Thoughts from Syd.....100 day countdown begins!

Yes, I'm excited!  Feel this is a point where we need to really ramp up our efforts to close out the apartment.  Last night Matt got down a bunch of old photo albums from the top of the closet for me to start going through.  I sorted out some for my sisters, some for the kids, some to scan and a few hard copies I must keep!  Expect many more nights of this.

I realize it might seem like we've changed our plans a lot over the last four years, but it really has been a process in determining what we want to do.  Nearly four years ago (wow, that went fast) we made the decision to retire at the end of 2012.  Our original plan was to buy a motorhome and travel.  But then we kept discussing more and more places we would like to visit.....that weren't possible in a motorhome.  Then we discussed buying a place in the Baja.  While having a place of our own in a location we love appeals to me on one level, I really hate the idea of missing out on so many other experiences.  So....at least for now....we're going to be vagabonds.

We have our retirement part planned for Charlie Hoopers on November 1st.  I'll work (more or less) my last day on Friday November 2nd.  And then we're on our way to Florida.  We plan to use Ryan's address as our official address so would like to be registered to vote in Florida for the elections on November 6th.  Hopefully our vote will count that year because it sure didn't mean much in Kansas!  We'll stay with Ryan and Brandee until November 13th then we're headed to Cancun for one week to meet Karen and Mike so we can get them hitched.  Then back to Ft. Lauderdale to spend Thanksgiving with Ryan, Brandee and Bryce then we should fly out to Cabarete on November 24th.  Here's a picture from the deck of our apartment in Cabarete with a peak of the ocean!

Our plan is to leave Cabarete around April 24th and fly back to Ft. lauderdale.  We'll spend maybe a week there then start heading to the border to cross into Mexico.  We were in a dilema about where to go after Cabarete.  Heading to most Mexican locations in the summer probably isn't a great idea.  But Lake Chapala has temperature in the 70s most days in the summer because of the altitude.  Plus it's actually low season so a lot of opportunities for great rentals.  So that's where we're headed....actually to the village of Ajijic on the north shore of Lake Chapala.  It is about an 11 hour drive after we cross the Texas border so we'll make it a two day trip.  We plan to check into our Ajijic home, Casa Marcela, on May 15th.  This three bedroom home looks to be incredible from the website, and my favorite part is the rooftop terrace.  Check out the pic below, those hammock chairs are already calling my name.

After Ajijic we will plan to come back to Kansas City in mid-September for a visit.  Marshall and Alix are planning a late September wedding so that should be perfect timing.

Really looking forward to this adventure! 

100 days from today

This is a monumental day. Officially 100 days until we pack up the Mariner and head out on the adventure of our lifetime. There have bee a lot of things going on lately and again I kick myself that I have not been more diligent about updating the blog. Let's see, I will go over a few things that have been happening. While we have our first stop in Cabarete, Dominican Republic staying very close to Kite Beach. Here is a Webcam of Kite Beach, http://www.cabaretekitebeachwebcam.com/ it is said to be the world’s best kite surfing area in the world. Sounds like fun I hope I might try it out but I bet Syd will be more apt to give it a go. Here are a few updates since I last posted. I had the trailer hitch installed on the Mariner so we can pull the trailer to Fort Lauderdale. I picked up the bike rack so we can haul the bikes after Cabarete. We went to Fort Lauderdale for the 4th of July and had a great visit with Ryan and Brandee. They decided that they don't have room for the China cabinet now so we will be leaving it with Syd's sister Susan for now. The good news with that is now we won't have to haul a trailer to Ft. Lauderdale, I hope. I will be doing a dry run (pack) of the Mariner to see if we can get the 2 chairs in as well as Hermann's crate with room for our stuff also. I think I can do it, we'll see. Phase 2 of our adventure is set as well. We will be spending next summer May to September 2013 in Chapala Jal, Mexico, here is a local webcam for Chapala, http://chapalaweather.net/webcam.htm. It's not a good one of the Lake but a really good one to watch weather conditions. We are going to get our banking situation set in the next week, which will be another big step. I think Syd is going to take over more entries to this blog cause she ask me for the link again and she is just a little excited that this is the 100 day mark.