Moving Out Of The House, Into The RV and Saying “See You Later”

I would have to say, this was by far the most difficult part of the entire process. We had 1 month to finish packing, sell our furniture, have our 2^nd garage sale, repair the few items that came up during the home inspection, say good-bye to the work friends and plan the last Friday Night Pizza night with the family. You might think that this was a very stressful time for us, but it really wasn’t.

We started putting our furniture out on FB Marketplace. It all went pretty quickly at what we felt was a fair price. Every time that little notification sounded on our phones we just looked at each other and said, “There’s the sound of money”. FB Marketplace was pretty impressive. The 2nd garage sale went off without a hitch and the last bit of stuff was donated to the Good Will.

The boys and their girlfriends came over for the last Friday Night Pizza night in the house. This would be the last time the boys would be inside their home. We had such a nice time talking about all the good times in the house. They took some time and walked around and spent a little time in their old rooms. Then of course, pictures needed to be taken on the front porch. This is where all the “important” shots are taken. First days of school, Halloween costumes, all dressed up for Easter and of course Christmas.

Saying good-bye to my job of 20 years was not too difficult, however, saying good-bye to my co-workers was. I have worked with most of them for well over 10 years and a lot of them became my Oregon Family. I will truly miss seeing them every day.

We slowly and methodically started to move items into the motorhome because I was not going to be “one of those people” that are throwing everything in at the last minute. What did I know? Even the best laid plans don’t always go as planned. I’m sure “those people” had a well planned exit strategy too. The night before we were to be out of the house we still had so much to do. All the stress that we had not been feeling before suddenly came in spades. The last bit of clothes needed to be put out in the rig, all the food from the kitchen and I swear items magically appeared in closets and cabinets that had already been cleaned out. The mattress from our bedroom still had to be moved to the rig. One last run to the dump had to be made, the U-Haul truck returned and the house cleaned for the new family. Did I mention we did not get started on any of this until about 9PM the night before? Lord, please give me strength.

So, yes, the day we were vacating our house, we were just tossing stuff in bags and throwing it in the rig. When we were finished there was barely room to walk down the middle of it. Finally, by noon of move out day, the house was empty and sparkled nice for its new occupants. I decided I wanted to video the last walk thru and reminisce a little bit. After all, I would never be back in my house. It was just a tad bit emotional for me but all part of the process of saying good-bye. We closed the door to this chapter of our lives.

Now it is time to deal with the mess in the rig. Did I mention I was so exhausted and emotionally spent? No rest for the weary, they say. Fortunately, we did not need to go too far. We boondocked our first 2 nights by my son’s hangar at the airport where he works. We pulled in, opened the slides and just sighed. Where was all this stuff going to go? It was very overwhelming to say the least. My son comes in and gives me one of his looks, like “Mom what in the world are you going to do with all this? You are in it deep.” I think we all know the looks we get from our kids when they think you are crazy. Time to take a break, so we all go out to get a bite to eat for dinner and then he goes home.

One thing you need to know about me, I do not thrive in chaos. I was raised with the concept of everything has a place and everything belongs in its place. I could not go to bed until I felt I could get a handle on the chaos that existed inside my new home. As I was preparing for this adventure, I read several forums and chats on FB groups. I bought several baskets and storage containers and was ready to start organizing. I just started unpacking boxes and bags and laying everything out on the counters. Then started grouping stuff together and finding a logical place for them to be stored. Surprisingly this worked very well. I went to bed at a decent hour and when my son returned the next morning, he was pleasantly surprised. He couldn’t believe I had found a home for everything. BONUS, I still had some storage space to spare.

When we were planning on the transition to full-time RV, we decided to stay in the area until the end of summer (approximately 6 weeks). This was one of the smartest decisions we made. I don’t know that I would have survived selling the house and saying good-bye to my kids all at the same time. These 6 weeks allowed us time to settle into a new routine, spend time with our boys, visit and say good-bye to friends and finalize those last Dr. appointments that were put off until the last minute. (Oops)

Fast forward 6 weeks, and it did go quickly. The time finally came to say “see you later” to our boys. We spent the last weekend boondocking at my son’s hangar again. We all went out to dinner Saturday night at one of our favorite restaurants, Screen Door, and Sunday night we had a BBQ at the hangar. Monday morning, before we were ready to leave, I got to spend a little extra time with my oldest. He took me for a short flight in his plane, which was a special treat. One because it is always special to fly with him and two because I got a little one on one time with him, something that doesn’t happen very often these days. It was so nice to be able to spend this time with both my boys. The last hugs were hard, I’m not going to lie, even as I write this I am getting choked up.

We did do one last ride by the house and neither one of us felt any emotional ties to it. That was unexpected. I honestly felt no connection to it. It is just a dwelling. Everything that happened there is with me in my pictures and memories. We are what made that house a home. Now it is just a house… someone else’s house.

As we headed out of Oregon thru the Columbia River Gorge towards South Dakota to “officially” start our next chapter, I listened to my tunes and reflected on all the experiences we have had here over the last 22 years; the friends we made, the friends we lost, the times spent at the coast and in the mountains, the rafting trips, the jeep trips, making pies and cookies with my kiddos, even replicating Gordon Ramsey’s beef wellington because my oldest and I loved watching Hell’s Kitchen. So many good memories and I hold every one of them dear to my heart.