My Jeep Cherokee

When I left NY in my Ford truck and 5th wheeler, I had to leave behind my beloved Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. There are so many features of that vehicle that I miss every time I drive - compass, outside temperature, mpg computation, how many miles until I run out of fuel, etc., but I really need to sell it soon. My son in NY, Mike, put it on Craig's list and quickly got 3 calls about it. I think at least two of them want to see it tomorrow afternoon, and I'm really hoping it sells. Before I left NY I took it for detailing and it looked spectacular! Mike took photos outside and inside to go with the ad, and the people calling are very impressed with how clean it looks. I swore I left the NC title in NY, but found it this morning in a folder in the 5th wheel. It's probably a good thing because my signature needed to be notarize and the title accompanied by a bill of sale, so I sent both signed documents via UPS and they should arrive in NY tomorrow by 1:30 pm. How appropriate if I can close out the year with the sale of my Jeep. Then I will wake up on New Year's morning a brand new person!

I don't think Mandy will be a brand new dog, however. I am administering the eye drops & ointment as specified, and I hope it's working because as of yet she certainly can't open her left eye. The collar gets in her way so that she can barely come up or go down steps, through a doorway, or eat/drink. I will probably remove it in a day or two, and then assess the quality of life she is living.

I was thinking over the past year and what a time I've had. This time last year I was in Sacramento and getting set for the drive back to Asheville. My youngest son and his wife were expecting a baby on the 28th of December, but it was late in getting here. Since I had registered for school the spring semester I needed to start back by New Year's Day. I left in the pre-dawn hours and drove for 120 miles in an extremely heavy fog. When I stopped for coffee in Merced, I got a call that Sarah had gone to the hospital and was ready to deliver. I turned around, drove back to Sacramento in the fog and met my brand new granddaughter. The next morning I started for Asheville.

I loved my classes and got A's in both. It wasn't until June that the thought came to me I could no longer manage living by myself on 3/4 acre in the mountains, so I decided to get my house ready to go on the market in July, got an offer to purchase in August, and went to closing the 17th of October. Sometime after making the decision to sell I began looking into the fulltiming lifestyle and it immediately appealed to me. Don't ask me how I rationalized I could live in, drive around the country, and maintain an RV by myself, but here I am! If I was younger I may have taken more time to plan and dispose of my belongings, but I have never been one to take a long to make up my mind to do something, and that's the way I've sort of fallen into this lifestyle. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a magic carpet ride, and at other times I shake my head and ask "woman, what in the world possessed you to......."