Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

Yearly Vet Visit for Nox

February 19, 2021 Nox had her annual check up on Tuesday (2/16) and her teeth cleaned on Thursday (2/18). Her check up went well. All her blood work came back normal. Nox had lost about a 1/2 pound, which the vet was very happy about. The vet wants Nox to loose another 1/2 pound. Nox […]

99 Days Left before Retirement

February 19, 2021 I meant to post yesterday when my counter was showing 100 days left until my retirement date. I got distracted by Nox’s pitiful behavior yesterday after having her teeth cleaned and didn’t get a screen shot showing the 100 day count down.

Things to Do to Get Ready for the Retirement RV Dream

Re-posted on February 16, 2021 with updates. Re-posted on October 27, 2020 with updates. Re-posted on July 27, 2020 with updates. Re-posted on January 24, 2020 with updates. First posted in December of 2019. This is a list of things that we need to do to prepare to live the retirement RV dream.

There and Back Again

February 13, 2021 Our plan was to leave on Sunday to pick up our new our RV on Tuesday, if the inspection went well on Monday. We allowed ourselves some additional time in case the inspector found something that had to be fixed. We left Golden, Colorado at 7:40 AM. The sky was blue and […]

More Pictures of the RV

February 12,2021 Here are some additional pictures. I took some videos as well, but my site doesn’t allow me to display them.

We Did It! We Own an RV!

February 9, 2021 We now own an RV! We had an appointment at Couch’s RV Nation in Trenton, OH this morning at 10 o’clock. We got there a little early, but they were ready for us. We did a walk though of the RV. It was just as beautiful as I had hoped! With the […]

Results from the RV Inspector

February 8, 2021 The RV inspector finished his inspection and called us to let us know the results. He was very impressed with how few issues the Riverstone had. He did find some things on the exterior of the RV, which he told Bruce about on the call. On the exterior, he found one of […]

Second Shingles Vaccination, Ouch

February 1, 2021 Yesterday, Bruce and I went and got our second shingles vaccination shot. It stung a little when I got the shot and now the area hurts like a painful bruise. I compare this ache to the intense, unrelenting pain of shingles and know that I’ve made the right choice to get vaccinated […]

Finding an RV Inspector

January 30, 2021 I have never purchased a house without having it inspected and after the horror stories about new houses in Highlands Ranch, CO, I won’t buy any home without having it inspected. (The story that gives me nightmares is the one that the homeowners finally figured out the stench that was permeating their […]

Found the RV in Trenton, OH

January 27, 2021 It turns out that Riverstone is no longer making the 39FKTH; they have a new model, the 42FSKG. While Bruce and I were on the fence between new and used, finding a used RV was turning out harder than we had hoped. This pushed us more in the new direction. I started […]