At least my garage is getting organized…

Lord willing, I’ll soon be exploring the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains again.

Visitor’s Note: For information on real estate agents and brokers, developers, builders and new home communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains visit our Relocate-Retire Page.

We hired a good team of hard working guys from All Seasons Moving & Storage in Johnson City, TN, to move our furniture from our rental house and into our new home ten miles away. It was no easy job. They had to carry most of it down a flight of stairs at the rental house, and up another flight at the new home. 

Some of the boxes that were supposed to go downstairs were taken upstairs. Some were supposed to go upstairs, but ended up downstairs. And some were simply deposited in the garage. It’s inevitable, of course, but it seems that the older I get the tougher it is to move. Maybe this will be the last time…

Note: For information on real estate agents and brokers, developers, builders and new home communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains visit our Relocate-Retire Page.

Okay, I can’t blame my sons. It was my fault. My excuse was that we were getting ready to move, completing our new house and packing our things at the rental home. Yeah, they didn’t buy it either. But here’s what things looked like when we were supposed to be out camping in the cold…

Note: For information on real estate agents and brokers, developers, builders and new home communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains visit our Relocate-Retire Page.

…sorry for the long pause between posts, but we’ve been pretty busy — and having lots of fun — while our new home is being constructed.

It’s getting close now. We’ve gone from an empty lot on top of a hill to a nice cottage that’s almost ready for us to move in…

During the past few weeks we’ve had to eat out a number of times so I have several Dining reports to add. I better get busy. More later…

People have asked why we moved and how we did it in this crazy economy, so let me explain…

First of all, we have three sons, their wives, and nine grandchildren in Greenville, South Carolina, and we wanted to see them more often. (For most of the past 10 years we’ve been living in Wilmington, NC, which is about five hours away from our family.) Since it didn’t seem likely that our sons would move their families closer to us, we started thinking — and praying — about moving closer to them.

Last fall we made a trip to Hendersonville to check out the housing. We looked at a number of nice communities, but one stood out among them all: Carriage Park.

The pond at the entrance made a great impression…

We drove up Carriage Parkway and knew it would provide some good exercise…

At the top of the first ridge, we could see the Asheville Airport in the distance…

As we drove through the community looking at available lots, we thought the homes were very nice, without being ostentatious…

We drove by the lake and continued our search for the perfect lot to build our home…

In the sunset of our lives, we found a great community with amazing views…

The developer and sales team at Carriage Park have been terrific, and we’ve already made friends in the community and at church. But the best part is our close proximity to family…

If your retirement is approaching or you can work from home in almost any location, maybe it’s time for you to stimulate the economy. You won’t find a more beautiful and friendly place than Carriage Park in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Check it out today.

Thanks to a great team, we continue to see good progress in our relocation to Western North Carolina. Ben Fowler of Fowler and Associates calls himself a building contractor, but he’s more like the conductor of an orchestra, who makes sure everyone comes together in perfect timing…

Bud Laughter, the former logger-turned-mountain-mover who founded Laughter Grading, looks intimidating, but he actually has a great sense of humor…

Bud’s son Brian is a creative artist with a lot of talent…

After a long day with only a short stop for lunch, the orchestra is ready to go home. From left to right, Bud, Danny, Ben, Ethan and Brian…

They turned a steep ridge into a beautiful, level spot for our new home…

(I hope they’re not going to charge extra for my “helpful” supervision – and watching them work.)

Visitor’s Note: For information on real estate agents and brokers, developers, builders and new home communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains visit our Relocate-Retire Page.

It’s hard to capture the slope of our lot. It’s up on a ridge. I think the altitude is about 2400 ft. Here’s what it looked like before we broke ground…

Then the guys at Laughter Grading (pronounced law-ter) drove their track hoe and bulldozer up the bank…

At the end of the second day, our driveway seemed fairly steep. Here’s a picture for perspective…

Visitor’s Note: For information on real estate agents and brokers, developers, builders and new home communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains visit our Relocate-Retire Page.