The Final Countdown

Really counting it down now.  Trying to get those last few things done, last few restaurants visited, and plans made for our ever-changing itinerary.   And speaking of that, when we did our brake light fiasco, we were reminded how bad our molded side panels are in the driver's area.  They were shabbily made as we've come to find out and have been shrinking and moving with all the years.  Hard to believe our coach is 14 years old.  But when I installed our new battery system and its new switch and then had to take the panel back out when messing with the brake light, it really made itself known how bad they looked, pulling away from the wall, and not supporting the switch panels, etc.  Then the lower sub panel is broken and getting worse.  All this started our minds working, always a bad thing:-)

You can really see the big gap between the lower panel and the main panel
and it is bad along the wall as well

This lower panel has been ordered new, as it is broken and we 
plan to modify it to make it shorter.
Also you can see the gap very clearly

The passenger panel is in much better shape, but we don't
use the cubbies or need the fire extinguisher mounted there

We talked about it some and let it fester in our brains for awhile, managed to get out to lunch a couple times with Tom, being full vaccinated now has certainly given us much more confidence in getting back closer to normal.  

We had fun making delicious homemade pizza one evening, it was yummy!

Then slowly a possible idea started to come to us, since we already had 2 weeks reserved in Missoula, MT, how far is that from Oregon, specifically Junction City where Scott and Amazing Creations are located.  Scott has done a lot of beautiful work for us in the past and we knew he was capable of reworking our panels in cherry that would be sturdy and good looking.  But could he, would he have time, would he have an opening in his schedule?????  So after a call and some pictures texted and some info back and forth, we are now going back to Oregon this year, who knew?!?

Jan found time to wash and wax the truck, and BIL Tom was tickled to be able to get his jab when Florida lowered their age requirement.  The weather has been up and down, really hot and humid, then glorious for awhile, back and forth, our daughter Kelly sent us some awesome insulated glasses for our cocktails that really come into their own when it's hot and humid, actually they are amazing!

Much nicer than fat plastic glasses and no sweating at all!

Then before we headed north to Brooksville, Fl to Stone Vos / TalinRV to get our awning fabric replaced, we met Tom for lunch in Sarasota, and after a great lunch we went to Walt's fish market and picked up some jumbo lump crabmeat for, you guessed it, crab cakes!

Almost gone before remembering a picture:-)

Then on Sunday we picked up and went to TalinRV, spent the night in anticipation of our awning appointment.

Our spot for a couple nights

And then to make the most of it, first cocktails and then an awesome shrimp salad Jan put together.

After a peaceful night, at about 9am our two techs, Dustin and Mike came out and started right in on our slide toppers.

Off comes the first slide topper fabric

On goes the new

First one done

We popped out for an early lunch and by the time we got back they were ready to tackle the window awnings.  We worked together on each one, I had the job to press the button to operate the awnings in or out when they needed it.  

Opened all the way to get the old fabric off

Pulling the new fabric on

As the day wound down they had completed everything except for the last window awning and the door awning, and told us they would be back first thing in the morning to take care of those.  Jan took the time to make a delicious pot roast as it had been a cool day.

Delicious!

They were concerned they might get there too early and I explained we were very early risers and there was no chance they could be there too early:-)  So right at 7am, almost still dark they showed and by 9am, they were done!

Last one

I just want to say if you need awnings, awning fabric, or any quality work done on your coach, we can't recommend TalinRV and Stone Vos any higher.  From the first contact through the estimates, appointment setup, and the entire installation, the communication was frequent, clear, and concise, and the attention to detail by these techs was wonderful and refreshing.  There are few shops all across this country that provide quality service and this is one of them!

Back to Nokomis for our last week.