Wouldn't you know it?

The population of San Angelo is about 100,000.* One hundred thousand is a small town. And, wouldn't you know it, everyone knows someone who has what you need or can get it for you.

The guys who brought our crates from U-Haul storage (Arrow Movers) also work for the property managers of the apartments across the intersection from the house. We tell the property manager what we need, and by the next day we have keys to a two-bedroom apartment for the same price as the one-bedroom we saw originally. Utilities paid. By that afternoon, we've signed up for internet and move out of the hotel.

Raymond (owner of Arrow Movers) and his crew move most of our stuff from the crates into the garage (our property manager had his guy replace the front door to the house and the side door to the garage; the garage door itself has no keys and only opens from the inside). The furniture, they took across the street to our new apartment. Nice guys!

Three month lease, then month-to-month. Still temporary, but i can unpack a little bit.

The apartment--view from the from door:

Empty apartment:

The garage full:

 

View of the house from bedroom (yellow with brown roof):

View from the kitchen window (yes, that is a very busy street):

The apartment full:

Now that we have a place to sleep, we denude the house of wallpaper while we wait for the new windows, the plumber, and the new HVAC. Next, a gallery of wallpaper.

*The Greater Washington area has a population of about 6 million; San Antonio, 1 million.

We interrupt your scheduled programming...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this story:

Dan and I needed to go to San Antonio for the car-girl's vet appointment.* We needed to pick up some provisions and some furniture donated by a friend (Thanks, Lou and Debbie!) I needed a few hours with my friend Carol, and i wanted to see my father race in the 32nd Lone Star Tower Climb and Run.** I wanted to take Papa and his wife for dinner for all their support during our transition from employment/home in VA to vagrancy in San Angelo, TX. 

So, no house renovation updates today. Instead, news from San Antonio.

The Tower Run is crazy--they run a mile then up 952 steps of the Tower of Americas. It is on the same campus as the Institute of Texan Cultures, which is quite a treat in itself.*** Papa is approaching the end of the one-mile run:

Papa is headed into the tower for the climb!

This is the base of the tower: a cafe, shops, and art from different parts of the Americas.

This is what 750 feet and 952 steps looks like from the bottom.  I didn't go to the top observation deck to catch papa crossing the finish line. I love him, but the elevators going up are glass, and i don't do heights.

Papa's done! Just coming down he stairs (all 952 of them) after finishing in 24.47 minutes. His personal goal was to run under 30 minutes and push for under 25. Wut! Achieved!

 

And this is the best part, free beer at 8am!! We skipped the free pastries, fruit, pork bbq sliders, sausage, and wine slushies for beer. What better way to spend calories?

This is the lovely fountain/waterfall between the Institute and the Tower. A couple of mallards paddled in the cold water.

Next time, we'll get back to the apartment and house status!

*We needed to get a blood pressure reading from a vet's office that she was comfortable with to make sure the reading wasn't skewed by being scared at a new vet's office. Good news! BP is under control at the current dose!

**http://sanantonio.carpediem.cd/events/2298345-32nd-annual-lone-star-cf-tower-climb-run-at-tower-of-the-americas/ 

***http://www.texancultures.com

Finally in San Angelo...

By the time we reach San Angelo, we've been living out of suitcases, sleeping on the floor, staying in hotels, driving cross country, and shacking up with relatives for 11 weeks.

Eleven. Weeks.

And the first thing we do, is check into another hotel. The house is uninhabitable.

Even if the HVAC worked (often gets a chilly 28 F at night in west Texas), the videos don't capture the corners chewed on by dogs, holes in the wall board, water damage to the wood floors patched with plaster, broken windows, rotten casements and sills, tiles falling from the ceiling, and broken fixtures in every room.

The keys to garage doors were missing; the front door did not lock; and there were a kazillion staples in the walls, window frames, and ceiling (no clue why). The yard, front and back, is a series of piles of leaves liberally studded with poop from very large dogs. I'd hose off in the backyard before i'd set a single toe in the bath/shower. The kitchen counter was crusted in years of food and grease and... ugh!

So much of this is cosmetic or merely inconvenient and easily remedied, no? Then there is the stench.  A stench so ... bad that i just got up and took a shower. Not said for comedic effect, i really did.

Imagine feeding a man beans and cabbage for a month, coating his body with rancid bear fat, rubbing him down with a three-week dead raccoon, staking him out in sun, and letting baboons piss on him. That is what the house smells like.

That said, let's look at some video!

This walks you though the living room and three bedrooms:

This is the bathroom:

This walks you through the living room, kitchen, and family room:

We can't pay for hotels until the house is livable, so we will have to get an apartment.

Let's go find one!

So it begins...

On 8 November 2016, after 117 days on market, our house in northern Virginia sold. Two and a half weeks later, we quit our jobs, and we've been on the move ever since. Is there a plan? Yes, but it's squishy despite being two years in the making.

See, when we met and married 17 years ago, we agreed to retire overseas. Our previous travel had convinced us that multi/intercultural experiences were right for us, so a few years ago we made a list of countries to visit as possible retirement locations. If i remember correctly: Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, and Portugal. At the last minute, we added Belize. It is only two hours from the US where we would still have family and friends.

We ended up visiting Belize first because we met a colleague who had lived there and still visited often; she gave us all the information we needed to start exploring! In April 2012, we went to Orange Walk Town and San Pedro (yeah, yeah, i'll post a map eventually). In October 2012,  we visited San Ignacio and San Pedro... and our hearts were lost to Belize. 

Since then:
June 2013: San Pedro and Placencia
May 2014: Corozal and Hopkins
April 2015: Corozal and San Ignacio
November 2015: Corozal and Caye Caulker
October 2016: Corozal and San Pedro

Sadly, this isn't a blog about those trips because there were some wild adventures and a lot of mistakes. Many great stories and new friends... and if you know me at all, lots of good eating.

So, what's the plan? To quit after i hit a particular milestone at work and the house sells. (Done) Move to Texas and renovate a house we've owned and rented out for 20 years. (This is where the story begins) We'll put it back on the rental market and move to Belize to build a retirement nest and enjoy sunshine, coconuts, and tropical breezes. (Let's see how that works out)

Had i started this blog when we left northern Virginia on 11 December 2016, you'd be regaled with well-written and riveting stories about harrowing traffic incidents, tasty food (mis)adventures, the challenges of traveling with an elderly dog with kidney problems who can't get in and out of a car without help (but heavens forbid you should pick her up!)

Here's my little car-girl 💕:

 As it stands, i'm just now able to maintain a blog, so we'll begin with the trip from San Antonio, TX (where we visited my [Sonja's] dad for three weeks) to San Angelo and seeing the house empty and ready for renovation for the first time.

The drive into west Texas:

And

Pics of the house:

Back of the house:

The back yard, carport, and

 shed (garage on the far right):

Door to the garage on the right, 

straight through to the carport gate:

The carport (and dog):

Next, we'll see what's inside.