Heading Out!

Today is December 10, 2025. Things have been changing rapidly for me. I am shifting gears and taking my entire life in a different direction!

I have decided to run away from home! After 14 years of trying to live out a dream of incorporating all of the skills and things I have learned over the years, to create and sell all sorts of nifty products, and metal art, and such … I have decided to walk away from nearly ALL of it.

Over the past couple of months, things have changed drastically for me. I decided to give up, and face the fact that I am 14 years older now. Arthritis is RAPIDLY taking its toll, and I am slowing down. I am still a teenager in my mind, but my body keeps reminding me that I am approaching 70, TOO SOON!

So I began to sell off nearly ALL of my tools, machines and materials, etc., and shift to a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. I began by selling off the small tools … But I did not want to sit here behind a table, with a small cash box, trying to sell a screwdriver for 25 cents, a hammer for a dollar … So I looked at my assets, and my situation, and I went nuclear!

I began to put out the word that I was selling tools at $2.00 per pound! Grab a tub, fill it with whatever you want, and it is $2.00 per pound! I did not care if it was sockets, or clamps, or a drill press, or a spare tire! I had a scale, and I sold several HUNDRED pounds of tools that way. Tape measures, and wrenches, and spools of wire, and … and … and …

Things were still not moving quickly, so I advertised my machines for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Over a few weeks, I sold many tools and machines, and other things, like steel extrusion, plywood and sheet metal, and … you name it!

I had a LOT of stuff here. I did not realize how much STUFF I had accumulated over 14 years, until I tried to sell it all “one weekend.” I sold 40 years of long term food storage that I had amassed. I bought it some time ago, believing that the country was about to crumble. That can STILL happen, but fortunately, it has been delayed for at least a while.

I asked my friend of 35 years, Denise, to fly here from Utah to help me purge my home of STUFF! She runs a large thrift store there, and she really knows how to make it happen. With her help, I sold about $12,000.00 worth of STUFF in only a few days. Clothes, pots and pans, furniture, towels, sheets, figurines, pictures, and YOU NAME IT!

Men and women came to but this and that… Then a great man by the name of Josh came and bought a few machines. We negotiated a fair price on each of them. Then he said, “Let’s quit fooling around! How much for EVERYTHING?!” I had not considered selling EVERYTHING so he caught me off guard!

After some consideration and discussion, and taking a HARD LOOK at my situation, we settled on a price. He bought nearly everything in my shops.

Now … Some people say, “Joe! you gave everything away!” Well … not so fast. I thought about what I had spent on all of this, which is a LOT of money. However, I also thought about the old idiom, “TIME IS MONEY!” I could have chosen to sell everything piece by piece, and I would probably still be here 18 months from now, holding out for “top dollar” while trying to sell stuff to get out of here! I would be a slave to posting photos on Facebook, running Craigslist and ETSY and eBay ads, editing descriptions, changing prices, waiting endless hours for unaccountable people who say they will come, but never show up.

I looked at the stuff I am selling. Yes, it is all nice, but time changes the value of everything. You can have the nicest 8-Track Player on Earth, and you will still not be able to sell it for more than $4.00. That is just a fact.

So I placed a value on the items, and the TIME and ENERGY I would have to expel to try to get more for each item, and find a buyer for EVERY item I need to get rid of! I am moving into an RV, so this stuff has to go!

Josh and I negotiated a sale of my shop buildings as well, and I am very happy with the terms of the sale. No, I did not get “top dollar” for anything, really, but there is so much MORE to consider, beyond the sale price.

So my shop buildings are now sold, and nearly everything in them is sold! We agreed that I can take a few of my favorite, smaller machines with me in the toy hauler, so I can continue to do my artysy-crafty stuff on the road.

I purchased an AXIOM VENDETTA 4250SP toy hauler recently. It is being built right now and I should take delivery of it by Christmas. This is one NICE trailer!

I also flew to Colorado a few days ago to check out a truck for sale, and I bought it! I did not want to tow this MONSTER trailer with some wimply little Ford F450, so you know what they say … “Go BIG, or GO HOME!”

I definitely went BIG! This is a 2024 KENWORTH T680 semi tractor and it is a GREAT tow vehicle for this large toy hauler. It was a deal I could not pass up!

So very soon, Denise and I will both “run away from home” and head out in my new rig, to share life’s adventure, until I drop dead one day.

This web page will be converted into a BLOG of photos, videos, stories, and everything else related to this new adventure.

I hope you enjoy it, and return once in a while to catch up on our progress!

Joe

12-12-2025

It followed me home! I think I will keep it.