Progress At Last

Current Location: Fife, WA in an extended stay hotel

The new RV parts finally arrived on Monday afternoon. They had done all the prep work and were ready to dive in. We stopped in on Tuesday morning to check it out in person. We didn't stay long because we didn't want to impede their progress, but were able to snap a few pictures.

It's amazing how much they had to disassemble. On the slide, they took out the light fixtures, removed the decorative paneling, moved all the furniture and removed a couple of the cabinet doors. On the main ceiling, they removed the ceiling fan and the air conditioner. On the outside, they removed the roof vents and stripped both roofs. It's hard seeing our beloved home in such disrepair.

But the good news is they anticipate that it will only to take a few days to do all the repairs and put everything back in order. I'm cautiously optimistic, but won't be at all surprised if it takes longer than they expect.

We're hoping to be back in our home on Friday. We'll find out tomorrow if we'll make that date.

Hotel living has grown old. We've developed some habits we're not too proud of. We sleep late because there's really no reason to get up. We're limited in what we can do during the day because we can't leave Hunter in the hotel alone and it's too cold to leave him in the truck for too long. We try to get out and walk every day, even in the rain. We've explored many of the city parks and walking trails. We've eaten out a lot more than we normally would. That's in part because it's something to get us out, part due to our limited cooking facilities in the hotel, and part because we're on someone else's dime (insurance is covering our living expenses). In short we've become slugs and we're not happy with ourselves.

We're really anxious to get our lives back on track and the pieces are starting to fall into place once again. Once we get the rig back, we'll be headed directly to Portland, OR, about 180 miles to the south of us. Tracy has accepted a temporary contract at a printing company and she starts on Tuesday. I don't have any solid leads yet, but hope that things will pick up once we're settled. I'm also looking into some volunteer opportunities. It will be good to have a reason to get out of bed again. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss working.

We're not even 2 weeks in to 2011 and things are already looking up. I have a good feeling about the things to come!