When we make a decision, we take action. And so just like that, we sold Livvy today. It’s a little bittersweet; we were ready and it is the right time.
I think for me it all started when we bought our home in Bay Village last year. At the time, we decided that we weren’t seriously looking for a house yet because we had 3 amazing, lengthy RV trips planned. But the house found us, and we were all in. I am so glad that we made the move, but it is a true statement to say that I/we left a part of our heart at this wonderful home every time we left. Therefore, for me, the Livvy chapter had a much clearer ending knowing that we would be “retiring” to our forever home.
Next, we always had a 3-5 year window when we bought it. We figured it would take that long to see/do the things that we really wanted to do. As any regular reader knows, we made travelling to our top spots a top priority. By the time we were having a serious conversation a few weeks ago about how long to keep Livvy, all of our big destinations have already been visited. That husband of mine is an incredible planner!
Yes, there are more parks in the continental US. Some we think are better to visit by car, others we will need to evaluate where they fall in our priority travels. Because not having an RV allows me to more easily consider other wonderful destinations. (the accountant in me runs to through to my core). We are so excited to continue travelling!
And most importantly, we both feel like we have been so fortunate to have had these experiences. It truly has been amazing.
It came with plenty of stressors, though. We both felt it, just different flavors. As you know, Rick’s stress came from possible mechanical failures ranging from the ever-present tire issues to other malfunctions. I spend so much time worrying about the big catastrophes such as car accidents, gas line explosions and the like. It’s not pretty, and I have my mom to thank for that mindset. (She gave me lots of good things to go with it, but any family reading this right now is smiling and nodding… as an example, she avoided left hand turns when she finally got her drivers license at 40. While I don’t let this kind of fear hold me back, I bring it with me wherever I go.) I seriously Thank God that we avoided any real catastrophe. Even today when we went to drop her off, I was expecting the worst.
The long trip highlighted how sedentary this RV lifestyle actually is. Yes, there is work to setup/tear down, and we did some amazing hikes, but the day to day doesn’t involve enough activity for the two of us.
So the day in South Dakota just brought everything together. As we drove around looking at nearly everything around us being closed for the season, with a government shutdown to boot, we felt tired. We had been joking for a week or two that the long trip “broke us”. One-third of our days were spent with a significant drive, which is frankly just more than we enjoy. The things left on our “want to see” list can be done in more traditional ways, at a slower pace.
It comes down to utils. My Mihalik friends/family know that this was one of Mark’s favorite concepts, and it is now something I use regularly. From Google:
Utils are a hypothetical unit of measurement used to quantify the satisfaction or utility that a consumer derives from consuming goods and services. They help in understanding consumer preferences and decision-making by providing a way to compare the benefits gained from different choices.
So while our utils were high in these Livvy travels, we felt any further attempted use would provide significantly decreased utils. We had crossed the line. It was time.
Rick did a great job contacting several dealers. This is not a great time of the year to sell, but we also didn’t want to winterize and store it, knowing that we weren’t intending to use it again. Of course we had one really low offer, followed by a “no thanks”; but the guy gave him a great idea of what the market should offer us. And then, we got someone who offered us better than that! It was better than what we both expected, and it all happened today. We shed a few tears, but we know that it is the right thing for us.
It’s been an amazing start to retired life. There is so much more living to do.
But Rick is the writer, not me. He will take over this blog and write when he feels like it. If no one reads it, that’s fine. Writing is obviously one of his great talents, and a craft he may explore further. So this venue will be fun for him to continue. It will be better coming from a single voice. I can share my own perspectives on social media (which he has removed himself from) whenever I feel like it.
We look forward to spending more quality time with friends and family now that we will be spending more time locally. We’ve already begun that, and it is so nice to be home!
What an amazing adventure it has been! If you want to see everywhere we visited in Livvy, CLICK HERE.
It is quite impressive, but we’re tired…
It is a perfect way for me to sign off from this blog!
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