Out and Back

Went to work yesterday.  Flew up to Indianapolis, back this morning.  We are in a weather pattern that generates strong thunderstorms every afternoon.  We'll be glad to get out west and enjoy cooler temps and lower humidity.  Zeroing in on a launch date, looks like the 7th of July! A little over a week.  Jan and I get stir crazy just sitting here.  It's worse for her as at least I go off to work periodically.

Quiet day

I was a bit under the weather the last two days.  Stomach virus, I think.  Anticipating our trip out west.  Going to be fun.  Jan's sister K and a friend of hers are meeting us in Albuquerque , and borrowing their other sister N's motorhome and are going to accompany us for 2 weeks this year.  Looking forward to it.  We are going to go to Durango, Montrose, and Pagosa Springs, all in Colorado.  We'll stay on in Pagosa for a week or so, then have to work our way back.  Got another little project completed.  Our rear A/C was draining water over the roof and down the awning instead of down a drain tube to the rear of the motorhome.  We tore things apart, cleaned the return air filter (boy, did it need it!), and tried to clean out the tube.  I think we were successful, a couple days will tell.

Loan executed!

Well after some messing around with the papers being sent to the wrong address, we got the loan docs yesterday, went to the Credit Union for a notary, got them signed and sent back.  We ended up refinancing into a 5.13% loan!  One more item checked off on our way to retiring again.  This time we have the "luxury" of easing into retirement, unlike the very quick and unexpected decision last time.  We replaced a leaking hose on our Sani-con yesterday as well.  This morning it is pouring, has been for hours, so no walks or maintenance today.  Also yesterday we went to an authentic "Southern style" meat and 3 place right near us.  It was very good.  Funny after over 10 years in this area we had never been to Doug's in Emerson, GA.

Monday

Well, Jan took our son to the airport to head home after a quick visit.  Jan is now checking out some outdoor chairs at Dick's Sporting Goods.  We carry 4-5 chairs with us and the ones we liked the best are getting very tired and they have been discontinued so we are evaluating several replacements.  I'm working on my work schedule for July to extend my vacation as much as I can so we can spend the most amount of time out west.  Having little success so far, but there is plenty of time.  Have to go to work this afternoon, but will be back tomorrow morning.  Jan and I are trying to get a bunch of errands and projects complete before we take off.  Still hot, hot, hot.

New Batteries

The new starting batteries arrived yesterday.  Quick delivery.  Our son, J is up for the weekend, so he and I installed the new batteries this morning.  Much better install than what we had.  Hopefully these new ones are worth the money.  We ended up going with AGM to match the other house batteries, although they were a lot more money.  We'll see as we live with them for awhile.  Jan will be back soon from Louisville, and we are all going out for lunch and to take some stuff down to the storage unit until we pack it up to take to our daughter's in July.

Off to Louisville

Jan's off to Louisville to see her mom and sisters.  N and her mom traveled back to get her mom's stuff together for her upcoming move to Albuquerque.  A lot has happened since Jan's father passed away in April.  Lots of changes!  I'm still here in Cartersville hoping to get a trip to fly to increase my time this month.  I am planning not to fly much in July and August so it would be good to kick it up a notch in June to make up for some of it.  No luck so far. Still hot!

Good day

Just got word that we were approved to refinance our motorhome at a much better interest rate.  We are now awaiting an inspection to fulfill the loan requirements.  The inspector is supposed to be here by 5pm.  From what they are telling us, with all the changes in banking regulations, all loans and refi's need to have the collateral inspected.  So bring it on!  Just ordered new starting batteries today.  Should be in first of the week.  We'll feel better getting them installed before our big trip this year.

3pm

Went to work on Sunday, got back this morning, kinda tired.  Had to get up at 4am for my flight from Detroit.  Jan went to dump a lot of trash from the storage unit and took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill.  We will cut this down!  Another hot day, I guess we are into summer already this year.  Sitting at Starbucks for a faster internet connection than the campground trying to download some software for our phones.  Still slow here, must be huge upgrades!

Another hot day

Jan worked in our storage unit most of the morning while I was working.  We are trying to either cut down or get rid of our "stuff".  It occurred to us over the 7 years we've had the storage unit, we could have bought everything in there!  So we are working on getting rid of it.  Also, our chassis batteries are dying, so we plan, in the next few days to get new, more appropriately sized batteries.  We are going to replace our current 4 starting batteries with 2 with a lot more oomph.

Plumbing

Turned out the Sani-con was very plugged up, both in the impeller and in the tubing.  Tore it all apart and cleaned it up and now it works like a champ.  Cleaned up the plumbing compartment while we were at it.  Still hot!

Quiet day

Chilled for the most part.  Did a bit of maintenance, caulked the front Fantastic Fan, had a little leak.  Picked up a trip for tomorrow.  Sent off some eBay sales.  The sani-con is plugged up a bit, will tackle it tomorrow morning before it gets too hot.

Motorhome stuff

Back from flying now.  Talked to a friend of ours, Paul, that has a similar coach, and we've been discussing changing out air filter and muffler for much increased fuel mileage.  Probably going to change the air cleaner right away and the exhaust soon.  Seems worth it to increase the mileage as mush as 40%.  Sounds like snake oil claims almost!  Also, it turns out we need new chassis batteries, and now find out Monaco most likely used the wrong ones from the start.  Boy, money, money, money......

Back to reality

Had a good drive back to Allatoona Landing.  Nice weather, little traffic, but hot.  Got back situated in our site, and now I have to go fly tonight.  I'll keep thinking of our upcoming vacation to Colorado, so it will be fine.

Back north

Well, it turned out that the biggest problem with the slide was the manufacturer had installed a circuit breaker too small in the circuit for the slide motor.  So each time it encountered any resistance it would trip and cause the slide to stop working.  Now it works fine.  We didn't get off til after 3:30 yesterday, so we are in a nice campground in White Springs, FL, and will go the rest of the way to Cartersville this morning.  The K.I.S.S. principle is usually valid.  Keep it simple stupid.  The missized circuit breaker was about the 10th thing the tech looked at.

Progress!

Alliance has taken care of our air issues and it's only 9am!  On to the slideout, and it appears that some adjustment will solve that as well.  Time will tell.

Hot, hot, hot

Well, we made it to Wildwood in good time.  It is so stinking hot, high 90's, a bit early for the heat, even in Florida.  Looks a little quiet here as the summer season arrives.  Most of the snow birders are home by now with all their servicing complete.  We're hoping to get in AND out tomorrow!  We'll see.

Off for repairs

Well, we have a problem with our driver side rear slideout.  I'm quite handy so we looked it over as the slide is very reluctant moving in and out.  Found one roller messed up that needs to be replaced, and the mechanism is binding so we are off to Alliance in Wildwood, FL to get it fixed.  An 850 mile trip we were not planning on.  Oh well, as they say, %$#* happens.

The Blog begins 6/4/11

We're starting this blog in the interest of friends and family to be able to follow along and see where geographically and mentally we are in our travels about.  We've never done anything like a blog before so I'm sure it will be a learning experience, and perhaps an exercise in patience for you.  Right now we are at our "base" home in GA, Allatoona Landing Campground in Cartersville officially and Acworth unofficially.  This has been a great day as we are visiting with our friends R & A from Florida.  We had a nice morning shopping a bit and a wonderful lunch at Nori Nori in Sandy Springs.