And then... a very near miss!

This lavender rose is my absolute favorite. When we move,
it will go with us.

If you haven't read "We've Been Searching..." then I have to bring you up to speed with a four-month search for a new home. Basically we had made a serious offer, backed out, and tried to make several others which did not go anywhere leaving us discouraged. We stopped all searching for a week.

It was during this time that our Realtor was away for some training, so it worked out well. And then, a few days just before she was to return, we re-looked at one home we had excluded because the price was more than we had budgeted but they had just reduced it into our range.

Our agent's brother, the Broker for her company, agreed to meet us in Rochester but when we arrived, he said, "I've just discovered I don't have the MLS key." So he contacted the listing agent and she agreed to come out and open up the house for us.

South side of the home we looked at...

While we waited, we both walked around. Wayne paced out the pasture and determined there was indeed slightly more than an acre of sunny, flat land with no rocks.

I also walked around and noted the North-South placement of the home (Moss on the north side of one of the outbuildings was a good clue.) and could see that there were several places my roses would love.

Something about the location, the air, the feeling of openness was all we both wanted. Then once the agent let us inside, Wayne said, "I've already decided I want this house and land."

Wayne and Peaches are pacing the lot line to see how big
it is and to assess the quality of the soil.

There were the usual steps to determine if we could manage the higher costs and we made an offer which was accepted. But just as we were about to have a house inspection, our loan officer said it would not go with her bank because the house had been moved three times.

Sigh. Apparently the VA will not loan on manufactured homes with multiple moves, even with documentation. So we had to walk away from that most desirable situation.

Discouraged but not daunted, we continued to look and evaluate other properties. But really nothing seemed quite as nice as this one. We saw several places that, again, looked good in the sales websites, but when we drove up the driveway or street, it was considerably less than what was promised. Then a property we had bid on but lost out on was rumored to be coming back on the market. That excited Wayne because he loved all the big metal buildings that place had, but I was less enthusiastic.

"We said we would not settle, and we would not get something unless we both really liked it," Wayne reminded me.

It was time to get ready for his birthday and a party for the grandkids who have birthdays on his day and close to it in Ellensburg. We put all house hunting on hold and packed up the RV. Food and computers loaded, warm clothing, fishing rods, and at 8 a.m. we pulled out of Sequim.

In Tacoma, while heading for the exit to Highway 18, a young man in a truck starting signaling us to pull over. Once we were stopped he said, "Your tow hitch, the one attached to the RV, is coming loose!" If we had not been alerted, it could have been disastrous for us and for anyone nearby... a near miss that necessitated separating the Jeep and the RV and I would have to drive behind again, just like on our honeymoon. We were very, very lucky. Definitely felt like angels were working overtime for us.