Continuous Travelers – The Domino Effect

It’s been nearly eight months since we locked the door to our Ashland townhome for the last time and hitched up the trailer. We felt as footloose and fancy-free as possible with 41 years of accumulated marriage and family “stuff” whittled down and stored in a 5’x10’ storage unit. It was a pretty good feeling…still no regrets.
Once we decided to try to call Staunton, Virginia our home, we found a beautiful campground not far out of town and settled in to search for a house.

Previously, I wrote about our April house offer fiasco that had us canceling a contract on a brand new home (that I loved). What I didn’t mention was that when we expected to move in on May 5th, Reg quickly arranged for our belongings to be picked up in Ashland, Oregon and delivered to our new house the day after closing. As luck would have it, our things were on their way but we no longer had a house/garage to unload them into. More fast work by Reg secured us a local storage unit just in the nick of time.

Pretty quickly (probably too quickly), we made an offer on a second home, but withdrew it the next day after realizing the beautiful 17-acre forest view across the street was for sale and zoned for commercial/high density housing. Ugh! That was a close call.
Now we are waiting patiently for a closing date on a third home, one that we are excited about for a number of reasons. The current owners need to find a home to buy prior to moving out. We think they’ve done so, but we don’t know the status of the sellers they are (hopefully) under contract with. If the dominoes fall in the wrong direction we could be back at square one. We are hopeful, but not preordering furniture this time!

Meanwhile, we keep busy exploring the area and all that it has to offer…

Staunton’s Stonewall Brigade Band was established in 1855, making it the longest continuous community band in the country. Much like Ashland, Oregon, they offer free summer concerts in the park and ice cream sales. We’re feeling more and more at home.


Comments

12 responses to “Continuous Travelers – The Domino Effect”

  1. ophelia mcinturff Avatar
    ophelia mcinturff

    Wow! Keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers 🙏 Good things are worth waiting for. Hugs

    Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you Ophelia! You are so right. We are looking ahead to new adventures!!

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  2. Kathy Chappell Avatar
    Kathy Chappell

    Staunton and area look beautiful. We are keeping our fingers crossed about the house.🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

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    1. Thanks Kathy. We are hopeful! 🙂

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  3. Barbara Silva Avatar
    Barbara Silva

    Looking forward to seeing your new home.  So hope all goes thru easily. 
    OMG that’s so scary to think you could have had something large across
    the street from you. Realtor should have let that one our of the bag!! 
    No wonder people were moving.  That campground is lovely.  You should
    get an extended stay rate, I would hope.  I need to pull the plug on my
    home, but I just can’t yet. Started slowly cleaning one thing at a
    time.  Best to you both.  Barbara

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Barbara! The campground staff has been very good to us here, but we are antsy to get on with life. Real Estate disclosure laws are not such a thing here as in California…buyer beware, however our Realtor has lots of contacts and has been great.
      I guess Kathy mentioned that we are expecting 2 granddaughters early next month. Lots happening for us. Take care and keep in touch!

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      1. Barbara Tice Silva Avatar
        Barbara Tice Silva

        HI, We are headed to Eugene, Or tomorrow. We are staying with a friend and husband, who live in Klamath Falls, the first night, then moving on to Eugene. Eugene is going to be in the 90’s. Never happens. It’s Mike’s daughters graduation from UofO. She went back for landscape Architecture. That is sooo exciting that there will be girls in the family. Bet Gail is thrilled. What are the odds, 2 in one month. Cousins. I’m so glad Andrew decided to have children. He was losing out. Send a picture of your new place. Getting old folks out of their beloved home could be a challenge. Kathy said you have to be out of campground at the end of the month. Do you have an alternate plan?? Went to Sally Stitt’s retirement party last week. Did any of the boys have her? 37 years. Principal there now is worthless. Woodland has lost alot with no leadership. Almost all new staff. Mike and I have taken some very fun trips for a couple days at a time. Twain Harte, Cayucos, Plymouth(rode the rails, and wineries). Stayed at only nice place in the poor little town, but Sutter Creek was very close. I would have lost my mind by now, in your situation. So hope you are settled soon. B

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Have a great weekend Barbara. I’ll send photos of all our family updates when I can.

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  4. Elaine Shanafelt Avatar
    Elaine Shanafelt

    third time’s a charm, right? I hope this one works out for you. It sounds like you found the place you want to settle, so I imagine the wait is hard. May all work out for you! Elaine

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I hope the third time is the charm! The yard is beautiful and it is walking distance to town, so we are very excited about that. Take care, it’s always nice to hear from you. Sue

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  5. thetravelingtaylorsofficial Avatar
    thetravelingtaylorsofficial

    Eight months in and whittling 41 years down to a 5×10 storage unit takes real nerve — ‘still no regrets’ says a lot. The withdrawn offer over that forest view turning out to be zoned commercial gave me chills; what a catch that was. Fingers firmly crossed the third set of dominoes falls your way. In the meantime, Skyline Drive and Big Meadows Lodge are a pretty wonderful holding pattern, and Route 11 chips certainly don’t hurt. Rooting for you both.

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    1. Thanks so much for your good wishes and support. The last few months have been a journey…all good though. Keep traveling and enjoy your mother/daughter time together. 💕

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