October 21 Sunday 2012 starting again A new lifestyle is in it's beginning. We look back at last winter as a real learning experience. Getting Bill home was a good step forward. We had the excitement of finding the right home ( we found one that met all our expectations-no stairs,close to shopping and restaurants 1379 sq. ft.Our patio overlooks a park so no street traffic. Furniture buying was both exciting and frustrating. We still do not have a kitchen or dinning room table , a good Spring project. This home even had special spots for our travelling treasures. Seeing Carter and Madison was a real bonus, they are growing up sooo fast. With a mixture of heavy heart with no 5th wheel and the extreme excitement of a change of lifestyle in travelling we moved on to driving a car only and renting. Bill pulled a big surprise. He loves listening to the Bill Good radio show on CKNW who is sponsoring a European river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. May 29-June 13 He said that is the only way he would go to Europe. We are booked. Another surprise we are flying back to Vancouver for Christmas for 6 days. Flight already booked with a car rental from Bellingham for our stay. Shannon and Ethan will be home too. It might be the last time we see them for a while as the boss want to go take the boat to Norway then around Africa. The boat is now in Seattle getting painted and refitted. WE will stay overnight at Sherri's and leave early for South where we will stay the first night in Florence Oregon at Cliff and Ruth Ann's (people we met on our first caravan in 1998).Next we will drive to Antioch California to visit our boating friends we met in the San Juan’s in 1985. We hope to be in Palm Springs October27 or 28 where we will stay at Bill's cousin in Palm Desert. They leave October31 for China and back November20. We will be babysitting a dog and a cat. That will give us a chance to look for other rentals for the rest of the winter ( middle of March) I will post when I get internet access. I will buy a stick when South. REMEMBER-making a living is not the same as making a life.