Admittedly it has been a while since I posted anything – almost a month I believe. The whole process of selling the house kind of took over our lives in the last month. Once the house was listed, every time there was a showing, we’d have to put the house in ‘show condition’, pack up the dogs and disappear for some period of time. At first, we agreed to show the house any time that a request was made but we soon learned that was too disruptive given that Barb is still working so we limited requests until after 4 p.m. Even so, it got to be a very burdensome process. That said, we have an offer on the house so now it will be a process of working through the next phase – house inspections, etc., and trying to drive towards a closing date.
As I think I’ve said before, this move is a bit different in that I am simultaneously trying to get rid of almost everything I own. In previous moves, things get packed up, the moving truck shows up, and magically transports everything to the new house! This time, very little will be going to AZ and on to Portugal, so I am trying to divest of everything. That, in and of itself, has been a learning experience.
I got a tip from my realtor about a used furniture store here in Bozeman, so I called them up. The owner came out, went through the house and gave me an offer for almost the entire house full of furniture. And they will come and pick it up!! That was a life saver.
I was trying to figure out how to sell the few guns that I have and didn’t really feel like having various and sundry individuals come over to the house to sell them privately. I found a pawn shop here in Bozeman that is also a licensed firearm dealer, so I took my guns and ammo to them. It was a very interesting experience. The guy helping me and appraising my guns was really nice, but the store was basically an armory. I felt like I was in redneck heaven!! Guns and ammo, knives, and all kinds of hunting gear floor to ceiling plus an interesting cast of characters coming and going. However, it was convenient, and I walked out of the store with a nice chunk of cash.
I also have a garage full of tools! The pawn shop I took the guns to wasn’t too keen on the tools, but I found another pawn shop that is more than happy to buy them. I’ve already taken one load there and will take another load today. I know I could get more money if I took the time to sell everything individually but right now, I’m more about convenience! Frankly, I wish I had explored pawn shops a long time ago. Every time I needed a tool for something, I’d go to Home Depot and buy a brand new one and I could just as easily have gone to a pawn shop and picked up a tool for what I needed at a cheaper price! Live and learn.
It will be an eventful 6 weeks or so. Barb and I are leaving for Arizona in three weeks. She will pack up all her stuff and the dogs and I will take some stuff in my pickup, and we’ll caravan down there. I’ll then fly back to Bozeman to finish up some stuff at the house, pack up my bicycle and all my gear and head to Washington State for my weeklong bicycle tour of the San Juan Islands. Then I will return to Bozeman, deal with whatever needs to be dealt with, pack up whatever is going to AZ into a U-Haul box, put my Harley on a U-Haul trailer and head for AZ!! Lots of moving parts!!
Once I get to AZ, we will turn our attention towards getting ready to find a place to live in Portugal and applying for our long-term visas. Once we have secured our visas, Barb will go through the same process of selling her house! We are hoping that by the end of the first quarter of next year we are parked in our apartment/condo/house somewhere in Portugal. This will become our base of operations for continuing to explore Portugal and the rest of the Schengen Zone. We’ll see where we ultimately end up, but you have to start somewhere!
I will try to post about this little adventure more frequently as things develop. I’m sure it will be a bit of a rollercoaster! Wheeee!!