The End.

May 1st, 2005. Phoenix.

Veronica in Grand Rapids

We had a good 9 day trip from Phoenix to Grand Rapids. Luckily, we skirted all of the bad weather in OK City, and we had no equipment problems or breakdowns. By the time we arrived, I was very comfortable driving Veronica while pulling The Toad. Yea! 

Veronica now proudly has her name displayed next to her front door. Thank you Julie for making us this great vinyl sign!

Traveling While Traveling

Photo Credit: //skyharbor.com/images/image-library/Phoenix%20Sky%20Harbor%20Airport.jpg

Nine months ago when we started our grand full-time RVing adventure, I almost didn't bring a suitcase with us. Who needs a suitcase when you travel with your home and all of your belongings?

It's a good thing that we DID pack suitcases (along with dress clothes for work, weddings and funerals). We've had to fly 4 times in the past 9 months (Terry once, and me 3 times).

So, how is is different to travel while traveling?

1. First of all, you need to know what city you will be in before you book your airline tickets! Right now, I'm in Lansing Michigan (for a work conference) while Terry and Veronica (our motor coach) are in Phoenix. I purchased the round-trip tickets from PHX to DTW while we were in San Diego. We just had to make sure our RV was in Phoenix before my flight. 
2. Since our 'Home' could be anywhere, the airports we fly out of are always different and unfamiliar. When we had a Sticks & Bricks house, I was very used to flying out of DTW. I didn't even have to think about how long it would take me to get to the airport, or where to park once I got there. Now, every 'departure' airport is different.
3. Before I can pack my suitcase, I have to unpack it. We live in 300+ square feet with very limited storage space, so nothing goes to waste. We store our suitcases under our bed, and we keep our dress clothes in our suitcases. So, when it was time to pack for this trip (business conference), I had to dig my suitcase out from under our bed, unload it, and then repack it with the clothes I needed for this trip.

Other than than, it's pretty normal. Tomorrow, I fly 'home' from Detroit to Phoenix. I'm looking forward to being with Terry, arriving home and sleeping in my own bed again.

Life is Good!

- Amanda from a Quality Suites Hotel in Lansing, MI

We never thought we'd switch....

When we were contemplating the decision to sell our house and start living full time in an RV, we did a ton of research. We read books about full time RV living, we talked to full time RVers, we read online reviews, blogs, and RV manufacturer websites. We shopped for RVs in 3 different states. When we had narrowed down our choice to a pickup truck and a fifth wheel, we purchased a fairly expensive book with recent independent reviews and ratings of all of the fifth wheel manufacturers. I remember asking one of the RV salesmen, "How many pounds of stuff will we take with us as full timers?". He said "About 2,000 pounds". I wrote it down. I took notes of all of our research and conversations. Then, after much research and shopping, we selected a 2014 DRV Mobile Suites Fifth Wheel -- highly rated and designed for full time RV living. We were sure we'd made the right decison, and that the DRV would be our home for at least the next ten years.  But, not so. Sam and Betty are gone.

"What?" you say? If you've been following us, you know that we've been very happy with Betty (our DRV fifth wheel).  She's beautiful inside and out. Terry loved Sam (his Dodge Ram 3500 Dually truck). So, what happened? In December, we got Sam and Betty weighed by Escapees. It wasn't our first weighing, but it was our first time getting individual wheel and axle weights since going full time. Here's the problem:

Sam passed all of the tests. He had more than enough towing capacity and weight carrying capacity. The problem was Betty - she was overweight by 1,300 pounds!  The photo above is from Betty's hitch and it shows she can carry up to 2,710 pounds. Unfortunately, when we sold our house and downsized nearly everything we owned, we had no idea how much the stuff we kept weighed. Would you? Betty had tons of large cupboards and we didn't fill them all, so we figured we were fine. We'd purchased a fifth wheel designed for full time living, and we hadn't filled all of the cupboards. We couldn't possibly be overweight, right? WRONG!

As soon as we realized that Betty was over loaded, we had a decision to make: A) Unload 1,300+ pounds, or B) trade her in for an RV with a higher carrying capacity.  Why? Well, driving an overloaded RV down the road is dangerous. Any component on the fifth wheel could break and cause an accident, and someone might get hurt. This was a risk we definitely didn't want to take.

To determine if Choice A) was feasible, I created a spreadsheet and started weighing everything we thought we could live without:

After 100+ rows in the spreadsheet, we still hadn't achieved our 1,300+ pounds of weight reduction.

So, on to Plan B. We started shopping for a replacement RV, even though Betty was only nine months old. We learned that nearly all fifth wheels can carry only about 3,000 pounds of stuff (or less), and we have 4,100 pounds of stuff. While shopping at Holland RV in San Marcos, CA we met Kevin. We explained our problem to Kevin and he started showing us new and used motor coaches. Motor coaches can generally carry more weight than fifth wheels. Kevin was all excited when he showed us this 40' Newmar Dutch Star with a "tag wheel".

Kevin kept talking about the "tag wheel" and Terry kept nodding. I had no idea was a tag wheel was. Note the double wheels in the back. The rear-most axle is known as a 'tag wheel' and having a tag wheel means you can carry more weight - a LOT more weight! The 2015 Dutch Star can carry 9,491 lbs!! Sold!

Well, it wasn't quite that easy. We spent 3 days with Kevin at Holland RV,  dickering over the price and looking at other motor coaches. We walked away twice. In the end, we both had fallen in love with the 40' Dutch Star. The exterior paint job is beautiful - the best I've seen. And the inside is gorgeous. So, we traded overweight Betty in for Veronica, our new Dutch Star. We took a big hit on the trade in, but we're happy with Veronica:

 View from the front looking back

Kitchen with dishwasher

Bedroom with king sized bed

Master bathroom with washer dryer

Veronica at the beach in California

Yes, we named our new motor coach "Veronica" (after Betty and Veronica in the old Archie comic books, maybe). Terry is very happy with Veronica's 450 hp Cummins engine. We're both happy that she is a foot shorter than Betty and we don't have to worry quite so much about low bridges.

We also had to buy a new 'Toad' (e.g. towed vehicle), so we purchased a used 2014 Jeep Cherokee that can be towed 4 wheels down. We couldn't think of a name for the Jeep, so we're calling him "The Toad".

Veronica and The Toad 

- Amanda in Coronado, CA

Three hours of bliss

After 8 months on the road, I can tell you it's much harder being away from my favorite hair stylists (Diane and Connie, I miss you!), than it is to be away from our doctors and dentists. My third living-on-the-road hair appointment went a lot better than the last one. Instead of 5 hours of terror, I reveled in 3 hours of bliss!  Thank you Katie for recommending Salon Ink in San Diego to me!

Last night when I arrived at Salon Ink for my 5:00 appointment, the first thing I noticed was that the front door was unlocked! And, the salon was teeming with busy stylists and happy clients! When I checked in at the front desk, I was greeted by name, and presented with a Drinks Menu! After perusing a long list of tempting choices, I choose red wine (no surprise there). My stylist, Jess, handed me a glass of red wine -- in a stemmed wine glass made out of glass, and gave me a tour of the salon. She then spent a good 5 or 10 minutes discussing what I wanted done (hair trimmed and chunky golden blonde highlights). Jess and her assistant worked together to smoothly and efficiently section off my hair and apply the highlights. As they were working, I told them the short version of my last hair appointment. They were both horrified. Jess was especially shocked that Cindy made me remember the color of each hair section. Personally, I don't think that was the worst part.

When it was time to remove the foils, Rodriguez escorted me into a cozy room with dimmed lights and soft music playing. For the next half hour, Rodriguez applied toner, massaged my scalp, removed the foils, shampooed my hair, applied conditioner and massaged my scalp again. And then he topped off the pampering with a partial face massage, an excellent neck massage and a wonderful shoulder massage.  Pure bliss!

As for the results of this visit. Well, I didn't get quite what I expected. Does this look like chunky golden blonde highlights to you?

In any case, the adventure continues, and I will apparently be sporting a different hair color every 2 or 3 months.

- Amanda in San Diego, CA

RVing soothes my Control Freak Soul

Well, actually, I prefer "organized" to "control freak", but most of the people in my life seem to prefer the latter adjective. After one month in Livingston Texas (just north of Houston), we packed up and moved to San Antonio yesterday. It takes us about an hour to get Betty ready to travel. Because our home travels with us, we have less stuff --- and a LOT less clutter. Everything has to be put away before we travel. Everything off the counter tops. Nothing on the floor. It forces us to be neat and organized. So, yesterday as we were preparing to leave, I realized that I love our new clutter-free life!

-- Happy Amanda in San Antonio Texas

5 Hours in Crazy

Living full time in an RV means that I don't have my favorite (and trusted) hair stylist nearby. I wear my hair long so I can go longer between haircuts, but I still need to find someone new to cut and highlight my hair every 2-3 months.

Taking the advice of a fellow RVer, I Google the town I'm in along with 'Best Hair Salon' and look for good reviews. This week, I found a local hair salon with two good reviews for Cindy (not her real name). I called and booked an appointment.

Two days ago, I drove to the hair salon which is in a stand-alone building on a stretch of 2-lane blacktop highway outside of the small town we're in. I expected a normal 2-hour highlight and haircut. Instead, I got 5 hours of crazy. Here's what happened:

1:33 pm -- I arrived a few minutes past my 1:30 appointment time. The front door was locked. Weird. I could see people inside, so I knocked. Cindy (not her real name) answered the door and let me in. We introduced ourselves to each other. Cindy explained that there was an attempted robbery the previous evening, so she's keeping the door locked. Cindy said she had to finish up with her current customer (a man), and she asked me to have a seat. 

1:51 pm -- Cindy is still working on the same gentleman's haircut. She was trimming around his ears when I arrived, so I had mistakenly figured she was almost done. I text Terry:

• 21 minutes after my start time and I'm still waiting

2:05 pm -- Cindy finishes with the gentleman's haircut. He pays and leaves. Cindy locks the front door behind him. Now, it's just me and Cindy in the shop.

2:10 pm -- Cindy has been talking about the attempted robbery and is visibly upset. She tells me she needs a smoke and starts fishing around in her overly large handbag. She can't find her cigarettes and accuses her Mother of stealing her last cigarette. Cindy informs me that we are going to have to drive down the street to get more smokes. I agree because I want her calm while she's doing my hair. And, what the heck - I'm up for an adventure.

2:15 pm -- Cindy rummages around in her handbag and eventually locates her car keys. She locks up the shop and we go out to her truck. I clear a couple of toy rifles off of the passenger seat and the two of us get in. Cindy doesn't put her seat belt on, she just tucks it under her left leg. We drive about a mile down the road to a drive-through cigarette store. Cindy has to take her left hand off the steering wheel a couple of times in order to grab her seat belt and tuck it back under her left leg. Cindy buys one pack of cigarettes (cash) and we return to the shop.

2:30 pm -- We're back at the shop -- standing outside. Cindy rummages around in her handbag and eventually locates the shop keys. Cindy says she's been up all night crying about the attempted robbery. At this point, I'm thinking of leaving.  I offer to come back the next day, but Cindy says no. I stay because I have an important meeting next week and I want my hair to look good. I'm here -- let 's get it done. We go into the shop, and then I go out back with Cindy while she smokes her cigarette. Cindy is still taking about the attempted robbery.

The Attempted Robbery Story: Two twenty-something men entered the shop just as Cindy and Beverly (not her real name) were locking up at the end of the day. One man asked to use the phone. Cindy pointed to the front desk phone, but he said he needed her cell phone so Cindy handed it to him. The other man asked to use the rest room and headed towards the back of the shop. About 30 seconds later, a cop walked in and asked the man what he was doing there. The guy with Cindy's phone said his truck broke down. The cop asked where his truck was -- and his story quickly fell apart. The cop called for back up. Five or six cop cars showed up with their lights and sirens going. The cops asked a lot of questions and arrested the two men. Cindy was so upset that she called her Mother and asked her to come and drive her home. When Cindy's Mother arrived at the shop, she went to use the bathroom and a drug pipe fell out of the toilet paper roll. Both men had drugs on them, and one had a large bowie knife.

2:35 pm --  Cindy tells me she is worried that customers will stop coming to the salon because of the attempted robbery. I tell her that random bad stuff can happen anywhere. Cindy calls the police and asks if the two guys are still in jail and they tell her yes. Cindy seems greatly relieved. Then, the police call and ask Cindy some questions. She seems upset. After she hangs up she tells me that she hopes the cops don't find out that she never paid for her speeding ticket. She mentions this several times during the afternoon.

2:40 pm -- Cindy has been calling me 'Sugah' and 'Baby Girl'. She asks me my name again and I tell her. We discuss what I need done. I tell Cindy I just want some new highlights and a trim. She looks at my hair, tells me its damaged and that more highlights will just "melt" my hair. She suggests a 'shadow' with 'stripes' -- which is dark underneath and chunky stripes of color on top. I'm up for a change, so I agree. Here's a couple of examples of a 'shadow' hairstyle:


2:45 pm -- Cindy pins about half of my hair on top of my head, and applies dark brown dye to the lower half. A police car pulls up in front of the salon and Cindy unlocks the front door. The cop and Cindy discuss the attempted robbery while I sit with dye in my hair. The cop tells Cindy he can't find her in the system. He asks for her driver's license and she tells him some story about 'a different name'. The cop asks who I am, but Cindy can't remember my name. I introduce myself to the cop. The cop explains that he just happened to be driving by the shop the previous day when he saw "two meth heads" heading towards the shop. He couldn't think of any reason why they would be going into a beauty salon, so he turned his car around, entered the shop and stopped the robbery. Eventually the policeman leaves and I remind Cindy to lock the front door behind him.

2:50 pm  -- Cindy resumes working on my hair and starts applying the highlights. She explains that "dye stops but highlights don't", and that highlights can melt hair. I am increasingly nervous about the constant interruptions, the fact that Cindy is not setting a timer or paying any attention to the time, and that my hair might melt. Cindy tells me again that she cried all night and didn't get any sleep and she asks me to keep track of the brown dye vs. blonde highlight sections. I also notice that the brown dye and blonde highlight chemicals are sitting in identical bowls next to each other. I become increasingly terrified that Cindy is going to dip into the wrong bowl, or that I'm going to forget if she's on brown or blonde. Each time she starts a new section, she asks me "brown or blonde?", and then giggles when I answer.

3:00 pm - Cindy's phone is buzzing constantly with incoming calls and texts. Each time, she states that she's not going to answer it, then she stops working on my hair and answers it. Around 3:00, she can't find her phone, so she asks me to call her phone number. I do and she locates her phone.

3:15 pm --  Cindy notices my eyebrows are blonde and slaps some brown dye on them. A few minutes later she asks me how they look and I notice she missed about 1/2 inch of each eyebrow. She paints more brown dye on them.

3:30 pm -- This is the time I should have been done. But alas, Cindy is still working on my hair and we get more interruptions. Her son has been calling her about money. Cindy tells me she may have to leave me alone in the shop (with the dye and highlight chemicals on my hair) while she runs out to wire money to her son. Thankfully, a relative of the owner - let's call her Sally -- stops by with her dog. Cindy asks Sally to send money to her son via "Walmart to Walmart because it's the cheapest".  But, Sally says the lines are too long at Walmart, so she suggests another store. Sally calls the other store and tells Cindy that it only costs $12 to send $100 at the other store. Walmart to Walmart costs $10 for $100. I'm thinking that either method is exorbitantly expensive and would never do it that way. Cindy calmly says, "Oh, $12 that's not bad" and she hands Sally $112 cash. Sally and her dog leave the shop. We lock the front door again.

3:45 pm -- More of the attempted robbery story comes out. The salon owner's 22-year-old grandson Charlie (not his real name) was at the shop the day before rummaging through the drawers. Cindy is pretty sure the two guys who showed up to rob the place are friends of the owner's grandson. The owner is clueless about her grandson's real character. Cindy keeps talking about how the two guys might have hurt her if the cop hadn't shown up. Cindy also tells me that Charlie's Mother died in a car accident. Then, she says "Don't ask me how she died". I'm thinking "you just told me -- in a car accident". Cindy proceeds to tell me that when Charlie was little his Mom and Dad had split up. His Dad convinced his Mom to try to patch things up and invited her to go somewhere in the car. The Dad got the car up to about 50 miles an hour and then jumped out of the car. The car slammed into a tree and killed Charlies Mother. Charlies Dad is in jail for murder. Charlie was raised by his Grandmother. Charlie also has a 23-year-old cousin (or friend?) who is on life support in the hospital. Cindy thinks one of his friends gave him antifreeze along with, or instead of, his drugs.

4:00 pm -- After hearing all these stories, I'm getting worried about Charlie coming back to finish the robbery or to harm Cindy. I'm also worried about what Cindy is doing to my hair. I think about asking Terry to come and sit guard while she finishes, but I have the truck and Terry is at the campground with no vehicle. I text Terry:

• Still here. Should be done at 5:30
• Long story to tell you

4:15 pm --  More stories while Cindy works on my hair. She says "Did you hear about the "Smith (not their real name) Donuts murder?". I said "no", so Cindy proceeds to tell me that the Smith family owns the donut shop two doors down and that "they don't believe in banks." Two years ago, the family's 18-year-old son was taking a nap in his room when his Mother, Father and 16-year-old brother came home. The 18-year-old heard someone fighting with his Dad so he went out to investigate. Two men were in the process of robbing the family of their cash, the 18-year-old tried to help and one of the robbers shot and killed him. Cindy says at least no one was killed at the hair salon. I glance over to make sure the front door is still locked.

4:20 pm -- Cindy has been taking smoke breaks in the back yard of the shop. At one point she goes to the back door, laughs and says "Oh, the back door has been unlocked for the past hour"


4:30 pm -- I am becoming increasingly scared. I text Terry:

• Me: Any chance you can bum a ride here? 
• Me: My battery is about to die
• Terry: No don't see how why?
• Me: I'd feel safer if you were here
• Terry: Huh? Why?
• Me: Attempted robbery here last night. 2 druggies in jail. One still loose.
• Me: It's getting dark. Just me and Cindy here.
• Terry: Have your pepper spray? Have someone walk out with you. Is she packing heat?
• Me: No. Don't know.
• Terry: Call me
• Me: Now? Can't right now. (due to the chemicals in my hair)

4:40 pm --  With chemicals and foils all over my head, I unlock the front door, go out to our truck and retrieve my phone power cord. I go back inside, lock the front door, and plug my phone in. At least I'll have a working phone so I can call 9-1-1 if needed.

4:45 pm -- Cindy removes the foils, washes the chemicals out of my hair and tells me how beautiful I'm going to look. She tells me (again) that I'm going to look 10 years younger. She laughs and says "the price of beauty is pain".

5:00 pm -- Cindy mixes up some "toner" all the while muttering about what an excellent chemist she is. She warns me to never let anyone put a 30x something-or-other on my head because it will melt my hair. She said she's using a 20x something-or-other. Cindy applies the toner and leaves me with my head in the washbasin while she goes out for a smoke and more phone calls.

5:15 pm -- While I'm prone at the wash station, Cindy starts cleaning up. She tallies up my bill on a little piece of blank paper and informs me the total is $198. $10 for the eyebrows. $10 for the hot oil treatment, etc. Cindy gallantly informs me that she is taking $50 off my bill because "it has taken so long". She asks me "how does $148 sound?" and "Are you paying cash?" There are Visa and Master Card logos on the wall, so I tell her I'd like to pay by credit card. She said that won't work, so I offer to pay by check and she reluctantly agrees to accept my check.

5:20 pm -- I don't remember what happened around this time. More horrifying stories. Cindy still working on my hair. Me still scared.


5:50 pm -- Cindy finishes putting the hot oil treatment on my head.  She wraps my head in a plastic bonnet that ties under my chin and puts my under the hair dryer "for ten minutes". I send a text to Terry:

• Under the dryer. Will be here another 25"
• She's packing. Cindy said to tell you she's sorry for taking so long

6:05 pm -- I've been under the hair dryer for 15 minutes and Cindy in on the phone. I get up, interrupt her and tell her it's been 15 minutes. She says "That's ok, you can be under there for 20 minutes". I tell her I'm done, so she ends her phone call and washes the hot oil out of my hair. Cindy tells me (again) that the color has come up perfectly and that I'll look ten years younger. I just want to go home. Cindy says it will take only 10 minutes to cut my hair. All I need is the ends trimmed. I tell Cindy that I'll just let it air dry -- no need to blow it out. I want to go home!

 6:30 pm -- Finally done! It's dark outside. Cindy locks up the shop and we walk out to our trucks together. As I'm getting ready to put the truck in reverse, I look over and Cindy is signalling to me. I roll down my window and she hands me two of her business cards.


Before Cindy:

After Cindy: