Finally Home

Where to begin...

Last I wrote, we were sitting in a hotel room in Houston on a Friday night, hoping for good news the following day. Not having heard anything from PPL (the dealer), we checked out of our hotel at about 10 a.m. Saturday morning and headed over to find out if our home would be ready. A sheepish looking Mary (our sales rep) met us in the lobby and explained that the part they ordered for the air conditioner did not solve the problem. They would have to call a repair technician, and nothing more could be done until Monday, at the earliest.

Well that wasn't going to work for us. There had to be options. After talking it over with Mark, I asked Mary if we could close on the motor home "as is" and let us handle the repair of the "basement" AC unit once we got back to Minnesota. After all, it had a roof unit that cooled the front of the coach, and it should be enough for Minnesota weather. They agreed. We had our walk-through, got a basic "how to" on most systems and headed to the office to finish the paperwork. Since the owner had authorized up to $400 for the repair, PPL gave us a letter stipulating they would pay that amount toward the cost once we got it fixed. Win-win!

Next stop was to their insurance broker down the hall to get the insurance policy finalized. Then to the parts store to pick up some hoses and other necessities for hooking up to water & power at the RV sites.

By about 4:30 we were ready to go and headed for home... oh, wait a minute-- we WERE home. I meant headed for Minnesota. :-)

We were hoping to make it home by Sunday evening, but with such a late start on Saturday, it wasn't humanly possible. We "boondocked" both nights at Walmarts along the way. Walmart has a policy of allowing RVers to park in their lots--with permission, and (of course) we did some shopping while we were there.

The first thing we did upon arrival in the Twin Cities was to pick up our car in Brooklyn Park (Thank you, JoAnn and Terry, for allowing us to stow our car and bikes at your house while we were gone!) Then we drove down to Chaska to collect our stuff that was packed like sardines into a tiny little storage unit. We managed to get most of it into the motor home. Another trip will be required to clean it out completely.

And finally, we rescued Sweetie from her care provider, Miss Sadie Sage, whom I highly recommend if you need pet sitting services. Sweetie was noticeably bent out of shape at my having left her in a strange home for five days and refused to come near me for the first five minutes. So I had to pull out the big guns...the kitty brush, which she cannot resist. But she got over her funk as soon as we let her loose in her new home...something to explore, which is always intriguing.

With the family and family stuff all together (mostly), we headed to our first RV site, Dakota Meadows, right next door to Mystic Lake Casino. It's a beautiful facility, and much cheaper than hotel rooms. We arrived at about 4:30 on Monday, and Mark got busy hooking us up to power and water.

We're finally home! I've been ever so busy unpacking and figuring out where to put everything, but it's going to take another day or two before there's more clean than mess.

It's been a long and grueling business trip, and Mark and I have both been on the emotional roller coaster ride of happy, aggravated, excited, terrified, and occasionally grumpy. We're both exhausted and there's still much to do, but we're trusting God to provide all that we need to get our home ready to travel in. I'm reminded of the old hymn, "Day By Day"...

  Day by day, and with each passing moment,
  Strength I find to meet my trials here;
  Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
  I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
  He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
  Gives unto each day what He deems best,
  Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure,
  Mingling toil with peace and rest.

It has felt very much like trials, and there's been more toil than rest. But I've no doubt that we will look back on these weeks of waiting and rushing and waiting and rushing some more with a sense of joy that we have been able to embark on our dream retirement, by God's grace.

On the next installment, I'll share more about the adventures and misadventures of setting up the motor home.

Until then, back to unpacking...