A change of plans—saying goodbye to the Big EZ

June 24, 2014-July 19, 2014
Corvallis, Oregon

A lovely heirloom rose grown by my friend Marilyn

It has been a while since I last posted and there is good reason, at least in my mind, for the lapse. Our plans to stay on the West Coast this coming winter morphed into something else. August will mark the end of three years of full-time living in the motorhome for us. As much as we have loved almost every minute of it, there have been other adventures calling us too. Having two dogs with us has made it harder to pursue things such as flying off to Mexico as we used to do once or twice a year, or flying back to the West Coast from Florida to spend holidays with our kids and grandkids. The more we envisioned spending winter in a campground in Southern California, the more we started to discuss the idea of coming off the road—at least for a while.

We have envisioned all along that Bend, Oregon would be the place we would like to call home when we were ready to give up the motorhome. Two years ago, when we stayed in Bend for about six weeks, we discovered that the real estate was still affordable so we took advantage of it and bought a small townhome. In a perfect world, we could keep the motorhome and the house, but that would leave little money for fuel and campgrounds—let alone some other types of travel we intend to do. So, the plan is to take a year off from life on the road and see what it is like to live in this great town. (Admittedly, we are already planning winter getaways as we have not endured cold weather in a long time. . . .)

A little glimpse of our new home in the Old Mill District of Bend

Once we decided to make the move to Bend later this summer, I advertised the Big EZ on RV Trader and a few other websites. The response was almost overwhelming. We had a buyer within a week,  much sooner than we were prepared for so we had to get into action and start packing.

Vic giving me a look of disbelief as we packed up all our belongings in the motorhome

The cleaning for new owners never seemed to end as we found ourselves continually
 wiping everything down as we made the 900 mile trek to Billings

We both felt great about the new family who would be the second owners of our motorhome.They are a family of five who are very enthusiastic about creating memories together by camping and visiting many National Parks. The only big challenge in the sales agreement was timing and distance as they live in Iowa. The new owner Brent never even came to see the motorhome in person. I made a video of the exterior and interior and that was enough to convince him this was the motorhome for his family. We settled the distance issue by agreeing to meet each other halfway in Billings, Montana for the exchange. We drove the motorhome about 950 miles to meet the new owner, Brent, at the KOA in Billings.

Meeting the new owner Brent was even better in person as he showed incredible patience
with our two-hour review of all the workings of the motorhome

Vic explains all the extra parts he had stashed away for emergency repairs

Happily, we flew back to Portland from there so only had to do the drive one way. Brent even drove us to the airport in the motorhome. It was pretty emotional to walk away from such a beautiful part of our lives, but we know we can create these kind of memories again if we find we miss it too much.

Brent, the new owner, drives the motorhome for the first time

Saying goodbye to the Big EZ at the Billings airport

All these happenings have brought us to a fork in the road called Thank God We Have Generous Friends as we are staying at “Chez Cooks” in Corvallis until we can move into our Bend home in August. (Our plans had been to be stay at in the motorhome where we have parked behind their house the two previous summers but this time we needed a bedroom too!) The ironic part is they have their home on the market and are moving to California just a few days after we head to Bend. I guess we feel like kindred spirits facing such big changes in our lives.

Last photo of the Big EZ at Chez Cook's RV pad

While staying here we are catching up with our annual doctor and dentist appointments, visiting with old hometown friends, and taking short trips to some of our favorite places such as the nearby coast in Newport and Lincoln City.

A memorable gathering of friends for dinner

Vic and the pooches pose for a moment during a wonderful walk
along Nye Beach in Newport

Tomorrow we are heading off to Astoria, a three-hour drive from here, to spend time with my oldest son for five days. When we return, we plan to do some kayaking on the local rivers and get in some wine tasting excursions in the luscious Willamette Valley.

Our last lovely campsite in the Big EZ along the Clark Fork River
 in Clinton, Montana before meeting the new owner in Billings

Now that we no longer have the Big EZ, I plan to bring the blog to a close around the time we actually move in to our new home. I am not quite ready to say goodbye. Our big transition will seem more real when we actually take up residence in the house and start planning new adventures as retirees in Bend.