Dollie and I are lounging on the bed, watching an intense, if not a bit scary, TV show. I really don’t watch a lot of television, but for some reason, I turned it on and got interested in a show called, Blacklist. This episode is about a girl who used to be a FBI profiler and now lives alone in a cabin in some desolate area. She is trying to get over the violent death of her husband. Some bad guys, running from the Feds, come to the door and hold her hostage. Of course the weather turns bad and the roads are impassable, so they’re all stuck and one of the bad guys is bleeding to death only he manages to tell the girl that they are trying to kill him because he’s been talking to the Feds.

They killed her dog, so I decided to distract myself by writing about our day.

The morning was gorgeous. The Texan RV Park is beautiful, and we have water. We took the dogs for a long walk around the lakes and then let them run and chase a ball in the Bark Park.

After lunch, we drove to Athens to see more tiny home models. They actually have a factory here that builds tiny homes. They offer factory tours, but Kip has a bruised heel and it was hurting after our long morning walk, so we looked around at a few of the models and came on back to the park.

We have some nice people next to us who have a dog and a cat. We all took the dogs went to the Bark Park together. RVers, for the most part, are easygoing, friendly people. Evelyn and Ray recently became full-time RVers. Evelyn is going to work a few hours a week in the park office, and Ray is a motor home inspector. He is going to help set up a training center here at the park for mechanics, inspectors and other types of RV related jobs, all of which are in high demand. With all the older baby boomers, like Kip, and the much younger group, like me, who are now retired, traveling in some type of recreational vehicle has become a highly popular way of life.

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We were both pretty tired today. We have been on the go for weeks now. In addition to the holidays and birthdays, we’ve had a lot of other things going on. It feels good to take a breather.

Here are a few more pictures of the houses we saw today.

There is no property tax on these homes because they are under 400 sq. ft. and have wheels. We have only seen one unit that was under 399 sq. ft. and it was built pretty cheaply.

The sales people we have talked to tell us the homes can also be built to suit as far as amenities, colors, flooring and types of windows. Minor changes can be made to the floor plan like making the bedroom bigger by reducing the size of the bathroom or living room. They can be transported like a mobile home and are classified as RV’s. They are not intended to be hauled from place to place, but if you live someplace for a while and decide to move, it can be done if you leave the wheels on.

Tomorrow, some friends are coming by in the morning, then after lunch, Kip and I are going to Mabank to check on the flooring project at our “small home”, and check out a couple of lots. We hope to buy the lot soon, but we won’t buy  TH1 until the house sells.

So there we are…we’re still excited about the possibilities and will continue to work toward our goal of having a TH1 and a TH2. In the meantime, we really do enjoy our RV.

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Well the show is over. The girl’s FBI profiler skills kicked in and she wiped out all of the bad guys who killed her dog… (right before the weather got better and the roads to the remote cabin became passable.) When the Feds found all of the dead bad guys, the girl had disappeared. I guess I’ll have to watch it next week to find out where she went.

It’s January 1, 2018. I’m sure most of you know that, but this is the date my chronicling of Kip and MG’s new adventure begins. It’s exciting for us, yet scary. There might be some adjustments to our plan, but there will be no looking back. It could be a huge mistake and end badly, but it could also be energizing and fun. It all depends on how it plays out.

We are downsizing. You might be thinking, “Didn’t they already do that?” Well yes, we did. I love our little house in the perfect little neighborhood. We are close to everything. The house needs some updating here and there, and we are going to make the improvements we need to in order for it to sell pretty easily and at a good price.

Here is how it all started…

One day, Kip drove to Athens for a doctor’s appointment. On the way back he saw a big sign in front of a place that was selling what you call “tiny homes.” The sign said they had sixteen model homes…each with a different floor plan. Kip had never seen that show on HGTV and didn’t really know what a “tiny home” was. He had some time, so he stopped to take a look. He came home very excited about how neat they were.

A week or so went by and we both had to go to Athens for some reason. I don’t remember what, but on the way back, Kip asked if I would like to see the tiny homes. We looked at all of them, and I agreed they were nicer and bigger than I expected. They are all 399 square feet. I had seen the HGTV show a few times and the whole idea was to shove as much stuff into a small space and then try to live there. I didn’t really like the idea of climbing up to a loft and trying to sleep where I can’t stand up. Kip didn’t either. There are several models without a loft. It actually makes a little more room in the bedroom or kitchen because there is no staircase.

Some shots of one we looked through. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

Kip began to talk about how hot Texas is in the summer and the older he gets, the harder it is to endure. He also talked about how much he loved North Carolina where some of our friends live in the summertime.

He thought it might be a good idea to sell our small house and get a tiny home. I could feel the tears start to come, but I was listening. He said he thought we should think about buying a tiny lot around here to put a tiny home on after we sell our house. I asked him how that was going to get us away from the heat? He said after that was all set up, we could get another tiny home in North Carolina or some other beautiful, cool place.

It took me about a week to buy into the idea, but it was hard to throw a wet blanket on his excitement. I finally agreed to the plan on one condition. We wouldn’t live here year around in a tiny home. We had to be able to financially afford to live in two tiny homes and also keep the RV. We aren’t done traveling yet, and if we manage to do this thing, we can use the RV when people come to visit. When we are too antiquated (older than elderly), to continue RVing, we can sell the RV and still have a hot and a cool alternative living arrangement.

The whole thing begins with finding out how much we can get for our “small home.” This is not our first rodeo. The California experience was one of a few. I will tell you the whole story as I chronicle our continued downsizing experience.

**I still have some concerns. I want to spend more time with our grand-kids. Three out of four families live in the Dallas area, and one lives with his family in Wyoming. We’re still talking about that dilema. our plan still has a few holes in it. I ran across this cuteness video of one of our grandchildren from a few years back. She was trying to tell her dad, Craig, that she wanted an ice cream sandwich.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZtpV_OKqje73Xz8s5zKShBOy1JKrWELh/view?usp=sharing

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**I promise to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will still blog about other things, but I hope you’ll follow Kip and Mary’s real tiny home. It will be a reality show blog.

Here’s where we are today: (It’s freezing outside.)

Sammie, Patti, Cyndie and Dollie are nervous. I can almost hear them thinking, “What next? A dog house?” I am preparing to be cold

I made vegetable beef stew and tiny corn muffins. We will take the leftovers camping.

We have filled up the storage unit with things we don’t need, things we don’t want and things we want to keep…we think. Tomorrow we get in the RV and move with the three dogs and the cat to an RV park about fifteen miles from here. The floor guys will be here at nine in the morning. They said the project will take four to five days. The weather is freezing and it’s supposed to stay cold all week. This may be our first “ugly.”