Friesland

One of the purposes of our trip was to visit Anneke’s parents, who are living now in Heerenveen, Friesland. They decided to move from their home to a service flat a few years ago, as the house became to much work for them, as they are both in their mid eighties. Based on my limited experience, the Netherlands certainly has better options of living choices for the elderly in terms of accommodations. They live in a service flat that is something between a 55 plus apartment complex and an assisted living facility in the USA. They have most of the services of assisted living but in a real apartment style environment.

As I noted in the last posting, one of my challenges was to get back safely on the Dutch road system. They have a number of rule and design features that will catch the unaware driver and potentially cause lots of problems. I am glad to say I survived this process with no close calls. We did, however, have our moments from an unexpected source, namely the car we rented. After checking several options, we decided to go with a discount rental place just a few kilometres down the road from Maaike and Bert’s place. In hind sight, this place could be thought of as the Dutch version of rent a wreck. We figured out quickly that they mostly rented to local college students. The first car they offered was so dirty, that you could have had your own beach party in the back seat-sand included. We accepted the second car and we were off without a checkout process. In the first hour or so, we discovered that the 12 volt plug was not working, so we quickly lost our GPS system when the internal battery died. This being Holland, it started to rain and we found that the wipers only worked on high. At a stop, I noticed the fuse box was seriously loose in its hangar and several fuses were on the floorboards. The next morning the car barely started and I discovered that the radio was hard wired to the battery and could not be turned off. So I had to pull the radio out to unplug it to preserve battery power. The signal lights failed to work on our trip to Anneke’s parents. Time to call for help. When the ANWB (national road assistance service) arrived, it said he had never seen such a mess. When he pulled down the fuse box a large amount of seeds fell to the floor. Did I mention that the main customers were college students in a country noted for its drug use? They managed to fix all the important items and we were hopefully going to make the rest of the trip safely.

We had arranged to stay at a B&B farmhouse in a very small town near Anneke’s parents. It proved to be a wonderful place with a very hospitable hostess. We were the only customers for part of the time and it was so much more enjoyable than a hotel. We used the fireplace several evenings and enjoyed the homey feeling of this former farm. In fact our bedroom was in the old hay loft. Quite an interesting place.

We had a pleasant visit with Anneke’s parents over the course of four days and managed a little sightseeing in a small waterside town of Grow. This is a very busy place during the summer boating season and we have been here a number of times over the years by boat.

Visiting the Netherlands

1 Sept 2008
We had an uneventful trip to the Netherlands and have spent the last five days visiting with Anneke’s sister and her family-Maaike, Bert, Lianne, Annemarijn, and Adriaan. The weather has been good which has allowed us to do some of our favorite “Dutch “things. Luckily for us, our hosts have a very nice boat. We really enjoy the waterways here and have spent many happy days cruising the many canals and lakes of the Netherlands over the years.

Our hosts have also recently moved into their new home in Rhenen along the Rhine River, which comes with great views. We have already spent a great deal of time watching the river traffic, enjoying the garden and views from the upper and lower decks, walks along the many paths and dikes, and readjusting to the Dutch customs.
The view from the patio includes the bridge crossing the Rhine. This area was the scene of fierce fighting during WWII. It was not as famous as the battle for the bridge in Arnhem, which became known as “the bridge to far”, but an important river crossing.

One of the things we always look forward to is enjoying the local food. Top on that list is cheese. Lots of cheese.

Tomorrow, we will hit the highways to visit Anneke’s parents. This will be my first time behind the wheel here in over nine years. This could get exciting.

Moving out and on

As the house sale process moved forward, it began to sink in that the house might actually sell. It was time to get serious to move out. Tough decisions were needed on what was to be saved and what had to go-one way or the other.

The final sorting began and things began to go out the door. An impromptu lawn sale got under way, which in turn lead to folks looking at other things we decided had to go. Soon the house was nearly empty. The movers came and picked up the items we had decided to keep.

We looked over the things yet to be disposed of and we thought of one of our friends who could be thought of as a “collector” of various things. During the final stage of removal, we came to think of him and his team as “Sanford and Son” of TV fame.

So there was time for one last grass cutting and a final cleanup to make the place ready for the new owner. Sure enough, at the appointed hour all parties came together and we were no longer the owners of the house we called home for nine years.

That meant that we were finally full time RVers.

Our first trip as full timers was to join our club for a weekend of food and laughs with another similar club in the town of Bascom, Ohio. As always, a good time was had by all.

We are working on a plan of action as full timers, which will certainly include a visit to our Grandson and family who is growing up fast. Since we seen him last, just a few months ago, he has starting walking and discovering all kinds of new things.

There will be something different first; however, we are heading to the Netherlands for a visit with relatives and friends. We will hopefully be able to record this trip on this blog.

Life is about change and this will certainly be an interesting change.

Pending.......

Just before we were getting ready to leave Maumee Bay State park for the Shafer’s event, we received another offer on the house that did not seem to hold must promise, but in the end after some back and forth we decided to go forward with the sale. The simple fact is the market is bad and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

Once all the inspections and other hurtles were completed, it was time to get serious about getting ready to move out of the house after nine years. Now for some folks that may not seem like a long time, but it is, in fact, the longest I have ever lived in one house in my entire life. On top of that we are planning on radically changing our lifestyle for the next few years to full time in our motorhome. This means it is time to dispose of many items we have collected over a life time. So we have been sorting and debating what goes and stays. There have been many trips to various charity organizations and pushing our luck with the trash removal folks.

With 7 days left to closing we are about 90% ready and feel it is okay to take a break now and then to smell the flowers (literally) at the local park. We also happened upon a local classic car show and enjoyed an afternoon of imagining how many garages we would need if collecting cars were to be our next hobby. There were two at the show that got me started in this thought process. One was a wonderfully restored 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 that was offered for sale well below book value and a 1966 mustang that was exactly like my very first car.

For now, we are looking forward to selling the house and getting back on the road and seeing more of this great country.