Today is one of those milestone days that stick with you for a long time. It marks the end of our nearly eight month house selling adventure. When we received the email from Wes removing the contingencies to the purchase of our house (that he's not going to back out of the deal) Joanne and I were both ecstatic and tremendously relieved.

Until now, our travels lived patiently in our dreams. Knowing that before they could be real, we would have to sell our house. We didn't want to be responsible for a house on the other side of the earth while we are traveling. With the sale proceeding, we feel free to allow anticipation and excitement to mount as our countdown is ticking...

We leave Encinitas on August 3!

We decided nearly a year ago to act on our desire to go out and see the world and it's already been seven or eight months since we left our jobs funneled our energy towards the point where we find ourselves today.

The reality of what we're about to embark on is finally tangible. And that means that we're free to jump on all the things that needed to wait until we were sure.

Divesting

Between yesterday and today, we sold our house, both our cars sold on craigslist along with several other items, unstaged the house, returned a whole truckload of furnishings, plants and a big screen TV. For the first time, walking though our house, everything feels different.

Cars

Yesterday, Joanne sold her Nissan Sentra

... and today my Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT was sold! This was a fantastic machine. It could handle the road like I didn't think possible, and stopped securely on a dime, every time. I will remember the many drives though the winding roads of Rancho Santa Fe and through the freshly paved tight mountain ridgeline of Palomar Mountain.

House Staging Dismantled

We returned nearly all the items we used to stage the house: two couches, a love seat, a recliner, ottoman, side tables, a TV and lots of plants!

Craigslist

After selling a dozen items and the two cars through Craigslist (and meeting lots of interesting people) today people came to buy our washer and dryer, golf clubs, and all our backyard furniture.

While Joanne was doing all that returning, I was busy completing the Rochelle & Griffith web site, which I bartered my lawyer neighbor for his help with the house paperwork.

A big day indeed!