Trip to Colorado (and brief hike)

July 21, 2010:
I left Pittsburgh for Colorado.  Goal: hang out with Candice & Kelly for a week or two, then bike the whole Colorado Trail (2 weeks, 500 miles, Denver to Durango, all offroad).
I stopped by Kansas City, and the Owen's house to say "hey" and see where we used to live.  It was great spending time with the Owens.  They are well, and I went to breakfast with Debbie and Stephen.

July 23, 2010:
I arrived at the Rocky Mountain National Park. I went for a hike and saw some great views and wildlife.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Drive from Houston to Pittsburgh - "The Departure"

5-27-2010 Close on house (sold finally!) (see last post for house details)
5-28-2010 Quit job and leave town for Pittsburgh (and beyond!)  :-)

This was a 4-5 day journey with very little pre-planning (30 minutes), an iPhone, and a laid back schedule.  I enjoyed it, and learned a bit about the benefits of pre-planning :-)  (after sleeping in a rest area with a car packed so full i couldn't put my seat back).  I thank God for a safe trip and some solid memories :-)

The Journey Begins: (headed to Tyler State park for some biking)

Tyler State Park

(my car was so packed, that when I opened the door, all this junk fell out.)

I got a good ride in though :-) big fun.

I stopped at a local diner (after sleeping in a rest stop) for some grub.
A pretty solid thunderstorm came through and I really enjoyed
sitting on the patio listening / watching / feeling the storm.

The Natchez Trace Parkway: I took a brief sidetrail along the "old" parkway.
It was nice and relaxing, a windy road through the woods.

Supposedly the whole parkway used to be like this!  (now it's a bit wider)

Along the Blue Mountain Parkway: A nice man named Elliot was out taking pictures, and kindly took my picture too :-)  We talked for about an hour about the way people, cameras, cars, and bikes work, and I believe we both enjoyed the company & conversation.  Then we went on our way.

That night, I ended up driving through fog at 20 mph for 2 hours (frown face) and finally stumbled upon some campers (2 girls with dogs hiking in about a mile to a waterfall).  So, I asked for some advice on where to sleep (i was pretty exhausted).  They told me to hike down a trail for about 1/2 a mile through bear infested woods to a field and "camp anywhere."  I felt like a big baby whistling and singing to myself to comfort myself.  Then I woke up and took a picture of where I had slept:

Somewhere in Virginia on the Blue Mountain Parkway:
I went biking and got caught in an afternoon thunderstorm.
Good trails & nice rain to cool me off.  :-) Another good ride.
I got sick of being constantly wet though, and drove all the way to Pittsburgh after
this so i could sleep in a dry place and put on clean (dry) clothes.

Before and After (only pics that are available)

Before I started fixing up my house, I took a lot of pictures so that afterwards I would have some great "before and after" pictures. BUT I just assumed I had plenty of "after" pictures. oops. So, this is what I can come up with:

From Street:

Kitchen:








Master Bathroom





Hall Bathroom

(hand washing faucet in the giant tub
was the only way to bathe for
2 weeks while i installed & tiled the shower)

Backyard (pool, deck, fence)

(I looooved having fires out back with friends) :-)

Dining Room Mirror Wall (removed)

(see! no mirror wall)

Misc:
Attic Ladder

Hurricane Damage, and me fixing roof:
Hurricane Damage: Tree In Pool (miserable to remove)
Turned storage room / pantry into hutch:
Retiled front entry (outside & inside):
Slate tile in sunroom & infamous beer fridge :-)
New door & view of pool
I vote for drawers - they are very nice.
Kitchen in progress:
Lovely mural came with the house:
Who needs a truck anyways?

First House. Projects, Renovation, and Conclusion.

Thursday, May 27th, 2010:
Finally a close to the stresses of house selling and the last few days of work.
Explanation: I have been trying to sell my house for ... well, I hoped it would be sold in October, but wasn't finished. Realistically it should have been finished in January, but I was pretty tired and burned out so productivity slowed.

House Projects:
2007

• Install shower and tile upper section of Hallway Bathroom (Jaccuzi tub existed)
• Scrub walls throughout house (every single wall) with all purpose cleaner to get grease off.

2008:

• Paint trim & Walls in 3 bedrooms and hallway.
• Replaster pool (contracted out)
• Paint hall bathroom
• Get carpet installed (preparation for possible roommates)
• Install deck
• Install new roof (my friends and i tore off old one and did the new tar paper) then ran out of time and energy so I contracted out to get the new roof installed. Lesson Learned.
• Replace 1/2 of outside siding (most of house was brick) and prime & 2 coats of paint.
• Hurricane IKE
  A tree fell. It clipped my garage and landed in the pool. The fences all fell down too. I got a fat check from the insurance company, and a lot of projects i didn't think i'd be doing.
  2-3 weeks with no power (read: no air conditioning or fridge)
  New Pool tile and coping
  New Fences
  New roof & decking & soffit(sp?) & fascia & 6 rafters in garage.
  

2009:

• Sheetrock back of garage, build garage shelves, and paint 1/2 garage.
• Tear out master bathroom (down to studs) and redo entirely.
  
• Tear out Kitchen and Ceiling and Wall (down to studs) and redo entirely.
  New Tile floor, Move Fridge, Gas Stove, Install new cabinets & Travertine Counter top
• New Central Air (16 seer unit)
• Fix improperly installed central air unit and some sheetrock (flippin AC installers)

2010

• Pay to get house re-painted because first color choice was not good.
• Pay electrician to fix anything that wasn't up to code.

For my records, not bragging or crying.
Purchased house for $120,000
Invested roughly $40,000 (rough ballpark)
Sold House for $202,500
Realtor Fees & Closing Costs: $14,000
Net Income: $28,500
Ballpark Tom hours spent: 2,000-3,000 --> $9.50-14.25/hr --> a hobby that pays that much instead of costing lots of coin is pretty nice i suppose. And i enjoyed most of it. :-)

I hope to find pictures on my other computer (before and after) and that will be my next post.

First Blog Post

Well, I plan to close on the house on Monday or Tuesday and leave for Pittsburgh, and then the Wild West. :-) I'm thoroughly excited; though not sure what to expect. My hope is to upload some before and after pictures of the house and then update the blog semi-regularly (bi-weekly?) while on the road with pictures.

Two quotes that come to mind at the moment:
From Mission Year (www.missionyear.org)
"Love God, Love People. Nothing else matters."

And as Robert Jordan:
"....a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."

-Tom