Cool as a Cucumber

When we sell our stick and bricks home and move into our RV full time, for an income stream I plan to transition from full-time to part-time-on-call work with my current employer. This would require that I ride US Navy ships or deploy to other locations to conduct radio and radar testing.  When I am on travel, issues may arise that would require Elizabeth to be able to move The Beast (Elizabeth’s current name of our RV). I offered to take her to a local empty parking lot for basic RV driving lessons, but Elizabeth politely refused.

In a previous blog entry, we described where Elizabeth and I attended the Spartan Motors RV Owners Training Academy in historic Charlotte, MI. One of the training sessions consisted of personal, on‑the‑road drive time with a certified instructor, including basic driver guidelines, hazard awareness and avoidance, as well as control and recovery and the driver’s role.  Elizabeth was in the driver’s seat while I was in the back, on the couch with a bloody nose, which was not from being punched in the nose...

The session started in the parking lot with the instructor helping Elizabeth learn how to judge where the back of the coach is by using the rear view mirrors and not the rear view camera nor by leaning out of the driver’s window. Then she learned how to find the front of the coach to enable her to stop at a stop bar without going over or leaving too much space.

In the second phase, Elizabeth drove out of the parking lot, driving around town while learning lane positioning with an eight and a half foot wide bus. She was instructed on how far out into the intersection she has to go to successfully navigate and not clip the curb with the rear tires when making a right hand turn.   Then there were the less stressful left hand turns.  It was interesting listening to the instructor telling her to “Wind” or “Un-wind” the steering wheel to navigate the corners. Then it was out on to the highway.  Elizabeth started to relax, as there is not a lot to do out on the open road compared to driving in town.

Now the best part, when it was time for us to start our trek back to my cousin-in-law Steve’s house down in Goshen, IN, Elizabeth wanted to drive The Beast for the first part of our journey.  She drove through town, pulled into a fuel station, drove on the highway for about one hour and then pulled into a gas station that had a dump station so we could empty our gray and black tanks.  I am so proud of her!!!  She now has driven The Beast on four separate occasions!!!!!!

She is cool as a cucumber while driving The Beast. 

Spartan Academy

We finished our week at Spartan Academy in Charlotte, MI. Charlotte is pronounced CharLot by the way. Spartan Motors has really put a lot of thought and effort in the training they provide RV owners. From the onsite RV parking (electric sites with water and dump stations nearby on the Spartan grounds) to the classroom facility, they show that they care.

All of the instructors were excellent and had an incredible knowledge base. A chassis in the classroom along with hands on working demonstration boards for air brake systems, drum and disc brake, comfort steering, and a Hadley air suspension was rather impressive. Other training aids included ride height sensors - pneumatic and electronic, Ujoint clip, and a table full of parts. 

In addition to learning about maintenance, the last session was about some things you could do to get off the side of the road in an emergency. This included demonstrations of changing belts and air dryer bypass. 

Spartan provided breakfast and lunch daily, and the swag bags were excellent. We didn’t win the 3 night stay at the RV resort, but there were two folks who did. The class is limited to eight coaches too. It’s helpful that the class size is not too big. Big Mike had plenty of stories to keep the training interesting too.

Part of the week of training included an inspection of your coach with a technician. Harold loved it. Of course, we had some work done while we were there. Who better to work on your chassis than the folks who built it? I feel better about going down the road, knowing that everything regarding driving has been inspected. Harold says that the coach drives so much better now.

Speaking of driving, yes, I did get behind the wheel. The training included two hours with a driving instructor from Preferred Driving and Testing, Inc. The first hour was spent in the lot learning about finding references to use when driving, backing up, and parking. The second hour was spent on the roads around Charlotte. Street driving, country roads, and interstate driving with enough turns and stops to make it interesting. I need more practice for sure, but at least I’m not totally afraid anymore.

No, Harold, you cannot blow the siren.

Silver Lake State Park

We were able to camp with my cousin, his family, and friends over Memorial Day weekend. They are avid off-road vehicle (ORV) fans. My cousin had towed a cargo trailer. Vehicles just kept coming out as he unloaded - Jeep wrangler, dirt bike, 4-wheeler, golf cart, and bicycles.

Silver Lake State Park includes the only sand dunes east of the Mississippi River on which you can ride ORVs. Two days of blasting up and down the dunes along with hundreds, if not thousands, of other ORVs was quite the experience. Ok, after one trip, Harold and I decided that riding the dunes was pretty much a younger person's game.We enjoyed watching the spectacle before us. I kind of wondered if heating pads and ibuprofen sales in the area were disproportionately higher.

At the really, really nice RV resort that my cousin dubs as his favorite, Silver Creek RV Resort, the temperatures would be only a degree or two higher. However, the dunes felt much cooler. The winds coming in from Lake Michigan and the higher ground were very effective in cooling things off.  I wore a sweatshirt and was glad I did.

We did find a place where no ORVs were allowed and flew kites for a little bit. The winds were pretty gusty though. Below is a photo of family members enjoying a few minutes together. Unfortunately, I did not get a good picture of the volume of ORVs that would be much more representative of the park.