NanNan and DanDan

RV Woes Update

2011-07-28T13:06:00.005-04:00

Photos from happier Serrano times.

Well, Bloggers its been quite a week or so. We discovered more things wrong with our Serrano since my previous post.

We had thought if Danny could dismantle the automatic steps that we could drive it over to Seffner (85 miles) to Lazy Days for repairs. It took Danny two trips to the storage facility and several hours under the rig to disable the steps. Then, he discovered the instrument panel was dead. He checked the turn signal and lights which still worked and decided that using his iphone to monitor speed and just filling up with fuel prior to hitting the road, he could still drive to Seffner. Cranked the engine to drive to nearest gas station and low and behold, it made a horrible screeching and rumbling, the Serrano bucked and refused to go more than a couple miles per hour despite pushing the pedal to the floor. Obviously, it was not drivable. Our appointment at Lazy Days was the next morning.

We called Good Sams/Camping World roadside assistance and they said the would send a tow and meet us at our storage unit the next morning. We would meet the tow driver at Lazy Days. Tow driver quoted me a price of $190.00 overage charges since they only cover 25 miles to nearest repair facility. Nearest facility in Orlando can not repair our rig; we already checked. The overage wasn't too bad so I gave the go ahead and we hit the highway.

About twenty miles out, the tow company called and said, "Oops the charge is $310.00. Driver quoted you the wrong rate and we take cash only. I had twenty dollars in my wallet. Color me unhappy. Finally I agreed to the highway robbery charge and they agreed to accept Master Card.

Lazy Days was great. They gave us a free lunch in their cafeteria and a nice place to wait for the driver. We looked at similar sizes and types of motor homes on their extensive lot and dreamed of switching. They had already contacted Thor Industries on our behalf on the warranty and repair issues. Thor called Danny and said they were sending someone down from Indiana to look at our rig since we had listed 12 items that needed repair and it isn't drivable at only ten months old. We went home.

The manufacturer's rep found more than fifteen things that need repair or replacement and green lighted lazy days to do the work. Thor is so far really trying to make it right. I don't know how long the process will take but at this point am hopeful that we will get a better than new unit back.

Here are some of the problems we found:

Unusual and excessive wear and tear to leatherette driver and co captains chairs, pantry door falling off, a/c unit drips onto the bed, nonfunctional cruise control, non functional steps and instrument panel, engine issues, leaky windows in cab area, computer tray table sticks from warping after roof leak, one outdoor bin doesn't lock properly, missing radio antenna. I don't know what else the folks at Thor and Lazy Days found yet but will keep you posted.

We do love the smooth way our Serrano drives (when it drives). The interior is very comfortable and spacious and we like the floor plan. We love the outdoor storage. We like its size at 31 feet. It has plenty of 'pick up'. We like the fuel savings of a Fred engine. So, if it is fixed and we have no further issues with it we will keep it. Thor has, so far redeemed themselves with their customer service. I recommend Lazy days. The dealer, RV One (Orlando, Des Moines and Buffalo) is still on my s--t list. I will never ever do business with them again, not no how, no way.

Hoping for a nice leaf turning jaunt to NC. Its too hot for a vacation anywhere on the east coast now anyway.

Happy trails to you.

King of the road deposed

2011-07-19T11:07:00.004-04:00

Well my blogging friends, our long anticipated summer trip to Gettsysburg and the West Virginia mountains is not going to happen. Before I tell you our story, let me warn any of you thinking of purchasing a new RV to choose not only your model but your dealer very very carefully.

I fell in love with a pretty thirty-one foot Four Winds Serrano 'Fred' rig that seemed very reasonably priced for a 'Fred' at RVOne (Orlando RV) in Winter Park, where I live. I traded in my used Winnebago View for the Serrano, even though I was not familiar with the product. Once the dealer had me on the hook they reeled me in and things never went quite the way they should. The RV cost more than it I was told originally, the finance manager having danced a few really slippery dance steps. He tried to cheat me on my trade in , too. The repair department was never terribly efficient or caring about the problems that cropped up post delivery. The unit was in the shop more often and longer than it should have been for new RV, although the warranties were honored.

The cruise control never worked. We were told that was not a dealer issue and nobody in Orlando was certified to fix it under warranty. We could travel without it, so we just kept putting off dealing with it. We could not put off dealing with the broken shower head since we could not shower. We waited several weeks for the dealer to replace it and then Danny bought the right kind himself and installed it using the internet directions on his iPad! The roof leaked badly a few months later and the cab was flooded. Back to the dealer who said they couldn't be bothered with it for the better part of a month! Danny drove it to the lot and parked it in their driveway and they took care of it in two days.

There was other stuff like an air conditioner that leaked condensation over the bed soaking the mattress and a cabinet door that came apart from the wall. The radio antenna fell off in a windstorm. Another window began to leak badly with the summer rains, flooding the dash and floor in the cab. The battery compartment wouldn't lock and the weather stripping fell off the door. The leather seats in the cab began to crack and rip as if they were years instead of months old. But it was usable and we decided to make an appointment to have all fixed after our vacation.

Then a few days before scheduled departure, we had a seriously severe storm, went to the storage facility to check the window leak and discovered the steps were stuck in the down position and the instrument panel was non-functional. Went to the dealer who said, call the Workhorse chassis people. We called them and they said it was a Manufacturer issue. We called Thor who said 'is not our job, man'. They told us to call the dealer. The dealer said 'we can't see you for at least eight weeks'. Now, we have a warranty but nobody who takes responsibility for repairs. Nobody gives a rat's ass, we can't use it and more and more water damage as it sits unused outside in the storms will be a major issue.

I've been reading about Serranos online. Quality seems uneven. Some folks have had no problems, others have had experiences much like ours. Would I buy another Thor product. Uh uh. Not with the lack of customer service. Would I ever deal with RV One again? What do you think? If you said NEVER, you'd be right.

Well, we called Lazy Days in Seffner, Florida near Tampa and they said, 'sure we can fix it all if you can get it to us'. We made an appointment in two days. Danny figured out a way to detach the steps and how to monitor speed with his iPhone. We can fill it up and be sure there's enough fuel even if we have no way to check it via the dash gauge. The turn signals work and so do the break lights, so we will manage.

It's a three hour round trip drive. Even though I hate highway driving I will follow in my Volvo. If I decide to sell the rig and/or when I am ready for trade, you can bet your britches I will go to Lazy Days first before any other dealer. My advice to you again is to avoid RV One whether in Buffalo, Orlando or in the midwest. Its all one company. Management seems only to care about volume sales, not satisfied return customers.

That's my story. I guess my summer vacation will be spent at Universal Studios which is 45 minutes away and driving the hour to the beach for an afternoon in my car. Give my regards to the mountains. Next year, hopefully I'll be there.

Overdue Update

2011-07-15T14:15:00.003-04:00

Photos: (1) Ma and Pa at a WallMart parking lot (2) Danny installing safety device to start the generator (3) Dog is always our copilot, in this case, Ginny (4) PJ enjoying the St. Augustine Pirates Museum (5) Bailey chilling out on board in St. Augustine (5 and 6) at our favorite beach parking place, Beverly Beach Camptown in Flagler County

Sorry folks that it has been so long since I've visited with you. I'd come up with an excuse if I could thing of one that was really entertaining and still true. Its not that we haven't spent time on our RV, cause we have if week ends and day trips count. Just haven't posted. That's the fact, Jack. No excuses. But, we are getting ready for our summer vacation trip in a few days so I thought it was high (way) time to check in with you again.

Aside from some beach weekends and day trips from late winter to now, we took a whirlwind drive to Atlanta in mid May when Danny's youngest brother had a very serious accident which required airlifting him to Grady Memorial hospital where he had to have immediate brain surgery. Danny's mother and sister had driven down to see us here in central Florida the day before and their car broke down on the highway and was in a local shop for repair when we got the early morning call about Brian's fall from a roof of a building. We quickly drove them to the airport and a day later, having picked up their repaired car, we rented a trailer thing from uHaul, hitched the toad to the back of our Serrano and towed it to Atlanta. A grueling 10 hour drive in one day. Aside from the tiresome trip, towing turned out to be a breeze. We'd never done it before. Gas mileage was half of what we're used to though: about eight miles to the gallon instead of 13 to sixteen. Ouch.

Anyway, we parked the RV in Danny's mother's driveway and hooked up to her household current. The next morning we turned on the a/c, left a window or two open slightly for the dogs

and drove downtown to meet the family at the hospital. While we were gone, the temperature outside soared up to nearly ninety and something tripped the breaker in the house and our RV power went off. Our dogs were locked inside an RV in the sun with very little ventilation.

We were lucky. We must have returned at just the right time. We opened the door to find to our horror that the power was down and the dogs were seriously panting. I looked at the thermostat which read 95 inside. I got the dogs off, into the shade on Charlotte's back porch, turned on the ceiling fan and gave them water. Went back on board and in the five minutes that had passed the thermostat read 98. I took the dogs into the house, we all cooled off, and we left for home an hour later.

After that almost horrible and heartbreaking experience, I ordered a part for the RV that automatically turns on the generator for back up power if something like what happened to us occurs when plugged into shoreline power. I further replaced a ceiling fan and outside vent with one that has a thermostat control so it also automatically comes on if the temperature in the coach gets to a preselected level. Together these two items cost about a thousand dollars, but Danny was able to install them himself which saved some further bucks. There is also a RV/boat nanny device which calls your cell phone if the RV power goes out. Its very pricy but one day I will get that too. We also have an outside Genturi system that vents the generator fumes overhead so they don't come in the windows if they are open while running the generator.

We are a little nervous about traveling in the heat with the dogs even with these precautions so if anyone out there has any other safety addition suggestions please let us know.

After that tiring two day trip, we spent a nice long Memorial Day week end at the KOA on Anastasia Island near St Augustine with my daughter and family, which includes a two year old and an eight year old. The 'kids' stayed in a cabin and we drove into the old city in their car, returned to the campground for cooking out, swimming, and s'mores. If you go to St Augustine, I recommend the new Pirates Museum just opposite the Castillo De San Marcos. It was fun for all ages.

As a sidelight, we've had a lot of annoying stuff go wrong with our still almost new RV. Sone of the windows still leak in Florida's bad storms, the a/c over the bed drips water on us, the pantry door hinge is stripped, cruise control doesn't work, and the captain and mate's Flexsteel leatherette chairs aren't wearing well. "Fabric" is ripping and splitting. I am told that is par for the course with RVs. Should all be under warranty, so I guess we will send her into the shop when we return from our summer trip to Gettysburg, Pa. and West Virginia.

We're leaving in a few days. I will report post trip. Happy trails.

PS: 1. We are doing podcasts called, All Things Overnight Parking. Check us out.

PS 2. Danny's brother has made an almost full recovery.

Turbo Resonator Story

2011-02-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

We promised to bring you the story of the Turbo Resonator failure, so here it is.

We'd already committed to purchasing the Serrano, and were waiting for it to be prepped for us to take home. The dealer wanted us to bring the Parakeet to the lot, but we knew better than that, and also had one more trip to make.

My stepson Stephen and his bride Casey were getting married on Anna Maria Island. It's about a 3 hour drive (I drive a bit lower than the speed limit) from our house, so we set off early, just in case. Right after Seffner Florida, Nancy noticed a burning oil smell. I thought it was probably from the Tractor Trailer in front of us. Another 20 minutes down the road, the RV lost power fast. I could only get it to 35 mph. I looked on my ScanGauge. No codes. No 'check engine' on the dash indicators. I knew exactly what it was. I was in 'limp-home' mode.

When Winnebago came out with the View line, and the Sprinter based chassis with a Mercedes Diesel engine, I joined a few Yahoo Groups that focused on them. Automotive groups are excellent for sharing information and solutions to common problems. I learned that the 2006 5 cylinder Diesel engines had a problem with the turbo resonator . The resonator is basically a muffler for the turbo charger. It reduces the high pitched whine the turbocharger tends to make. I makes a deeper, less annoying sound. There were several versions of the device. Most Sprinters had either a Q3, Q4, or Q5.

A Q5 (left) and Q4 (right) Resonator

The Q4's and lower tended to split near the top, causing the limp home mode to engage.

The Q5's were supposed to be a better quality, and not split. When we purchased the RV, I had the mechanic let me know if we had a Q5 or not. The Parakeet had a Q5. From the Yahoo View/Navion Group, I learned even the Q5's could split, but there was a fix.

James Riordan had created a Turbo Resonator Eliminator.

People on the Yahoo Group swore by them. Just in case, I went ahead and purchased on. I thought we'd gotten away with not needing the Eliminator. I decided to leave it on board, and let the future owner know it was there, just in case.

After the Parakeet went into Limp Home Mode, I pulled off I-75 and looked for a spot to park. We found a closed automotive store with lots of shade and no one else parked. It was 92 degrees out, so the shade was very necessary. I pulled out one of our 12 volt fans, placed it on the ground under the engine, opened the hood and let it cool down. Within 20 minutes, the engine was cool enough to work on.

I pulled out the Turbo Resonator Eliminator, but I couldn't find the instructions anywhere. Luckily, I'd put a pdf copy in our DropBox, so I accessed it on Nancy's iPad, and had her read it to me. I quickly discovered I'd purchased the wrong size socket. But according to the instructions I could use a 5/16 socket, and I had one of those.

The resonator was in a tight spot, and it was difficult to work it out. The worst of it all was zip-tie that was cutting my arm to shreds. Being the summer, I didn't have any long sleeve shirts onboard, so I just had to frown and bare it. During all this I was watching the time. The time for the wedding was ticking down faster. I finally got the resonator out, and put the eliminator on. Getting it back on was way easier than taking the other out. The eliminator is skinnier and easier to move around in that tight area. I bolted it up, cleaned up as best I could, and cranked the engine. All seemed okay so far.

We got back on the road, and full power was restored. I felt like one of the Apollo 13 crew. We got to the wedding location with just 3 minutes to spare. Luckily, they were running 15 minutes behind, so I was able to clean up a bit more. We watched my stepson and his bride get married, overheard all the drama going on behind the scenes, and had a wonderful evening. My grand-stepson Gavin was cute as a bug.

Yesterday, we learned that someone near Buffalo New York purchased the Parakeet. Luckily for them, they won't have to worry about a Turbo Resonator Failure.

This experience taught me something; with good instructions, I can fix almost anything!

MUSING DOWN THE HIGHWAYS

2011-02-02T12:31:00.010-05:00

MUSING DOWN THE HIGHWAY

A poem by Nancy Deutsch aka NanNan

In this great land from sea to sea

There's many a sight that beckons me

I revel in the roads untaken

The sprawling cities soon forsaken

Past swamp and lakes through piney grove

With naught to do but roam and rove

Through sunlit valley up misty peak

Without a plan from week to week

Through caverns, museums, and founders' houses

Theme parks with wizards, rockets, and mouses

Or viewing vistas veiled in mystery

While learning more of our own history

With Danny and pair of canine friends

Exploring America from end to end

Standing in fields where armies fought

Following trails the Indians wrought

Camping at night on a sandy shore

As palm fronds sway outside screen door

Then parking by river or rocky stream

in thick forest, where black bears dream

Often rambling down some busy highway

Turning off again, on an interesting byway

I'm just as happy as a person can be

Riding in the cockpit of Serrano RV

HAPPY TAILS AND TRAILS TO YOU!

Tampa RV Show

2011-01-19T12:26:00.006-05:00

We made it over to Tampa for the show which was extremely crowded on Saturday. About a thousand RVs of all sizes on site to walk through. Not too much innovation in the motor homes noted apart from the Monaco Vesta, which was a real design beauty with lots of upscale perks included as standard. Nice mid size, spacious interior with beautiful cabinetry and furniture, diesel fuel for good mileage, good exterior storage, but a tad pricey compared to our 2010 Serrano. We had hoped to see some 2011 Serranos there and were disappointed to find only one. We learned later that there had been eight at show's start, all sold and gone by Saturday save the one we saw. That made me feel good about my purchase.

The real innovation seemed to be in the campers and trailers. We saw one with a full size step up kitchen with wrought iron railings, beautiful white washed wood cabinetry, a fireplace, spacious bedroom and a drop down roofed outside deck with flat screen TV as well as toy hauler space/screened porch out back. Another had a trendy Euro design interior. Several had full outdoor kitchens with flat screen TVs to watch during food prepping. No more seventies design with nubby sofas for the purchasers of these beauties!

I was disappointed in the exhibition hall offerings. Not much innovation there in terms of interior appointments and accessories. Weirdly enough, lots of jewelry. I personally never wear or take my jewelry with me on vacations since our travel style is strictly jeans and shorts and t shirts. I guess some folks do, though.

There were lots of dogs there. We took one of ours, which was a mistake because it was too crowded for her to be comfortable and she got a little grumpy after several hours of evading legs and feet. The food was the usual yucky carnival sort of fried somethings or other so we only sipped lemonade. Promised entertainment of bagpipers and dog acts was absent on Saturday afternoon and we never encountered any of the Bloggers we hoped to see there. Still it was a fun day and we got a custom wooden sign for the RV.

What we also came away with was a sense of being very pleased that we purchased the Serrano. We didn't see anything else with the possible exception of the before mentioned Vesta that would tempt us away from our 'Badger.' If I wanted a bigger gas model, I loved several of the Winnebagos and the Bounders. But as far as mid-sized diesel goes (32 feet) I think the Serrano is a good buy and a good ride. And since we don't want to tow, it works well for us.

All for now. Happy trails to you along the roads less taken.

Long time, no post, well slap me with a sandspur studded sock...

2011-01-13T13:43:00.012-05:00

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS FROM OUR RECENT WANDERINGS: The Badger, Cedar Key water scene, lunching at the Lightner Museum, Castillo De San Marcos, Brightly painted authentic circus wagon at Circus Museum, Cedar Key RV park, behind Ca D Zan, Anastasia Island, Bok Tower.

Whoops! Time sure passes quickly doesn't it? Yes, I've been busy with other things, notably finishing a novel, editing, formatting, etc which took up all my time and energy throughout the fall season. Then, the holidays came. Now, its 2011 and I can sit back and breathe easy again. Even catch up in the Blogosphere.

I read my last post where I told about the Serrano. There was more to the story. We did pick it up. The tricky finance manager (who looks like a weasel if you want to imagine him) hit me with a third set of papers which he claimed were to clean up the messy notations on the last (2nd set) he'd given me. The numbers were different for the third time and in the end I paid more than I'd agreed to both as down payment and as monthly payment. By this time I was weary of the whole miserable purchase process, had spent nearly three hours of a walk through on the new unit and had turned in the Winnebago. I just wanted to go home. So I admitted defeat to myself and did. I let the guy get away with incompetence at best and shady business practices at worst.

During the walk through we discovered that somebody had ruined the bedspread, we were missing a pantry basket, and there were several other minor repairs that needed done. Not so minor was a shower that did not work. The tech guy promised that all would be fixed two days later. Long story short, we waited two weeks for the shower to be fixed, they never did, and Danny bought the part and fixed it himself. Otherwise, I doubt we'd be able to use the motor home yet!

Its four months later and the other issues are not repaired. I bought a new bedspread at Wall Mart.

I had to go through major contortions to get the bank information from the dealership too so I could contact the loan folks and get the paperwork so my first payment wouldn't be late.Lots of headaches here RV folks. My advice. Never deal with Orlando RV. The service department guys are polite but you can't count on them and the finance manager is nearly impossible to work with. He asked me to lie to Bank America too, on top of everything else.

Okay, that update is out of the way. Aside from the getting of the Serrano, we really love traveling in it. The Queen size bed is very very comfortable, living space is quite ample with the slide out out, the automatic awning is huge, outside storage amazing, fuel economical (diesel), upholstered furniture very comfortable, flat screen TVs with surround sound well paced for viewing. Window arrangement and fan placements make ventilation for the dogs easy. Despite being 32 feet long, we haven't had any difficulty parking on our trips and have not towed my car as yet. Danny says its easier to drive than the Winnebago was. It can carry a lot more weight than the View, too.

We've done some week end trips in it: beach day trips and Florida on a tankful trips. We went to St Augustine for Thanksgiving and to FT Meyers, Sarasota, and Cedar Key between Christmas and New Years. Which leads me to another thought.

What were the highlights of 2010, RV travel wise? Below is my list with recommendations in order of chronological visit.

1. Savannah and Tybee Island, Ga. Try a walking tour of the lovely historic city which is download able on your iPhone. Park the RV at the train station. But do this in cooler weather. Summer would be tough. Tybee Island has a neat little museum and interesting lighthouse complex to visit and Ft Pulaski is well worth a couple hours time. Take a picnic: there are walking trails adjacent to the fort and shaded areas to relax and dogs are welcome, too.

2. Top Sail State Park in San Destin, Florida. An excellent RV park for staying for a week end and the prettiest beach I ever walked on.

3. St Mary's and Golden Isles. St Mary's is a picture perfect and quaint little town with shops to walk through and some good sea food restaurants on the marina. You can take a ferry to Cumberland Isle and see wild ponies running on the beach. Nearby Fernandina Beach is dog friendly and sugar sand is beautiful but we enjoyed the swimming at Ft Clinch State Park nearby. Dogs had to stay in the RV there, though.

4. Asheville. I would move there if I could. Asheville has everything: wonderful art and culture, shopping, great restaurants, friendly people, beautiful mountains and it is a dog friendly city too. We enjoyed staying in an RV park right on the French Broad river adjacent to a paved walking and biking trail that went on several miles to a beautiful riverfront park on one side and adjacent to a wetlands, and recreation area on the other. The dogs would probably vote this as their favorite park of the year. Then of course there was Biltmore! Incredible just about describes that, but not quite. Allow a full day for Biltmore. Spend a half day up at Grove Park in the two museums and crafts shop and eat at the cute little tea room. You won't be sorry.

5. The Blue Ridge Parkway. Amazing, spectacular. One of the most beautiful drives we've ever taken. We particularly enjoyed the crafts center just past Asheville, Linville Caverns, Altapass, Mabry Mill, and The peaks of Otter. Got off the Parkway at Natural Bridge, Va which turned out to be one of our favorite side trips. Despite the tacky entryway, this natural wonder is not to be missed.

6. Monticello at Charlottesville, Va. Probably our favorite single stop. Plan a full day here and at the adjacent tavern and Monroe home (Ashlawn).

7. Tamarack in Beckley, West Va. Hours of happy shopping for mountain crafts and art and books and the best dang food I've had in a long time, made by Greenbrier chefs. Good RV parking here, too.

8. Bok Tower and gardens, Winter Haven Fl. A delightful surprise with a cool 1920s mansion to tour and a really nice gift shop. Lots of RV parking and picnic areas shaded by tall trees. Incredible photographing opportunities.

8. St Augustine. We love St Augustine. Parking is a problem in the city, though. We stayed out on Anastasia Island in a really nice KOA. Beach was a short (5 minute) bike trip away and they had a bus that looked like a trolley car that picked you up at the camp office to ferry you into town. Paid twenty bucks a person for the whole week end and it dropped you off on any one of twenty historic spots and you could re board as often as you wanted. The lighthouse and Gator Zoo were included as was the Mission and Fountain of Youth. Made it all easy. We couldn't do everything in a week end so we will go back. We really loved the Lightner Museum which has a really good restaurant. The Flagler college tour is a must do. Enjoyed the oldest house and the Castillo as well and wandering around the shops of old town. Wonderful city, lots of art and good eats. Beach was as pretty as as Fernandina, second only to Destin.

9. The Edison and Ford winter homes in Ft Meyers, Fl. Definitely go there. Fascinating day. Don't miss the Edison museum, too.

10. Ringling Museum complex, Sarasota, Fl. $25.00 buys you a full day. Gardens, incredible architecture at the art museum not to mention world class baroque art (Think Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt et all), delightful food at the museum's restaurant, a tour of the magnificent mansion Ca D Zan on Sarasota Bay, Mable Ringling's rose gardens, the Asolo theatre, and the two delightful circus museums. We were blown away by the circus museums which we hadn't expected to be so interesting. Definitely a favorite memory.

11. Cedar Key, FL. Cedar Key so laid back and stubbornly tacky that is ultra cool. In a reverse way. This is a remote (one gas station, no supermarkets, no fast food, no neon, no malls or movie theaters, no Wall Marts, no hotel chains), sleepy town where everybody is happy to know your name. It reminds one of Florida in the mid twentieth century. Stay in a mom/pop hotel or RV park next to the gulf or marsh, eat seafood in a mom/pop restaurant, shop local art, bicycle, fish, rent an air boat or hang out in a local pub. At our RV park they offered free entertainment in the form of blue grass band by the water and free soft ice cream and they sold home made key lime fudge.

We're looking forward to our next get away. Up this week end: day trips to Tampa for the Big Big RV show. I'll try to be a better poster in 2011.

Here I Go Again, Runnin' Down A Dream...

2010-09-28T13:50:00.006-04:00

Here I go again, I'm runnin' down a dream. Who wouldn't wanna be me? Just me and you and a dog named Boo, just me and my Bobby McGee. With the window rolled down and the wind in my face, I'm cruisin' down the highway, singin' the roadhouse blues. Just me and you and a dog named Boo, just me and my Bobby McGee.

Beside my ramblin' man, the King of the road, I'm taking the free ride, just rockin' down the highway. On the long and winding road again, maybe this time goin' all the way to sweet home Alabama. We gotta travel on, eastbound and down, but we're takin' it easy now, cause we've been everywhere. We were born to run, even if we weren't exactly easy riders. We got our kicks on Route Sixty Six. We took a magic carpet ride on a magic bus, over the hills and far away on Thunder, Thunder Road.

Life was a highway in those days, sometimes with no particular place to go. It was road trippin' with my travelin' man, no sleep till Brooklyn. Sometimes runnin' on empty, but always singing the open road song, 'take me home country roads to the place I belong', one moonlight mile after another, hoping not to get lost on the highway to Hell.

Now, we're on a slow ride, we're midnight riders, maybe on the way to Graceland, still cruisin' on. Slow running down a dream, maybe two hundred more miles to the Promised Land, we're on the road to find out, just runnin' down a dream. Takin' the long way home, seeing America, free and easy down the road, loving this land which is my land, this land which is your land, from the New York Island, to the redwood forests, to the Gulf stream waters.

We're rollin' down the highway, headin' for the light. I can't drive 55 anymore, so its lucky there's two of us. Rolling the dice, we sing out, 'heads Carolina, tails California'. Just roll me away, Bobby, roll me away, 'cause the road's my middle name. Say good bye to Maybelline, get out the map and head towards Kansas City. So happy goin' mobile on the road again. Can't nobody say, I can't get the load out, cause honey, I get around.

Hit the road, travelin' man, 'cause its 200 more miles to Cadillac Ranch, its somewhere off Lake Shore Drive. Give 'ten four' to the convoy and a salute to the low rider as we pass by. They might laugh, but we're still born to be wild, even if we've gone mostly grey and we go a little slower now, even if we're closer to going up around the bend down the lost highway. It's God's truth and we know it, we gotta travel on.

So, lets take the road to California this time. Drive down Ventura Highway while I hang out the window singing 'cause I'm a free bird. There's plenty of time to take it easy after the travelings done, to turn that page when we come to that place in the story. For now, lets just keep cruisin', taking the long way, just following the white line, one headlight at a time.

We're still up to speed, ain't we Bobby? So, roll me away, I'm running down a dream. I'm bad, I'm nationwide. Who wouldn't wanna be me?

Maybe next time, we'll drive south, me and you and a dog named Boo. After we we go from Jersey to OC. We'll ease on down the road, heading south and down, down country roads to somewhere I forgot, somewhere I might belong. We'll go, East bound and down, six days on the road, gonna make it home that night.

I had a lot of fun with this. How many 'road' song titles can you identify in the piece? Tomorrow, the Badger comes home to Bobby McGee (Danny) and me.

On Purchasing and trading in RVs

2010-09-23T15:09:00.004-04:00

What an interesting, if somewhat frustrating experience this has been.

Two Friday evenings ago, we looked at a beautiful Four Winds class a Serrano model (diesel) motor home that seemed to fit our needs and desires to increase the size of our unit from our present 24 foot Winnebago class c model and provide a bedroom with a queen bed. Danny was thrilled with the exterior storage and the automatic leveling and automatic awning and the outside flat screen TV. I was thrilled by the luxury interior appointments, bath, and the large amount of clothing storage. I was not so thrilled by the placement of the galley at the front of the unit or the fact that the windows in the bedroom could only be opened when the slide out was out. But on the whole, I was ready to buy if the terms were right. The salesman was pretty positive that we could make the deal. The trade in offer for our Winnebago was fair.

The finance man at the dealer called the following day and nixed the monthly payment I was willing to make and asked for a sixteen thousand dollar down payment instead of the ten I offered in addition to trade in. I said I'd consider it. But I knew it was too much.

So, I said to the sales man on the phone basically, sorry no can do, and was ready to walk away. He urged me to come over and talk to the finance guy in person. We did. It didn't help.

"There's another floor plan of the same motor home," said the salesman, "slightly less expensive without a bedroom slide out that might fit your needs. It's at our New York outlet, but I have pictures."

We looked at the pictures. It had all of the same luxury appointments, a kitchen in the mid coach, and a bedroom with less clothes storage but an island queen bed and windows that opened. The price and payments and terms was acceptable. I put a small deposit down to hold it and the dealer said they'd ship it down in a few days. It took a full week to arrive but when we finally saw it on the following Saturday afternoon we liked it as much as we'd hoped we might. After examining it with fine toothed theoretical combs we gave each other thumbs up, trooping happily into the finance guys office to sign all the papers.

We were ready to leave just as soon as I wrote the check for the rest of the previously agreed ten thousand down payment. "That will be $38,000," said the finance man.

"What?!!" I said in horror. "I agreed to ten."

"No can do for that," said Mr Finance man.

"Thirty eight thousand is the pay off on my present loan not the down payment," I said. "I agreed to ten."

"You agreed to $16,500.00," said the finance guy. "On the phone last week. I said could you come up with that much and you agreed. Don't you remember?"

I shook my head. "No, I said only that I'd think about it. But anyway that was when we were talking about the other floor plan that was more expensive. When I was here last weekend the amount mentioned was ten for the unit we are negotiating for now."

"Can't be done for that," he repeated.

"Then the deals off," said I, ready to walk once more. In came the dealer manager. "There's been a misunderstanding," I said.

"I really want your Winnebago," he said. "We can work it out."

More negotiations followed. In the end, the manager gave me a bigger trade in amount, came down in price a little more, I agreed to eleven thousand for down payment and agreed to fork over the rebate for unused warranty (which I didn't know I was getting back anyway). We agreed to the terms. The demo and delivery day was set for eight days later since they were prepping for a large RV show and their service guys were backed up. I agreed that we would trade in the Winnebago on that day.

I thought all was well. We went off happily, in our present RV for a week end extended family wedding at the beach. We broke down on the road on the way, but that's another story.

On Monday morning the dealership finance manager called me. He informed me my driver's licence was expired. (Untrue, it was renewed in 2009). He said I needed to provide an insurance binder on the new RV before the bank would approve the loan and asked when we were bringing the old RV in for trade. I said, "When we pick up the new one."

He tried to talk me into bringing my Winnebago to the dealer right away. "We will lock it up but we need it on the lot to finalize the deal," he said.

"I'll talk to Danny and let you know," I replied. Both Danny and the insurance rep said not to give up possession of the present RV until the new one was in our possession.

"Deals fall through at the last minute all the time," said the insurance rep. "You could end up with your current one sold out from under you and nothing to show for it."

I called the dealer manager and informed him (again) that he would get his trade in when I got my new one. He agreed. The finance guy backed off. Then followed three days and six phone calls and three emails trying to get insurance information faxed to the dealer. Finally, today, that was accomplished. I THINK all is set. I THINK we are getting the new one next Wednesday. This has been educational, but not completely in a positive way. Stay tuned to the next episode where I will tell you about our roadside break down and how Danny, a computer expert, fixed the motor home.

PS 1: Watch finance guys as if they were spiders. They are as sneaky and out for blood.

PS 2: FYI: Winnebago Views (diesel) from 2006 are in demand for resale right now. The value stays high. Buying a used one was a great choice as an entry RV.

2010-09-22T16:04:00.003-04:00

I was reflecting this morning how much fun we had traveling in our Winnebago View in the last eighteen months. Aside from day trips to Cocoa, New Smyrna, and Flagler beaches too numerous to count, we spent Sundays in Mt Dora, visited NASA four times, enjoyed a Renaissance Faire in Lady Lake, went to Tampa and Melbourne, and the Wekiva National Forest. We spent a long holiday week end in St Mary's and another in Savannah. We drove to Destin in the Panhandle and returned via the Big Bend area. We drove to Gainesville for an adoption party and Atlanta twice to visit with Danny's family. We went to Anna Maria Island for a wedding.

And then there were the even longer trips: North Georgia at Christmas, Asheville, The Blue Ridge Parkway tour, the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Wonderful memories of misty mountain mornings and evening aglow with the flashing of lightning bugs. Arts and crafts, wild deer and bear and groundhogs, stunning vistas, living history museums, amazing Biltmore, hikes and river rambles, Fallingwater, the RV resorts with friendly staff and fellow campers, Jefferson's Monticello, climbing the Tybee lighthouse, caves, haunted restaurants, and rocky national monuments.

Road tripping provides endless opportunity to experience the unexpected and the offbeat, like a theme park named 'Foamhenge' or seeing a goose being walked like a dog on a leash along the seashore. Stumbling across historical homes and obscure museums and mascot dogs named Opie in a Virginia orchard store. Road tripping in an RV means you can change your plans at a moments notice and meander wherever the road leads, cause after all, your home away from home is always with you. And there's nothing better than showering and changing clothes at the beach in the vehicle you drove over in!

And maybe best of all, for us it means taking the dogs with us on our travels. We really enjoyed getting to know RV ing in our first one and I am excited about the adventures we are going to have in the second. More about the process of trade in and purchase of our second bigger RV in the next post.

Obsessed

2010-09-14T16:27:00.003-04:00

Arrgh! It all started out as simple curiosity. Labor Day week end was upon us and we wanted to do some out of the ordinary things and go somewhere in the Parakeet but it was still too darn hot to stay anywhere overnight with the dogs, even with a/c. So, I said, "Why don't we take a little day trip over to Tampa and Lazy Days and look at the 2011 Winnebago Vias?" We'd heard, you see, that they were putting out a new model with a slide out queen bed. Danny also swore that according to what he'd read on the online forums, the actual cost would be thousands of dollars under the listed prices.

So, off we went. The kindest thing to say when we saw the Via with the bedroom slide out is that we didn't exactly hate it. Almost but not quite. In order to keep the vehicle to 25 feet and accommodate the slide out bed, Winnebago had decreased the already small bathroom and small galley until both were essentially not usable. The only good thing about the vehicle was the bed. The price was steep for what you got: aside from the galley and sub microscopic bath, the sofa was smaller and there was a teensy portable dining table.

We looked at last year's convertible twin bed plan and it was pretty nice but not nice enough to tempt us from our present 2006 View at the price. So we went home, pretty content with the Parakeet.

Several days later though, a sales brochure arrived from a local dealer. In it was advertised a 31 foot diesel RV (made by Thor/Four Winds) called a Serrano at a price lower than the Via. Well, to make the story short, we went to see it. Of course, the dealer didn't have that particular plan. The one they had was 10K more expensive than the one on sale in the mail

out. But we looked, we fell in love with Serranos, we test drove the one on the lot, we drooled, we coveted, we put a deposit down on a similar model. Which has to be shipped to FL from New York.

So, that is how, I signed my life away on a new RV even though I wasn't planning to buy another one for several years yet. Now I can't think about anything else. I look at the pictures downloaded from the internet over and over and over, like a kid waiting for Santa.

I wasn't planning to get a bigger one, either. But, life happens doesn't it? Of course, I don't have the new one yet. Things can still go wrong. In the meantime, I will stop typing. And scroll through the pictures again.

Live long and prosper. Happy trails.

Twelve days of Dog Travel

2010-08-24T11:55:00.004-04:00

If The Mutley Crew Wrote The Song (Twelve Days Of Christmas)...

A slow squirrel near an oak tree

two grooming gloves

three garbage cans

four wingless birds

five tugging rings

six geese on a platter

seven ponds for swimming

eight trails for walking

nine cats for chasing

ten frogs a leaping

eleven balls for catching

twelve chew-bones coming

and a slow squirrel near an oak tree...

On The Blue Ridge Parkway

2010-08-19T11:10:00.009-04:00

We decided to spend our summer vacation driving the Blue Ridge Parkway on its 75th year of operation. Starting our Parkway experience at its beginning in the Smokies would have been backtracking for us, so we entered the parkway at Asheville after spending a delightful week end in that city.

We skipped the Visitors Information Center, since I already had several guidebooks in hand. Best one was, Best Of The Blue Ridge Parkway by Nye Simmons.

Our first stop on the Parkway was the Crafts Center a few miles up the road. This is worth a stop and I highly recommend it, although if you are really intent on shopping for mountain inspired arts and crafts I've not found anything better than the galleries and shops in downtown Asheville, Biltmore Village, and my very favorite at Groveland in Grove Park above Asheville.

The Parkway was an eye opener in many ways. First of all the stunning vitas and scenery, with a pull over viewing area every so many miles. Very soon after beginning our drive we saw a Black bear ambling across the road and disappearing into the underbrush at the shoulder. Our first day we pulled over and got out to take pictures at most of the overlooks but that became very time consuming after awhile and we began to be more discriminating as the trip went on in order to make mileage.

The speed limit along the two lane winding Parkway is 45 miles an hour which is about as fast as anyone could reasonably travel on the road. Often we had to go much slower, not because of the traffic we expected in summer that was actually nonexistent, but because of road conditions. We were warned about fog and mist rolling quickly in and it did. Visibility became very limited much faster than you would imagine. There are guardrails along the drop off side of the road but they are only about a foot and a half high and are wooden and would not stop a vehicle the size of our Winnebago from plunging over the mountains. There are no wide shoulders to pull over onto aside from the planned overlooks in case of breakdowns so anyone coming around the corners would indeed plow right into you. Pretty scary thought.

Picture this: there you are, tooling along looking out over the tree tops into valleys several thousand feet below, knowing that one misstep can send you plunging over the precipice. Then the fog rolls in without warning. You can see about five feet ahead, that's it. And this happened on a pretty regular basis.

Also there are no gas stations and no restaurants along the 450 mile Parkway with only several exceptions. There are a few state campgrounds with limited facilities. So, you really do need to plan ahead.

And remember, when the guide books say that something or other is only 35 0r 40 miles out of your way that's mountain travel not as the crow flies, so it takes a lot longer to get there than you'd suppose it would. The only real option for camping or sleeping is to get off the Parkway and go into the numerous small towns near the roadway for accommodations. That's okay, since nearly every exit has something interesting to see. We opted for Linville, NC where we toured the Linville Caverns and Natural Bridge, Va where we toured the Natural Bridge and adjacent Indian Village. Both of which we really enjoyed. Other exit points of interest in NC might be Grandfather Mountain, Boone, Vale Crucis, and Mt Airy (the real Mayberry RFD).

Its impossible to see everything in a few days but we really enjoyed Mabry Mill, The Orchards at Altapass, The Peaks of Otter and the Johnson farm, the Linville Viaduct, and Mt Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi). We decided to skip the last 5o miles or so due to time constraints and drove through the Shenendoah Valley to Charlottesville Virginia to see Monticello which turned out to be one of the very best days of the trip.

We had no trouble finding campgrounds to stay in but did have trouble finding real full service grocery stores. Even convenience stores were few and far between. When you get excited about finding a Food Lion, you know you've been traveling the Parkway too long! Another creepy thing was that the internet and cell phone service was all but non existent in the mountains. You really feel cut off. Staying as we do in an RV without a satellite dish, we didn't even have the option of TV for news.

If I have any disappointment to report on this trip it might be that pretty much everything closed at 5 pm. Living in Florida where everything is open until mid to late evening in summer, it was hard to get everything that we wanted to see in by five. Especially since we are not early risers by choice. We were disappointed in the Parkway stop at Moses Cone Park. The Crafts Center was mediocre compared to the others we toured and the house tours of the mansion were very limited in times. We skipped stopping at Grandfather Mountain for this and that was a mistake. Pretty much everything else was a definite thumbs up!

All for now.

On The Road With Mutley Crew, report 1

2010-08-14T11:52:00.011-04:00

One of the reasons we got the Winnebago was so that we could travel with our three dogs. We discovered on our very first week end trip to the beach that three dogs in the 24.6 foot View was not going to work since one of the pooches turned out to be territorial and food aggressive in the confines of what is basically a one room kitchen/bedroom/pantry situation. Constant crating for Chili, the bossy blue heeler, was not an attractive option so we found a boarding kennel for her that she really enjoys.

Ah, Happy Paws. With a bone shaped salt water pool, outside play groups all day, private ball and pool time, indoor glass-doored spacious air conditioned and heated individual sleeping areas at bedtime with piped in soothing music what's not to like? And don't forget the grooming. This facility is located in East Orlando, near the University of Central Florida.

Our other two dogs, Abby and Ginny, got along perfectly on the RV and showed no signs of road stress so it seemed logical to board the third when we travel.

I'd done very little traveling fro a dozen or more years prior to purchase of the RV, partially because of my reluctance to be parted from my canine family, so I have little advice regarding hotels and car trips with dogs. The few occasions I experienced were pretty smooth: we stayed at dog friendly hotels in the La Quinta chain and stopped at highway rest stations for potty breaks when necessary. La Quintas (at least the ones we tried) welcome big and little dogs equally.

Once we began to take trips in the Winnebago we checked the books that list the campgrounds and noted that many listed in the Good Sam's Campgrounds guide book state that pet restrictions exist in many private and state campgrounds. We have not (as yet anyway) experienced this personally in our rambles through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Virtually no one asked when making a reservation what sort of pets we have or how many or what breeds they are. The only 'restrictions' listed on the campground brochures are regarding excessive barking, leash use and poop bags. All very reasonable. In fact, many of the campgrounds we visited have fenced in dog play areas, dog walk areas, and one in SC even converted a putt putt course to a dog agility course!

The KOA and JellyStone parks are very pet friendly and provide multiple amenities for dogs and their humans. We also noted that a majority of campers we encountered travel with multiple dogs of various sizes and some take their cats along. I've even seen a parrot or two.

Since our RV is small, we do not tow a car for sightseeing but use the RV as our main vehicle as well as hotel. We have had some minor parking issues here and there but not often and always have to be thinking of the dogs safety when we are sightseeing, but the upside of this is that they are always nearby to check on, not left behind in the campground all day.

We had a hard time street side parking in Savannah but found that if we parked in the train station lot we could walk to the main attractions in less than ten minutes. And since Savannah is very dog friendly the pooches could go with us. Ditto parking issues in Pittsburgh where there were only three campgrounds well outside the city proper as far as we could find. St Augustine was a hassle as well. But then, it would be a hassle for cars of any type to find street parking there. There is always a solution, sometimes you have to look for it awhile.

I highly recommend the collapsible food bowls available through Camping World stores which work splendidly for travel in RVs or cars and there is a plastic no spill water bowl that gets thumbs up from me. We have a sign on the window informing folks of pets inside, extra vents and fans installed for their comfort and they always travel in harnesses and tags and have been microchipped. From experience, I also recommend bringing extra leashes, having a wet/dry vac on board, and extra towels. Don't forget a dog first aid kit, medications, and vet shot record.

All for now. Happy tails.

What I did on my summer vacation and before that

2010-08-12T18:53:00.009-04:00

Pictures: (top to bottom) a mountain meadow view along Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway, at Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC scene along the parkway, Danny happy to be on Amelia Island for Memorial Day, on Destin Beach, at Knight's Templar Spring Convent in San Destin

Wow, I can't believe that we haven't posted anything here since February...its true that the year (2010) has flashed by at warp four, but really we've been remiss. Did you hear that Dan Dan? We're supposed to be talking about our RV ing travel experiences here, right? My excuse is that I've been writing a novel about the adventures (and travels) of a dragon. What's yours? LOL

We did take some interesting jaunts in the Parakeet (the Winnebago View) since I last posted: First, we went to the Panhandle of Florida in early March for my investiture as a Dame in The Sovereign Military Order of The Knights of Jerusalem (Knights Templar). Danny is already a Knight of the Priory of Holy Rood, which encompasses Georgia and Florida and part of Alabama. (This blog is not about the Knights but should you be wondering: despite the name it is a charitable organization not military these days) The ceremony was in a lovely little church near the sugar sand beaches in Destin and it was a bit of a tricky maneuver to get formally dolled up in expansive Templar capes in a 24 foot motor home but we managed pretty well.

We stayed for several days at the beautiful Topsail State Park Campground which has wonderful paved spaces with all the amenities one expects in a top campground, great bicycling and walking paths to the ocean and close proximity to restaurants and shopping. Thumbs up for staying there. The beach was stunningly beautiful and not crowded. Of course this was before the BP Oil spill. My heart and prayers go out to the people of the Panhandle today for their economic recovery and the ecological devastation that was suffered.

We took the long way home through the "Big Bend" area that follows the coast, which is listed by Readers Digest Books as one of the most scenic drives in America. It was indeed lovely, even if it took almost nine hours to reach Orlando again. We particularly enjoyed stopping at Carabelle Beach for lunch and a dog walk. Anytime a beautiful beach welcomes dogs, it gets my thumbs up!

Our next long week end trip was to St Mary's, Georgia and Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida over Memorial Day week end. We had a sort of mini family reunion with Danny's uncle and aunt, mother, sister, and cousins and this time we stayed at the Jacksonville North KOA. We enjoyed wandering the streets of the quaint little seaside town of St Mary's: the shops, historic buildings and museums, and sampled some pretty good seafood too. I can really recommend going to Ft Clinch State Park for picnics and swimming and a quick tour of the Fort itself. The beach was pristine, the water clear, and it was not crowded. Dogs were not welcome on the beach in Ft Clinch Park but they are permitted on the beach at Fernandina and nearby St Augustine.

For us, it was an easy three and a half hour trip from Orlando. We planned to stop in St Augustine but found parking in the historic area very difficult so opted to spend a couple hours on Flagler Beach instead. 63 pound hound, Ginny, encountered a grumpy ghost crab. Ginny backed away from the crab. It was an historic moment.

We opted out of going to Cumberland Island since the only way was by a smallish ferry that operated twice daily. No cars, trucks or RVs or dogs are permitted on the island. Relatives who went weren't too impressed. They reported that bicycling was hard going on the sandy paths, the flies were biting, the wild horses wouldn't come close and the resort ran everyone off that wasn't a paying guest there. We felt we made the right choice in spending the day in St Marys instead.

Our summer vacation trip in mid July was to Asheville NC, then The Blue Ridge Parkway, into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and SW West Virginia. This trip will be detailed in near future blogs with lots more pictures. For now, I will post several of my favorite pictures so you can get an idea of how beautiful the area was.

I will mention one issue we experienced on a the technical side on this trip. It was extremely hot in Virginia (100 degrees) and we had to leave the dogs in the RV for several hours in a fairly sunny spot while we toured Monticello. We were parked facing downhill and other RVs were parked quite close to us.

Of course, we put on the generator to run the A/C while we were gone! We always crack a window or two for emergency ventilation, run plug in and battery fans in several places on the RV and we have a ceiling fan in the bath area that automatically comes on if the a/c goes off in an emergency and the temp reaches a certain level. I thought that was probably enough back up to keep the dogs safe.

When we returned to the RV we heard an alarm going inside the unit. Dashing to open the door we hardly dared imagine what we might find wrong inside. My heart wanted to stop beating in dread but the dogs were at the door with wagging tails. Danny said the Carbon Monoxide alarm was on. I opened all the windows immediately to further ventilate but even though the alarm would not shut off neither the dogs or we seemed affected.

Once we left the lot, the alarm stopped. Here's what I think happened. The weird angle of sloped mountain parking and the proximity of the RV next to us meant that either their or our propane fumes were being sucked in our vented window. Fortunately, there was enough fresh air being circulated inside and out again by the small fans, the large bathroom ceiling fan and the other cracked window over the cab on the other side to save the dogs.

We are addressing this scary problem for future trips in every way we can since the dogs are our number one priority. I welcome suggestions from other RV enthusiasts and travel veterans however. Since many of the folks we see in the campgrounds and parks travel with dogs this has got to be solvable. Since one of the reasons we got the Winnebago was so the dogs could always be with us, we do not want to leave them at home.

If you want to hear a bout how I got lost for forty minutes in a SC campground in the dark, you will have to wait for the next post. But, I will be back very soon. I promise.

TTFN

What I learned on my Christmas vacation.

2010-02-04T15:28:00.010-05:00

Photos: Savannah Square, Tallulah Gorge overlook, Dillard House restaurant, Tallulah Gorge steps, N. Georgia Blue Ridge mountains scene, Tybee island Lighthouse, FT Pulaski looking towards Hilton head, SC.

Things I learned on our recent (winter) RV trip to Georgia:

1.Savannah is one of the prettiest and most interesting cities in America, winter, spring, summer, or fall. Taking a self guided walking tour around the historic area is a great way to see the 20 squares. We downloaded a tour app on Danny's iPhone. Don't try to park your RV in the city. We parked at the train station on the edge (MLK Blvd) and walked. Less than ten minutes to the first square on the tour. The tour trollies depart from the same parking area too, so you can get one of those if you prefer to ride. I recommend that in summer.

2.Do not hoof it down to the bottom of Tallulah Gorge without water and an energy bar, especially if you have not done any cardio workouts in awhile. Goin' down, easy. Comin' up, not easy. I almost passed out.

3. I fell in love with the family style Georgia down home cookin' at the Dillard House, especially the country fried pork chops and fried okra. The country fried pork chops and okra did not fall in love with me, however. Acid reflux medicine recommended for those folks like me with Gerd.

4. The north Georgia mountains are beautiful any time of the year.

5. Tybee Island lighthouse complex and Tybee Museum/Ft Screvin across the street are well worth a couple of hours stop. Gift shop very good. Parking good. On cold windy days, climbing the 169 steps of the lighthouse is doable but the wind at the top is harrowing.

6. Ft Pulaski, between Savannah and Tybee is very interesting. Allow several hours at least. The nature trails next to the ft make a great hiking area and the whole place is dog friendly and dog accessible. Great for picnics.

7. Our Winnebago View did just fine in 20 degree cold weather. No issues.

8. Cold weather and rain and sleet are over rated. Grey skies over Atlanta during cold, rainy, sleety weather are vastly overrated.

9. Never dry your hair in an RV bathroom standing backwards while somebody drives the vehicle at high speed down a major Atlanta highway unless you want to spend the rest of the day with motion sickness.

10. pay attention to water levels when spending most of your overnights in somebody's driveway instead of hooked up to water in a campground.

PS: Didn't post pictures of them, but we also enjoyed hiking through Sweetwater State Park in Atlanta and spending a day at Stone Mountain. I particularly recommend visiting the plantation. Lots of opportunity in Stone Mt park for dog walking, too. Big Christmas hoopla there.

Any ideas for where we should go for our summer trip welcomed. No more than two days of driving from Florida preferred. TTFN Happy trails.

Cold Weather RVing

2010-02-01T12:38:00.010-05:00

Since I had a full week off from December 25th to January 3rd, Nancy and I decided do another week-long RV adventure. Our original plan was to visit my family in Georgia, then over to Asheville, North Carolina.

To prepare for this trip, I studied cold weather RVing in general, and really focused on any information I could find with regard to our model motorhome. Luckily, these little beasts hold up very well in cold weather. The furnace will heat up the entire coach in just a few minutes. I couldn't find any information where a water-line freeze cause damage. I think this is mostly because of the size and compactness of the units, and the construction of the water utility area. I did find a bunch of cold weather tips and tricks. Here are a few things I did to prepare

We found a hikers foam sleeping mat, put velcro on the corners, and velcroed it to the slideout wall. This kept whoever slept next to the slideout wall from getting too cold.
I cut out reflextics sheets to fit in all the Windows. While this is more of a hot weather tool, it did a good enough job.
I lined the outside electrical and water utility areas with reflectics. At night, I kept the 12 volt light on in the water utility. Even though it dipped into the 20's, the area never froze.
If we were plugged in, we kept the electric hot water heater on.
If it was under 32 degrees outside and we were stopped for a brief tour, we kept the furnace and hot water on.

Two weeks before the trip, Asheville got heavy snowfall. The RV park where we were going to stay was inaccessible, and the roads were just too dangerous to travel. Here's a picture of some people on our Winnebago View/Navion message board. This isn't our right, but it is the same model/color/year as ours.

Just looking at the picnic table will give you and idea of just how much snow there was. Even more fell on the area after this picture. Asheville was a no-go. Biltmore will have to wait for spring or summer. Maybe a 4-day weekend.

We left Florida on Saturday Morning, and drove all day to Lithia Springs Georgia, just a bit west of Atlanta. We parked in the driveway, and got some free electricity from mom.

Sunday
We visited with my mother and sister, and my brother came with his kids to visit. It was really nice to see everyone again. We also took a hike at Sweet Water Creek State Park. Abby and Ginny loved that park. The new smells were so enticing to them, it was difficult to keep them under control.

Monday
Robin went with us to Stone Mountain State Park. The mountain looked the same, but not much around it looked like I remembered. The entire park had been redone for the 1996 Olympic Games, and it was much more a sport/recreation complex now. I actually like it better this way. When I was younger, it was more of a hangout spot. We visited the Antebellum plantation, and the shopping area where the train depot used to be.

Tuesday
We left moms and stayed at my brother, Mark's house. At least, we stayed in his driveway. By now, I'd learned to fill our water tank up whenever possible. Tuesday morning, we set out for Athens GA. We went in a back way, so things seemed a bit different for me. As we got on campus, I realized it wasn't just me. Campus was very different. Even Athens looked different. I was at UGA for a much shorter time than I would have liked. I miss it.

Wednesday
Nancy and I went to Tallulah Gorge.

After that, we headed to Dillard house for some good food.

Thursday
We spent New Years Day in an insane, desperate attempt to get to my Grandmothers' New Years day lunch on time. Some communication difficulties, and Google Map showing the wrong address (wound up using Bing instead, and got the right address). My family is used to living there, and forget I haven't been there in 25 years, so I don't remember or recognize any of the roads.

With the weather getting worse, and the greyish atmosphere settling in on Atlanta, we decided to head to Savannah. Driving on I-16 in the early evening with rain, mist, and fog made for some good horror movie imaginations.

We got to Tybee Island around 8:30, got an excellent spot at the Rivers End Campground, and settle in.

Friday
We found a good place to eat, then went to tour around Savannah. Little did I know how much there was to see. I downloaded a really good Savannah Tour App for my iPhone, but only got to see about 10% of it. We'll make another trip soon, and send a few days going through the full tour. I was really impressed with Savannah, and saw why so many people fall in love with it.

Saturday
We decided to start our journey back, with a few stops on the way out. First we went to Tybee Island Lighthouse. The Lighthouse History is very interesting, and the Fresnel Lens was fascinating. We also toured the Battery across the street.

A few miles down the road, we stopped at Fort Pulaski. Like Nancy said, don't expect a quick-through of this historic site. There's so much to see.

From there, we got home in about 5 hours, including several stops for the dogs to walk around for awhile.

RVing with my iPhone

2009-12-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

I got my iPhone a week before we got the RV. How anyone RVes without one is beyond me.

The second page of apps is reserved entirely for my RV and Navigation tools. I'll probably eventually delete about four or five of the redundant apps. I'll test to figure out which are my favorite. My iPhone is almost full with apps, so app space is a premium for me. The rest of the storage space on my iPhone is devoted to audiobooks and podcasts. I'm hoping the a future iPhone OS upgrade will enable users to put many more than just 11 pages of apps on their phone.

When we're driving in the RV, I keep the iPhone mounted on a Griffin Technologies RoadTrip FM Broadcaster (with "SmartScan"):

The RoadTrip broadcasts whatever is playing on my iPhone to the radio. Sound quality is excellent. I have rare instances of slight static, but it's usually happens under lots of high tension electric wires. If I put the iPhone on the RoadTrip with the earphones plugged in, I can answer calls and talk on the phone and the RoadTrip will still broadcast to the radio. If I don't have the earphones plugged in at first, then plug them in, I can listen to audio without it broadcasting to the radio. This is a good option if I want to listen to an audiobook without disturbing anyone. Of course, I could just turn the radio off, I guess. Either way, no calls are ever broadcast over the radio.

I've also tried the Griffin WindowSeat with the iTrip. I like that I can also use it in landscape mode. The only thing I don't like about the WindowSeat is I have to take off my iPhone case to put it in the WindowSeat cradle. I haven't decided which I like better, but so far I use the RoadTrip the most.

aSmart 3D+Speedcams

From their website:

Key features:

HUD MODE
SHORT TIME WEATHER FORECAST
EDITABLE FIXED SPEED CAMERAS DATABASE
EDITABLE RED LIGHT CAMERAS DATABASE for USA, Australia and Canada
IPOD PLAYLIST REMOTE CONTROL;

It visualizies your

current speed
average speed,
time,
elapsed trip time,
heading,
altitude,
your location on the map (Street and Satellite image Google maps supported),
weather forecast for nearest 48 hours the with 3-hour time interval,
maximum reached speed (during the current trip or all your trips), maximum altitude and maximum distance to the starting point of your trip.
current playing music track;

Also it shows

positions of the nearest known speed cameras within an adjustible range
it's speed limit (if known)

A newer version I've downloaded has a small map that follows where you are. The weather information come out of Norway, and tends to be about 10 degrees off here in Florida. I like that I can adjust the speed limit warnings. The feedback helps keep gas mileage under control.

MotionX GPS Sport

Another update since the picture above changes the GPS MotionX to GPS Sport MotionX. This app is intended for adventure, tracking, and recording trail rides/hikes. Since we'd be doing some hiking on our trips eventually, I keep this app on the RV page.

Google Maps for iPhone is the next app, and still my main GPS and direction app. It integrates well with everything on the iPhone. It has taken us on some off-beat paths where we were really glad it did. In Pennsylvania and West Virgina, we would have missed some really nice sites if we'd just used a map.

GPS Drive MotionX is another MotionX app.

It's a turn-by-turn GPS direction program. This one uses Bing as it's map source. The best thing about it is the price: $2.99, with the optional voice subscription at $29.99 a year. Apps like Tom-Tom are $99, big programs, and sometimes a bit out of date. The trade off is with GPS Drive you have to be on the network to get a map. Edge network can be VERY slow to update your tracking. Tom-Tom doesn't have to be on the network. I may eventually try the Tom-Tom, but I don't need it quite yet. So far, I'm really satisified with MotionX apps.

GasBuddy is a website as well as an app.

I've set my GasBuddy app to look for diesel. So far, it's been very accurate and up to date. This app is a must for saving money on Diesel, or finding the closest pump when you're running on the memory of fumes.

Gas Cubby was recommended by the Apple Staff, and had excellent reviews. You can keep records of pretty much everything with regard to the vehicle. I use it mostly to track miles per gallon. I like being able to track the costs per mile option, which includes all vehicle related expenses. The biggest problem of using it is the time it takes to put in the information. When you're on the road, you'll tend to keep the receipts and do it later. In realityIn the future, I'll get a scangauge2, and probably won't need to use this app as much.

TripIt Is an a social trip planning and itinerary site. You can setup a trip and share it with people you choose on TripIt. Kind of like LinkedIn for travelers. There is also a mobile TripIt website available. I haven't used it that much, and this would probably be one of the first apps I'd delete.

RestArea will list and map the rest area's closest to you, and the amenities they offer. It will tell you exactly how far you are from a specific rest area.

ezLevel, iWoMoSet, and iHandy Level are all leveling apps. Once they are calibrated, you can use the app to help level your RV. The iWoMoSet was orginally in German, and is difficult to use, but the default dimension are set exactly for our Winnebago View. The ezLevel and iHandy Level apps have a flat level. Here's a screenshot of the exLevel:

When we get to a campsite or overnight parking area, I set my iPhone and the floor next to the drivers seat. I make adjustments (either leveling blocks or different parking places) to get as comfortably level as possible. Once I'm done, I put the iPhone on the flat surface in the refrigerator to see if it's close enough. Other than comfort, the fridge is the main reason to get as level as possible. As long as I'm pretty much in the circle, the RV is level enough.

ZipFinder is a GPS zip code location finder. This app really helps in using the overnightrvparking.com website on the road. You'll need a membership to overnightrvparking to use the website, but if you're on a long trip and don't need to use a campground every night, the website can really help. I use zipfinder to get the zipcode of where I am, the put the zip in the overnightrvparking search too. I really hope someone works with the overnightrvparking site on either a mobile version, or an iphone app.

AroundMe finds all kinds of things near your current location. We use it mostly to find the nearest Grocery Store or Super Market. When you're in a city, this app is a real time-saver. Driving time, mostly.

OffLeash is an app that will find the nearest Dog Park. If you're a dog owner, you'll love this app. It's by Eukanuba, and it's free. Even though many campgrounds have a dog area, they tend to be small, and not many other dogs to socialize with. Our dogs love dog parks, and love to be off leash in one.

Continuous Traveler RVParks app in a must have for the RVer. This app will find our current location, then show you the closest campgrounds near you. I even use this app to find campgrounds for places were planning to go. You can find a campground, the look at the location, the website, even call from the contact list. Members of the website can add and edit campgrounds. The app started at $14.99, and is now $4.99. For the RV it's a huge bargin. The developer does frequent updates to both the app and the database.

RVCompanion is a new app for me. The main reason I purchased it was to test the leveler section, and the procedures section. I need to use this app a bit more before I can really do a decent review on it.

My First RV Podcast

2009-08-19T11:39:00.003-04:00

Introduction to my "WinView" Audioboo Podcast:

Listen!

Pennsylvania, GW, and the National Highway

2009-08-14T15:20:00.012-04:00

After months of planning and preparation, Nancy and I left the driveway of our home at 4:00pm on Friday July 31. We were able to get out of the city before the traffic hit, and headed up I-4 to I-95. We hit Jacksonville soon after, and decided to stop in Darien GA, at the Inland Harbor RV Park.

Inland Harbor was our first experience at a late checking. We pulled in after the main office was closed, followed the instructions for late checking, and found a nice level spot. I like not having to do the whole leveling thing. Our original intention was to stay overnight at a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Poole Georgia. Neither of us were comfortable with doing the overnight RV parking thing, just yet. The campground was clean, nice, easy to access, and easy to use. The entire time we were there, we saw no one. No workers, and no other RV'rs. That was a bit strange.

Back on the road, we drove up I95 till we got to Emporia Virgina. We stayed at our first Jellystone Campground. The owner/operaters were there to greet us. They were nice folks. The campground was clean, and the pool was heated. After a long drive, it REALLY helped to even have a twenty minute swim. Nancy's leg and hip were bothering her, so I convinced her to swim in the morning. It made us leave a little later than we wanted, but it was time well spent. An evening or morning swim while traveling makes a huge difference.

Nancy's insert:

The dogs really enjoyed their walk through the wooded campground with all the un-Florida smells and I enjoyed my first sighting of lightning bugs in fifteen years! The dogs did not enjoy the horseflies the next morning, however. This made me recall that when I lived in SC in summer (where we had lightning bugs and horse flies) I used a spray on product designed for horses called Flys Off on the dogs.

We drove through Virgina, Maryland, then into Pennsylvania. Driving through Washington DC was an experience. The scenery through Maryland and Pennyslvania was breathtaking, especially for this Florida boy. I live in a flat state, so any amount of hills are wonderful to see.

Nancy's insert: hills are wonderful when you've spent too many years as a flatlander!

It was raining a wee bit as we came into Bedford Pennsylvania. I was tired from driving, grumpy, and ready to stop. The Shawnee Sleepy Hollow campground wasn't difficult to find, and we had the area pretty much to ourselves.

It was nice to not need to use the air conditioner, but waking up to 60 degrees, both inside and out, was a surprise.

Nancy's note:This area was spectacular with its mountain views and morning mist. Lots and lots of rabbits and more lightning bugs. Clear pure air and no allergies. The owner's house was a half log half field stone house from the mid seventeen hundreds. And yes, it was haunted until the owner had the ghost exorcised when it got nasty over a musical choice of his teen age son!

The next morning, we interred Nancy's mother, Nordena Miller Wayman.

Nancy's note: At the historic Chestnut Ridge Union Cemetery just outside of Schellsburg. Schellsburg, by the way, is a picture postcard town full of old houses dating from just after the Revolutionary War and the mid 1800s. It is where my mother's people came from.

It was the primary reason for coming to Pennsylvania. Nancy read from the Holy Bible, and a poem from her book about her mother. She also read one to her father.

Later that day, we went to Fort Bedford Village, and Jean Bonnet Tavern.

Fort Bedford was a rebuilt village from colonial times, using the actual restored buildings from all over the area. Some people lived there part time, practicing things like weaving, tin smithing, candle making, etc. as though they were in that time.

The Jean Bonnet Tavern was nice. It was older than our country, and haunted. When we asked if it was haunted, they brought a notebook showing us the evidence from a recent Ghost Hunters evaluation. Seems that Jean Bonnet Tavern is one of the most haunted places in the US.

Needless to say, we had an entertainingly tense meal. We kept looking for the ghosts. When we asked, the waitress said, "There's NO WAY I'd live here."

Nancy's note: I was not tense. I would have liked to see a ghost! And the peanut butter pie was great. By the way, we were all sweaty from trekking thru Bedford Village so we just parked the Winnie in the restaurant parking lot, showered and changed right there and went in to eat. Very convenient not having to return to campground first! Lovely shop there, too. And out back, chickens, a goat pen, an old gas pump at least 60 years old and great piles of coal.

We got back to the campground that night, walked the dogs, and got to sleep pretty quick. The next morning, we headed for Fort Ligonier.

Fort Ligonier was instrumental in the French and Indian War. We learned that war didn't actually start here, and is considered by many to be the true, First World War.

From Ligonier, we drove to and through Pittsburgh. But not on purpose. We were originally going to drive straight to Nancy's childhood home in Upper St. Clair, but, luckily, I got on the wrong road, and we wound up driving through the city. Even though I was very irritated and grumpy about it, I would have never seen the city.

We eventually drove through the city, through Mt. Lebanon, and to Nancy's old house.

From reading Nancy's stories, her house was nothing like I'd imagined. It really helped to see it, and I can see why she enjoyed growing up there. Good job, Mr. and Mrs. Wayman.

Nancy's note: The pine and spruce trees in the yard were our Christmas trees, planted afterwards by my dad. The stones in the chimney were from the foundations of his great uncle's farmhouse, once upon a time adjacent to Route 19. The woods I once roamed are gone now though, as is the farm down in the valley behind the house. Forty years of progress? I loved seeing Pennsylvania critters again: red squirrels, chipmunks, deer, rabbits, wild turkeys, beaver, gophers and groundhogs.

We looked for a parking lot to stay in that night, but even Nancy's former church couldn't let us. Seems the Upper St. Clair police are picky about that. If you live in Upper St. Clair, that's probably a good thing. We found a KOA in Washington Pennsylvania, only about 40 minutes from Upper St. Clair. On the way, we passed the school where Nancy's father went, Washington and Jefferson University. Beautiful school, and beautiful town. The people at the KOA were very nice and helpful. We decided to join KOA.

The next morning, we toured two historical homes in the city, then headed toward Fort Necessity and Falling Water in Mill Run Pennsylvania. By the time we got to Fort Necessity, the visitor center was closed. We looked around a bit, then went to find a campground. Luckily, Jellystone Campground of Mill Run was very close. That campground rivaled Fort Wilderness in Disney World. The place was huge, and very fun. I wish we had more time to stay there.

The next morning, we tried to get an appointment to tour Falling Water. I'll let Nancy fill you in on that attempt.

Nancy's note: I called three times on my cell phone since WiFi didn't work in the mountains much at all and finally got a human female on the line. When I said I wanted to reserve a tour (like the brochure said you had to) she said there were no tours at all available that day. I said, "Oh no we really wanted to see it. We're up from Florida and stayed over an extra day just for that!" She basically said, "tough luck, lady" (But not in those words). I could hear the shrug over the line. I got PO-ed after I hung up. Danny suggested we drive over there anyway. We did, paid at the entrance, waited a few minutes in the cafe until our number was called and got an escorted tour. Advice: don't bother to call. Just show up. The place is amazing. A don't miss it. Make sure you have several hours free, at least.

Falling Water was beautiful, and one of those "must see" place. According to the Smithsonian and it's one of 28 must see places, two of them are in the USA. One is the Grand Canyon, the other is Falling Water. I'd have to agree. I still need to see the Grand Canyon, though. Going to be tough to beat Yosemite.

After the tour, we went back to Fort Necessity, where we learned the road we'd been on, US 40, was America's first highway. The fort itself is much smaller than the visitor center. After that tour, we went to see The Mt. Washington Tavern that George Washington himself built.

Nancy's note: up in Pa people refer to "GW" all the time. I got a real kick out of it being George Washington, not George Bush. Nobody referred to George Bush, or Barak Obama, at all.

After the Tavern, we headed out of Pennsylvania, through Maryland, into West Virgina. I thought Pennsylvania mountain were cool, but West Virgina's mountains almost floored me. As we drove into the mountains, I started feeling light headed and dizzy. We found the KOA campground, part of a large hotel/convention/amphitheater/campground complex in Flatwoods. The next morning we walked up the large hill to the hotel to get breakfast. We told the waitress about how hard the hill was to climb. Her reply, "What hill?" made us realize our Florida flatland perspective.

Nancy's note: I don't know why they named the town Flatwoods. Nothing was flat. We saw herds of whitetail deer everywhere along the highways, feeding at dusk.

After breakfast, we headed farther south. As we climbed higher, about 1000 feet higher than Penn, I got really bad vertigo. More times than I'd like to remember, I thought the motor home was tipping over. Nancy convinced me it wasn't. We stopped and got me some Dramamine, I took a short nap and felt much better. I didn't feel sick, just not very stable. We drove to another KOA just south of Charlotte. Got up fairly early, for us at least, and headed home. By 8:30pm that night, we were home in Winter Park, Florida. THAT was a long drive.

Nancy's note: Danny stopped in Beckley to rest. High on a hill over the truck stop and convenience store was Tamarack, the largest craft center in Southwest West Virginia. I climbed the hill. I shopped. It is a craft fan's Heaven. Glass, pottery, furniture, books, clothes woodworked items, art, gourmet foods, etc. And all made in West Virginia. Food court is by the Homestead resort folks. Wonderful!

Things We Learned

Every place we went, I had no problems finding a spot to park. The Winnebago View fit in most parking spots. I tried to be courteous, and find spots that wouldn't hinder other cars parking.
I got very practiced at hooking up to shoreline. I can get it done in less than ten minutes. Luckily, I didn't have to do it in the rain. I'd probably only hook up electricity if that were the case.
We don't need to bring as many shoes as we though, and a shoe rack in the closet just didn't work.
Staying in campgrounds is fun. RV'r people are nice, friendly, and very helpful.
The upper bunk sleeps one person very well, but is too cramped for both of us.
The couch bed is a bit too soft. Eventually, we're going to retrofit the couch with firmer padding.
The dinnette bed was more comfortable than the couch bed.
I used Gas Cubby on my iPhone to determine MPG: Average was 16.2 for this trip.
The iPhone, or similar device, is an indispensible tool for RV travel. Google Maps made making a route very easy.
I need to get a bumper sticker that says, "I'm NOT in YOUR hurry!"
Nancy's note: Never never toss a bag of bagels to anyone when a full coffee mug and a laptop and two iPhones are on the RV table.
Winnebago is a little short of places to store clothes and shoes for longer trips.
Plenty of pantry and fridge space and cooking was easy on the propane cooktop and microwave.
We found we ate most breakfasts and suppers on board but bought most lunches.

Flagler Day Trip

2009-07-13T09:13:00.002-04:00

Nancy, Chili, and I took a day trip to Flagler Beach. At first, we couldn't find a place to park. In Cocoa Beach, there's a public parking place behind Ron Jon's that has RV spots. That spot cost $10 for the day. Not to bad. But at Flagler, there are "No Truck or RV Parking" signs everywhere. We went to Beverly Beach Camptown to ask if there was any parking, and for $3 an hour we cold park there. With that price, we get:

Full electrical hook up
Water hook up
Sewer hook up

Full shoreline, and especially the sewer dump, make it worthwhile.

Compared to Cocoa Beach, it's a real deal. The price of Cocoa Beach has to include the toll fees, which make it more pricy than the $16.50 we paid at Beverly Beach.

This was Chili's turn for a beach trip. The salt water seems to help with Chili's allergies and itching. Abby and Ginny love the beach, but Chili is a pool dog. She'll jump and play in the pool all day if you let her, but the beach is just a wee bit ruff for her. That, and she doesn't seem to like the taste of sea water.

We were parked right up to the beach.

Nancy made a dinner of Chicken and Dumplings, and 1/2 inch diagonal cut green beans (my favorite kind!):

We waited for the Shuttle to blast off, but it was cancelled. No biggie at all. We had an excellent time.

Update

2009-07-07T23:18:00.004-04:00

We've been enjoying the Parakeet on short week end day trips to Sea World, Cocoa Beach, and Lakeland. As RV folks already know and we're learning, its great to come out of a theme park or off the beach all sweaty and nasty and have instant access to cold drinks from the fridge, a sofa and a shower with a change of clothes as well as a clean private bathroom! Outside shower is handy too for hosing off young grandchildren who eat their entire birthday cakes in one sitting using face and hands.

Since we're planning a long trek to Pennsylvania soon, we took her (Parakeet) in for service about a week or so ago. Because of the service schedules and Danny's work hours and the distances between service place, work, home and storage facility, we got lazy and the Parakeet was parked in the drive for four days in one week. A neighbor who didn't reveal himself or herself to me complained to another neighbor on several city boards and threatened to call code enforcement if he didn't tell me to remove the offensive Winnebago from my property. The neighbor spoke to me politely and I promised to adhere to city code rules of one day per week. Never mind that other neighbors park boats in front of their houses all the time and one woman has a commercial trailer for transporting her plants for sale at the local farmers market every week end which she leaves overnight on the street. I don't care about that. I do care that Darth Neighbor picked on me and my cute Winnebago.

I am also discovering how expensive it is to repair and service Winnebagos as opposed to cars. Camping World was really nice but the truck/RV place was kinda weird and the people who worked there wern't fun to deal with. Overcharged us for something we never even got and were snippy about it too. They did relent the next day after Danny spoke to somebody else at the same place and at least gave us a fifty dollar credit on future service. Yes, RV ownership is a learning experience.

TTFN. I'll try to post more often.

Parakeet Will Fly to Pennsylvania This Summer

2009-06-02T21:08:00.004-04:00

The Parakeet took us to The Wekiva National Forest and Wekiva Springs last Saturday. We walked several miles on the trails, sweated a whole heck of a lot in the 95 degree sunshine in the sparsely canopied forest, scared a whole passel of wild turkeys and heard a gator grumble too close for comfort as Ginny waded in a secluded lake. We also got ticks. Ah, the joys of nature.

On Sunday the Parakeet took us to Lakeland to see extended family. This time Chili accompanied us. She was a doggie angel, mostly napping on my lap during the drive to and from. However she waded into some tall grass and it took three people about 15 minutes to pluck crazillions of hitchhiker seeds out of her lush coat. Note to us: put a dog brush on board.

The timeline for our somewhat overdue Pennsylvania pilgrimage is set: August 1 to August 9. Danny has planned the route. Day one: to Georgia. Day two: to Virginia. Day three: to Bedford in South Central Pennsylvania. Boon docking until Pa, then a campground Monday night in the Shawnee National park. We will have my mother's ashes interred in her family plot at the Chestnut Ridge Union Cemetary in Schellsburg as she requested on Monday. After seeing the historic sights in Bedford (George Washington's headquarters, Old Bedford Village, Jean Bonet Tavern), we will drive through the spectacularly scenic Laurel Highlands to Ligonier and on to Pittsburgh to revisit those places special to my childhood. We hope to see Frank Lloyd Wright's house, Fallingwater, too if time permits. After that, who knows? Will it be back thru Pa. to Gettysburg or down through the Blue Ridge into western Virginia? We will not need to begin the homeward trek until Friday.

Got some technical things to take care of with the Parakeet to make sure she is travel worthy and must make arrangements for one of the dogs to be taken care of in Florida while we are away. I will hate leaving a precious pup behind in the confinement of a kennel, but it will be really good to go "Home" again one more time after so many decades.

TTFN

Road to Gainesville

2009-05-18T16:26:00.002-04:00

We took the Parakeet to Gainesville last Saturday to attend a party. Since we weren't staying over, we took Chili as an experiment and left the other two dogs at home. Here's what we learned:
1.The slightly more than two hours each way was a major piece of cake after the grueling Atlanta drive.
2. Chili travels just fine without the other two dogs. No barking, no RV soiling or damage. She self regulated her drinking.
3. We will always recognize the exact spot on the hwy where we broke down on the way to Atlanta. I think it may be a portal to another level of reality that leads to Hell.
4. Buying and installing a SunPass transponder made the trip faster and much more pleasant.
5. Traveling at 60-65 is smoother than at higher speeds.

TTFN

Parakeet's wings clipped on flight to Atlanta

2009-05-12T10:56:00.004-04:00

It's a long drive to Atlanta from Orlando on a Friday night after work. Especially when you only get as far as Ocala before disaster hits. I was reclining on the sofa bed reading a book when the Winnebago swayed. Thunk!! I thought maybe somebody had sideswiped us on the right side of the Winnebago. "What the hell was that?" Danny and I said at almost the same moment. "Did the awning blow off?" he asked. I looked outside and saw nothing amiss on the right. I dashed to the bathroom window and looked behind us."I dunno," I replied, "I don't see anything in the road back there." Then I smelled burning rubber, the RV leaned to the side, and we heard an ominous thump thump thump. "I know what happened," Danny said. "We had a blow out." He pulled off on the highway shoulder, stopped, and put on the emergency flashers before getting off and going out to check. A minute afterwards he reported that we had blown not one but two of the rear tires. We had one spare. It was eight o'clock and we had been on the road for two hours.

I fished the Camping World Roadside Assistance card out of my wallet and handed Danny my iPhone. He made the call for help and we sat down to wait. With the passing of every big rig on the highway, the Winnebago shook. I put the blinds down and worried that some driver would lose control and plow right into us. If I was going to, as my mother would have said, die dead, I didn't want to see it coming. Two hours later when I was nearing the freakout stage, the Roadside Assistance man called back and said he'd located two of the right sort of tires and a guy would be coming to put them on for us at a cost of $800.00. I sighed and pulled out my Discover card. "He'll be there by midnight the guy said." A short time later, there was a loud knocking on the hood and Ginny and Abby began barking. There was a man outside. Danny jumped up.

"They're here, "he said, opening the door and going outside. I looked out the window. There was no repair truck. Ginny climbed into the cab and began a weird rolling teeth bared snarl that plainly said "You are not coming in here," in any lingo.

"You okay?" the good Samaritan asked. Danny replied that we were waiting for Roadside Assistance and the man disappeared. Danny got back on board. "Where's his car?" I asked. Danny pointed across six lanes of traffic and a guard rail. Jesus!" I exclaimed. I'm still wondering if he was a recklessly brave and lucky good Samaritan or a potential robber who spotted a stranded Winnebago and hoped it was empty and full of loot. If so, it was probably a yellow-eyed snarling 'hoola that discouraged him. Ginny sat in the drivers seat, obviously on guard, for the next hour and a half.

The repairman arrived shortly after midnight and put on the new tires. We were roadworthy again by one am. All thoughts of going on to Georgia were abandoned. We went on about forty more minutes to Gainesville and safely boondocked next to Danny's ex-wife's house. We made the trip to Atlanta safely the next day.

What we learned:
1. having Roadside Assistance is essential.
2. never get off the vehicle to talk to strangers in the dark
3. having big dogs on board is a good thing, especially when they have strong bladders
4. watching Romancing the Stone while waiting four hours for help on the highway does not make the time go any faster
5. adventures that involve discomfort are better written about or viewed on film.

On the way home on Sunday night we encountered a lot of rain, a double rainbow, a microburst that knocked down trees and shut down I-75, and a creepy weird mist. I will post those pictures tomorrow. We made the trip home with only one stop for fuel and potty. This was too long to drive and arriving at three in the morning is the absolute pits. We do not plan to do that again.

We did have a great time visiting Danny's family in Atlanta though and it was worth the inconvenience.

Danny's Comments:

So glad Nancy opted for the Roadside Assistance plan. Otherwise, I'd have done lots of walking.

Driving up to Atlanta, I tried to keep the Parakeet at the 'flow of traffic' -around 70-75 MPH. While the Winnebago view has no trouble doing that, it's not a comfortable ride at those speeds, and the mileage is not great. Driving back to Orlando, I kept the view at 62-65 most of the time. Big difference! The ride is much smoother, and the Parakeet is much easier to control. Mileage is much better too.

Driving up during the day, we found that the cabin air conditioner could not keep the entire coach cool. The little 12 volt fan helped some, but not much. When we got back, I looked on the Yahoo View/Navion Group site, and found that you can turn the generator on while driving. That way, you can run the coach air conditioner. That will help a lot here in Florida.

Unless I have to do it, I'm going to try to avoid those 8-9 hour drives. 4-5 is much easier to handle.

Way Back

2009-05-07T16:24:00.002-04:00

After watching "The Long, Long Trailer" with Lucy Ball and Desi Arnez, Nancy and I realize not a whole lot has changed since the first person came up with the idea of putting their home on wheels:

And for those who've never seen "The Long, Long Trailer":

That is part 1 of 11. Just go to the next one (2 of 11) and watch them all. Resolution is excellent on an iPhone/iPod Touch.

Resolves

2009-05-07T15:23:00.003-04:00

We've come to the obvious conclusion that we will not be traveling with all three dogs, ever again. If there is an emergency, and we need to use the Parakeet as our "Escape Pod", we'll crate Ginny and Chili for the trip.

Life at home will return to our normal routine that we grown accustom to. A routine that kept Ginny and Chili from going at each other. But, we will always be aware that they do, indeed, have some sort of weird canine tension between them.

For travel, we'll bring either Ginny and Abby, while we board Chili. We can alternate between the dogs, and bring Chili on some trips, especially to the beach. That seems to have the best effect on controlling her allergies. Ginny and Abby are pretty easy to take care of, and if necessary, we could get someone to come over to feed them and let them out for 'voiding'.

So, with a very difficult and painful lesson learned, we move forward. Get it? Forward? Motorhome? Oh...nevermind.

Road to disaster

2009-05-02T20:40:00.005-04:00

I listened to the media over reacting to the possible Swine Flu pandemic. Which I shouldn't have probably, since I have a particularly good immunity to flu of all kinds. I mean, I haven't had it since I was twelve and that was a whole lotta decades ago. But, I listened.( Cue in the ominous music here.) We were going to stay in town but drive the RV to Sea World, ride all the water rides I generally refuse to go on and go back to the RV and change clothes. We also planned to see Wolverine this week end, but then I thought, "There could be a lot of people in close proximity at both those places and a lot of people could mean getting sick people. So, I said, "Let's go back to the beach this weekend. There's nothing to stop us. We'll be away from people, out in the fresh air. And this time we'll take Chili."Her allergies have been so severe that she is on steroids and I thought the sea air and salt water might help the intense itching. My thought was to see how she traveled, in hopes of not having to board her. THAT WAS A REALLY BAD IDEA. (More ominous music here.)

The drive up the coast was uneventful. We parked at the beach side campgrounds. Day was beautiful: a perfect beach day. I could hardly wait to get down on the sand with the three dogs. I took Chili out to pee first since she has bladder issues and since she and Ginny have some sort of weird leash issues and can't be walked together on leash. Then Danny walked Ginny and Abby while I made lunch, which I put on the RV table. I put the dogs food in their dishes and set them on the kitchen counter. The door opened, Chili lunged at Ginny before she even got all the way up the steps and they were at it. Fortunately, we got them separated right away and no damage was done to either dog. I don't know why Chili got food aggressive on the RV. While we don't feed them in the same room at home they often stand shoulder to shoulder when I am preparing the food and never get nuts about it.

We fed Ginny in the RV bathroom. Then we went down to the beach. All was well for about forty minutes walking down the beach, The dogs ran in the surf, chased birds, Chili chased a ball. Then, on the way back for no reason I can think of, Chili lunged at Ginny and they were at it. This time in a real nasty fight. Trying to separate them Danny got bit three or four times and I got three hand wounds and an arm scratch. I also fell completely in the ocean, which meant that the beach bag went too. My really good camera got submerged and was destroyed. At least, thank God, I had left my iPhone behind. Chili and I sat in the ocean for awhile letting the water wash the blood away and then it occurred to me that maybe since we were both bleeding we shouldn't be where sharks might be. We walked the forty minute walk back to the campground with me dripping blood from my hand all the way, smiling and pretending nuthin' was wrong as we passed folks on the sand.

Ginny, as far as we can tell, has no wounds but Chili has a nasty neck wound under all her long hair.

Well, needless to say, our overnight at the beach had to be cancelled. After cleaning everybody up as much as possible, we decided to go home. I began washing the lunch dishes and stowing stuff away. Then, things got worse. Abby threw up her lunch all over the sofa bed, my good shoes, and everything else in range of dog projectile vomiting. My guess is that she drank sea water. Forty five minutes later, I was still cleaning that up as best I could with my fingers still bleeding all over the place.

We are now home. It is five hours later. It hurts like Hell to type this, although I've been beaten up much worse in the past by one thing or another. I am probably going to lose a thumb nail and I haven't even looked at the worst wound under two band aids yet. It probably needs a stitch or two. Everybody says don't get in the middle of a dogfight. Let them work it out. Ha. Let them kill each other is what would happen. If Chili starts fights with Ginny, Chili won't submit. Chili doesn't give a rat's ass about being torn apart. She takes a lickin' and keeps on provoking more. Chili is an Australian Cattle Dog. ACDs have Dingo DNA.

I have the nasty blood and vomit soaked towels and sofa throws and rugs in the washer and the smelly clothes in the dryer...except for the nasty ones I am still wearing. I am going to take a shower as soon as I finish this post. Danny just finished the rest of the RV cleanups. Some friggin' week end this turned out to be. Should have taken our chances with the swine germs.

We probed through all the hair and cleaned out Chili's wound. It looks like a gaping mouth and may need stitches. She's on antibiotics. I am not going to spend the next six hours at the Emergency Vet as I have done in the past. Not tonight anyway.

Oh by the way, Chili's allergic skin is much much better. I was right about that anyway. Next week end when we go to Atlanta, I guess she will go back at the vet's boarding facility again. Now, I'm even leery of doggie day care. Can't take a chance of her getting possessive of a toy or anything else. Anybody have Ceasar Milan's number? Help me, O Obi-Wan Milan. You are my only hope.

PS: I took some great pictures of the dogs on the beach but can't post them since my camera drowned.

TTFN.

Flagler Beach Pictures

2009-04-26T20:19:00.005-04:00

here's some shots of our week end at Flagler Beach.

Report from Beverly Beach 2

2009-04-26T11:49:00.002-04:00

Here's some pictures Danny took of the campground and us in the RV yesterday on my iPhone. I have lots and lots of beach shots on my camera but as I mentioned yesterday I forgot the cord to load onto my laptop. Will add later.

Briefly: Last evening, Danny had a bit of trouble putting the awning down so we could drive somewhere for supper. It took about thirty minutes and many tries to get her put away. We drove down A1A and found a seafood joint and pigged out on Tuna and scallops. After watching a DVd, we slept well with the windows open to the sounds of the surf and crickets. Woke up a little too early 'cause Ginny needed to go out to pee and I completely messed up the coffee making the first time on the travel machine. Had yummy muffins for breakfast though and walked the dogs on the beach for an hour and a half. We let them run off leash as much as possible and they had a blast chasing seabirds and sandpipers. Now, they are snoozing again. After showers, we are getting ready to move out. I'm still worrying about Chili though: the kennel was supposed to call and they didn't and their switchboard is on message only. I hope my poor pup is okay. Next time, she comes too!

Beverly Beach

2009-04-25T16:44:00.003-04:00

Well, Bloggers, we are here at Beverly Beach Camptown, literally right on the ocean with AIA behind us. Beverly Beach is in Flagler County just up the highway from Daytona and Ormond By The Sea and about twenty five miles south of St Augustine. Another time, we will probably drive up to St Augustine and see the oldest something or others. But this week end, its all beach. Why did we pick Flagler Beach? Well, for one thing, its really beautiful. It's an easy drive from Orlando and it is not crowded like Cocoa or New Smyrna. But, the main reason is because it dog friendly country. Yes, unlike most beach areas in central Florida, your pooch pals can frolic in the surf with you.

We had to leave Chili behind this time since it was our maiden voyage so to speak and Australian Cattle Dogs can be a bit of a handful to travel around with until you are certified road warriors. But, next time she's comin' cause she would really love it here. Sun, sand, surf, sea breezes...and birds! Oh, the glory of chasing sand pipers and gulls down the beach and splashing through tidepools! The surf temp is about seventy five which is perfect for dogs and not bad for us humans if we keep to the shallows.

Ginny and Abby had never seen the ocean until today or set paws on a beach. We were not sure how well they would like it, but from the minute we hit the beach road their heads were out the window, ears flapping in the salt breeze, eyes bright with anticipation. After we checked into the camp and parked the Winnebago, Abby raced up the beach steps and down onto the sand then to the surf asap. Ginny also had no hesitation running into the ocean. We took about an hour and a half walk ...well run whenever birds were anywhere around...and then returned to the RV to nap. The ocean is a hit with the dogs. I am so glad. Many years ago, I used to have a house on Hilton Head in South Carolina and spend summers, frequent week ends, and holidays there with my kids and dogs ,Tara the Rottie and Nikki the Akita. Those dogs loved the beach. I am so happy that Abby and Ginny are having the same sort of fun now. I hope they get to chase crabs. That was Nikkis' favorite thing of all.

We will be off in search of supper soon. For now, the windows are all open, the awning is out, the screened skylight is open and the cross ventilation is fantastic. As I write this, the sounds of passing cars on A1A, the pounding surf and cries of sea birds are mingling with the smells of other campers beginning to grill their suppers. The dogs are snoozing on the sofa, tired and happy.

Its probably a good thing I left Chili in Orlando ( at vets boarding facility). Otherwise, I wouldn't be wanting to go home for a long long time.

More later. I'll report on supper and our first sleep over night. I forgot to bring the cord for my camera to upload all the pictures I've taken. I'll do the pictures for you tomorrow night.

The Ballad Of The Millennium Parakeet

2009-04-22T09:43:00.002-04:00

The Ballad of The Millennium Parakeet

By Nancy Deutsch

Just cruising down the highway

at a speed of fifty-five

might be, we're going nowhere fast

I'll know when we arrive.

Riding in a Winnebago

breezes blowin' through my hair

ditching the well traveled roads

for others just as fair.

Bumping down a backwoods lane

doesn't matter where it leads

for its not the destination

but the journey that one needs.

Could be with age I've lost my cool

just ask me if I care!

We've got a bathroom on this rig

and automated stair.

It came with propane cooktop

a sofabed, TV

a microwave and freezer

a generator, and CB.

Now we're hauling through a city

singing oldies with the Stones

our gypsy wishes have come true

the world is ours to roam.

Oh, once I drove a Porsche

and hauled kiddies in a van

now I ride in Winnebago

driven by my lover man.

Cruising down the roadway

through the mountains, by the sea

while some might choose an airplane

for us, there's nothing like RV!

Footnote:

Hope you like this boys and girls. Laugh out loud.

Furnace Vibration, and other Frustrations

2009-04-21T12:19:00.003-04:00

As Nancy said, we learned Chili won't be able to travel with us. Unless we were travelling specifically for Dog Agility trials, she'd be impossible to travel with. We also discovered the overhead bunk is suitable for one person, so we'll be sleeping on the pull out sofa bed.

During the night, it got a bit chilly, so I turned on the furnace. After convincing Nancy we wouldn't die from carbon monoxide, I turned it on. It worked fine for a minute or so, then rattled something fierce. After several cycles of that, I'd had enough, and turned it back off.

In a Winnebago View 23H model, the furnace is under the rear dinette seat. After pulling the dinette seat out, the inner vent off, and the outer vent cover, I turned the furnace on and watched. I quickly discovered the cage surrounding the furnace blower had someone been bent up just enough to contact the metal of the outer door frame (in the future, I'll take pictures of stuff like this). I bent it back into place with my hand, and tried it again. No noise. Screwed everything else back on, tried again. No noise. Fixed, as far as I can tell.

I also did my first sewer dump. No tragic event like in the movie, "RV". I practice dumping both tanks, even though the black-water tank was barely 1/5 full. The grey tank was full, though. In the future, I'll probably dump the grey water tank 5 times for every one time I need to dump the black. It was easy, an not messy at all.

We're looking forward to our first real overnight, probably at the beach or Lakeland.

Parakeet and Cattledog

2009-04-20T13:18:00.005-04:00

Here is the dog who proved that not all dogs are suited to camping and several shots of our Winnebago at home. Read the next Blog for the story.

Week end Update

2009-04-20T12:36:00.004-04:00

We're still practicing our RV skills prior to road tripping. Over the week end we learned several things. We drove out to Turkey Lake Park near Universal Studios which is a pretty cool place with picnic areas, lake, jogging and biking and walking trails, and RV camping area. There, Danny did his first gray water dump. No disasters there, thank goodness. But, that's his area to comment on. I stocked the pantry with various canned goods, but haven't actually prepared any meals on board as yet. I did take my first shower in the bathroom aboard the Parakeet and I am happy to report that it was very easy, plenty of hot water, and my hair felt really soft and bouncy afterwards-- probably from the filtered water.

We watched the Peter Jackson version of King Kong on the built in DVD player/TV which works swell with the dogs on board and then on Saturday night decided to sleep there. We were parked in our driveway! That did not work out as well. Here's what we learned from that experience.

1. The overhead bunk is too claustrophobic for two people to actually sleep up there. I was on the inside next to the curved wall with the roof only a couple inches from my nose. I felt like I was in a cat scan machine. I couldn't get out without getting Danny up... and climbing down that bitty narrow metal ladder in the dark isn't fun. What was even worse was that a spider had somehow gotten in and I am seriously Arachnophobic. Even though I spotted it before we went to bed and Danny killed it, I kept lying there in the pitch black wondering if another one would come in and land on my face with me trapped up there. Needless to say, sleep eluded me. I lasted an hour and climbed down the ladder to park myself on the sofa. I didn't want to try to pull it out into a bed so I was pretty cramped, especially with a dog lying across my feet. So, I tried sleeping on the single bed that is created from the dining table and booth. Mattress was miserably uncomfortable. First I tried sleeping with my head towards the bathroom which didn't work because we were sloping down slightly in the driveway. I felt like I was on a slant board. So, I turned around. Nope sleeping on seat belts. Plus, I kept having to rearrange the dogs.

2. Then, there was Chili, my ADD Australian Cattle Dog. Abby and Ginny simply curled up tail to nose and went to sleep. Chili was up and down, up and down and up and down again. All night. Pacing, scratching, itching and rolling, yipping, banging the trash can lid up and down for her own entertainment. She even sat on my head and scratched. (She has spring allergies in addition to Hyperactivity and Epilepsy). Then, she wanted outside to pee and wouldn't come back in. Arrgh! I got, maybe four hours of sleep in total. Lesson here: Chili is not a good camper. At home, we don't notice what she does during the night. She roams the house. On the Parakeet, there was nowhere for her to go. So, I am looking into a good boarding facility for Chili. Day trips only for her or I will perish from lack of sleep.

3. It got cold late in the night with the windows open and we had to turn on the heater. The yard sprinklers came on around five and I had to get up and close the windows on one side. We need more blankets on board.

We've decided to sleep on the sofa bed from now on and get a memory foam thingy for the single bed just in case. Overhead bunk for storage and occasional one person naps only.

We took the Parakeet to her storage facility Sunday evening after dinner and reluctantly said good bye until next week end. Then, we hope to take our first overnight er, either to see the kids in Lakeland or to Atlantic Beach.

TTFN Over and out.

Some more photos of us enjoying the Parakeet

2009-04-14T21:42:00.006-04:00

Here's some photos of me and Abby and Ginny on board the Parakeet.

We can't bear to take her to the storage facility, so she's still parked in the driveway. Today, we had horrible stormy weather...tornadoes nearby but but not near us in orange County. Just heavy rains. After the worst of the storms had passed I went out to the RV and climbed into my overhead bunk and read a book for forty minutes listening to the sound of dripping rain on the roof. I could easily have napped after that for the rest of the afternoon, but I had errands to do, so I didn't. But, I feel like the Parakeet is my secret fort...like when I was a kid significantly back in the last century!

Poor Danny is still sick after nearly two weeks and can't really enjoy her. I hope he's better soon. He is on the minus scale as regards energy.

Ta.

2009-04-13T15:34:00.003-04:00

A few more pictures from our learning session on RV operation. In the first, the technician had just demonstrated how to convert our dining table and booth seats into a third, single bed. Cute isn't it? Reminds me of a Heidi bed somehow. Dunno why. In the second picture, Danny was learning how the built in generator works. The third picture shows Danny enjoying his first RV lunch.

Danny told of our first week end adventures very well. We're still learning the ropes and stocking the Parakeet with everything we think we'll need for our first actual road trips and sleepovers. He neglected to mention though, that I bought pretty much every interesting thing that Camping World in Kissimmee had to offer. I really did. Then I hit WallMart, KMart, IKea, Sams Club and Lowes! $$$ I have to get some extra pairs of shorts and jeans to keep on board but aside from that and food, I think we are ready to roll.

Unfortunately, Chili thought she could fly out of the door and hurt her paws. Also unfortunately, I did not notice this until she had re-entered the RV and managed to get bloody prints all over the sofa/bed and passenger cab seat. I am having trouble removing the blood. I used a stain remover recommended for RVs and boats but it doesn't work very well. I also learned not to keep the spill proof water bowl available while driving since Chili drank all the water and had to pee before we were really ready to stop.

I am getting up the skinny ladder to the overhead bed pretty well and love to lie up there with the skylight open and read and check my email on the iPhone. The memory foam mattress pad really rocks. Sooo comfy. Also here's a tip: even though the bed is a double bunk, a standard single bed comforter is the perfect size to fit across it without a long drop over the sides.

My daughter (Laura) suggested buying a small crockpot and keeping it on board for meals. Great idea, thought I. Back to WallMart. I found a great crockpot cookbook for RVs and can't wait to try it out. It looks like our first long road trip may be to Atlanta on the week end of May 11 to celebrate Danny's grandmother's 90th birthday.

We couldn't bear to take the Parakeet to her storage berth last night as planned so she's still in the driveway. Have to keep her there now until Wednesday as we have Monday and Tuesday night mtgs. after work. Oh well, too bad. More time for me to play. Can't wait to actually travel. This is so much fun so far.

Ta.

Trails and Tripulations

2009-04-13T10:05:00.002-04:00

Yes, I meant 'trails'. Hopefully happy trails. The Parakeet had it's first test run over the last few days. We've learned a few things:

Make sure items in overhead bins are secure. They become projectiles if not. Especially the hard plastic ones.
If you hear more than one car horn honking nearby, pull over and do a check, just in case. Our TV antenna was still up.
Make sure bathroom door is secure when underway.
Chili's paws WILL find the 'window down' button for the passenger side window. As far as I can tell, there's no Window lock. If Chili's up front, keep hand near Window control.

Those are just a few lessons learned, so far. I've yet to do a sewer dump, so I'll probably have a few lessons from that.

The Millennium Parakeet (2006 Winnebago View) is AWESOME! It drives like a large SUV, accelerates about as fast, and has no trouble reaching and maintaining speed limits. A primary concern I had was hot water. I wanted to be sure it was hot enough, and lasted long enough. Wednesday night, I took a shower in it. I went through my normal shower routine I do at home, to compare. The water was more than hot enough. When I was done, the hot water was still going. I let it continue till I finally decided there were no issues of hot water amount, and turn the shower off after 20 minutes.

The coach batteries last a long time. I thought I might need to upgrade to the 6 volt Deep Cycle golf cart batteries, but it's not really necessary at this point. The charge on the batteries never went down even 10%.

The freezer and refrigerator chill down very quickly.

I still had flu this weekend, but played with our new toy as much as possible. When I got too tired, I crawled up in the bed and napped a bit. I can't wait till I feel better.

First day

2009-04-09T23:54:00.009-04:00

The Parakeet has landed. We spent all day Wednesday picking her up, getting tag and title, being given an operational tour by the mechanic, driving around, shopping for necessities and accessories, etc. We ate lunch at our table and like Goldilocks tried out all the beds to determine the most comfortable. Danny took a long shower to see if he would run out of hot water (he didn't) and I drove her slowly around the neighborhood to get the feel of something bigger than a small stick shift Volvo. We gave the dogs a ride. Abby adjusted immediately, Ginny after five minutes, Chili not at all. When we returned to the house, Chili vaulted over the banquette seat and flew through the open door like a flying squirrel straight out at least six feet into the air, fell to the pavement, rolled over, went on, like she meant to...friggin' Australian Cattle Dogs are a breed apart all right.

Danny wanted to go to the beach but I reminded him it is Easter week end. Roads in and out of town may be crazy. So, he wants to camp out in front of the house prior to leaving on a trip next weekend which is probably a good idea. Sort of a 'newbee' dry run. Hey, the neighbors probably already think we're crazy already anyway. So, bring on the s'mores.

Ta.

Welcome to My Road Trip World

2009-04-03T19:21:00.004-04:00

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS:

"I want to shake the dust of this one horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit the strange exotic malls...I want to live, Marge! Won't you let me live?"
-Homer Simpson

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the economy and the general state of things in the world and my expected remaining decades on this planet and I've come to several conclusions.
1. First, as everybody with half a brain already knows, the economy is in the crapper. My retirement savings and stocks have gone south like everybody else's and I see little reason to invest good money after bad.
2.Global warming is here whatever the cause and the ability to 'get outa Dodge' should a hurricane be blowin' in our neck of the woods ain't a bad idea. Like Homer, I too am bored with the same old same old around me even though my home town is a pretty good place to park.
The road as yet unexplored beckons. I've decided that I need some new adventures--before my knees and hips get too creaky to go.
3. Yes my little bloggers, now that my parents are gone and my children are grown and having babies of their own I'm starting to feel, emotionally at least, like no spring chicken. I am still healthy and strong but am a grandmother after all, twice over as of the birth of Bailey Lynne last week. Three tines over since Stephen and Casey let me be a sort of grandparent to the wonderful Gavin. That's totally fantastic and I am enjoying every moment of my Nan Nan state, even if it seems impossible that I can be as old as my drivers licence says. I look in the mirror and still see my ten year old face smiling back at me but in the truth is revealed in photos: I am, uh, mature. In the past year or so one friend not too much older than me died of cancer, another succumbed to Alzheimer's disease and is now unable to live independently, another was diagnosed with Leukemia...well the list could continue...but the point is that life is fragile and time is not a friend. So, my conclusion is that delaying fun new experiences is probably not a good idea. Life and death can get in the way.

So, all this is leading me into my real story. Bear with me.

Several week ends ago we drove to the beach. It felt so good to be out of town even for a few hours that it reminded me that I haven't travelled in a long long time. Since 9-11 I have not been able to force myself onto a commercial airplane. I don't like flying in those big uncomfortable tin buckets anyway. That leaves trains, boats, and automobiles. I prefer dry ground. That leaves trains and cars. Trains don't do it for me. I get over fatigued and squirmy sitting still in cars on long trips. I don't really enjoy sleeping in hotels and I hate the bother of packing suitcases. And most importantly, I don't like leaving my dogs behind. Danny hates commercial flying and he also doesn't like being away from the dogs. Still, we both agreed we'd like to do some traveling. Danny suggested a motor home. We could take the dogs. I could move around instead of sitting still. "Well, maybe some day," I said. Didn't think much more about it.

But, the wanderlust continued. We drove to Montverde for a friend's St Patrick's day party. On the way we passed several RV sales lots. "Maybe we should look at some one week end," said I.
"How much would one cost?" Danny replied that a used one would be as much as a luxury car...not a Ferrari or Bentley (unless you are shopping for the behemoth mega homes on wheels which do indeed cost as much as a house but you really could live in). Would cost as much as a good Lexus or BMW. "Hm," I said, thinking that I still had some money left over from the sale of my late mother's house that I hadn't decided whether to invest yet or not. "That might be possible."

So last week end, we we're looking for something to do. No movies we wanted to blow thirty bucks on, nothing we needed at the mall or IKEA, it was rainy which ruled out beach or theme park, so I said, "Lets go look at motor homes." There is a new dealer near home. I'd never been inside a motor home. I happily explored several dozens for several hours. Looked a prices, weighed benefits, thought of possibilities. Like I said, some of these really big babies have granite kitchens and bathtubs and are totally posh. The big babies were out of the question, of course since I am not a rich athlete or rock star but were really fun to see. If you wanted to fork over several hundred K on one you couldn't care about nonexistent gas mileage or that you'd have to tow a car for getting around town once you get where you are going. But I guess if I was a rock star I'd ride around in limos with security guys anyway.

The ones that are essentially trailers that have to be pulled by trucks are surprisingly posh and much less expensive. One actually had a working fireplace. The downside to these is that you have to have a big powerful truck (which we don't) and nobody can ride in the trailer part while it is on the road. Wouldn't work for us or the doggies.

But then, there she was, the Millennium Parakeet. That's not her real name of course. She is really a pre-owned Winnebago View, c class Motor Home, a twenty four foot little beauty with a Mercedes diesel engine built on a Dodge Sprinter chassis. She is only the size of a Fed Ex or UPS truck which means she can be parked in the average parking lot or on the street. No extra tolls. Fifteen to twenty miles to the gallon. One slide out. A complete galley kitchen with microwave, convection oven, gas cook top, fridge and freezer, folding dining table and booth that becomes a bed. Another sofa bed and a bunk over the drivers cab. A full bath with shower. A generator of course. Small TV built in over the dining table. Cherry wood cabinetry. Navy blue upholstery that will stand up to the Mutley Crew. She was not to big, not too small, just right for us since we are not large people.

As Mark Twain said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in you sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." My usual habit is extreme conservatism. Save the money for disaster. Invest the money. Not this time. I invested most of my inheritance and, well, you know how well that's gone. Sigh. I digress. I went home, calculated my cash holdings, decided what was a reasonable down payment and a reasonable monthly payment and what term would be acceptable.

It took me four days of emailing and phone calls and bargaining. I refused to budge on my deposit or payment or loan term. The salesman came down on the price enough that the monthly payment including warranty and taxes was exactly one dollar over my requirement. I decided that was reasonable. Parakeet became my little bird, on paper at least, Wednesday night just before the art festival wrap up meeting. She's being detailed and we pick her up next Wednesday after an operations class.

The insurance guy told me that I can go anywhere except Baja Mexico on my policy. Too dangeroso. I'm not going there anyway without Vin Diesel and Jason Bourne. The accountant told me the sales tax and loan interest are deduct able. Very nice, hombre. Danny said, like I'd be excited about this, "The diesel engine can be converted to burn bio fuel. It could prove useful in future." I said, "But doesn't that stink?" He said, "Yeah, like McDonald's french fries oil." I don't think so, folks. Frying oil smells make me nauseous. Not unless things get a whole lot worse on old Ma Earth does my little birdie smell like french fries.

Anyway, the maiden voyage will be soon and we are planning mini trips to the beach as well as interesting week ends all around Florida. We plan to go to Georgia before the year is up to see Danny's kin as well the longer road trip we need to make to the Pennsylvania mountains with Mother's ashes. I have pledged to myself that I will write a Blog, poem, essay, short story, cooking on the road recipe, or travel tips with dogs on each and every trip no matter how long or brief. There maybe a book there someday. There's a whole subculture of fun loving RV aficionados out there to read it. Once, long ago, when I really was young, in a galaxy far away, I drove zippy little sports cars. Now I shall drive slowly and carefully in a Winnebago wearing parakeet colors.

"There are many spokes on the wheel of life. We're here to explore new possibilities." --Ray Charles

So, here's the second Blog from little old me which will feature the ongoing voyages of the Millennium Parakeet (Star Wars fans will get the name), her continuing mission to explore strange new places, to seek out new fun, to boldly go where we have never gone before. I can't wait to get started and I hope you will share the missions with me.

To infinity and beyond!

Check out my other blog, Wayworm.com for my origonal poems, short fiction, rants, reports from the homefont, bytes and bits of stuff about the dogs and dog agility, updates about my kids and extended family and grandkids. You never know what you will find there. If you like to read short fiction or poetry, my books Florida Shorts, Flights of Nancy, and Between The Lines (Nancy Wayman Deutsch) are available on Amazon.com.