Homeless
We wrapped up our jobs. We retired. We sold our house. We filled a dumpster with trash and countless carloads with giveaways. We ordered a POD. We hired packers and movers to fill it. They filled it, and then some. We scrambled to get a second POD and a second dumpster. We bought a big old pickup. We bought a big old trailer. We hauled a big old pickup load to St. Vinny's.
Instead of departing across country, we departed across town to my brother's house. They had just moved back to their newly rebuilt home after a catastrophic fire -- and they generously welcomed us with our piles-o-mess. We struggled to squeeze our too-many trappings into a 2-vehicle caravan destined for our undeveloped land and hopefully downsized lifestyle. After a few more days of connecting with our sons and wrapping up loose ends, we finally hit the road..
Highways
It was a haul slogging across country in separate trucks pulling a popup camper and a trailer, and it was surprisingly slow going. The third day of our planned 3-day drive we were only half way there, and Chip noticed a squeaking sound coming from his right trailer tire... sure enough, upon investigation he saw that the inside of the tire was rubbing the chassis of the trailer, and the sidewall had worn down to the steel belts -- not good! We found two men in Wichita who spent the very hot Fourth of July afternoon tracking down parts and setting the trailer up with a temporary fix that would get us back on the road -- they put in a spacer that would move the wheel outboard a tad; enough to prevent the rubbing. We took it easy and stopped for frequent checks, and two days later we pulled into Grants, New Mexico.
Home
We got an early start the next day to stock up on groceries and have our trailer spare replaced before our final half hour drive to our land. The conscientious young man at the tire repair shop did not want to let our trailer off the lot after seeing our spare! We assured him that we would take it in for a proper repair as soon as we unloaded it (and that we had made it from Wichita in one piece)! We coaxed that old trailer up the rough roads that lead to our campsite... and we were home!
(...never mind that 15 minutes after this shot we unhitched the popup from my jeep and it immediately started to roll backwards down the hill...)
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