Some other beginnings end: The Wags- Part 2

"Oh man, that sure is a pretty Jeep!" I thought this nearly every time I would walk out to my car. I have never named a car or felt any feeling towards an automobile whatsoever... That is, until the Wags.

OMG but seriously... it's gorgeous.
Photo by: Ashley McCormick

The day after we closed on the house and bought our Airstream we sold the Wags.  Yes, I totally cried as the new owner drove off with my beloved Jeep. I feel good about the man that bought her, though. He must be pretty dedicated to the Wagoneer life since he came all the way from Kentucky! That same afternoon, right after selling the Jeep, we began truck shopping. Over the next 5 days we drove all over the state of Florida looking for a truck to pull our new house. The task of finding a truck worked well to keep my mind off selling the Wags, but my old Jeep will always be in my heart.

If by hipster you mean fabulous...
Photo by: Ashley McCormick

If you remember from my "Riding in cars with boys" post, we started out with 5k. I bought the Wags for $2400 and we went through the remainder of that $5000, and then some, pretty quickly. Our good friend Mark installed a new AC compressor first thing. Then Eric did some bodywork, had it painted, replaced the wood vinyl paneling, installed new carpet, replaced anything rubber and fixed a bunch of other do-dads that inevitably go bad on a 27 year old truck.

The tear down is never pretty

It definitely got worse before it got better

The fact that we had never done any kind of auto body work didn't scare us... we jumped right in

Ooooo shiny!

Eric would save little jobs for me, but for the most part this was Eric’s project. A project he didn't actually sign up for but he did anyway… out of love. (Did I just make you throw up a little? Sorry about that)

Just a couple of hipsters...

About three weeks after we got the Jeep looking brand new, the trans blew up so Eric rebuilt that too.

I love him.

It's like eating an elephant... one bite at a time.

I learned a lot about cars while dropping the trans in that old Jeep

I cannot explain how much I loved this truck. From day one I loved that it smelled old. I loved how ruggedly preppy she was. I loved the sound it made because of that minor exhaust leak. I loved that you didn't actually need the key to get it started. I was the only one who knew how to get her going anyway (pump the gas twice, three times was too much and you'd flood it... its a carburetor thing, you wouldn't understand). It wasn't just me that delighted in that old Wagoneer, it seemed like everyone we passed would smile and wave. I think the best thing about that Jeep was that it served as a constant reminder of how awesome my husband is. 

So much to admire
Photo By: Ashley McCormick

When we decided to pick up and completely change our lives I knew there would be difficulties. I knew being homeless during the transition would be hard. I knew getting the Airstream ready for the road would hard. I thought getting rid of our “stuff” would be hardest part. So far I have had zero regrets during the purge phase of our preparations. It's actually really liberating! (Full disclosure my parents let us store the few items we couldn't keep, but couldn't part with at their warehouse). The Wagoneer is one of the only things I am sad about selling. I was oddly attached to that car. Eric gave this car to me because he loves me. He worked so hard to make this crazy dream of mine come true. As sad as it was to say goodbye to our beautiful Jeep, I can't help but think of that old Semisonic lyric... "Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end"  Thats where we are now, ending one adventure so we can begin the next one.

Blondie and the Beardo say goodbye to the Wags
Photo by: Ashley McCormick

I have absolutely so much to tell you

I hope y'all will forgive me for not posting much lately. The past few weeks have been a complete whirlwind... I have so much to tell you!

After all the delays we did finally close on the sale of our house. We were scheduled to close on Monday the 19th. Monday morning, minutes after we gave away our mattress, our realtor called to inform us the closing would be moved to that Friday. I'll be totally honest here; this post was originally going to a somewhat angry one. I wasn't happy with the last minute date change nor was I happy about the demand of 4k in closing costs made earlier in this process. I have decided however, that I do not want negativity in my life so this isn't going to be a negative blog. Thats not to say I don't plan on being real with you. Parts of this process have totally sucked. This is hard. Really hard. We are currently homeless (although Eric's family has graciously allowed us to stay at their house). The few belongings we kept are scattered between our parents' houses and storage. Our lives are very much up in the air right now. We have no idea what next week will look like, much less a year from now. What we do know is that nothing worth having is ever easy. Following our passions, living a simpler life, and seeing the country will make it all worth it in the end!

Okay so back to the good parts... about 4 days before we closed Eric found a Craigslist ad for a 1989 34' Airstream Excella 1000 (that sounds like something out of Harry Potter). The price was great and it was located close by in Titusville. The ad was short and there were no photos so I would have completely passed this one by, had it not been for Eric. He sent an email and asked for some pictures. What they sent back was surprisingly perfect! The thing looked like your grandmothers house, dated as hell but neat as a pin.

Floral walpaper in the1989 Airstream Excella

Note the lovely blue carpet and fabulous floral sofa 

The day before we closed on the house we went to see 2 airstreams. The one in Titusville and one in Flagler Beach that had been at the top of my list for some time. We drove to Flagler Beach first. This Airstream was a 1988 Excella Limited. It had a wood grain stripe just like the Wags. We loved it! It was super nice and already had some upgrades and remodeling done.

1988 Airstream Limited

This one had beautiful new wood flooring and a butchers block countertop!

It was considerably more expensive than the one Eric had found, so we headed down the cost to Titusville. Once we arrived we were greeted by the sweetest older couple you have ever met! Norma and Karl were delighted that "younger folks" were interested in Airstreaming. We inspected the RV and headed home to do some thinking.

The following day was closing day, and oh man was it nuts! We signed the papers in morning and by 4pm our funds were wired to our bank. At 4:15 we had cash in our hands, and by 6pm we were leaving Titusville with considerably less cash in our hands. Instead, we had the title to our new Airstream! Norma and Karl were totally cool with us leaving the Airstream at their house until we had our truck. Seriously these people were so wonderful, we will definitely be keeping in touch with them!

Like magic, things have fallen into place very quickly! I've told you about the airstream, but we also sold the Wags and have even bought a truck in the past week. I'll save those exciting stories for my next post, which I promise will be soon! In the mean time...