Sunday, August 9, 2015

Back in San Diego

August 9, 2015
Yesterday we had lunch with our SLO Real Estate Agent friend, Cindi Petrovich. We ate at a taco shop in SLO. One of the properties we looked at with her, less than six months ago, that was on a lake is all dried up now. SLO has a water shortage like the rest of California. Anyway, it was nice to catch up with Cindi. She promises next time we meet to bring her partner Karen. We gave her a hard time about Karen being a figment of her imagination since she keeps promising to introduce us but the scheduling never works out.

We stayed last night at a Walmart in Oxnard. We got rousted at about 10PM by security and had to move. The security lady told us where we could move to so it was not much of an inconvenience for us, but we are tired today. I think all of the excitement of the last couple of days is catching up to us.

We arrived in San Diego today and we are staying at Joan and Pete's house for the night. We have a real bed and bathroom to use. It's ironic because their house overlooks our old house. So we are back at where we started over three months ago.

We can see the slow progress on the new pool at our old house. It is not near completion and I thought it would have been done by now so I could go swimming in it. The new owners promised me a swim and a look around at their remodeling of the house.

Judy just told me we visited 29 states on our trip. She is updating our progress on a paper road map that is yellow highlighted with our route. I will have to figure out how many miles we traveled.

I am not sure how much longer I will keep up the Blog since we are back at the beginning again.

Tomorrow we start preparing for the move to San Luis Obispo. We are feeling overwhelmed with excitement and fear. I suppose it will be like our Epic Adventure and we will ultimately have fun and be rewarded with new experiences. This is what happens when you, "Don't Quit Your Daydream".

Monica parked at our new residence


car parked in downtown SLO
Sadie and Joan



Saturday, August 8, 2015

The House on the Hill

August 8, 2015
We signed a one year lease on a house on The Blue Stone Ranch, San Luis Obispo. It is a small two bedroom one bath with a single car garage. The layout will work for us and we will have room for both our cars and Monica.
More to come later...

Friday, August 7, 2015

Maybe the One

August 7, 2015
This was the last one on our list and we had almost given up on a place in San Luis Obispo. This one looks good and we filled out an application. We decided to sleep on it and we are not sure we will be chosen, but it looks good. Hopefully everything will come together tomorrow or fall apart.

We are at the free Concerts in the Plaza, San Luis Obispo eating bratwurst and drinking beer.

Tucked in the trees
Garage and parking
Free Concert

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Rental Properties Near SLO

August 6, 2015

We looked at many rental properties today from Pismo Beach to Cambria. At least 123 miles on the odometer. There are not many rental properties in this area to look at and they don't last long on the market. We looked at shared living arrangements, places in the city, at the beach, and in the country. We have a couple more to look at tomorrow.
We are staying at Chorro Regional Park for the night.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Morro Bay

August 5, 2015
Bay Pines Travel Trailer Park

We spent last night at a Walmart in Stockton, Ca.

This morning we woke up at 6:15 to someone trying to steal our bikes off the bike rack on Monica. We looked out the rear window to a black guy messing with the bikes. He said he was just checking out the wheels. Judy yelled he's taking the bikes. I jumped up and went out and the guy said he wasn't taking them, but he had my bike on the ground and was getting ready to ride away. Two other guys were waiting in a running car next to the van. I said to the guy stealing the bike ; " you're taking it" he said back to me, " I'm not taking it". We kept saying the same thing to each other three or four rounds until I said,  she's calling the cops.

Judy came out with my cell phone and I told her to take a picture of his license plate. Judy put the phone up like she was taking a picture. The thief looked to get on my bike, but noticed the pedal was folded up and so he dropped the bike and got back in the car and they sped off.

We were lucky because the pedal was folded up on my bike so he couldn't pedal away.  And when he went to steal Judy's bike it got stuck in the bike rack. This guy didn't care we were there watching him attempt to steal our bikes.

The get-away car had no license plate and the phone was not turned on to take a picture. The whole thing seemed surreal to me,  especially my exchange with the thief about taking and not taking the bikes.

We will be locking the bikes every night from now on.

And no, Pumpkin did not bark. He didn't even get up out of bed.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Walmart, Stockton, CA

August 4, 2015
Judy says we are all business now. We are not interested in sight seeing so much because we can always come back this way once we get settled in our home. Our priorities have shifted to finding a place to live.
We are at a Walmart in Stockton, CA and on our way to San Luis Obispo, SLO. We have an appointment in SLO with our Real Estate Agent Cindi Petrovich on Friday.

Shasta Lake, CA
Electrical Towers, Walmart

Monday, August 3, 2015

Roseburg, Oregon

August 3, 2015
We drove most of today. We are camped at Rising River Campground for $34 per night.

There is also a picture of all my clothes and the Ebags I packed them inside. I brought more than enough clothes for the trip. I packed one pair of hiking boots, one pair of tennis shoes, and some CROC sandles.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Seattle Day Three

August 2, 2015
I had lunch with Christie and Greg. Greg made some beans, bbq chicken and salad. I brought the desert,  Haagen-Dazs ice cream.


It was fun catching up and I got to talk about our Journey so far. I showed them a map of the U.S. with yellow highlighting our route.
I can't believe we did all that.

And now we have to look at settling down. I wonder where we will land. There are not many rentals in SLO. We may have to look further south. It would be cool if it had a tree house or a pool and jacuzzi. It's hard to find a place that will take pets.

Judy and Traci went on a hike and geocaching. They found three geocaches. Traci has been doing it for a year or so and has over 500 geocache finds. That's a lot.

Seattle Day Two

August 1, 2015
Discount Tire called this morning and they found me a replacement tire so I got that installed. Judy, Traci, and Ian went to Bikram's Yoga. Then Traci went off geocaching and Ian and Judy went for a 25 mile bike ride on The Sammamish Bike trail. They did all this with a heat advisory for Seattle.

Traci and Ian's dog Kioko doesn't like Pumpkin so we have to keep them separated. Pumpkin and I are hanging out in the driveway with the AC on watching the parking lot. This might sound not so good, but it is actually okay. The condo is not air conditioned and the van does feel like home to us after three months living in it. Too bad there is nothing good on over the air TV.

Tomorrow there will be more of the same weather. I am going to visit Christie Wilson at her house and have lunch. She has two dogs that are Pumpkin's size so that will be good for him. At least if the dogs don't get along no one will be seriously injured or killed.

We have been able to get Ian's wifi in the parking lot so I have been researching places to live and rental properties. It's been mostly discouraging. There are not a lot of rentals in SLO and the ones we have found are less than ideal. Sometimes we both get a little worried about finding someplace to live especially with two pets. Our plans are to leave Seattle and has south Monday morning.