Montana!

Montana welcomed us with open arms.  The smoke from the fires dissipated just in time.  Hopefully it will be clear when we head over to Missoula and visit Glacier Park.

First, let's talk about the past couple of days.  We had the interesting task of "moving".  A trip to Walmart gave a chance to buy a few boxes.  The old RV was a MESS as we got ready to trade out vehicles.  Once the time came, Tom began transferring items.  That man was on a mission!  Box after box was thrown into the Bounder and I had no time to even begin putting things where they belonged.  With the new RV in total disarray, Tom drove the short journey to Chik fil A.  While he ran in to get us some lunch I unloaded a few more items from a cooler to the fridge.  Well, I tried at least.  The first item I grabbed was the flavored creamer... and the lid came off... and the bottle fell to the floor... and about a third of it ended up all over the floor.  Now creamer doesn't clean up as easily as other liquids.  It is thick and it is VERY sticky.  Alas, the next step was Walmart to purchase a Swiffer.  This became very apparently necessary when I tried to move and my foot came out of my flip flop which was stuck to the floor.  That mess finally cleaned up (sort of) we headed down the highway.

The trip was progressing without incident until Tom noticed flashing lights in the mirror.  Of course he didn't think he was doing anything wrong so immediately he yelled to the back to ask me if I had an overhead light on or something.  The patrolman was quite nice.  And that's how we discovered we had no tail lights on the Lotus trailer.

Montana REALLY needed rain.  Fortunately for them, we brought it!  Beginning last night it has been raining non-stop.  The forecast calls for rain in Missoula tomorrow also.  I guess the Griz game will be a bit soggy, BUT Griz fans won't care.

Sometime during the night our electricity went off.  (We are hooked up This morning Tom was taking the first shower in RV.  Apparently, when

I just noticed this post has disappeared at the bottom.  BOO!!!  :(

A successful shopping trip!

The time has come to reveal our shopping trip a few days ago.  During our drive from Florida to Colorado we began to discuss the state of our current RV.  There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, we just started talking about how much time we were planning to spend in the RV and decided it was time for an upgrade.  Now here's something you need to know about Tom and I, when we decide to do something that means the time is NOW!  We stopped at a dealership in Mississippi to check out what they had to offer.  This gave us an idea of what we liked and I began researching RV's as Tom drove down the road.  See what a great way to travel RVing is?  I checked out various dealerships along our route to see what each had to offer and even called a few to talk to the sales people.  

We had found a coach we really liked in Billings, MT but we had some time to spare in Grand Junction, CO and decided to check out a few of the dealers.  The plan wasn't to purchase a coach in Grand Junction.  Really, it wasn't!  But we just happened upon the ideal RV for us.  As I have said before, this being our second motorhome we now know what we want and don't want in an RV.  So, we found ourselves this awesome 34 foot Bounder and fell in love with it.  Yep, we were smitten!  Because we had so much going on visiting family, attending the wedding and just having a good time, we went back several times to check it out.  At one point I told Tom the only thing it didn't have was a washer/dryer and dishwasher.  Then I realized that I WAS the dishwasher.  If you haven't been around Tom and I much you may not know that we like to joke back and forth a lot. Apparently we were entertaining the salesman also because he said "You two are funny!" Ha!

And so we say goodbye to the Minnie Winnie and hello to our new Bounder.  It has plenty of room for the five of us!  I'm thinking we need a name for her.  Anyone have a good suggestion??

We are already in Utah, heading for Montana and look at the view!

And check out my office!  How cool is that?  Baby Bear is helping me of course.  He was forgotten this past weekend poor thing.  He didn't get to go to the wedding and we did take him to CJ and Kayla's house for dinner last night, but once again, he was forgotten in the car.

Until next time...

How our RV life began

So… how did we end up traveling in an RV? We both started out camping in tents, moving on to popup campers, pickup campers, bumper pulls, 5^th wheels and finally a fully self-contained motorhome.  Why did we switch to a coach?  Because we wanted to pull a trailer behind with our kayaks, bicycles and whatever other toys we might fancy.  In April of 2014, we sold our bumper pull trailer and began shopping for a coach.  In hindsight, we really didn’t know what we were doing.  We checked out a few different coaches and decided on the Winnebago based on the features inside and the Winnebago name.  That was a mistake. 

We had the coach less than a week when I needed to take it Jacksonville, FL for a three week stay.  I “surface cleaned” what I found dirty, loaded the RV and headed out.  A few miles up the road a very annoying  beep began.  The coach thought the emergency brake was on.  Since we weren’t far from the dealership, we turned around and went to have it repaired.  A technician came out, looked at it, told me he couldn’t fix it “correctly” then and put a piece of foam on it.  A couple miles down the road, the foam fell out.  Every time I slowed and sped up again I had to listen to the beep for a few minutes.  He didn’t offer to have me come back and fix it and I didn’t ask because I thought he done the repair.  By the time I returned from Jacksonville, our warranty period had ended.  Tom was able to make the repair himself.  Because we didn’t have a tow dolly, Tom followed in our car pulling a trailer with a motorcycle on it then drove the motorcycle home.  The stay for the three weeks would be at Hanna Park in Jacksonville, FL.  Hanna Park is a great spot located near the Navy base and right on the ocean.  A short walk or bike ride takes you to the beach which is also dog friendly.  Bonus!  During the time I was there, the park was almost empty during the weekdays, but filled up with local campers on the weekends.  There was a lot to do at Hanna Park including bike trails, geocaching, beach time and kayaking on the lake.  My weekdays were spent away from the park. 

I began to really begin cleaning the RV during the evenings.  This is when I discovered what a poor job the dealer we purchased the unit from did.  The previous campers I bought from dealers, though used, were cleaned immaculately so I assumed (my mistake) this would be the case here.  We purchased the RV from a large dealer so it came as a surprise all the problems we encountered.  The filth ranged from not bothering to dust the top of the door jambs to food having been spilled between the table and window.  Mucking out all that old food and drink took HOURS!  The RV served its purpose for the stay.

Once I returned home I shampooed the carpets FOUR times trying to get them clean and scrubbed the floors on my hands and knees.  I began to do a total mucking out when I lifted the cushions on the overhead bed and discovered an ant’s nest.  We weren’t talking just a few ants.  No.  They were swarming and there were a LOT of ant eggs as well.  It was SOOO disgusting!  I ran to get ant spray and immediately doused the nest, tracking down the stray ants.  Then the worst part (for me anyway) came.  Using the vacuum I began sucking them up.  The sound it made still makes me cringe.

With the ants evicted from their cozy home it was time to begin cleaning the upper bunk.  What should have been an easy job turned into a test for Tom.  The A/C unit had dripped into the bunk area where apparently the previous owners had not bothered to keep it sealed.  It was our fault for not checking and not knowing to check for these things but I also feel the dealer should have let us know about this problem.  Tom was able to remove the rotten wood and replace it.  That man is amazing!  Besides that, there were small repairs to be made that would be expected with a coach that is 10 years old.  

On Monday, August 24, our 2004 Winnebago Minnie Winnie was packed and loaded.  It’s amazing how much food you can actually get in the refrigerator and freezer in one of these!  We planned to leave Tuesday but we were ready to head out so why not leave a day early?  The first problem?  I was enjoying my comfy king size bed too much for one last sleep.  Tom had to wake me up finally at 9 am.  No worries, within an hour we were on the road!  As Tom always says, plan for contingencies!  The first contingency was a leaking transmission hose only a couple hours down the road.  Fortunately, Tom is a master at fixing things and in no time (ok, about an hour), we on the road again. Here is a pic taken on our current trip.  We spent the night outside of Fort Walton Beach, FL in a rest area.

Tomorrow will be the big reveal of what we were shopping for a couple days ago.  I am so excited!  Stay tuned!