January 31, 2021 Road Trip – Day 1

We are officially on our new adventure. Due to the pandemic, homes in the PA Poconos area are selling very quickly at a premium, with most buyers coming from the New York city area. We sold our home to a nice couple from the Bronx. We hope they love their new home as much as we did. (What were we thinking?) LOL

We closed on January, 29, 2021. Since home prices are selling at a premium right now. We decided to hit the open road.  Hotel stays for the near future, at least until we find a new place to live. 

We are looking for property to build a new home. My husband says he has one last home he can build before he is too old. He does all the work himself, so it is a big project. 

Most of our stuff we sold, gave away, or threw out. The remainder is in a 10×20 storage unit in PA. Actually most of that storage unit is filled with the tools that Steve will need to build our new home. He says he sold his other equipment until it hurt. We rented two twenty foot U-haul trucks on two different days. We picked the coldest windiest days to load those trucks. We started out with two 10×20 storage units. After we had everything in the storage units, we went back and condensed it into one saving $165.00 a month.

I am really anticipating that most of this stuff will never get moved, but we will sell, give away, or throw out a year from now. Except Steve’s tools, of course!

I will get all new stuff, of course! ( Steve has been editing)

The storage units are not climate controlled so items can freeze.

We stayed in Quakertown, PA at the Hampton Inn for three nights. It is a much different experience staying in a hotel during a pandemic. The hotel was very quiet and the rooms were not cleaned unless requested. A Cold breakfast only was provided and it was not very good. Although, there was a McDonald’s across the street, where we enjoyed Egg Mcmuffins sitting in our car in the mornings.

Today, January 31, 2021 we are headed to Barboursville, West Virginia and trying to beat out a bad storm. The news is saying to be prepared for 18 – 20 inches of snow in the NJ/PA area. So happy to be getting away from it. We have to drive through the storm to get to our hotel. We ran into bad snow in Maryland. Interstate 68 is so different depending on the jurisdiction. We hit bad no plowed no salted areas, then plowed no salted, and then plowed and salted. Why are they so different?

Once we got near Morgantown, West Virginia the temperature raised to 34 and the rain/ wet snow became heavy. Roads became clear at this point. Whew what a relief. Going through the mountains of Maryland in a snowstorm is very stressful.