Memories and Feelings

Sylviane has said much of what I am writing here but I want to share my perspective. Some of what I write here has already been said on the blog, but I needed to repeat it just to try to make sense.

Living on the bus the past 11 months has been an awesome experience. As we contemplate settling in one spot, many of the memories and feelings flood back to me. From our stay at Malibu beach, Campland on the Bay (San Diego), the desert in Quartzite Arizona, Disneyland, windy Bodega Bay, Mendocino and Quincy. The hiking and fishing, crabbing and gold panning, the exploring of new towns and new rivers all come back to mind. Swimming in the surf and time with the family. I think time with the family just hiking together, or telling stories around the campfire were awesome. The special things like abalone picking, horse back riding, seeing all the deer and so many other things, are great memories too. This has been a trip we will all remember for the rest of our lives.

One of the reasons that we wanted to travel is to find a place to settle down. My goals were to just work remotely via computer wherever we found the most desirable location to live. Be that Mendocino or the Sierras, Oregon or anyplace in the country that we decided was the best. Of course the thought of not living near the ocean is just out of the question. We tried real hard to convince ourselves that maybe if we found a place with a river and/or a lake that we could sacrifice being close to the ocean. But after a lot of thought and discussions we decided that we just can’t live away from the coast. Mendocino was awesome. We all liked it a lot. The fishing, the abalone, the basic attitude of the residents, are all great. But it was very secluded. Sometimes my job would require me to meet in person. It is hard to avoid meeting in person or on jobsites completely, even though I would like to do all of my work remotely I now have learned that is not practical. To fly out of Mendocino was a tough couple hour drive to San Francisco, then another flight to wherever I needed to go.

Not sure I ever described what I do for work on this blog so I will give a quick idea of what that is:

I work for a construction company as a project manager. So I negotiate and write contracts, change orders and basically over see specifics projects to make sure that it completes on time and below budget. I also work to insure the client is happy with our services. I made arrangements with my employer that I would work half time for half pay as we traveled. It has worked out generally well. The biggest frustration was having poor internet and cell phone signals, often we had a complete lack of service. It was taking much more time for me to do my work, often I worked 5 or 6 hours in stead of just 4 hours. There were so many fun things to do like fishing and panning for gold or getting some more abalone, that sometimes I felt like there was not enough time to do all that I wanted to.

A month or so ago Sylviane and I decided that we definitely want to end up living in San Diego. Up until 12 days ago we had planned to travel at least one more year. But I tossed out the idea to Sylviane that maybe this is the best time to buy a house. We know where we want to live and it appears to be a very good time for buyers right now. When we add into the equation that our cash flow is slightly negative as we are traveling, the conclusion is that we may not have the cash in a year from now to buy a house.

I expect that we will still be able to take extended vacation several times a year. The bus is all set up for working as we travel. Depending on what stage a project is in there will be times that we can take month away without affecting the project. The start and finish of a project takes the most time so during those periods there is extra work. I don’t mind that type of "seasonal" highs and lows, if fits my style.

We looked at a house last weekend that we like a lot and made an offer. With luck we will hear tomorrow if they accept it. I hope they do because we all love that property.



Bill