Calico Ghost Town

2/28/06 - Back to Morgan Hill
On Tuesday we drove West as far as Calico, which is an old Mining town just east of Barstow, CA. We got there at dusk and dry camped in their parking lot. I was surprised the next morning when they came around to collect a $27.50 camping fee. What a tourist trap that turned out to be.

Wednesday we returned to Maple Leaf RV Park in Morgan Hill. On Friday we had another appointment at Alpine Recreation where they replaced one of our awnings. Then we drove back up to Santa Rosa and visited our old friend Master Wu.

3/04/06 - Back to Petaluma
We spent four nights at the Petaluma KOA and did the semi-annual doctor/dentist checkups, saw my Mom and sister a few times and then drove back down to Fremont to see my good friend David. He treated us to another great meal and it was good to see him and his family again.

Snowy Interstate 5

3/09/06 - Back to Oregon
On Thursday March 9th, we headed North to Oregon and got as far as Medford before stopping for the night. We drove through a few snow flurries in the mountains, but the ground was clear at the truck stop we spent the night at. In the morning however, there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground, so we quickly left and drove slowly behind some other trucks until the snow cleared about half an hour later.

We spent the next few days at Phoenix RV Park in Salem while my wife took another painting class. Then on Monday we returned to Carlton.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned to some of our friends in Carlton (we'll call them TM) that we were going to sell our house and they called us back a few days later asking how much we would be asking. I gave them a ballpark figure and so when we got back to Carlton, they were eager to take another look at our house with purchasing it in mind.

3/17/06 - Big Moving Sales
By the next weekend we were ready to have our first big garage sale. We started setting up on Thursday and Friday we had quite a few people stop by. One of those people (we'll call her LC) bought the gazebo that was only partially set up in our backyard. They returned on Monday to disassemble it and take it home. In the process we became good friends with LC and her family.

Our Carlton House

Saturday we had a great turnout to the sale and TM came over with some friends and did some more inspecting of the property. By Sunday evening we had sold quite a lot of things and were ready for a break.

Our friends were pretty serious about buying the place but we really didn't have a very good idea what it was worth. So on Thursday I paid for an appraisal, which came in a bit lower than I had hoped. Still I felt my original number was a fair one, considering the amount of property both real and personal we had to offer in the deal.

LC's daughter is a budding artist and so Dayadevi gave her several bags of paints and other art materials she no longer needed. They were very grateful of course.

Friday the 24th began another 3 day garage sale. Again we sold lots of stuff and made over $1000. We had one more moving sale the following weekend which also did very well. During these sales we had several people show a strong interest in buying the house for much more money than we were asking from our friends. TM still seemed to be on the fence though, weighing other options.

LC came over again on Sunday to see what we had left and offered to take care of forwarding our mail to us. This was certainly a great offer that we couldn't refuse, so we subsequently got a PO Box in McMinnville, where she collects our mail and sends it to us periodically.

4/10/06 - Break on the Coast
The following week was all about packing and finding a good storage unit. So on Friday we drove to Salem to look at a few choices and decided on a 10x25 ft heated unit.

Siletz Bay at low tide

With that out of the way, we decided we needed a break and moved the coach out to the beautiful Pacific Shores RV Park on the coast just north of Newport for a few days. While we were there we had an appointment with our CPA and got our income taxes filed.

Also during the break I carefully planned where everything should go in the storage locker, so that we could have access to those things we might need. There was some question about having space available for the refrigerator.

4/17/06 - Big Moving Day
The movers we had hired were due to come at about 1pm on Monday and I took the opportunity to force the purchase issue with our Carlton friends. I told them I would add our $1200 refrigerator into the deal if they would make a decision before the movers came. So after some haggling we came to a deal on Sunday night.

The movers did not actually show up until after 3pm so it was quite late before we had everything packed, drove to Salem, and unpacked at the storage place about 7 hrs later. Unfortunately we did not get everything in the truck. Fortunately everything fit, pretty much as I had planned it out.

Tulip Festival in Woodburn

The next morning we drove to a Tulip Festival in Woodburn. It was a great day off and a beautiful event. Then we picked up a u-Haul trailer in Salem and returned to Carlton.

Shortly after we pulled into our driveway a young man on a bicycle stopped by and asked about something we had at the garage sale. I was debating with myself about starting to load the rest of the stuff we had in the garage into the trailer, when he came along and offered to help. So we packed up the trailer, and I gave him a few dollars and some stuff that he wanted.

The next morning we drove to TM's house where a realtor helped us draft and sign all the papers for the sale of the house. Then we drove back to Salem and finished packing our storage shed.

4/20/06 - Back to California
On Thursday, April 20th, five weeks after returning to Carlton, we left for California. We sold quite a lot of stuff, including our house without ever officially putting it on the market, moved what was left into storage, and found someone to handle our mail. Pretty amazing what a clear intention will do for you.

Rocky Oregon Coast

We decided to drive down the coast instead of taking the Interstate, so we headed for US101. It is a bit slower, for sure, but much prettier.

On Friday we pulled into Mad River Rapids in Arcata for about a week. Dayadevi had a class with Jo Sonja and I had lots of time to work on this website. I did get out and take a few new photos, like this one of a cow scratching itself on a tree .

On Thursday I Barbecued some chicken for JoSonja's class. Everyone ate well and had a good time.

On the 28th we signed the closing papers on our Carlton house and mailed them back in record time.

5/1/06 - Back to Oregon
Monday, May 1st we left for Oregon and spent the night at the Seven Feathers Casino, where we dry camped and enjoyed their buffet.

Tuesday we were back at the RV Corral in Eugene for a few more repairs. We also had DirecTV installed, which I had been wanting for some time.