Business Sold & Al is Officially Retired (almost)

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 93, low 72)

 

The past few days, I had been freaking out worrying about the possibility of a hurricane coming to Florida.  Tropical Storm Chantal was predicted to head this way with the possibility of it making landfall on the east coast of Florida, and  cutting across the state and back out into the Gulf of Mexico.  There were some computer models that were showing the possibility a Cat 2 hurricane.   Yes, we are on the west coast of Florida, but I know from experience that it would have still been strong once it went over the short distance from east coast to west coast.  We saw that time and time again in 2004 and 2005.

Our plan has been if a storm is coming, to head north and get out of Florida even if it’s just a tropical storm. Since Florida is a peninsula, there is only one way to go to escape, and that’s north.   The weather forecasters are pretty good about predicting where a storm will go, but not good about predicting the intensity.  We don’t want to be in a motor home in a hurricane.

Since we don’t have PDD  or Eldy DD, if we’re going to leave the state, we need to head out early.

This week was the worst timing for a storm because Al has to be here to wrap up the process of selling his pest control business.

I was literally making myself sick worrying about the possibilities.   I never used to be such a weather worrier, but then again, I used to live in a nice solid concrete block house, instead of a motor home.

I was very relieved when the NHC (National Hurricane Center) reported the storm had died out. Of course there are some remnants from the storm that will bring us some rain, and there is a possibility she will re-strengthen.  I’m trying not to borrow trouble.

Sigh of relief…..

Of course, it’s still hurricane season until the end of November, so our plan is to leave Florida as soon as possible, and we’re working on that.

 

On Tuesday, we signed the paperwork for the sale of the business.  Al is no longer the owner of the business, but one of the terms of the contract was that he would go with the new technicians to transition the customers over to the new company.

That is turning out to be a bit of a mess.  What the owner told us would happen is not what is actually happening.  One of the guys riding with Al was so sloppy spraying chemical that Al refused to have him go with him again.  You know how Harley Davison owners are with their motorcycles?   This guy actually sprayed chemical on the motorcycle, and the owner saw him do it.

The new technician shows up with no business cards, so the customers don’t have any idea who to call if they should have a problem.    The reason we care, beside the fact that these are long time customers and Al has a good relationship with them, is because we didn’t get all of our money up front.  We get paid for the next year for the accounts they do. so it’s to our advantage for the customers stay with the new company.

In the meantime, we’re trying not to stress about it.  We’ve done about all we can do and what happens, will happen.

Between the hurricane and the sale of the business, we have consumed a lot of beer and wine this week!   :)

The good news, is that we are working through the transition and we may be able to head back to the beautiful Georgia mountains pretty soon.

I really need to see some waterfalls, mountain streams and trails.

 

 

By the way.  My suspicion that my washing machine was still leaking turned out to be correct.

Some comments said that was the reason they didn’t have a washing machine in their Rv.  That’s your choice, but in my opinion is that it’s well worth having.  I’ve done it both ways.  With and without a machine and I much prefer having an onboard machine. I hate having dirty clothes around.

Washing machines break in a house too, and you have to have them repaired or replaced.  Granted, they are a little easier to work on in a house, but they still can malfunction. I’ve done a ton of laundry in this little machine and it’s worked just fine.  It’s 11 years old, so I should probably just get a new one, but after putting the new water pump on, I don’t want to do that.

I washed several loads of clothes and no leak.  I had about decided the leak was gone, but decided to check once more, when I found a small leak.  He came right back out and found water inside the foil dryer vent!   He found a water line that was loose and wondered if that was where the water got inside the dryer vent.   I don’t know, but nothing else makes sense.  It hasn’t rained in a few days so I know it didn’t come from outside.   I plan to do a search on some Rv forums today and maybe even call Splendide (the manufacturer).  I have heard they have great customer service.

I called the Splendide hotline and spoke to a tech.  He thinks our cold water valve is bad and they don’t make them anymore.  We will either have to buy a new machine, or switch the hot and cold lines and use only cold water.  I think that is what we’ll do for now.