More Moving

We had taken up 20 van loads by early October. The moving went on. We continued to have visitors at the acreage on the weekends while we were there, and enjoyed the short breaks from moving. Halloween came and went, and by Thanksgiving we had moved 32 van loads. Finally we had the old house ready and it went on the market just before Christmas. The next day we happily accepted an offer for our asking price. We enjoyed Christmas and New Years at the acreage and took a long break there, then traveled back to the old house in early January. The buyer’s financing failed but they were able to secure another loan, which pushed back the closing date. More moving occurred through January until finally the time had come and we were spending our last night at the old house. The next day was Groundhog Day, and we crammed the last of our stuff into both vans, did some cleaning in the house, left the keys on the counter and closed the door behind us for the last time. We had lived there for over 26 years. We began moving in late July of 2018 and finished in early February of 2019. Shelly and I ended up moving 44 van loads to our acreage. It was finally done, and we could relax and enjoy our first winter at our new home in the country. Or so we thought.

Moving

The first trip up to the acreage we removed all of the extra seats from both minivans so that they were now small cargo vans. And so began the trips back and forth between the old house and the acreage. We would stay at the old house and load the vans, while Shelly put in her two or three days at the office. We would then drive back up to the acreage where Shelly would finish the week working from our new home. The vans were unloaded and after spending the weekend we drove back to the old house on Sunday to repeat the process. Weeks went by. We enjoyed family and friends visiting to see our new place and managed to build and use a fire ring out of rocks. By mid-September the harvest had begun and the beans were gone from the fields. Finally the day of “the big move” arrived at the end of September. We hired a couple of guys and a truck (you might be able to guess the name of the company) to transport all of our large possessions to the acreage. They loaded the truck the first day and drove up the next day, finishing by early afternoon. We now had almost all of our furniture, which really made a difference in both houses. The old one was emptying out and becoming less familiar as the new one was filling up and becoming more of a home.

Arriving

We finally reached the end of July and closed on our acreage. We signed the papers and received the keys. It was ours! The next day we arrived with two minivan loads of stuff, prioritizing what to bring for the first weekend. Food, table, chairs, music, tools, our most important camping equipment, bedding, clothes, and a few adult beverages. We got to thinking what to bring up the next time, making a list of what we were lacking. This list making continued for several weeks until we had most all of the essentials we needed to run a household. As we walked around our property the first few times it was as if in a dream, cliched but true. We counted 130 trees, the majority of them white willows. Beans were planted around three sides of the adjoining fields, with corn to the south. We could see other clusters of trees on the horizon, indicating other acreages or farmsteads. A wind farm of dozens of turbines stood miles off to our southeast, and at night the red lights mounted on top of them would blink in a synchronous rhythm. Relaxing on our back porch, taking in all the sights and sounds, left us with little to say as the reality of finally reaching our goal began to set in. The most we could do is look at each other, shake our heads, and smile.

Planning

The lady we were buying the acreage from asked for two months to close so she could have a sale and move. I got the impression she did not think her property would sell so quickly. Shelly and I had plenty of time to begin packing and preparing our house for the market. Our house was paid for and we decided we would take our time moving so we could do most of it ourselves and not be rushed. Shelly had to keep coming back to the city anyway to work a set number of days in the office for her job. I had been working out of our home for a few years so I would be able to travel back and forth with her and stay in the old house, getting our two minivans packed for our next trip back to the acreage. So we would drive two fully loaded vans the 100 miles to our new acreage, unload, stay the weekend, then drive both vans back to the old house and do it all over again. As we cleared out the old house I would also make the mostly cosmetic repairs needed so that once it was empty it would be ready to sell. The money from the sale of the old house would pay off the mortgage we would have on the acreage. A simple and easy plan that turned out not to be so easy.

Prelude

My wife Shelly and I have wanted to live in the country for a long time. The plan was to move when both kids were out of the house. Our daughter had four high risk pregnancies in a row, Shelly’s mother was diagnosed with several chronic diseases, and my brother died. All of these events in our lives focused our attention on our family rather than looking for a house in the country. Our daughter decided to stop at four (it was possible she could not carry any more to term) and after a brave struggle Shelly’s beloved mother died peacefully in her home surrounded by all of her grown children. After a year as executor of my brother’s estate I was finally able to close it. We decided to get serious about the house hunt and found a enthusiastic (and very patient) realtor to help us. After looking for over a year in a specific part of the state that would put us closer to our kids and grand kids, we ended up walking around a property surrounded by trees and crops, with a two bedroom bungalow house, large garage, machine shed, another outbuilding and a grain bin. It was a windy day in May, 2018. Shelly asked if this was the one. I said I didn’t see why not. We laughed and hugged, relieved that the search was over and excited to begin this next chapter in our lives.