We haven’t posted much since we’ve been home because there wasn’t a lot to talk about. We spent the last year and a half getting the house ready to sell and then this spring, like everybody else, we were surprised and confused and were just trying to figure out what was going to happen when COVID hit. We had a loose plan of putting the house up for sale early May but with everything shut down that didn’t happen.
We stayed home and stayed busy working on things, but every time the stay at home order was extended, we got a little more nervous. All the fears raced through our heads as we waited. Is this a good time to be trying to sell a house? When can we put it up for sale and actually have people walk through it? Obviously no one had the answers and our problems were not devastating in the grand scheme of things especially compared to so many others that were struggling so much more because of it. We just had to be patient.
We decided to put the house up for sale on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. My good friend from Tennessee is a realtor and offered to come up and take awesome pictures and drone footage of the house and help us with the for sale ad. We had a ton of fun while he and his friend Bill did the pictures. We drank some beers and talked a lot about how the for sale by owner process would go. By the end of breakfast on Sunday, we had an awesome Zillow ad and we put it out there. By Thursday, the new buyers would be walking through and making an offer. After all the anxiety and a few tears about putting our dream home up for sale, a couple just down the street wanted it and they made an offer that insured we didn’t hold the open houses we were planning the next weekend.
As we got to know this couple, the more we realized that they are the perfect fit for our house. We always hoped we would sell to someone who would love it and take care of it like we do, but that doesn’t always happen. As we signed the contract the next day, it just felt easy even without realtors involved. We got through the paperwork, had a beer, wandered in the garage after, figured out we had friends in common and they even have a dog named Gus. They also had no contingencies and were fine with us moving out on our schedule. We officially close on July 17 and will vacate on July 31. We plan on celebrating with them after closing at Odd Side Ales. What an exciting beginning for us all! Craig has been working hard on the new rig and it is almost finished. We added solar panels, a new battery, new flooring, a new fridge, and outside shower and so many other things to help make living on the road a little more comfortable. We are looking forward to being fully contained and not pulling a trailer. 
Now to answer what many have asked, what is next? As we said before, it all depended on when the house sold. We are now able to say we are leaving August 1 and will head to the East Coast. We’ll stop in Indiana to visit my brother and his family and then head to North Carolina to see a friend we met in 2018 in Alaska. After that we’ll hop on the TransAmerica Trail at Nags Head, NC.
The TransAmerica Trail started out as a dual sport motorcycle route but now attracts all 4WD adventurers. It runs from the East coast to the West coast and is 90% dirt and gravel roads. We are very excited to try it in our new rig. We plan on stopping to see friends in Tennessee, Colorado and Utah for sure. We’ll probably end up in Oregon in November and that is where our plan ends. That is the beauty of how the next few years of our lives will be. No plans! We can bust home to Michigan if we want or need to or chase 70 degree weather. We are looking forward to doing whatever we want to do and seeing more amazing sights that our country has to offer.
Stay tuned! We hope to share some grand adventures!