It was a strange feeling standing there in my empty garage looking out at my empty parking lot getting ready to drive away for the last time. I thought it was going to be a happy time after all I had waited for this moment for a long time anticipating how good it would feel. But I didn't feel happy, quite the opposite, what I felt was a deep sadness, a sadness that really took me by surprise, I thought there would be a little fear a little apprehension, but there was none of that only an overwhelming sadness almost like a death of someone close. The house seemed dead, it was no longer a home it was just an empty box, all of the things that made it a home were gone, there was no life left in it. The front yard was empty and nothing was moving and with the autumn leaves now littering the ground even the yard seemed dead. There was nothing left for me there and I felt like a stranger, so I got in my truck and drove away.
14 Comments
Tim
1/8/2018 02:42:24 pm
Hi Tom - I'm going back and rereading your blog from the beginning and was thinking about selling my own house last July. I had the opposite feeling to you - I had lived in the house for 22 years (almost to the day) and thought I would be incredibly sad, but instead I just felt empty and relieved that I was moving on to something else (which in this case was a very nice interim apartment before the next stage of my life). I stood like you did in the garage and tried to feel something for the house, but it just wasn't there. The hardest part for me was getting rid of a lot of stuff, but once I let go of it, letting go of the house itself was easy.
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theboondork
1/8/2018 03:36:50 pm
Thank you for attempting to read the whole thing but the last person that tried that became a raging alcoholic and died prematurely of terminal boredom.
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Tim
1/11/2018 07:49:35 am
Hi Tom,
theboondork
1/11/2018 01:37:40 pm
Thank you for the compliment Tim, I think "incredibly interesting" might be too strong a statement, I would settle for slightly better than having the flu or no worse than sitting home alone getting drunk.
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Tim
1/11/2018 02:35:04 pm
I think your blog is all about perspective. From where I sit looking at cold, dark skies, your life looks like the "Life of Riley" (see, I'm still hip and know all the cool phrases). Some of the posts I find just fascinating, like the time you spent at the working ranch and even the time at Ben Avery's (I used to be big in the shooting sports, but got rid of all my shooting stuff in the downsizing) - I didn't know there were shooting ranges you could camp at as well!
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theboondork
1/11/2018 04:39:53 pm
Actually the time I spent at the Stovall ranch was incredible to me also, I count that as one of the coolest places with the nicest folks I've ever been to.
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Tim
1/12/2018 07:57:53 am
I was thinking along the same lines as you on the weight of all of my shooting stuff and I really wanted to get down to just a few key hobbies and simplify my life. So far, I haven’t missed it (or any of the other hobbies I divested), but it would be fun to be camped in a spot and be able to do a little plinking now and again.
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theboondork
1/12/2018 01:31:45 pm
I sold most of my guns but I do carry a Ruger 1022 rifle and a little Ruger 22 handgun just for the reason that you mentioned.
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Tim
1/12/2018 02:25:19 pm
I had several Ruger 10/22's, one with a bull barrel that I pimped out. It was more fun modifying it than actually using it. Actually, the one last piece of shooting gear I have is a Ruger 10/22 trigger that never got installed - it's in my car because I mean to give it to a friend, but keep forgetting. 10/22's are great little guns and I'll probably own another one at some point.
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theboondork
1/12/2018 03:20:23 pm
Funny you should mention the pimped out 1022 I had one myself. It was a fluted bull barrel with a fiberglass stock and all the doodads I could put on it. And all I ended up accomplishing was turning a lightweight fun shooting little gun that was accurate enough, into a heavy, difficult to carry around, not much fun to shoot, very accurate gun. I sold it and bought a stock one again.
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Tim
1/15/2018 07:11:14 am
That was the same experience I had with my 10/22 with the bull barrel; it was fun to modify, but didn't really have much practical use in the real world. I guess I could have used it for entry level benchrest competition (it was accurate, but not accurate enough for serious benchrest), but I was in enough shooting sports at the time.
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theboondork
1/15/2018 02:40:28 pm
I haven't checked but the new 27 – 5 Ls may have completely different furniture in them, they change that stuff all the time and since the sofa I had was so bad I can't believe they would continue using it for another four or five years. But I didn't mean to make it sound like the furniture was cheap or low end, if anything it was too heavy and just wasn't comfortable.
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Tim
1/16/2018 01:37:54 pm
That's great to hear that you haven't felt the need for a dually; I'm hoping to do the same thing, but need to research it some more. Some of the other fifth wheels that I've considered would definitely require a dually, so the 27-5L gets another gold star in that category.
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theboondork
1/16/2018 02:58:01 pm
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that as far as RV size goes I don't think I've ever heard someone full timing alone say that they wish they had a bigger RV, but I've heard a lot say, including myself, that they could go smaller. Just remember the full timers rule of thumb that if you're RVs too small to carry all your stuff.... You've got too much stuff.
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