A new beginning...

December 29, 2014

Anacortes, WA

My last blog entry was at the end of August, right after we returned to LaConner from our third summer cruise to Alaska.  If you will recall, we had quite a challenging summer and had become disillusioned with Cosmo Place.  We had had several scary mechanical failures both with the dinghy and with the big boat.

We quickly settled Cosmo Place in its berth in LaConner and drove to Illinois the first week of September to visit family and friends.  During our 7 weeks of travelling to, from, and in the Midwest, Jerry and I had lots of conversations concerning our feelings about our Nordic Tug.  We weren’t sure we wanted to go to Alaska again and didn’t think taking the tug south to Mexico was in the cards for us.  The bottom line was we had lost confidence in the boat and didn’t want to face those challenges again.  What to do with the rest of our retirement lives? 

On our way east we had a bit of an Epiphany as we crossed North Dakota on our way to Fargo to visit my cousin Sally and her husband Jerry.  We “discovered” Theodore Roosevelt National Park as we drove through that desolate country.  We didn’t even know this interesting park existed!  All of a sudden we realized that we still had lots of exploring to do…beyond the edges of the country!  Our disenchantment with the boat became a conversation about perhaps getting some sort of RV and seeing the backcountry of the US. 

Eventually our vague ideas about an RV became a serious quest and while we were visiting Joy in Portland in November we visited several RV sales yards.  What a great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon!  Joy is looking at the outside TV on a Tiffin Phaeton!

Just as we had done as we prepared to buy the Nordic Tug, we educated ourselves about RVs.  Originally we thought a fifth-wheel would be ideal for us, but that would necessitate a new pick-up…$$$!  Eventually we learned about Tiffin motor coaches, made in Red Bay, Alabama.  Soon we were surfing the Internet looking for a late-model Tiffin motor home on the west coast.

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We found the motor coach we wanted in Portland…a 2014 37’ Allegro Bus, a diesel pusher, with only about 4500 miles on it.  After making our arrangements for financing and insurance, we were at the RV dealer on 11/21/14, ready to be trained and sign all of the papers.  Two interesting things about that day. 

*     It was on 11/21/2008 that Jerry’s GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor) made itself known in a geyser of blood.  Six years later we’re loving retirement and buying a bus!  

*     We learned that anyone can legally drive a motor home.  No special license or training is required!  Just nerves of steel and a lot of self-confidence.  It seemed daunting to us since the bus was 37’ and we were towing our Chevy pickup.  It felt as if we were two blocks long!

At four-fifteen, on the south side of Portland, in the rain, in rush-hour traffic we pulled out of the sales lot to bring our new motor coach north.  We had stop and go traffic for the first 2 hours, or 30 miles, but that was a good thing!  In spite of all the training we had received, we did not know how to operate the windshield wipers or the navigation system.  We made it to a rest stop about 40 miles north of Vancouver, WA, on I-5, and spent the night listening to the tractor-trailer compressors!  The next day we rolled in to LaConner and 2 days later parked the bus at the Fidalgo Bay RV Park, just outside of Anacortes.

Two hours after we got the bus settled, we were in the car, driving to California for Thanksgiving at our daughter and son-in-law’s home.  We thought we would return to the bus after Thanksgiving to begin the transition from boat to bus, get the boat emptied and sold, and learn all of the bus systems.  Instead, Jerry flew to Illinois from San Jose the Saturday after Thanksgiving because his dad, Jim, had narrowly avoided a heart attack and was awaiting coronary artery bypass surgery.  I drove back to Washington with Smokey, the cat, and moved out of Cosmo Place and onto the bus by myself.  My selfie was taken on the way to a Christmas party, without Jerry!  Really weird to spend 2 weeks without him.

Eventually Jim recovered from surgery (6 bypasses!) and returned home.  Soon Jerry was winging his way west and arrived at SeaTac on Tuesday, 12/16.  Jerry helped Jan do the final moving off Cosmo Place and we officially said good-bye to this part of our lives on 12/22,the Monday before Christmas.  

Jerry was practically skipping down the dock, so delighted to be done with the headaches and scares the boat had provided.  

I, on the other hand shed a few tears as I remembered the wonderful adventures we had enjoyed.  Because the motor home adventures were yet to be lived, sadness prevailed. 

So, faithful reader, we come to the end of this 5-year blog about our adventures on Cosmo Place.  However, I do think I’ll continue blogging and will write about our adventures in our Tiffin Allegro Bus…hmmmm, need a glitzy name for our new home!

Stay tuned…there are more adventures, challenges, learning, and laughter to come.

Jan

December 29, 2014