It's Metamorphosis Time!

We didn't name our blog Metamorphosis Road for nothing...we wanted to cover whatever lifestyle changes we dreamed up in our post-work life.

In August 2012 we both retired early, sold most of our belongings and our house in San Diego and moved temporarily to Oregon where we became residents (thanks to Chantal). In a few short weeks we had purchased our truck and soon after our Montana fifth wheel and on September 10, 2012 officially became fulltimers.

We said we'd fulltime for at least three years before we made any changes...now, more than six years later we're making the transition back into a house.

One thing we did not anticipate when we embarked on this journey was how difficult it would be to decide where we would land. Sure, as retirees, our options are wide open, seemingly anywhere could be home. But the reality is we each have our personal desires and requirements that influence our final decision.

For us those parameters were, in no particular order, a mild four-season climate, good access to trails, decent shopping options, progressive vibe, and reasonable proximity to San Diego where most of our family and friends live.

We've spent the past couple of years visiting and analyzing various towns and small cities looking for the right fit. What we've discovered along the way is that there is no perfect place! There is no one place that ticks all the boxes.

Prescott moved to the top of the heap for a number of reasons:

The Trails! With 80+ miles of trails and growing, this town takes its trails seriously! Plus the surrounding area is chock full of fabulous places to explore.

The Climate: Prescott says it has five seasons, including monsoon season, but they are relatively mild. It may snow a handful of times each winter but rarely does it last longer than 24 hours. It's also rarely supposed to hit 100 degrees in the summer. Of course, we've never spent a winter or summer here but if we ever find the weather to be too extreme, we can drive an hour to Flagstaff for cooler temps, or an hour south to warmer temps in the desert.

The shopping: Trader Joes, Costco, Sprouts, Target...need I say more?

Proximity to San Diego: In less than seven hours we can visit family and friends by car which means we can take Rosie too. And, as the local airport grows, flying may become an option as well, though it's never our fist choice for travel.

All of the reasons we like Prescott also make it a desirable place to lots of people. The real estate market is tight, inventory is low and competition for anything good that comes up can be fierce. When a nice looking property came up in a neighborhood we'd been eyeing, we ended up having to jump on it quickly just to have a chance.

Our new home has something different than we've ever had before: acreage. It is a three bedroom, two bath on 1.6 mostly natural acres. The property is full of oak trees and shrubs and javelina and deer roam the neighborhood. The Williamson Valley trailhead is one mile away. We think it's going to be really peaceful.

As of November 13th we are no longer fulltimers. Our current RV set up is going to be traded in on a new truck and over time we'll decide what our RVing future looks like. For now, we intend to immerse ourselves in outfitting our new home and integrating ourselves into our new community.

We cannot believe how much STUFF we had in the RV!!! We'd kind of forgotten how intense moving is. This is a really big transition, as big as moving into the RV was. It's going to take a while to feel completely right.

Welcome to a new chapter of Metamorphosis Road!

The grass area is the only non-native part of the property...I will remove that and replace with natives.
Hans loves having a three car garage!