The Dream Begins!

We are in production!  

Today we received the email from Newmar confirming our coach is in production and has entered Building 7.  Last fall, when we were researching the type of motorhome we wanted for our full time adventure we drove up to Nappanee, Indiana to tour the Newmar plant.  We watched various models and sizes move through Building 7 during the hour long tour.  Each coach spends 4 days on this part of the production line before moving on to paint and completion.  This definitely influenced our decision to Go Newmar! Usually new owners can visit the plant and watch and take photos during the time their coach is in Building 7, however due to some plant remodeling, they've suspended that service for a few weeks.  But, the sales staff has been nice enough to take some pics and forward them on to us.  

 

These photos are looking through the future full wall slide into the kitchen/living area and the bedroom at the rear. There's a lot of electrical work going on.  The cabinets have been placed (covered with green tape at the moment) but you can see the backsplash tile and wall covering.

More wiring! This is at the front, probably headed to the generator.  There are roughly 5 MILES of wire in a motorhome this size!

This is the rear of the motorhome.  Notice the radiator and engine ( that's why it's called a diesel pusher).

The left rear corner and the open space where the full wall slide will be placed.  Wish we could watch that put hopefully we'll get some pics later this week.  These all make it seem much more real.  

Back at the brick house, we continue to downsize.  We are on the final countdown, as we take delivery of the motorhome on March 13.  

Going through clothes has been the activity of the week.  This and a stack of jeans and shorts is  what I want to take along.  I'm not sure if they will all fit yet, and of course I'm not including what my husband plans to take.  It's been easier for him.  Since he lost weight last year, he basically pulled out everything that fit and got rid of the rest. I'm having a hard time.  I think women form more of an emotional bond with clothes.  Plus, it makes me so sad and embarrassed that over the years, I've spent good money on things I haven't really needed. Today I tried to take a nice selection to a resale shop and they would only accept about half of them. We should've been working on this for the past two or three years!  But I did order some thin velvet covered hangers from Amazon and tossed all the chunky plastic hangers.  They certainly take up less space and look more organized. 

The kitchen is still a work-in-progress.  But I did go through all my spices and downsized there.  It's hard to know which ones to keep because I'm not sure how much baking I'll be doing.  My daughter will be inheriting a few of these along with all the cake/cookie decorating supplies.

We continue to donate, donate, donate.  This is the scene on our front porch tonight.  So happy some organizations offer home pick-up!

Hello Again!

A six week break should be enough to re-new the old blogging mojo.  I'm not sure if it was, but the guilt of not updating has drawn me back here.

The short version of the events of the past few months.

 1.  The week after Thanksgiving we took our little RV to Florida for a few days.  We stayed at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and loved the place. (The sunset photo in my blog header was taken on the beach there) But we had been thinking that we would like more space, so....

 2.  We traded for a  new to us (and much bigger!) RV on the way home!  We've only had a couple nights in it but are looking forward to taking a trip sometime soon.  A guided tour will follow!

 3.  Christmas was very nice.  Our son and his little boys from St. Louis, our daughter from Chicago and D's dad and step mom from Arkansas all visited over the holidays.  Of course our other daughter, son-in-law and grandson that live nearby helped to entertain everyone too!

 4.  I had been fighting a cold since before Thanksgiving that chose Christmas week to explode into bronchitis.  Then D came down with a sinus infection at the same time.  Bad timing, but we eventually recovered.

 5.  The little gym where I've been going to Pilates closed.  So I joined a new one where I've been trying to go regularly to a "Group Power" class.  Some days it makes me feel really OLD but since several of my friends from the old gym are there too, it's not so bad.  But I wish someone would explain why exercising to keep relatively fit seems like such a "job"?

 6.  I made my first purchase from The Home Shopping Network, the Singer 160th Anniversary Edition Sewing Machine!  If we ever take an extended trip in the RV, I thought this machine might be a good one to take along. I haven't used it much yet so can't give a true review.  It definitely doesn't compare to my Viking Designer II but I think it will serve the purpose.  It does look pretty though!

 7.  I've been working on several different sewing and crafting projects.  Since the three grandsons are growing up and are moving up to big boy beds, I decided this year I would try to get three twin size quilts done in time for Christmas 2012.  One is pieced and at the quilter already - unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.   There's been a couple other little sewing projects and I've been crocheting quite a bit too.  After some time spent re-organizing my too small craft closet, I've decided I am entirely "too" crafty!  I've got too many hobbies that involve thread, yarn, fabric, beads, paper and all the books and magazines that try to teach me what to do with those things!

 8.  I thank (blame?) daughter B for getting me back in the mood to read "real" books.  The kindle app on my iPad is wonderful, but there's something about holding a book in your hands that feels so right.  She loaned me her Hunger Games series books and I read them all within a week.  Now I'm looking forward to the movie when it comes out next month!

9.  Even though I've been ignoring this blog, I still manage to keep up with several others.  One of my favorites is From The Strawberry Patch by Mrs. Goodneedle.   She recently hosted a "giveaway" as many bloggers do.  And guess what?  I WON!  I never win anything so this was a wonderful surprise.  My prize was the new Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiavernini, Sonoma Rose. Thank you so very much Mrs. G!  I'm looking forward to turning that first page!

10. Now I have covered most everything I should have been blogging about these past few weeks, it wasn't really that hard. Thank you for your patience and I hope you will be back again for the next post!

A Taste of New England

We were supposed to take another motorcycle trip last week.  But our plans changed when D was browsing ebay and came across something we've been looking for the past few months. 

Meet our new toy!  It is a 2007 LTV (Leisure Travel Van).  It's small enough to maneuver around town, up and down hills and back roads, but yet powerful enough with its diesel engine to pull our motorcycle trailer.  We're hoping to take some longer trips where we can park and camp and venture out on the bike to explore the area without all the long hours on the bike to get where we want to be.  One little glitch - it was in MAINE!  What else to do - but fly to NH, rent a car and drive to Booth Bay Harbor to make sure this was as good of a deal as it seemed and drive this little cutie back home.  Of course, neither one of us had been to Maine so we didn't have to think too long about making the trip.

Beautiful Booth Bay Harbor!  It seems as though it must be quite a tourist destination, as this little town was quite busy with families taking the whale watching tours and enjoying the shopping and the sights.  Since we didn't get to Maine until Thursday morning and we had to be home by Sunday evening, our sight-seeing time here was limited.  But now that we have a taste of the area, we'll definitely be back! 

So we did get a taste!  My one goal if I ever got to Maine, was to have fresh lobster at dock side.  We were lucky to find the Lobster Dock (not sure that this link will work though).  And now I can check that one off my list.  It was delicious, as were the crab cakes (a Bobby Flay Throwdown contender) !  Our first night in the RV was spent at Shore Hills Campground near Booth Bay.  If we're going to do much camping, I probably should start a campground review page like so many rv'ers have done.  So I would give this one maybe 8 1/2 stars out of 10. Our campground experiences are slim and from several years ago but this one is pretty good, except for the pay showers.   

Our long drive home began the next morning and  was broken up by a few stops along the way.  The L. L. Bean Flagship store in Freeport took a couple of hours just to see everything and I could have spent more time browsing some of the other stores in the town center.  At least with the RV, we have lots of space to load up on souvenirs - but we didn't! (But what we did for the grandsons are adorable - wish I could show you but then I'd spoil the surprises!)

After dropping off the rental car back at the Manchester, NH airport, we took some back roads for awhile to wind our way back to Indiana.  The towns along the way were just what you would expect in New England. Pretty white churches and houses were nestled in the wooded roadsides.  I was able to catch a photo of this classic New England (United Methodist!) church as we headed across New Hampshire. One regret from this trip is that we didn't have time to stop and soak in the  beauty of the area and take many photos.  Most were caught out the window as we drove home (similar to the motorcycle trips we take, except I was able to use the big camera).  After a quick overnight stop at  Hinsdale Village campground near the NH/VT border we were back on the road.  We weren't at this campground very long so rating is difficult, but they were very accommodating about getting us a site at a late hour and the bath house was nice with separate shower rooms and clean, modern restrooms.  You have to drive quite a ways through a nice "trailer park" to get to the campground and the sites are level but the roads aren't paved.  So I guess I'd give this one an 8 on the OTRWJ rating scale!

 

We crossed the lower part of Vermont across some beautiful hilly, twisty roads.  It's not far across this little state at this point and we were quickly into New York.  But along the way we stopped at a little store to buy some maple syrup and cheese,  then at Hogback Mtn. where we saw dozens of motorcycles (this is a great road to ride, we'll keep that in mind!) then a another stop at the little town of Wilmington where I found this great quilt shop, Norton House, and the wonderful County Store full of everything (including fudge!).  Oh, how I wish we'd had more time here!

The rest of the trip home was pretty un-eventful.  We abandoned the pretty back roads and traveled I-90 across New York (a fortune in tolls for an rv!).  We spent our last night at a KOA south of Buffalo near the shore of Lake Erie (probably only a 6 on the OTRWJ scale) with a friendly office staff and good wifi.  We got up early for the long trip the rest of the way home.   Now that we're home again, we'll start to plan some trips where we can pull the motorcycle and then do some day trips out and about from our campsite.  D is even planning on working from the road a little so good wifi is important to where we plan to camp.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to take my sewing machine along, but maybe the embroidery machine or else just plan on doing some type of handwork to keep me busy.  I'm sure some of you think we're crazy but we're looking forward to this next adventure.  We don't really think of this as a new hobby, but as a better way of doing what we love to do and seeing more of this beautiful country! 

Dreaming about RV's

Could this be the RV of our dreams? This weekend we drove across the river to the Boat, Sport and RV Show at the fairgrounds. After paying our $9.00 entry fees (yes, each!) we spent a few hours touring some of the RV's and motorhomes on display. It looked like there were many more boats than RV's but we didn't even make it over to look at them. We've had a boat or two in the past, so that's not an activity we're going to pursue anytime soon. This 1954 travel trailer had been restored by a local RV dealer and was drawing quite a crowd. The RV industry has certainly come a long way.
This is a photo of the interior of the 5th wheel travel trailer that we liked the most. It is a Carriage Carri-Lite. The interior workmanship and cabinetry impressed my woodworker husband. It even had a flat screen television that disappeared behind the fireplace, tile floors, 4 door refrigerator and many, many other deluxe features. Of course, the price tag on a unit like this is deluxe too! We have heard good things about the Carriage products and they do make less expensive models. I follow the blog of a couple who are full-timing in a Carriage 5th wheel, The Wandering Wishnies and they seem to be very happy with theirs.
Do you suppose he's wondering if he could fit a motorcycle or woodworking tools in there? That is one concern we have with getting a 5th wheel, as to whether we could double tow the motorcycle trailer or put a lift on the back of the trailer for the bike. We keep looking for a toy hauler that has some of the same features as these nice 5th wheels. But it seems that they are built to cater to the motorcross or racecar fans and then also lose some of the living space.

One of the new things we've been seeing lately is alot of the Heavy Duty Trucks folks are using to pull their 5th wheels. There were a few specialty motorcycles on display too. This chopper was painted in honor of the Ryder Cup that will be held in Louisville in this coming fall.

That's the highlights of the weekend. Today I've been experimenting with a different camera, but I'm not sure if it takes any better photos than my little Kodak. Can you tell which Beamer photo is taken on my camera or on D's Sony? I think the zoom might be better on his and also the close-ups. I'll have to try some more when I have something more interesting than my lazy cat.

I saved dessert for last! It is (mostly) sugar-free! Now I'm going to go find the Cool Whip.
Just a little teaser as to the remodeling project. It doesn't look like much yet does it? He has completed more than this though! (It's just kind of hard to photograph.)
Until next time. Thanks for checking in!