Lets’ Fly Away

Well, here I sit on the last leg of the flight to Sacramento to pick up a Winnebago Rialta. I think I discussed earlier why I wouldn’t be buying one of these, but as I did more research I found that this was the only RV with a regular full size mattress. After talking with a neighbor who had the Navion I realized that even though it had a queen size bed the fact that it was in 2 pieces would become uncomfortable and the idea of making the bed every night was very unappealing.

So after seeing this Rialta on Craiglist about a month ago, I found I kept thinking about it and wondering, so if there are only 3 of these available in the entire country, why was this one still available. So during this marathon of sorting and packing, 2 weekends ago, I started asking friends if they knew anyone in Sacramento who could look at it. A friend emailed me a list of services that could inspect the vehicle for me. The first one on the list, Auto Nerds, just screamed out at me. My partner in crime called and spoke to “Andy”, a professed VW fanatic, who would be happy to share with the technician via cell phone the things to look for in the RV. This was on Tuesday. Throughout the process I just believed that if this was the right one for me it would be all that it was advertised to be and it would be mine. Thursday at about noon I received the phone call that set this trip in motion. The Rialta was spotless, all systems worked and it only had 7,492 on the odometer. Andy told me to put a deposit down immediately as he heard from his tech that there was someone coming to look it that very afternoon. He also said that it was so like new and rare to find one in this condition. It was a 2002 and that if I didn’t jump on it, he might.

I called, negotiated the price, and was wiring a $1,000 within the hour. It all happened so fast. I had 2 tickets for the one way flight to Sacramento 5 days later. It seems so impetuous of me to be making so many quick decisions regarding my future. I keep being asked if I’m excited, and to be honest, I’m really too busy trying to keep up with the deadlines that I have set for myself to think much about it.

In a matter of a weekend I was deciding on a moving/yard sale, buying an RV, giving myself about 5 days to bring it back so I can prepare for knee replacement surgery on April 15th. It all seems to be happening so fast and I am managing somehow to stay ahead of it. Having the house ready for sale by the 10th of April when I plan on signing with the broker may be unrealistic but I will keep working toward that deadline until I arrive at the 10th.

I am realizing that my life goals and enjoyment are as important as everyone else’s. As frightening as making all of these decisions are, there are feelings of liberation that comes with it as well. Landing will start the next part of the adventure. And we have begun to descend.