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