The Road Is Calling and We Must Go

Uncategorized 3 Minutes

This is the big day that we hit the road to start our new life. It has been a huge process in the last couple of months to get here.

Hans said the process of adjusting to our new life is the hardest thing he has ever completed. I still insist that passing a 5 hour Calculus/Trigonometry class to graduate college is the hardest thing I have ever done to this day. Math was never my forte.

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It was a HUGE challenge for us was to downsize us from a 3 bedroom, 1700 square foot home to a 25 foot travel trailer with one slide out. I estimate the square footage to be around 171 square feet. So, it is basically a tiny house. We had to go down to 10% of the space we once had. We had to get rid of 90% of our stuff. I was keeping a list of everything we were selling or donating. I got to around 500 items and then abandoned my list. I think I was almost halfway through my clearing spree when I stopped my list.

I initially started off being very zen about it a la Marie Kondo.   , holding it, breathing it in and seeing if it “sparked joy”. But as time flew by, I turned into the Anti-Hoarder (which my family members began to view more as the Anti-Christ, as they began to sleep with their treasured possessions under their pillows lest they wake up to nothing). If I held everything and waited for a joy spark, we would not leave until Christmas as we had so much stuff!

We had a garage sale and off-loaded a huge amount of items despite bad weather forecasted for the weekend. Denver had been sunny and in the 70’s and 80’s, but in true Denver May fashion (we had a blizzard on Mother’s Day 3 years running), the weather dipped into the 40’s and 50’s with rain on the ONLY weekend we could do the sale. So, we started it on Wednesday at 3 PM and continued it through the weekend. We had 3 garages of stuff!!! By Sunday, we were down to 5 boxes of things for the AmVets to collect.

I do think that doing lots of blasts on social media such as Nextdoor app and Facebook marketplace helped a lot with the success of our garage sale. I would take pics of individual items in the garage sale (the good stuff) and post and that seemed to bring in a lot of people. And of course, traditional signage throughout the neighborhood.

Thanks to a trip to Container Store (not frugal by any means, but you can find anything for ANY space), Dollar Tree, IKEA and Target, we managed to make things quite functional in our small space, although we are neophytes to this new life and I am sure our organization practices will change.

We have amazing neighbors in Potter Highlands. Our friends and neighbors, Debbie and Douglas, were super cool and let us park our trailer on their section of our neighborhood carriage lot. We were able to plug our trailer into our home’s electricity. It made it very convenient to get situated for our new lifestyle.

Our last hurdle today before we depart was to back our 10 foot wide trailer down our 150-foot alley that is 12 feet wide in one place thanks to a telephone pole and the fence on the opposite side. We have done this 3 times so far, and it is always anxiety-inducing to the point where I have bad dreams the night before. One of the biggest challenges in an old neighborhood with narrow streets is just finding a time when the street doesn’t have cars  obstructing our wide pathway. We would not have been able to get out at all yesterday, but thanks to third Friday street cleaning, our window opened this morning!

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We put our phones on speaker and use them as walkie-talkies. I watch the back end and tell Hans which way to turn. (It all sounds like a weirdly sexual dialogue. ” ‘Ok. Go right a little. A little more. Oh! That is WAY too much. Oh, that is it. RIGHT THERE. Keep it straight and DON’T let it drift.’ “)

The first time took us over an hour, the second time, 40 minutes. Today we managed this in 25 minutes! So, we are getting better. And no property was damaged. And we are still married! Yay!

This is our new home all packed up and ready for our journey to Texas to visit my Mom at my family’s ranch and drop off some things that we do not want to part with but that we deem unsuitable for our current lifestyle.

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So incredible to think that this metal box and pick up truck hold everything in the world that we have. It is a strange, yet liberating feeling.

Published by thetravelingtaubs

Hi! We are Hans and Paula, two airline professionals who work for a major US airline who decided to shake things up even more by moving full time into a 25 foot Arctic Fox 25Y travel trailer to see where the open road takes us. Travel along with us and experience our stories through this blog!

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27 thoughts on “The Road Is Calling and We Must Go”

  3. If anybody can do it, you guys can!!! Congrats on your new home!! It doesn’t matter what shape or size it is. What matters is that’s it’s happy are you guys share it!! Lots of love from the Benbolds!!!

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  4. Giddy beyond belief for your monster adventure! We had dinner years ago and you both verbalized this wild plan to me. And now, how delightful to see it play out and now come to fruition. So much love and support to you. My very best wishes!

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  5. This first chapter is fabulous and you are a wonderful writer. Having been there, done that I really appreciated the learning experience of maneuvering a big rig part. Just always remember the RVers creed “if you don’t know, don’t go” and you will go far! LOL Finally if it is any consolation, my husband Joe and I lived and traveled full time in our motorhome for 7 years and we will celebrate 53 years of marriage next month! I always felt we had more space in the outdoors as our living room than in our 2000 sq. ft.. home we left! We still say it was the best time of our lives. Keep it between the ditches and look forward to the next chapter of safe travels.

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    1. Nancy, I am having “if you don’t know, don’t go” tattooed on my backs of my hands so I can see this as I am driving! Haha!!!!

      You have been such a source of encouragement for us! Just the fact that y’all spent 7 years on the road and achieved 53 years of marriage makes us very hopeful!

      Thank you for the sweet words and inspiration!

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  8. I am a friend of your sister, Kiersten. I don’t remember if we’be met. I am so proud and jealoius in the same time that you would be able to do this. Goodluck , be safe and happy travel!!! Looking fory to read next blog.

    Pom

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  10. OMG, you did it. Pat told me months ago you were planning this. Wishing you safe travels and making amazing memories.😃🚃. Wanda shared this on Facebook so I could see it. Would like to follow you in your travels. I will look forward to your adventures.

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  12. Wow! You are both so brave and adventurous. Can’t wait to hear of your adventures. I’m a long-time friend of Pat’s and hope to come see her this summer. I’m sure she’s excited for you both. Bon voyage!!

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