Quite a week

First of all, Karen had to bug out to College Station, TX to help our friend Rachel, as she had a skiing accident and injured her knee.  So Karen is helping her out and is expected back tonight.  The good news is they don't expect she will need surgery, just physical therapy.

Next I want to show you how fickle Jan and I are.  The tile guy showed up to take a look at our floor, said he could do it no problem, but it might be a couple months.  Now Jan and I have decided not to do the tile, and just stick with the new wood throughout the coach except for the toilet compartment where we will just stick with our existing tile.  What can I say??

We went to the Tampa Super Show, one of the largest RV shows in the country.  We aren't looking for a motorhome or anything, it's just fun to look and see what's new.  Last year we were very disappointed and not impressed with anything, but this year we found a couple coaches that were very nice and innovative.  We saw the new Dynasty by Monaco.  It's a big deal as it has been quite a road for Monaco, the original manufacturer of our coach, they went bankrupt and after a bit Navistar, a big truck company bought them, but didn't do too much with the company.  In fact they produced only a few motorhomes and they weren't too popular.  Then Navistar decided to get out of the motorhome business and ASV, the parent of Fleetwood bought them, ditched the very desirable Monaco Roadmaster chassis, and has just built the "new" Dynasty on a Freightliner chassis.  It is getting mixed reviews and Jan and I can add to the not impressed group.  Too tight inside, the slide comes in over the kitchen sink, windows don't open except for a tiny bit at the bottom, a second tier hydronic hot water and heating system, a bath and a half design which doesn't appeal to us, and a $650,000 price tag!

Then the next day we went to Sebring, FL to meet our friends John and Diane to go to an expo for ultralight aircraft.  We had a very nice evening visiting, and then on to the expo.  John is looking to buy an airplane, with me, if he had his way, but it doesn't work for us right now to his chagrin.  We had a good time looking at a huge variety of aircraft from powered parachutes to gyrocopters to amphibians.  And had the added pleasure of watching Formula One racers going around the Sebring racetrack at incredible speeds!  John and Diane got a demo ride in the Air Cam, the plane John is contemplating.  They were very impressed.

Then today Jan went to a craft show to sell her photographic wares, and I tackled getting our floor done so we could put everything away and live normally again.  After a few surprises and Jan getting back to help, we can finally say we are ready to live with it until we can get the wood floor installed in December.  It turned out well and the slide even works!

TaDa!

So now we have to call the tile guy back and tell him we've changed our minds.  He's so busy I think he will be relieved.  Then on to our other projects.  Oh yeah, one more thing.  We are planning to go to Alaska this summer, and had planned to take the ferry up to Alaska from Prince Rupert, BC and then back from Haines to Bellingham, WA, a long return trip, 3 1/2 days.  Well we intend to have a LOT of fish in our freezer on the way back and were concerned about it making it back frozen as you have to turn off everything on the motorhomes while on the ferry.  Unfortunately in the midst of our floor repair crawling in and out of the basements we accidentally knocked the plug out of the freezer.  When we discovered it only 1 1/2 days later everything was thawed and had to be thrown out.  That was bad enough but then it dawned on us there was no way the fish would remain frozen for our ferry ride.  That prompted a big pow wow with us and Karen to figure out what to do.  Well, we solved it!  We are now taking the ferry from Bellingham, WA to Juneau, AK, getting off for several days, then getting back on the ferry from Juneau to Haines, AK, and then we will drive back with our freezers full of fish.  We have our reservations all made and paid for.  This way we can head back south whenever we want to rather than coordinating for a southbound ferry.  And plan to have our freezers empty for the trip north.  So Alaska, here we come.