It's done, We're done!

Finally, everything has been sold (although some things will be picked up during our last three days here in Cuenca). It's been quite a process but surprisingly fairly painless. Once all the big things (and many, Many, MANY small things) were sold, we divided the final items into bags for friends in need.

Today we had a going away party at Magnolia Caffe . I think we ended up with at least 40 people in attendance - it was amazing! Magnolia is a special place to us. The owner, Simon Cordero, hand-crafted our wedding rings back in May 2013. The wait staff of husband and wife, Huber and Karen, have become like son and daughter to us and their son, Juan Pablo, a grandson.

We took over the restaurant today - these photos were taken before another dozen or so folks arrived. We had over forty people take time out of their busy schedule to see us off. Oh, and we also had three tables outside!

Other friends couldn't make it today but we have been able to see them around town. Life is good!

For anyone who needs a reason to stop in and try out Magnolia Caffe , besides the delicious meals, here is a snapshot of one of their delicious desserts. (We had the American style apple pie but I forgot to take a photo).

Everything is baked in house, including their rolls and breads. We highly recommend Magnolia Caffe for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or just drinks!

This will be our final post in this blog. I hope you will all move over to our US based blog and follow us there: backendofnowhere.com or ourprimeyears.blogspot.com, where we will continue to chronical our travels and adventures! 2016 is going to be a busy year for us!!

Ciao for now!

Phew! What a month...

I finally found a few minutes to post about our cruise on our US blog:
November Happenings - Cruising, Flying & Panicking

Most of our time since we've been back has been spent cleaning out what we're not taking back to the states, getting things ready to sell, selling things and packing things!

We are 90-95% packed, hoping the top duffle bag contents will fit in one High Sierra bag and all our clothes and non-carryon stuff will fit in the other. Otherwise, sigh, we will be one bag over our limit of three free checked bags each. Stu's scuba gear is one, three footlockers and two High Sierra bags make six. Keeping our fingers crossed.

We have barely left the apartment since our arrival, hoping to get out more next week as more and more things that sold are picked up. The biggest things (refrigerator, recliners, one desk & chair, dining set, TV and bed) will be picked up on Dec 27-29. We have booked three nights in a nice hotel in El Centro, making it easier to allow multiple pick up days.

So we continue to move towards our move back to the states. We are meeting with friends as time allows, finalizing what will return with us, AND booking cruises! Yes, 2016 will be the year of cruises. Most are in the Caribbean, allowing Stu to do more scuba diving but we are still taking the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas trip from Tampa to Barcelona. From there, we booked a back to back (B2B) cruise on the same ship to Italy, stopping in several ports including Rome and ending in Venice. Excited!

Ciao for now!

What have we been up to?

Wondering what we've been up to? Check out these posts on our US travel blog:

• Rolling right along....
• Where the heck are we?
• NEVER a dull moment!

We will be back in Cuenca on 11/17 and working hard to sell everything before our departure on 12/30. Busy, busy, busy!!

Ciao for now!

Changes in Latitude....

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,

Nothing remains quite the same.

Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.

"Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes"

When we moved from the northern hemisphere to the southern, from the USA to Ecuador, we definitely changed both our latitude and attitude.

But the only constant in life is....change.

We never intended to stay in Ecuador permanently and after analysis, we have met our financial goals. We still have things we want to do in the US, while we have the health to do so. Plus we want to do more travel and it's easier and often cheaper to do it from the US.

So, long story short...we will return to Cuenca in the middle of November as planned. But we will be selling everything and returning to the US and our RV lifestyle at the end of the year.

We will miss the many, many friends we have made but we will be past our two year anniversary and our visas will still be valid (as long as we return every 18 months or less OR unless the rules are changed).

This was not an easy decision but we feel it is the right one for us at this time in our lives. Life is good!

Ciao for now!

En los Estados Unidos

Sorry for late blogging, we have been SWAMPED! We did arrive safely and you can see all the details in our personal blog, Back End of Nowhere. If you are interested in following all our travels, I hope you will follow us there.

Oh, and watch for some surprising news coming soon!

Ciao for now!

Friends, Food and Travel

Moving sure can skew your sense of time! Here it is August already, how did that happen? We have been very busy between our move (DONE), selling items we no longer need (DONE), meeting old and new friends (NEVER STOPS) and attending Spanish classes (TWO MORE WEEKS).

In addition we have been getting ready for our annual trip to the US. We will be gone 2.5 months this time due to taking a two week Southern Caribbean cruise just before our return.

Comparisons - a look back

After hearing so many stories of reverse culture shock upon returning to a home country, I was not sure what to expect. Stu was in the US for three weeks in June but was somewhat preoccupied with our newest grandbaby. I'd been in Ecuador since mid-December, a little over 8 months, before visiting the US again. Here's a recap of what I noticed.

• Everything looked familiar and felt comfortable.
• Seeing the more rural settings, dressed for fall with pumpkins, was warm and soothing to me.
• Eating out - EXPENSIVE! Our first breakfast at Cracker Barrel would have bought all three daily meals in Ecuador.
• Buying food - EXPENSIVE! I'd grown accustomed to the food prices in Ecuador, especially the wonderful fruits and vegetables. When restocking the RV for the first couple of weeks, I spent more than we spend in a whole month in EC, including eating out.
• More than enough power outlets in every room!
• I missed hearing Spanish and trying to figure out what was being said.
• It took a while to remember to put the toilet paper in the toilet and not the trash receptacle.
• SOOOO enjoyed going to the movies, pigging out on popcorn. We've bringing back our Presto Microwave Popper back with us.
• It was fun wearing clothes I hadn't had access to for eight months but it was more fun to open all the packages of clothes that we had bought and had waiting for us.
• I missed the faces and laughter of the children
• I REALLY missed the smiling faces of the locals when I interacted with them. Not that clerks, etc. here in the US don't interact but for the most part, it seems to be on a more complaining level.
• I loved seeing friends here in the US but I also miss our new friends in Cuenca.
• While I enjoyed doing the ordinary here in the US, I missed doing the out of ordinary things we run into in Ecuador.
• FREE coffee refills....what a luxury compared to paying for each cup (especially when sitting and using WiFi).
• I was surprised at how many places now offer free WiFi here in the US. We've used it at our doctor's office, Sam's Club, Denny's, Home Depot, Lowe's, McDonald's, and several other spots. Really handy when shopping.

I'm sure there is more but these were at the top of my head. It has been nice to come back to all our creature comfort and be able to binge out on favorite foods. Not so nice to gain 5+ pounds from that food and the fact we don't walk anywhere. I look forward to getting back to walking around Cuenca, enjoying the sights and taking photos.

Yes, our heart is in two countries now....

Almost Home!

Two months have flown by, as referenced in this blog post on our US blog post:

   Winding down here in the US....

The errands and running around is almost done. Packing is complete - trunks and duffles for checked baggage (total of 6) as well as carry-ons. Reservations made for rental car in Florida, hotel in Guayaquil and transportation from there to Cuenca is also done. Stu has plugged all the holes that he could find under the rig, stuffed them with steel wool and then topped that off with pest repellant expanding foam. That, combined with inside and outside repellant granules and spray, should hopefully cut down on our mouse issue this winter.

Today Stu picked up some brake pads after hearing Scooby's brakes squeal yesterday (our Ford F-250) after fueling up Freddie and adding Sta-bil (our Freightliner). As he got ready to head home a LOUD squeal alerted him to an issue. Looks like the clutch bearings on the A/C compressor have frozen. He disconnected the belt for the ride home - no fan for cooling and no alternator for charging.

Now he's trying to take off the compressor and hopefully get the belt to at least run the fan and alternator. Depending on what he finds we will either finish the repair next year or take it to the local big truck repair place before we leave and have our neighbor bring it home and park it for us.

Still need to do laundry, drop off our trash, pick up the Trike at the Harley dealer (warranty and 1k service), put Sta-bil in during  the trike fuel fill-ups, run a few last minute errands in Cookeville tomorrow and do the final cleaning and winterizing of the RV on Friday. We hope to be on the road by 1-2pm, heading to Atlanta to spend the evening with my youngest daughter and grandkids.

From there we head to Florida for our last two days before flying to Ecuador on Wednesday. We will once again leave Scooby parked at my brother's house and take a rental car to Miami. We arrive in Guayaquil late in the day so we'll spend the night at the Holiday Inn. Our good friend, Emilio, will come pick us up and transport us and our 6 checked bags and our carry-ons back to our apartment in Cuenca.

As much as we've enjoyed our time in the US, enjoying seeing family and friends as well as enjoying the gorgeous fall colors, it will feel good to be back in Ecuador!

A few photos to update you!

We are enjoying our time here in the US, spending time with family and eating all the food treats we can't get in Ecuador (still need to get my Double T Diner Philly Cheese Steak and Rustico's Italian dinner).

Here are a few photos of the grandbabies to tide you over. We are borrowing wifi and so aren't uploading many photos yet.

Jesse (hot pink shorts) takes her soccer seriously.

Her older sister, Olivia, does as well!

The newest, baby Waverly, models the latest hat fashions.

We also took a ride on the new trike over to Ocean City, MD. I had never been and being off-season it was a real treat even though many stores were closed. Thrasher's Fries were first on our list, we walked the boardwalk for what seemed like miles, met some friends that Stu used to work with and talked about living in Ecuador, splurged at Dunkin' Donuts and bought a couple of t-shirts before ending the day at the Frog Bar and Grill. ;) LOTS of photos to follow later...

Tomorrow Stu is going with a couple of buddies to the Dover Nascar races, I hope to get some writing done...or maybe just do a Syfy TV binge. ;) On Monday we move back to our MD driveway home for two weeks before driving the rig back to TN. Still more friends to see, more family time coming and a couple of medical appointments to keep.

We do miss our apartment and our friends. We are looking forward to getting back and starting some Spanish lessons as well as enjoying the upcoming holiday season in Ecuador.

Checking in from Maryland...

We had an uneventful trip from TN to MD, camping in Walmart and Target parking lots, dining in Denny's and McD's for the WiFi and, of course, getting our file of Cracker Barrel food.

We arrived around 1-2pm on Tuesday and the first chore was to unload the trike before we nestled into our spot. Well, the battery was dead. So we turned on our inverter, plugged in the Battery Tender and headed over to Five Guys for a late lunch. There we lucked into WiFi from the next door business. When we got back, the bike started without a hitch and we settled into our spot.

This is a photo our stepdaughter took and posted on Facebook...we're the bums in the back yard. LOL!

We are now comfortable: good Wifi, DIRECTV working and the first couple of medical appointments are history. Another medical appointment in the morning, followed by lab work, a movie or two, some Sam's Club shopping and dinner with our Thursday night friends. (Well, they are friends all the time but we have dinner with them on Thursday nights...LOL!)

Sunday we hope to see two of the grand-girls playing soccer and sometime SOON I will get to meet baby Waverly. Monday afternoon we will load up and move over to another family driveway in Delaware, see family and sort through the packages that have arrived for us to mule back to Ecuador. We'll be there a week, then back to this driveway for another two weeks before heading back to TN.

So much to get done, friends to see, doctors to chat with, glasses to get, shopping trips, movies and dining out...when am I supposed to write? Sigh, but it will all get done - sooner or later. ;)

USA - Culture Shock?

Everyone has been warning us about reverse culture shock but I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst shock has been seeing the food price increases in the last nine months, that and costs to eat out. A package of the hot dogs we like, almost $5. A pound of 7% hamburg, almost $5. Pineapple, almost $3. I could go on and on....

Truthfully, the toughest thing we have faced so far is NOT KNOWING WHERE TO FIND ANYTHING! I started cooking and had to ask Stu where the pans were. He had to ask me where something else was. We laughed about it but it was a little disconcerting at first. We've settled back in now but we find that we have too much STUFF. So we're downsizing again...things are going into the shed for storage, into the trash, or will get put on eBay.

This is especially true for all our motorcycle gear. Now that I'm not riding my own, I need less gear. I don't need a pair of gloves for every ten degrees of temperature change. I don't need three jackets or two pairs of overpants. Stu has to make similar decisions.

I'll be posting more in our US blog, Back End of Nowhere (Our Prime Years). I also wrote up my Writers' Police Academy conference over at My Write Spot.

Back in the USA

Interesting cloud formation, just before sunset in southern GA

Just a quick note for those not on Facebook, we had an uneventful and comfortable flight back to the US. No issues picking up our rental car, spent two days with family in Vero Beach before heading north to our property in Tennessee. No major traffic since we left on Sunday, no weather issues either.

We arrived around 5:30 on Monday, batteries dead on the Freightliner. Severe storms fried the trickle charger but we could still get inside the RV. Once inside...well, almost wished I wasn't. Not enough ventilation had left a coat of mildew in areas close to the windows or down close to the floor. While Stu worked on connecting everything outside and draining the anti-freeze, I started cleaning inside. 

We had left mouse bait inside and they had about emptied it out, leaving little destruction and lots of turds. Stu has more work to plug entry spots next year. LOL!

Tuesday was errand day, paid the deposit for turning on our water, put in the order to turn on our phone, did some shopping. Yeah, there was the sticker shock. Spent $400 between groceries and a few toiletry items. Gulp! At least Stu had food while I am away till Monday. ;)

Leaving on a jet plane...

Heading out today...4 hour drive from Cuenca to Guayaquil, plane leaves close to midnight, arrive in Miami around 4am. Work our way through customs, pick up our rental car and get outta Miami quickly! Breakfast stop, then arrive in Vero Beach around 10-11ish. Two days with family before driving back to TN.

Not sure when the next blog will be! ;) Most posts will probably be in our stateside blog - check us out/follow us there.