The Start of Our Full Timing Adventure, May 2007

May 25th Friday - Memorial Day Weekend start

I finished up on Friday and found out that I would start roaming the park during the times that I was on, which basically means that you can hike the park and give information to people, because they do not always come into the visitor center. It is kind of like going out there to see the visitors, since they do not come to you. A great idea, I will probably go for the hikes in the morning and then be in the visitor center in the afternoons.

May 24th - Great Day to Change! I went into work with Sasha today so that we could get the addresses changed at lunchtime. We changed the DMV - there were NO Lines, unbelievable but true. Loudoun taxes, we had to change first at Prince William then we could change at Loudoun automatically. Citibank - that did not work, (well, it did sort of, for the credit card but not anything else), and Credit Union, worked great.

Since I volunteer at a National Park, I am allowed to have an account with the Department of Interior's Credit Union, which is great, as they have really good interest rates on their CDs and money markets. Their rates are much better than most other banks, including Citibank.

Anyway, I got breakfast at Blimpy - several hot egg sandwiches...they seem to stay with you all day (that could be good or bad) and brought it back to Sasha so that we could eat breakfast together. Then he did some work, while I worked on my clients' websites. We went out to lunch and got the rest of the chores done at the different areas (see above). We had lunch at the USGS (United States Geological Survey) cafeteria. After all those chores, we went to the Sport and Health Club in Dale City,

I had gone there on May 23rd and had spoken to Moe, the Membership Director. He was very nice and showed me around the gym. Most of the gym is weights but they do have a couple of exercise rooms and a long wall of cardio equipment. It was also very clean. So he had given me two free weeks - one for Sasha and one for me. So the next day, Sasha and I went to the club and found it to be very nice, and inexpensive ($49.95 for the both of us! that was cheaper than anyone else and no startup fees).

May 23rd - day off from Volunteering - check out the area

I went to check out the area a little more closely, we really had not done so, and I wanted to see if I could get a library card and a new post office box. So first I went to the post office in Triangle (it is actually close to the Quantico base) and is very small. They did not have any post boxes available so I went to the one in Dumfries, which had several post offices available. And they cost less than Triangle. AND they cost about 80% less than Cascades!!! Now if all the expenses could be that much less than Loudoun, we would be very happy. I also went to Dale City to the library there. There is a library in Dumfries, but it is very small and I wanted to check out Dale City. SO I did. The library is very nice and clean. I showed the letter to the library person and we can now get library cards and check out books.

---Even though I belong to the Loudoun (Cascades) book club, I was able to get the book very easily at the Dale City library. When I had tried to get the book at Cascades library, it was either out or lost. But here in Dale City, it was available. Also as a comparison, Dale City and Prince William County have fines for their books (if you forget to bring it in or lose the book you get a fine) but Loudoun does not. I think there is more of an incentive to bring the book back to PW county and not to Loudoun especially when you get fined. That may be why there are so many books missing from the Loudoun County libraries - there is no punishment, I'll bet.

May 21-May 25th - Great Hiking weather, although it is starting to get warm.

May 21 and May 22, volunteered at Prince William since I had off the weekend before. Got the letter from the Superintendent stating that Sasha and I live on the park, so that we could get our addresses changed.

May 18th through May 20th Parties for Mom, Dad & Aunt Tina

We went up to New Jersey for my parents 40th Anniversary and for my Aunt Tina's 70th Birthday party. A great time had by all; lots of kiddies there, will have to post pictures soon.

The food was delicious, both Denise and Stephen (my cousins) cooked or helped with cooking. Actually, I think JoAnn (Denise's partner) actually made the food, and Denise helped make it look good. And Stephen got the entrees together like he always does, and lots left over so we could take some home. I had brought the wine, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, plus Champagne and Karen and I got beer before the party. Of course, having the party at my parent's house was a great idea, and it looked beautiful. Karen was so good at putting this thing together, to even suggest that we do it and get it done. She truly is a great organizer. Thanks Karen, Denise, JoAnn, Stephen and of course, Mom and Dad, Aunt Tina and Uncle Joe, for doing this

May 17, Gold's Gym

Thursday night we checked out Gold's Gym in Dale City, for a free visit. Very nice place after of course Sport and Health's Stafford place, but they have no towel service. We would really like to have towel service but it is starting to look like that is just not available around here. Also too, the Gold's Gym was very far off of the highway, and there was traffic to get to it. I do not think this will be one of the places that we would go to. We had Jerry's Subs for dinner back at the camper.

May 16, Checking out the sports clubs As we no longer have a gym to go to, we have been trying to figure out the gym situation around here. I must say, it is not good. We went over to Sport and Health in Stafford, and it was stifling, hot and in no way clean facilities. We would not be going back there. We did work out and took showers, and I found a tick on me that day...maybe that is also why I did not want to go back there again.

We had a nice dinner at King Street Blues in Stafford.

May 14th through 18th - Local hikes in Park, great weather.

May 13, Mother's Day: I volunteered that day and afterwards, Sasha's Mom and Dad came into the park, saw our new digs and then we headed out for dinner. We had dinner at Applebees in Dumfries. I do not really remember too many times that we have gone out to eat with Sasha's parents, we usually make something either at their house or ours. But as we did not have much food in the camper, it seemed best that we go out to eat.

May 4, 2007 - Sunny Beautiful Day - Glorious Day - Closing Day

Sasha's thoughts: Wake up early, took the last showers in the house, find out we have extra stuff in the basement that should have been taken/stored at work. (Laura - had a stressful moment, breath in breath out...almost over.) Throw out sheets and bedding.

Sold Smadar Levine piece!!! $500!! Talk about Last possible minute!

Load up Truck and Saturn with last of stuff. Walk Thru with Savinos and Realtor, Realtor says that we are very organized, we have all of the manuals saved and for the Savinos. Everything goes smoothly except Erlinda almost single-handedly moves headboard of queen bed and ruins my last minute work on bed re-enforcements!

Settlement with Hot looking Lawyer (Sorry Laura - you had the movers!) Settlement goes well except that we did not know that there would be no check at the table, would not get it until Monday. Firm Seems reputable so we don't sweat it. Settlement has good snacks: chocolate, various chips, coffee and sodas...free for about $500 in fees.

Deposit $1000 from Savinos (for Bed, Kitchen table and chairs and filing cabinet), and $500 from Art work in bank.

Had a nice lunch ($$) at Paco's in Reston. Sometimes sunny and sometimes cool, outdoor eating. Fire Alarm interruptions, but great meal.

Go Back to Rhyolite to pick up my truck, say good-bye to Kristina, shake hands with Phil who is getting new DBS Satellite installed.

Post Office, Costco Gas, then off to the park - but first big traffic on Route 28 South to Camping World for Misc. Supplies.

Take back way to Route 234, excellent road. Get to camp at approximately 4 pm, spend rest of daylight with power, water and sewer connections. Start organizing, not finished (Laura May 11th still not finished!)

Wonderful Dinner by Laura - Butter Pasta and Champagne outside under the stars. Lit the citronella candles outside with wonderful effect, cigar outside, in Adirondack chairs, see bats and stars overhead.

I LOVE OUR NEW LIFE & I love that Laura shares it with me