Hi everyone,

Summer’s over and activities in the Co-op are beginning to pickup, many friends and lease holders are back from their summer escapes. I wasn’t here last October and therefore didn’t experience the wonderful fall weather. Sunny days with temperatures in the mid-70s and clear evening with the lows in the low 30s. Yesterday was my one year anniversary arriving at the Co-op. Looking back, I arrived only knowing two people. I can say that has changed, and I have been fortunate to get to know a very large number of people, many of whom I consider friends. 

On Monday, November 14, I purchased a used 40 ft, destination trailer from a friend in the Co-Op. It’s a 2010 Cedar Creek 40CFL made by Forest River, with a front Living Room, so I have a view of the mountains from my dining room table. This has been my loose plan off and on, once I decided that I no longer wanted to travel in a 40 ft motorhome and preferred traveling in my truck camper. The trailer came with a 28 x 10 ft metal awning and custom entry steps. 

The above two photos are the cottage setup on Maxine's lot

  Kitchen area

Living Room

Bedroom

I hired a company to remove the awning and they will re-install it on my lot after Thanksgiving. I spent Tuesday airing up the four tires and removing all the jack stands, then Wednesday morning, I drove my motorhome into dry camp and with the help of Paul and Steve, we hooked the trailer to Steve's one ton pickup and towed the trailer around the corner from Maxine’s lot to mine. One hour later, we had the trailer in position, leveled and stabilized. There was barely enough room to park the motorhome on my lot, but I was able to squeeze it in. I’ll spend the next week to ten days moving 11 years worth of stuff from the motorhome to the trailer. I had already emptied the motorhome basement and stored all that stuff in the Casita basement. 

Once the motorhome is empty, I’ll place it in storage and sell it. I have contacted 4 wholesaler, three of which will not buy it because it's more than 10 years old. I have one wholesaler who is interested and has made an offer. I have weighed the benefits and losses of a private sale vs a wholesale sale. This is my fourth motorhome. Each time Nancy & I traded motorhomes, we traded the old one to the dealer, at the wholesale price. If I wholesale the motorhome now, I would be doing a similar thing, but I got a much better deal from Maxine than a dealer, plus Arizona does not collect sales tax on a private sale. After considering everything over that last two weeks, I will wholesale the motorhome and be done with it.

I need to add how I fell into to deal. We have a 4 pm BYOB happy hour at the Co-op’s outdoor pavilion six days a week. It’s open to everyone and I usually attend. It’s a time to relax, chat with friends, but also a time when announcements are made, both Co-op issues and personal issues. Maxine stood up and announced that after ‘dating” Bruce for the last couple of years, they were going to move in together and she would be selling her trailer and giving up her lease lot. I immediately raised my hand and told her I was interested. Happy Hour ended at 5pm, we walked down to her lot, I looked at the trailer, asked her what she wanted for it, agreed to her price and we hugged to closed the deal. The next day I gave her a deposit.

There have been a few sad moments when I think that this is the first time moving into a new home without Nancy. I think she would have liked it. I know she would have liked Maxine. It’s one more step in this whole process of losing her and moving on in life.

So, my future plans will be to split my time between the cottage at the Co-op, the park model at CORA and traveling in the truck camper. Not sure how much time I will spend in each, but it will be whatever I want it to be. 

Hugs

Tight lines and safe travels