Last Minute Actions

So after six different trips to Hitch City the car can finally be towed. Shouldn’t the word alarm mean that it goes off when there is something wrong? We installed an Invisibrake system so that the car brakes will be applied when the RV brakes. There is a light installed in the RV to tell us the brakes are being applied on the car. There is also an alarm. This alarm goes off every single time the brakes are applied. It is just awful. One of the first things that Mike will have to do is disconnect this alarm. I can’t stand it. As I write this we are driving in the city and the buzzer is going off every 30 seconds. This has to change.

In a previous blog I mentioned that even though we had this lovely brand new motorhome there were some mods to be made. Our original plan was to remove the dining table and replace it with a computer desk. Since I wanted to face the sitting area and the TV instead of the windows the design was tricky. Because we didn’t get to it right away Mike lost interest, darn. We are now going to see how much hassle it will be to set up the computer and monitor on the dining table. We had planned to have the monitor permanently installed; now having to get it out of the cupboard and set it up each time means that it won’t happen as much.

We did made two fairly big interior changes. The first involved the television. Starting with the 2013 model year for some reason Forest River decided to completely build the TV into a wall unit. They gave you access to the power plug and nothing else. You couldn’t turn the TV screen at all and even more importantly you had no access to the USB or HDMI outlets. Mike took everything apart and mounted an arm so that the TV could swing out. As I write this I am watching the news streaming from the internet using the Google Chromecast device. While I was still at home I bought an application called Play Later. This allowed me to records movies and TV series from applications that I was legally licensed to such as Netflix. I have taped a lot of TV series for Mike to do his binge watching occasionally and movies for the evenings. I put everything on a 2 TB drive and attached it to a tiny media player that hooks up to the TV via HDMI. The way the TV was originally built in none of this would have been possible.

The other big change that we made was to replace the pullout couch and chair with two Lazy Boy recliners and a small table. Again I almost delayed too long. The couch and chair took up every inch of wall space and there was no stable surface to put down a cup or a computer while watching TV in an evening. The new chairs were a lot of work for Mike to permanently install and bolt to the frame. He also had to make sure that the seat belts from the couch would still work. This way we can have four people legally riding in the RV but only two sleeping in it. No more pull-out bed. So to all our friends that have offered to fly out and join us for a few days, we would love to see you but you will have to sleep in a nearby motel – sorry (sort of).

The intent was to pack the RV the weekend before we were leaving but the people doing the warranty work asked us to deliver the RV to them on Friday night instead of Monday. There went that weekend. One of the things they did was to replace the side cameras because they were fogging up. Just made a turn a minute ago and guess what, fogged up side camera. Oh well, Mike will get to try the silicone solution next. My last day at the office was Thursday that gave us all day Friday to get packed and ready. Wrong! Thursday night I went to the doctors just to get some medicine for a cough that wouldn’t go away. The doctor starts by telling me that my latest EKG indicated that I had had a previous heart attack. I had grave doubts about this being true because I have never had any chest pains. The doctor said that if this was true Mike and I wouldn’t be leaving Saturday because I would be scheduled for a lot of tests in the upcoming days. The news about a previous heart attack didn’t actually worry me too much. First off I didn’t believe the test results but even if they were true I was about to do the best thing for my heart – 3 months without stress, more exercise (bicycles already mounted), more time outdoors and a weight loss plan already in place. What more could a doctor ask for. Of course this ruined my Friday packing day. I spent the day driving between various medical labs that could fit me in as an urgent case. Saturday morning I spent a few hours at the doctor’s office to find out that the first test was in error and that I am absolutely healthy and we were fine to go. That was all good except when I got home at 11am an my husband decided he would like to leave at noon. I had just missed all my nicely planned packing days. I have no idea what I have thrown in the RV. I have a couple of boxes with everything from clothes, to electronics, to food, to bathroom supplies that will all need to be unpacked at some point. We didn’t make noon but we weren’t too far off. Next report – Mike and Jackie on the road!