Grrr...Frustrations, Frustrations

Harold wanted to show the coach to his coworkers. He wanted them to see what it is we'll be living in and to have a better understanding of our new home, that it's the size of a small apartment, not your typical camper.

Anyway, he decided that we'd park the coach at a local park near the base where he works. Coworkers that wanted to look at the coach could stop by after the meeting. My job was to stay at the coach. We both would feel better if someone were around it. Plus, I wanted to take a look at some of the cabinet space again. Perhaps I'd get some more storage ideas.

Harold left for his meeting, leaving me to finish setting up. Well, the first thing that happened was that the driver's side forward slide wouldn't open. No matter how many times I pressed that switch, the slide would not open. Frustrated, I gave up.

Then, I noticed that the generator had not automatically started so that the heat pump could run. It was cold in the coach. It was almost warmer outside. Harold said that he had had everything set so I didn't want to mess with it too much. I took a quick look at the panel, all the while remembering what folks on the forums had said about our outdated energy management system.

So now I'm completely frustrated. We definitely should have tested things out first.The coach had been sitting for a couple months. In fact, it was still winterized. I decided a long walk was in order.

I get back to the coach, determined to make it work. This coach is going to be my home, and I will have to deal with situations like this. We had a small ceramic disc heater in there somewhere. I found it and plugged it in. Yeah! I have heat.

Within minutes, the heater trips the inverter off. The electric demand is too much. So, I decided to manually start the generator. The generator starts up immediately. Very shortly thereafter, I hear the heat pumps kick in. Yeah! The temperature sensors were really working. Between the heat pumps and the space heater, the coach was warming up nicely.

I decided to hit the switch for the slide out one more time. It worked! Yeah! At least when we give the tours we won't have to be embarrassed that the slide isn't working.

Then, when Harold got back to the coach, he hit the auto generator switch. It worked. Apparently, it hadn't been turned on after all.

So, the things that were making me upset, really turned out to be not so disastrous after all. Harold took it all in stride, including the multiple phone calls to his work, and made sure the rest of my day was smooth as possible.

The Grand Cherokee and the Baseplate

We needed a vehicle that you could tow with all four wheels down. Good Sam Club and Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) both publish annual towing guides of vehicles that meet the criteria necessary to tow a vehicle without a dolly. Jeep Wranglers are very popular, as are a lot of pickup trucks. We opted for the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s a little more forgiving than a Wrangler for everyday driving, at least for us older folks!

So, once we had our Jeep, Harold set about getting it ready to tow. First, he had to install a baseplate. The baseplate is what connects to the tow bar on the coach. It turned out to be an all-day process.

·       Carefully remove the front bumper to keep from damaging the paint. Hmm, the instruction manual did not address disconnecting the parking sensors. 

That pesky connection

·       Remove the tow hooks.

·       Cut off some of the tow hook mounting nuts using an oscillating multi-tool with the proper metal cutting blade inserted.  This step was quite noisy.

·       Slightly modify the baseplate as the holes did not completely line up with the nuts in the frame of our Jeep.  Harold used a rat tail file and some elbow grease to get this task done. I thought he would unpack his adjectives as he ended up test fitting the baseplate four times before the bolts would go in.

Baseplate ready

·       Enlarge the holes in the plastic bumper where the tow hooks went through as the baseplate is larger.

·       Carefully install the bumper making sure to connect the parking sensors.

It’s a little unnerving to see your brand new vehicle without the grill and hood up. It’s even more so when you hear grinding. Please, please, please let that measurement be right…

It's fine...it's fine

In the end, all went well and we are one step closer to getting on the road.

Good-bye Van that Can

Earlier this year we sold our 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan. We had bought it new and it served us well over the years. From hauling train parts and books to towing the Utah pop up camper up Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado, the Odyssey performed like a champ. It was the van that can.

We joked about the number of cupholders it had, but you know what we miss now. There were two cupholders in the dash, four in the console, and one in each door. Granted, two in the console were supposed to be for the second row, but we used them anyway. We could each have coffee, water, and a soda within easy reach.

Alas, the Odyssey was not four wheel down towable. We would have had to use a tow dolly.  After using the tow dolly this past summer, we decided that we definitely wanted a vehicle that could be towed with all four wheels down. Using a dolly is fine if you're using it on occasion. For a full-time rver, a dolly quickly becomes an irritating factor. So, good-bye dear Odyssey. You will be fondly remembered.

Downsizing

We had decided early on not to store items in a storage unit or to impose on family and friends. Well, at least not impose too terribly much on family and friends.

Almost every post, blog, or conversation with full-timers strongly urges you not to store things. Some things would not take to storage kindly. Some things wouldn't fit your new home whenever and wherever that may be. Some things would cause you to worry either about their condition or their safety due to natural conditions or theft or vandalism. We agree with that line of thought, but sometimes it's tough.

When I say something about getting rid of stuff, I get comments like, "You can't get rid of that. You need to keep..." Ugh. Now I'm second guessing decisions or perhaps even feeling a little guilt. Will I wish I had kept that? Maybe. Yet, if I kept all the things that people think I should keep, I'd still have a house full of stuff.

Most of the family heirlooms have been passed along to the respective families. Friends have made out with lots of hobby stuff, tools, appliances, etc. Most the furniture has been claimed. We've made numerous trips to Goodwill. We're getting there.

Baby gifts

Old photos