I’ve made it to St. Louis after having my first travel snarl… the lights on my U-Haul trailer stopped working and I had to spend about an hour with someone I met at a gas station to fix the problem enough to be safe. I wanted to be a little further along in my driving, but it wasn’t too big of a set back.
My goal for tomorrow is to drive to Atlanta, GA.
Posted from: Quality Inn, Caseyville, IL
I left my Colorado home for the last time at 6:40pm on Monday and am driving to Florida to pick up the motorcoach. I’ve made it to Goodland, Kansas, which is about 19 miles over the Colorado state line. Now I have three days of intense driving ahead of me.
Posted from: The Howard Johnson hotel in Goodland, Kansas
I’ll be living on the motorcoach in exactly seven days. Here are a few things that should happen before I leave Colorado:
Last night was a little going away dinner that was put together by some friends… we had a five-course Moroccan feast at Mataam Fez in Boulder.
I’m still trying to sell a bunch of furniture and random stuff to friends and on Craigslist. It looks like it’s not all going to sell in time, so more stuff than I’d like will be going into storage to be sold on my next visit to Colorado. It’s been much easier to get rid of all the stuff that I’ve been giving away for free.
Most of my possessions are in boxes and the movers will be coming to bring things to storage on Sunday.
Today is my last day with an office at home… it will be packed up before the end of the day.
The key to my Jeep disappeared the other day (I bet it got packed away in a box somewhere). I don’t have a spare key (the dealer never gave me one), so I had to have the Jeep towed to the dealer to have one made (they can’t do it from the VIN# on this one). Keys for this car cost $138.45 plus $30 to have them programmed!!!! I’m having three made so I have two spares. Of course two of them wouldn’t take the programming and the dealer is still working on it (they have had the car for almost 24 hours just to get a few stupid keys made).
I’ll be having a trailer hitch installed on the Jeep on Friday and will be picking up a tiny U-Haul trailer to pack my possessions in so I can drive them out to the Motorcoach. I’ll also have a tow bar baseplate installed so the Jeep will be ready to be pulled behind the Motorcoach. I’ll also be having my last fix of BeauJo’s pizza before leaving the state (be sure to try it on your next visit to Colorado).
If all goes well, I should start my drive to Florida on Monday morning. I might have to leave on Tuesday if any snow gets in the way of finishing everything up. It should take me three days to get to Florida, which is where the Motorcoach is located.
Once I get to Florida, I’ll spend three days getting oriented with all the systems on the bus and having driving lessons before I head to PhotoshopWorld in Miami. It sounds like I’ll be able to park the bus right at the convention center for the show.
I’ll be spending the rest of March and all of April in Florida since I have three speaking gigs and a bus rally to attend. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any suggestions on what I should explore while I’m in Florida or have a place for me to park a 40′ Motorcoach for a few days (there’s an e-mail link at the bottom of the right column of this blog site).
Some of you have asked why I’ve decided to turn in my house keys and
trade them in for a life on the road. The answer to that question is
something that’s been rattling around in my head for a very long time.
Why do I want to live like a rolling nomad armed not with a camel and
saber, but with a camera and laptop? Below is the short answer… if
you want the particulars, click the read more link and you’ll get all
the painstaking details, perhaps more than you might care to read, but
this is, after all, my blog.
The Top 8 Reasons Ben is Chucking It All
(well, most of it, the rest is going into storage):
I just returned from Florida where I spoke at two events and shopped for a motorcoach. I’m happy to say that I found the right bus and put down a deposit on it. Photos below (I think you can click on the photos below to see larger versions).
If everything goes as planned (does it ever?), I should start living full-time on this rig starting March 16th… then WhereIsBen.com will live up to it’s name and chronicle my travels. I’m sure you won’t see all that many posts from me between now and March 16th because I’ll be busy dealing with all the details of the transition.
My house is under contract as of today and my motorcoach adventure is scheduled to begin March 16h. Between now and then, I’ll have to do many things including:
1) Selling 98% of my material possessions
2) Finding the right motorcoach to purchase
3) Getting as many projects out of the way so I can have time to make the transition
4) structuring my business around my adventures
February 11th is the deadline for the person who is buying my house from being able to back out of the deal (if they were to not like what the inspector reports back), so I’ll be spending most of my time liquidating possessions before that date and then I’ll shift to buying the motorcoach once I know things are locked in.