Wow!! Here we are at the end of 2011. It hardly seems poossible that when the year began Lynn had just retired and Grant was still "consulting" part time. While we had plans for 2011, we were still unsure as to how to carry them out.
It didn't take long for things to start happening. We fell in love with the first RV we looked at. After it passed a professional inspection with flying colors we put our money where our dreams were and became the proud owners of a 7 year old, 30 foot motor home. Thus started our great adventure.
The first problem was what to do with it until we were ready to hit the road. This was easily solved by renting a parking place in a commercial storage lot. Minor problem here was that the space assigned was really (I mean really) tight. After a little conversation with the manager we were assigned a spot that a novice driver could easily negotiate.
Next step was to prepare a car to be towed on our trip so that we would have transportation at each stop.As it turned out our Honda Civic was equiped so that it could be towed "4 on the ground." However, it needed a base plate to be used to hitch it to the RV. Also we learned that an auxillary braking system was required. These problems were solved with a chunk of cash that we hadn't planned to spend. Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound.
Finally we were ready for the road. As we have written earlier, Don and Anne Mumy had offered to serve as our coaches and accompany us on our first trip, beginning on April 1. (I don't know if there is any significance in selecting that date.) Anyway, we had a few adventures but overall things went pretty well. With some experience we gained confidence that we could do this.
After a couple more short local trips we were ready to roll. Grant finished his consulting gig on June 30 and we worked diligently, preparing to leave on July 6. Each time we went out we seemed to learn something but pretty soon we felt like old time, veteran RV'ers. I won't bore you with details of our adventure. Those are available on previous entries of our blog. What I will do is capture some of the highest of high spots and lowest of low spots of the trip.
For Lynn, the highest spot was visiting our family, celebrating Chris' 40th birthday, hanging out with Chris and Marriah and her sister DeeDee in New England ,celebrating our anniversary with Patt and Gene, a great visit in California, holding a new granddaughter, Luna, the first time, loving our other granddaughter, Celsiana, amazed at how she has grown and matured in only one year, hanging out with Andy and Marjo and celebrating Christmas with Derek for the first time in years.. This was her dream.
Grant's dream was to see the USA. We certainly did that. We are constantly amazed at the varied beauty in this country. However, Grant's high spot was realizing that he could do all of that which must be done, hooking up and unhooking at each stop, navigating and negotiating the highways, selecting RV campgrounds and many other little things. He believes that the confidence he has developed is proof that an old dog can learn new tricks.
We have stayed in many RV campgrounds across the country but a couple of them stand out when considering which was the most beautiful. At St Johnsbury, Vermont we were parked not 15 feet from the bank of a rushing river. We were there only 2 nights and unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there. We would love to return and spend more time there. In Orange, California our campground had a different type of beauty. It was beautifully laid out and landscaped with various citrus trees all over the place. Since all of the citrus trees were in season we were able to pick oranges and limes off the trees. The campground graciously offered all to pick what they wanted to and even provided a map of where trees (lemon, orange, grapefruit, etc.) were located.
We tried to attend church wherever we were. A number of them we visited only one Sunday but we have been in three locations and attended churches there long enough to establish a relationship. We have to say that we have been welcomed warmly in all of them. At this point probably the one we have liked most was the UMC Church of the Joyful Healer in McKinleyville, California. We liked the pastor (He called on us at our RV campground) and while we were there he had a sermon series on "When Christians Get It Wrong". We also participated in a work day at Patricks Point State Park and had lunch with several congregants. This church is getting close competition from First UMC Tempe, where we are now. Their Chrismas Eve service was wonderful and the Associate Pastor called us and made a date to have coffee with us. We had a delightful time visiting with her. They are starting a study of "Enough", another Adam Hamilton book which I have a copy of at home. They are also having a one day program on "Sharing Your Faith" which we hope to participate in and hopefully bring some helpful ideas home with us.
The trip has gone especially well but we have had some interesting moments. Like, when we unknowingly had the GPS set on "pedestrian" and went through downtown Nashville. It was somewhat frightening to get on strange freeways, knowing we were lost and not knowing how to get on the right road. We had another frightening moment (or 20 or 30) in Los Angeles when our GPS took us right through the middle of Los Angeles, merging onto another busy freeway on the left, taking left exits with little notice, and so on. In those instances we just prayed a short prayer and God always answered.
While celebrating New Years Eve over dinner last night we thanked God for the year we have had. The year began with much uncertainty but it has been all we dreamed of. We wonder what 2012 will be like. Every new year has uncertainties but we aren't planning any more life style changes so it is doubtful that 2012 will be as eventful in our lives. We have learned that we probably aren't full time RV'ers, that we need some time at home with our friends periodically. We are looking forward to returning home to North Carolina by March first but we do have plans for another trip next summer to see another new grand child expected in March. 2012 will surely be great but we think it will be hard for it to top 2011.
We pray that all of you have had a joyous holiday season and wish you a healthy, prosperous new year in 2012.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
On The Road Again
Hi Everyone,
Well, here we are on the road again.
We left Trinidad, California on November 15, heading south along the coast. We plan to make it to San Diego, then on to Arizona. We will arrive in Tempe, Arizona on December 5. We will be there at least a month, and possible longer, then start a slow trip back to North Carolina.
It's hard to believe that we were in Trinidad for 2 months and it's hard to leave Andrew, Marjo, Celsiana and Luna behind as we continue our journey. During our stay there we spent lots of quality time with them. It was wonderful to be able to see Luna develop. When we arrived she was 5 months old and just beginning to develop a personality. While we were there she began teething and had 2 or 3 teeth when we left. She started crawling and I would say she did a great version of "The Worm", rocking her way across the floor on her tummy. By the time we left she was sitting up by herself very well. She also had her first regular food at our place (baked sweet potato) which she seemed to like very much. Soon she was eating several other foods as well. She always had a smile for grandpa and grandma was a little jealous but soon was able to get her to smile as well.
Celsiana gave us a violin solo while we were there (not bad) and we were able to go to an equestrian show for children where she performed very well on her pony, Cinnamon, winning a couple of ribbons. We picked her up from school a couple of times and had a great shopping trip with her. She surprised grandma with the fact that she had learned how to knit. Grandma had her knit a couple of rows in the sweater that she is making for Luna. She is a delight to be around and we were so happy with how much she had matured in the year since we had last seen her.
We shared many meals with Andrew and Marjo and the whole family. We hosted them several times in our motor home (it was a little crowded but we made do). They introduced us to several great restaurants and foods that were new to us. Lynn had said that she never wanted sushi again after her first taste of it on our last trip there but she did try it again and really enjoyed it. I stuck with grilled salmon (I can't eat any type of shellfish without getting violently ill). We also attended a Navajo prayer session, held to bless one of their friends prior to her return to Brazil. We will miss being with them but look forward to our next trip there in a couple of years. On the night before we left (Nov 14) we celebrated my birthday (Nov 17th) and Marjo's (Nov 23rd) with a wonderful dinner. It was a great way to say good by.
While in Trinidad we enjoyed worshiping in a small Methodist church in McKinleyville. We loved the pastor(his sermons were great) and we were warmly welcomed by the members. We look forward to visiting here again also.
The weather was fairly good while we were there. We had some rain but most days were sunny. The temperatures were in the 60's early on but were down to the 50's by the time we left. Nighttime temperatures were in the 30's quite frequently. The winter is the rainy season so that was a good reason to leave. Shortly after we left the rains came and we feel like we left just in time.
We had a wonderful visit but it was time to move on. We stopped in Willets, California for one night, then on to Petaluma, California for 3 nights. While there we visited the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa and learned a lot more about "Peanuts". Also saw the home and gardens of Luther Burbank. Even though it was late fall there were still beautiful plants blooming..
We had quite an adventure getting to our next stop in San Juan Batista, California. This leg of our trip was to take us around San Francisco (no way was I going to go across the Golden Gate Bridge). I didn't want to set the GPS because I figured that it would take us where I didn't want to go. So, I looked at the map and when we got on the road, I misssed a turn. When I pulled off the road to check our location I had to make a U-turn (in the RV with the car attached). This worked out well and everything was OK until I missed another turn, had to pull off and make another U-turn, this time on a city street. Amazingly we made it around OK and eventually made it to our destination without further incident.
While in San Juan Batista we took a drive to Monterrey and enjoyed a picnic lunch and some terrific views of the ocean, with angry waves crashing onto the rocks.
Next stop was Oceano, California, next door to Pismo Beach. That was an easy drive, straight down Route 101. The highlight of this stop was a visit to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. This is an amazing castle, built on the top of a mountain in the 20's. It is hard to believe how the super rich lived in the 20's and 30's. We also visited the Danish village of Solvang which was quite picturesque. Then we had lunch nearby in Buelton at "Pea Soup Anderson's". Obviously their specialty is pea soup. I had been there about 45 years ago and surprisingly it was as I had remembered. The pea soup, served in a bread bowl, was wonderful.
Now we come to our biggest adventure yet. Our next stop was planned for Northridge, California, on the northwest edge of Los Angeles. We made it to the planned stop at the selected campground only to find out that there was no space available for us. Plan B was to continue to our next planned stop in Orange, California and stay there additional days to keep us on schedule.
Plan B was good except for one thing. I wasn't crazy enough to want to go directly from the northwest corner of LA to Orange county, at the southeast corner of LA, right through the center of LA. The problem was that I didn't have a good map of Los Angeles. With freeways going every which direction I decided that our only alternative was to put the destination in the GPS, pray for God's protection and get on the road.
Naturally, the GPS took us right through the middle of LA, changing from one freeway to another several times. While there were a lot of cars on the road we didn't encounter any back-ups and kept moving along pretty well. The greatest problem came when I entered one freeway in the left lane and had to move over to the right without wiping out any cars flying along on the right. We made it though and at another point we had to get over to take a left lane exit. Fortunately, other drivers could see our predicament and let us get to where we needed to be. Actually we made it to our destination at exactly the expected time of arrival shown on the GPS. When we arrived, after thanking God for our safe trip, Lynn commented that she hadn't seen any other RV's on the road. My response was "Ignorance is bliss." Amen.
We are enjoying our stay here in Orange. The RV park is one of the best we have stayed in, the temperatures are in the 80's and of course there is a lot to do here. Yesterday we braved the freeways again (this time in the car) and drove to central LA, west from there, along Wilshire. We found the apartment house where I lived briefly in 1963 and surprisingly it was till standing (it was old then) and appears to have been well taken care of. We continued to Hollywood Boulevard where Lynn was quite disappointed that most of the walk of stars is in a pretty crummy location. The traffic was quite heavy and we decided to not stop and continued on to the Griffith Observatory. It sits on top of a hill and has a commanding view of the whole of LA. If any of you remember seeing the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" you would recognize it. Unfortunately a lot of Los Angelenos had the same idea that we did and traffic was being turned around at the base of the hill. After a little while, traffic began moving again and we headed to the top of the hill. All the parking lots were full and traffic was still heavy up there so we just kept moving and headed back to Orange.
While we are here, we are going to go to Long Beach and possibly visit the "Queen Mary", then visit Disneyland tomorrow. It is just down the road from our RV park. Also, the Crystal Cathederal in close by. We were surprised to learn that it is in bankruptcy and last week was sold to the Roman Catholic diocese. We will probably try to tour it while we are here.
Wow, I have covered a lot of ground. I hope I haven't bored you too much.
While on the road we celebrated Thanksgiving with a nice dinner in a local restaurant and gave thanks that we have been able to take this trip and that it has gone well. We wish all of you a belated "Happy Thanksgiving" and hope you are all doing well.
Love to all,
Grant and Lynn
Well, here we are on the road again.
We left Trinidad, California on November 15, heading south along the coast. We plan to make it to San Diego, then on to Arizona. We will arrive in Tempe, Arizona on December 5. We will be there at least a month, and possible longer, then start a slow trip back to North Carolina.
It's hard to believe that we were in Trinidad for 2 months and it's hard to leave Andrew, Marjo, Celsiana and Luna behind as we continue our journey. During our stay there we spent lots of quality time with them. It was wonderful to be able to see Luna develop. When we arrived she was 5 months old and just beginning to develop a personality. While we were there she began teething and had 2 or 3 teeth when we left. She started crawling and I would say she did a great version of "The Worm", rocking her way across the floor on her tummy. By the time we left she was sitting up by herself very well. She also had her first regular food at our place (baked sweet potato) which she seemed to like very much. Soon she was eating several other foods as well. She always had a smile for grandpa and grandma was a little jealous but soon was able to get her to smile as well.
Celsiana gave us a violin solo while we were there (not bad) and we were able to go to an equestrian show for children where she performed very well on her pony, Cinnamon, winning a couple of ribbons. We picked her up from school a couple of times and had a great shopping trip with her. She surprised grandma with the fact that she had learned how to knit. Grandma had her knit a couple of rows in the sweater that she is making for Luna. She is a delight to be around and we were so happy with how much she had matured in the year since we had last seen her.
We shared many meals with Andrew and Marjo and the whole family. We hosted them several times in our motor home (it was a little crowded but we made do). They introduced us to several great restaurants and foods that were new to us. Lynn had said that she never wanted sushi again after her first taste of it on our last trip there but she did try it again and really enjoyed it. I stuck with grilled salmon (I can't eat any type of shellfish without getting violently ill). We also attended a Navajo prayer session, held to bless one of their friends prior to her return to Brazil. We will miss being with them but look forward to our next trip there in a couple of years. On the night before we left (Nov 14) we celebrated my birthday (Nov 17th) and Marjo's (Nov 23rd) with a wonderful dinner. It was a great way to say good by.
While in Trinidad we enjoyed worshiping in a small Methodist church in McKinleyville. We loved the pastor(his sermons were great) and we were warmly welcomed by the members. We look forward to visiting here again also.
The weather was fairly good while we were there. We had some rain but most days were sunny. The temperatures were in the 60's early on but were down to the 50's by the time we left. Nighttime temperatures were in the 30's quite frequently. The winter is the rainy season so that was a good reason to leave. Shortly after we left the rains came and we feel like we left just in time.
We had a wonderful visit but it was time to move on. We stopped in Willets, California for one night, then on to Petaluma, California for 3 nights. While there we visited the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa and learned a lot more about "Peanuts". Also saw the home and gardens of Luther Burbank. Even though it was late fall there were still beautiful plants blooming..
We had quite an adventure getting to our next stop in San Juan Batista, California. This leg of our trip was to take us around San Francisco (no way was I going to go across the Golden Gate Bridge). I didn't want to set the GPS because I figured that it would take us where I didn't want to go. So, I looked at the map and when we got on the road, I misssed a turn. When I pulled off the road to check our location I had to make a U-turn (in the RV with the car attached). This worked out well and everything was OK until I missed another turn, had to pull off and make another U-turn, this time on a city street. Amazingly we made it around OK and eventually made it to our destination without further incident.
While in San Juan Batista we took a drive to Monterrey and enjoyed a picnic lunch and some terrific views of the ocean, with angry waves crashing onto the rocks.
Next stop was Oceano, California, next door to Pismo Beach. That was an easy drive, straight down Route 101. The highlight of this stop was a visit to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. This is an amazing castle, built on the top of a mountain in the 20's. It is hard to believe how the super rich lived in the 20's and 30's. We also visited the Danish village of Solvang which was quite picturesque. Then we had lunch nearby in Buelton at "Pea Soup Anderson's". Obviously their specialty is pea soup. I had been there about 45 years ago and surprisingly it was as I had remembered. The pea soup, served in a bread bowl, was wonderful.
Now we come to our biggest adventure yet. Our next stop was planned for Northridge, California, on the northwest edge of Los Angeles. We made it to the planned stop at the selected campground only to find out that there was no space available for us. Plan B was to continue to our next planned stop in Orange, California and stay there additional days to keep us on schedule.
Plan B was good except for one thing. I wasn't crazy enough to want to go directly from the northwest corner of LA to Orange county, at the southeast corner of LA, right through the center of LA. The problem was that I didn't have a good map of Los Angeles. With freeways going every which direction I decided that our only alternative was to put the destination in the GPS, pray for God's protection and get on the road.
Naturally, the GPS took us right through the middle of LA, changing from one freeway to another several times. While there were a lot of cars on the road we didn't encounter any back-ups and kept moving along pretty well. The greatest problem came when I entered one freeway in the left lane and had to move over to the right without wiping out any cars flying along on the right. We made it though and at another point we had to get over to take a left lane exit. Fortunately, other drivers could see our predicament and let us get to where we needed to be. Actually we made it to our destination at exactly the expected time of arrival shown on the GPS. When we arrived, after thanking God for our safe trip, Lynn commented that she hadn't seen any other RV's on the road. My response was "Ignorance is bliss." Amen.
We are enjoying our stay here in Orange. The RV park is one of the best we have stayed in, the temperatures are in the 80's and of course there is a lot to do here. Yesterday we braved the freeways again (this time in the car) and drove to central LA, west from there, along Wilshire. We found the apartment house where I lived briefly in 1963 and surprisingly it was till standing (it was old then) and appears to have been well taken care of. We continued to Hollywood Boulevard where Lynn was quite disappointed that most of the walk of stars is in a pretty crummy location. The traffic was quite heavy and we decided to not stop and continued on to the Griffith Observatory. It sits on top of a hill and has a commanding view of the whole of LA. If any of you remember seeing the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" you would recognize it. Unfortunately a lot of Los Angelenos had the same idea that we did and traffic was being turned around at the base of the hill. After a little while, traffic began moving again and we headed to the top of the hill. All the parking lots were full and traffic was still heavy up there so we just kept moving and headed back to Orange.
While we are here, we are going to go to Long Beach and possibly visit the "Queen Mary", then visit Disneyland tomorrow. It is just down the road from our RV park. Also, the Crystal Cathederal in close by. We were surprised to learn that it is in bankruptcy and last week was sold to the Roman Catholic diocese. We will probably try to tour it while we are here.
Wow, I have covered a lot of ground. I hope I haven't bored you too much.
While on the road we celebrated Thanksgiving with a nice dinner in a local restaurant and gave thanks that we have been able to take this trip and that it has gone well. We wish all of you a belated "Happy Thanksgiving" and hope you are all doing well.
Love to all,
Grant and Lynn
Friday, October 14, 2011
Being in California
Hello everyone,
Here I am again. We've been settled in California for several weeks and haven't travelled at all since I last wrote. We are in a nice RV park, "Sounds of the Sea" in Trinidad, California. It is appropriately named because you hear a lot of seals barking from the rocks in the ocean which is only about a quarter of a mile from here. We've had a few days of heavy rain (mostly when Lynn's sister and niece were visiting) but for the most part the days are sunny, with a few clouds and temperatures in the low 60's. There can be some fog but it usually burns off fairly quickly. Or, we can go to Mckinleyville or Arcata, just down the road and get out of the fog.
We have a lot of time on our hands, now that we aren't travelling every day or so. We read a lot, keep up with our email and see Andrew, Marjo, Celsiana and Luna about once per week. We are attending a small Methodist church every Sunday. We really like the preacher and the church. They are currently having a study of Adam Hamilton's book, "When Christians Get It Wrong." We signed up for it and bought the book but the scheduling hasn't worked out for us to attend. We are enjoying the book and getting some new insights as to why the mainline denominations are shrinking. The pastor is preaching on it each week during the study.
The church also got a work group together to help clean up Patricks Point State Park, which is just down the road from here. It is a beautiful park but is suffering from lack of funding, since California is not in good financial shape.(A lot of rest areas were closed in southern California.) We spend last Saturday weeding around the curbs at the Visitors Center and then scrubbing one of the bath houses. They are scheduling this work group every second Saturday so we probably will be out there again next month.
We try to take at least one day trip each week. So far we have been to Grant's Pass, Oregon (no, they didn't name it after me) which gave us a beautiful drive through the Smith River recreational area. Then we went to Ferndale, a small town south of Eureka which is billed as a Victorian village. One unique feature here is the cemetary, which is built on a hill. Last week we went to Redding, California. The drive is through the coastal mountains and I felt like I was driving in the Grand Prix. We did see snow on some of the mountains. This too was a beautiful drive.
As I mentioned earlier, Lynn's sister and niece, came for a short visit last week. It rained the entire time they were here but we had a great time with them. Andrew directed us to some great restaurants so we enjoyed a lot (too much) of good food. Will have to watch our weight now.
We do wind up with a lot of time on our hands and we are re-thinking our plan to stay here until Christmas. We are thinking about leaving here mid-November, driving down the California coast all the way to San Diego (obviously skirting San Francisco and Los Angeles) and then to arive in the Phoenix area at mid-December. We would spend Christmas with Derek and leave there mid-January and take a leisurely trip home to Winston-Salem, arriving home mid-February or early March. Hopefully it won't be too cold then.
When we arrive in Winston-Salem we will be more or less homeless. We have just leased our condominium for a year so we will have to move into an apartment for a while.
On a lighter note, I guess I got carried away with the California life style and grew a goatee/moustache for the first time in my life. Whether I was tired of shaving or I wanted to fit in I don't really know. However, it didn't take long for the itchiness to get to me (I don't know how you do it Gene or Riley.) I kept it long enough for Dee and Leslie to see it, then shaved it off. My face is much more comfortable now. Check the pictures and let me know what you think of it.
Well, that is our news for now. Let us hear some news from you.
Here I am again. We've been settled in California for several weeks and haven't travelled at all since I last wrote. We are in a nice RV park, "Sounds of the Sea" in Trinidad, California. It is appropriately named because you hear a lot of seals barking from the rocks in the ocean which is only about a quarter of a mile from here. We've had a few days of heavy rain (mostly when Lynn's sister and niece were visiting) but for the most part the days are sunny, with a few clouds and temperatures in the low 60's. There can be some fog but it usually burns off fairly quickly. Or, we can go to Mckinleyville or Arcata, just down the road and get out of the fog.
We have a lot of time on our hands, now that we aren't travelling every day or so. We read a lot, keep up with our email and see Andrew, Marjo, Celsiana and Luna about once per week. We are attending a small Methodist church every Sunday. We really like the preacher and the church. They are currently having a study of Adam Hamilton's book, "When Christians Get It Wrong." We signed up for it and bought the book but the scheduling hasn't worked out for us to attend. We are enjoying the book and getting some new insights as to why the mainline denominations are shrinking. The pastor is preaching on it each week during the study.
The church also got a work group together to help clean up Patricks Point State Park, which is just down the road from here. It is a beautiful park but is suffering from lack of funding, since California is not in good financial shape.(A lot of rest areas were closed in southern California.) We spend last Saturday weeding around the curbs at the Visitors Center and then scrubbing one of the bath houses. They are scheduling this work group every second Saturday so we probably will be out there again next month.
We try to take at least one day trip each week. So far we have been to Grant's Pass, Oregon (no, they didn't name it after me) which gave us a beautiful drive through the Smith River recreational area. Then we went to Ferndale, a small town south of Eureka which is billed as a Victorian village. One unique feature here is the cemetary, which is built on a hill. Last week we went to Redding, California. The drive is through the coastal mountains and I felt like I was driving in the Grand Prix. We did see snow on some of the mountains. This too was a beautiful drive.
As I mentioned earlier, Lynn's sister and niece, came for a short visit last week. It rained the entire time they were here but we had a great time with them. Andrew directed us to some great restaurants so we enjoyed a lot (too much) of good food. Will have to watch our weight now.
We do wind up with a lot of time on our hands and we are re-thinking our plan to stay here until Christmas. We are thinking about leaving here mid-November, driving down the California coast all the way to San Diego (obviously skirting San Francisco and Los Angeles) and then to arive in the Phoenix area at mid-December. We would spend Christmas with Derek and leave there mid-January and take a leisurely trip home to Winston-Salem, arriving home mid-February or early March. Hopefully it won't be too cold then.
When we arrive in Winston-Salem we will be more or less homeless. We have just leased our condominium for a year so we will have to move into an apartment for a while.
On a lighter note, I guess I got carried away with the California life style and grew a goatee/moustache for the first time in my life. Whether I was tired of shaving or I wanted to fit in I don't really know. However, it didn't take long for the itchiness to get to me (I don't know how you do it Gene or Riley.) I kept it long enough for Dee and Leslie to see it, then shaved it off. My face is much more comfortable now. Check the pictures and let me know what you think of it.
Well, that is our news for now. Let us hear some news from you.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
California, Here We Are!!
We have arrived. One of our main goals was to visit our children and especially our new granddaughter in California. We finally arrived at Andrew's house in California on Monday of last week and were able to meet our beautiful new granddaughter, Luna.
We left Oklahoma City on Saturday, September 2, thus starting our slow dash across country. When we started this journey we planned to drive about 300 miles per day. As we got into the trip, Lynn began rebelling against sitting more than 5 to 6 hours per day when we were on the road. (Truth be known, I didn't really like driving more than 5 or 6 hours either.) So, we adjusted our goals and started planning on making 225-250 miles per day. Because we were going along Interstate 40, we actually moved along pretty well and were able to stop by 2:00 to 3:00 pm each day. This gave us a chance to rest u\p a little at the end of each day.
One aspect of this part of our trip is that we were roughly following Route 66 which was the major route between Chicago and Los Angeles before the interstate highway system was built. Now, in this area it is referred to as "Historic Route 66." This was of particular interest to me because I grew up on Route 66 in Oklahoma.
The first night of our "dash" we stopped in Amarillo, Texas. Here, we found the local mall which housed a cheapy cinema, which gave us a chance for a "Saturday Night Date". You all know that I'm pretty thrifty so I was delighted to give Lynn dinner and a movie for a very small amount. (Hotdogs at Sonic in the food court and the cheapy movie. "Big spender.")
We moved on to Santa Rosa, New Mexico the next day. Nothing memorable here except that it was the middle of the Labor Day weekend and traffic was pretty light. Next stop was in Gallup, New Mexico. We had originally planned to spend at least 2 nights at each stop but that went out the window when we realized how long it would take us to get to California. After two one night stops we did stay 2 nights in Gallup. This gave us a chance to explore the area a little. While we were in the desert there is much beauty to be found there. God's creation never ceases to provide us with surprising wonders.
Seligman, Arizona was our next stop, followed by Newberry Springs, California, and Tulare, California. Seligman is allegedly the inspiration for the deserted little town in the movie "Cars." During our stops on the desert we usually had little if any TV reception (no cable service) and little to see or do, so it felt good to get back into civilization at Tulare. We found a CVS and got our prescriptions up to date and a Wal Mart and did some grocery shopping.
On to Stockton, California, where we were surprised with our RV park in a rather up-scale location. (It also had a sub-station of the sherriff's office right behind our parking spot. Made us feel very secure.) Again, we went looking for the local mall and found two malls, side by side. We had a good walk in each, then enjoyed another cheap Saturday date (no movie this week.)
We have been picking our RV parks by location. When we got close to Willits, California, we were still in the coastal hills, on Route 101, with nothing else around and our GPS was telling us we had arrived at our chosen location. We made the turn off the highway and wound down this twisty, switch-back road for a mile and half and arrived at a really pleasant little valley. The only problem was that we had absolutely no cell phone service and no TV. We could do without the TV but since we planned to arrive at Andrew's the next day, we had to drive into Willits where we could get cell phone service. I didn't tell Lynn but when I stepped into the laundry to check it out I saw a notice on the bulletin board to look out for rattlesnakes. Had I told her, we probably would have been out of there in a flash. Didn't see any though, so all was well.
Finally the big day was here. We arrived at Andrew's house in McKinleyville, California after lunch and were greeted by Marjo, our daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter, Luna. Andrew returned shortly after we arrived with our other granddaughter, Celsiana, who is nine years old now. Andrew looked great and we couldn't believe how Celsiana had grown since we last saw her about a year ago. Of course Luna is a beautiful baby and is always smiling and never cries.
We parked at Andrew's for a couple of days before finding a semi-permanent parking spot at a RV park in Trinidad, California, about 15 miles from McKinleyville. It is close to the ocean and the little town is absolutely beautiful. We are looking forward to begin exploring the area over the next few months. We plan to be here until after Christmas, then on to Arizona for the remainder of the winter.
Our "dash" has ended and now we can rest for a while before continuing our journey. We are looking forward to participating in the local Methodist church and possibly searching for places where we can volunteer our services and get to know this area better.
Don't forget to look at the pictures I've added.
That's it for now.
We left Oklahoma City on Saturday, September 2, thus starting our slow dash across country. When we started this journey we planned to drive about 300 miles per day. As we got into the trip, Lynn began rebelling against sitting more than 5 to 6 hours per day when we were on the road. (Truth be known, I didn't really like driving more than 5 or 6 hours either.) So, we adjusted our goals and started planning on making 225-250 miles per day. Because we were going along Interstate 40, we actually moved along pretty well and were able to stop by 2:00 to 3:00 pm each day. This gave us a chance to rest u\p a little at the end of each day.
One aspect of this part of our trip is that we were roughly following Route 66 which was the major route between Chicago and Los Angeles before the interstate highway system was built. Now, in this area it is referred to as "Historic Route 66." This was of particular interest to me because I grew up on Route 66 in Oklahoma.
The first night of our "dash" we stopped in Amarillo, Texas. Here, we found the local mall which housed a cheapy cinema, which gave us a chance for a "Saturday Night Date". You all know that I'm pretty thrifty so I was delighted to give Lynn dinner and a movie for a very small amount. (Hotdogs at Sonic in the food court and the cheapy movie. "Big spender.")
We moved on to Santa Rosa, New Mexico the next day. Nothing memorable here except that it was the middle of the Labor Day weekend and traffic was pretty light. Next stop was in Gallup, New Mexico. We had originally planned to spend at least 2 nights at each stop but that went out the window when we realized how long it would take us to get to California. After two one night stops we did stay 2 nights in Gallup. This gave us a chance to explore the area a little. While we were in the desert there is much beauty to be found there. God's creation never ceases to provide us with surprising wonders.
Seligman, Arizona was our next stop, followed by Newberry Springs, California, and Tulare, California. Seligman is allegedly the inspiration for the deserted little town in the movie "Cars." During our stops on the desert we usually had little if any TV reception (no cable service) and little to see or do, so it felt good to get back into civilization at Tulare. We found a CVS and got our prescriptions up to date and a Wal Mart and did some grocery shopping.
On to Stockton, California, where we were surprised with our RV park in a rather up-scale location. (It also had a sub-station of the sherriff's office right behind our parking spot. Made us feel very secure.) Again, we went looking for the local mall and found two malls, side by side. We had a good walk in each, then enjoyed another cheap Saturday date (no movie this week.)
We have been picking our RV parks by location. When we got close to Willits, California, we were still in the coastal hills, on Route 101, with nothing else around and our GPS was telling us we had arrived at our chosen location. We made the turn off the highway and wound down this twisty, switch-back road for a mile and half and arrived at a really pleasant little valley. The only problem was that we had absolutely no cell phone service and no TV. We could do without the TV but since we planned to arrive at Andrew's the next day, we had to drive into Willits where we could get cell phone service. I didn't tell Lynn but when I stepped into the laundry to check it out I saw a notice on the bulletin board to look out for rattlesnakes. Had I told her, we probably would have been out of there in a flash. Didn't see any though, so all was well.
Finally the big day was here. We arrived at Andrew's house in McKinleyville, California after lunch and were greeted by Marjo, our daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter, Luna. Andrew returned shortly after we arrived with our other granddaughter, Celsiana, who is nine years old now. Andrew looked great and we couldn't believe how Celsiana had grown since we last saw her about a year ago. Of course Luna is a beautiful baby and is always smiling and never cries.
We parked at Andrew's for a couple of days before finding a semi-permanent parking spot at a RV park in Trinidad, California, about 15 miles from McKinleyville. It is close to the ocean and the little town is absolutely beautiful. We are looking forward to begin exploring the area over the next few months. We plan to be here until after Christmas, then on to Arizona for the remainder of the winter.
Our "dash" has ended and now we can rest for a while before continuing our journey. We are looking forward to participating in the local Methodist church and possibly searching for places where we can volunteer our services and get to know this area better.
Don't forget to look at the pictures I've added.
That's it for now.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Going Home Again
Can you really go home again? I guess that is what Lynn and I have been finding out.
It's hard to believe that we have now been on the road for almost two months. We left Winston-Salem on Wednesday, July 6, and headed for our first scheduled stop in Winchester, Virginia. There was nothing significant about stopping here except that it is about 300 miles from Winston-Salem, on the way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
We stayed two nights here which gave us time to explore the area and rest up a little. We did enjoy seeing this area, especially a delightful downtown pedestrian mall, where we enjoyed a brief cup of coffee at a nice outdoor table. The area is steeped in Civil War history and we also visited a small museum and learned more about the area.
I learned one lesson in RV'ing here and that is to always have the emergency brake on when you put the slides out. I won't bore you with the embarrassing details. Nuff sed!!!!
Our next stop was in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. This was close to Williamsport where our friends, Ken and Sandra Ramacher live. Our campsite here was right on the banks of the Susquehenna (sp?) River. We had a wonderful visit with Ken and Sandy and they treated us royally, taking us out to dinner, giving us a good tour of the area, and cooking out for us on our second evening. We also were able to meet their daughters, Barbara and Ann, and some of their children. All in all a good stop and no embarrassing lessons to learn here.
We made it to Thomaston, Connecticut the next day and stayed there only one night so that we could get on up to New England. We learned about the high cost of tolls when you are towing a vehicle. Cost us $5.50 to cross the Hudson River. The next morning we braved the Hartford traffic and didn't really have any problems. We were at our selected campground in Salisbury, Massachusetts in the early afternoon.
Black Bear Campground in Salisbury, MA was our home for the next four weeks. From there we could get together with Lynn's son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Marriah, and also Lynn's sister, DeeDee and her family. On our second day here we went to Gloucester, Massachusetts where Chris and Marriah were enjoying a weeks vacation at a house right on the water. We toured Rockport which has lots of little shop and restaurants and ice cream places. Had lunch on the water and Lynn was able to satisfy her longing for steamed clams. We walked off our lunch and then enjoyed a huge ice cream cone before heading back to the house for some time to enjoy each other's company. On the way we visited a small state park built around an old granite quarry. A self guided tour explained a lot about the granite business. We then made it back to the house where started raining during the afternoon but we were out again for dinner and Lynn enjoyed more seafood.
The next day DeeDee came to visit us at the campground, probably with the hidden purpose of examining our motor home and determining whether or not we were losing our marbles with this venture. We went to Newburyport, another quaint town with lots of shops, etc. We had another great lunch and again Lynn enjoyed seafood. Again we walked off our lunch and enjoyed ice cream. I guess DeeDee decided that we weren't crazy because she seemed to like our motor home and thought we would have a wonderful time on our trip. She is planning to join us in California when we visit Andrew and Marjo.
While at Salisbury we were able to take some nice walks on the beach, celebrate Chris' 40th birthday (twice), spend time with DeeDee and Bob, enjoy a bonus visit with Leslie (DeeDee's daughter) who just happened to come for a wedding , watch Chris and Marriah play volleyball, and finally, celebrate Lynn's birthday. Lynn finally satisfied her longing for seafood and for her birthday requested that DeeDee and Bob serve steak and baked potatoes.
While there we also visited some of our old homes in the Lawrence area. It was pleasant to take this stroll down memory lane and reminisce about where we met and married, neither of us felt any longing for the past. We are happy and quite content with what God has given us.
Finally, too soon it seemed, it was time for us to move on. We went on to Trenton, Maine, near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. This was absolutely beautiful country which we thoroughly enjoyed for a week.
Then, we moved on to St Johnsbury, Vermont. Without a doubt this was the most beautiful campsite on our trip so far. We were parked on the bank of the Moose River, with the water being no more that 15-20 feet behind our motor home. Unfortunately it rained for most of the time we were there and we weren't able to enjoy it as much as we would have liked. We did get to a maple syrup factory. This past week when we read about the floods in Vermont in the wake of hurricane Irene, we prayed that this area did not suffer the heavy flooding reported in parts of Vermont.
Our next stop was Westhampton, Massachusetts, near where Lynn grew up in Westfield, MA. We toured downtown Springfield, MA, then went on to Westfield where we were able to locate Lynn's parents home. This house was almost unrecognizable as a result of changes made to the structure. Lynn said that it was nice to see it but she had no longing to live there again.
Now we headedd for Memphis to visit my sister and her husband. We stopped in Averill Park, NY, in the foothills of the Adirondiack mountains. Our GPS quit functioning when we arrived here and we decided that it probably needed a battery. So, we decided to go to Pittsfield, MA, to find a Best Buy where we thought we could probably get a battery. It was a beautiful drive to Pittsfield and we found the store without the aid of the GPS. Once in the store, the sales person said that they didn't sell batteries, and that likely it was a battery that couldn't be replaced. So, his obvious solution was for us to purchase a new unit. We did so reluctantly and when we got back to our motor home I was reading the manual to set up the new one when I read something about a reset button to be used when it stopped functioning. The light bulb came on and I thought that there probably was a reset button on the old unit. A quick look at the manual (when all else fails read the directions.) revealed that indeed there was and it actually came to life when I reset it. This necessitated another 60 mile round trip to Pittsfield to return the new unit. Any way, it was worth it and we avoided having to buy a new one. The old one is continueing to function well and we are learning to trust it more and more.
Now, on to Jamestown, NY (birthplace of Lucille Ball) for another leg on our trip to Memphis. There is a rather large lake in the area but GPS or no, we drove around for some time but weren't able to locate it. Our frustation was softened by a wonderful ice cream sundae at "Friendly's". We had three kinds of ice cream, two kinds of syrup, chocolate cake and whipped cream, topped off with a cherry. Out of concern for her diet, Lynn graciously let me have the cherry.
Next stop, Delaware, Ohio, just north of Columbus. No big events here but we used the time to catch up on a some maintenance projects that needed to be done. Here, the campground was one of the nicest, cleanest ones we have encountered. More on campgrounds in a later post.
Arrived in Goodletsville, Tennessee for our next stop. This was a "one-nighter", our last stop before Memphis. At 2:00 am we were awakened by the shrill beeping of the LP Gas alarm. Immediately opened the windows and shut off the gas. This seemed to work and the beeping stopped so we were able to still get a decent night's sleep. The next morning we located a RV dealer who wasn't able to check it out but said that in 90% of the cases this could be caused by low voltage in the house batteries. With his assurance we felt safe enough to proceed to Memphis where we were to take the vehicle in for service and an oil change the next day.
We put my sister's Memphis address in the GPS and hit the road. For some reason the GPS took us right through downtown in Nashville. After some harrowing moments of floundering around (not lost, just having an adventure.) we checked the GPS and saw that inadvertently I had changed it from "automotive" to "pedestrian" use. When that was corrected it put us on a direct route to Memphis.
We arrived in Memphis in the middle of a hot afternoon. The plan was to park in my sister's driveway, hook up the electricity and water and stay there for the 3 nights of our visit. Naturally, with the heat I wanted to get the electricity hooked up as soon as possible so that I could turn on the air conditioner. I did a pretty good job of backing into their driveway with my brother in law, Gene's help. He was all set with a place to plug in the electricity and water. I attached the electric cord (with an adapter that put 15 amps of service into the 30 amp plug), hooked up the water and was ready to enjoy our visit with Patt and Gene. For some reason I went back inside the motor home and saw that the air conditioner wasn't working. Checked and learned that the circuit had shut down. Reset it (several times) and it just kept shutting down. This was a major problem. There was no way Lynn (and myself) would stay in the motor home with the daytime temperature in the high 90's. Because of Lynn's allergies and Patt's dogs, it wasn't advisable to stay in their home.
We were able to locate a campground close by and were able to make a reservation. This mean unhooking everything and redoing it at the campground. It was annoying but considerably better than suffering the heat or a major allergy attack for Lynn. The next morning I had to unhook again, to take the vehicle in for service. At the Ford dealer I inquired about the house battery (2 batteries separate from the automotive system) and was informed that they couldn't look at those. This meant locating an RV dealer who could look at them and replace them if necessary. The problem here was that there was only one RV dealer in the area. When I called I was initially told that they were backed up for several days. After some pleading and grovelling I was told that if I could get there by 3:30 pm they could probably help me. This was OK because the servicing was to be completed by early afternoon. All I had to do was pick-up the RV at the Ford dealer and find the RV dealer by 3:30 pm.
We had planned some sightseeing in downtown Memphis, so we went ahead with that, had a nice lunch and returned to the Ford dealer to pickup the RV. Of course it wasn't ready. I finally was able to pull out of the Ford dealer about 2:30 and head directly for the RV dealer. Made the 3:30 deadline with only mintes to spare. I left it in their hands and we sat down to wait. Naturally they didn't have the proper sized batteries in stock so we had to wait for the correcct ones to arrive. Finally we were able to pull out of the RV dealer at 5:00 pm, just in time to fight the rush hour traffic in an unfamiliar city driving a 30 foot long truck. Not the best of times but thanks to our trusty GPS we arrived safely back at the campground after a reasonable time. What a day, but now we were roadworthy and felt comfortable about the LP gas alarm. Praise the Lord!!!
The rest of our time in Memphis was uneventful and we had a wonderful visit with Patt and Gene. Our anniversary was August 28, the day we were scheduled to leave, so Patt and Gene took us out for a wonderful Italian dinner on the night before. The food was so plentiful that we came out with enough leftovers for our dinner the next evening.
On Sunday morning we attended an early service at their church then treated Patt and Gene to breakfast as a small taken of thanks for their wonderful hospitality. After this we hit the road again and drove to Benton, Arkansas, which is between Little Rock and Hot Springs.
We spent the next morning at Hot Springs National Park. This is a very interesting place and while it might have been nice to have a bath in hot mineral water, we didn't indulge.
The following day (Tuesday, 8/30) we drove on to Oklahoma City where we planned to spend 3 or 4 nights. As we approached our campground Lynn pointed out a huge black cloud off to our right. When we got into our campground and had everything hooked up we turned on the TV and learned that there was a major brush fire in progress about 2 miles east of where we were. It was a dangerous fire and a number of homes were destroyed and some major highways were closed but we were never really affected. We pray for those firefighters and those who lost their homes that day and again the next day in 2 more fires. The temperatures were in the low 100's and wind speeds were above 20 mph in an area that is in a severe drouth. Not a good combination.
The next day we visited the memorial to those lost when the federal courthouse was blown up in 1996. It is a beautiful memorial that one cannot visit without being touched. Then we saw the park where large bronze statues of covered wagons, men on horseback, soldiers, etc commemorate the "Run of '89" (1889) when the Indian lands were opened to settlers, which is considered to be the founding of Oklahoma. To a native Oklahoman this was also quite impressive.
The following day we drove around in Chandler and Shawnee where I was born and raised. Obviously there were many changes, the most disheartening being that a lot of older homes and buildings while still standing have deteriorated badly. There are of course many new buildings but a lot of the old ones are still there. I was able to show Lynn where I was born, lived and went to school. As I saw these places it opened many memories (good, bad and humerous) some of which I tried to relate to Lynn. I hope I have aged better than these towns.
Today we drove to Norman, home of the University of Oklahoma. Here the shock was the complete urbanization between Oklahome City and Norman, a distance of about 20 miles. Also, the plethora of new modern buildings mixed in with and around the vastly expanded campus was overwhelming. All in all I think that this was a pleasant surprise. Lynn commented on the overall beauty of the campus.
When we arrived in New England we had a few hot days, then the weather seemed to cool down and we didn't even need to use our air conditioner most of the time. In fact, we did put the heat on occasionally in the morning. As we got back further south, the heat was almost unbearable. Fortunately Memphis cooled off slightly from 100 plus days but Oklahoma City did not. We have tried to do all of our outdoor activities in the morning before the temperature reaches the high 90's.
On our journey we have had a variety of church experiences, all good. I'll try to go into detail about our church visits in a future post.
Tomorrow we head towards California. We hope to be there, holding our new granddaugher and hugging Andrew and Marjo and Celsiana in about a week.
Well, at the beginning of this rather long, rambling post I asked if one could truly go home again. I guess we have confirmed the general belief that, no, you can't go home again. The physical locations we associaate with "home" have changed tremendously while both of us have also changed immeasurably in the years since we "left home." Our conclusion is that while our lives would have been different and not necessarily worse, we are quite happy with our lives now and see no need to go home again. We thank God for all the blessings He has put in our lives and especially the blessing of putting the two of us together.
Love to all. Let us hear from you.
It's hard to believe that we have now been on the road for almost two months. We left Winston-Salem on Wednesday, July 6, and headed for our first scheduled stop in Winchester, Virginia. There was nothing significant about stopping here except that it is about 300 miles from Winston-Salem, on the way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
We stayed two nights here which gave us time to explore the area and rest up a little. We did enjoy seeing this area, especially a delightful downtown pedestrian mall, where we enjoyed a brief cup of coffee at a nice outdoor table. The area is steeped in Civil War history and we also visited a small museum and learned more about the area.
I learned one lesson in RV'ing here and that is to always have the emergency brake on when you put the slides out. I won't bore you with the embarrassing details. Nuff sed!!!!
Our next stop was in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. This was close to Williamsport where our friends, Ken and Sandra Ramacher live. Our campsite here was right on the banks of the Susquehenna (sp?) River. We had a wonderful visit with Ken and Sandy and they treated us royally, taking us out to dinner, giving us a good tour of the area, and cooking out for us on our second evening. We also were able to meet their daughters, Barbara and Ann, and some of their children. All in all a good stop and no embarrassing lessons to learn here.
We made it to Thomaston, Connecticut the next day and stayed there only one night so that we could get on up to New England. We learned about the high cost of tolls when you are towing a vehicle. Cost us $5.50 to cross the Hudson River. The next morning we braved the Hartford traffic and didn't really have any problems. We were at our selected campground in Salisbury, Massachusetts in the early afternoon.
Black Bear Campground in Salisbury, MA was our home for the next four weeks. From there we could get together with Lynn's son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Marriah, and also Lynn's sister, DeeDee and her family. On our second day here we went to Gloucester, Massachusetts where Chris and Marriah were enjoying a weeks vacation at a house right on the water. We toured Rockport which has lots of little shop and restaurants and ice cream places. Had lunch on the water and Lynn was able to satisfy her longing for steamed clams. We walked off our lunch and then enjoyed a huge ice cream cone before heading back to the house for some time to enjoy each other's company. On the way we visited a small state park built around an old granite quarry. A self guided tour explained a lot about the granite business. We then made it back to the house where started raining during the afternoon but we were out again for dinner and Lynn enjoyed more seafood.
The next day DeeDee came to visit us at the campground, probably with the hidden purpose of examining our motor home and determining whether or not we were losing our marbles with this venture. We went to Newburyport, another quaint town with lots of shops, etc. We had another great lunch and again Lynn enjoyed seafood. Again we walked off our lunch and enjoyed ice cream. I guess DeeDee decided that we weren't crazy because she seemed to like our motor home and thought we would have a wonderful time on our trip. She is planning to join us in California when we visit Andrew and Marjo.
While at Salisbury we were able to take some nice walks on the beach, celebrate Chris' 40th birthday (twice), spend time with DeeDee and Bob, enjoy a bonus visit with Leslie (DeeDee's daughter) who just happened to come for a wedding , watch Chris and Marriah play volleyball, and finally, celebrate Lynn's birthday. Lynn finally satisfied her longing for seafood and for her birthday requested that DeeDee and Bob serve steak and baked potatoes.
While there we also visited some of our old homes in the Lawrence area. It was pleasant to take this stroll down memory lane and reminisce about where we met and married, neither of us felt any longing for the past. We are happy and quite content with what God has given us.
Finally, too soon it seemed, it was time for us to move on. We went on to Trenton, Maine, near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. This was absolutely beautiful country which we thoroughly enjoyed for a week.
Then, we moved on to St Johnsbury, Vermont. Without a doubt this was the most beautiful campsite on our trip so far. We were parked on the bank of the Moose River, with the water being no more that 15-20 feet behind our motor home. Unfortunately it rained for most of the time we were there and we weren't able to enjoy it as much as we would have liked. We did get to a maple syrup factory. This past week when we read about the floods in Vermont in the wake of hurricane Irene, we prayed that this area did not suffer the heavy flooding reported in parts of Vermont.
Our next stop was Westhampton, Massachusetts, near where Lynn grew up in Westfield, MA. We toured downtown Springfield, MA, then went on to Westfield where we were able to locate Lynn's parents home. This house was almost unrecognizable as a result of changes made to the structure. Lynn said that it was nice to see it but she had no longing to live there again.
Now we headedd for Memphis to visit my sister and her husband. We stopped in Averill Park, NY, in the foothills of the Adirondiack mountains. Our GPS quit functioning when we arrived here and we decided that it probably needed a battery. So, we decided to go to Pittsfield, MA, to find a Best Buy where we thought we could probably get a battery. It was a beautiful drive to Pittsfield and we found the store without the aid of the GPS. Once in the store, the sales person said that they didn't sell batteries, and that likely it was a battery that couldn't be replaced. So, his obvious solution was for us to purchase a new unit. We did so reluctantly and when we got back to our motor home I was reading the manual to set up the new one when I read something about a reset button to be used when it stopped functioning. The light bulb came on and I thought that there probably was a reset button on the old unit. A quick look at the manual (when all else fails read the directions.) revealed that indeed there was and it actually came to life when I reset it. This necessitated another 60 mile round trip to Pittsfield to return the new unit. Any way, it was worth it and we avoided having to buy a new one. The old one is continueing to function well and we are learning to trust it more and more.
Now, on to Jamestown, NY (birthplace of Lucille Ball) for another leg on our trip to Memphis. There is a rather large lake in the area but GPS or no, we drove around for some time but weren't able to locate it. Our frustation was softened by a wonderful ice cream sundae at "Friendly's". We had three kinds of ice cream, two kinds of syrup, chocolate cake and whipped cream, topped off with a cherry. Out of concern for her diet, Lynn graciously let me have the cherry.
Next stop, Delaware, Ohio, just north of Columbus. No big events here but we used the time to catch up on a some maintenance projects that needed to be done. Here, the campground was one of the nicest, cleanest ones we have encountered. More on campgrounds in a later post.
Arrived in Goodletsville, Tennessee for our next stop. This was a "one-nighter", our last stop before Memphis. At 2:00 am we were awakened by the shrill beeping of the LP Gas alarm. Immediately opened the windows and shut off the gas. This seemed to work and the beeping stopped so we were able to still get a decent night's sleep. The next morning we located a RV dealer who wasn't able to check it out but said that in 90% of the cases this could be caused by low voltage in the house batteries. With his assurance we felt safe enough to proceed to Memphis where we were to take the vehicle in for service and an oil change the next day.
We put my sister's Memphis address in the GPS and hit the road. For some reason the GPS took us right through downtown in Nashville. After some harrowing moments of floundering around (not lost, just having an adventure.) we checked the GPS and saw that inadvertently I had changed it from "automotive" to "pedestrian" use. When that was corrected it put us on a direct route to Memphis.
We arrived in Memphis in the middle of a hot afternoon. The plan was to park in my sister's driveway, hook up the electricity and water and stay there for the 3 nights of our visit. Naturally, with the heat I wanted to get the electricity hooked up as soon as possible so that I could turn on the air conditioner. I did a pretty good job of backing into their driveway with my brother in law, Gene's help. He was all set with a place to plug in the electricity and water. I attached the electric cord (with an adapter that put 15 amps of service into the 30 amp plug), hooked up the water and was ready to enjoy our visit with Patt and Gene. For some reason I went back inside the motor home and saw that the air conditioner wasn't working. Checked and learned that the circuit had shut down. Reset it (several times) and it just kept shutting down. This was a major problem. There was no way Lynn (and myself) would stay in the motor home with the daytime temperature in the high 90's. Because of Lynn's allergies and Patt's dogs, it wasn't advisable to stay in their home.
We were able to locate a campground close by and were able to make a reservation. This mean unhooking everything and redoing it at the campground. It was annoying but considerably better than suffering the heat or a major allergy attack for Lynn. The next morning I had to unhook again, to take the vehicle in for service. At the Ford dealer I inquired about the house battery (2 batteries separate from the automotive system) and was informed that they couldn't look at those. This meant locating an RV dealer who could look at them and replace them if necessary. The problem here was that there was only one RV dealer in the area. When I called I was initially told that they were backed up for several days. After some pleading and grovelling I was told that if I could get there by 3:30 pm they could probably help me. This was OK because the servicing was to be completed by early afternoon. All I had to do was pick-up the RV at the Ford dealer and find the RV dealer by 3:30 pm.
We had planned some sightseeing in downtown Memphis, so we went ahead with that, had a nice lunch and returned to the Ford dealer to pickup the RV. Of course it wasn't ready. I finally was able to pull out of the Ford dealer about 2:30 and head directly for the RV dealer. Made the 3:30 deadline with only mintes to spare. I left it in their hands and we sat down to wait. Naturally they didn't have the proper sized batteries in stock so we had to wait for the correcct ones to arrive. Finally we were able to pull out of the RV dealer at 5:00 pm, just in time to fight the rush hour traffic in an unfamiliar city driving a 30 foot long truck. Not the best of times but thanks to our trusty GPS we arrived safely back at the campground after a reasonable time. What a day, but now we were roadworthy and felt comfortable about the LP gas alarm. Praise the Lord!!!
The rest of our time in Memphis was uneventful and we had a wonderful visit with Patt and Gene. Our anniversary was August 28, the day we were scheduled to leave, so Patt and Gene took us out for a wonderful Italian dinner on the night before. The food was so plentiful that we came out with enough leftovers for our dinner the next evening.
On Sunday morning we attended an early service at their church then treated Patt and Gene to breakfast as a small taken of thanks for their wonderful hospitality. After this we hit the road again and drove to Benton, Arkansas, which is between Little Rock and Hot Springs.
We spent the next morning at Hot Springs National Park. This is a very interesting place and while it might have been nice to have a bath in hot mineral water, we didn't indulge.
The following day (Tuesday, 8/30) we drove on to Oklahoma City where we planned to spend 3 or 4 nights. As we approached our campground Lynn pointed out a huge black cloud off to our right. When we got into our campground and had everything hooked up we turned on the TV and learned that there was a major brush fire in progress about 2 miles east of where we were. It was a dangerous fire and a number of homes were destroyed and some major highways were closed but we were never really affected. We pray for those firefighters and those who lost their homes that day and again the next day in 2 more fires. The temperatures were in the low 100's and wind speeds were above 20 mph in an area that is in a severe drouth. Not a good combination.
The next day we visited the memorial to those lost when the federal courthouse was blown up in 1996. It is a beautiful memorial that one cannot visit without being touched. Then we saw the park where large bronze statues of covered wagons, men on horseback, soldiers, etc commemorate the "Run of '89" (1889) when the Indian lands were opened to settlers, which is considered to be the founding of Oklahoma. To a native Oklahoman this was also quite impressive.
The following day we drove around in Chandler and Shawnee where I was born and raised. Obviously there were many changes, the most disheartening being that a lot of older homes and buildings while still standing have deteriorated badly. There are of course many new buildings but a lot of the old ones are still there. I was able to show Lynn where I was born, lived and went to school. As I saw these places it opened many memories (good, bad and humerous) some of which I tried to relate to Lynn. I hope I have aged better than these towns.
Today we drove to Norman, home of the University of Oklahoma. Here the shock was the complete urbanization between Oklahome City and Norman, a distance of about 20 miles. Also, the plethora of new modern buildings mixed in with and around the vastly expanded campus was overwhelming. All in all I think that this was a pleasant surprise. Lynn commented on the overall beauty of the campus.
When we arrived in New England we had a few hot days, then the weather seemed to cool down and we didn't even need to use our air conditioner most of the time. In fact, we did put the heat on occasionally in the morning. As we got back further south, the heat was almost unbearable. Fortunately Memphis cooled off slightly from 100 plus days but Oklahoma City did not. We have tried to do all of our outdoor activities in the morning before the temperature reaches the high 90's.
On our journey we have had a variety of church experiences, all good. I'll try to go into detail about our church visits in a future post.
Tomorrow we head towards California. We hope to be there, holding our new granddaugher and hugging Andrew and Marjo and Celsiana in about a week.
Well, at the beginning of this rather long, rambling post I asked if one could truly go home again. I guess we have confirmed the general belief that, no, you can't go home again. The physical locations we associaate with "home" have changed tremendously while both of us have also changed immeasurably in the years since we "left home." Our conclusion is that while our lives would have been different and not necessarily worse, we are quite happy with our lives now and see no need to go home again. We thank God for all the blessings He has put in our lives and especially the blessing of putting the two of us together.
Love to all. Let us hear from you.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Grant, Lynn and "Finally" Test the Water
Comes the moment of truth. Can we really do it? Will we really like it? What if we don't like it? Will we be able to do all the little things needed to live in a motor home?
On April 1, 2011, we loaded "Finally" with just about everything except the kitchen sink, managed to attach our car to the motor home, and ventured forth with the knowledge that God would take care of us, regardless of how inept we were. Our destination was Savanna, Georgia, about 300 miles from Winston-Salem and we planned to be gone for about 6 days.
Our good friends, Don and Anne Mumy, had invited us to share this trip with them. Don and Anne are experienced RV'ers and we hoped that with their help we would survive this trip and come away with the confidence to press on with our RV experience. We salute their courage for volunteering to "chaperone" our first trip.
Actually, they did their job well and the trip was more or less uneventful. There were a few noteworthy moments when our inexperience stood out. When we were preparing to leave, Don was helping me empty the tanks. He said that I should always empty the blackwater tank first, then the graywater, which would in effect rinse the drain hose after emptying the nasty stuff. We did this and noted that there was a place to hook up a hose and flush the tank. This sounded like a great idea so I hooked up the hose, turned the water on, opened the blackwater drain and waited for things to happen. All was quiet, nothing was happening until Lynn and Anne started yelling that water (not too clean) was coming out the front door.
Even I realized that the first thing to do was shut off the water. After some discussion, Don and I decided that we could continue with the graywater tank open, that somehow the blackwater tank would also get flushed out. This seemed to work because water was flowing through the drain and things appeared to be ok. This left only a small mess to clean up in the motor home. As it was, the water that overflowed was not the nasty stuff so there was no real damage and no lingering odor to remind us of the event.
What Lynn and I eventually realized was that our blackwater and graywater tanks are mislabeled. With this incident burned indelibly into my memory, I now empty the graywater tank first, then the blacktank and have not had a similar problem.
While this was going on, I made another rooky mistake. I was in and out of "Finally" and on one of my trips in I thought that I might as well close the slides while I was there. When I pushed the button to close the living room slide, there was an immediate screeching sound that obviously should not have been happening. I did stop right away and went out to see what the problem might be. What I had done (or not done) was fail to close the storage door over the sewage tanks and electrical hookup, located immediately under the slide. As a result the storage door caught the molding on the slide and pushed it out. Don came to my rescue and helped me secure the molding so that it wouldn't come loose on the trip home.
Despite these two events it was a wonderful trip. We saw a lot of Savanna, had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant and just generally had a great time. Don and Anne were good company and we thank them so much for helping us start our great adventure.
With that first trip behind us, we were now confident enough to plan our second trip, a solo adventure, without a safety net, so to speak. We decided to go to a state park campground in South Carolina, near Charleston. This campground had no sewage hookup so I would have to be sure to empty the tanks before they overflowed, even if it meant unhookinng everything else and going to the dump station.
This trip went really well. We enjoyed a trip into Charleston and a beautiful campsite on the banks of the Edisto River. The noteworthy event of this trip was a severe storm front that pushed through the area and had possible tornados predicted. We knew enough to know that we didn't want to be in our motor home if any tornados were in the area. Before the storm front arrived, we checked out the local WalMart to see if it might be substantial enough to withstand a tornado. However, we kept watching the weather channel and it was soon apparent that the storm would be passing somewhat north of where we were. We praised God for sparing us this test.
Having been south on our first two trips we decided on the mountains for our next trip. We decided on a short trip to West Jefferson, NC, less that 100 miles west of Winston-Salem. My son, David and his friend Kelly wanted to join us and thought that this would be a good time to test our skills. They would camp in their tent and join us for meals. We would also tour the area together. This turned out to be a fun trip. However, it turned pretty cool that night and we didn't seem to have any heat. Tried everything and could get the heater to work so I went out and bought out a little space heater which did the job and is now available if we need it.
We visited the cheese factory in West Jefferson and Kelly fell in love with that. She bought several items and kept them in our refrigerator until time to leave. I was hopeful that she would forget them but that didn't happen. On Sunday, David and Kelly honored Lynn for Mother's Day with lunch before they returned to Charlotte.
Later, I learned that there was nothing wrong with our heater. The problem was that I had turned the gas off, instead of on. Since we hadn't tried to cook anything on the stove it wasn;t readily apparent that the gas wasn't on. Another lesson learned.
Our final trip was to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, where I was a lay delegate to the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Lake Junaluska has a nice campground that others in our church have used so we decided to give it a try. While there we decided to invite Bret Cogan, our pastor, and Fred Scherle, a friend who was also a delegate, to our new motor home for dinner. We would cook on our grill and add potato salad and cole slaw and eat out on a picnic table and have a wonderful time of fellowship.
When the appointed time came storms were brewing and cooking out was doubtful, and forget about eating out. Fred had another committment come up but joined us for a period of fellowship. After I took Fred back to his hotel, the weather turned even worse and the wind was blowing so bad that I couldn't even light the grill. On to Plan B. Luckily we had a pan that we could use to cook the chicken in the oven (had never used the oven and had to figure out how to light it.). Things turned out well and we had a nice dinner and fellowship with Bret. The whole trip went well and I can't report any other dumb mistakes.
By now, over the course of three months we have had 4 trips, made mistakes and learned from them. We have tested the waters and didn't drown. We developed confidence that this is something that we still wanted to do and that we could do. We are ready for launch.
Our next post will tell you about the preparations for the trip and finally events from our first few weeks. I made some adjustments to our itinerary, to show the actual towns where we have made reservations. I am still working on addding pictures on another page.
So long for now.
On April 1, 2011, we loaded "Finally" with just about everything except the kitchen sink, managed to attach our car to the motor home, and ventured forth with the knowledge that God would take care of us, regardless of how inept we were. Our destination was Savanna, Georgia, about 300 miles from Winston-Salem and we planned to be gone for about 6 days.
Our good friends, Don and Anne Mumy, had invited us to share this trip with them. Don and Anne are experienced RV'ers and we hoped that with their help we would survive this trip and come away with the confidence to press on with our RV experience. We salute their courage for volunteering to "chaperone" our first trip.
Actually, they did their job well and the trip was more or less uneventful. There were a few noteworthy moments when our inexperience stood out. When we were preparing to leave, Don was helping me empty the tanks. He said that I should always empty the blackwater tank first, then the graywater, which would in effect rinse the drain hose after emptying the nasty stuff. We did this and noted that there was a place to hook up a hose and flush the tank. This sounded like a great idea so I hooked up the hose, turned the water on, opened the blackwater drain and waited for things to happen. All was quiet, nothing was happening until Lynn and Anne started yelling that water (not too clean) was coming out the front door.
Even I realized that the first thing to do was shut off the water. After some discussion, Don and I decided that we could continue with the graywater tank open, that somehow the blackwater tank would also get flushed out. This seemed to work because water was flowing through the drain and things appeared to be ok. This left only a small mess to clean up in the motor home. As it was, the water that overflowed was not the nasty stuff so there was no real damage and no lingering odor to remind us of the event.
What Lynn and I eventually realized was that our blackwater and graywater tanks are mislabeled. With this incident burned indelibly into my memory, I now empty the graywater tank first, then the blacktank and have not had a similar problem.
While this was going on, I made another rooky mistake. I was in and out of "Finally" and on one of my trips in I thought that I might as well close the slides while I was there. When I pushed the button to close the living room slide, there was an immediate screeching sound that obviously should not have been happening. I did stop right away and went out to see what the problem might be. What I had done (or not done) was fail to close the storage door over the sewage tanks and electrical hookup, located immediately under the slide. As a result the storage door caught the molding on the slide and pushed it out. Don came to my rescue and helped me secure the molding so that it wouldn't come loose on the trip home.
Despite these two events it was a wonderful trip. We saw a lot of Savanna, had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant and just generally had a great time. Don and Anne were good company and we thank them so much for helping us start our great adventure.
With that first trip behind us, we were now confident enough to plan our second trip, a solo adventure, without a safety net, so to speak. We decided to go to a state park campground in South Carolina, near Charleston. This campground had no sewage hookup so I would have to be sure to empty the tanks before they overflowed, even if it meant unhookinng everything else and going to the dump station.
This trip went really well. We enjoyed a trip into Charleston and a beautiful campsite on the banks of the Edisto River. The noteworthy event of this trip was a severe storm front that pushed through the area and had possible tornados predicted. We knew enough to know that we didn't want to be in our motor home if any tornados were in the area. Before the storm front arrived, we checked out the local WalMart to see if it might be substantial enough to withstand a tornado. However, we kept watching the weather channel and it was soon apparent that the storm would be passing somewhat north of where we were. We praised God for sparing us this test.
Having been south on our first two trips we decided on the mountains for our next trip. We decided on a short trip to West Jefferson, NC, less that 100 miles west of Winston-Salem. My son, David and his friend Kelly wanted to join us and thought that this would be a good time to test our skills. They would camp in their tent and join us for meals. We would also tour the area together. This turned out to be a fun trip. However, it turned pretty cool that night and we didn't seem to have any heat. Tried everything and could get the heater to work so I went out and bought out a little space heater which did the job and is now available if we need it.
We visited the cheese factory in West Jefferson and Kelly fell in love with that. She bought several items and kept them in our refrigerator until time to leave. I was hopeful that she would forget them but that didn't happen. On Sunday, David and Kelly honored Lynn for Mother's Day with lunch before they returned to Charlotte.
Later, I learned that there was nothing wrong with our heater. The problem was that I had turned the gas off, instead of on. Since we hadn't tried to cook anything on the stove it wasn;t readily apparent that the gas wasn't on. Another lesson learned.
Our final trip was to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, where I was a lay delegate to the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Lake Junaluska has a nice campground that others in our church have used so we decided to give it a try. While there we decided to invite Bret Cogan, our pastor, and Fred Scherle, a friend who was also a delegate, to our new motor home for dinner. We would cook on our grill and add potato salad and cole slaw and eat out on a picnic table and have a wonderful time of fellowship.
When the appointed time came storms were brewing and cooking out was doubtful, and forget about eating out. Fred had another committment come up but joined us for a period of fellowship. After I took Fred back to his hotel, the weather turned even worse and the wind was blowing so bad that I couldn't even light the grill. On to Plan B. Luckily we had a pan that we could use to cook the chicken in the oven (had never used the oven and had to figure out how to light it.). Things turned out well and we had a nice dinner and fellowship with Bret. The whole trip went well and I can't report any other dumb mistakes.
By now, over the course of three months we have had 4 trips, made mistakes and learned from them. We have tested the waters and didn't drown. We developed confidence that this is something that we still wanted to do and that we could do. We are ready for launch.
Our next post will tell you about the preparations for the trip and finally events from our first few weeks. I made some adjustments to our itinerary, to show the actual towns where we have made reservations. I am still working on addding pictures on another page.
So long for now.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Finally, Our Dream Realized
Well, readers. What do you think? "R V Crazy?" (Thanks, Marriah.)
Having made up our own minds that we are not, indeed, crazy, we set about to making this dream come true.
First step, find out what RV's are all about. Lots of material available on the internet, but basically we learned that we had about 5 choices when it came to selecting a motor home, Class A (too big, like a bus), Class B (converted van, too small), Class C (just right size, meets our needs), 5th wheel trailer (never liked the idea of having a 30-35 foot tail on attached to the bed of a truck) and travel trailer (same objections as 5th wheel, except that it is attached to the end of the truck).
Next we checked out the safety rating of the various types of Class C homes (our preferred choice). This material is available by manufacturer and model. Having picked out what we considered the safest models for our purpose we set out trying to see actual models. We visited one dealer and saw what looked nice but the ones he showed us weren't up to par for our safety standards.
Fortunately there was a RV show scheduled in Greensboro about this time. We were dazzled by all the shiny new coaches but were still concerned about safety and like cars, there is a huge depreciation on new models when you drive them off the showroom floor. So, we decided we wanted a used, Winnebago Access, which was about 30 feet long and had a pretty decent floor plan (just like looking for a house or apartment.)
One of the wonders of the modern day world (in our old minds) is the internet. Don't know how or why it works but it does. We managed to learn how to conduct a search for the perfect vehicle. We found we could search by manufacturer, model, year, price range, location, private seller or dealer and many other features that didn't seem too imprtant to us at the time.
The problem now was timing. We planned for all of this to take place so that we could leave on our "Epic Journey" about the time we both retired in August, 2011. So we just kept searching and seeing what was available and by looking at this on a regular basis we could identify how long some of these motor homes had been on the market. It gave us a pretty good idea of what we did and didn't want.
Finally, it came time for us to consider actually purchasing a vehicle. After we got a preliminary approval for financing from our credit union, we began searching in earnest. We believe that God knew what we were doing and he put the perfect vehicle on the market at that time. We found a used Winnebago Itasca Sundancer (very similar to the Access but with more features) in our price range, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina, only about 100 miles from home.
So, on a bright, sunny but cool, day in January, we made a road trip to Rock Hill so see this perfect vehicle. We were thrilled with what we saw and immediately made arrangements to have the vehicle inspected so that we could be assured that there were no hidden flaws. This perfect vehicle passed inspection with flying colors so we made a deal with the owner to take it off his hands.
Now came the hard part. We went back to the credit union and had to jump through numerous hoops over a couple of weeks and finally got a loan approved. Next, we had to get the seller's loan paid off and the title signed over to us. Long story short, this took another couple of weeks and ended with another trip to Rock Hill on a Friday afternoon to get the seller to sign off. FINALLY, with all the paper work in place we were able to stop at the DMV in Charlotte and get our dream registered in our name.
Things still weren't going to be that simple. We still had to find a place to store it and have some repairs made. Again, we got past these minor hurdles and we were ready for our first trip.
When driving around locally, getting used to driving a truck and showing it off some, we got our first jolt of reality. Filled the gas tank (55 gallons) and the pump stopped at $75 and still was nowhere near full. Apparently the credit card companies or stations want to limit their exposure so they limit the amoun to be charged on a single purchase. (As gas prices have continued to rise, that limit has gone up and is now about $100 at most stations.) We had prepared ourselves for this so neither of us suffered a heart attack or even a panic attack.
Now we are legally registered, road worthy, and extremely eager to make our first trip. It was a long struggke but certainly worth all the effort. With these thing in mind, we christened our new (used) motor home with the name Finally.
Tune in for our next post which will tell you about our shakedown cruise and first solo and some of the lessons we learned, sort of the hard say. We also hope to be adding pictures of some our stops and the people we are visiting.
Also note, a page with our itinerary has been added.
Let us hear from you all.
Having made up our own minds that we are not, indeed, crazy, we set about to making this dream come true.
First step, find out what RV's are all about. Lots of material available on the internet, but basically we learned that we had about 5 choices when it came to selecting a motor home, Class A (too big, like a bus), Class B (converted van, too small), Class C (just right size, meets our needs), 5th wheel trailer (never liked the idea of having a 30-35 foot tail on attached to the bed of a truck) and travel trailer (same objections as 5th wheel, except that it is attached to the end of the truck).
Next we checked out the safety rating of the various types of Class C homes (our preferred choice). This material is available by manufacturer and model. Having picked out what we considered the safest models for our purpose we set out trying to see actual models. We visited one dealer and saw what looked nice but the ones he showed us weren't up to par for our safety standards.
Fortunately there was a RV show scheduled in Greensboro about this time. We were dazzled by all the shiny new coaches but were still concerned about safety and like cars, there is a huge depreciation on new models when you drive them off the showroom floor. So, we decided we wanted a used, Winnebago Access, which was about 30 feet long and had a pretty decent floor plan (just like looking for a house or apartment.)
One of the wonders of the modern day world (in our old minds) is the internet. Don't know how or why it works but it does. We managed to learn how to conduct a search for the perfect vehicle. We found we could search by manufacturer, model, year, price range, location, private seller or dealer and many other features that didn't seem too imprtant to us at the time.
The problem now was timing. We planned for all of this to take place so that we could leave on our "Epic Journey" about the time we both retired in August, 2011. So we just kept searching and seeing what was available and by looking at this on a regular basis we could identify how long some of these motor homes had been on the market. It gave us a pretty good idea of what we did and didn't want.
Finally, it came time for us to consider actually purchasing a vehicle. After we got a preliminary approval for financing from our credit union, we began searching in earnest. We believe that God knew what we were doing and he put the perfect vehicle on the market at that time. We found a used Winnebago Itasca Sundancer (very similar to the Access but with more features) in our price range, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina, only about 100 miles from home.
So, on a bright, sunny but cool, day in January, we made a road trip to Rock Hill so see this perfect vehicle. We were thrilled with what we saw and immediately made arrangements to have the vehicle inspected so that we could be assured that there were no hidden flaws. This perfect vehicle passed inspection with flying colors so we made a deal with the owner to take it off his hands.
Now came the hard part. We went back to the credit union and had to jump through numerous hoops over a couple of weeks and finally got a loan approved. Next, we had to get the seller's loan paid off and the title signed over to us. Long story short, this took another couple of weeks and ended with another trip to Rock Hill on a Friday afternoon to get the seller to sign off. FINALLY, with all the paper work in place we were able to stop at the DMV in Charlotte and get our dream registered in our name.
Things still weren't going to be that simple. We still had to find a place to store it and have some repairs made. Again, we got past these minor hurdles and we were ready for our first trip.
When driving around locally, getting used to driving a truck and showing it off some, we got our first jolt of reality. Filled the gas tank (55 gallons) and the pump stopped at $75 and still was nowhere near full. Apparently the credit card companies or stations want to limit their exposure so they limit the amoun to be charged on a single purchase. (As gas prices have continued to rise, that limit has gone up and is now about $100 at most stations.) We had prepared ourselves for this so neither of us suffered a heart attack or even a panic attack.
Now we are legally registered, road worthy, and extremely eager to make our first trip. It was a long struggke but certainly worth all the effort. With these thing in mind, we christened our new (used) motor home with the name Finally.
Tune in for our next post which will tell you about our shakedown cruise and first solo and some of the lessons we learned, sort of the hard say. We also hope to be adding pictures of some our stops and the people we are visiting.
Also note, a page with our itinerary has been added.
Let us hear from you all.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
"Are We Crazy?"
Welcome to "The Emrick's Epic Journey", a blog about our planned journey around the USA. We want to keep everyone informed about our activities and our progress, problems and blessings encountered. We hope you will read it occasionally and respond with your comments and news from home or wherever.
While no one has expressed it directly, surely some of you may think we may have slipped a cog or something. Why would anyone give up a comfortable life in retirement to live in a relatively tiny motor home and spend a lot of time on the road in who knows what kind of weather. Oh, and did I mention the cost of gas to run this small home but monstrous sized vehicle?
As we approached that point when both of us would be fully retired, we began talking about what we wanted to do with all this wonderful free time. Lynn expressed a desire to spend time with our far flung family members and Grant wanted to see all of this beautiful country. In the past Lynn had also said that if she could travel she wanted to see all 50 states, rather than go to various exotic locations around the world. When we considered the possibility of travelling to visit everyone, it soon became apparent that the expense would be more than we could bear.
So, we decided to think about an alternative means of travel that might be within our means. We had known others who had done this and quite frankly, we thought they were crazy when they talked about their plans. However, when we began to consider just how we could accomplish our retirement goals, the idea didn't seem nearly so crazy. We are in effect "turtles", carrying our home on our backs. We sleep in our own bed every night and we can have home cooking when we want it. We can tow a car so that we can have transportation when we are at a stopping point. We can spend as much or as little time as we want at any location. We can arrange our travel to be at any chosen location for birthdays, etc. Thus, a plan was born.
Tell us what you think. Are we crazy?
The next post will tell you about how we implemented our plan and some of the surprises and blessings we encountered.
While no one has expressed it directly, surely some of you may think we may have slipped a cog or something. Why would anyone give up a comfortable life in retirement to live in a relatively tiny motor home and spend a lot of time on the road in who knows what kind of weather. Oh, and did I mention the cost of gas to run this small home but monstrous sized vehicle?
As we approached that point when both of us would be fully retired, we began talking about what we wanted to do with all this wonderful free time. Lynn expressed a desire to spend time with our far flung family members and Grant wanted to see all of this beautiful country. In the past Lynn had also said that if she could travel she wanted to see all 50 states, rather than go to various exotic locations around the world. When we considered the possibility of travelling to visit everyone, it soon became apparent that the expense would be more than we could bear.
So, we decided to think about an alternative means of travel that might be within our means. We had known others who had done this and quite frankly, we thought they were crazy when they talked about their plans. However, when we began to consider just how we could accomplish our retirement goals, the idea didn't seem nearly so crazy. We are in effect "turtles", carrying our home on our backs. We sleep in our own bed every night and we can have home cooking when we want it. We can tow a car so that we can have transportation when we are at a stopping point. We can spend as much or as little time as we want at any location. We can arrange our travel to be at any chosen location for birthdays, etc. Thus, a plan was born.
Tell us what you think. Are we crazy?
The next post will tell you about how we implemented our plan and some of the surprises and blessings we encountered.
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