I went to Phoenix for four days, to get out of the RV and to scope out the areas where Charles and I might be interested in living when we move there at the end of the month, since our plans for going full-time RVing have to be put on hold for a variety of reasons. I stayed with Diane Lawrence, my comadre-to-be (our kids Jessie Erazo and Chris Lawrence are engaged), who lives with her husband Arnie in PebbleCreek, a 55+ community west of Phoenix in Goodyear. Charles and I had already decided, after visiting them last year, that we were not interested in living in PebbleCreek - it was very nice, but too many rules and the homes are a little out of our price range. Plus, the real dealbreaker was you can't park your RV on your property. But we liked the area.
Wednesday Diane and I went out with a real estate agent I found through Diane, and looked at some homes in areas I have been eyeing, where we could park our RV on the property. There were some nice ones, but the least of them were about 25% more than we wanted to spend, and still needed a lot of work.
But more than that, I realized that all of those houses would leave us very isolated - Charles doesn't work outside of taking care of me, I work remotely (on my computer, usually from my bed), and we aren't religious. We aren't "joiners" either. The only ties we would have to the new community would be Diane and Arnie, and we can't be dependent on them for our social life - and we can't independently join in the activities they are involved in with at PebbleCreek.
So I decided to look at homes available in PebbleCreek. And almost immediately, I found this house. And after a couple of days of negotiations, and sight unseen by Charles, we are under contract on it. It needs a lot of work (PAINT!! UGH!!), but it was built in 2003, and the kitchen can be gutted and redone with little guilt about "wasting" recent remodeling that is not my taste. (Why do people do that before selling their house? It is a turn-off to me to see new investment in furnishings that I hate, but they expect me to pay for.) Plus a few other things that can be changed and personalized (that back wall with the stupid big window and deep inset shelves and no proper place to put the TV).
One of the reasons we are not going to be able to full-time RV (besides money) now, is that my father's living situation was becoming untenable. The woman he lives with (and has been in a relationship with, including taking care of her - shopping and cooking for her, driving her everywhere as her vision deteriorated) decided that his memory issues were becoming more than she wanted to deal with. The last time we spoke, about 6 weeks ago, they were discussing applying for VA assisted living places for him as a backup plan for when things get worse (she plans to move into a posh AL place). I was pretty horrified they were doing that, but I figured by the time they got to that point, which they assured me was many months away at least, we would have a house somewhere for him to live with us.
When i called my father today to tell him we found a house, which has a setup that is amenable to us living together (the master is in a different wing from the guest bedroom, which has its own ensuite bath with walk-in shower), he told me that they had finalized plans for him to be moved into a VA assisted living place in THREE MONTHS - IN FRESNO!!! That is HUNDREDS of miles from San Jose, in the middle of BFE, where he knows nobody, would have no family around - completely ISOLATED. When I told him we would have a place for him to live with us in a matter of a month, he was so relieved.
I am so angry though, that this was done behind my back. I can't wait to get him away from her - I think some of his memory issues arise from the stress of her hectoring him about his memory lapses, and I think once we get him away from her, and hanging out with new people - people HE chooses (none of his friends passed muster with her when they met, so now his only friends are those who are HER friends), and into all the activities that are available at PebbleCreek, he will rally mentally.
So - it appears that things are moving along, albeit not along the path that we had originally planned. It is hard to be flexible, but I think we're making the right decision. And there is an RV club at the community, so we will immediately join that group (there is an RV lot in the community where people can store their RVs), and hopefully find kindred free spirits.
(But we still have an out - we have to get a home inspection, and we have until the 29th to pull out and get our deposit back. We are having the inspection on the 29th, the day after we get to Phoenix, after driving from Aptos after having a last Thanksgiving with our kids. If Charles is concerned, we can back out.)
http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...th-Ave_Goodyear_AZ_85395_M17571-95136#photo17
This is the house plan (except this house is mirror image, and the front of the house has been extended by making the garage deeper, and adding the ensuite to the second bedroom between the guest bath and bedroom):
Kitchen is a gut, and I want the interior walls rearranged - open it up, make a larger free-standing island open at both ends out of that peninsula, and open to the dining area.
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I hate that.
including your Dads SO ! 
