Party Party

Had a great going-away party yesterday. Started at 4pm so I could give tours of the RV, which everybody pronounced "cute." At one point had seven people inside. Marie brought my favorite onion souffle and crab dip, both yummy. Gillian gave me a string of hanging lights for outside, which will look great hanging on the awning. Got some small notepads, always useful. Several people didn't make the party but I hope to see them before I leave. Today is load the RV day. Tomorrow the apartment gets thoroughly cleaned before inspection on Wed. (I want my deposit back!). Wed is tie up loose ends days. May also be selling my car. Will move the RV to Joe's driveway and live in it for two nights before taking off on Friday morning. Am both excited and nervous.

Echoing Around

My apartment is getting really, uh, spacious. As in, there are two chairs left, and one is the recliner I sleeep in. Nearly everything else is gone to auction or to junk dealer. So, it's really time to start loading the RV. The problem is that everything that's left is what I use on an almost daily basis, so if I load it up I'll be running back and forth to get stuff all the time. I think I'll just keep packing.

Two weeks from today I'll be setting out for SW Pennsylvania. I've allowed five days to go 450 miles so I won't be in any hurry. This will give me time to get to know the RV as a living space and to understand its quirks (if any; hah; there are always quirks).

A week from Sunday is the going-away party so the apartment needs to be mostly clean by then. Then a couple of days fussing and I'm gone.

I'm both excited and nervous, full of what-ifs. Doing my best to keep them controlled so I don't go into a total swivet.

My new laptop (new to me, that is) is up and running and all goodies are transferred over from the old unit. I'm ready to test wifi somewhere out there.

Ghibli Mine

Have spent the last week modifying the inside of the RV to suit me. Have taken out the dinette table and cushions. Took out the cabover mattress. Took out all curtains and venetian blinds. Took out the microwave. I never use microwaves so I can lose that weight and turn that cabinet back into a space for hanging clothes. The valances over the windows came down, too, and showered rotten foam everywhere. Ditched the big clock that went tick tick tick. Cut the frosted film on the kitchen window down so I can see out (left the bottom third for privacy). Unfortunately, the window in the door has real frosted glass -- what a stupid idea -- how am I going to tell who's out there? Aarrgh. I've stored everything I took out so I can put it all back when I decide to sell/trade.

Now I have room to store plastic bins in the cabover section. Will put flat curtains on the side windows (much less visually intrusive). Will put bins in the dinette area, the ones with heavy stuff (like books) -- and they will give me a flat space to put stuff on when stopped (like the laptop).

Now all I have to do (!) is clean up the foam etc and start loading it up. First I think I'll trundle it off to get inspected and then get it weighed so I know its empty weight. Weigh it again when I load it up.

Time's getting real short (panic, pant, scream).