Saturday, May 29, 2010

Return to Milwaukee

On Thursday morning, we started our drive back home to Milwaukee. Making lists along the way of all the things that would need to be done when we got home to Milwaukee.

Ride home was uneventful. Finished another audio book on the return trip.
Arrived back home on Friday May 28th.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Arrival in Fort Collins

We arrived at Chase Bank on Tues evening about 3PM and met with a banker there to discuss our options. It was so nice having our records available from the Chase Bank branch in MKE. Seemed to be no glaring problems on the horizon for a purchase. Now we needed to find the right home that would suit our needs.

On Wed. morning we met with our Realtor in downtown Fort Collins at a local coffee shop to discuss what we were looking for and to look at listings that were available. All this was on line. We decided before leaving him that we would return
the next week to do some serious looking either in Fort Collins (our first choice), Longmont or Loveland.

We had driven to some sites in Loveland the night before and had pretty much ruled out that town because of the distance to various amenities that we were looking for.

Before leaving the coffee shop, we agreed to at least look at a couple of new homes in an area in the northern part of Fort Collins that we had seen last year. We were able to track down the builder and look at 3 styles of homes. By the time we reached the last one, we were very confused. It was mid 90's and I was not
feeling well so we sat in the air conditioned car and talked for a bit. Finally after saying that we had forgotten the particulars of each home, we went back to
look at all 3 again. We were leaning toward the last and the largest. Bigger
than what we had planned for, but seemed to suit our needs. This home would have a complete upstairs available for company should anyone decide to visit! We looked at each other and I knew that Peter was ready to go ahead. I did not feel quite so well because of the heat, but ready enough to make a decision. We walked back over to the builder's office with our Realtor, sat down, wrote the offer and had it accepted all in about an hour. Guess it was meant to be! Now to head back home, make lists and start the moving process.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Drive to Loop Road

On Tuesday morning, the girls stayed home from school, Tara did not have to work and after Andy got his workers started and we had breakfast, we were ready to explore the area around Lander with our kids. The plan was for us to take the newly improved
Loop Road south of town and head over the pass to the Eastern side. No such luck, we were stopped as the road was still closed for the season. Plows had not been through. Perhaps they wait for the snow to melt. So we took the long way around toward South Pass City. We stopped for a leisurely lunch in the small mining town and then headed back to their house to see if any papers had been faxed to us by our Realtor. Moments after stepping in the door, we started receiving faxes. Both offers and counteroffers appeared for us to review and sign off on. We accepted the better offer and then began to make plans to return to Colorado to look for a new home. The scheduled closing/occupation date was for June 25th. We would officially
be homeless soon and we needed to look. We had been looking on line for the past year and had met with a Realtor in Fort Collins last fall, but we had still not tied down a certain area of town. Or for that matter if it was even going to be Fort Collins. Now our search would begin in earnest! Plan was to first meet with a banker from Chase on May 25th after arrival in town.

We had our final night with the family in their newly finished home. Great job! We had been there last fall when we helped demolish rooms. It was great seeing what has been done so far. Very comfortable and private accommodations for grandma and grandpa on the lower level. As always, they made us feel very much at home and welcome.
Thanks guys!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Travel to Wyoming

On Tuesday morning, May 25th, Doug and Heidi left for work and we packed and head North to Wyoming to visit with Andy, Tara, Hailey and Emily. We listened to the last of an audio book that we had begun on our way to Colorado. Rather uneventful day until we stopped at our regular pit stop in Rawlins to grab a bite to eat.
At that point we received a phone call from our Realtor saying that she was going to have at least 2 competing offers on our house in MKE and wanted to know where she could fax documents for our approval. Stomach started to churn. We had actually not
expected a sale at this time and the plan was to just travel. So this was a surprise. But a pleasant one to say the least. We arrived at Andy's in the
middle of the afternoon and shared our news with family.
Now the fun begins!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Heading West

After my followup appointment with my hand surgeon, we left Milwaukee for Colorado
on Thursday May 20th.

As usual, our first stop was Council Bluffs, IA. We figure this to be our halfway mark in the trip. If we were younger, we might push ahead further, but why?

We arrived at Doug & Heidi's in Golden, Co just in time for rush hour on a Friday evening. What could be better than driving near Denver on a Friday night when everyone is in a hurry to get on with their weekend?! Nothing in my book!

On our way, we stopped in downtown Golden to look at a bee hive that was moving to another area. According to Doug (our guide) when their hive gets too large some of them split off and look for a new home. The original hive was on the property
of the Golden History Museum where Doug is currently working. We did not stay long enough to see them leave for their new hive, but what we did see was very interesting. I even touched the group of bees. Very fuzzy. A bit disconcerting at first, but glad I did it!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Hand Surgery

Had my 2nd hand surgery on May 12th. Seemed to be easier than the first one that I had in Feb. In and out of the hospital in no time flat. Just a couple of pain pills, and
I was on my way!

Let the planning continue for our next trip!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Return home

Found that there had not been much activity on our home sale....who are we kidding?
There was no activity! Perhaps this home sale is not going to happen after all. Thinking about just traveling. So we began planning our next trip. Had a few medical appointments (like another hand surgery on May 12th)at home along with other tasks that had to be completed.

Our plan was now to head West and visit with our son and daughter in law in Colorado and our son, daughter in law and 2 beautiful granddaughters in Wyoming.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Return home to Milwaukee

On April 30th we drove west to take Fran back to her home in Virginia. Think she had a good time visiting with her daughter and granddaughters. Said that it was not a trip that she would have taken on her own.

We stayed overnite with Fran and then were on the road again May 1st. We needed to be home by May 2nd in order to take down a photo exhibit that Peter was part of at the Whitefish Bay United Methodist Church. He was part of an exhibit that featured 4 other
photographers.