The Medford house, last day
We sold our house in Medford MA on Friday. Jett shed a tear as she locked the door for the last time. My eyes remained dry, but even I had to acknowledge the significance of the event: for the first time since 1978, I do not own a residence. We are now back in our RV. The plan is to stay in MA until October, then… we aren’t quite sure. But we will NOT be spending the winter in the north. We have lost all interest in shoveling snow.
Moving was more difficult than it should have been. Most of our few remaining pieces of furniture went to my son and Jett’s brother. But I was surprised that it took one 24-foot U-Haul truckload and two “Beverly Hillbillies” pickup truckloads to get the job done. Plus we have a small (5x5x8) storage unit filled chock full. For a house that felt empty, we sure had a lot of shit.
Then there was the little matter of my truck. “Big Red”, the GMC 3500 that had taken us to Florida, Oregon, California and Texas with nary a hiccup, threw a shoe a couple of weeks before the close. A bearing in the engine froze, causing the serpentine belt to snap, which in turn caused a catastrophic loss of control over steering and braking. Fortunately, this catastrophic failure occurred in our driveway, which is about the only place it could have happened without putting lives at risk. Very lucky. But the repairs were in excess of $1500.
Then, on Sunday, May 3 – five days before the closing and while I was hauling Patience to the Minuteman Campground, to prep it for the trade-in (yes, we have upgraded our rig – more on that later), the GMC threw another shoe. This time it was a brake line failure – another loss of braking, this time while towing a 14,000 lb fifth wheel. I managed to get the RV to the campground, but the truck was leaking fluid badly by the time I got there. I got some brake fluid at the nearby Citgo. The comment from the clerk: “This is your lucky day; this is our last can.” I didn’t feel lucky, though I have to admit to a modicum of relief at not killing anyone (including myself). With Jett following in the Yaris, I managed to gingerly get the GMC to the dealer’s lot – some 20 miles where I tried very hard to not use the brakes.
Cost of the second repair this month: $1,873. That is over $3,000 in truck repairs in one month. Plus I had to hire a guy to haul the Open Range down to Camping World in Berkley MA and pick up the new RV. Cost: $320.
I think I have sprung a leak in my wallet.
On the day before the closing, Jett discovered a screw in the right rear tire on the Yaris. So as she was doing the last-minute cleaning, I was with the Yaris down at the local service station, getting the tire repaired. That was only $20, but the cumulative effect was much larger. I really felt physically battered by all of the problems we had in these last two weeks.
But we got it done. We are out. We are, in practical terms, homeless.