From Cape May to Ocean City

A farewell to the marina staff and to CJ and Jeff. Our plans to stay for only a few days had turned into a week, but we had the feeling that we’d be back. We headed south to the Delaware/Maryland beaches.

We pulled into Sandy Cove RV Park and gasped. The park was filled with trailers on cinder blocks with tacky wooden decks and lawn chairs – a year round site for trailers. Since it was the end of the season, the short-term rental spaces were completely vacant. The manager told us to take any spot and we hooked up to electrical and water and settled in. The view outside our window was beautiful- right on Indian River and Bay. Mija went crazy bounding through the open grasses by the water- her own personal playground complete with every species of bird – herons, mallards, cormorants… It was getting late, so we decided to try Bethany Beach for a sunset and drinks. The Mango was completely deserted. The two waiters split the two tables with patrons and we had happy hour drinks and appetizers (a quesadilla that was primarily cheese) and had great views of the beach and the sunset.

The next day, we explored the Delaware shore from Rehoboth Beach to Dewey Beach to Lewes. Rehoboth looked a lot like the ticky tacky resort towns in Florida. Lots of tourist shops and boardwalk. Outside the main town, however, the houses were lovely and well kept. Lewes was charming- a small, quaint town with lots of charm and beautiful housing stock. We called a realtor to get some sense of the market. A beautiful Victorian in town was selling in the high 500’s. With rental income of $1200-2000/week during high season, it became a real possibility for a different kind of lifestyle. We had a great dinner at Redfins – a restaurant just a few miles from our camp. Fresh swordfish and the best calamari we’ve ever had.

We got up the next morning and headed to Cape May. The ferry from Lewes took about an hour and we explored the beautiful Victorian town of Cape May – with some of the most beautiful Victorian homes we’d ever seen. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and since the weather was heating up, we opted to have Mija leashed to the front porch of the restaurant. She caused quite a fuss with the people passing by.

From Cape May to Ocean City, Maryland. The day was overcast and did nothing to improve the strip that constitutes Ocean City. It was the worst of Florida beach towns. We stopped for lunch at General’s –chipped beef on bisquits. It was right across from Big Peckers Restaurant. We were able to track down some flip-flops at a reduced end-of-season price at the beach store (“gook shoes” as my friend from WalMart calls them).

From Ocean City, we drove to Berlin (where they filmed Runaway Bride). It was charming – but again, much too small for future consideration.

John had made friends with the guys at the local trailer service center. They recommended a great local place for wings- the best in the state. So, we headed off to Smitty McGee;s. The wings were as advertised. We tried them medium and nuclear. The bar was filled with retirees playing some video quiz show game, so John signed me up. While we didn’t score much on points, we did meet several of the locals and got some advice on retirement. Delaware is a retiree’s heaven- low taxes and inexpensive property.

Notes:
Hockesene- new money outside Wilmington
Greenville DL- old money outside Wilmington
Only Victorians- Lewes
New Castle- historical town – in town only, but watch the areas
Car 2.75% tax, no sales tax, Senior programs are great
1st 20K income not taxed. After 62, no school tax.
$300K house- $800/year property taxes.
2.5 miles from beach- insurance problems- floor issues over Bay Bridge.
Other suggestions: Duck, NC (on A-1A), Amelia Island FL, Sea Island/St Simons

The Chesapeake Bay

It was time to hit the road for real. No more safety net of RV supercenters or Kate’s house. We hit the road and headed for Castle Marina, just outside Annapolis. The drive down was uneventful. John made friends with a trucker who showed him the insiders method of checking tire pressure (all you need is a “Tire buddy” – which will also work for fending off any intruders). Everyone was buying gas in New Jersey before heading into sniper country in Maryland. The entire region was paralyzed with fear of pumping gas or shopping at Home Depot for fear of being killed by the sniper.

We got off 95 and onto Route 301, a beautiful double lane highway running through farmland and squash and pumpkin patches. We found our way to Castle Marina and CJ helped us settle into the parking lot outside the Marina office. After 10 years, it was good to see her again and the years melted away. Jeff was at the Annapolis Power Boat Show, so we made a stop at the boat to see their “home”- a gorgeous 58 foot boat. The “Pinch Me” was huge- much bigger than I ever expected. It was 58’ long, with 3 berths, a full kitchen (with full-sized appliances) and a real living room with large screen TV. CJ made a Cosmopolitan and after 2 drinks, we stumbled off to dinner at a local Italian place . Our first night in the marina was on our own- generator power, but once again, we slept like babies.

Jeff stopped by in the morning and with the marina manager’s help, we got set up with an electrical hookup. The propane gauge was showing empty, so we located “Big Daddy’s” Texaco station, towing service and propane station just a few blocks away. Big Daddy was out on a tow, so we talked with Big Mamma and she told us to stop by about 10:00. Big Daddy was a real local Eastern Shore guy – huge beer belly and a marble-mouthed accent. We filled up the tank (it wasn’t empty) and filled the gas tank.

In the afternoon, we headed to Chestertown with CJ and Jeff. The town dates from the 1600’s and has a charming little business district just blocks from the harbor. Housing styles ran the gamut from Federal to Georgian to Italianate to Queen Anne. We walked the downtown streets, got an ice cream (3 scoops for $1) and then drove through the historic district of houses. The houses on the water were beautiful and the town became #1 on our possible list of future homes.

We headed back to Kent Island and had a beautiful sunset dinner at The Narrows. Food was spectacular- pecan crusted catfish.

Encouraged by the charm of Chestertown, we decided to head north to another small historic town called Chesapeake City. Situated on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the views were spectacular and the possibility of watching the Canal traffic was intriguing. But, the town itself, was very small. The main business street was filled with small Victorian houses, but there wasn’t much of an infrastructure to support anything but tourism. It was a micro-Marblehead without the surrounding neighborhoods – a one street town.

We continued to Hartford County at the northern edge of the Chesapeake Bay and at the mouth of the Susquehanna River found a lovely town, Havre de Grace (pronounced by the locals as “Hava de Grace”). The town was real- obviously still oriented towards tourism, but with the feel of a real town outside the tourist season. They made abysmal use of their spectacular waterfront with only one restaurant on the water. Another possible option if small town life and a Victorian house are our primary factors.

We drove back through Baltimore and got back to the Marina for dinner on the boat with CJ and Jeff. She made fresh grilled trout and zucchini pancakes. It was wonderful.

John started to make a daily am visit to Big Daddy’s to dump our trash and get the Washington Post. The first day, he put in a quarter and the box wouldn’t open, When he asked Big Daddy, he simply explained that the paper was now 35 cents (he just hadn’t gotten around to changing the sign)

To pay them back for two dinners in a row, we took CJ and Jeff to Annie’s for brunch. The brunch tables filled two rooms with everything from fresh made omlettes to chipped beef to a table of just desserts. We ate and ate and ate. Then, Jeff drove us all around the islands of Kent (through the tiny town of Stevensville) to Romancoke and Love Point. We saw a few interesting houses but determined that the area would probably close in on us.

With Annapolis just across the Bay Bridge, it was time for a visit. After a quick stop at Home Depot (Jeff and John shopping while CJ and I waited by the registers), we headed into the historic district. We found a parking spot and grabbed lunch at Rams Head Tavern and Fordham Brewing Company. It was sunny and still warm enough to sit on the patio and gourge on fish and chips. After lunch, we took a bus tour of the city and we were in love. It was no doubt that we could live in this town. The historic district was a bit of Marblehead and Salem mixed together – beautiful houses on tree lined streets with brick sidewalks and tons of porches right on the sidewalk. We called a realtor on the way home to set up an appointment to explore further.

Dinner was back at Kent Island- this time at a crab shack. We all ordered all you can eat crabs. In addition to a huge platter of large crabs, we got hush puppies, french fries, green beans, and potato salad. The group behind us were on their third platter of crabs- while we managed to only finish one platter plus and extra 6 crabs. By the time we finished, the table was filled with cracked crab shells.

We met Nan, our Coldwell Banker Real Estate agent and got the low-down on the Annapolis real estate market. Expensive- but not quite to Boston standards (although, fast approaching the insanity). The properties that we had admired on our bus tour were all in the $1M plus range, but she did have a few that were smaller and a bit more modest in price so we asked her to set up appointments.

We started our house hunt at a B&B on Duke of Gloucester Street. The property was in bankruptcy and needed some work. It had some possibilities, but the street was fairly busy and parking would have been a nightmare. From there, we went to Market Street and before we even walked in the door, we were in love with this house. The street was tree lined, with porches on all the houses, abutting the sidewalks. The house was small- long and narrow with a beautiful entryway, small living and dining rooms and beautiful kitchen overlooking a large garden. The second floor had 3 bedrooms and a bath and the master was on the third floor. As John mouthed “I love this house” walking behind the realtor who asked no questions, we continued the march.

We looked at a house in Eastport, a older blue collar part of Annapolis. The area had definite potential- a up and coming area with an old “Townie” feeling. The house outside was gorgeous, but the developer had made a Jewish suburban dream house on the interior. The property next door was being “renovated” by the owners. The only thing standing from the original building was the front façade, propped up by wood beams. We couldn’t figure out if they were rebuilding a house or a bowling alley.

We made another stop in the Murray Hill neighborhood (John compared it to Cleveland Heights). A bit too suburban for us.

Finally, we made our last stop at a property on Green Street. The street was lovely, but the house wasn’t much (especially at it’s 589,000 asking price). We kept going back to the house on Market Street. The possibility of having a house with rental income (during the summer) and a house that we loved was becoming very real to us. We asked the realtor to set up a second look and we headed off to lunch in Eastport at Carol’s Creek, a restaurant right on the water. We sat at the bar and over lots of wine, tried to decide if “this was the place” for our next home. We consulted with the bartender, a local who thought it was a great idea and talked it over and over. We went back to the house and spent an hour walking around. If our new friend Nan had pushed us just a bit, we would have had our checkbooks out. But, we decided to mull it over that night.

We called CJ and Jeff and had drinks and appetizers on the boat and talked through our dilemma. We left the boat talking about making an offer on the house. But, turning into the parking lot, with the "Domuz" waiting for us, we had second thoughts. With only 2 weeks into our ‘adventure’, we weren’t ready to chuck it all and deal with a house and all the responsibilities associated with it. We just weren’t ready to give up our gypsy lifestyle.

When we got back, our other new realtor friend, Nan #2, called and told us about a house in Centerville, so we set up an appointment to see it the next day.

We met Nan and followed her up to Centerville and an old Victorian farmhouse just outside town. For just over 300,000, you got a huge house, garage with apartment, huge yard, but it just felt too country for our taste. Centerville was a candidate town for us –as long as you could be off the main road and close to town. The town was filled with huge Victorian houses. We continued our drive on the DelMarVa peninsula to see Queenstown (much too tiny with no infrastructure) and Easton (similar to Chestertown without water – given the choice, go for the water). St Michaels (too small, too cute), Cambridge (a lifeless town that was obviously experiencing white flight. The houses were beautiful, but the town was abandoned) and finally to Salisbury. Salisbury was the only candidate town – a good size town with several historic districts. The Victorian houses North of 50, West of 13 in New Town (off Isabella Street) were definite possibilities.

Time to start thinking about heading on. John made another run to Big Daddy’s (getting the last paper in the newspaper box again). We spent the morning combing the streets of Annapolis and mapping out the potential streets with housing that we would be interested in. It turned out to be just a handful of streets with housing and ambience that we liked. Then, it was errand time as we packed up.
We had dinner at Big Bat’s Sports Bar with CJ and Jeff for “graduation dinner”.

Our first road trip

Ready to hit the road- and still raining. Our first stop was at the closest truck stop to weigh the coach. With a GVWR rating of 14, 050, we weighted in at 14,600 with serious weighting problems between the front and rear axles. While John laid on the wet pavement of the truck stop to fill up the tires, I waited in the truck stop (complete with Internet terminal, shop, and café). Dripping wet, he came back in and we got a huge trucker burger and fries before heading off to the Garden State.

We arrived at Kate and Mike’s house just minutes before they got back from Martha’s Vineyard. John did an amazing job of backing the RV into their driveway and we did the “tour”. Everyone was amazed at the quality of the "Domuz" (our new name for the Minnie Winnie- roughly translated in Turkish "The Pig") – real upholstery and cherry cabinets. Not at all what you’d expect for trailer trash.

Rather than try to stay in the RV, we opted for the hot showers and soft beds at Kate’s. Mike headed to the local market and got a huge piece of beef and we pigged out on meat and potatoes.

The next day, we horrified the Kate and Mike as we took over their dining room with PC’s and stacks of RV manuals. Taking advantage of the space, we organized all the manuals for everything from the RV Systems to appliances to electronics. John made new friends at the Saab dealership trying to get new keys cut for the Saab and continuing the march on RV systems issues. We had a pre-birthday dinner for Kate at the local pub. Other than the rude service and expensive food, we had a great time.

The next day, we had more work on the organizing part of the start-up. We took a break and drove into NYC to meet Steph and Brett for a pre-birthday dinner for Steph. We met at a wonderfully quirky restaurant in East Village (the new hot spot for bohemians and the art community which equals strange colored hair and lots of piercings). After a $150 drink bill, we headed downstairs to our $300 dinner. Who said that staying with relatives and friends saves money?

Closing day - a final goodbye

At 8:00, Bette and the new owners arrived for their walk-through. The house was sparkling clean, but looking very empty. Joanne and Mark seemed excited to be buying, much to our relief. Trying to avoid the sway-back kitchen floor, the dog stained bedroom carpeting and the sinking stone wall, we emphasized the beautiful garden and the complete supply of paints and hot tub supplies. Mark was pleased with the notebook filled with owners manuals and mentioned bringing it home to read that night. You might call him “anal”.

We left Mija in the house with her blanket and dishes for the closing. By the time we returned, she was ballistic. I’ m sure she thought it was all over and that she was being left forever. With tears in our eyes, we closed the door for the last time on our home of 11 years, took our trembling dog into the car and headed off to our new home. With the Saab packed with boxes, we looked like the gypsies that we were about to become. To soften the blow of leaving the home we loved, we immediately took the check to the bank and deposited it.

Then, it was off to Arlington RV SuperCenter. The RV was stacked high with the boxes that John had been carting down. So, in the packing lot of the SuperCenter, just off busy Highway 2, we started packing and repacking our belongings into plastic buckets and trying to figure out where they would fit in the "basement" of the RV. Fortunately, the weather held out and, although we must have been an amusing site for the drivers on Hwy 2, we managed to get everything into a place in the RV with room to spare.

Our first night was fast food and traffic noise, but we actually slept better than we had in the weeks prior. With the pressure of the move and the fear of the deal falling through gone, we slept like babies.

Rain arrived the next day and we concentrated on the inside of the RV. Highway 2 was retail row with every possible chain store imaginable within 5 miles. While I shopped, John worked with the “systems” making frequent visits to the Service Center for questions and problems (and opening an ‘account’ at the Retail Store. We needed everything from toilet paper to sewer connections to refrigerator bars.

The next day, we faced yet another rainy day and more time to continue the RV setup. The setup process took much longer than we expected, but being close to stores and mechanics was a god-sent. We finally finished – at least enough to feel comfortable leaving the safe haven of Arlington RV. Dinner was a Boston Market chicken dinner- comfort food for 6 for 2.

The reality sets in....

The reality of selling the house was smacking us in the face as we looked around our once beautiful home now filled with boxes. We’d spent the time after our return from New Orleans trying to balance the packing/moving of our old home with the outfitting of our new home. John moved the RV to the Winnebago dealer outside Providence to get warranty work and satellite TV and radio installed. In between, he made trips back and forth with the Saab filled with boxes and “stuff”. Meanwhile, I was back home packing.
At 7:00 pm as 60 Minutes was starting, John finally pulled me away from the packing process and I resigned myself to not finishing all that I had planned to pack. With 125 boxes filling the house, it was time to stop and let the “professional” finish the job on Monday.

October 7, 2002
The packing crew arrived at 9:00 and started the arduous process of packing the kitchen, pictures, mirrors, clocks and lamps. A crew of 4 was working until 7:00pm. The kitchen packer spent the entire day just packing up the kitchen. At the end of the day, they still hadn’t begun the crating or inventory.

October 8, 2002
A late start for the moving crew. Our experienced (older) crew chief was out and the owner’s son was in his place. The discipline of the previous day was severely lacking as we had four 20 somthings handling the process. With assurances of completion by 6 or 6:30 pm, we let them work at their own pace. At 6:30, John, Martin and I pulled out the wine and beer and ordered some take-out food. At 10:30 pm, they finally called it quits with the pier mirror still uncrated (the crate built was too small). Exhausted, we headed to bed in our empty house. Thank goodness for the Murphy bed.

October 9, 2002
Time to clean the place. John, Martin and I started cleaning first thing in the morning. By mid-day, John was getting woosy from the oven cleaning fumes and all of us were pretty depressed. Feeling sick, John headed for bed and I made an appearance at Rick and Jim’s for cocktails. Looking around the house without all it’s furniture and accessories, it began to look a lot like a box with foo-foo plaster and nice paint. All of our hard work renovating this beautiful home - and tomorrow, it would be someone else's home.