Our Family knows......

We have an awesome family. I have feared telling them of our plans. I just knew they would want to kill us but this past weekend went surprisingly well. There was no gasping, yelling, crying or anything.... Now there also was no jumping up & down and celebrating either but that is totally ok with me.... The fact they did not get upset is a milestone for me and I now have less stress........ 

Now we have time to focus on what we need to do to get ourselves in the rig in Columbia and closer to our goal of hitting the road. 

This past weekend was also our 1st and ONLY Yard Sale..... I say only because I HATE yard sales.... Since we are storing our furniture then our yard sale was to get rid of JUNK... and we did get some gone... We made a little money that we promptly blew through but that is totally ok.... 

E-Diva was a great helper during the sale.. 

She kept trying to keep things I was trying to get rid of.... 

Then she decided she was worn out and 

I couldn't get her to do a thing.....

We had quite a bit of stuff left over. A facebook friend had mentioned her church had a clothing closet so I contacted her to see if they wanted our left over clothes. She came to pick them up and we loaded her mini van slam full of just clothes. It made me happy to know these clothes were going towards a good cause of helping families in need..... All our other "junk" was loaded up and hauled to Goodwill. 

I still have a crap load of stuff to get rid of but I will Freecycle them and/or head to Goodwill again and again and again.... 

After notification of our plans to our family was announced, I felt so much better and relieved. It was telling them that was holding me back from actually completing projects. Now that is over with, we can move forward. 

We have 6 1/2 weeks left before we move into the rig.... 

We have BOOKED our New Home.................

What a difference a week makes.... We have only completed a little more purging (we have TONS left to do), I have gone over & over our budget trying to ensure there are no flaws (I remember things to add almost every minute and it is driving me nuts), we have thought and thought about how we will be able to do this and that and get this and that......  but yesterday things seem to iron out a bit more and our idea of becoming adventurers started to come together for us.  

Our goal for our adventure is to move into our rig in June 2013 and live in it until January 2014. In January, our plan is to hit the road and go where ever Evan has mapped for us. (And boy oh boy has he been mapping it out - Ha-Ha)

We both have been trying to find a campground in the area to move to for the 7 months we plan to live in the rig (June until December). The campgrounds around here have not been "blowing our socks off" & some are absolutely not worth even driving through let alone living in for us. 

Yesterday, it was as if the stars aligned correctly and I suppose we were holding our tongues just right because we were able to locate an incredible campground with an awesome monthly rate of $315 + electric.  It is a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park. I am so EXCITED!  

If you are not familiar with the Yogi Bear Parks here is a link: Yogi Bear's Jellystone Parks

Last year we visited the Jellystone Park in Marion NC and were totally smitten with them. The Jellystone Park in Marion, NC  has a pool & water slide but we did not try them out while we were there. We had so much fun with all the other stuff that going to the pool & water slide just did not get on our agenda..... 

Here are some pictures from our stay in May 2012

at Jellystone Park in Marion, NC.

Our Rig on a Creek Site

Yogi visited all the sites on Sunday Morning

Evan & J-Man as they head out to explore on their Scooters.

Playground & Sand Box

Putt-Putt Course

Canoeing and Kayaking the lakes

Yogi & E-Diva

Yogi and J-Man

Normally these parks are seasonal (the Marion, NC is one of them) but the one we have booked for June - December is open year around. It has all the amenities we were wanting: Fishing, Pool, Nature Trails AND activities for the kids EVERY weekend.....  

You can check our soon to be home site we have chosen by clicking this link -->  Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park @ River Bottom Farms   You really need to check out the Events page where they show the theme for each weekend. J-Man and E-Diva are going to have so much fun... as am Evan & I.   (We have never been to this location before and next week I will be in town for work so I will be going by to check it out. We feel comfortable enough with booking this location because it is a Jellystone Park and they are required to have high standards which is a plus in my book. I will take pictures when I visit and post)

By the way, this campground is in another city than where we live now so it will be a totally new adventure for us being in a new area as well as living in the rig. We are familiar with Columbia, SC but we do not venture there often due to the distance. Columbia is the capital of South Carolina and has so much to to for family's and kids such as......  Riverbanks Zoo, Edventure, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia Museum of Art, there is even a FaceBook page 365 Things To Do in Columbia.... We will not (SHOULD not) be bored at any given time when we move here..... 

The idea behind living in a campground until we hit the road is for us to save money for our trip & complete some upgrades to the rig (Possibly adding solar & getting all the towing equipment for a toad)  By moving into this campground, Evan & the kids will be entertained (pool, fishing, walking trails, as well as going into town for the Zoo, children's museum, etc... during the week) while I am working and we will be saving ALL of my salary EACH month and living off of Evan's income.  (Currently I live 1.5 hours from my company's main office, when we move here, I will be 30 minutes away - So I will have more opportunities to work with the big wigs as well in my last few months) 

When we settle at River Bottom Farms, we will no longer have to pay for home phone/internet at $60 a month (we will use our cell phones & wifi is included at campground), satellite at $70 a month (we will be using netflix & red box streaming at about $9 a month a piece along with our antenna for local channels), water bill $30 a month (included with site), yard maintenance $90 a month during grass cutting season (included with site), trash pick up at $20 a month (dumpster on site), renters insurance at $40 a month, a $300 a month electric bill (we are estimating around $100 a month if that when we move), or a $900 a month rent payment.... yes ALL of those will be GONE and or reduced tons.....  (Just in rent alone we are saving $600 a month.) I have our budget all planned out and as we move forward in to this saga, I will post about the differences in the old and new budgets as they evolve but just with what I have listed above we are NOW paying $1510 a month and when we move we will be paying $433 a month. A grand savings right off the bat of $1077 a month. Amazing!!! 

For now we are focused on purging our stuff, having our yard sale, getting the things we will be storing to my mother-in-laws house (Yay, no storage fee to add to my budget) and within 2 months moving to Yogi Bear's park.....  Oh my, we have LESS THAN 2 MONTHS.......  Eeeeeeeek!