We finished our house-sit in Hilton Head, and had a great time. We loved playing with the spirited cat we were caring for. Hilton Head is one of those places where it is pretty easy to settle in and forget that you actually have somewhere else to go. But, alas, all good things must come to an end, and it was time to move on.
We had originally planned to take our time heading back west. We figured a couple of days here, maybe a few nights there, see some things along the way and leisurely enjoy the trip. However, there was a nagging problem waiting for us back in Texas. Our rental house hadn't sold yet.
Since the house did not sell we needed to get back to College Station to do a little more work on the place to make it more attractive to a buyer. You've heard the expression about putting lipstick on a pig. Well, we were getting ready to apply some very expensive lipstick.
We decided to make the trip back to Texas in two days. Yes, two days. For us, that is a pretty aggressive schedule. We normally like to take our time, especially when we were traveling in the RV. But this wasn't going to be one of those trips where we stop every hundred miles to see something interesting. Instead we beat feet across the southeastern United States.
Our first overnight stop was in Mississippi. We knew exactly why we were stopping there: good food. There are certain places along the road which become part of our unofficial travel itinerary simply to eat well. A po'boy at Bozo'z was just the enticement we needed to whittle away the miles. Enticing us into Louisiana were the boudin balls we knew we were going to eat soon.
Then it was on to College Station the next day where it was time to get to work. We decided one of the things that would make the rental house look better was replacing the kitchen countertops. The original countertops were formica, which is not exactly a feature that makes a potential buyer walk into the kitchen and say, "Wow!" So we started looking at countertop options.
We also had two doors which had seen better days. The front door and the back door were both in pretty poor shape, so we figured replacing those would make a noticeable difference as well. Fortunately, we had a friend in the area who was away camping in Colorado in her RV and generously let us stay at her place while she was gone. That worked out great for us and all we had to do for her was care for her house, her dog and her chickens!
For the next several days, I started making phone calls to various people who might be able to help. I made lots of phone calls to countertop companies. I contacted people who replaced doors. I asked for estimates. I compared prices. I waited for people to call me back.
After about four or five days, I finally got a solid bid on the countertops. It was a price I could live with, and we put down a deposit to have the work started the following Monday. I also found a contractor to replace the doors and had arranged for him to come in after the countertop work was finished. Things were looking good as now we had a plan.
And then...
Life threw a boomerang on the Saturday night before the Monday morning demolition where the countertop people were to tear out the old countertops and get everything ready for the new ones. My phone rang and it was our broker who said, "We have a contract on the house."
What? After all the waiting, all the wondering if we were ever going to sell the thing, and all the planning to spend money making it prettier... we finally had a buyer. So, naturally, the first thing I did was call the countertop company and beg out of our agreement. Fortunately, they were nice enough to refund our deposit. Next I called the door guy and told him we wouldn't be needing his services (at least no money had changed hands yet).
Of course there was a catch...the house has two large Post Oak trees in the front yard. They're beautiful trees, but one of them leans over the house near the garage, and the other is very close to the slab. The new buyer wanted both trees removed. Now, if you've ever had a large tree removed, you know that cutting down the trees won't be "cheap."
These were big trees, and they were close to the house. They needed to be taken down carefully, the stumps ground, and everything cleaned up. I started making phone calls again. It took me a while to find someone who could do the work for a reasonable price. By this time we had been in College Station for about a week, we had actually accomplished quite a bit at the house.
Once I finally found someone who could take care of the trees, we were pretty much finished in College Station, or so I thought. One of the tree guys told me that before he could cut down the trees I would have to have bees removed who were living inside one of the trees! That's right, more phone calls.
So, once I had found a Bee Guy to remove the hive there wasn't much reason for us to hang around anymore. We stayed to make sure the bees were removed and the tree guy was scheduled and then we decided it was time to head back to Arizona.
Of course, we couldn't just leisurely wander our way across Texas and New Mexico. Nope, there was another little issue. The closing company needed a survey for the house and I was pretty sure we had the old survey somewhere back at our place in Arizona. So to save $550 for a new survey We needed to be back in Arizona to get the old one ASAP.
Before heading west, we decided to make one more stop. We spent three nights at our son's house in the Texas Hill Country which turned out to be a really nice break. We spent quality time with our grandson, our son and his wife. The Hill Country was as beautiful as ever so it was a great few days of visiting, relaxing, and enjoying family before hitting the road.
Because of the short time frame to produce the old survey before I might have to pay for a new one , we beat feet again. We traveled
All the way across Texas and into New Mexico for our first stop in Deming, New Mexico.
We did made an important stop in El Paso. There is a place in El Paso that has become one of our favorites, and naturally we couldn't drive through without stopping at L&J Cafe. We picked up another red-and-green chili burrito because while traveling across the country, some places are worth stopping at especially when they involve a red or green New Mexico chili.
The next day we continued west and finally pulled into Mesa, Arizona. We were home. We unpacked the next morning and I immediately started searching files, closets, drawers and stacks of paperwork. I was looking for one thing, the survey only to discover that we didn't have it. In fact, as it turned out the last time the house changed hands, there hadn't been a survey at closing. So all that rushing across Texas and New Mexico and urgency to get back to Arizona before I had to order a new survey was for nothing...
Yep, and that's life on the road of retirement.
