This is it !! (Roslyn, NY)

 

Tomorrow is Blast Off.  We pull out of our nice cozy parking place in Amityville and take off for points west.  A foreign land, so it is only Canada!  it is a different country and they do use different money like Loonies and Toonies. That’s the Canadian one and two dollar coin.  You do need a passport to go there.  They do speak  English for the most part.

And then we go back to the good old USA, Alaska.

So stay right here and wait for the next installment of:

Roan on the Road…

P.S.  A note to all our family and friends:  at the bottom of each blog entry, there is a place for comments (just scroll down a bit).  Please feel free to send us your comments, we love reading them.  A&R

It’s a Done (Roslyn, NY)

 

It’s a done deal, Heidi and Jay are married, Andrew and Caroline are off to Dubai and in two days we are off to Alaska.   Talk about splitting up the family!

Yesterday Heidi and Jay were married in a small wedding ceremony with just a few family and close friends.  The ceremony was just perfect, the company and the food were perfect.  Everyone had a great time.

This is actually for the night before at the Rehearsal Dinner. I left the wedding pictures to the real photographer, Jaime.

Tomorrow Andrew flies back to Paris, takes a quick nap and heads for Dubai for 10 days to get his work visa.  Caroline will go back to Paris and get everything packed for the move.  Then it is off to Dubai for three years (or so).  Try to keep cool guys.

On Wednesday we are heading out for Alaska.  We start out at the beginning of I-80 heading west. Then, just after Chicago we hang a right, northwest, on I-94 to about the middle of North Dakota.  Then head north to Canada.  Across Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and on through Yukon Territory to Tok, Alaska. It is 4087.4 miles and about $ 2000 in fuel.  So any contributions to the Roy and Ann travel America fund will not be refused.  Just kidding.

See you down the Roan Road …

It’s Done (Roslyn-NY)

 

The house is sold and we just turned over the keys to the new owners. We tried to go through the things in the house but the new owners are not very fluent in English.

Until May 23, we are staying an Beverly’s house ( Ann’s sister).  This will give us time to setup the camper for travel.

We are now Full Time Travelers. 

It has been an exhausting couple of days, both physically and mentally.  Both Ann and I are both drained and relieved.

For the past two days we have been doing the final packing and moving out to the camper.   What to bring and what to throw out the last minute was taxing mentally.  All the clothes you had for years, need to be gone through and picked over.  For the last few months we have been doing just that, but the last few days really brought it to a head.  Do I really need this?  Will I ever wear it again?  Can I do without it?  Is there room in the camper?  And don’t forget about the weight.  There are weight limits on the camper.  These are all of the questions we were asking ourselves and each other.

Then there is the physical. We sold the car a week ago so we are using the truck to get around.  The last couple of days, up at 5AM pack up the truck.  Make a run out to the camper. Unload and unpack.  Three time a day.  When we pack up the truck means bringing things up from the basement or down from the second floor many many times. 

Then there is the stuff we are getting rid of.  For weeks we have been taking load after load to be donated.  Putting things that cannot be donated in black garbage bags.  We can only do this twice a week and only 6 bags at a time.

Well it is all over now.  We are both sad and happy.  Sad that a part of our lives for 18 years is over. Happy because we are beginning a life long dream, many years in the planning.  So, after Heidi an Jay’s wedding next week, we will take off.  Next stop, Alaska and beyond!

See you on the Roan Road…

A Done Deal - (Flushing NY ..the end..)

 

Well it is a done deal.  After over 90 days, which is way past the closing contract ended, we finally closed.  It was the Closing from Hell.  We arrived at the lawyer’s office yesterday around 11 AM and didn’t leave until 5 PM, and it was not complete.   We had to go back today to pick up the checks.  We are still in the house until Sunday when we will be houseless, not homeless.  Our home is now parked in Amityville.

The buyers are taking all of the furniture we do not want and could not sell.  Than is a big relief because we would have to pay to have it removed.  The car is sold and we are using the truck to get around.

We will be staying at Bev’s house (Ann’s Sister) or at the Camper until we hit the road on May 23, first stop, Alaska.

To all: if you are going to call us please call on our Cell phones as the home land line is being turned off.  If you need our phone numbers or new mailing address please email me at roybrody@gmail.com.

 

See you down the Roan Road….

Update (Flushing, NY–OMG still)

 

We are making progress on closing on the house.  After spending hours and hours at the Buildings Dept. and seeing the Big Shots, we had to see the Big Cheese.  He only sees three people a day from 11 AM to 12 PM.  So you have to come early, around 8:30 AM, sign in and come back by 11 AM.  On Wednesday we got there around 8:45, and we were the first.  Finally around 11:45 we got to see him.  He was extremely helpful. The bottom line is we need a historical map dated before 1938 that shows our property with the garage. With this document and all of the other records we already gave him we could get the LNO (Letter of No Objection).  He told us to go to a service, which was across the street, and if they did not have the correct map, don’t pay them.   We went to the historical map guy gave him the the info on our address and left a refundable deposit and went home to a restless nights sleep.  In the morning we got a phone call from the map guy that they had the correct map and to come in.  Licitly split we were out of the house and on our way.  $60 poorer we had the map in hand.  Back to the Building Dept. to start the process again.  This time we were the third person to sign up for the day.   Long story short,  by 1 PM we walked out with a certified copy of the LNO, which is as good as a C of O. OMG we are done!  That is unless the  buyer’s bank comes up with something else.  One small step for US, one giant leap on our way to Alaska.

Meanwhile, we brought the camper in on Tuesday to a local RV dealer to have it inspected for the Extended Warranty we purchased.  They said it should be done in a few hours.  That afternoon I called and asked how it was going?  “Oh I am glad you called”  they said.  “We cannot get  AC in the camper, did you have any problems”?  “ WHAT”? I said, “NO”.  “Did you check the EMS?” I said.  “Uh, what’s that”, they said.  “I will be there after lunch to look” I said .  The EMS system is a device that checks the incoming power, and if there is a problem will not let and AC into the trailer.  So we got in the truck and went out to Amityville, not a cheap ride, considering 8 mpg at $4.25/gal.  So guess what, the EMS was doing its job.  They had an open ground in their power system and it shut down the power to the trailer so nothing in the trailer will be damaged.  My faith in these people was waning fast.  Here it is Thursday evening and still no call that the camper is ready.

Stay glued to your computer for the next thrilling installment!!!!!

See you down the Roan Road…

We're Back. (Flushing, NY- still)

 

We are back from Florida with the camper.  It is back in Amityville.  Before we left to pickup the camper I had a 50 gallon fuel tank installed in the bed of the truck.  It is great, you can go and go and go and never stop.  We only stopped to go to the bathroom.  The good thing is we now can carry 88 gallons of fuel.  We can get fuel where it is less expensive and save money.  The bad part is when we do fill it up OUCH !!. That’s $250. 

We made it to Orlando and went right to the storage facility.  Everything on the camper looked ok.  I went to open the door and it would not open.  The lock seems to be opening but the door would not.  I was about to start unscrewing the frame to remove the door when I gave it one last try.  I turned the key to the position I thought would be unlocked and with a screw driver I slowly and carefully pried the door open.  It popped open.  The insulation around the door held the door shut.  Once I broke the seal it was fine. 

Everything in the camper was ok.  So we hitched up and headed out to the nearest campsite to clean up the camper and put away STUFF.  We decided to take an extra day to slowly straighten out everything.  On Saturday we started beck to NYC.

On the way back we stayed in a campsite 2 nights and in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel the last night.

We finally pulled into Amityville around 4PM.  We transferred our STUFF to the truck and left our home in Amityville and headed to our house in Flushing. 

Yesterday we hitched up and went to get 6 new tires for our home.  Then back to Amityville.

That’s all for now, more to come.

Happy Holidays to all

See you down the Roan Road…

Stuck in Flushing (Flushing, NY “duh”)

 

Well, I guess we are back on the air (posting).  

It has been interesting.  I guess all of you know that he house has been sold!!  We are just waiting for a closing date.

The latest wrinkle is the buyers bank.  No surprise there.  It appears that they want a C of O (certificate of occupancy) for the garage. We looked everywhere in our papers and nothing. Why this never came up when we bought the house, I have no idea.  We have a C of O for the house because in 1954 the fourth bedroom was added. 

So being retired, I said I would go down to the Dept. of Buildings and get one.   It turns out that if the house and the garage were build before 1938 there is no C of O.  Ok, I said, can you give me a letter stating that.  No, they said.  You need a “Letter  of No Objection”.  Ok, I said.  How do I get one.  Well I have to first call a to get official historical maps of the area then contact the Dept. of Finance and get tax records for the house before 1938, then take pictures of the house and bring all of that back to the Dept. of Buildings give them $25 and in 15 days I will get the Letter of No Objection.  Talk about a run on sentence.

So I contacted the company about the maps.  They said sure, but it will cost you $212 and you will get them within 2-3 business days.  Then I emailed the Dept. of Finance for the records.  Within 2 days I got an email that the research was done and I can get them from the office at 31 Chambers Street or have them mailed and it would cost $15.  Now that was a bargain.

So Friday morning I got up early, took my special reduced fair senior citizen metro card (a great deal) and took the Q27 bus to the number famous number 7 train and changed at Grand Central Station, to the number 6 downtown train and arrived at City Hall station.

When I got to the records dept. they actually had everything there and waiting for me.  I paid the $15, in cash, and was out the door in 15 minutes.  That was easy.

I then took the number 6 train uptown to Grand Central Station, and changed to the number famous number 7 train to Main Street Flushing.  Then I took the Q 27 bus back to 45-58 172 Street (that’s our house).  What to my surprise when I got home was a FedEX package waiting by the door with the Historical maps! 

BTW, I did all of that traveling by myself because Ann refused to cancel a haircut appointment.

The day before I took my trusty Canon Tsi DSLR camera and took the pictures of the house and printed them out on my trusty HP printer, so I could be ready.

I then gathered up all the documentation and headed back to the Dept. of Building to get my Letter of No Objection.  When I got there they said we only do the Letter of No Objections between 8 and 12.  It was now 2 PM.  Great!!!   Actually, they were really nice at the Dept. of Buildings because they did it anyway (whew!).

So, here we are waiting the 15 days for the Letter of No Objection.  We decided that after Ann’s dentist appointment Tuesday (the 27th) morning, we will head south to Florida to get the camper (which is in storage) and bring it back. Great to be retired.

The bank better not find some other delaying tactics because we are running out of time and patience.