Our son Bryce was entering his senior year of high school. He had his own big plans of moving across the country to seek a new life of adventure. We offered to take him to Savannah to check it out, knowing that he would like it there too. We just wanted him to have an idea of the area, so that he could make his own plans for what would follow after graduation if he should want to move with us.

The night before this second road trip south, I checked out craigslist for rentals in the Savannah area. This had already become a daily habit just so that we could learn the area. I was thrilled when I found an ad that said “Rent our house on Tybee for the winter” what??? Could we actually spend the winter on the beach? We decided to check out this house and the offer during this second trip. The house was beyond perfect for our needs…and only 300 steps from the ocean. We ended up signing a contract right away on it with a move in date of December 2 2011.

So not only were we moving south, but to a 3 square mile island, right on the beach. I think we could get used to this. It was nice that it was not a long term commitment, so we could just try on the island for size, but it sure did look like it was going to fit. When we got back to VA after signing the contract…the big purge was on!

We sold or gave away nearly everything we owned. We kept just a few basics to get a household started and those we put in a storage bin at my parent’s house.  (continued in Part 4)