The day has arrived. We've been having a good time, a bit quieter than usual, but good nonetheless. The weather has been cold, in fact, it is just 20 right now. But we should get a small warming trend today. We'll be heading up shortly for our delicious breakfast before the serious cooking will begin. A few more friends will arrive today, travel should be fine as the snow has passed.
A lot has happened this year for our family, but there is so much to be thankful for, so give each other a hug and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Thanksgiving Week
The culmination of our time here in Louisville at Karen and Tom's Windenskye is upon us. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Those who know me realize that. It is a no pressure gathering of family and friends to celebrate your own reasons to be thankful. We have had the whole gamut here over the years from groups as large as 50 to this year, only 12. We are fortunate that our son Jason will be here this year as he has missed several, but are disappointed that Kelly and Todd and the grandkids won't be. Neither of Karen and Tom's sons will be here either, the cost of growing up. None of sister's Nancy's brood will be here either.
We'll go to the airport in a few minutes to pick up Ray and April, and Rachel is expected later today. The others will arrive over the next few days right up to T-Day. Unfortunately the weather isn't really cooperating, it's 22 degrees right now and only supposed to warm up to a balmy high of 42 on Friday with a good chance of snow on Tuesday. Now in all honesty we have had snow before and some shirt sleeve weather in the past, whatever Mother Nature throws at us, we'll still be thankful to be together and have a good time.
We'll go to the airport in a few minutes to pick up Ray and April, and Rachel is expected later today. The others will arrive over the next few days right up to T-Day. Unfortunately the weather isn't really cooperating, it's 22 degrees right now and only supposed to warm up to a balmy high of 42 on Friday with a good chance of snow on Tuesday. Now in all honesty we have had snow before and some shirt sleeve weather in the past, whatever Mother Nature throws at us, we'll still be thankful to be together and have a good time.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Several pics
I had an opportunity to take a couple pictures after we got the tonneau cover and the bed step installed.
That's all folks, won't bug you any more with our new truck:-)
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| The new Truck |
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| Tonneau cover installed |
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| Bed step retracted |
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| Bed step out and ready for use |
A new toad
We have been hemming and hawing about getting a truck to replace the Jeep. There have been and we anticipate times we would rather carry stuff in a truck bed rather than inside the SUV. Things like our scooter or an inflatable boat and outboard motor. So we have been doing a lot of research on trucks. We have been, as I have mentioned, very pleased with our latest Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2012. The fit and finish, the air suspension, and the gas mileage have been fantastic, so it was with a bit of trepidation that we considering the change. Most all of the pickups in the trim levels we desire come with V8 engines except for the EcoBoost engine in the Ford which is a 6 cylinder. The mileage of all of them is about the same, but all 3 companies have been working hard to achieve better mileage and they have made a lot of headway.
We looked at all three, but the Dodge Ram got the tip of our hat. It has an air suspension like the Jeep, gas mileage only a few mpg's worse than the 6 in the Jeep, fit and finish and the interior is awesome, and it has the RamBox system which is storage compartments along the side of the bed. They are lockable, waterproof, lighted, and provide a surprising amount of protected storage. The crew cab in all of the trucks is actually bigger inside than the Jeep and the back seat area is huge! So we got a 2014 Dodge Ram 4X4 in a Limited trim package. We had quite an experience buying it and actually ended up getting it in Greenville, SC! We bought it at Big O Dodge and had an excellent experience, totally painless, at a fantastic price. We then drove it down to Atlanta for a quick visit to get my permanent crown, and then back up to Louisville. It has a Hemi in it with lots of snot, but like I said we were a little worried about the MPG, but we have averaged 20.5 mpg so far, and that makes us happy, happy.
I have ordered a few accessories for it, a bed step to allow you to just step up into the bed and a folding tonneau cover to protect the bed, but easily rolled up to get out of the way when you need to put something tall in the back, and it also should increase the gas mileage a bit.
The Ram is towable four down just like the Jeep, so we have to get a baseplate, a unit that mounts to the truck to enable our tow bar to connect to it, a wiring kit so we have lights while towing, and a braking system so the truck has brakes while being towed by the motorhome. I have always bought the baseplate and installed them myself, and the brand of tow bar we have been using for over 18 years is Blue Ox So I go on their website to check on a baseplate and find out there is no listing yet for a 2014 Dodge Ram Limited! Uh oh, so I give them a call and they tell me they will check and call me back, hmmmm. In a little while they call and say they have not developed a baseplate for our very new vehicle yet, and as my heart sinks, they say they would like to offer us to be a part of their fitment program. What's that? Well, we would like to be able to use your truck to develop a baseplate and instructions that we will be able to offer for sale. We would install a FREE baseplate on your vehicle for FREE, give you a brand new tow bar for FREE, install a wiring kit for $50, including the kit itself, would you be interested? HELL YES we would!! Just to put this in perspective, the tow bar is about $600, the baseplate usually is about $400, and the wiring kit is about $60, all without any installation costs. The only catch is we have to get the truck to their factory in Pender, NE. So we have an appointment on Dec 16th and plan to drive from Kelly's in Texas up to have it all done. Then we have another appointment to have an M&G braking system installed on our way out of Texas later in the month. We chose the M&G because it is a seamless system in that their is no indication when driving the truck that there is any braking system installed, it uses the truck's vacuum system utilizing power brakes, and has a breakaway feature as well, one air line and one cable is used between the motorhome and the truck.
I'll get a few pictures up when we get it all done. Counting down to Thanksgiving now, and with the cold weather descending upon us we are getting anxious to get to balmy Florida!
We looked at all three, but the Dodge Ram got the tip of our hat. It has an air suspension like the Jeep, gas mileage only a few mpg's worse than the 6 in the Jeep, fit and finish and the interior is awesome, and it has the RamBox system which is storage compartments along the side of the bed. They are lockable, waterproof, lighted, and provide a surprising amount of protected storage. The crew cab in all of the trucks is actually bigger inside than the Jeep and the back seat area is huge! So we got a 2014 Dodge Ram 4X4 in a Limited trim package. We had quite an experience buying it and actually ended up getting it in Greenville, SC! We bought it at Big O Dodge and had an excellent experience, totally painless, at a fantastic price. We then drove it down to Atlanta for a quick visit to get my permanent crown, and then back up to Louisville. It has a Hemi in it with lots of snot, but like I said we were a little worried about the MPG, but we have averaged 20.5 mpg so far, and that makes us happy, happy.
I have ordered a few accessories for it, a bed step to allow you to just step up into the bed and a folding tonneau cover to protect the bed, but easily rolled up to get out of the way when you need to put something tall in the back, and it also should increase the gas mileage a bit.
The Ram is towable four down just like the Jeep, so we have to get a baseplate, a unit that mounts to the truck to enable our tow bar to connect to it, a wiring kit so we have lights while towing, and a braking system so the truck has brakes while being towed by the motorhome. I have always bought the baseplate and installed them myself, and the brand of tow bar we have been using for over 18 years is Blue Ox So I go on their website to check on a baseplate and find out there is no listing yet for a 2014 Dodge Ram Limited! Uh oh, so I give them a call and they tell me they will check and call me back, hmmmm. In a little while they call and say they have not developed a baseplate for our very new vehicle yet, and as my heart sinks, they say they would like to offer us to be a part of their fitment program. What's that? Well, we would like to be able to use your truck to develop a baseplate and instructions that we will be able to offer for sale. We would install a FREE baseplate on your vehicle for FREE, give you a brand new tow bar for FREE, install a wiring kit for $50, including the kit itself, would you be interested? HELL YES we would!! Just to put this in perspective, the tow bar is about $600, the baseplate usually is about $400, and the wiring kit is about $60, all without any installation costs. The only catch is we have to get the truck to their factory in Pender, NE. So we have an appointment on Dec 16th and plan to drive from Kelly's in Texas up to have it all done. Then we have another appointment to have an M&G braking system installed on our way out of Texas later in the month. We chose the M&G because it is a seamless system in that their is no indication when driving the truck that there is any braking system installed, it uses the truck's vacuum system utilizing power brakes, and has a breakaway feature as well, one air line and one cable is used between the motorhome and the truck.
I'll get a few pictures up when we get it all done. Counting down to Thanksgiving now, and with the cold weather descending upon us we are getting anxious to get to balmy Florida!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
A quick post
Not much happening so a quick update.
Karen saw her surgeon and is doing extremely well. She will go to therapy now instead of them coming to her. Although in pain periodically she is up and walking around very well.
Will have an announcement on a toad very soon, don't want to jinx it:-) Some very exciting stuff.
We got the new AC and thermostat just in time for cold weather, highs in the 30's, lows in the 20's. We will NOT be going on the roof to replace AC's while it is this cold, even if we have to cart it with us to Texas.
We have to make a very quick 3 day trip to get my permanent crown put on. Jessica has been kind enough to check on Bert while we are gone.
Hopefully with all this cold weather, we won't have to go out and get diesel before we plan to leave at the end of the month. Unusually cold! We use a little bit of electric, but mostly diesel for our heat and hot water at these temps.
The Alaska plans are firm, but we haven't made our reservations yet. We are juggling that weekly right now. Seems the Alaska Marine Highway has a policy that you have to pay when you make your reservation even if the travel isn't until June and Aug in our case. With the two of us combined about to spend more than $10,000, we are NOT anxious to have Alaska hold onto our money! So we will put this off as long as we can without losing a space on the boats.
That's all for now folks!
Karen saw her surgeon and is doing extremely well. She will go to therapy now instead of them coming to her. Although in pain periodically she is up and walking around very well.
Will have an announcement on a toad very soon, don't want to jinx it:-) Some very exciting stuff.
We got the new AC and thermostat just in time for cold weather, highs in the 30's, lows in the 20's. We will NOT be going on the roof to replace AC's while it is this cold, even if we have to cart it with us to Texas.
We have to make a very quick 3 day trip to get my permanent crown put on. Jessica has been kind enough to check on Bert while we are gone.
Hopefully with all this cold weather, we won't have to go out and get diesel before we plan to leave at the end of the month. Unusually cold! We use a little bit of electric, but mostly diesel for our heat and hot water at these temps.
The Alaska plans are firm, but we haven't made our reservations yet. We are juggling that weekly right now. Seems the Alaska Marine Highway has a policy that you have to pay when you make your reservation even if the travel isn't until June and Aug in our case. With the two of us combined about to spend more than $10,000, we are NOT anxious to have Alaska hold onto our money! So we will put this off as long as we can without losing a space on the boats.
That's all for now folks!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Slow and steady
Kind of quiet right now. Karen is steadily getting better and better, staples out and she is moving around quite well. It is amazing. She has made a couple small outings with Jan to the store already!
Definitely moving into serious fall here in Kentucky. I mowed a couple days to finish up the rest of the grass, and mostly leaves. A couple warmer days but getting cooler, with cold nights. I ordered a new air conditioner for the motorhome to finish the project we started back in CO in summer of 2012. This way we will have 3 new A/C's and two new programmable thermostats. I'll need to get Tom's help to get it on and off the roof, hopefully before the snow flies:-)
Put in the new water pump and our random filling of the fresh water tank has ended, good to know that was definitely the problem. Steve and Bobbie left last week so we moved down into the "senior" site.
Glad to say I found some medical insurance for Jan and I, that certainly makes us feel better.
We are working on plans for our Alaska trip for summer 2014. Our little caravan of Karen and us are going to take the ferry north from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau, then from Juneau to Haines after spending several days in Juneau, and then we will ferry south from Haines all the way to Bellingham, WA to end the trip. We were having some trepidation about our freezer, that will hopefully be full of fish, but seems most people have no problem. The boat ride is 3 1/2 days without any power to the motorhomes. We'll make our reservations shortly. The ferry fills up quickly especially for a 45' and a 42' motorhome!
Both Karen and us are contemplating new vehicles to tow before the trip, so that adds a little more logistical challenge also. Want to get all the maintenance and additions to the motorhomes done, and if we get new vehicles, we'll need to get the towing and braking equipment mounted and installed as well. To get a boat or not is still being discussed, but we haven't come up with an answer to that yet. On one hand an inflatable with an outboard would really come in handy, but is it worth the hassle of carting it around and setting it up? What do you think?
Definitely moving into serious fall here in Kentucky. I mowed a couple days to finish up the rest of the grass, and mostly leaves. A couple warmer days but getting cooler, with cold nights. I ordered a new air conditioner for the motorhome to finish the project we started back in CO in summer of 2012. This way we will have 3 new A/C's and two new programmable thermostats. I'll need to get Tom's help to get it on and off the roof, hopefully before the snow flies:-)
Put in the new water pump and our random filling of the fresh water tank has ended, good to know that was definitely the problem. Steve and Bobbie left last week so we moved down into the "senior" site.
Glad to say I found some medical insurance for Jan and I, that certainly makes us feel better.
We are working on plans for our Alaska trip for summer 2014. Our little caravan of Karen and us are going to take the ferry north from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau, then from Juneau to Haines after spending several days in Juneau, and then we will ferry south from Haines all the way to Bellingham, WA to end the trip. We were having some trepidation about our freezer, that will hopefully be full of fish, but seems most people have no problem. The boat ride is 3 1/2 days without any power to the motorhomes. We'll make our reservations shortly. The ferry fills up quickly especially for a 45' and a 42' motorhome!
Both Karen and us are contemplating new vehicles to tow before the trip, so that adds a little more logistical challenge also. Want to get all the maintenance and additions to the motorhomes done, and if we get new vehicles, we'll need to get the towing and braking equipment mounted and installed as well. To get a boat or not is still being discussed, but we haven't come up with an answer to that yet. On one hand an inflatable with an outboard would really come in handy, but is it worth the hassle of carting it around and setting it up? What do you think?
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Whirlwind trip
Just got back yesterday from my whirlwind trip to Florida to help Jason move. Flew out Wed, all went well, even security with one small glitch I never thought of, but got into Sarasota right on time. Jason picked me up and he wanted to get one last excellent chinese lunch in at Yummy, and it was fantastic. So then we had to run down to Naples, 90 minutes one way to pick up a paper, pick up the moving truck, then back to Ray and April's for dinner and to spend the night, at least I did, Jason had to get a few more things packed.
We got together early to get ready for the two man crew he had hired to load the truck, second story condo and all, so we killed time throwing away a ton of stuff. At 10:45, 15 minutes past the scheduled time Jason calls to see where they are, and gets, "Oh was that today? Sorry we won't be able to come." Oh man. Well I have to say Jason wasn't alarmed, he says he'll get someone else on Craig's List. I have my doubts, but several hours later two guys show up that are absolutely fantastic. They pack the truck efficiently, and Jason and I realize that if we were doing it all ourselves we would never have gotten it all loaded in the 17' truck that he rented. So now we do the final cleanup and head over to R&A's for the night. After a not very restful night, we launch for Atlanta at 4:45, yeah that's am, early.
Have an uneventful drive, meet with the realtor for his walk through at his new place, and we are all in place for his 4:30pm appointment for two guys to unload the truck. All right! Well, at 4:45 no one is there, so he calls and finds out this crew have broken down and won't be coming either! Hard to believe. Anyway, on a Friday afternoon at 5pm, unbelievably he gets another crew arranged that is supposed to be there in a few hours. So we have time to run out and buy a bunch of stuff for his new house. The unloading is delayed another hour or so because the guys GPS is leading them in circles, but they do arrive and in less than an hour have the truck unloaded. So we pitch in, unpack, set up, make beds, etc, eat a late dinner, and go to bed.
Flew back yesterday, only an hour late, security in ATL only took 35 minutes:-(, and I won't have to fly for awhile, a long while hopefully, so all went well eventually. He starts his new job Monday, so he still has today to get a lot done. Good luck Jason!!
We got together early to get ready for the two man crew he had hired to load the truck, second story condo and all, so we killed time throwing away a ton of stuff. At 10:45, 15 minutes past the scheduled time Jason calls to see where they are, and gets, "Oh was that today? Sorry we won't be able to come." Oh man. Well I have to say Jason wasn't alarmed, he says he'll get someone else on Craig's List. I have my doubts, but several hours later two guys show up that are absolutely fantastic. They pack the truck efficiently, and Jason and I realize that if we were doing it all ourselves we would never have gotten it all loaded in the 17' truck that he rented. So now we do the final cleanup and head over to R&A's for the night. After a not very restful night, we launch for Atlanta at 4:45, yeah that's am, early.
Have an uneventful drive, meet with the realtor for his walk through at his new place, and we are all in place for his 4:30pm appointment for two guys to unload the truck. All right! Well, at 4:45 no one is there, so he calls and finds out this crew have broken down and won't be coming either! Hard to believe. Anyway, on a Friday afternoon at 5pm, unbelievably he gets another crew arranged that is supposed to be there in a few hours. So we have time to run out and buy a bunch of stuff for his new house. The unloading is delayed another hour or so because the guys GPS is leading them in circles, but they do arrive and in less than an hour have the truck unloaded. So we pitch in, unpack, set up, make beds, etc, eat a late dinner, and go to bed.
Flew back yesterday, only an hour late, security in ATL only took 35 minutes:-(, and I won't have to fly for awhile, a long while hopefully, so all went well eventually. He starts his new job Monday, so he still has today to get a lot done. Good luck Jason!!
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