Some before and after photos of Nuestra Casa

The remodeling we have had done, to date;

First photo is when we bought it, and the second one is now:

 

 

  

 

 

The trip from Brigadoon to Nuestra Casa

Almost 1500 miles in 2 1/2 days.  2 1/2 LOOOOOONG days.

The driving was difficult.   We had, thankfully, been mindful about the weight of our rig.  So, for example, we carried no water (which oftentimes can add 500 pounds).

The reason this mattered is that for most of the way south we were driving against strong headwinds.  We got terrible gas mileage, but more importantly, I had to fight the rig the entire time.  I couldn't just lightly hold onto the steering wheel like I can usually do when driving long distances.

Vicky, as usual, was the navigator, cook, on-line news reader, and all around everything.

For this trip we tried something a little different.  Every hour we would find a stopping place and walk for awhile.  It made the day longer, but it kept us fresh.  It was worth the extra hour or so that it took us to arrive at our daily destination.

One reason we needed this type of break was because the temperatures were high (100 degrees).  So when we stopped for the night, we didn't sleep well.  We don't have air conditioning because we almost never camp where we might need it or even could use it.  When we checked into the KOAs we "camped" at on the trip, we asked for a site in the shade for this reason.  One woman, with a shocked look on her face, said:  "Don't you know it can get up to 110 in your camper?"  We said we knew...all too well.

In order to sleep, we had to empty stuff from our camper just nto be able to make it to the bed.  And then in the middle of the night, we had to crawl over our stuff to get to the toilet, which was not in the bathroom.  Instead, it was in the middle of the floor.  The reason is that the bathroom was stacked to the top with boxes.  Adventures in going to the bathroom.
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Our final evening in Brigadoon (our name for our Whidbey Island home), where we spend a lot of time during the summer sitting on our front porch watching our birds:

Camper filled to the brim:

Putting a few final things in:

Leaving to catch the 5:00 a.m. ferry:

After removing a few things at night, we had to walk carefully on boxes and tubs to reach the bed:

 
 and to get to the "toilet" in the middle of the night:

We stayed at KOAs because they are close to the highway and are cheap and quiet:

and dreadfully boring.

Taking walks during the drive:

We ate at McDonald's and Taco Bells.  Impossible to fix food in the camper, plus we were exhausted after each day's drive.  A couple of days of this can make you crazy.

Poor man's coffee thermos:

Finally we arrived:

Arriving at Nuestra Casa (translation:  Our Home), our name for our Arizona home:

 Our first view of the house that we had remodeled.  We love it.  More on this later:

Preparing for Road Trip 8 and for moving to Nuestra Casa

It has been a fun and exciting summer.  In addition to the usual fun things (family, grandchildren, cycling, etc.) we have had two new projects.

The first was to remodel the new home we purchased in Leisure World, Mesa, Arizona.  And the second was planning and packing for our fall move there.

The new home we purchased in Leisure World was in serious need of remodeling.  It was tired.  A few things didn't work, and some things were cheap.

What we found was that for extremely reasonable prices we could fix everything and create an almost entire make-over.

We don't have the best photos, but these give an idea of the before and after situation:

We don't have good photos that show many of the improvements.  We altered the back patio to give a lot more room, did a lot of electrical work inside, added fixtures, replaced flooring in one room, replaced three sliders and all exterior doors, and more.

The entire home will have a different feeling now, one we want.  We are looking for bright and colorful.  I think we got it.

We have only begun!

Our second project could most accurately be titled "semi-moving."  We aren't getting ready for a usual road trip like we usually do this time of the year, but instead are loading the pickup and camper for a different purpose---to move things there that we want to live there.  The plan is to pack for our camping in public lands from Mesa, not from here.

So this has meant going through everything we own to decide what we want here on Whidbey Island, and what we want in Nuestra Casa.  We have been working on this all summer.

We have been packing the camper and pickup floor to ceiling. 

The back seat of the camper is filled:

The camper will also be filled to the ceiling.  It is still a work in progress:

 

Our plan is to travel to our beloved public lands in a different way this year.  Instead of camping and hiking along the way to the southwest where we usually winter, we are going to just drive to the southwest, in two 12-hour days and an 8-hour day.  We will spend two nights at KOA campgrounds along the way where we will need to unpack some of the camper floor just to get to the bed.

Just get down there as quickly as possible.  It will be a slog, but we can do that.

We will be leaving our wonderful Whidbey Island in about 10 days.  We are closing up our home here.  We will miss it.  We won't be back for eight months--the longest we have been away.

The future is planned in only a very general way:  We will leave from Nuestra Casa on 1-3 week road trips to camp and hike on our public lands, returning to Nuestra Casa when we are out of food and water, or when the weather turns bad.

It will be much easier on us to do it this way, having a home base where we can return for a week to restock, take showers, and regroup before we take off again to find adventure in those public lands that we share ownership with everyone.  But Nuestra Casa will be more than a resting and restocking place for us--we bought it because we love it in Leisure World and will be able to swim, dance, cycle, etc., and enjoy afternoons on our veranda.  It will be a home in addition to being a home base.

If you got this far, we will take care of those lands as best we can until you can come out on them with us.  That would be nice.