When the Unexpected Is Better Than You Thought Possible PT.1

 Soooo...it's been 3 whole months since my last post. Left you on the eve of our departure, but we didn't actual leave then. See my sweet hubby decided to put the tuner on the truck the day before and whatdoyaknow....the oil temp was running borderline hot even before we hooked up the fiver. Not an immediate issue if the truck was just the truck, but loading up 14k lbs and driving cross country would not be pretty. So, we called Ford (we have an extended warranty), but the earliest they could get us in was in a week. So we waited the week.

Then they called and said their diesel tech up and quit and it would be several more weeks before they could get us in. But, it didn't make sense we should be back in this boat. We just had this issue "resolved" a little over a year ago. Literally. It was Just. Over. A. Year. by a few weeks, so the oil cooler was no longer under warranty. I seriously couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. And if we went down the path of getting it replaced (again) it would be another warranty battle and obviously this would not be a forever solution. Kay (hubby) was so over the truck. Actually he's not even a truck fan (I'm the truck fanatic..this was my 3rd) and he especially did not care for this beastly thing. We then had a very relaxed and simple convo that went something like this:

Kay: I'm so over this and this truck. We're selling it. End of story.
Me: What about the 5th wheel? 
Kay: We're selling it too.
Me: Where are we going to live?
Kay: No idea, but we're selling it all and just driving to CA. God will work it out b/c we've come too far and we're not staying here.
Me: Hahahahaha....ok, honey. While really thinking, "My sweet man has momentarily lost his mind."

Well, apparently, my husband was spot on. We had a few weeks of time share saved up, so the new plan was to stay in local resorts until the items sold. Not if, just until. We were confident they would sell...and guess what!! The truck was sold within 4 days of listing it for the full price we were asking. We also had a very nice stay right on the boardwalk in Virginia Beach with an oceanfront suite and enjoyed views like this for a week.

Virginia Beach (view from bedroom balcony on a beautiful 80 degree day in Oct.)

View from living area window (rain clouds moving in)

We then stayed in Williamsburg,VA for 3 weeks (I think) which was further from VA Beach, but here we had a huge spread (two units really) and were able to have friends join us and have a very nice time. While in Williamsburg, we decided we would buy a used SUV with some heavy duty tow power. This way when we got to CA we could buy a pull behind travel trailer to live in on our friend's farm. We also decided to pull a small U-haul trailer to take what remained of our possessions. We still had our Honda CRV, which we had put for sale WEEKS earlier, but didn't mind keeping as our nephew in college agreed drive it out with a buddy for us and fly back (cool road trip for him!)

Well, we found a great deal on a very clean, well-maintained 08 Dodge Durango on Craigslist with a Hemi 5.7L and third row seating that can tow 9,000 lbs, just about any reasonable trailer. The people we bought it from were extremely nice and made the experience very pleasant. Plus, it has leather, height adjustable seating, and a dvd system (my must haves that Kay thought would be impossible to find in our price range. HA! No limits on God!).

Then, a day and half before we were going to set off on our cross county adventure, we get a call from a guy who wants to buy our CRV, but he's in North Carolina about 6 hrs away. Apparently, his daughter saw our ad on Craigslist and said, "That's the one I want." He asked us to meet him half way in a few days, but we explained we would be leaving town and could not do so. He then said, "Well, I don't mind buying it sight unseen. If you want to check with your bank, I'll go make the payment and come pick it up next week if you want to leave it with someone." Ummmm....who in their right mind DOES this??? This guy right here pictured with his lovely wife.

So, he went to our credit union in NC the very next day, made the payment, and trusted us to give him the car and the title. We went to DMV, got the title, and drove the car to him and his wife in NC a few days later. This was the first stop on our cross country voyage. In meeting them, we learned they are strong believers in Christ and do this kind of thing when it feels right. All God. We also stopped here for the night as Kay's Aunt and Uncle live just 10 min from here and enjoyed the evening and breakfast with a few more family members before continuing on.

Kay and his Aunt Denise

Kay and Aunt Barbara

Cousin Corey bonding with our youngest

Everything we own! CA bound!

I'm going to pause the adventure here as this post is long enough for now. But I will divulge that we made it to CA in December. We did NOT make it to our friend's farm in Northern CA, nor are we living in a travel trailer like we thought. What happened is even better. Details on our cross country trip to come! Thanks for reading. God bless!