When that sun is high in that Texas sky

Hey Guys! How is everyone?

First things first, Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Alana.  ;)

Now, let's see what has been happening since last post? Someone brought to my attention that I have mentioned slides but didn't explain what I meant by that.  Slides are sections of the coach that can expand out and give significantly more space! We have two slides. One is in the bedroom and one in the living space.  Here is an example of the rig with the slide in and the slide out. Judge for yourself. :)

Quite the difference, no? ;) 

So we left Nappanee on Saturday but later in the day.  One of the things about being further west is the sun rising later which has confused the dogs and allowed us to sleep later in the morning.  This is helpful because I seem to wake up in the middle of the wee hours and stay awake for awhile. Not sure what that is all about yet but working on it.  

My original route had us going from IN into Iowa and down through CO.  After talking to my dad we decided to change that a bit.  He suggested taking 35 to I40 and taking that across the lower states to avoid the mountains. Jay was all for that.  The mountains are harder on engines and harder on diesel consumption.  After looking at the maps, we decided we did not want to go anywhere near Chicago.  Even the outer rim so we took the southern route through IN and down I44 To get to I40.  This did add about 300 miles to the trip but they were easier miles so we thought it was worth it.  After traveling on I40 for awhile, Jay is happy with the decision and we have made up quite a bit of time.   We did not really enjoy OK.  Now before anyone says anything, I'm sure OK is a great state with many fine things about it.  Things we experienced? Well, for one thing, the bugs.  They are HUGE! Our windshield was completely covered and they make the same sound hitting it that a bird makes hitting the picture window back in Maine. No, seriously.  Jay spent the whole time he was fueling up washing the windshield! 

Also, my worst nightmare happened.  Dobby did not like OK.  He wanted to stay in the rig. I had to carry him out most stops.  As soon as he did his business he wanted back in.  Paris tends to want to stroll and check things out.  One morning I had both of them out and he slipped out of his harness.  I had stopped double hooking him through a collar because he had been so good.  This was my worst case incident happening! Fortunately, I had been teaching them that the rig is "home" and when I screamed "Dobby home!" He went and sat by the steps until I could get there to let him in.  Whew! He is now being double hooked each time we go out.  

Another stop had Paris getting these awful thistles in her paws!! It looked like regular grass but she started crying right away and Jay picked up to see these awful things in her paws! We got them all out and she seems fine but we felt so bad for her! 

We had a strap come loose on the outside of the slide.  Our first repair job! I got it back in place and Jay added silicone to adhere it back in place. Seems to be holding great.  So, I realize it sounds like we've had an awful time but really it wasn't!

The weather has been great for the most part, Just a little rain that helped wash the bugs from the windshield.  Mechanically the rig is going great.  Until tonight we still had not paid for a night spent anywhere.  We have felt completely safe.  We stopped at Camping World this morning and bought a surge protector for the whole rig.  This was on my wish list but the price almost sent Jay into fits. :)  We picked up a couple other items as well and filled the tank.  Nothing like dropping $700 before noon.  Yikes.  Good thing we had been good and not paid to stay anywhere! ;) 

That all changed tonight.  We have averaged close to 300 miles a day and we decided we needed to make a stop for full hook ups.  We wanted long, hot showers without depleting our reserves and we wanted to do some laundry.  So there was a KOA right off I40 in Amarillo.  We stopped to see if they had a site.  It's actually pretty full here.  To get a pull through (not a back in site since we have the tow vehicle) that has 50 amps they only had water, and electric. What a coincidence!  What we need is water and electric!  We just dumped on Saturday and can still dump before we leave for free if we need to. (Which we probably won't) This is a nice park.  I ran the google map and found we only have a little over 800 miles left to Vegas and 7 days to get there so we are staying an extra night here!  All of us can use a break from driving and it has a great play area for the dogs plus we can zip to Walmart in the car to pick up things we're getting low on.  

We have been fixing meals in and doing well with the budget so even though it's a little on the pricey side ($42 per night) we are feel good with it.  It has great internet and cable included in the price as well.

All together Texas has been very welcoming.  The bugs toned down and the road has been smooth with not much construction or traffic.  Both dogs like it here and people are friendly.  

I ain't got a dime but what I got is mine
I ain't rich but Lord I'm free
Amarillo by mornin'
Amarillo's where I'll be

I know it's hard to see them, but Red, Ursula, and Mr Kaplan are enjoying traveling the old Route 66 as well.

I'll keep you posted as we go...gonna hit that shower now.  Thanks for following along!

~Mikki

time in Nappanee...

Hey Guys! How is everyone heading into the weekend?  We are currently in Nappanee, IN.  We did arrive yesterday but not early enough to get any service done. So why are we still here? Well, actually it's pretty cool.

                                        this is the horse hook up at the grocery store in town

But let's go back and review things I forgot to mention last time.  First things first. We really did not like driving in MA.  The traffic was heavy and they were just jerks to drive near.  People did not respect how long it takes a 40,000 lb vehicle to stop.  Once we got to I84 it was much better.  And NY stayed pretty good. (Actually, the rest areas in NY were great! Huge pet walking area!)   I84 transitioned into I80 and traffic was pretty low and the construction was not bad at all.  When we crossed into PA the road was great. Jay said he would gladly do the whole trip on roads like I80 through PA.

Ohio seemed really long.  It was turnpike, but the first part of it was rough.  It got better as we went, but the construction got much worse.  In places down to one lane for long stretches.  Crossing into IN the road went immediately down hill, but did get better once we turned onto IN 15.  (I have done more with geography in the last few days then the last 15 years!)

We are definitely learning tricks as we go.  Lesson 1.  Tape the toilet paper roll.  ;)  After traveling the first day I opened the bathroom to find an invisible cat had unrolled the whole thing!  What else? Oh, Pilot does have a truck entrance... Jay did a fantastic job getting us out of that tight space! Backing up with a tow vehicle can be done (he proved it) but it is stressful!  I am so glad he is on top of things! He checks the tow car each time we stop and after we spent the night in Ohio he noticed that the ball that hooks the dolly to the back had loosened up. Scary! That's why we do the checks. Oil usage has been great, not burning any.  We think we are getting about 7mpg but that's not entirely accurate because we run the generator when we "dry dock" in the rest areas.   We were looking forward to full hook ups at "Camp Newmar".

As I mentioned, Ohio took us awhile with all the construction, so we didn't get to Newmar until almost 3pm.  Obviously we were too late to get on a walk-in service list.  No big deal.  Our rig has run great and I really wanted to see the factory tour which we could take on Friday (today).    We did the Newmar tour today. It was really cool. We went to the 1:00pm show and was so glad we did because the first half of the plant was done working and we didn't have to stay behind the yellow lines. We got to go right up close to see how they build them from the frame up.

We are staying here another night.  Most of the rigs that are left are here for long term service since all the techs have gone to CO for the rally that is happening there all next week.  Newmar provides FHUs for owners so we have stayed here for free.  Well, we did take advantage of the parts store to stock up on bulbs to all the unusual lights, and new A/C filters and vent covers. (Remember all the ones I cleaned? Well they are pretty brittle and discolored) We had also been told the filters are really hard to find.  These should last us for a long time.  We got new shields for many of the outside lights that the sun has faded to different color also.  So I guess it wasn't really "free". :)  We carry 4 gallon jugs plus some regular drinking water bottles with us.  Our fresh water tank hold 105 gallons of water but it has not been treated yet to be able to drink the water.  The grey tank (think dishwater and shower) holds 65 gallons and the black tank (think poo) holds 45 gallons.  When you have FHU you don't have to think about those numbers because it all just works. :)

We got really lucky last night because the regular old tv antenna brought in CBS and we were able to watch the Pats play.  We sadly do not get NBC so no Blacklist yet.  We also do not get cell service here.  Verizon and AT&T have coverage in the area but T-Mobile does not have contracts with them for this area.  We actually had been very pleased with T-Mobile's service up to this point though.  We have some free WiFi here courtesy of Newmar but it gets a bit spotty.  People can message us and we can hopefully catch it without too much of a time lag.

We unhooked the car and went into town to do some grocery shopping.  The market was cool! Besides the horse hook up they had every register open, a bagger at each lane, and the cashier takes your cart and unloads it while they ring you up so they can sort the way they want and it's super fast! We were pretty impressed!  Yes, there is a liquor section. (You knew we were looking for that, right?)

I have to say Newmar has totally impressed me. Not just how quality their products are, although that helps, but how they treat their customers and their employees is pretty cool.  We saw many, many employees while being here and they have all been smiling or at least looked like they were enjoying their jobs.  A gentleman who was checking part prices in the parts store against prices on Amazon said they were right there or better.  Some owners here are kind of grumpy because they have new rigs and there seems to be quite a few problems with them and the repairs are behind with the rally coming up. We're just glad that while our FBG might be the oldest one here, she's also the one that doesn't need work. ;)

We will probably head down the road tomorrow but we're enjoying the evening here.  Hope all is well in your world! Thanks for coming along.

~Mikki

RV living yet?

Good morning everyone!  Most of you may know that we started across the country on Monday.  Where are we? Well, currently we are in PA.

How are we doing?
Great! We are healthy. We've met some great people already.  None of our mistakes have been huge.  The dogs are cooperating.  Lots of pluses there.

So what could be better?
Well, when we travel the slides are in.  We are super fortunate to have two slides. They make a ton of difference in space.  Last night we stayed at a rest area so we didn't put them out.  It's fine. We can get to pretty much everything it's just tight.  It makes us grateful that we have slides normally.  I'm sure Jay would say it would be better if I were driving too. (Well, maybe he would, mostly he'd close his eyes and hope)  :)  I actually did move it about a foot yesterday.

We stayed at a super nice welcome ctr in Danbury, CT.  There was a free dumping station so in the morning he pulled up to it.  He then had me move the coach up about a foot more for comfortable hose reach.  Let me tell you.  It's different.  They say it's like driving a car.  I've never driven a car with brakes that reacted like that!  I'm sure I will adjust and I will drive at some point. I need to learn for safety but I'd rather we get a bit more comfortable with everything else first.

Jay has done fantastic! (We knew he would, right?)  Even with the extra 15 ft we have in length with the dolly and tow car he's been amazing.  GPS got us a bit turned around in CT and we had to go through some tight spaces but he handled it like a champ! So proud of him.

What have we done for bone head mistakes?
Well the aforementioned GPS folly was a piece of fun ;) and we almost missed an exit yesterday creating the need to quickly cross 3 lanes of traffic...note that with 56 ft of vehicle this does not make truckers around you happy!  But I am adapting!  I have figured out a way to use the atlas, NEXT exit book and the GPS in coordination so that it gives us a double check.  We don't trust any one source (including me) that much but if at least two things verify with each other it gives us about a 95% confidence boost.

Where are we going?
Well, our first goal is to get to Nappanee, IN home of Newmar (the makers of our rig).  We heard back from customer service and they take walk-ins Tue-Thur so we have a shot at getting there by Thursday.  We'd like them to take a look at the awning and make sure it's safe to go.  Then on Friday I'd really like to take their factory tour and see how they make the coaches from the bottom up. I'm sure it's a ton of helpful information.  Plus! There will be parts available.  We need to replace some light covers that are super yellow and brittle and find some hard to find light bulbs.
After that we are on to Vegas for the Rodan and Fields convention.  Jay will stay with the dogs in a KOA campground while I head in town to stay in the timeshare for that event.

How has the coach handled?
We've only had about 1200 ft of elevation so far but she's doing great!

I'll keep you posted as we go.  We changed our T-mobile plan so we can have our phones as unlimited hotspots.  This is not perfect, but it's working so far. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep you updated regularly! :)

Hope you all are doing well!  Thanks for following along!

~Mikki

Well, that wasn't supposed to happen...

Hey Guys! How's everyone?

So I thought I would give you a little update about our RV adventures.  Some things have gone great, like we discovered that the City of Augusta Sewer Treatment facility has a free dump station that is big rig friendly.  By big rig friendly, I mean Jay can drive the FBG in and around the site and then back into the area to line right up with the dump station.  I do not mean I would attempt this as it is a very tight road and I do NOT back well...but I digress...

That was great. The dogs have been wonderful! They really seem to love the RV life. Having the electric line installed after disconnecting the hot tub has made it so we are pretty much full time in the rig as we purge and figure out where everything is going to go.  We have even figured out how to use the patio awning that is huge on the side of the rig so that we get some great shade. See? Lots of great stuff.

Now, those of you that have followed the blog or know me, know that I like to research.  I watch videos, read blogs, follow forums.  I have been doing this about RVing for about 3 years now.  There is always (yes, pretty much always) that post that newbies have about a horrific moment.  You know where this is going, right?  Ours happened yesterday.

It was a beautiful day.  I was doing a few things around inside the rig and Jay had been puttering around doing some stuff outside.  There was suddenly a very big noise and the fluorescent light cover on one of the lights dropped onto the floor.  Before I could even ask "what was that?" Jay said "it went up over."

Yes, he was talking about the big beautiful patio awning.  A gust of wind that came out of nowhere took it and ripped the hinges right off the side of the rig and the awning was now laying on the roof.  I think both of our hearts stopped for a few minutes.  For one thing, if you take a look at where we are parked there is a power line that runs above the rig.  I have to get up on the back of the rig and lift the cable line each time we pull in or out of the driveway so that it will not catch on the back ladder. Not a big deal, but I am HUGELY aware to stay away from that power line.  I couldn't see how close it got at that point but lets just say I think we were super lucky in how it landed.  Also, we could see holes in one side of the rig where bolts had actually pulled out.

Soooo... 

 I'm proud to say we did not panic.  We knew we couldn't leave it the way it was (besides the fact that we would not be able to move the rig, the mysterious gust of wind could return at any moment) so I climbed up on the roof to investigate.  It should be noted that I knew going into this adventure that while Jay is fully on board and does pretty much all the outside maintenance, he does not do roof work.  ;)  Once we get over 6ft it's all me.  After I got up there I could get to both sides with no problem.  I was able to ease each side over to Jay and he got the awning to extend gently,  I climbed down and we evaluated what we had to work with.  Again, incredibly lucky.  No real damage.  The awning did not rip.  The poles did not break or bend.  Now that we could see closer, we could tell this was NOT the first time this had happened. ;)  The bolts that came out had done that before.  By working together; me on the roof for the left side hinge and Jay on the ladder for the right we were able to reset everything and get it back to normal!  We had planned a stop at the Newmar factory in Indiana on the way out to AZ anyway. Now we just have more reason.  We'll have them take a look and make sure it's all secure and do anything they might need to reinforce what we have done.  But I have to say we were pretty proud of ourselves for getting it back together! 

We did admit (after it was back to normal) that we were both pretty scared when it happened.  Hey at least it wasn't a black tank newbie catastrophe! I think it actually gave us some confidence that we can and will handle what ever comes along with this new life!  

I know this doesn't really seem to fall in line with information about having bariatric surgery and if you are a first time reader you may be confused, but I believe it does have to do with a healthy life. As we set off to explore all that the world has to offer we plan to exercise our bodies, minds and imaginations.  I hope you will continue to come along with us! Hopefully we have more fun and less "learning" moments, but I'm sure there will be a lot of those too!  ;) 

It's hot, have you got your water in? 

Thanks for following along!

~Mikki