Yes, I'm killing time at Panera this afternoon. Freightliner issued a recall for the steering box on motorhomes built between 2004 and 2008. So I called Truck Center in Springfield last week to set up an appointment to see if the part needed to be replaced on our motorhome. I told them that we lived fulltime in the motorhome. The appointment was set for 8:00am this morning, and I had a dentist appointment at 8:00am. Not a problem. It doesn't take two of us to drive the motorhome to Truck Center, and I didn't need Dan to hold my hand at the dentist. And we knew it shouldn't take too long to see if our steering box was actually on the recall list. If it was, the part would have to be ordered and we'd have to take the motorhome back another day for a 4 hour appointment. And Dan wanted to take it to another truck place where he gets the oil and filters changed and thought he would have plenty of time to get that done this morning. He wasn't happy with the first oil change done at Truck Center and the price was higher. We had to take it to Truck Center for the recall because they are a Freightliner service center.
So we were up at 6:00am, walked the dog (he was a little confused at having to go outside in the rain and the dark so early in the morning); had breakfast, and finished packing up the items that I didn't put away last night. Even just driving 5 miles, we still need to stow things as though we are moving down the road. We do leave some things out on the non-skid mats and several things are anchored down with museum putty, but we still have to go through the whole pre-travel process. We both left our driveway at 7:30. I put a load of clothes in the washer at the local laundromat and went to the dentist. (Small town, don't need to worry about the clothes). Finished with the dentist about 8:30, dried the clothes at the laundromat, visited with another lady there for about 1/2 hour and finally went back to the house about 10:30. NO MOTORHOME, NO DAN AND NO TRUCK. Now, I had been told it would only take about 1/2 hour to check for the recall. And it's still raining; not hard, but a steady drizzle.
Called Dan and he said they hadn't pulled the motorhome into the shop yet!!! He told them that we lived in it fulltime as he watched another Mandalay motorhome being pulled into the shop (a 2008 model there for another recall). The shop guy, whose name was also Dan, said, "Oh, I didn't know that." So it finally got into the shop at 11:00. I, in the meantime, was sitting in our driveway with the dog in the car, reading a book. There is no furniture in the house, and there is a problem with the furnace so we haven't been able to heat the downstairs. Pete is coming Tuesday or Wednesday to fix it.
We decided to meet at Denny's for lunch, since all the food is in the Mandalay which is now in the shop. As I was driving to Denny's, Truck Center Dan called to say that our gear box was NOT on the recall list and we could pick up the motorhome. Dan had checked about getting the oil changed at the other shop, but they can't do it until 1:00pm.
Soooooo, that's why I'm hanging out at Panera. Denny's doesn't have WiFi, or I would have just stayed there. Kasey is really confused. He can't understand why he has to stay in the car all day.
Oh, I almost forgot. Dan also has to get propane today while he's running around in the motorhome. We haven't been running the motorhome furnace, but also don't have much propane. We do have 2 small electric heaters which work real well to warm things up in the early morning.
Just another day in the life of two RV fulltimers. The day didn't go as planned, but nothing bad happened; we don't have to schedule another appointment for the recall; and we got the scheduled maintenance done and checked off the list.
Back to working on the house tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Fulltiming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fulltiming. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Musings on Our Lifestyle and Back in Illinois
We arrived back in Rochester on Friday, Oct. 16. It is really interesting to see how some things have stayed the same and others have changed after having been gone for several months. There was extensive road work being down on East Lake Drive, the main road we take to get to Springfield, when we left in June. Most of the time the road was one lane during the road work. It was heavily traveled, thus the need to widen it; but it seemed like it was taking forever to finish the work. The work is all completed, with turn lanes, a traffic signal, new grass on either side and one of the smoothest surfaces we've ever seen. And a hike and bike trail. I hope the people who use it every day appreciate all the work that went into it.
Our neighborhood looks about the same. The house looks just like it did when we left (in need of getting the remodeling done). Our neighbor has kept the yard mowed and checked inside occasionally. After getting the motorhome parked and hooked up (we have 50amp and water on one end of the house and access to a sewer drain in the basement to dump the tanks via our macerator pump, we talked a little about our emotions and feelings of coming back to this house. We concluded that we really don't have any feeling one way or another, except the need to get this remodeling done so we can turn the key over to the realtor!! We raised our family in this house. Dan built the house the spring of 1978 after Sarah was born, and all our children graduated from the Rochester Schools. We have LOTS of memories of kids over to visit, birthday parties with grandparents included, Easter egg hunts in the back yard, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners around our big Amish built dining room table (with card tables added as a daughter-in-law and sons-in-law were added, and then grandchildren). Other memories of each child learning to drive, working at the local grocery store, library and restaurant and then leaving for college or the military, or just to "find themselves". At one time both parents and two children were all in college at the same time. Dan built a house for my parents just one block away so they could be closer to us as they were becoming less independent.
But time marches on and children establish their own homes in 5 different states, our parents do not live forever and our own needs and wants change. I'm not sure our needs and wants change as much as our sense that we now have the freedom and abilities to pursue some of our dreams which may have been put on the back burner. We neither one have a sense of "coming home" to this house.
We so enjoyed our three months in Seattle. Dash Point State Park is actually located on Puget Sound in Federal Way, just south of Seattle; about 25 miles from Gretchen's house. We were maintenance volunteers at the park. Our campsite certainly didn't have the "it" factor as we were parked across from the office and maintenance buildings. But we did have a nice big grassy yard and met and worked with a fabulous group of park rangers and park staff. And we were able to set our own hours independent of the campground hosts, so we could come and go as we pleased. This was especially helpful as Gretchen needed quite a bit of help after Edie was born. Our previous visits to Seattle with the motorhome we had parked in Gretchen and Rodney's back yard in West Seattle, and that was beginning to feel like "home." I'm sure if we volunteer at Dash Point again, we'll feel right at home.
Here are some pictures of our site at Dash Point.
This is the entrance sign on the beach side of the park. Our site was about 400 ft to the right of this sign.
The entrance booth to the beach and day use area looking toward out campsite. This was my work station on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons as I passed out trail maps, answered questions, gave directions, and reminded visitors of the donation box. Dash Point SP is supported by the state, but all donations are used for improvements and projects at the park that are not covered in the regular budget. The 400 acre park is located within the city of Federal Way, and is heavily used by the local neighborhood families.
Our motorhome is visible in the background. You can see, I didn't have far to walk to work, and Dan just walked across the street to the maintenance area where he repaired and revamped all the old wooden picnic tables. He recycled the usable wood and bolts and used other recycled wood that was leftover from other projects.
Just relaxing. Notice Grandpa and Lucy's legs. The office is in the background just across the street from our campsite.
Our neighborhood looks about the same. The house looks just like it did when we left (in need of getting the remodeling done). Our neighbor has kept the yard mowed and checked inside occasionally. After getting the motorhome parked and hooked up (we have 50amp and water on one end of the house and access to a sewer drain in the basement to dump the tanks via our macerator pump, we talked a little about our emotions and feelings of coming back to this house. We concluded that we really don't have any feeling one way or another, except the need to get this remodeling done so we can turn the key over to the realtor!! We raised our family in this house. Dan built the house the spring of 1978 after Sarah was born, and all our children graduated from the Rochester Schools. We have LOTS of memories of kids over to visit, birthday parties with grandparents included, Easter egg hunts in the back yard, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners around our big Amish built dining room table (with card tables added as a daughter-in-law and sons-in-law were added, and then grandchildren). Other memories of each child learning to drive, working at the local grocery store, library and restaurant and then leaving for college or the military, or just to "find themselves". At one time both parents and two children were all in college at the same time. Dan built a house for my parents just one block away so they could be closer to us as they were becoming less independent.
But time marches on and children establish their own homes in 5 different states, our parents do not live forever and our own needs and wants change. I'm not sure our needs and wants change as much as our sense that we now have the freedom and abilities to pursue some of our dreams which may have been put on the back burner. We neither one have a sense of "coming home" to this house.
We so enjoyed our three months in Seattle. Dash Point State Park is actually located on Puget Sound in Federal Way, just south of Seattle; about 25 miles from Gretchen's house. We were maintenance volunteers at the park. Our campsite certainly didn't have the "it" factor as we were parked across from the office and maintenance buildings. But we did have a nice big grassy yard and met and worked with a fabulous group of park rangers and park staff. And we were able to set our own hours independent of the campground hosts, so we could come and go as we pleased. This was especially helpful as Gretchen needed quite a bit of help after Edie was born. Our previous visits to Seattle with the motorhome we had parked in Gretchen and Rodney's back yard in West Seattle, and that was beginning to feel like "home." I'm sure if we volunteer at Dash Point again, we'll feel right at home.
Here are some pictures of our site at Dash Point.
This is the entrance sign on the beach side of the park. Our site was about 400 ft to the right of this sign.
The entrance booth to the beach and day use area looking toward out campsite. This was my work station on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons as I passed out trail maps, answered questions, gave directions, and reminded visitors of the donation box. Dash Point SP is supported by the state, but all donations are used for improvements and projects at the park that are not covered in the regular budget. The 400 acre park is located within the city of Federal Way, and is heavily used by the local neighborhood families.
Our motorhome is visible in the background. You can see, I didn't have far to walk to work, and Dan just walked across the street to the maintenance area where he repaired and revamped all the old wooden picnic tables. He recycled the usable wood and bolts and used other recycled wood that was leftover from other projects.
Lucy and Grandpa blowing bubbles in our
yard next to the motorhome.
Just relaxing. Notice Grandpa and Lucy's legs. The office is in the background just across the street from our campsite.
This is Edie and her mom. Edie was asleep in the motorhome when the other pictures were taken.As I said before, we felt right at home at Dash Point and look forward to returning in the future. And we get to see spend more time with our granddaughters and their mom and dad also.
We left Seatle and headed toward Colorado to visit our grandsons in Carbondale, CO. How about this scene as we approach Redstone Campground in the White River National Forest just 13 miles south of Carbondale? That's Mt Sopris. It never fails to invoke a sense of awe in me. Mt. Sopris is on the northern edge of the Elk Range and its twin summits are 12, 935 ft tall. It sits at the confluence of the Crystal River and Roaring Fork River, both noted for their trout fishing. The Crystal River flows right by Redstone Campground.
One of our favorite campsites at Redstone Campground. And since it is a National Forest Campground we're able to use our Federal Senior Discount Pass and cut the fee by 1/2. There is a $5/day charge for electricity which is not discounted.
We really do feel like we've come home when we pull into Redstone.
And here are Isaac and Elijah
So, even though we no longer live in a "sticks & brick", and we hope to be rid of it very soon; we make each place we stay our home. Some are more special than others, but we feel very comfortable in our home on wheels. We have everything we need with us and have found that we just don't have the "wants" that we used to. Our biggest "want" is that our kids didn't live so far apart (diesel fuel isn't inexpensive), but I can't think of a better way to see this wonderful country, meet new people every day, and spend as much time as we want in various parts of the country.
More about what we're doing this fall in a later post.
Till the next time..........
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Short Catch-up
I know; I've been VERY remiss in not keeping up with the blog, and I apologize to everyone who so faithfully checks to see what we're up to. I'm working on a "summer summary" and hope to get it posted in the next week.
In the meantime, we've been at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort since last Sunday, enjoying meeting friends at the RV-Dreams.com rally, hosted by Howard and Linda Payne. We really enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up with them. Especially Denny and Char from Bloomington, IL. Char celebrated her birthday at the rally.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR! Denny and Char just started full-timing about 2 weeks ago.
We'll be leaving here tomorrow for Converse, TX (near San Antonio) to a Cummins garage to have a vibration in the engine checked out before starting back to Illinois. That's AFTER we get the chassis batteries back from AutoZone where they are being recharged. Seems we been having battery issues off and on for a few months. Something is draining the batteries, and we're not sure just what that is. Soooo, will probably be in another shop before long. That's the downside of this lifestyle, and can be very aggravating when something happens, but the traveling, meeting new people, seeing new places and the views out the front window make it all worthwhile.
So until next time,
Safe travels to everyone leaving the rally today and tomorrow.
In the meantime, we've been at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort since last Sunday, enjoying meeting friends at the RV-Dreams.com rally, hosted by Howard and Linda Payne. We really enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up with them. Especially Denny and Char from Bloomington, IL. Char celebrated her birthday at the rally.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR! Denny and Char just started full-timing about 2 weeks ago.
We'll be leaving here tomorrow for Converse, TX (near San Antonio) to a Cummins garage to have a vibration in the engine checked out before starting back to Illinois. That's AFTER we get the chassis batteries back from AutoZone where they are being recharged. Seems we been having battery issues off and on for a few months. Something is draining the batteries, and we're not sure just what that is. Soooo, will probably be in another shop before long. That's the downside of this lifestyle, and can be very aggravating when something happens, but the traveling, meeting new people, seeing new places and the views out the front window make it all worthwhile.
So until next time,
Safe travels to everyone leaving the rally today and tomorrow.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
House Sitting, Dog Sitting and Just Hanging Out in Seattle
I realized it's been a over a week since I last posted. A lot has happened since then.
Currently, Dan and I are "home alone" with three dogs. Erin's mom came and took her home and Rodney, Gretchen and Lucy have gone to Florida for Rodney's brother's 40th birthday. So it's just us and Murphy, Jack and Kasey. Gretchen adopted Murphy not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and is about 10 years old. He had been abused and Gretchen spent a lot of time and effort to rehab him. Murphy and Lucy get along really well. She climbs all over him and loves to take him for walks. He is a big dog, but never pulls on the leash with Lucy and if she stops, he does too.
Not sure what breed Jack is, but Rodney adopted him shortly after starting college. Jack is about sixteen years old and is in failing health. He has a large growth on his side, is deaf and partially blind and has mobility issues. He has lost his peripheral vision and doesn't like being surprised from the side. But he has been trotting out to see me when I come into the back yard. Gretchen and Rodney have taught Lucy not to bother Jack and she really does leave him alone.
And of course, Kasey is in the middle of everything. He is four years old and would like to play, but the senior citizen dogs would rather just take it easy.
So we're caring for the dogs, sitting out in the yard (when it's not raining - it's rained quite a bit the past few days, but was sunny today), watching the Olympics, picking zucchini, playing with the dogs, watching the Olympics, ....... You get the picture.
So, what were we doing before everyone left? Stephanie arrived on Wednesday, August 13th. Erin was really glad to see her mom. They both left this Wednesday. Erin's first day of school as a sixth grader was today. We really enjoyed having her with us this summer. And we all enjoyed our time with Stephanie and Erin this past week. They stayed in the motorhome with us, and enjoyed having breakfast with Lucy every day and just hanging out with family. We did go to Pike's Market one day and Stephanie and Dan did a four-hour hike up Mount Si another day.
And Stephanie made a wonderful blackberry cobbler with blackberries picked from the blackberry patch just across the street. Blackberries grow wild all over Seattle and most people don't even pick them. You can see by the pictures just how difficult it is to pick them. And the big ones are always just out of reach. :)
But just see the results of all that hard work. And they picked enough to freeze some too.
As I mentioned earlier, the O'Byrne's are in Florida. They'll be back Sunday morning. We took them to the airport Tuesday evening and they flew nonstop from Seattle to Miami, arriving in Miami about 3:00am. Then Wednesday morning, at 6:15, we took Erin and her mom to the airport. And we will pick up some friends of Gretchen's on Friday morning when they return from vacation. (Gail took them to the airport on Monday last week). We could probably drive to the airport blindfolded. :)
Yesterday, Dan and I drove to Everett, north of Seattle, and visited the Boeing assembly plant. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but we did see the most recent plane in production, the 787, Dreamliner. Dan always enjoys visiting any airplane facility. He spent four years in the Air Force, but had nothing to do with planes.
And today we attended the fall RV show at Qwest Center in Seattle. It's always fun to check out the newest RV's and see the changes. We have no plans to trade our motorhome. We are very happy with it even though we do have some issues to be addressed this fall with the manufacturer. But our Mandalay came with a three year warranty and the manufacturer has honored that warranty as we've had some things fixed. And they allowed us to get most of the work done in Springfield, IL at a local RV dealer before we started fulltiming. However, we wanted to take it back to the manufacturer before the warranty expires in November for a couple of issues and some minor things which we've found since we began fulltiming in June. So we'll be in Elkhart, IN toward the end of October. We may have to leave the motorhome there for several days since some part of the work may not allow for us to stay in it while they work on it. If so, we may just stay in Monticello with the Beever's (Erin's family). Sure don't need to decide that now.
So, we are enjoying a little down time as we house sit and take care of the dogs. And we've started thinking about where to head to when we leave here next week. We know we'll be going east, but haven't settled on anything else. We've talked about stopping off in Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac for a few days. We sure do want to see those boys again.
We'll head east on I-90 about next Wednesday and see where we end up. It's sure great to have so many choices in this lifestyle, and to know that the only big decision we have to make is where we'll park for the night. There may be a few others, but I can't think of them right now.
More later.......
Currently, Dan and I are "home alone" with three dogs. Erin's mom came and took her home and Rodney, Gretchen and Lucy have gone to Florida for Rodney's brother's 40th birthday. So it's just us and Murphy, Jack and Kasey. Gretchen adopted Murphy not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and is about 10 years old. He had been abused and Gretchen spent a lot of time and effort to rehab him. Murphy and Lucy get along really well. She climbs all over him and loves to take him for walks. He is a big dog, but never pulls on the leash with Lucy and if she stops, he does too.
Not sure what breed Jack is, but Rodney adopted him shortly after starting college. Jack is about sixteen years old and is in failing health. He has a large growth on his side, is deaf and partially blind and has mobility issues. He has lost his peripheral vision and doesn't like being surprised from the side. But he has been trotting out to see me when I come into the back yard. Gretchen and Rodney have taught Lucy not to bother Jack and she really does leave him alone.
And of course, Kasey is in the middle of everything. He is four years old and would like to play, but the senior citizen dogs would rather just take it easy.
So we're caring for the dogs, sitting out in the yard (when it's not raining - it's rained quite a bit the past few days, but was sunny today), watching the Olympics, picking zucchini, playing with the dogs, watching the Olympics, ....... You get the picture.
So, what were we doing before everyone left? Stephanie arrived on Wednesday, August 13th. Erin was really glad to see her mom. They both left this Wednesday. Erin's first day of school as a sixth grader was today. We really enjoyed having her with us this summer. And we all enjoyed our time with Stephanie and Erin this past week. They stayed in the motorhome with us, and enjoyed having breakfast with Lucy every day and just hanging out with family. We did go to Pike's Market one day and Stephanie and Dan did a four-hour hike up Mount Si another day.
And Stephanie made a wonderful blackberry cobbler with blackberries picked from the blackberry patch just across the street. Blackberries grow wild all over Seattle and most people don't even pick them. You can see by the pictures just how difficult it is to pick them. And the big ones are always just out of reach. :)
But just see the results of all that hard work. And they picked enough to freeze some too.
As I mentioned earlier, the O'Byrne's are in Florida. They'll be back Sunday morning. We took them to the airport Tuesday evening and they flew nonstop from Seattle to Miami, arriving in Miami about 3:00am. Then Wednesday morning, at 6:15, we took Erin and her mom to the airport. And we will pick up some friends of Gretchen's on Friday morning when they return from vacation. (Gail took them to the airport on Monday last week). We could probably drive to the airport blindfolded. :)
Yesterday, Dan and I drove to Everett, north of Seattle, and visited the Boeing assembly plant. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but we did see the most recent plane in production, the 787, Dreamliner. Dan always enjoys visiting any airplane facility. He spent four years in the Air Force, but had nothing to do with planes.
And today we attended the fall RV show at Qwest Center in Seattle. It's always fun to check out the newest RV's and see the changes. We have no plans to trade our motorhome. We are very happy with it even though we do have some issues to be addressed this fall with the manufacturer. But our Mandalay came with a three year warranty and the manufacturer has honored that warranty as we've had some things fixed. And they allowed us to get most of the work done in Springfield, IL at a local RV dealer before we started fulltiming. However, we wanted to take it back to the manufacturer before the warranty expires in November for a couple of issues and some minor things which we've found since we began fulltiming in June. So we'll be in Elkhart, IN toward the end of October. We may have to leave the motorhome there for several days since some part of the work may not allow for us to stay in it while they work on it. If so, we may just stay in Monticello with the Beever's (Erin's family). Sure don't need to decide that now.
So, we are enjoying a little down time as we house sit and take care of the dogs. And we've started thinking about where to head to when we leave here next week. We know we'll be going east, but haven't settled on anything else. We've talked about stopping off in Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac for a few days. We sure do want to see those boys again.
We'll head east on I-90 about next Wednesday and see where we end up. It's sure great to have so many choices in this lifestyle, and to know that the only big decision we have to make is where we'll park for the night. There may be a few others, but I can't think of them right now.
More later.......
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Long Time Away
Just a note to let everyone know we are still among the living. We left Branson on June 15th and stayed for 4 days at a Corps of Engineer campground at Fall River, KS. NO CELL PHONE OR INTERNET SERVICE!!!! So was unable to update the blog.
Very relaxing after getting ready to start fulltiming, Sarah's wedding and the RV-Dreams rally.
But will try to get something posted this week. We are now in Burdett, KS visiting friends. We have known Roger and Elaine since 1972 when Dan and Roger were studying at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
Plan to spend a few days with these good friends and then move on to Colorado to see Tim and Karen's new house and visit with grandchildren, Elijah and Isaac.
More later......
Very relaxing after getting ready to start fulltiming, Sarah's wedding and the RV-Dreams rally.
But will try to get something posted this week. We are now in Burdett, KS visiting friends. We have known Roger and Elaine since 1972 when Dan and Roger were studying at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
Plan to spend a few days with these good friends and then move on to Colorado to see Tim and Karen's new house and visit with grandchildren, Elijah and Isaac.
More later......
Monday, June 02, 2008
We ARE on Our Way !!!!!!!!!!!!
We left Rochester at 10:15 this morning on our first day of fulltime RVing. Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!!!
No, the house isn't sold, but it sure was nice to pull away from it. We built this house in 1977 and raised our family in it. Tim was a freshman in high school and Sarah was a baby. This is the house all our kids left from as they ventured out into the world. There are lots of memories in this house, but nothing to hold us to it any longer. As many of you have heard us say many times, "Our kids live in five different states from Washington to Massachusetts, including Illinois, Ohio and (soon to be) Colorado."
We are so looking forward to being able to spend time with each of them and their families as we travel, and take a grandchild with us once in awhile. Erin will be with us this summer.
So we begin our journey enjoying the freedom of traveling the open road, taking our home with us.
We still have some work to do on the house before putting it up for sale, and will get that done this fall.
Thanks to all of you who read our blog. Be sure to leave your comments.
More later...............
No, the house isn't sold, but it sure was nice to pull away from it. We built this house in 1977 and raised our family in it. Tim was a freshman in high school and Sarah was a baby. This is the house all our kids left from as they ventured out into the world. There are lots of memories in this house, but nothing to hold us to it any longer. As many of you have heard us say many times, "Our kids live in five different states from Washington to Massachusetts, including Illinois, Ohio and (soon to be) Colorado."
We are so looking forward to being able to spend time with each of them and their families as we travel, and take a grandchild with us once in awhile. Erin will be with us this summer.
So we begin our journey enjoying the freedom of traveling the open road, taking our home with us.
We still have some work to do on the house before putting it up for sale, and will get that done this fall.
Thanks to all of you who read our blog. Be sure to leave your comments.
More later...............
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Just About Ready to Go!!!!
Just eleven days until we pick up Erin and start our summer/fall adventure. WooHoo!!! We decided to stay in the house until sometime next week. Might as well use the house water and sewer instead of filling up the tanks in the motorhome. Plus, it's really been easier to organize in the MH. I've had just about everything out of the cabinets and closet and re-sorted, rearranged and labeled. Dan cleaned the basement storage areas and rearranged those also. Looks like we'll actually have some extra space even after he includes tools and a small air compressor.
He made some dividers for the cabinets so canned food and such will stay better organized while traveling. Just normal accelerating and braking can really mess up the cans. Our MH has such a smooth ride that very few things shift around during travel, but I hadn't found a way to keep the cans from sliding around. That rubberized shelf liner just gets wrinkled up. I do put the coffee pot in the sink and the toaster oven and 2 or 3 other items in a basket on the floor while traveling.
Dan sold the dump truck to the Village of Rochester last week, so the only work vehicles left are the Kioti tractor and the old 1983 Dodge Van (otherwise known as the Brogdon Bus). Gretchen drove the Brogdon Bus in high school and had several "adventures" with it; but I won't elaborate on those here.
Dan has purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck so the bikes won't have to lay in the bed of the truck. Three bikes will fit on it. Really nice!! And he began moving some of the tools into the front garage in preparation for a sale when we get back to Rochester in the fall. He had already sorted everything, but things were really crowded in the back garage and it wouldn't be very easy to display everything.
I just need to move food from the freezer and fridge and all the food will be in the MH. Sorting through the spice cabinet was quite interesting. I found 3 jars of chili powder and 3 cans of cocoa and numerous spices that I'm not sure how old they were. If I couldn't smell them when I opened them; they were history!! And I'm not sure why I even bought some of them. I bought some new spices and they now have a "date of purchase" marked on them.
We still need to go through a few clothes and decide what do to with them, but we are really close to being ready to leave. Monday I'll start calling to stop the paper, cable TV, trash pickup and all that stuff. A friend will be picking up our mail at the post office twice a month and sending it to us. We have switched everything to online bills and payments except for one insurance statement, so we don't have much mail. And our neighbor is going to mow our yard.
I didn't start out to write so much, but since this blog is also a diary of sorts, I guess I can write whatever I want to. :) We will be back in the fall to finish working on the house to put it on the market. Some might ask why we don't get that done now and then travel, but without going into detail; we have decided this is best for us.
So June 2 it's off to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding, then to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams rally; Burdett, KS to visit friends; Denver to visit Jean (Gail's sister) and Steve; Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac in their NEW home; and then on to Seattle for Lucy's birthday. And we'll be stopping along the way to enjoy this wonderful country and all the beautiful sites and scenery, and posting pictures.
AND, we're so happy to have Miss Erin traveling with us.
More later........
He made some dividers for the cabinets so canned food and such will stay better organized while traveling. Just normal accelerating and braking can really mess up the cans. Our MH has such a smooth ride that very few things shift around during travel, but I hadn't found a way to keep the cans from sliding around. That rubberized shelf liner just gets wrinkled up. I do put the coffee pot in the sink and the toaster oven and 2 or 3 other items in a basket on the floor while traveling.
Dan sold the dump truck to the Village of Rochester last week, so the only work vehicles left are the Kioti tractor and the old 1983 Dodge Van (otherwise known as the Brogdon Bus). Gretchen drove the Brogdon Bus in high school and had several "adventures" with it; but I won't elaborate on those here.
Dan has purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck so the bikes won't have to lay in the bed of the truck. Three bikes will fit on it. Really nice!! And he began moving some of the tools into the front garage in preparation for a sale when we get back to Rochester in the fall. He had already sorted everything, but things were really crowded in the back garage and it wouldn't be very easy to display everything.
I just need to move food from the freezer and fridge and all the food will be in the MH. Sorting through the spice cabinet was quite interesting. I found 3 jars of chili powder and 3 cans of cocoa and numerous spices that I'm not sure how old they were. If I couldn't smell them when I opened them; they were history!! And I'm not sure why I even bought some of them. I bought some new spices and they now have a "date of purchase" marked on them.
We still need to go through a few clothes and decide what do to with them, but we are really close to being ready to leave. Monday I'll start calling to stop the paper, cable TV, trash pickup and all that stuff. A friend will be picking up our mail at the post office twice a month and sending it to us. We have switched everything to online bills and payments except for one insurance statement, so we don't have much mail. And our neighbor is going to mow our yard.
I didn't start out to write so much, but since this blog is also a diary of sorts, I guess I can write whatever I want to. :) We will be back in the fall to finish working on the house to put it on the market. Some might ask why we don't get that done now and then travel, but without going into detail; we have decided this is best for us.
So June 2 it's off to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding, then to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams rally; Burdett, KS to visit friends; Denver to visit Jean (Gail's sister) and Steve; Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac in their NEW home; and then on to Seattle for Lucy's birthday. And we'll be stopping along the way to enjoy this wonderful country and all the beautiful sites and scenery, and posting pictures.
AND, we're so happy to have Miss Erin traveling with us.
More later........
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
No, We Aren't Traveling Yet
I didn't realize how long ago I posted, so thought I should bring this blog up-to-date.
We returned home from the race on April 29th. Had a wonderful time in Alabama even though our drivers didn't do well at the racetrack.
We've been busy continuing to work on the house. Sarah and Chad were back this past weekend so Sarah could check out the alterations on her wedding dress. It looked great, except for the hooks for the bustle, soooooo, those are being changed; and I'll pick it up on Saturday. She wanted to take it with her, but we'll be taking it to Ohio.
Sarah did load up their car with some more stuff, so our inventory keeps dwindling. And we hauled more stuff to Stephanie this week. We hope to get the living room furniture off to Goodwill this week along with another trunk load of stuff. Then just have the kitchen cabinets and some other miscellaneous to deal with. I've downsized the kitchen once already, so shouldn't take long to finish it.
We plan to start living in the motorhome this weekend. :) Sure am getting tired of not knowing where things are. Of course, it will take awhile to remember where we've put things in the motorhome, since I keep rearranging the cabinets.
And Dan has sold some more equipment, so things are progressing.
Not sure when I'll post again. My laptop is in the shop, but I should have it back in a day or two. I'm posting from the Rochester Library today.
Can't wait to start this fulltiming.
We returned home from the race on April 29th. Had a wonderful time in Alabama even though our drivers didn't do well at the racetrack.
We've been busy continuing to work on the house. Sarah and Chad were back this past weekend so Sarah could check out the alterations on her wedding dress. It looked great, except for the hooks for the bustle, soooooo, those are being changed; and I'll pick it up on Saturday. She wanted to take it with her, but we'll be taking it to Ohio.
Sarah did load up their car with some more stuff, so our inventory keeps dwindling. And we hauled more stuff to Stephanie this week. We hope to get the living room furniture off to Goodwill this week along with another trunk load of stuff. Then just have the kitchen cabinets and some other miscellaneous to deal with. I've downsized the kitchen once already, so shouldn't take long to finish it.
We plan to start living in the motorhome this weekend. :) Sure am getting tired of not knowing where things are. Of course, it will take awhile to remember where we've put things in the motorhome, since I keep rearranging the cabinets.
And Dan has sold some more equipment, so things are progressing.
Not sure when I'll post again. My laptop is in the shop, but I should have it back in a day or two. I'm posting from the Rochester Library today.
Can't wait to start this fulltiming.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Still Here!!!! Sorting, Hauling, Planning
Yes, we are still in Rochester; and I have not been very good at writing on the blog. But we have gotten a LOT done in the past few days.
Sarah and her fiance, Chad, were home for a 3 day weekend for a wedding dress fitting and we conned them into helping clean out the basement. And what help they were!!! Also moved several items to the storage building for pickup later by the kids. Stephanie, Taylor and Erin came on Saturday and helped also. Sure makes for faster work when several are helping. And we had pizza at Gallina's on Saturday evening. It's a family tradition when any of the kids are here. Sarah and Chad slept in the motor home since there are no extra beds in the house. It's really nice to have hookups at the house.
I'm working 3 days this week and next so probably won't get much other stuff done. I was exhausted when I got home today. I do enjoy my job, but don't like having to be at work at 5:30 AM. And it's pretty fast-paced for several hours as we admit kids and send them off to surgery. But even though I enjoy my job, I am more than ready to make a change and really start this fulltime lifestyle.
And speaking of fulltiming; Erin, our eleven year old granddaughter, will be spending this summer with us as we travel. We're really looking forward to that. She has traveled with us on some other trips and we've always had a good time. Sure glad she likes spending time with grandma and grandpa. She'll be adding her thoughts to our blog; and she bought a new camera with money she has saved, so I'm sure she'll post pictures also.
We'll be leaving on April 19 for Talladega, AL for a Nascar race; then back home until June 1 when we head to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding and then on to Branson, Kansas, Denver and Seattle. Erin will start traveling with us on June 1. She will fly back home in August to start back to school, and we don't have any specific plans after August.
I'll start posting more regularly when we start traveling.
More later.....
Sarah and her fiance, Chad, were home for a 3 day weekend for a wedding dress fitting and we conned them into helping clean out the basement. And what help they were!!! Also moved several items to the storage building for pickup later by the kids. Stephanie, Taylor and Erin came on Saturday and helped also. Sure makes for faster work when several are helping. And we had pizza at Gallina's on Saturday evening. It's a family tradition when any of the kids are here. Sarah and Chad slept in the motor home since there are no extra beds in the house. It's really nice to have hookups at the house.
I'm working 3 days this week and next so probably won't get much other stuff done. I was exhausted when I got home today. I do enjoy my job, but don't like having to be at work at 5:30 AM. And it's pretty fast-paced for several hours as we admit kids and send them off to surgery. But even though I enjoy my job, I am more than ready to make a change and really start this fulltime lifestyle.
And speaking of fulltiming; Erin, our eleven year old granddaughter, will be spending this summer with us as we travel. We're really looking forward to that. She has traveled with us on some other trips and we've always had a good time. Sure glad she likes spending time with grandma and grandpa. She'll be adding her thoughts to our blog; and she bought a new camera with money she has saved, so I'm sure she'll post pictures also.
We'll be leaving on April 19 for Talladega, AL for a Nascar race; then back home until June 1 when we head to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding and then on to Branson, Kansas, Denver and Seattle. Erin will start traveling with us on June 1. She will fly back home in August to start back to school, and we don't have any specific plans after August.
I'll start posting more regularly when we start traveling.
More later.....
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Water Problem Solved, Serious Sorting Begins - (Rochester, IL)
Just an update as to what we've been doing this past week.
The leaking pipes are all fixed, thanks to Dan and the plumber, and additional insulation has been added to the soffit area above the cabinets. And I can't feel cold air around the electrical outlets on the west wall of the kitchen. So, that problem is solved. Now just need to repair all the holes in the sheetrock that were made while looking for the opening for the cold air to enter the soffit and subsequently freeze the water pipes. :) And there was sheetrock dust all over everything, so had to do lots of dusting.
Have been doing some serious sorting of "stuff". I'm amazed at how much stuff we actually have. I'm sure that at some time we believed we needed or would need all this stuff. But most of the sorting is really pretty easy. It's not so difficult to decide what to keep or what to get rid of, but rather, how to get rid of it. Sell, give to kids, donate to charity, throw away or keep. Still trying to decide if we'll have a garage sale this spring, so I am putting some things on the tables in the garage which Dan put together for me last year. I price the items when I take them to the garage so that doesn't have to be done later. But since our main goal right now is to get stuff out of the house so we can get the house ready to sell, I don't have enough room to put everything we might be able to sell in the garage. We are renting a storage unit for the things going to the kids, but I don't want to take sale stuff there and then bring it back home to sell. Not sure the monetary return is worth the work.
I worked 2 days last week at St. John's and plan to work 1 day next week. I think I'll stick with that schedule. It will give me more time at home to get other things done.
Will have the income tax info ready for our accountant by the end of next week. He'll be surprised.
Lots to do, but our trip just reenforced our desire to pursue the RV full-time lifestyle. Our motorhome is so easy to live in; Kasey is a wonderful traveler; we enjoyed ever-changing views out the front window; if the weather isn't to our liking, we check out the weather channel and move to better weather.
So, better get busy. More later....
The leaking pipes are all fixed, thanks to Dan and the plumber, and additional insulation has been added to the soffit area above the cabinets. And I can't feel cold air around the electrical outlets on the west wall of the kitchen. So, that problem is solved. Now just need to repair all the holes in the sheetrock that were made while looking for the opening for the cold air to enter the soffit and subsequently freeze the water pipes. :) And there was sheetrock dust all over everything, so had to do lots of dusting.
Have been doing some serious sorting of "stuff". I'm amazed at how much stuff we actually have. I'm sure that at some time we believed we needed or would need all this stuff. But most of the sorting is really pretty easy. It's not so difficult to decide what to keep or what to get rid of, but rather, how to get rid of it. Sell, give to kids, donate to charity, throw away or keep. Still trying to decide if we'll have a garage sale this spring, so I am putting some things on the tables in the garage which Dan put together for me last year. I price the items when I take them to the garage so that doesn't have to be done later. But since our main goal right now is to get stuff out of the house so we can get the house ready to sell, I don't have enough room to put everything we might be able to sell in the garage. We are renting a storage unit for the things going to the kids, but I don't want to take sale stuff there and then bring it back home to sell. Not sure the monetary return is worth the work.
I worked 2 days last week at St. John's and plan to work 1 day next week. I think I'll stick with that schedule. It will give me more time at home to get other things done.
Will have the income tax info ready for our accountant by the end of next week. He'll be surprised.
Lots to do, but our trip just reenforced our desire to pursue the RV full-time lifestyle. Our motorhome is so easy to live in; Kasey is a wonderful traveler; we enjoyed ever-changing views out the front window; if the weather isn't to our liking, we check out the weather channel and move to better weather.
So, better get busy. More later....
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
A New Year and It's COLD
(Rochester, IL)
Thought I should get started on this blog which we plan to use to document our travels as we begin fulltime RVing this year. And since it is the first day of a new year, what a good time to start. So here goes..........
Happy New Year - 2008!!!! It's cold here in central Illinois; 18 degrees, to be exact, and snowing. So why are we still here?
Well, we won't be here much longer. We'll be leaving January 9th for warmer southern Alabama weather along with Dan's brother and his wife, Larry and Phyllis.
We plan to stop in Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry, and then make our way to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay http://www.dauphinisland.org/ We'll camp there for about a week before moving on along the Gulf Coast.
We'll be back in Rochester the middle of February. Then our focus will be on preparations to begin fulltiming. :) YEAH!!
Hope you enjoy following along with us.
GO ILLINI!!!!!!!
Movin' on,
Dan and Gail
and Kasey
Thought I should get started on this blog which we plan to use to document our travels as we begin fulltime RVing this year. And since it is the first day of a new year, what a good time to start. So here goes..........
Happy New Year - 2008!!!! It's cold here in central Illinois; 18 degrees, to be exact, and snowing. So why are we still here?
Well, we won't be here much longer. We'll be leaving January 9th for warmer southern Alabama weather along with Dan's brother and his wife, Larry and Phyllis.
We plan to stop in Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry, and then make our way to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay http://www.dauphinisland.org/ We'll camp there for about a week before moving on along the Gulf Coast.
We'll be back in Rochester the middle of February. Then our focus will be on preparations to begin fulltiming. :) YEAH!!
Hope you enjoy following along with us.
GO ILLINI!!!!!!!
Movin' on,
Dan and Gail
and Kasey
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