Month: July 2022

Several pretty significant and life changing events occurred (or didn’t occur or nearly didn’t occur) in the past few weeks, but our PLANS all along were to spend some time in Iowa, on the Florer Farm. It was CORN SEASON, after all, and Bluebirdbrain friends, the Florers grow the best Sweet Corn EVER!!!

We have been there and done that before, and have a standing invitation, so WHY NOT? Plus, I had a few bus projects, and Steve is mechanically and philosophically very helpful and encouraging, in a practical, redneck, farmer kind of way. There are many decision points when repairing an old Bluebird. Replace a part or fix a part (or ignore the problem altogether)? Weld, glue or duct tape? I find myself asking “What would Steve DO?” and I further find it’s just easiest to be on Steve’s property so as to not wonder the answer to said question(s).

We pulled in to the farm on a hot afternoon, and Steve immediately motioned us into the shed, next to his bus AND in air conditioned comfort. We weren’t expecting or wanting such treatment, but Steve mentioned that it was going to be over 100ºF the next day – heat stroke was not something they wished for their guests apparently. So we backed in, and I began what turned into 10 days of air-conditioned wrenching by day, and Corn Gluttony by night.

Liz and Cindy did some things together – no idea what, as I was under the bus!

As always lots of “Iowa Fun” with the Florers. We sorta took turns with Dinner, which always included copious amounts of Sweet Corn.

Steve even found a bit of Corn Smut (AKA Huitlacoche, a Mexican Delicacy), which I picked and sauteed.

Last year, we all tried this new and wonderful bounty from the field; this time, only for me – no one else seemed inclined to consume.

Evenings were spent, when it wasn’t too hot, on the back deck, soon to become a 3 season room, watching Hummingbirds in aerial combat over the multitude of feeders put out for them.

Speaking of the three-season-room-to-be, Steve cashed in a bit of his A/C-Parking-Pay-it-forward-goodwill by asking me to help him with the ceiling-to-be for the new room. He was mainly constructing the room himself, but getting ceiling panels up was a 2-tall-man job, which I was more than happy to help with. It’s what makes the world work — do what you can to help people out – from sharing repair and parts-source experience on the bus to IT suggestions to holding up one end of a ceiling panel. Doesn’t cost anything except sore muscles, easily cured at cocktail hour.

In fact, I’ll expand on this a bit. It’s one of the BEST things about being on the road, and one reason why we sold our house and committed to at least a few more years of this lifestyle: Meeting folks like the Florers and really getting to know them. Lots of folks like the Florers have been kind to us over the years – from letting us park for a bit, to helping with repairs, to offering a bit of their take on life and wisdom — it makes us optimistic about the human condition in a time of unparalleled discord and disunity.

I will say, though, when we pulled in the Florer’s driveway, with “ROLL OUT THE BARREL,” our theme song, playing on RV WHERE YET’s musical horn, Steve came over to the driver’s window, looked at me askance and said, “Is Liz in there? Because if she is NOT in there, you can just keep on driving!”

We get that a lot, so I know who people are REALLY being nice to, and whom they are merely tolerating as “part of the deal!”?

And, speaking about life changes and selling the house; during our stay in Iowa the real estate transaction heated up. And by “Heated Up” I mean nearly melted down!

The transaction was completely derailed for a time by a 1901 DEED RESTRICTION uncovered by the title insurance company at the 11th hour. A restriction not found or noticed by either attorney. And also not found or noticed by the Title Insurance Company whose Owner’s policy I had from 1987. Apparently, when the land our building sits on was platted out from farm fields, the developer wanted to be sure that buildings constructed would be appropriate to the new neighborhood they were creating.

You know, No Pig Barns or Balloon-frame Brothels. And they did not trust the City Of Chicago (I guess the city inspired doubt and lack of confidence and corruption even back then!) to manage this, so they attached a series of restrictions to the deed.

No one knew exactly what the restrictions even were at this point – only that there WAS a set of restrictions. No matter what we said or did, Chicago Title was NOT willing to issue an unrestricted policy; and the buyers would not accept Title with this or any exemption in the Title Insurance. As a “solution,” the buyers wanted us to set aside a big chunk of money pending some sort of acceptable resolution (which was ok with us) AND agree to unlimited liability around this. The latter nearly ended the deal because we were not going to accept an infinite liability tail whatsoever, never mind for an obscure 1901 issue!

Instead, we postponed the close, so that Chicago Title could request the text of the original restriction, which had to be obtained from Cook County off of Microfiche. They said they MIGHT be willing to waive the restriction if it were obscure enuf, obsolete enuf, and most importantly, unenforceable enuf. In the meantime, we incurred costs, had no tenants to offset the costs and an empty building (not a good thing) and the buyer had a construction loan ticking away and creating interest expense.

No one was very happy.

We made several proposals to the Buyer to try to break the logjam, but they continued to be unwilling to forego the deal-killer-bit about infinite liability. So, we waited, each party to the transaction worried the other was going to lose patience and kill the deal.

Finally, after a couple weeks of waiting, we AGAIN proposed a large escrow with liability limited to that escrow. We proposed that the Seller would have 30 days to get the exclusion lifted from the title policy, if so escrow to seller, if not escrow to buyer. But NO liability tail. Even though rejected previously, THIS WAS ACCEPTED and the deal did FINALLY close, albeit with some money at risk. Liz and I looked at it this way: Instead of accepting a full price offer (which we did), we sold for a little less than full price (in case the escrow was lost). Not that uncommon 99% of the time. But WE GOT TO MOVE ON!

When the actual restriction document was FINALLY received from the County (3 weeks!), the handwritten (could have been on a napkin!) document specified that:

— Any structure erected had to be a value greater than $3,500 (check to that)
— Made of Brick or Masonry (also check)
— Set back 15’ from the front property line…

THIS WE WERE IN VIOLATION OF – by as little as 0.06 feet depending on what line is used, but clearly in violation!

No one knew what would happen as a result of this – no penalty was specified, there have been 3 previous owners, who all financed and refinanced (each time with Title Insurance) and constructed with permits. Would anyone realistically expect our buyer to be responsible for moving the building back 1 foot? Its not like our building is further forward than any other in the neighborhood; indeed less so than some… If there was a violation, how would or could it even be enforced?

Didn’t matter. Based on this,  Chicago Title STILL would NOT remove the restriction, and we were prepared to lose the escrow. Our attorney had some tricks up his sleeve, tho, and informed the buyers (who informed us that they wanted the escrow immediately released to them) that the escrow would NOT be released for the full 30 days, during which we still hoped to convince CTT to issue a clean policy per the agreement at Close. (I Imagine they were not very happy about that, but so be it!). In the meantime, Ken went back to the original title company (from my 1987 purchase transaction) and informed them that they were on the hook, liability-wise, should we lose this escrow. Without even a delay of a day, they IMMEDIATELY agreed (I assume because they knew they were on the hook for the Escrow amount AND potential other damages) to indemnify Chicago Title, and CTT agreed with that indemnification in hand to remove the Title Policy Exception.

Soooo, we got the escrow money, the deal is done, and we are SOOOOO OUTTA THERE!!!

Not quite!

There was still the matter of the “Final” water bill, which must be paid before the City will allow title to transfer. Problem is, this bill was 10x what it should have been – the City claims we used 154,000 gallons of water in the first 2 weeks of June – when the building was empty! Not possible. But also not possible to not pay!  The City kinda has sellers over a barrel on this!

I have NO IDEA if we owed any money, much less what we ended up paying. I did some calculations, and came to the conclusion that there MUST be a problem with the meter; a conclusion that was bolstered by the fact that the Radio Transmitter the city uses to read the meter has not worked since August of 2019!! We had been receiving “Estimated” bills, which was distinctly NOT obvious, written as it was on the BACK of the bill – would it have been so hard to put this one word on the front, by the amount owing — and the City did not bother to tell us along they way that there might be a problem with the meter.

BTW, the “Estimated” bills we diligently DID PAY were in excess of the actual monthly usage from the previous 2 years. So, this is a battle I am still waging – the City has NO IDEA how persistent an old retired guy with more time than money can be!!

And, while all THIS was going on, MORE potential life changes!

We had a conversation with Bluebirdbrain Shane Fedeli, after our aborted attempt to visit in person. Shane said there was this Bus we “Had to look at” because it would be absolutely PERFECT for fulltime RVers such as us – an “upgrade” to RV WHERE YET. This happens a lot, actually. Like an aging mother with a bachelor son, seeing her chances at Grandmotherhood vanishing with each passing minute ;and so in FULL YENTA MODE, our Bluebird friends are all looking out for us!

Now, I have nothing against Yentas (my mother was one), and appreciate the thought our community gives to our wellbeing – apparently on their front burner if not ours! Anyway, I was FULLY PREPARED to say, “Not really interested, Shane, but thanks for thinking of me…”

Shane was persistent, and I have to admit, the proposed “upgrade” was a pretty special opportunity. Still a Bluebird, Still Vintage (1986), but bigger, better engine, 7 ft longer (more living space), etc. One owner, Garaged, 40K miles only. In reality, as happy as we are with our ride, this is possibly the ONLY bus I would consider to “upgrade” RV Where Yet. I told Shane I would ask Liz…

To my utter surprise, Liz felt we should consider this at least.

We are surprisingly in sync about most big decisions — maybe why we can live together in 50 sq. ft for the past 6 years and for the foreseeable future, especially now that we are ACTUALLY “Houseless”. If it was as good as represented we could consider the change, but since we ARE in fact TOTALLY HAPPY with what we have, the opportunity (and price) would have to be just right!

So I let Shane know we were interested, and he connected me to Scott White, whom we had met at Bluebird Rallies, who connected me to the seller…a guy Scott had actually never met, but with whom he had entered into a real estate transaction. This was sounding pretty distant and possibly shaky….

I called the fella with the bus. It was his father’s, and his father was the original and only owner (40k miles only). Father had passed and the bus had been in a garage for 15 years. We (and he) knew that it would need some expensive things immediately, such as tires, batteries, and inverter/battery charger, etc. Understanding all that, we agreed to a conceptual price.  

Unfortunately, the bus is in NEW MEXICO and the seller in St. Paul, and also unfortunately, the seller had little additional or detailed info about it.

We, on the other hand, had a TON of questions, because all the Yentas, like Shane, Chap and Steve Enfinger, Steve Florer and others had given us a LOT of detail on what must be done and how. For example, new batteries would be necessary to start the engine – and the fuel sitting in the tanks for 15 years needs to be carefully considered and filtered, if not removed and replaced. And the generator needed to start and make power. And if we DO decide to buy, New Tires (at least Steer Tires) would be necessary before it could move safely very far.  Even if all the greasy-things supposedly worked perfectly, we were not going to buy a bus unless we could verify at least those things to our satisfaction. 

The seller was willing to meet us in New Mexico, but could only be there for a couple days. Not nearly enough time to evaluate all these things. Here we were aided by everyone’s overall lack of urgency – the Seller was definitely NOT in a hurry to sell, and we were not at all in a hurry to buy. SO…we agreed to meet in New Mexico for the couple days at the end of August. We could take lots of pics, evaluate the living space, appliances, etc.

IF WE LIKE WHAT WE SEE, the seller would meet us again in November – for a week – so that we could organize getting the engine(s) started. THEN, if we still wanted to, we could consummate the transaction. Or, frankly, walk away! We are, after all, completely happy with RV WHERE YET, and feel no urgent need whatsoever to do anything unless the new ride is pretty special!

Which we think it is!

It’s a lot of driving for us, but we are now in FULL TRANSIENT MODE with our Chicago Domicile sold and Closed, and we have to be somewhere, so what the heck? And it makes the transaction very low risk. And, as it happens, the Hatch Chile Festival is right around the corner from the Bus’s garage, which sounds like a really fun time!! Thus, we have left Iowa, and we are on the way to New Mexico for our appointment with Destiny!

P.S. IF we buy this bus, RV WHERE YET will be available.

One of you lucky folks who claim to be “jealous” of our lifestyle and our conveyance can have it, and join the legion of full-timers. We WILL make a “friends-and-family” deal, which will include UNLIMITED technical support and a feature unheard of in the Used RV Market: My fully prioritized TO-DO List (with NOTHING urgent or preventing full utilization and enjoyment). We will even DELIVER!! And Train! Of course, the buyer will have to provide a parking spot for their new bus AND our new bus for the duration of said training. And Cheeseburgers.

NOW we will see if anyone or everyone who SAID SO was merely being nice, while also being CERTAIN we are bat-shit crazy doing what we are doing!

A few more thoughts, before we leave that phase of our life behind…

We spent most of May and June in Chicago, cleaning out our home of 30 years in preparation for the close. AND visiting friends and restaurants and etc…

Our neighbors helped us with gaining a spot on the street, which entailed almost immediately an encounter with the Chicago Police Department.   

No sooner had we managed to park, than I noticed a Cop Car driving by slowly. It stopped at the end of the block, and I thought – CRAP, they are gonna make us move (which would be highly inconvenient to the decluttering process). But they left, and we breathed a sigh of relief. In about 10 minutes, I saw the same car again, and this time they stopped and got out! I walked over and volunteered that the vehicle was ours, expecting to be scolded and asked to move.

Instead, the one Officer said, “What year is this?”

It took me a beat to answer, due to surprise. Then the second officer said, “Never Mind, we ran your plates…”

Now I WAS expecting handcuffs!   They said they had an IMPORTANT question
(oh oh, here it comes, I thought…do I need a lawyer?):

”How did you EVER get 4 parking spaces in a row?”

I said, “Our neighbors like us!”

The first officer then said, “COOL! Can we have a tour?”

Breathing a HUGE sigh of relief, since I was now pretty sure jail was not in my future, I answered immediately, “ABSOLUTELY.” And then I explained that we would be there for a week or so, if that was OK, while we cleaned out our house. They said NO PROBLEM. They even offered to inform their desk sergeant, so we wouldn’t have any trouble!!

We also spent some time in Bob and Barb White’s Driveway. Bob has been helping us make improvements to RV WHERE YET almost since we first acquired it. It’s a tight fit in their Des Plaines Driveway, but for a week of so, a LOT of fun!!!

This time, Bob helped optimize some cabinetry, and make a space to mount the Kitchenaide that was one of the few things Liz wanted to take from the house.

While he was doing that, and to stay out of his way, I made a few bus fixes, with Maxxxx’s careful supervision.

AND, we had the sofa cushions reupholstered…making a HUGE improvement in comfort for Liz.

We FINALLY left Chicago for NYC to enjoy the Festivities and Circus of events surrounding Chet’s anticipated high selection in the NBA draft. The price of diesel gave us pause, along with the price of staying near NYC and the price of just about everything IN NYC. We were actually leaning towards foregoing “in person” and watching on TV when my sister, as she is wont to frequently do, put it all in context:

“I guess you can forego the trip until the next time your nephew is drafted #1 in the NBA. Maybe diesel will be cheaper then…”

On the way to NYC, we hung out in Cleveland for a couple days with friends Bob and Kathy Purcell, whom we met in Chicken Alaska, and have been intersecting with sporadically ever since!.

We are collecting a whole bunch of folks and friends in our wanderings who seem perfectly happy to have us show up on short notice for Adult Beverages and conversation!

So, we booked a week at the closest RV park to NYC, LIBERTY HARBOR and MARINA, which happens to be in Jersey City, right on the River and just North of the Statue of Liberty, easily visible from our spot. The park itself was nothing special –just a parking lot with electrical sockets. But the location was GR8 – about 3 blocks walk to the PATH train, and a 10 minute ride to either The Empire State Building or the World Trade Center. From there, subways go everywhere, and walking is also a great option.

And “Go everywhere” we did! My sister and family were staying near Times Square, so we got ourselves up there several times to have dinner, drinks, chat or whatever.

As expected, Sarah and David had obligations in the publicity swirl around the draft, and we only got a couple cameo appearances from Chet, but still a great time was had. A WHOLE BUNCH of folks who were instrumental over the years in Chet’s development were also in attendance – people we have met many times before at Sarah’s for Thanksgiving, at AAU basketball games and tournaments, etc. So no shortage of meals, drinks and nice people to hang with. Liz and I also managed on our own to dine on the sidewalk outside a noodle shop in Chinatown, met Sarah Claire and Alexandra at Chelsea Market, toured the Google Store, and we connected with an old friend from many work trips over the years – David Marcus – in Greenwich Village.

While hanging out, we got to experience just a little of the “Lifestyle” of NBA Society. I’ll cut the story short(er), and change a few of the details to protect the innocent, but let’s just say the Media Circus that is the Draft was a continuous wardrobe malfunction for the family (excluding Chet). The INTENTION was that Sarah, David, Claire and Alexandra were to have designer duds – anything they wanted — in order to look the part when Chet’s name was called. Not sure, in retrospect, what “the part” means, as some of the draftees wore, let’s just say, “ spectacular statements in clothing form. “ One was bright purple with diamond studs all over (and I mean ALL over — looked REALLY uncomfortable, sitting on those studs!). Another’s suit was BRIGHT GREEN. All I could think when I saw those two together were Joker and Riddler, and I was looking for the BAT SIGN over the arena.

Anyway, they (the Designers assigned to pull together the “Holmgren Look”) asked for pictures in advance of the kinds of things the Holmgrens might want to wear, and promised a spectacular, pulled-together look. The clothes showed up at the hotel with a seamstress for “final alterations.” NONE fit, whatsoever – not even close!! And NONE were anything like what had been requested in their sample pictures. Attempting a last-minute recovery, they even tried for David’s suit “off the rack” and the seamstress was expected to make it work. David is 7’ tall, and has NEVER been able to wear a suit off of ANY rack. And, they had no shoes for Chet’s sister Alexandra…claiming NOWHERE in NYC could they find what she wanted in her size…

Speaking of “last minute recovery,” my sister is kinda a self-proclaimed and generally acknowledged master of project details…she has already had to fight her inner project-management demons to learn and understand that she (and they!) have to go with the flow… That means not knowing until the day before what time, flite or even what airport they might be expected to depart from. And CERTAINLY not knowing anything about a SCHEDULE until the events are 5 mins away. This despite the Client Service Manager assigned by Chet’s Agency on Chet’s account to make things happen for Chet and his family. Like a personal Concierge, She is AWESOME, but try as she might, even she cannot control the pandemonium that is the NBA.

Anyway, with regard to the Wardrobe disaster, “Just in case” they all brought things to wear…David a spiffy suit, Sarah a tailored outfit she had from some gala or another and in Claire’s case a dress my grandmother wore in a portait that hangs at Sarah’s house. Alexandra wore a dress that Sarah had acquired for a wedding, at some point. And, Alex managed to find the EXACT shoes she requested (not like she wanted something weird — Keds High Tops!) at a Foot Locker around the corner from the hotel. So, everyone looked MAGNIFICENT.

Chet experienced NONE of that drama – he had several weeks with the designer (clothing AND Jewelery – He had quite the “bling” onboard!). So all’s well that ends well, or in this case, ends fashionable and elegant!

The Draft itself was in Brooklyn, at the Barclay Center – the NBA arena for the Nets. We checked the price to UBER from Jersey City, and decided to do the Train/Subway, instead…at least TO the event. We knew we’d be coming home in the wee-hours, and THAT would probably mean an UBER. But to save ½ overall (which in NYC would equate to ½ a tank of diesel if not ½ of our life savings, which these days is the same!), Liz put her running shoes on and we did transit.

Arriving early for the event (doors not yet open), we identified and experienced the ONLY bargain in the NYC metropolitan area – Happy Hour at a little bistro around the corner from the Arena in Brooklyn. $10.50 for 2 beers and an hors dourves. Windows wide open on a VERY pleasant day. Proprietor happy for the business (Happy Hour goes both ways, I guess!).

Because Chet had a whole platoon of folks in the house, an Executive Suite was engaged for all but the immediate family who sat at a table on the floor with Chet. The Suites had a buffet for food and drink, so the gathered masses had a great time waiting for the event.

And the event reminded me very much of an NFL football game – TOTALLY tuned for TV viewers, while being pretty boring, anti-climatic and disjointed for folks in attendance (but at least we had food and drink!). Apparently, ESPN had a ton of interview and analysis. We saw NONE of that, though our friends kept texting us things like, “Did you see what so-and-so said on TV?” No, no we did not!.

What we DID see was the “surprise” No.1 pick – not Chet – to Orlando, followed by Chet at #2 to Oklahoma City. When Chet had not yet been officially picked, we could tell sumthin was up – about 5 TV cameras suddenly made their way to Chet’s table…before any announcement was made. I don’t have ANY insider information, and I am not saying “the fix was in,” but I get a sense that Chet is TOTALLY happy where he landed, never cared if he was “#1” and TOTALLY ready to get down to the business of being the best player he can be for OKC.

Speaking of which – OKC flew the whole family out to Oklahoma City the day after the draft to be introduced to the fans, so no additional time available for us with Family – this was something expected, so we had other arrangements and plans. UNFORTUNATELY, those got derailed in a variety of ways (actually, only one way)…

We INTENDED to see Kristen Deo – a friend from many business conferences back in the day. She lives in NJ, not too far from where we were parked. On the day of, she was not feeling well; which I am going to start taking personally, because that happened again (and again) on this trip! With Kristen unable, we redirected and thought to stop and See fellow Bluebirdbrain Shane Fedeli on the way back westward, but on THAT date, he let us know his wife was not feeling well. Oh well, next stop for us, 84 PA (yes, that IS an actual place!), where friend Bruce Lane lives. Except that I had a bit of a scratchy throat, and the THIRD COVID TEST came back positive. So we passed on THAT encounter, too! All because of illness.

But now, we were headed to see Family and friends in Minneapolis, including my dad, and I had COVID! Aaaccck.

So many issues. For one, it is hard to find people who reside in closer proximity, with complete inability to isolate in any way than Liz and myself. We figured she would eventually and inevitably test positive and get at least a little bit sick…HOWEVER, Liz never tested positive and never had symptoms! My symptoms were mild (except for a 104 Fever for 2 hours), but I was testing positive – and continued to do so for a FULL 14 Days after the first positive test.

CDC guidance is pretty fuzzy on the contagiousness of people who continue to test positive by Antigen Tests (PCR tests are known to produce positives for weeks, due to harmless virus fragments). Straight from their website: “Recommended to Isolate for 5 days after the start of symptoms and then it is safe to emerge, wearing an N95 mask until day 10. However, IF you take a test during those 10 days and IF the test is positive, recommend isolating another 5 days. After which you are “safe” even though >50% of people with initially symptomatic COVID WILL continue to test positive and (also from CDC website), there is SOME data to suggest that Virus can be Cultured as long as antigen tests are positive. However, the link from positive culture to contagiousness in late stages of infection has not been firmly established.

So wait 5 days. Then mask for 5 days. And maybe 5 more days. If you choose to test. If not, just 5 days. Except possibly you are still contagious. Confused?

Who really knows? I knew I did not want Dad (or anyone else) to catch it from me. So, taking all the guidance onboard, and convening with all the spirits, cosmic forces, Tarot guidance, etc., we decided that we would remain apart from folks, and ESPECIALLY old folks (farts) such as my Dad while I tested positive.

Once well and truly negative we DID manage several visits with friends and family, including cousin Cecily, with whom we left a footlocker of Family treasures from our decluttering,  and Betsy Kremser, a college friend whose spectacular home overlooking the St. Croix River made for a delightful afternoon — all the while staying at a nice State Park on the River.

We even managed to attend a Music Festival in St, Paul, while staying in college-friend Keith Cambre’s Condo parking lot. We received special and unanimous dispensation from the condo board, so long as we served margaritas, which we gladly did!

AND, we also stayed in Friend and Former Sis-in-law Julie Harris’ driveway for several days, including the City of Robbinsdale’s July 10th Fireworks extravaganza, for which Julie hosted a fabulous BBQ-and-family-and-friends gathering.

Our final idea in Minneapolis was to be dinner with my sister, Sarah, after they returned from Las Vegas, where Chet had been playing in NBA summer league games. Well, Sarah (and Claire) came back with COVID, so that didn’t happen (and you can see why I might be starting to take these things personally…too many illnesses to be a coincidence)! Chet, BTW, EXCELLED in his first games against NBA-level talent – its gonna be fun to watch the OKC Thunder this season.

Along the way, we Attempted (and attempted again) to finally CLOSE on the sale of our building in Chicago. THAT is a story of some length, not to mention import AND “You cannot make this Sh*t Up” flavour. So, I will tell it in the NEXT blog post!