Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Great American Tour Part II


Great American Tour Part II

 

Here we go again.! The great American Tour Part II... well maybe. Lisa and I lost our empty nest classification this year with the return of her two sons, Brian and Joey in May. And last week we had news of Jesse, Brenda and the kids headed our way in Oct. So from two in the house, we will expand to nine, yes, nine, but three of them will be our grandbabies, so they are more than acceptable as all grandbabies are. So our plans were put on hold first in May with the date of departure moved to July, then August, and now to the end of August. But we did get a new roof, which we needed, and drumroll!!!!! We have a new (used)
RV!  A 30 foot Winnebago Motorhome!
 And to go with that, a jeep (old and still has an issue but will work on the property just fine).
The delay has assisted us in missing another brutal hot spell at Rimrock Meadows and the fire season. But the heat and mugginess in Florida has been no relief either.

So the Prep and the Story!!!

Well Lisa and I began planning in January for the expected departure of April to our 1.6 acres in Rimrock Meadows, in beautiful Ephrata Washington.

 
 During these discussions, we had prepared a pros and cons list and what improvements would make us happier during our stay. It ended up we found that maybe upgrading our RV would be best.  So we talked about what we wanted, and how much we could spend, then we looked at dealers and craigslist just to get a feel what we could get. It was not good.  Most good RVs were well above our budget and it seemed we would spend another year in our little travel trailer.  One day when we were out, Lisa was looking at my i-pad and spied a 1994 Winnebago.  Well it was a bit older than we wanted, but it had only 56k miles on it. Plus it was a class A motor home!!! We went to see it  and fell in love with it, and when I drove it, it just felt good, so we bought it. We had it checked out, both at camping world and by our mechanic Mike, who gave it a tune-up.  We bought a set of new tires(first trip out we had a blowout)

 and some repairs, and it was ready. We did a few test camps and then drove it to Maryland.  We did need a couple of issues fixed, and I somehow managed to fix them, despite not having worked on an engine in 30 years.  I put in a new fan clutch and thermostat, and baby now runs like the lady she is. Then we had to test towing with the Jeep, and I will tell you I was not very comfortable with the thought, but after a test drive or two it was fine.
Some Pictures of our trips:
 
 

Stopped in NC on the way to Maryland in June 2014

 
Lisa playing with Taylor June 2014

Aruba!  Lisa and John working out in the pool, while I watched, sipping on a Mojito!!!

 
Test trip to Jupiter FL , July 2014.  All systems a go!!!

Oh yeah... This is our new roof.
Ok, so RV loaded and ready for take off on Friday morning!!!

 
Map of our trip
 
Stops: Cordele GA, Paducah KY, Kansas City KS, Sioux Falls SD, Rapid City SD, Big-Timber MT, Spokane WA, RimRock Meadows!!!