Sometimes you're the pigeon...

Sometimes, you're the statue.
Today, I got to be both.

Over the last couple of days we ran into a couple of small issues, which likely could have been major issues for some - but we're on the road full-time, so we have to see it as ‘every issue presents opportunity’, and so we keep try to keep everything in perspective...

First - the van sprang a leak in a tire a couple of days ago. I figured it was the trip through the Carizzo Plain because the roads to the fault were so rough, but it turned out to be a screw in the tire. Thankfully we have an air-pump, eventually found a shop, and were on our way in a very short amount of time – without needing a new tire. I was the statue for a good couple of days, but I pigeoned up. 

Second - when we left Templeton, I ran into a problem with the truck. We went down to gas up and the truck wouldn't take fuel. Sure, I could get a gallon in the tank, but then I had to wait 10 minutes before I could get another gallon in. (BTW – If you hadn’t noticed, here, I'm all Statue…in the place where tourists think its cute to feed pigeons...) Putting a half-a-tank of fuel in the truck coming out of Atascadero took an hour. I ate lunch at the fuel hose. I had no idea why; no concept of the problem. After a long wait, and a lot of work, I put in as much fuel as we'd need to the next destination, and hoped that the problem would be fixed when we arrived by the jostling and movement of driving, and prayed I’d use the words ‘Vapor Lock’, which I used to deal with in the Mercedes - a temporary condition that just takes time. (Statue.)

When we got into Buellton it didn’t get better. The truck took 1.145 gallons before spitting fuel back onto the concrete. So, I thought logically. It had to be a blockage, had to be something I could fix. I went to the parts store and asked for a shop. I spent an hour at the shop while they regaled me with tales, told me that I’d likely have to drop the tank because “clearly the kids put a ball into the filler cap.” I KNOW that wasn’t the case. Anyway, they told me to pull the hoses and see where the blockage was. OK, I know the kids weren’t to blame, but it has to be something, right? So, tools in-hand, truck up-in-the-air, gloves-on, I pulled the entire assembly from filler cap to tank. No obstruction. No kids playing ‘fillup daddy’s truck’, just like I knew. I stuck tubes into the tank – no obstruction. Oh well. I prepared to stay an extra week here, and to send the truck into the shop to drop the tank and find the internal problem. (Statue.)

So I put it all back together, smelling like brake cleaner and diesel and looking like I rolled around in oil, head-to-toe. I took it over to the pump to make certain how much fuel I could put in so that I could tell Rich (the shop owner), and BOOM – I’ve never been soooo happy to see a $99 fuel charge. I went back to see Rich to thank him for making me take it apart. We proceeded to swap horror stories for the next half-hour. Apparently his shop is THE place in town for gearheads to talk about what they know. Wow, it is amazing what happens to trucks.

We’ll see if this problem ever arises again. Rich and I couldn’t figure it out, and I’ve chocked it up to killing the ‘vapor lock’ because by removing everything that’s the only thing that makes logical sense. The fact probably is that the high-flow hose in Atascadero was too high-flow for the truck’s setup. We won’t be doing that again.

At the end of the day – I felt pretty pigeon. I hate being the statue.

Things I figured out in Denver

We feel that we're finally settling in a little and finding a little time here or there, now that we're stationary for a little while. I've had a few posts in my head in a note on the bulletin board since we stopped in Denver, but hadn't really had the time to put it all down in the blog. I had a lot of long, quiet time on the trek West, these thoughts went along with that drive... I'll post bits and pieces of them over the next couple of days.

Go for a little trip before going for the big one.

While we aren't unhappy with how we took off, and as I've written before that each journey is its own, and this journey wouldn't be the same if we'd done it any differently, in hindsight I'd have to recommend that if you're planning on taking off on any long-term, full-time RV trip, it would be a good idea to take a short trip or two first. Originally, that was our plan, but for one reason or another those small trips never materialized. I think what those small trips would have helped was not having to learn everything all at once, all at the same time. There's a lot to know and a lot to adjust to living like this. Doing a small trip or two first would have given us a little less to learn right off the bat. At the very least, camp for a little while in one location that you know - and try to do everything you can and/or think you will on your trip while you are there. That way you'll have a little safety net before you set off. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we did things the way we did. It's just a hindsight recommendation for others.

Buy the right rig up front.

I'm very x10¹³⁴ happy about our purchase. What we bought seemed to be the right choice at the time, and I can only say that it was the right choice 100%. Sure, I'd love to have a class A with three bedrooms, but I don't particularly want to spend what I would have had to spend to get it. I'd rather put those resources into museum visits, fishing equipment and other niceties on our trip. By saying "buy the right rig", I'm essentially saying - don't buy expecting to trade up - you won't, and even if you do, you'll lose money on the deal. Buy a rig with a good reputation too - quality is one thing you can't fix after the fact. Full-timing is very different from vacationing, so look at a rig with the features/quality you need up front. Having the kids sleep on the couch in the kitchen might be great when you're all running around on the beach for the weekend, but doing that day-in, day-out will cut into your alone time, their sleep time, and everyone's happiness-in-general - even if it saves you $15,000 in rig-cost. We researched and bought the very best I could find, and I'm not only glad I found what I wanted, but spending what I spent (considered pretty expensive for a fiver) has been worth every penny.

Those Class A Guys

I'll admit it. I have ClassA envy. I'd love to have the kids with me when we are driving down the road. I'd love to be able to pull into a spot, press a button and have a sturdy, 100% electronically levelled RV at the push of one button. The kids would really enjoy having Satellite TV that tracks as we're driving down the road, giving them 140 different choices of what they could watch. Really, those rigs are generally built very well and would probably not need some of the fixes, upgrades and detail work that our trailer has needed. Class A people are generally better-regarded at parks, and may sometimes get a better shake about things than us trailer-folk (remember the million-dollar motor home in RI?). Besides, how slick would it be to roll into a place in the rain, never have to get out to get any part of things situated and have everything just how it should be, not to mention packing up to leave goes from 2 hours to about 8 minutes... so yeah - I have class A envy.

That being said, I'm very happy with what we've got. The rig cost about 20% of what we'd have needed to spend to get a comparable class A. There was only one made that I've found that had the kind of setup we'd need. Most of the rest would have put the bunks in the master bedroom, and that's no way to live full-time ;) (for us). It also would have been tough in Elkhart and Iowa where I had to have the rig taken away to be worked on. While we could always go get a hotel room - I just like having my own bed at night.

I guess what I'm saying is that just because someone doesn't have a class A doesn't mean they aren't serious about what they are doing. We could have bought one, and afforded doing so, but there were reasons we went the way we did - and everyone just needs to make that choice for themselves for their own reasons. Next time you see an RVer, ask them why they bought that rig specifically, if you're interested. You might be surprised how much thought was put into that particular one - maybe even more thought than most people put into their house.

My new favorite pasttime...

There's lots to be said by a lot of people about this photo. I couldn't help myself from taking it. I'll probably never live it down, and some might get steamed (ok, only one) - but there wasn't much that could be done about it -- I mean, where was he gonna go?

I'm not sure if my favorite part is the Ford yanking out the Chevy (for the second time in a week), or the way the angels seem to have appeared from the heavens. Yes, there is a lot going on in this photo - take with it what you will. (tongue very firmly in cheek) ;)

Break-downs happen...

I know that Jill already posted a bit of this, but I had to put my own twist on it all, for the sake of history. We hadn't had a breakdown yet, but of course one had to come. Its just too many miles for something not to go wrong. The injector that I thought was the problem back in WV - turns out could have just been a preliminary sign of this issue... hopefully we'll never know.


The problem, it turns out, is that the FICM (at the dealership they called it the FICK'em -- which I will forever refer to now as the FIC Me) - Fuel Injection Control Module - went bad on the truck, which is why I could limp it along for a bit, but then it just died and wouldn't catch. No fuel, no fire.

Anyhow - everything is all fixed now, with an oil change and an alignment to boot. Even the brakes were checked out - so I think we're back in good shape. Towing sucked, and was a tad bit more than I'd expected, but we'll go sign up for one of those service plans and we won't have to worry about that again.

I'm glad that I listened to my phone on this search tho. You see, as I was sitting in my dead truck on the side of a busy freeway (or 'the toll road' as they call it here) I tried to find towing options. There were 4 or 5 good options, but with the map the way it was, and how I put it in, when I'd try to touch any name the phone would bring up the same shop. Well, after the third or fourth misclick to the same shop - I decided that had the be the company I called. I'm going with that instinct from now on. Not only did Moore's Towing and Service show up quickly, act professionally, and generally live up to as the best towing company I've dealt with, but they recommended who I should take the truck to - even excusing themselves from the service because they probably didn't have all the equipment I'd need to get it fixed quickly. WOW - honesty in car repair - novel concept.

Randy towed the truck ++ and the trailer, on the back of his rig to the campground I was trying to limp to, and after a little trouble with figuring out the campsite did something I'd never thought I'd see. He backed up the tow rig, the truck, and the trailer - twice, in one shot both times, to get them into position - and put the trailer exactly where he wanted it both times. GOOD Tow drivers amaze me.

After sitting in camp last night, and cleaning out the entire contents of the truck over a couple of beers - I was resigned to fate. This failure was going to be in the 5K range, and I was going to have to decide - this truck, or new truck with warranty... And I cleaned it all out, down the the coins in the ashtray. I spent last night pulling everything I had in place - radios, floor mats - all of it. I was certain this was going to be the big expense, and a new truck would be cheaper.

So - morning of the next day (today), and the new tow shows up. It takes him some time to hook up, because he's not Randy (sorry John) and is having a little trouble with the axle, but we finally get moving. I've called the dealership - and all seems well. When we get down to Harold Ziegler Ford, which Randy recommended yesterday, I'm generally pleased. They seem to have put another truck on hold to take care of me in my broken down state so that they can get me out that day (forgetting that I tow my HOUSE, I'm not entirely inconvenienced by the breakdown, which once they figure out is kinda novel to them). We're taking a wait and see approach as to what the problem is, but because I'm a priority, they'll have it figured out 'within an hour' after I arrive - psshaw. Never seen a dealer actually mean that. They meant it.


Within an hour of sitting down and them looking at the truck they came in with a real estimate - down to the penny - this is what we found, this is what we think, this is what its gonna cost. The total was so much lower than what I had in my head that I don't think the Service Writer has ever had someone who he handed a Plus 1K estimate to be so happy. I think it made him uneasy. :) At that point I added the other services (oil, alignment) and said get'r'done.

Bottom line is this - Elkhart was the place to break down. Right campground (open), right tow company (not sure I'd have gone to a dealer without that recommendation - ask and listen rather than flying blind), right fix-it shop (I'd recommend them by name). While this failure was expensive, the dealership did everything it could - without my asking - to help me out. Even found a way to get me fleet pricing on the fix, saving me a few hundred. Paul the porter (at age 82) made my day with his stories, and the two Jacks, while corporate, did what they could to make me welcome and I left without the usual feeling of dealership slime. They are a good dealership - they are good people. Go there, if you break down anywhere close - or if you're just in the area and looking for a Ford.

The good thing about all this is that it proved a concept I had in place when we planned this trip. I have redundancy in most things I do. I bought a fifth-wheel thinking that if the truck ever died I'd still be able to keep the house, have the van to travel in and ship the truck for repairs. In a Class A you can't sleep in that when its getting fixed. Everything is coming together, and learningly working well now.

My apologies for the long post - its been a long couple of days and I wanted to remember as much of this as possible. Someday it'll matter to the girls. ;)

Back on the grid.

Hey all... Yes, I've been a little MIA lately, and that's because the last couple of weeks have been really busy, really long, and I just haven't had any time to spare.

Finally... [breathing out], this week feels good again. Its nice to be in places for longer than a week, and I'm finally getting not only some serious work done, I'm also getting a few projects out of the way. Yesterday, I fixed the problem of having my desk right behind the kitchen sink. You can see from the photo that I put in a lexan shield that's just about the right height to make doing anything at the kitchen sink a little easier. A fairly simple project, but I figured I had one shot at doing it right, so it took me a little time - as projects tend to do until they rattle around in my head a bit.

Today I got the 12V outlet in the belly in, so that way I can monitor the tires without a problem now. I bought a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) for the truck and the trailer (at the tune of close to $500), and after I installed it in Kentucky, it didn't have enough power to monitor all the tires. Turns out this is a normal problem they don't tell you about when you buy it, but a little calling and complaining got me a new piece of equipment to help. I had to wire a new plug for it, but it seems to work so far. I hope it continues to make my life easier when we're travelling - one less thing to worry about.

Last thing... Today I went to the Mohegan Sun to play poker for the first time since the regular homegames in Kentucky. I went and visited Harrington Raceway once when we were in Delaware, but it wasn't a place I felt comfortable and I just didn't want to play there. There have been other opportunities at various places, but I'm glad I didn't force the issue. Tonight, I was ready to play well, have fun, and told Jill my goals before I left. Start with $100 and turn it into 3.

The Sun is a huge casino (found out by parking at one end and having to walk the ENTIRE complex to get to the poker room). I can't wait to get to Foxwoods to compare, but that's another post in about three weeks. The place was clearly modeled after Caesar's in Vegas (before the super-huge mall), and I felt like I was in Vegas, as did the thousands of people there on a Tuesday night. Its within minutes of another casino, so clearly - there is enough business to go around. For me, the Poker Room was my destination.

Once there I signed in for the cheapest game they had - $2/4. They had some big games running, including ones where not just house payments, but the cost of entire houses could be won and lost in one hand. Not my size of game, but my goal was clear - have a good time, try to double your money - quit if you do better. I enjoyed the table, tripled my buy-in and came home within 4 hours of leaving. All-in-all a really good night. I was really glad to see that my game is still pretty good, even though I've been off it for so long.

I hope all is well out there for you who read the blog. We're doing this for a variety of reasons, first of which is to document the trip - but if we can entertain a few people while we do that, we're excited. Let us know you're out there - if you haven't already. :)

“Wild and Wonderful” West Virginia?

**Disclaimer: I had no idea Rob had already posted about our day when I wrote this, so just ignore mine!*

Jill's Journal: We left Cave City yesterday morning with no idea how far east we’d make it. The answer turned out to be 370 miles, a far cry from the old days, pre-kids and pre-fifth wheel, when a good day of driving on a road trip was easily twice that. But as Rob put it last night, we have a “lot of baggage” now and we were very pleased to get as far as we did. Especially in West Virginia…

Billed as “wild and wonderful,” we instead found West Virginia to be heavily wooded and pretty wicked. Rob and I had spent a weekend in Charleston once before and enjoyed it, but it was long before things like campgrounds became important to us. Or mountains with pulling such a big load. Rob’s truck dropped an injector in/near/around the Alleghany Mountains (or maybe the Appalachians or maybe just really big hills – we’re not even sure where we are!!) and that’s going to be an expensive fix.

The campgrounds here are few and far between and the ones that do exist can’t fit decent-sized fifth wheels. And then there’s those that don’t exist…such as the one we found in a campground guide in Beckley. No one answered the phone there, but it was after 6pm on a Saturday, so we decided to just show up and take our chances because we couldn’t find anything else. We followed the directions to a tee, found a new sports complex in its place, and us down a narrow dead-end road. This is a big problem with a large rig!! It was getting dark at this point and Rob could either back up for over half a mile or try and swing around off the road. He chose to swing around, couldn’t see part of a gate sticking out in the dark, and definitely made contact with the rear bumper of the fifth wheel. We have suffered our first casualty, luckily just cosmetic and minor in the scheme of the things. It will be a big reminder of this state, which right now ranks as our least favorite! It was a rough day.

A much-longer story heavily abbreviated, we spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot! I never thought those words would come out of my mouth, but there you have it. Wal-Marts are known to be RV-friendly and before the night was over, three more fifth wheels/travel trailers joined us, as did a semi.

And we learned yet another important lesson today: we can’t live by the seat of our pants quite as much as we thought with kids and a fifth wheel! We absolutely have to have a plan. So, before leaving this morning, we’ve already booked our spot for tonight and the rest of the week. Destination: Richmond, Virginia, approximately 250 miles away. It’s a big enough city that hopefully we can get the truck fixed with no problem…now just to nurse it along that far!

Truck all happy and purring now...

So - I've waited weeks to get the truck fixed - knowing it was going to cost me so much that I'd cringe at the bill... And then, after I finally took it in - I got good news and bad news....

The bad news - its an injector - from what I hear one of the scariest and maybe costliest fixes aside from an entirely new engine. They told me it basically imploded, broke in half leaving pieces inside the engine. They say they got is all out - I'm hopeful.

The good news - it was covered entirely under waranty - DOH... What was I wating for?

I got in my head that it must be the EGR valve because its been replaced on that truck so much, and everyone I mentioned something to had agreed. I've since read that this 6.0 engine is notorious vor EGR (as many Fords seem to be) and injectors. I'm very hopeful that's my last problem with one. We'll see.

Happily the truck seems to be running just fine again. I've put on a bunch of miles just running around and it hasn't skipped a beat. I'll need to let it idle and see if that changes anything, but the fuel mileage seems to be what it was before the break, and I've been trying to push it a little to see if it'd chug - so far no problems... Yay!

Day 8 | a little late...

So I'm posting this on Monday from my notes, just like I'll be doing for Sunday's blog. My goal was to drive while I wasn't sleeping and sleep while I could. I've done that reasonably well.

I stayed in Northridge on Friday, having driven up after work to see my Grandmother and whoever else was around. It took longer than I thought it would, with LA traffic and all, but overall not a bad trip. I stopped at Camping World in San Bernadino (what a pit), and strangely became a rockstar there... The techs were coming out to check out the rig - never seen anyone gooseneck it before, never seen a fiver that came over the top of the rig - both things I was extremely happy to do with our rig. Then I talked with a guy that had looked at Glendale's before and went with a juiced up something or other instead (weight issue for his 250 I think). He did talk to me about Banks and how much better it was than stock. I can't imagine what this truck would be like with a full Banks setup on it. I'd probably be able to eat Ferarri's for lunch at that point - if I went the whole route. But, do I want to do that. I'd probably like to put a better air system on it (Banks or K&N), maybe juice the chip a little, but I've always thought that the factory did stuff the safe way - the don't-break-it way. Why mess with that? I'll be out of warranty for the powertrain soon though, so, who knows... Its just money right? ;)

Friday night I slept in the rig. Not entirely by choice - I guess that'll teach me to make a joke about towing around my house. "Great, I won't have to make a bed... doh!" Oh well, looking at the positive it was a good way to break everything in and force myself to get a good night ssleep in a comfortable bed. No TV to distract, so all ended well.

I started Saturday morning a little late - about an hour behind what I wanted, but that's really not too bad. I had a stop to make in Phoenix to see a long-time friend and I wanted to spend a little time, but I also wanted to put some distance on. My plan was to make Flagstaff that night up the 17. I did that and then some... More on that later.

Notes:

Kevin and Bean on the World Famous KROQ - it was great listening to an old friend. it was better when I turned it on and heard a song from the past... "I'll give you candy, give you pearls, I'll give you anything you want - hundred dollar bills..." Ah, my youth! They were funny and it was a good reminder of my time in LA.

Truck - Man what a rig. I still hate the freeways in CA for what they do to me. I think it'll take me a week to sort out the damage that all the bouncing does, but its only for awhile and then I'm out into the regular freeway world. I think they should make the guys that make the decisions ride in a truck like mine to see how it feels. I've been watching how much work it is to drive a rig this big. I'm not sure if those guys in 350s see the same kind of stuff I see, or if the motorhomes that aren't mansions see it worse than I do (the mansions have wheels and wheels and wheels... so they aren't affected as much on that platform). Its especially hard and busy in the slow lanes that have been around for awhile and have a bit of a groove in them. Low spots and valleys just want to grab the wheel and make the truck go in their own direction. Its a constant fight to keep it in-line. AND speaking of that - why is it that the slow lanes, with the biggest trucks, the most cargo, and the highest volume of dollars to pass over it are always the most neglected, hideous stretch of road in the area? I know that its a circle (heavy stuff rips up roads, more travel rips roads, spot fix so that we don't inconvenience anyone, then they get bad, blah blah blah) but I can't imagine what that costs anyone in terms of real dollars at the grocery store, in driver fees, in maintenance. Back to the truck - I'm still happy with it. So far I've seen the temp needle crawl twice - once over Cajelco Pass and once in the mountains up to Flag. It moved about a quarter of an inch, so not too bad, and you know me - I wasn't going easy in either spot. I've been happy that thus far on the trip I'm averageing about 8 MPG towing. I expect it to get better through the flats, but we'll see - I'll do a full write up on the truck when I get back. Should be interesting.

Phoenix... WOW is all I can say. What a difference 10 years makes. There were malls and houses and schools arther out than I thought possible. The freeways are all connecting so well that I didn't even have to go anywhere close to downtown to get up North. Places that I knew are no longer what they were, so it'll be fun to spend a little time there on our trip. Now, all that new stuff looked just like all the new stuff when we were there did - that hasn't changed, but PHX is PHX, they do know how to plan and execute growth.

Two last things - In-n-out and Quartzsite. I'm sad to see my beloved in-n-out go, but I know I'll see it again sometime soon. It really is a good burger, and one of my goals on the trip is to try to make one that's close. I plan on working on it A LOT! Quartzsite is a town I never understood before. It looked like this desolate, ugly, utter wasteland everytime I went through it. Now, knowing that it takes on an enitrely different persona in the winter, I now know what I'm seeing. Acres of parking, with power hookups - they look like drive-in movie boxes - and just weeds in the pavement. But that's now, in the summer, not wintertime when you travel to meet your oldest friends after being away on summer vacation. Its the same as school kids - they fill up with stories while they are out wandering the country in their full-time RV and then gather around the lunch table the same way we used to write that paper the first week of school - what I did on my summer vacation... Some things - never change, and that's probably a good thing.

Some day maybe we'll be part of that crowd, part of that scene. For now I'm content to leave the kids the stories, and to be the vessel that allows them to have stories to tell :)

Day 6 | Impressions from a first time RV driver

I bought the right truck. I totally bought the right truck. I'm also very glad with the way that I've come about this process, since if I'd flown in and bought the truck here, I'd have been very worried about every aspect of things. If anyone reading this is wondering about how to do what we did - and you have no experience with some aspects of things (never driven a trailer, never driven a big truck, etc.) then I recommend taking it one step at a time. I've done very well with all this, and while I've always felt like I could drive anything (and pretty much have driven a great deal of different autos), if I hadn't had 2000 miles of time in the truck getting it figured out, getting the new off the tires, getting the feeling of what the truck is capable of, I feel like I would have been lost. Anyway - practice, practice and practice some more. Take it one piece at a time. If I'd had the chance, I'd probably have driven the truck around with my 18' trailer for a couple of days before hooking up the fiver, but regardless - I did get to know the truck well before adding the fifth-wheel.

Anyhow - I know I bought the right truck because, as I said, picking up the unit was trial-by-fire. Two turns and you're out on the mail thoroughfare with no back-way or other outs. There is traffic, there are lights, there are HilLS, and its right out of the box! I fortunately timed it so that I ended up following a fedex truck out to the freeway, so I knew my stopping distances, acceleration didn't feel pushed so I could go slow with it, and I got to watch the line he drove so I could follow it.

The truck handled everything so well - I actually had to watch my speed so that I didn't exceed the speed limit (occasionally even uphill!). If you've never driven the 15 North of San Diego - its basically vertical grades up and down of 4-6% with almost no flat time. I never dropped under 50, and the guages never moved a tick. Putting the Ford in Tow/Haul mode makes such a difference since it knows now to downshift when you apply the brakes rather than just drift. I have the trailer set at 7.5 gain, and while I played with that when I left the dealership (moving it to 8.5, smoking the tires on my second ever stop :) ) it seems to like where its at right now. I'll probably play with it a bit when I get on the road.

ALSO - putting the trailer on the hitch moved the bed like an inch. It is lighter than I thought it would be, and there is definitely some stiffness still in the truck, but it is much better. Its not smooth yet, but I think some of that will go away when I get an air-hitch (fifth wheel hitch) after I get back. This will do fine for the trip home since a)I won't be going as fast, and b) it was cheap in comparrison ($500 for an adapter plus only waiting next day VS $4000 for an air-ride and waiting better than a week. Plus, it'll give me some time to do some research rather than just saying - yes, that's fine. The trip home tonight did bounce the drawers out of the front dresser, but that also could have been done on that emergency stop I had to do on the way to the freeway (which the truck handled well).

I had no trouble handling the truck and trailer, and by the time I'd done the 63 miles back to the house I'd bet I'd classify me as 'comfortable'. I was a little nervous about backing in. There is a pretty good drop going into the driveway, but it worked out. I put it in place first shot, which I didn't expect. Backing is easier than I thought probably because I've driven quite a few trailers, but never one this long. They really are right that it is easier than a full 45' behind the truck would have been. I never once felt out of touch with how it was going to react.

Anyhow - I parked it, stabilized it, and opened it up for the in-laws. I think they were surprised at how nice it really was. I like having it here so that I can play a little before running around again.

Tonight Johanne gets to show it off to the neighborhood :)

Day 5 | Today's the day...

Well, today's the day I take delivery of the trailer. Its been a very long trip, but I know once I'm pulling it off the lot I'll feel a great sense of accomplishment. Right now its just something I want to get over with. Show me around, teach me about the systems and let me get this over with already :) I'm ready to start making my own schedules.

Last night was great for my ankles. I still can't believe that they got so big, but resting in a horizontal position for a full night of sleep brought them down to normal finally (well, almost). I'm hopefule that sleeping horizontal the rest of the trip will get the job done.

To do last night's blog:

Truck: So the thing has power. I'm finding that no matter what it can still pull, and that if it didn't have the limiter on it, it'd really move. We'll see how it acts under the trailer, but I have no doubts I'll find that hills won't be any problem for it, nor will slowing on those hills. I'll find out right away of course because Poway is in the middle of mountain central, so trial by fire it is!

One thing I have found interesting and annoying is the freeways in California and how they are made. Its very strange - not as bad as that run in MO, and NM had its moments, but all the freeways in CA have that grooved, poured structure. The truck runs fine on it slow, not bad at 55/60, ok at 80 - but at 72-77 its the worst ride of the world. I can't describe it as anything other than bone-jarring, teeth-clapping bounds, and unless you've been in it, you can't understand. I'm glad that trailering will limit me to 55, thought with the weight of the trailer than all might be moot at 72 anyhow. I hope to never deal with that again!

PINK - so theme of the trip right? Guess what was the first song on the station this morning. Crazy!

Economic Stimulus Package - It is working. There is no doubt as I've seen the proof. On my journey I must have passed 10 different brand new busses for difference municipalities. Shows that the money given to communities is going to help people - in other communities. Why a city would get ES money and then spend it to build a bis in another state rather than give it to their own people is beyond me, but clearly government at its finest. I'm sure that some bus building union has friends inside the circle of people that wrote the stimulus package and that they made sure that you got money for new busses, knowing that there are only 5 places in the US to build/buy/paint those busses. I mean, I guess its jobs no matter how you look at it, but giving Springfield, Missouri money so they can buy busses built in Downey, California (all locations, etc. made up with no fact behind them) shows that you're not out to help your own people, just to spend free money. Get 20 local, out-of-work people to work on the busses you already have in service and pay them that money...

Cost of Living - This is something that's become a very interesting focus of mine of late. K & A had been talking about CO for awhile until A came back from CA. One thing he specifically said was that the cost of living wasn't that much different. I can't say I agree. In looking at all the things I've had to deal with in CA I'm not planning on ever moving back, unless money no longer means anything to me. I was buying diesel on the trip out here pretty consistently at 2.70ish a gallon, even as close as kingman (@2.73), but when I came over the border it jumped to 3.69. Granted, Needles is a 'resort' town, but still. That's a pretty hefty jump. Then I went to the local fast food restaurant when drinks now run me 2.19. State tax is higher, vehicle registrations are higher (don't I know it), the cost of living in general is probably 30% higher (not taking into account, health factors in smog/pollution, traffic & time, lifestyle of people (I hadn't seen one bum until CA), or general overcrowdedness of the world out here. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say, no matter how much more you make in CA, the true cost of living is higher. Period.

and Finally... Yesterday I signed the final papers and did the preliminary walkthrough. I'm hopeful that they'll catch all the things that need to be caught and not be sloppy, but I'm trying to keep good notes about what I see and what they say. So far things have made sense, and all seems on the up and up, but I'm afraid a little about how much I have to learn and how expensive it can be if I don't get something right. I'm confident in my abilities, but there are sure a lot of systems to screw up :)

Day 4 | end of the trek West.

So after a good night's sleep (finally), I'm ready to head off to trailer world. I got an unexpected gift from the boss today when she took the day off for her birthday, freeing my day up and pushing my workday into the evening. whew.

To continue last night's blog... actually, to do last night's blog :)

First, the truck - I finally totally settled in, I'm driving it very comfortably now, as long as the road doesn't have an attitude grabbing it about. I'm happy to have that confidence in driving something so big, and having the tires act like they should helps too. I can still get them to be squiggy, I just have to make it happen now rather than making it keep from happening. :)

Red Highway - I forgot what red Highway looked like. For those of you that don't know, I'm not referring to that crash tape they make you watch in driver's ed, I'm talking about those parts of the southwest that use native rock to pave the highway. it always seems to compliment the surrounding area so much, and I just like the way it looks. If I remember correctly the color is derived from the rain rusting the iron in the soil, giving it that reddish appearance. you can see it in the plateaus of NM and AZ, possibly NV. Its just a neat highway to drive.

Empty Billboards - a few hours in this morning there were these little towns in NM that do all kinds of tourist-trappy Indian stuff, and before each of them is usually a ton of billboards proclaiming all their specials and why you should stop in - and I mean a ton. i think I counted 25 before this one place (there were three that I remember). Anyway, I wish I had my camera ready because a sign of the times could not have been more clear. At the last stretch, they were empty. Just the hulking 16' by 40' empty spaces, 25' apart from each other with nothing on them. Waiting, perhaps, for when the establishment either reopened or when they could finally afford it again. it wa bleak - if I go back that way I'll definitely stop to photograph it. it really spoke volumes about the times many people are living in...

Scrabble - I came up with an idea for a new game. Travel Scrabble, and we may play it at our next family get together. Standard scrabble rules and board, except - you can only use locations. Two letter, valid North American States are OK. Valid three letter country codes are ok, but any words longer must be somewhere that can be put in the phrase 'Last summer I went (to) (the)'. It'll be interesting to see how it plays :)

Classic Rock - I came to an interesting realization today. The reason our uncles and aunts listened to 'classic rock' when we were younger is because that's the musice they heard when they were in HS, and learning about music. I came to this realization as 97X (not the LA variety, but ALBQ or such) tagged itself as THE classic rock station, and then played Sunday, Bloody Sunday by U2. Man, I'm getting old, aren't I.

PINK is the official music of this trip. Right now, all I know is that she is getting PAID! I've heard her latest song at least 3 times a day, with it at its peak Friday night (13 times in 8 ours). Flipping radio stations is interestin, and hearing what's popular is fun. I like the song (which is probably good for my sanity) and the only reason I probably haven't heard it more is because Woodstock's anniversary was Saturday (and I listened to it on public Radio for awhile. aside - its always interesting to hear swear words on an FCC licensed station, even if it is public radio...). I also think that if you mentioned PINK in Oklahoma and the north of Texas it doesn't have the meaning of the songstress. I don't think i heard one pop station on that tretch of the trip, or the pink count might be 3 times what it is. :)

Finally - and maybe sadly for Jill - I'm finding out that I may need to live in the mountains. Driving through Flagstaff told me alot about my state of mind. I calmed down and felt I could truly take a deep breath for the first time in awhile. The town is a little screwy for sure, but I felt a little at home there. And the views - mountains and pine trees and small roads and little wood buildings... I wonder why it is that city people always take vacations into the mountains (or beach) and mountain/beach people always take vacations into other mountains/beach? Somthing to be said for that...

Day 3 | How far today? Tucumcari to...

Good night's rest I must say considering the cicumstances. Woke up to a bit of rain in the cab - from the sprinklers, but nothing too bad. I must say I do like the rain-guard things on the windows. Its opened my eyes as to why people use them, and I'll put them on every truck I own from now on. They just have so many convinieces to them.

E-mail is stuck because of that monster report Gregg runs every night for the loader. I need to figure out some way to deal with all this huge archival email I get. Its going to be too cumbersome on the road. Figure maybe to pop those accounts only when I have a good connection or a solid power base where I can just let the thing sit and sit and sit. More to ponder about work...

Flying J is back to being OK in the realm of places to stop. The bathrooms are clean, the store well stocked. I just ran into a bad one earlier in the trip I guess. Maybe I'll give Love's another chance at love...?

I'm figuring that I'll make CA today, but just not the whole way. It'll depend on how far I push myself and how much work I feel I need to accomplish. I still have a list of things for that project, and I'd like to have it done on Monday so we'll see what that takes.

This morning routine is good. rather than what I used to do which was wake up, rub eyes, turn on car, go - taking a little time - an hour even - is worth the wasted road time because I'm more focused and more together out there. That's always a good thing.

OK - off West. Blog soon :)

Day 2 | To the Rig - Pacific, MO to ?

I swear when I woke up this morning that I saw a bank of cameras in my head - like a tv station's control room - and some of them just would not come into focus... :) However, its now been about 30 minutes and all systems check out.

If I were doing this at all regularly I'd need a couple of things. 1) They did not build this bench seat for comfort. Foam Pad would be a very good thing, but I'll pass because I'm only doing this a couple of times (maybe even only one). 2) in the Fall, probably not an issue, but right now its just too hot not to have ventilation, and I'm not rolling the windows down while I sleep. I cracked them, but a nice 12v circ fan would be a huge benefit. I'll try to pick one up in one of the truck stops today. 3) I'll take the big pillow. Next time, take two. I'm too big a guy in too smal a space. Oh well, again, if i were doing it every day, that'd be something else.

I'm off to the West. I haven't had an Egg McMuffin in quite awhile, so I'll probably go grab one of those. Then call the kids and Jill. Should be a good day - I hope to make at least Albequerque today, but my goal is PHX. Maybe too aggressive ;)

Day 1 | To the Rig - Lex to Pacific, MO

Well, what a haul. After working all day, I gathered everything up, had dinner with the family, put the girls to bed, kissed the wife and headed West. I left Lexington at 9 and hit a good omen right away. The light at the end of the street which is never green turned green just for me as I approached... I took it as a sign, and have ben relaxed about the trip since.

The road construction was unexpected, but I just took it as what it was. It put me behind a good hour and a half - nothing like crawling out at 10MPH for like 30 miles. Once that passed I got on a good clip, but learned that at night now, not every exit has diesel and even if they do, it might be closed. I got into Indiana and almost didn't make it out. Stop at 1/4 tank. Period.

It took me about 200 miles to settle into the truck. It really is a beast and it really does ride tough. Hard to drink water in at full speed on a sectioned highway, impossible to text while moving :) The tires are getting a little easier to predict, but that could also be because I'm adjusting to the truck itself. During the road construction there were several spots there was just one lane with a concrete barrier. You MUST be paying attention in this rig. There is no autopilot, which is fine.

I'm stopped for the night and have a nice little office setup in here. The back seat is big enough to make a good seat desk, I've got the truck locked up, windows just cracked (and because of the window protectors noone can tell), and the inverter plugged in charging the computer.

Quick Sleep now, Tomorrow will be a long day.

Huge Strides

Jill's Journal: Ridiculous strides have been made and at lightning speed lately. Rob has been the driving force behind it all. He promises to fill in the blanks, but for now, a quick synopsis...

*We pulled the trigger and bought a fifth wheel! It's absolutely everything we had been looking for, with the grand exception that it's currently located about 2200 miles away in Poway, California. We absolutely cannot wait to get our hands on it.

*We bought a truck. A big truck. A really big truck meant to pull said fifth wheel. A Ford 550. See photo.

*Rob literally just left a few minutes ago in said truck to pick up said fifth wheel. Long journey for him and although I know he is more than completely capable, I still worry about him. Erika started kindergarten this week (another big step in our lives!), which means the girls and I are tied down here and couldn't go with him. I nearly pulled her out and started homeschooling a year early!

*And in other news, Rob told his mother and sister our plans. It did not go well, as we expected. It's the only negative blip in what so far has been (and will be!) an incredibly positive life experience for our whole little family.

Continuing Research

Jill's Journal: We went to an RV show at the Horse Park a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow we're heading to car lots to see some of the possibilities for trucks to pull our future fifth wheel. Our research marches on!