Yikes!  Almost time to shove off!

This last month has been full of good byes!  I've had one last get together with my bunco group, my GNO group, my bowling friends, my old friends from high school, old work friends, etc.  Last weekend was a great time with some of my dearest friends at Cher's house in Arrowrock, MO.  Beautiful time!  And two of my son's (Bryce and Marshall) and Marshall's fiance Alix were able to join us at LeBourgeois winery.   All of this has slightly dampered my excitement....but only slightly.  I think our greatest blessing is that we're genuinely going to miss (and hopefully be missed) by so many.  This makes our return visit in September even more exciting!

Our saddest good bye was, of course, to Matt's dad.  Russ died on October 14th and yesterday was his memorial service.  He was an incredible man.....one of the kindest sole's I have ever known.  When we would talk with Matt's parents about our plans to travel, Matt's mom was always saying "don't count on me to visit", but Russ was very quick to pipe up "well, I will!".  Matt believes that now his dad will always be traveling with us...in spirit.

Our retirement party is Thursday, so that likely will be very bitter sweet as well.  We'll be saying good bye to a lot of friends and family that we won't see for some time.  And this afternoon we're getting together with Bryce.  He has received a job offer with a company in North Carolina and leaves for that on Wednesday.  We do hope to see him in the DR though sometime this winter!

The apartment is starting to clear out.  We've already hauled off some furntiure and Matt has repainted our accent walls so it doesn't really look like home anymore.  Tomorrow we have friends picking up our sofa and entertainment center.  Tuesday we loose our bedroom furniture!  Tuesday night will be spent on an air mattress but we will be checking into the Sheraton Suites on the Plaza for Wednesday and Thursday night (shout out to Kevin for helping us get a great deal on that room!)

Today Matt is "test packing" the Mariner to make sure we have room for everything we're planning to take.  I'm wondering what the neighbors will think when they see him load up all our stuff.....and then unload it? 

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.

Camino de Santiago

Already planning on one of our next adventures.  With our Place all set in Cabarete, DR, we can now start dreaming about where we go later.  We watched the movie The Way with Martin Sheen.  We have to wait a while for this adventure, getting Hermann to Spain probably won't be possible.  The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.  This is a few years away and will take a lot of preparation.  800 miles walking through beautiful Spain stopping at night is local Hostels and enjoying community with other pilgrims.  Catch the movie it is very inspiring.  Stay tuned.

I said it would be slow to start

Well a few months have past since my last post.  Remember at first this will be more important as a log for us then informative to most. 

Well here is the latest.  We had planned to take a ferry from Tampa to the Yucatan, it was set to begin early this year then mid year and now not until early 2013.  Being retired and flexible this was a drag but we changed course.  Syd and I visited Punta Cana, Dominican Republic during 2010, we really enjoyed it but figured it was a one time visit.  Syd was doing her normal searching of Craig's List and VRBO when she came across some long term rentals in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.  Cabarete is on the North coast where Punta Cana is on the South East.  Well with our new found freedom, we just got a lease for a 5 month rental of a great 2 bedroom condo.  Hermann will fly over with us and will love his freedom on the beach as well.  More details and pictures to come.  With the writing of this blog Syd is on her annual Sisters week in Cancun.  I am so glad that she gets to do this, how fortunate to spend such quality time with Susan and Karol.

Rosetta Stone is addictive

One of the things Syd and I invested in was Rosetta Stone Spanish.  We bought it a year or so ago but as lots of things go we procrastinated after a few weeks of diligent use.  Well now we have seriously picked it up again and both are feeling somewhat addicted.  This is truly the best way for us anyway to get comfortable with our Spanish ( I didn't say fluent ).  This as we know will be a necessity and now is the time to really take it serious.  Syd is spending a few days in Ft. Lauderdale visiting Ryan and Brandee.  She caught up with Bryce today and gave him some keepsakes that she wanted him to have, so our disposition continues.

Early January Preparation

While there may not seem to be a lot of content these first couple posts, they will be very important to Syd and I as we start the process of downsizing and education.  Right after the New Year we took down our Christmas decorations for the last time.  We plan to give away our things and not sell anything.  We posted on Facebook that our tree was available and within a couple hours Syd's sister Susan was the proud new owner.  The rest of the decorations went to Syd's friend Mary so lots of room already in the storage closet.