Family, Repairs & Relief

Saturday, May 22, 2010

I met my parents in Washington at my brother & sister-in-law's house where we'll park for the next three nights. They have a great place to relax and Cooper loves the grassy park and walking trails behind their house. Even the weather has cooperated and it's been pleasant during the day, cool at night.

I picked the motorhome up from the shop in Oregon of Friday night and I finally have my new wing caps! The only thing left are a few decals and I'll do that when I return in September. Here are the before and after pictures:

This is the before picture. Notice the yellowed caps on the back left, right and center. They ship in three separate pieces from the factory in Indiana and they were on back order since January. When the last piece finally came in they were all installed at the original factory, and then the motorhome went to another location for painting, then back for trim and caulking. After curing for about 12 hours I was able to come and pick it up.

This is the after picture! All I have left are the decals along the bottom and top but I must say it's an improvement and makes the motorhome look a little newer and cleaner!!



The night that I arrived here I had another situation come up with the motorhome. The refrigerator stopped working. I also have a solar panel on the roof and a control panel inside that reads the DC voltage and it wasn't registering any longer. The two situations seemed to be tied together somehow but since I don't know anything about it I was in panic mode - again. I got the name of a RV repair technician that will make house calls and I called him on the weekend but of course they were closed so I left a brief message describing what little I knew of my current problem. He was nice enough to call me first thing this morning. When I explained in a little more detail, he said that he's seen this kind of problem before. When they install an after-factory solar panel they often connect it through the refrigerator instead of separately. He said that more than likely it was a fuse that was bad and once I replaced the fuse the refrigerator and solar control panel should work. Of course my dad was kind enough, once again, to help me out and he pulled fuse after fuse and tested them and all were good except for the last fuse tested, which was bad. He happened to have a fuse on him and when he plugged it in the refrigerator and control panel worked perfectly! I was jumping up and down like some happy deranged lunatic. All night long I was envisioning more money being spent on motorhome repairs and so a simple fuse was a much welcome relief.

After that I went to the local Walmart and picked up a package of different fuses so that I would have them on hand in case my dad wasn't around to bail me out! I really do hope that after this trip I won't agonize over ever little thing that goes wrong with the motorhome. I know things are bound to go wrong but at this "newbie" stage I'm in, every little thing becomes major (in my mind anyway). Once I learn more about my particular motorhome and motorhomes in general, I'll be more at ease, knowing that whatever comes along I be able to handle it!

 Here is a picture of where I'm currently parked at my brother's house. Tomorrow we head north to Spokane.

Last minute things

I'm in waiting mode. Ready to go without a home to go in. It's still in the shop. The painting is done and now the seams need to be sealed. I'll still be without decals but at least it's new and painted and the decals can be added when I get back. She'll be in need of a fresh wax job by that time as well.

The longer I wait the more little things I think I might need on my trip. Just in case......yadayadayada......I'm sure there will be many things I can do without and some I didn't pack that I could use. Making do with what you have or doing without. It will be fun and challenging to actually see if I can see and experience Alaska on a tight budget! I think I'd be better at that in sunny, warm climate where I can stay in one place longer & boondock, depending more on solar energy. Well...that will be the next trip! I'm not going to travel all that distance to Alaska with unrealistic expectations - I just want to be careful about spending money on "unnecessary" items. I don't think I'd be so freaked out about money if the stock market were going up rather than down. It's hard to stay upbeat and motivated when you're being depleted of future traveling funds! But am I going to let it stop me? No way!

I'm still downloading music to my laptop. Can't live without my music! I bought external speakers a few months ago and I have my beloved i-touch so even though I won't have TV (except for movies) I will have my music! I sure hope the weather is going to be nice. I don't expect it. After all, we're talking Alaska here. Doesn't it rain even more than the PNW? And I'm sick and tired of this cold, wet weather we've been having lately. See? I'm already whining and I haven't even started yet! My new mantra is going to be: Live in the Moment.....Live in the Moment.......

I'm starting. Now.

Almost time

I leave for my Alaska trip on Saturday. That's two days. In the meantime, Ellie is back in the shop getting new wing caps installed and painted. They've been on backorder since March and the final piece arrived yesterday via Fed Ex. This project should be done by Friday afternoon. Should be. Since Ellie's been in and out of the shop since January I don't hold out a lot of hope that it will be finished on time.

I am packed and ready to roll....mostly. There are a few last minute items to cram in. I keep adding more things that I think I might need along the way, which leads me to think I may have overpacked and therefore, overloaded my motorhome AND it seems that all the heavier items are on the right side. Fresh water tank, canned food items, stocked refrigerator, 20# of dog food, my small grill. How do I rearrange things so that I'm more balanced? Especially when I don't even have access to the motorhome? Hum....just something for me to stew about I suppose!

I'm going to drive to Richland and spend a few days with family and friends before heading north to Spokane to see another family member on Tuesday. Hopefully we'll cross the border into Canada on Wednesday, May 26th - a week from today. It's hard to believe that this day is almost here - after planning it for a year!

I've tried to do what I can to make sure the motorhome is safe and secure for this journey. I still worry, but will just take what comes and deal with it at that time. Never does anyone any good to worry over things that may never transpire.

I found a website the other day - http://www.audible.com/. I downloaded about 18 books to my i-touch so that essentially I can listen to a book and knit at the same time! In the past I could either read or knit, but this way I can accomplish both. I don't prefer audible fiction so I downloaded comedy, inspiration, motavation, self developemnt....that kind of thing. Recently I've been listening to a Cesar Milan book titled, "How to Raise the Perfect Dog." I feel like I'm about 18 months too late in reading this, as 18 month old Cooper has some "issues" that need to be dealth with. Maybe after listening to this book I'll  become THE ultimate pack leader!

Tomorrow Cooper goes to the vet so that he can be checked out and deemed healthy enough to travel into Canada. I need to have a signed certificate stating this fact, along with a rabies certificate and it has to be within 30 days of crossing the border, which is why I'm waiting until the last minute!

Hiking

I will never get enough of hiking the Coastal Trail at Sunset Bay. It is so majestic and powerful, yet also serene and mystical. I will never tire of trying to capture the essence of it all.

Shore Acres Botanical Garden

April 22, 2010

Today we went to Shore Acres to see the gardens. It was beautiful and here are pictures to prove it!

More New Things

Ever watch that movie where Robin Williams takes his family on an RV trip? Well, I'm beginning to identify!

 For instance, I didn't know until today that you are supposed to leave the black tank valve closed while the motorhome is in use (ie: you're camping at the campground). I just thought that if you were hooked up to sewer you could leave your black and grey tank valves open and just "let er flow". Yeh...well....it doesn't quite work like that!

I quickly adjusted my valves and now I'm doing things the proper way!  When I really thought about the mechanics of it all, I guess I could see why you would need the force of the "flow" to really flush things to where they need to be - I just hadn't thought about it much - until now!

When I break camp I will flush the tanks really well from the outside. (I have a hook up where I can do that) and hopefully that will take care of whatever may linger there! Oh, the joy of it all!

Will that day ever come when I'll just" know it all"??

Oregon Coast

April 18, 2010

I’ve always thought the Oregon Coast is one of the prettiest places on earth. I’m at one of the state parks in Charleston. Since we’re here in the off season (through the end of April), the rates are lower for full hookup sites. There are wonderful hiking opportunities and I’m hoping to get out today or tomorrow and take advantage of it. Yesterday it rained all day so I took advantage and finished my book. It was called “God Grew Tired Of Us” and was about the Lost Boys of Sudan. A very good book and makes me appreciate the wonderful country I live in and all the things in it that I take advantage of. I have the freedom to travel all over this country, as a woman, by myself. I have my family, my health, plenty of food to eat, a warm bed to sleep in at night. I don’t have fear of a terrorist enemy trying to kill me-and one from my own country no less.

Once I get home the motorhome goes back to the shop. I’ve been driving into town and emailing Gulfstream (the manufacturer) asking if my wing caps have shipped yet. Each time I receive a different story as to why they haven’t shipped. I’ve been promised that they will be at the shop by the time I get home. Hum….we’ll see…..to say I’m skeptical is an understatement at this point. I hope my dad and I can figure out why my water heater isn’t heating water. I’m hoping it’s just a simple problem. Today I just had to wash my hair so I stuck my head under the bathtub facet and washed it in cold water. I dried it and styled it and then went outside into the wind and misty rain. I wonder why I bothered! We all decided to drive into Reedsport today to go the bakery and bookstore – a tradition each time we’ve been here. I wasn’t going to get but one bakery item – I got six! I wasn’t going to buy any books – I bought four! I wonder how I’m going to stay on budget when I keep buying things I think I need! Before we left for Reedsport my parent’s Puggle got loose and ran all over the campground for about half an hour before someone finally caught her. She thinks playing keep-away is such an enjoyable game that she’ll come right up to you and then dash off. She has such a comical look on her face like she’s having the time of her life. I wonder what she thinks of our frustration in not being able to catch her. Does she think we’re enjoying the game as much as she is?

I decided to hike the Coastal Trail after we got home and set out around 2pm with day pack, camera, & dog! It’s a cool, windy, partly cloudy day – perfect hiking weather. I started out with my parents and their friends but we quickly separated and I went on without them. I walked the 2 miles from the campground to Shore Acres and then past that for about a mile. It was 3:30pm by then and rather than go on I turned back and retraced my steps back to camp. Tomorrow I’ll drive my car to Shore Acres and hike to Cape Arago – four miles round trip.

I don’t have internet service or cell service at this campground so I’m posting in Word and hoping to paste them into my blog later. I hope it works because I’ll probably do much of that while in Canada – unable to connect via my broadband and having to use WiFi when I can. I’m excited about my upcoming trip. I really hope to learn a lot about the mechanics of maintaining my motorhome. I’m not adapt at fixing things and therefore I tend not to – just hoping the problem will go away. I find that motorhomes need so much more maintenance than stick homes do and wonder whether I’ll adjust to the constant attention they require.

Here are some pictures of my hike today: