18 days & Counting

So here it is. This is the beginning of the journey. We are 18 days away from starting an incredible adventure together. Shannon & I will be hopping in the Jeep with our Chihuahua Bosco and start our drive From Denver, Colorado to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. This has been the plan all the way. We talked about moving to a foreign beach on our second date and here we are just a short 16 years later about to do it.
Over the last year, our son moved out, we sold 95% of our possessions, Shannon became a Yoga teacher, & started planning our drive. Last Friday we closed on the sale of our house and paid off the Jeep. These were the last 2 major things that needed to happen for this trip to really take shape.
We have worked so hard for this all to happen. We for sure have had some luck as well. Who knew when we bought our house in late 2014 the Denver housing market would explode right after and give us a nest egg when we sold? We had no idea. We were renters, having been burned in the 2009 recession with our first house, we said no to owning; honestly, we weren’t sure if we could own again because of losing our first house. Shannon likes to say everything happens for a reason.
When we moved back to Colorado from Iowa in 2012 we felt lucky to rent the house we found. It was a tight rental market back then. We had been in the house for 2 years and had just signed another 2 year leases when we got a foreclosure notice on our front door! Evidently our landlord didn’t quite own the own the she had rented to us for the last 2 years. What a shock to us! It was August of 2014 & we had no idea what our housing situation was going to be in a couple months. Our lovely landlord said she was going to buy the house at auction in December and we didn’t have anything to worry about because she had great real estate lawyers… sure lady, we trust you and your great lawyers. Nope. We decided to let her know we were leaving and decided to talk to a Mortgage expert and see what our options were. Rents were already outpacing a monthly mortgage payment at that point in Denver and we were worried about what we were going to be paying. Fortunately we were able to get good mortgage and buy a great house in a great neighborhood for a great price. Thanks Diane, shitty landlord, because of you we can comfortably make the decisions we are now. See why Shannon says things happen for a reason?
Long post, I know. Trying to find my writing legs now. More to come, we want to record our drive down, every border crossing, finding a place to rent in Tamarindo, & every beach and all of the food and drinks we consume on our way down. We love food, beaches, and a good drink/craft beer.
Please look for more to come soon.
Hasta más tarde,
Nikk, Shannon & Bosco