3-9-14 Sunday (Wet Pilots)

After work on Thursday, 3-6-14 (I’m very behind), I headed to Augusta.  Jim had to work until 8:30 on both Thursday and Friday night.  I took Friday as a PTO day to get the inside of the new RV/camper/trailer/fifth wheel (I may refer to it as any of these), cleaned and organized.

Thursday night’s drive was miserable.  It was raining, cold and I-77 was moving at 5mph in some parts (due to an accident).  It took me a really long time to make it through.  Eventually, I made it to Augusta.  I unpacked the car in the cold rain and traipsed mud and everything else through the motorhome.  I had to dewinterize the moho.  First I closed all the house faucets.  We leave those on so that if water freezes, it has somewhere to expand without busting a pipe.  Next I went outside, lifted the hatch door to the connection and had to hold it up using my shoulder (the strut is weak), hold a flashlight and turn knobs to close the low point drains.  Next I closed the water heater drain then reconnected the water hose (with lots of difficulty).  I was getting angrier and stressed by the moment.  Damn you inanimate objects!  I turned the water on and it gushed out of the water heater’s pressure relief valve.  Damn, forgot that one.  I went back inside, switched on the water heater and the pilot light would not stay on.  Everything had gotten too wet.  I used a heat gun to try and dry it out.  I was somewhat successful.  The moho’s water heater would only fire for about 5 minutes and then switch off.  I stayed up a little longer and then headed for bed. 

On Friday I spent the day cleaning the new RV and moving things from the moho to it.  My neighbor and friend Wesley helped me get a water supply to the new RV and hopefully some hot water so I can eventually shower.  Late that night, Jim arrived.  My first decorative touch, a 5th wheel frame.

frame

I try to be organized and when I can’t be, it bothers me.

2014-03-08 001Above: Unavoidable motorhome clutter.

Saturday was spent re-leveling the RV.  Jim, me and some friends worked at lifting/jacking the RV up and getting concrete blocks under 6 areas for support and stability.  Grueling.  Next, he went on to hard plumbing the sewer line while I went inside to continue transferring our stuff from the moho to the RV.  We attended a birthday party and then went back to work.  We were able to spend the night in the new RV!  Yay!

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Jim discovered water leaking under the RV.  He crawled under and had to cut out some of the underlining to access the underbelly.  Pooled water dripped out.  He found the support brackets that hold the fresh water were broken at the welds and maybe the tank is leaking.  He used a jack and some blocks to brace the tank for now.  We ran out of time so it will have to wait until next weekend.

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As is my typical writing style, here’s some unrelated stuff:

You may remember my constant battle with Monro.  Or you might remember and not really care is more like it.  I just got a response from them via the Better Business Bureau file I created 8/2012.

Monro response

My response:

Our response

Naturally the cheapness in Jim compels him to save the certificate.  He figured we could get an oil change or something out of them.  I said no way.  The certificate will be passed on to a coworker who likes them or torn up and mailed to Monro. 

Some photos floating around in my phone:

Below: A photo of Dasher in the back seat during a trip back to Charlotte.20140302_145248

2014-02-25Above: At Walmart.

2014-02-07 002 - CopyAbove: At a restaurant.  They chose for me so I guess I don’t have to.

2014-02-08 003Above: I can’t believe this exists.

2014-03-02 010Above: I get so much material from Walmart.  Is it clearance or Clarence? Perhaps a blend.  “NOW;”.

3-2-14 Sunday (Someone Done Got A New Trailer)

After Jim got home from work Friday, we ate dinner and then hit the road for Augusta.  We didn’t get there until 10:30.  We unpacked the car, walked the door and then had a couple of drinks at the bar.  With Jim’s new job’s schedule, unfortunately we can’t hit the road as early as we used to.

Saturday, nothing real exciting.  I had a couple of Bloody Mary’s with our friend Wesley.  Yum.  Afterwards he and Jim went to get some concrete paver thingies that we’ll use next weekend to level the new RV.  While they were gone, I packed a couple of totes but got “Bloody Mary Head” and had to lay down for a few! 

For lunch, Jim and I went out to eat at Long Horn.  We had burgers which we used to like there.  We asked for them medium and they were well done.  It wasn’t really the doneness that was the issue but just the whole flavor in general.   I didn’t finish all of mine.  It just wasn’t that good.  No, I didn’t send it back.  Either their burgers aren’t as good as they used to be or my tastes have changed or perhaps with Red Robin and Five Guys, we’ve reached perfection and anything other than those places are subpar? 

Work for me has been very busy.  I haven’t run out of work in about a month.  Now it’s new underwrites, appraisal reviews, title reviews, etc.  I still love it.  Best.job.ever.  A few weeks ago I had that unhappy at work feeling for a week or two as I adjusted to our new work queue.  Unfortunately, there’s several more steps in my job now that I didn’t have to do previously. I’ve also learned new things and have been upgraded to working all loan types without restrictions.  My mind has been overloaded. 

The next Friday night, 3-28-14, we arrived in Augusta late, unpacked and pretty much went to bed.  Tomorrow is going to be a big day…

Oh look, it’s “tomorrow”… Saturday.  We drove to Tucker, GA (East of Atlanta) to buy our new-used RV.  As you may know, we currently have a 1997 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 36S which is a Type A Motor Home as shown below.

RV types

We bought a Gulf Stream Mako 33FSBI Fifth Wheel (style shown above).

We bought it from Peco Campers.  This was such a fantastic experience.  It’s not a very large operation and certainly low tech.  They only have a couple of salespeople; Nick was ours and he was fantastic.  When we arrived, we were introduced to Travis who provided a full “delivery” of the RV to us.  He went over all of the systems, switches, do-dads and all that.  We found a few issues, pointing them out and they were resolved quickly to our satisfaction.  The entire process took about 2 hours.  They gave us an awesome little startup package too.  A full propane tank, sewer hose, water hose, electrical adapter, toilet paper, etc.  Some of it we didn’t need.

Mako exterior

After the demo, we signed paperwork with the owner and then turned the RV over to a delivery driver to haul it from Tucker to Augusta (approximately 2.5 hours) to our campsite. 

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The driver dropped off the unit and then Jim and I worked at setting blocks for support and extending the slideouts.  This unit is not going to be moved around.

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On Sunday I managed to clean a good portion of the main living area.  I’ll need to finish some more next weekend and then we’ll transfer our stuff from the motor home to the fifth wheel.  We need to finish hooking up water and sewer as well.  All in all I think it will take another 2-3 weekends. 

Kitchen-dining-living 1

Once the motorhome is emptied then we’ll need to clean it and make some repairs.  We want to have the shower/tub replaced (see Caulkenstein posts), the fender replaced, and we need a generator starter or something like that.  After repairs, we’ll consign it.  We’ll pop a for sale sign on it in the RV park in the meantime.

2014-03-02 011Above: Both RV’s on the site = crowded and trashy.

Photos of the new RV can be seen here.  You don’t need a Facebook account to see the photos.  Please let me know if you have any issues seeing them. 

The wooded view:2014-03-02 014