Here I go again

10/19/2025  It seems the older I get, the more I move. For 45 years I lived in the Williamsport area, then the moving began. Eighteen years in WA, 7 years on Roatan, 1.5 years in AZ, 2 years in Kentucky, 2 years in North Carolina and, here I am, back in Kentucky again. I am currently looking for a house in Washington state. However, WA is a very expensive state and the home prices are insane, not to mention many places have ridiculous land leases or HOA fees. I find it absolutely crazy that people pay 500+ for an HOA that does nothing but keep the streets cleared if it snows. Granted, some have community pools, golf, and a marina, all things that don’t interest me. It seems too much like throwing money away. So, the hunt has been very slow and frustrating.

I got the ball rolling, preparing to move, on July 31st, using the same realtor that I bought the house from in 2023. I had never met him because I bought the house sight unseen; I had never been to Goldsboro, NC. I have to say it was a great house in a fantastic neighborhood. Two years alone there and I never once felt unsafe. Aside from living in Kentucky, it was the quietest place I’ve ever lived, except for the F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets that screamed overhead. I feel lucky I was in the flight path, (Seymour Johnson AFB) FREEDOM! I also saw KC 46’s most every day, sometimes 3 at a time. They’re mid-air refuelers. Other than that, it was so quiet.

Jesse, the realtor, came out so he could see what we’ve done to the house and so we could meet. He said it would be an easy sell, he had a smaller house listed just down the street. Bill and Dash came August 23rd. He did some stuff around here that needed to be done. They did photos on August 28th, Jesse got my place listed on August 30th and on the 31st we found out that we had a showing the next day at 9AM. It was a virtual showing, the buyers were out of state. Later that evening we got a full price offer. We had a showing the next day with another party and the first people came back with a higher deposit and we accepted. It was a whirlwind. [Our house in AZ sold before it was even listed and then the NC place sold to the first people. Crazy, and we can’t sell this albatross in Kentucky.]

The buyers had some inspections done on the house. The guy who did the inside/outside just nitpicked at things that were cosmetic. We pretty much shot them down on everything; a few things Bill did fix. They had the crawl space inspected, and they wanted the septic inspected and pumped. When they came to do the septic I saw the guys out digging by my pool so I ran out quick and asked what they were doing. They said they were inspecting the septic. I said, but the septic is over there in the far corner of the yard. He said nope, it’s here and your pool is on it. I almost had a heart attack right there on the spot. I ran inside and got the map from Wayne County environmental that showed the septic in a completely different place. When we got the permit for the pool we had to get the septic layout and send it to the permit people. They OK’D where the pool was going to be. They OK’D it sitting on top of the septic because the info the county had was incorrect. The septic guy said their maps are never right. I was an absolute basket case. The pool needed to be moved at least six inches for the inspection. I drained all 6000 gallons from the pool. My realtor came out once it was drained and we moved the pool back so he could dig it up so it could be inspected.

The move from North Carolina was a lot of work. I sold so much stuff to make the move easier. I sold my kitchen table and stools and buffet, my living room couch, my Bowflex, my outdoor patio furniture, my tractor, 2 large shelf units, 2 twin beds with mattresses and a lot of other small stuff. There was nowhere to eat, nowhere to sit. I bought 14 storage boxes from Lowes and had a ton of boxes from the liquor store. I packed and packed and had it all stacked and organized in the garage by the time Bill came.

Bill came back on Sept 27th, and I had 95% of the stuff packed by then. He did a few things that the buyers requested we fix, then we rented a U-Haul truck and started loading it.

On the morning of October 2nd, our neighbors helped us load the mattresses and we haphazardly threw stuff in the moving truck, got the dogs loaded and we were off at 9:30 AM. It’s a LOOONNGG drive, I hate it. The dogs were so good, not a peep. Once we got to Burkesville I put the windows down and let them figure out where we were. I know they realized it long before we turned up the driveway.

Before he got the upper field mowed I was walking the boys in town at a park by the ball fields. It’s right along the Cumberland River, nice spot but they prefer to be off leash.

So, here we are again. I packed wisely, using a few storage crates for stuff I knew I would need. The rest of the stuff is still boxed in the shop and I am NOT getting into any of it. I don’t have the mental energy for that right now. When I find a place in WA, we will ship my car and all my stuff and the boys and I will fly. There is no way I can make that drive alone with the two dogs, I’m too old for that crap. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that something pops up that is exactly what I want. With Trace there, I can recruit him to go look at a place for me. I trust his judgment; he can look at a place and know whether I would live there or not. Meanwhile, we’re going to get the inside of this place painted and make it look a little more desirable in the hopes someone will buy it. Fingers crossed.