Yesterday I sold my 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider convertible I once posted pics of here. It just did not fit our new much travel lifestyle. Sitting here in the garage only used a few times a year made no sense, so I sold it. I really did not feel sorrow watching it go down the driveway for the last time. Our plans now include so much travel in our motor home that I will not have much time to miss it. Lesley threw a hissy fit at first when I put it on the market, but she has come around now realizing it was the right thing to do after all.

Speaking of Lesley, she is still in New Zealand visiting her mum. She will be back here Sept 26. We then will be packing fast for an unexpected trip North back to Minnesota for a few weeks, leaving here Sept 28. The motivating factor for the sudden trip was that we got a shock at a local dentist a few weeks ago. Lesley went for a routine clean and checkup. They supposedly found $14,000 worth of needed work. Right. I said "that's not going to happen" as we walked out. She frantically called our old dentist in Minnesota who had been maintaining her teeth for 10 years. The dentist there was horrified and said there is no way you need that much work. We sent her the proposal we had just received. She said you MIGHT need one crown and possibly a filling. I wish you were still here so I could do it for you. So we talked about it and we do have a motor home and always looking for an excuse to use it, so off we go. The thing that really set me off was when Lesley told me the pictures were taken before the teeth were cleaned, not after. I immediately smelled a rat!

Our plans after leaving there about mid Oct are uncertain. We have no particular place to go and no compelling reason to race back here to TN. We will spend a few days with good friends in Northern WI, and then meander around gradually heading South. While she is gone I have been doing upgrades to the motor home. Some easy, some very hard, but getting it done anyway.

I was happy to get one job on the motor home. It was installing a suspension modification to the rear axle. 6 of the bolts had to be tightened to 150lbs. Now for those that do not know what that means well it means you have to pull on a large wrench until the gauge tells you that you are now pulling at 150lbs of force. Considering I was laying on my back alone under the motor home, well let's just say it was all this 71 year old guy could do. I wound up with huge bruises on my biceps and shoulders where I had apparently popped some blood vessels which since I am on a blood thinner is easy to do. I will say though I did feel some satisfaction when it was done, to say nothing about the $250 I saved by doing it myself.

So Lesley can help me with the driving of the motor home,we are getting a private driving lesson for her in our motor home in Dec this year. Hopefully that will give her the confidence and knowledge to safely drive it and give me a break from time to time.

So, life goes on and our plans the next three years will keep us on the road 6-8 months a year hopefully. The clock is ticking so we want to get on with our bucket list.

Til next time....