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July 25, 2006

What a Big Day!

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.

Photo

Our Encinitas house was for sale for 130 days

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 Photo: Nissan Sentra GXE Photo: Nissan Sentra GXE


... 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. Photo: Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT Photo: Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT


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! Photo Photo Photo Photo

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. Photo

A big day indeed!

July 14, 2006

Making the med kit

Making the med kit

Stir crazy waiting to hear back from our home buyer on their offer, we try to focus on something else: Collecting our meds (anti-malarials, antibiotics, pain killers, anti-diahhreal, etc...) and assembling a basic first-aid kit fresh with the knowledge of the Red Cross Wilderness First Aid course we both took.