Central Florida pass #2

This "winter" in Florida is definitely wetter and windier than last year -- though it is still pretty darn good given the cold, snowy, icy pounding most of the rest of the country is getting! Luckily, we still managed to find enough nice days to do some minor Max maintenance and cleanup.  Did you know that using toothpaste to polish headlights really works?  Turns out you need to pick your toothpaste carefully, but heck, the internet really knows everything!  We also managed to repair our own hot water heater (a ground wire got loose), clean out and repaint some "basement" bays that had some minor surface rust, and apply some sealant to window frames.  Like a house, there is always something to do to keep things operating properly.

Our last weeks have been spent in Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, FL -- only a stones throw away from a collection of cousins and an Aunt/Uncle of Jeffrey's.  We managed to see almost all of them spent a nice evening at a Windermere charity event tasting and drinking samples from top notch restaurants and wine distrubutors (picture of us taken there below).

We are now enjoying our last week in the area with my Dad and Sheila here near Orlando.  They are using "timeshare" points to put us all up in style and a lovely resort near the "attractions" and we all have sore legs from exploring Islands of Adventure and Epcot the last two days.  Thankfully the weather cooperated and my Dad can finally lay claim to his very own Harry Potter "wand" (which he has been talking about getting for over a year now). They also enjoyed seeing Max for the first time.  Hopefully they won't be too bored when we drag them to Camping World later today to pick up a special electrical plug we need for a upcoming RV rally. Ah, the fun never stops!



Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

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Kicking off 2014 in the Sun/Wind/Rain

Our end-of-year holidays in the Jupiter area went by too fast, culminating in an impressive storm that sandwiched us between two weather fronts our last night in Jonathan Dickinson state park.  Luckily we were in the park visiting with fellow RVers a few sites down when we noticed the dark clouds and growing winds approaching.  We got back to Max in time to "button up" and even lowered the roof-mounted satellite dish.  What followed was 5+ hours of torrential rain and driving 50+ MPH winds! Even with our stabilizing jacks lowered, Max shuddered quite a bit. Thankfully the park has good drainage and we had no trouble leaving on schedule the next morning after ensuring that I95 had reopened.

We dried off nicely as we drove back to Tampa for a scheduled week-long visit.  In addition to visiting our FL west coast family and a surprize visit with the Best Man from our wedding (who is visiting from New Zealand with is family), Max got his bi-annual full body wash and hand wax -- well worth the $280 cost believe me!  We also timed this visit so we could go to the huge Tampa RV show that happens every January. We were more interested in seeing all of the "stuff" vendors, not really the RVs -- and we were rewarded with discovering that Blue Ox had a crew on hand to "tune up" their tow bars for only $25 (this is the tow bar that lets us tow our car behind us). This is a great deal and one we had been looking for as we don't have some of the tools needed to do this ourselves.

Our other "finds" at the show were new wallets (makes sense to find these at an RV show, right?), a cool little LED puck (for fun), and a stand for our portable satellite dish (which gets used when our roof-mounted one is blocked by trees).  Lastly we collected a pile of brochures and discounts for RV parks around the country, so hopefully we'll get some good deals as we continue our adventure.

For those of you following the repair/maintenance storyline of living in a motorhome, Max finally got his roof inspected by the Winnebago rep.  There are a few ridges forming in his one-sheet fiberglass top and one of them was authorized to be repaired with a patch.  It isn't leaking, but there is clearly some delamination going on between the fiberglass and whatever lies beneath it.  Since we have seen this get worse over the last 12 months, we have opted to continue to watch it and defer the repair.  I personally suspect that the other minor ridges will proceed to get worse as the one has, and that could change what is ultimately done to correct the issue.  We also had the springs on our jacks replaced with a new-and-improved design so they will retract better -- luckily all covered by our extended warranty -- along with  a gasket on one of our A/C units (our thanks to the heavy rain in Jupiter for pointing out that problem).

Unfortunately our attraction to hot climates like Texas is probably a contributing factor to some of the issues we have... especially since Max sat on a dealer's lot in Texas for over a year before we bought him.  That dry heat can wreak havoc on seals/sealants, plastics, fiberglass rooftops, etc., so we are very careful to keep these things maintained now.

As I write this update we are parked at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, FL (near Orlando).  The picture below was a lovely sunset, but if you look closely you can see our Max in the foreground. Though some nights are dipping into the 30s, the days are lovely in the 60-70 degree range. The park has some great walking trails to explore and we are also getting to see some of Jeffrey's cousins plus an Aunt/Uncle who live near.  Of course, there is always a small list of Max to-do items to tackle... top of which is to polish Max's aluminum wheels and headlights so they'll be shiny, clean and handsome like the rest of him!

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Happy Holidays 2013!

Jeffrey writes a Holiday letter each year.  Below is its debut on our blog, so enjoy!
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It has been quite a year. Some of it very fun and enjoyable traveling – visiting and exploring with the motor-home – and some of it very confounding because of the motor-home and the issues of the mobile life style. Nothing serious, but it helps that we have a background that includes basic electrical knowledge!

We left Austin, Texas last December as planned and traveled until mid-August. We spent most of the time in Florida and Raleigh but made it as far north as Connecticut before we turned around and headed back south for more Raleigh, more Florida and eventually back to the Austin area. I think the highlight for both of us was Washington, DC and the impromptu Civil War history sub-plot that we weren't expecting.

When we got back to Austin we flew to Burlington, WA to visit Maren's father Rick and Sheila and while there we explored the north west corner of Washington state with them. I joked to Maren that we were visiting 3 of the 4 corners of the US this year without even really planning it. Well, upon our return to Austin, Maren found a cruise for my 50^th birthday that included Key West, FL – and a few weeks later we planned a trip to meet up with Rick and Sheila in December in San Diego! Now I wish we had made it all the way to Maine in the motor-home before we turned around. Next year we will have to try harder ...

Now, just because we are full-time RVers, that doesn't mean we don't plan other side adventures when we are out on the road. We just have to carry luggage with us for when an airplane is the mode of transportation. In March we flew from Raleigh to Miami for a Caribbean cruise with David and Mary and kids. In June we flew from Raleigh to Cancun, Mexico just in time to experience Tropical Storm Andrea forming and a very wet week. 
 
The fall in Austin was a blur, and that is when we had some electrical issues with the motor-home. We had a few different problems and it took a bunch of investigation (by us) and several attempts by the experts to get it right, but we think that this problem is now behind us. Issues are a given for full-time RVers since every trip is a windstorm and an earthquake to the home. We expect this and so far it hasn't changed our minds, yet. In the middle of all this we ventured to west Texas and the Big Bend area. Is that the 5^th corner of the US? Driving there and around the area we saw the great expanse of Texas with the views to match. Did we mention that “the stars at night – are big and bright …. deep in the heart of Texas”?

We again plan to be back in Austin in 2014 in time for another season of Gator football (lets not talk about that!) and hosting game watching parties with the Lone Star Gator Club. That will also let us catch up with Austin friends and repeat the cycle of getting our regular doctor and dentist visits out of the way before hitting the road again for 2015. 
 
In summary, our travels let us visit all the parents, all the brothers and sisters-in-law(5+5) and all the east coast aunts(4), uncles(5) and cousins(8 + spouses); and even some 2nd cousins and extended family! Next year's plan is still in the works, but look out mid-west family - it might happen this year. (We will let you know as soon as we figure it out).

I try and make an effort to keep friends and family up to date via Facebook but we realize that not everyone uses that. The blog gets updated at least every month, so look for the real story of this year's adventures and future travels in this blog (http://marenandjeffrey.blogspot.com).  If you'd like us to email you when we add new posts to our blog, please click here -> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Nfel34nwmpCGfpXeJxCqZoy6_uJOCru7KTk01pDMicI/viewform

We wish you the very best for the New Year and hope you are spending the holidays making memories with family and friends.


Jeffrey & Maren
171 Rainbow Drive #7173 Livingston, TX 77399
512-689-4896

Lovely Florida Weather

 We are enjoying the fantastic Florida "winter" weather as we finish up our service trip in Tampa.  In fact, it looks like we hightailed it out of Texas just in time as the cold weather descended into the Lone Star state shortly after we left.  After a week enjoying Jeffrey's parents in Gainesville (and a Gator football game too), we dropped Max off in Tampa and flew to San Diego for a week to celebrate an early Christmas with my Dad and Sheila.  Our flight west was supposed to stop over in Dallas but, due to ice and snow, it was cancelled and we were rewarded with a direct flight instead (oh darn!).  We would have booked that direct flight originally if it hadn't been so much more expensive! ;-)

Once we got there, San Diego was a real treat.  We've been back in Flroida for 4 days and my feet are just now completely recovering from all the walking we did at the famous San Diego Zoo, the sister safari park, Seaworld, and the Midway carrier museum -- and we barely scratched the surface of things to do in that area.

 

Midway Carrier

Christmas trees at Seaworld

Swimming Hippo at Zoo

Turtles at Seaworld

While we were away, Max stayed at Lazydays Tampa and got some TLC -- new bedroom carpet and a nice smooth satin finish on the Corian kitchen counter.  I had no idea Corian was so sensitive to scratches.  Guess I better be more careful in the future! He also got a new engine air filter and some sealant on the roof, but those are really just general maintenance. We bring him back in mid-January to have Winnebago inspect his roof as we are seeing some odd ridges in the fiberglass.  There is no leaking and it has a 10 year warranty, so we aren't concerned.  Either they'll decide to watch it or replace it -- but neither should cost us any $.

Tomorrow we head over to Florida's lovely east coast -- first stop is Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound! We always think the "next stop" is going to offer us more "down time", but that never seems to happen.  There are just too many family and friends we want to see and fun things to do in the places we visit!

Wrapping up our Texas Visit

On our way back from our west Texas Big Bend trip, we made a successful side trip to get Max his annual fluid/filter service, arriving back in Georgetown with just 2 weeks left before we head east for the winter.  It was enough time to get final dental cleanings, catch a few more Gator games with our beloved Lone Star Gator Club, enjoy a few last meals with close friends, and get Max's new replacement EMS installed. 

We unfortunately endured one final electrical snub when we smelled burning plastic the day after we got back. Thankfully it just turned out to be improper wire caps that were used the last time they fixed our water heater wiring.  Still a bit scary though and we were none too pleased the local service place had goofed up.  Hopefully that is all behind us now!

I write this blog update from Pensacola where we have stopped for a few non-driving days to visit with Jeffrey's oldest brother, John and his wife Susan.  They are always great hosts and treated us to a favorite dinner of salmon fillets with cherry pitachio topping (YUM!).  We also joined them to watch the Gators play Georgia Southern with the NW Florida Gator Club.  Well, turns out that was NOT the best use of 4 hours as the ending was very disappointing, but at least the company was good :-)  ... even got a picture (see below) of us with their mascot.

Tomorrow we move on to the Williston Crossings RV Park that is near Gainesville and will stay there a week while we visit and enjoy Thanksgiving with Jeffrey's parents. A huge cold front is once again chasing us east this year and Austin is enduring a winter storm scare, so our timing was good.  Unluckily, we have been driving into a head wind every day on the road so far -- sure would be nice to have a tail wind tomorrow, but the weather report is not optimistic.

From Gainesville, we will head to the Tampa area to drop off Max at our favorite service place for a few upgrade items (new carpet in the bedroom and polish the corian counters in kitchen) while we fly to San Diego to rendezvous with my parents for a week.  We'll spend the end of 2013 and early 2014 in the Hobe Sound and West Palm Beach areas to enjoy the (hopefully) warm SE Florida sun and our nearby family and friends.

Livin' in the Wild Wild West

Okay... I know west Texas is not necessarily the "wild wild west", but this old song by the band Escape Club was stuck in my head the entire time we were there!

We are on our way home (Georgetown TX) from this over-a-Gator-bye-week Texas side trip.  It was organized by the Escapees -- the group we are members of that helps us with our Texas state residency so we can vote, have an address for insurance purposes, and get our mail forwarded to us.  The itinerary included Ft. Davis, the McDonald Observatory (solar and night viewing), the Marfa lights, the Museum of the Big Bend (in Alpine), the Indian Lodge at Ft. Davis (for a lunch), and the Chihuanhuan Desert Nature Center.

It was really a fascinating area -- so remote, so dry, and with vistas and mountains that were very beautiful.  There were 20 RVs total with all of us parked together at an RV park in the Ft. Davis area. No surprise that we were the youngest couple, but the next oldest was only 5 years more.  It was a mix of full-timers and part-timers.  Escapees had arranged a tour bus to take us to all of the sights we visited, so the "rigs" just stayed parked together all week.  Most of our meals were catered by the RV park staff or we ate at diners and cafes for lunch on the road.  On one afternoon we had a little extra time and mobbed an ice cream shop.

After the organized trip, the RVs scattered in all directions with the two of us driving Max to nearby Marathon so we could leave him parked for two days while we drove the car to see Big Bend National Park. Talk about ANOTHER amazing place! We have already decided two days wasn't enough and we'll have to come back on a future trip so we can do more of the wonderful hikes. Apparently the busy season starts November 1st, so we beat the crowds and were often the only car in sight as we explored the park. Clearly Big Bend is one of the best kept secrets in Texas. On a wildlife note, we managed to hit the tarantula breeding season, so we had to watch the road carefully to make sure we didn't run over any of them as the males were on the march looking for ladies!

Our only mechanical issue on this trip was with the car (Moby). When we tried to drive him after towing him 2 days across the state, we got a brake warning.  We were concerned that this would prevent us from driving him around Big Bend and we would have to cancel that part of our trip, but a local Exxon (the only mechanic in the area) was able to read the computer codes on the car and figured out the problem -- a small vacuum leak in the system that enables the RV to brake the car when we are towing.  When disconnected, this leak affected the car's brakes when it tried to run in hybrid mode.  Anyhow, our new mechanic friend just bypassed the leak temporarily so we could stay on schedule and the company that manufactures the system we installed has already sent us a replacement part that we can install when we get back. Never a dull moment!

Gremlins and Doctor visits

Wow, another month has flown by in Texas!  Thankfully the temperatures have moderated considerably -- in fact, the high today is only 59 degrees but that is an anomaly.  We'll be back into the 70s and 80s tomorrow.  It it perfect weather to do some remaining "outside" Max work, but rain is a deterrent at least for a few days.  Thankfully our "before we hit the road again" TO DO list is finally getting shorter!

One big item accomplished is we have most of the annual doctor visits finished.  This process seemed a little more stressful to me this fall, probably because of the threat of having a medical problem interrupt our travel plans.  But so far so good :-)  We are also making some progress with our golf game and visiting friends in the area.

The best news is that we think we have finally found our electrical "gremlin".  Replacing just the water heater element did not fix things as we managed to throw breakers less than an hour after getting home from that repair -- so we spent a few weeks playing musical chairs with our wiring to try to remove possible causes.  This exercise did not bear fruit, but Jeffrey gently poking a wire behind the water heater caused a big POP, a burning smell, and blown breakers both on the coach and at the outside pedestal.  So back we go to the service place the next day and they pull out a clump of scorched wires that were hidden behind a cover -- all burned and with melted insulation that had clearly been unhappy for quite some time.  Not sure how they missed seeing this at the last service appointment... grrrrrr

At any rate, we are all fixed up and hope this is the final item in the chain of events that caused so much havoc.  Jeffrey is reluctant to install the new EMS until we are "sure", so we'll continue to run with the EMS disabled for a few more weeks and just manage our own power until we get back from west Texas. 

West Texas?  Yup!  We are taking a side trip this weekend and driving Max (pulling Moby the car) to the Fort Davis area.  We'll be part of a 5-day organized RV outing with 20 or so other RVs and will get to see all kinds of sights in that area -- McDonald Observatory, Marfa lights, etc.  We are hoping the U.S. government opens back up by the time it is over as we want to visit Big Bend National Park for a few days before we head back to Georgetown.  I promise my next post will have some pictures of this trip!