Most of you reading this blog don't realize all the preparations that went into this odyssey and one of the biggest logistical problems was finding a house to rent. I wrote about this a few days ago, but in a nutshell....we needed a home either in town or nearby, with a 2-car garage, an area for my shop, a flat paved area where we could park the trailer that hauled the Isetta and a future Airstream....and last, but not least, it had to be pet-friendly. In an area with few rental properties, this was no small order. Claudia, bless her heart, has worked on this problem daily for the past year. Yep....that's a long time.
Both of us quickly realized two things after researching the rentals online back in Florida: First, there weren't many pet-friendly rental homes in the area and second, picking one without actually being there to look at it in person would be at best a difficult proposition and at worst....a potential disaster if we picked the wrong one. Fortunately, we had some friends here (thank you Scott and Janet) on the lookout and they alerted us to a property. We were also fortunate to have found a property manager who went to bat for us and convinced the owners to allow a pet (thanks Amelia!). We visited the home (we had previously passed it over because of the No Pet clause) and realized it would meet almost all of our needs.
Yippeee.....we got it. After going through the gauntlet of financial hurdles required to rent here in California (at least as restrictive as buying a home in Florida), we were given the good news late yesterday afternoon. The house looks out over a small lake and a golf course. For the first time in 15 years, we won't be staring directly into another home from the back deck! Let me tell you, after living on 20 acres in Indiana, then downsizing to two acres, then downsizing again to one-quarter of an acre in Florida....this is a really big deal!
The house has three bedrooms, sits on one level, has a great shop, a 2-car garage, a gourmet kitchen, windows across the entire back and a lot more. We take possession this Thursday and we'll post some more details later. It's a little further out of town than we had hoped, but it's in a great neighborhood and we feel lucky to have found anything in this tight rental market.
We went walking in town again this morning and once again, Tuck was the ice-breaker he has been since he was 10 weeks old. We bought some coffee at a local shop, sat down to sit and people watch....and almost immediately we hear..."can I pet your dog"? Her name was Rachel and she and her business partner own one of the yoga studios in town (The Golden Mandala). Turns out, she's from Knoxville and is getting ready to open a new studio in Louisville. What a small world we live in! She spent about 30 minutes with us discussing Nevada City, her background, how she got here, politics (of course) and lots more. She gave us her business card and said to call her anytime we had a question, needed advice about the town, etc. Another walk and another new friend. You gotta love it.
That's about it for now. I'll add another post tomorrow or Thursday. As for now....it's time to start packing again in preparation of the move....we were getting a little rusty after being here for ten days!
Cheers!