I left this writing last time with Dean and I working toward our goal of retirement in Arizona. 2018 was a year of "waiting!" We had to wait for Dean's investment money to kick in so we could have a down payment on a house; we had to wait till he finally decided to stop working for the part-time job he had at Mike's Pharmacy in Toledo, Oregon; and we had to wait until we were ready to make the move. Meanwhile, we busied ourselves with packing, as though we were going to move, and other extra-curricular activities like music and Church.
In April, part of the retirement money started to trickle in. That gave us a little hope. In July, some more money came forth. Finally, in September, the final installment came in and we felt uplifted somewhat and began moving forward. Dean's job at the Pharmacy ended in July, not his decision, but Mike's. So we were definitely in the "Retirement" mode!
We took a very long round-trip road trip to Prescott in September. The best part of the trip was stopping to stay with family along the way. We drove to Las Vegas and stayed with Heather and Rich before trekking onward to Prescott (4 1/2 hours from Vegas!). We had a lovely visit with Heather and family.
Onward to Prescott where we stayed in a little motel in the center of town. We would be there for a week, so we made ourselves at home and enjoyed the time spent there. We met with our Realtor and he was gracious and took us around to visit 6 homes that he wanted to show us. The first three were ok, but seemed to have one or two features that we just couldn't abide. One, though it was a lovely home with a beautiful backyard, was on a 1/4 mile of dirt road full of ruts and holes and hills. That part, we did not like.
The fourth home was perfect! It was on a quiet street corner and had a 15 foot (+/-) tall Blue Spruce in the front and a flag pole! There were so many features we really liked, such as tile floors throughout, except for the bedrooms which were faux wood floors. It had beautiful living room and front bedroom windows with wood blinds. The kitchen, though on the small side, had a nice pantry and a good sized dining area off to one side. It was a 22 year old home, but we fell in love with it and made an offer.
We waited only one day to hear that our offer had been accepted. We got busy signing a lot of paper work and then were in the process of waiting to see if our loan would be approved. That would take a month or so. We used the rest of our time in Prescott exploring the area some more. The home we made the offer on was in Prescott Valley, a 20+ minute drive east of Prescott itself. We chose to look at homes in Prescott Valley mostly because they were less expensive. To live in Prescott proper, we would have had to pay $100,000 or more extra for an equivalent home. It's all good, however, because they both enjoy the same sunshine and have that wonderful Arizona air!
At the end of our week, we headed back to Newport, via Las Vegas (stayed with Heather again) and through Utah where we visited with Mark and the kids in St George for lunch. We had a lovely visit. Those kids are growing up so much. We then headed north to Provo/Orem, where we stayed one night with Debi and Brian. We got to see JerriAnne while there, as well. Our next stop would be Boise, Idaho, where we would stay one night with our good friends, Kathy and Arlo Lien. Kathy was one of the first friends we acquired while we lived in Crooked River Ranch in Oregon. We had a wonderful stay and visit.
The next day, we drove nearly straight through to Bend and then on to Newport. We had hoped to see Billy while in Bend, but he was out of town on a tour somewhere. We were sad that we had missed him.
By the middle of October we learned that our loan had been approved! We were now on full throttle ahead! We finished packing, arranged for the moving van to pick up our household goods on the 27th, said our good-bye's to friends, and said good-bye to Billy who drove to our house from California. He then headed home to Bend.
And so it was that on the 27th day of October--with our little house emptied and cleaned from top to bottom--the Mickelson's began the long drive from Newport, Oregon to Prescott Valley, Arizona to begin a new chapter in our lives.
We loaded our car and started our journey down the road, this time by-passing family and driving through California instead. We drove for 2 1/2 days, staying our nights in Fresno and Barstow, arriving in Prescott Valley on a Tuesday afternoon. We met with our Realtor who had some more papers for us to sign. The next morning, October 30, we met with the Loan Officers and signed another boat-load of papers and transferred our money to them for the down payment. When we left the office, we felt relief. Our search was over, our purchase was made, and we soon would be home-owners again! Our home became a reality! Scary and relieved at the same time.
We spent the remainder of that day shopping for furniture for our home! We found a lovely used dining-room set and a chair and ottoman. That would be all that we needed for awhile. We also bought a dryer and a couple of rugs for the two bedrooms. Dean did not want a rug in the living room or our bedroom.
There were a few things that had to be fixed which the home inspector found and we ordered those things done as soon as possible. Those items would be at the sellers expense, not ours. On October 31st, Halloween day, our moving van arrived and everything began to be unloaded either into our house or into the garage. We filled the garage with a million boxes and our spacious house with what furniture we had. The piano and harpsichord were the most important pieces for the Living room. It only took them 2 1/2 hours to unload, where it had taken them 4 1/2 hours to load in Newport! We were relieved to have all of our belongings fit into one house instead of a little house and a storage unit. Whew!
We worked feverishly to get the "necessaries" put away, were delighted with the delivery of our purchases, and began to feel comfortable in our new home.
The rest of the story is all about settling in. That will take quite a long time. I can honestly say that we are happy to be here where I can look out of my window and see blue skies and sunshine every day. I will miss my ocean view, but we enjoyed that for over a year and a half and I have many, many photos and memories. We shall miss our son being so far away, but he has opted to make Oregon his home and he is not a child anymore. He is a man and can certainly make his own decisions. We will miss our friends, but they, too live on in our memories. It is time now to turn the page and start that new chapter in our lives we have been planning for so long. We both are looking forward to that adventure!
One last post-script: It was an amazingly wonderful experience for us on Thanksgiving to have Heather, Rich and the kids and Lis and her new husband, Travis, here for Thanksgiving. It was truly a wonderful Thanksgiving day. So much to be thankful for!
