Alea iacta est! - or "In for a Penny in for a Pound"

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME,  THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

The Latin phrase in the title above is supposedly the statement of Julius Caesar to his Commanders when he made the decision to bring his legions into Italy.  The Roman Senate had ordered Caesar not to return to Rome.  As he crossed the Rubicon river in Northern Italy in defiance of that Senatorial order he quoted a line from the Greek poet Meander: "The die is cast" in Latin this is "Alea iacta est!" What would follow is a civil war that would lead to his becoming Dictator of Rome and its conquests and eventually his assassination at the hand of Cassius, Brutus and others as immortalized in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar."

In our last post you read, I was extolling the formidable virtues of Retama Village in Mission, TX.  Irene and I were so impressed that we knew that we wanted to use this as our "base camp" and SOME DAY, probable final retirement home.  We had come with another vision in mind - just a place to "winter" out of the freezing temps of the northern 2/3s of the nation.  We thought we'd get one of the bungalow lots and have one built for us and then finish it out.  But it seemed that this was "too small" a vision.

We stayed on one of the lots and realized that the 12x20 (or even 12x24) bungalows were really to small to both live at and have visiting family stay in at the same time.  I suggested instead a one bedroom casita that had about 720 sq. ft.  Irene dutifully said "Whatever you decide, dear."  Guys, have you ever noticed that when a woman says that is when she breaks out into FULL-out devious mode?!  Casita it is:  We went over and picked out everything for it - tile, cabinets, countertops, lights, fixtures, yada, yada.

Then we went once again to look at the port homes.  It was then that I realized (what Irene probably realized the day before) that with the port home we could RV NOW and then (as will almost certainly eventually happen) when we can't RV anymore or start to cut back to 2, 3 or 4 a year we can move into and STILL have some of the kids/grandkids visit.  PLUS - we can have 2 (or even 3) of them come at the same time.  PLUS - Irene can keep some of the clothes and 'stuff' she still has in Lafayette.

It was like we were driving a fine sports car - a really low first gear (bungalow) followed by a shift into a powerful second gear (casita) followed by a shift into that top gear that pins you to the back of your seat as you go screaming around those banked turns (2 bedroom Port Home).

So, we signed the papers on Monday and gave them a deposit to build us an "Ebony" floor plan 2 bedroom Port Home on Hummingbird Lane in Retama Village in Mission, TX.  We spent yesterday afternoon going through our selections for the Port Home (many were the same as for the casita) and making choices on many architectural options involved with the home.  This morning before we left Carol Kerr (the talented and gracious one herself - [We expect some perqs for this shameful plug, kid]) - met with us to go over the "red-lined" plan: The one that showed the house with the options we'd selected incorporated.  Having done that we got in the Trekker and headed to our first Sojourn of the year in Port Lavaca, TX.

As we drove along Irene called the lender we'd hoped to be able to use for the financing.  They took our application over the phone and pre-approved us for a mortgage after about a one hour conversation.