you have no job? Take a trip!

I left Tuesday for Texas to see the mama and get my hair highlighted. 

Me and the mama, masked but not socially distanced. 

Hey! I have priorities! I also managed to see a couple of friends, the boy and my dermatologist. And I came back to Colorado blonde and less wrinkled! Friend joined me on Wednesday and I took him on the "Heritage Tour" of where I grew up, past my church and elementary school, and even down to the coast to see our old creek house. 

          The house that made me.

Now back in Golden, I have returned to sorting and tossing. I will be apartment camping in Asheville, NC for a few months. The only things that can go with me are what will fit in the Subaru. It will be towed behind friend's RV. The dog and cat will get to ride in comfort. What do you actually NEED for three months?  Some fold up chairs and a table? Art supplies? Dishes?  I plan on giving myself a very limited budget and see just how well I can temporarily furnish this apartment. It will be an ADVENTURE.

Every morning, the real estate porn pops into my inbox.  If Asheville is what I hope, I will look for a house. Friend and I are navigating a long distance relationship and how that will work. He is supportive of my need to get out of the snow and find someplace that is mine.

I'm writing a new chapter.

Once again. Sold!

SOLD!

Once again, the cabin has sold. This time for real. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.  Closing on April 1. All of the inspections have been passed, haggling has been done, appraisal was good. The problem in the Fall turned out to be the foundation which was a surprise since 11 years ago the cabin was declared to be a "solid well built little" place. Hmmm. Pretty sure nothing changed with the foundation in that time period.  

A "For Sale" sign out front. 

It's covered in snow right now.

So...I took the house off the market and tried to find someone to shore up the place. Ha! Finding someone to do the work was like finding unicorns in the grocery store. I finally decided to come down on the price and see what might happen...  Two weeks of showings and Voila! a contract. Actually two of them. And a tiny bidding war. And then an agreement. 

Love this little cabin, but it's time to move on.

So I am packing boxes and making collections for Goodwill and basically turning everything upside down. My last day of work will be this coming Friday.

Just a tiny bit of the mess I've made this weekend.

I will have neither a home nor a job and no clue as to how I'll support this next step. Fortunately I owned the cabin outright so there will be a little money to tide me over. And I intend to begin as I plan to continue. The goal is to never have another office job. The other goal is to do something creative.

Am I scared? A tiny bit. Excited? Definitely.  How many times in your life do you get to pick where you live?  I have a few requirements.  I want to live on a paved road with animals that won't eat me, have an airport within an hour, less winter than I have now and preferably a city under 100,000.

Out the front door today. I'm ready to be done with this.

This cabin has served its purpose.  It was the perfect place to land after my divorce. I've made fabulous friends, challenged myself more than I dreamed and interacted with more wild animals than I cared to. But...civilization beckons. 

To that end, I'll be subletting an apartment in Asheville, NC for a few months. If I love it there then I'll look for a permanent spot.  If not, I'll test drive Florida- I do have two daughters there. Mexico is always on the menu but with a dog and a cat I think that will be further down the road. I guess it's not impossible that I could end up back in Colorado or even Texas. But probably not.

Stay tuned. 

Wise words.