South Texas, Great Month

We're now at three weeks in the Rio Grande Valley and it couldn't be better.  Of course the weather is the best part with daytime temperatures reaching into the high 80's, even low 90's, and nights down in the 60's or high 50's.  How could we ask for more, there hasn't been a drop of rain since we got here, and Amber, no SNOW either.

Most of our friends are here now in fact some are already leaving.  Many of our American friends leave to go home for Thanksgiving, next weekend, and stay there for Christmas.  So this week the Winter Texan crowd thins a bit until after next weekend and then there is a big influx.  After Christmas and New Years everyone arrives in force.  All 1.3 million of us are here for a couple of months and then it thins out again until the end of March when it's pretty well done for another year.  The locals like that time best, they get their valley back, the lineups are gone, the prices come back down and life is good again.

We're having fun with the birds this year.  I bought a cheap bag of bird seed and hung a feeder out back, along with a clear plastic plant pot holder (water catcher) that I filled with a few small rocks and fresh water.  We have birds like crazy and they seem to love to bathe in the plastic pot holder.  Ever seen a woodpecker take a bath?  We hadn't either but he did a couple of days ago.  I think it's the same one I wanted to execute a couple of winters back when he was eating our house.  He survived that winter and paid us back this winter by taking a bath in our little bird bath.  Of course we get sparrows grabbing a free meal but they have to eat to.  There are some pretty neat birds showing up that we don't see at home and I certainly can't name.  Bernie and I were walking a week or so ago and came across a flock of wild parrots.  We have been told they're here from time to time but that was our first sighting.

The picture is from S. Padre Island.  Kind of a nice beach.

A pinched nerve in my back and the consequnces of it are keeping me off of the dance floor and even walking is a chore.  Bernie is having to go at that all alone.  I think it's improving but it is turning into quite an ordeal.

Monday we'll be taking our first trip into Mexico.  There only seems to be one safe place anymore, which happens to be Progresso, our favourite anyway.  We're going down, with Bob and Lynn, for our favourite lunch at The Red Snapper and doing a couple of touristy things.  Things are pretty ugly along the border these days so we'll be sticking to the busy streets and main street shops.  I don't think there is a day goes by that the local paper doesn't have a story about Mexican violence.  We had a guy from U.S. Boarder patrol at our meeting on Thursday morning.  He went to great lengths to explain to us the W5 of this whole mess.  He certainly didn't have the answers.  Since we're only 5 miles form the border and an International Bridge/crossing point it is on everyone's mind quite a bit.  Since it's all drug and drug cartel related it doesn't have much effect on anyone local.  It just keeps us from enjoying Mexico the way we should be able to.

We have to go early tomorrow so we can get back in time for "Dancing with the Stars."  I give in, and force myself, to watch it with Bernie every week.  I just detest :-) having to watch those female dancers and their terrible costumes, but you know how it is, "Happy Wife, Happy Life."  Speaking of this, how about that Bristol Palin?  Can that girl dance or what......   :-)    Do you think politics might be involved here ????????????  I love it.  Since I plan to spend about 7 hours watching two CFL games tomorrow I can hardly complain.

We had our truck into Freightliner last week to run a couple of test.  It looks like we need a new throttle position sensor which I'll install myself.  I have no idea what a throttle position sensor is or where it sits in the truck, but Darcy our from Integrity Diesel in Steinbach is once again coaching me through the process.  I'd be sooooo lost without him.  I'll post the results here, you'll be the first to know.

I broke the signal light lever on the Smart car a week ago tonight.  Mercedes Benz has offered to tow it to San Antonio ($600+) so we can have a new one installed.  The problem is the nearest new one is in Germany (so they say) and can't be here until Dec. 28th or later.  Interesting........tow the car, sit on it for 6 weeks, hope the part comes in, leave the customer hung out to dry.  Great service, great warranty, just no parts.  Seems to me that if they really gave a _______ about their customer that part would have been on an a plane to Texas a few days ago.  In the interim we're strengthening our left arm and it works out OK.   

We're off to the McAllen Concert Hall tonight to watch a brass and strings band from Dallas.  They come highly recommended so it should be fun.

Thanks for stopping by and do leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Settled in for the winter

http://picasaweb.google.com/fisherneal1/Winter20102011PharrTX#

Greetings from Pharr, TX., where we HAVE to run the air conditioner every day :-)

We've been here a week now and have things pretty well organized.  It took a few days to wash the trailer, car, and truck, to refill the fridge, and rest up a bit.  Now it's time to get down to the serious business of happy hours, dinners with friends, exercising,  going to the pool, stained glass class, gym, shopping, (Bernie's all alone on that one) going to the ocean, and on and on.  We're already back to trying to figure out how to fit it all into our schedule.

I have inserted a link (above) that will take you to some pictures if you're interested.  The picture I inserted here is to show where we set up our 5r for the winter.  We picked out this lot last fall and planned to be here if the 5r would fit and it did.  That tree to the left is an orange tree that provides me a with a nice fresh, sweet, orange for my breakfast every day.  I only pick them in the AM so they can fresh and cool for breakfast.  Sucks to be us...... :-)

We have had a great week although the  first few days were all catch up.  You wouldn't believe the road grime we had to take off of the 5r from two weeks on the road.  We didn't have any rain at all on the way down but we sure did have tons of road grime to wash off.  We got the fridge stocked, the flowers planted, the grass seeded, the stretch mat down, the bird feeder up, the bird bath down, and now we get to start all of the fun things.

Today we start our dance classes once again.  Friends/dance teachers Bob and Lynn (picture in the link above) are ready to take us on for the fourth straight year so we're good to go.  We haven't danced a step in 7 months so it will take a couple of lessons to get our legs back.  Bernie has been going to the gym, we've been walking, I have my bicycle all tuned up, so we plan to leave here in better shape than we are now.

Last Sunday Bob and Lynn took us to the "Shrimp Festival" in Brownsville/Port Isabelle.  It's quite an experience.  Imagine a huge area fenced in by a few dozen booths and inside each booth some restaurant or company is trying to get you to try their "Best Shrimp Dish."  In the center is a huge tent, holding a few hundred people, with a really good band blasting music from the 50's, 60's, 70's (they know the target market down here), the beverages are very cold, the sun is very hot, and nobody even mentions the swear word "calories."  Following way too many samples we went to a local eatery for some of the best shrimp Bernie and I have ever found.  This place uses some kind of spice in the batter of their butterfly shrimp that makes me drool, I could go back every day.  Fortunatelyy it's an hour away and we only go twice each winter.  Of course we have to follow it up with Italian Ice Cream from the shop on S. Padre Island.

From the restaurant we drove to S. Padre Island, for the previously mentioned ice cream.  There was a kite competition going on with every imaginable kind of kite in the air.  The wind here makes it a great spot for the sport.  Friends of Bob and Lynn just won a "World Championship" for precision flying.  They, along with three others, compete with small kites and fly them (8 of them) in precision maneuvers.  Teams come from Canada, Australia, and Europe to compete.  There are kites as big as cars, (see picture of fish kite in the link) kites of all shapes (see dog and bone in the link) and hundreds more.  It's an experience.

So that's about it for today.  I have to go and pick that fresh orange for breakfast, put on a pot of coffee, and wake my bride.  She likes to wake up to the smell of fresh coffee and I like to make it for her.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by, and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal

Black Hills SD, Oklahoma City OK, Pharr TX

Greetings from Texas, we made it.........  Almost exactly two weeks on the road and we're suffering with 90+ degree Texas heat.  Oh well, we'll just have to tough it out.

It's nice to be settled down for a few months after a really amazing trip.  As I mentioned before we really enjoyed SD's Badlands and the Black Hills were beautiful.  We only stayed in the area for five days but we'll certainly be back and hopefully for a couple of weeks.  We had no idea what was there and were just awe struck with what we found.  I'd bet next weeks food budget we'll be slowly riding The Needles Highway on next summer's motorcycle tour.  If you've been there you know what I mean, if you haven't seen it get going.

We left SD for Oklahoma City for a few days of sight seeing and visiting with our friends Jim and Lois McDowell.  They treated us like royalty and we had a great time.  Thank you both so much.

We spent almost an entire afternoon at The Cowboy Museum.  We went there expecting to see lots of hats, boots, and shiney buckles.  NOT.  It would be easy to spend a couple of days in the museum, and it could be a very educational experience.  The history one can see and learn there is unbelievable.  I really enjoyed looking at the clothing, and weapons used by the US Army/Calvary dating back to the early 1800's.  They have all kinds of original eqipment, no reproductions, saddles, rifles, clothing, and on and on.  From there it moves forward through history right up to the current rodeo stars.

There is one entire section dedicated to movie equipment and the stars that used wore it.  As an example, I really enjoyed the movie "Quigley Down Under" and now Tom Selleck has donated a huge amount of the gear he used shooting the movie to the museum.  Yes - I did get to see a pair of Roy Rogers cowboy boots :-).
 
There is a ton of Native American history in there as well.  Bernie and I were blown away when we looked at a giant map of N. America that showed the dozens and dozens of different tribes that inhabited our entire continent and the general areas they lived on. 

There's a bunch of information on the buffalo herds and how they were hunted to the verge of etinction.  One comment that stuck in my head was an interview a Eastern newspaper did with a buffalo hunter who claimed to have shot 18000 (yes) buffalo by himself that week.  Just that one hunter.  The whole thing is mind blowing when taken in todays context.

Jim and Lois took us the the Oklahoma Memorial which is another amazing experience.  You stand there, on the very spot where 168 people died, in a split second, 15 years ago, and try to comprehend the magnitude of the event.  The memorial itself is an almost difficult experience.  It's beautiful, it's humbling, it's overwhelming, you can't help being touched when you see it.  For those that haven't seen it; they have set it up with brass and glass illuminated chairs, one chair for each victim.  To see 168 chairs lined up by the floor of the building they were on that terrible morning is tough enough, then you realize that the wee little chairs are for the children that died that day.  Will we go back? No, it's a tough one.  Are we glad we saw it? Yes.

So here we are at Tropic Star in Pharr for the fourth winter.  We were able to get on a lot we had picked out last spring and it's really nice.  We have a couple of palm trees out front, an orange tree at the front door, and a couple of huge __?__ trees out back.  Some of our friends are here and more are arriving all the time so it should be a fun winter.  Our neighbour to the back has been coming here for 33 years, is 86 years old, and just as spry as can be.  I was hanging a bird feeder tonight and he was out there telling me what kind of seed I should be using, before he invited us over for a drink.  Neat people.  The good news is I finally found someone that is more deaf than I am.  Ya, ya, ya, I know he's 86.

We talked to Bob and Lynn, our friends and dance instructors, tonight and it looks like we'll be "Dancing Wth The Stars" (in my dreams) in a few days.

Gotta go, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Bad Lands and Black Hills

Our first visit to the badlands and Black Hills of S. Dakota.  What a mistake we've made having all of this so close to our home and never visiting it until after we retired. 

Winnipeg and Canada faded off in the rear view mirror last Sat. and we've been doing the "Tourist Thing" for a few days now.  We started off with a couple of nights of no services camping in Fargo ND, and Pierrre SD, to see if we could manage fully self contained.  Everything went perfectly so we know now we can easily survive for 2 or 3 days without services.  It was much easier than either of us anticiated.

What could easily have been a one day drive in the car took us three and we're now set up just outside of Rapid City S. Dakota.  Over the next few days we're  going to see all of the things we came here to see, especially Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  We spent a few hours yesterday driving the Badlands and did the obligatory "Wall Drug" visit.  The Badlands are pretty neat.  Of course we've all seen pictures but they really are more impressive than the pictures can ever show.

We unloaded the car for the first time, on the road by ourselves, last night.  It was fun,  Some people from Alaska are parked next to us with their teenage son.  The father and son were all over it.  Some hunters parked down at the other end brought beverages and, to quote them, "came down for the entertainment."  People across the lane got out their chairs and a table and sat down to watch.  Happily everything worked flawlessly.

I read another "full timer's" blog and they use his 222 rule in their travels.  I'm starting to think I like it.  222 means 2 people, travel 2 hours, and stay 2 days.  :-)  I must be getting old or maybe it's lazy, either way I like it.  So we're here for at least 2 days before we head to Oklahoma City for Monday/Tues. next week.

We'll post a bunch of pictures on Picasa once we leave here but for now I thought you might enjoy "Bernie and the singing Gorilla" from Wall Drug.

Gotta go, thanks for keeping tabs on us and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Smart car goes on

Yesterday was the big day, we did our first "test" load of "Little Squirt" on the back of "My Way."

Yes we have named the Freightliner "My Way." Seems a few people think I have a stubborn streak in me and "My Way" seemed appropriate. So it's a done deal. My sister in law, Norma, suggested Samu because the truck reminds her of a big white whale but "My Way" won out.

On our travels I'll be watching for one of those charcoal artists. When I find one I like we're going to have him/her do a charcoal sketch of a semi with smoke pouring off of oversize tires etc. I'll use that to make a big decal with "My way" incorpoated into it for the back of the sleeper. Just a bit of fun. Bernie thinks I've completely lost it. She's probably right.

For the first loading we winched the car up and it worked fine but it's a slow process. I decided to drive it off and then drove it back on again to see if that was a viable solution. Turns out that driving it on worked just fine although it is a bit nerve wracking. Once I work out a couple of bugs I think the normal course of action will be to use the winch.  The winch has to he mounted higher and further out for ongoing use.  Once we had it up there we realized the angles were too sharp (down,) because the winch was mounted low to the deck.  A minor hitch we plan to correct on Wed.

Darcy Brown, the owner of Integrity Venture (diesel) in Steinbach, MB, has put his heart into making this work, and making it something we would be proud of.  We Are.  He and his technician "Alex" have worked tirelessly to make it happen.  Darcy put Integrity into his business name to represent the style of work and business he wanted to own.  He's achieved it and I happily recommend them for any kind of diesel mechanic work you may need.

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada we're on hold until Tuesday morning. We have an appointment for some decals on Tuesday morning. Wed afternoon we're going back to the builders for a couple of touch ups, Thursday is a "wash em up" day, Friday is "pack em up," for a Sat departure to the Black Hills of South Dakota and South.

It's been seven months since Bernie and I decided to do this and we'll be on the road a week from today. If you're the praying type please think about us on Sat morning.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Little Squirt meets Big Brother

Don't they look happy... :-)

"Little Squirt" the Smart Car has arrived

It's Sunday morning and the temperature is -2 (C) which is about 28 for all of our American friends. I have a hot cup of tea and decided to announce the arrival of "Little Squirt," our little white Smart Car.

The picture shows her just before we took her outside for her maiden trip from Regina to Winnipeg. Standing beside her is Len Halgerson of Dilawri Acura in Regina. Len has just started his new career in automobile sales and based on the great job he did for us I suspect he will enjoy a ton of success.

I drove Little Squirt, back from Regina to Winnipeg in howling winds and pouring rain. She handles much better than anticipated. The transmission takes a bit of getting used to but overall I was very impressed. With her huge 1000cc (61 cubic inch), 70 HP, three cylinder engine, :-) I didn't expect much in terms of power or performance. It surprised me, and a few other people, on the highway as we drove home. Admittedly we won't be setting any land speed records but she is competent at highway speeds with far far better handling than a couple of other small cars I have owned. Bernie has had a few experiences with it now and she's getting the hang of it quickly.

We expect to have a ton of fun with Little Squirt. She will likely see more of N. America than the average Smart Car, but most of those miles will be while she rides around on her big brothers back. Speaking of which we need a name for her big brother and your suggestions would be appreciated. So far we're just calling it The Freightliner which really doesn't cut it.

We have another appointment Tuesday with our bed builder and expect to be able to load Squirt on the Freightliner around the end of this coming week.

With nighttime temperatures now hovering around the freezing mark we may be headed South sooner than we planned. It may be old age but whatever it is I just don't like this weather. If we had the truck finished we'd be "GONE."

We picked up Squirt on our way back from Vancouver to Winnipeg. We were gone for just over two weeks and had a great trip. The family time was awesome and there is nothing, anywhere, more impressive than the drive from Vancouver to Calgary. I've driven the road a few times starting in 1964 and although the road has improved, a lot, the Rockies are unchanged and majestic as ever. If you haven't made that drive yet make sure it gets on your "bucket" list. People come from around the world to drive the Canadian Rockies and "it's worth the trip."

That's all we have for now, thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal

PS: Don't forget, and don't be shy, naming suggestions for Squirt's big brother would be appreciated.

5 Weeks To Go

The weather is getting cooler, it must be time to go South.

The truck is almost finished, the loading ramps are in from way down South, and Integrity Ventures (Diesel) in Steinbach, MB. are working on the finishing touches. We should be ready to go by mid Oct.

We're actively shopping for our Smart Car now and plan to be able to test load it in a couple of weeks. Fortunately for us there are plenty of them available and we're shopping from Vanc. to Winnipeg. The new ones are soooo tempting, they have four years warranty, and there are year end discounts on them right now. Problem is I suffer from "old and cheap syndrome" --- but Bernie doesn't and we'll get it figured out.

We decided to go S. to Texas via the Black Hills and Bad Lands of S. Dakota, on to Okalhoma to spend a couple of days with some friends at their home, and then to Texas. We plan to be in "Tropic Star" by the 5th of Nov. in time for the "Shrimp Festival" on S. Padre Island. I not an expert by any stretch but the best shrimp I have ever eaten were on S. Padre Island. We've never been down there in time for the "Shrimp Festival" but we might be able to this year.

This will be the first trip we've made down there taking "ALL" the time we want. Every other time we drove down we were on some kind of a self imposed deadline but this time we'll take two or three weeks or more if we decide to. Staying in our 5r spending time with freinds and seeing the sights should make for a fun trip. I'm trying to plan the roads so we never touch a freeway, two lanes and small towns all the way, with lots of pictures posted here as often as I can.

August and Sept have been really nice, family oriented time. Colleeen, Tim and their family visited from Langely, Amber was in from Calgary, we had some great times at Leslie and John's cabin, and now we're on a road trip to Vancouver. We stopped in Regina for a couple of days with my brother Rick and his family, then on to Calgary for a few great days with Amber and my sister Jan and her family. Great times along the way and now we're with Colleen and Tim in Langley for a few days.

So that's kind of all there is, the posts should become much more regular as we begin to travel..

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Catching Up

We've past our first week as "full timers," and we spent most of it catching up on much needed sleep.


After two weeks of frantic go go go we're both happy to be sitting here doing absolutely nothing. Read a paper, a BBQ, a bit of sleep, beating Bernie at Scrabble (once in awhile), whatever. Just some time to rest up a touch.

We went, thanks to Rob, and watched the Blue Bombers stomp the Eskimos last Friday night. Great game. For our American friends the Blue Bombers are our local CFL (like the NFL) club and the Eskimos are a competing team from Edmonton Alberta. The NFL is a little bigger :-) than the CFL but it's the same concept.

Colleen and Tim and their family arrived from Langley yesterday. We'll be spending some time driving to visit them at John and Leslie's place on Falcon Lake. Rob is coming out with his kids, & Brady is coming out with his girlfriend. Its will be a busy but fun week out there.

We took the truck to the bed builder on Friday so work can begin on the Smart car deck. They were more than a bit surprised when I told him we were OK if they kept it for a month or so. Most of their customers want things back in an hour or two so we're a pleasant switch for them. The bed build is going to be an interesting project. It has to be decent looking but we aren't prepared to spend 20k making look good. I'm more interested in function but Bernie and I both want it to be nice. It's going to take some work because many others have spent that kind of $. and more.


Some folks we've met online at a "full timers" website are coming into the area next month and are planning to come by for a few days at our campground. That will be a first. Good friends from our park in Texas have invited us to bring the rv to their place in Oklahoma in the fall for a few days on our way South which will be another first. Two different friends in the Kelowna area have invited us to stay on their acreages when we get there in the spring, another first. Sooooo many friends, so little time. What a great problem. Thank you all.

So, once again, thank you for reading our blog and please leave us a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

We're All In

Good morning,

So finally, after four months of hyper activity and many years of dreaming we're actually full time RV'ers.

When I say we're "All In," we really are. We're "All In" the RV, but we're "All In" physically as well. Trying to reduce our home to what we wanted in the RV and a 10' x 10' locker was a huge job all by itself. It's amazing how much stuff we had accumulated and how hard it is to find new homes for it. The MCC got a few loads, we sold some, the kids took some, and the trash can got quite a bit. I figure the kids owe us, we did a whole bunch of work they were going to have to do in a 20 or 30 years.

Sons, Brady and Rob, came over with Brady's truck and trailer to spend a few hours moving the big and heavy things for us which really, really, helped. Thanks guys.

We're staying in a small, but nice and clean, place just outside of Winnipeg called The Arrowhead RV Park www.arrowheadrvpark.ca .

There are still a multitude of things to get done before we head for Texas in October. All the little things like computer access, telephones, banking, mail, and on and on and on. We also have to get the truck finished, find a Smart car, sell our existing car, and win the lotto to pay for it all. No Problem.

We're thinking we'll drive to Texas via the South Dakota Badlands. Bernie and I have never been there, we'd like to see them, and of course we have to make a trip to Mount Rushmore at some time. This will be the first time we make the Texas trip without any kind of schedule. No schedule, ???????? I'm thinking I'll like it but after 40 years of meetings, appointments, and schedules who knows. I'll likely create some kind of a schedule before we get started and then PANIC if we get a day behind. Why change now?

We have reservations for a few days at Falcon Beach early next month. Colleen and her family are coming in from Langley to spend a week out there at John and Leslie's cabin. We made a reservation at the local campground but we're afraid the lots are too small and we won't fit. So we decided to take a day trip to the lake today to check it out. Once I see it we'll determine if we move the RV or stay here and commute for the week. It's an hour each way. Not bad, kind of like driving to work in Vancouver. To our friends on the West Coast, I think of you often, especially your commutes. :-)

Then it will be time to get to work on building the bed for the truck. There is a 50/50 chance we're going to get the motorcycle on there with the Smart car. It really is down to a matter of 2 or 3 inches and we won't know until the bed builder gets to work on it. I have the plan all laid out and it boils down to the build. He has to be able to make it strong, and I want it heavy, so there is no way it (bed and car) can come loose and move forward in the event we have an unexpected stop. That could sort of spoil our plans.

It would be pretty neat to have both of them up there and we could have some good fun with the bike. I really want to ride in the hills of San Francisco, and at some point I want to ride through Manhattan and Central Park. Riding those two spots is on my bucket list and it must be done. No I don't have brain damage, it just looks like it. Driving them in a Smart car just wouldn't be the same.

So that's it for now, I have to go and schedule :-) our trip to Falcon Beach.

Thanks for reading our blog and do leave a comment when you can.

Neal & Bernie

Home With Our NEW Home

It's Monday night and we have our new home back in Winnipeg.

It was quite the adventure. We were supposed to get away on Friday, which was delayed to Monday and ended up being late afternoon Tuesday. That didn't change the fact we had to be in Indiana on Thursday morning. It was a long hard drive in a new (to us) heavy duty truck. All in all it went very well but driving through downtown Chicago at 10:30 pm at about 70 MPH, on freeways under construction, is an experience I will never forget and will certainly NEVER duplicate. We got to Indiana a couple of hours late for our appointment but it still went very well.

If you are ever in the market for an RV let me recommend Earl and the team at The Outpost RV in Middlebury Indiana. I have had some experience with RV dealerships and I can safely say I have never seen service like we got from them. We had a wiring issue with our truck which could have, and probably should have, cost us a bunch of money. The owner of the dealership, Jim Wilson, came out to the truck and spent two hours reworking our wiring to get us going. When I asked him for the bill he said "no, send us a referral if you can." The sales team, the business manager, the service man, everyone was just first class. They even have three full service spots on their lot that buyers are encouraged to use for a day or two, or more, at no charge. They want to be sure everything is working right before you leave. I guess you can tell we were very impressed.

We took this first picture on their lot, where we stayed for two days and nights.

The Amish are huge in that area and we really enjoyed sitting in our rv hearing the horses clop clop as they went by. we drove a few miles of back roads around there which was huge fun. The Amish farms are pristine. Imagine a city lot landscaped to the extreme and then transfer it to a farmyard, with manicured lawns and gardens, painted barns, beautiful horses and clean clean clean. We hope to go back when we have more time and we can site see in something a tad smaller than our Freightliner.

We headed for home on Sat morning about 9 and were home Monday night at 9ish.

Thankfully it was fairly uneventful. Had a bit of trouble with the braking system that I was able to deal with and then we dropped the electric plug from the trailer to the truck. We pulled into a rest stop and bumped into a trucker who pointed it out to us. I took one look and went "we're toast." He said "no you ain't, I got all you need to fix it." He spent the next hour working with me fixing it up and getting us going again. A really neat guy, a Vietnam veteran who has been driving ever since, 37 years on the road. I tried to pay him and he refused, I tried to pay for his supplies and so forth and he said, "you can pay me by keeping this pretty lady safe, and helping out the next traveller you see in trouble." Just a really nice man who has some stories to tell but all he would say was that he was special ops in Vietnam and did some things he regrets.

We stayed at a couple of neat campgrounds on the way home. The first one "Boone County Fairgrounds" in Belvidere Wisconsin, had a horse show going on so we got to see some amazing animals and riders. The second night was at a place way off in the middle of nowhere Minnesota, where we found a neat spot with that challenged our driving skills getting up and down into it. Nice spot and very clean.

So now we're home and packing the rv. I had to spend the night on the Wall Mart lot last night because I couldn't get the rv on our lot at the condo. This morning I got it over here and we're packing it up. 6 days and we're officially homeless, "full time rv'ers."

Have to go and do some packing, thanks for reading our blog.

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning once again and all is quiet at our place.

It's been an exciting week to say the least. Passing the commercial licence driving test, spending an afternoon cleaning and polishing our truck, selling some more furniture, getting insurance on both the truck and trailer, and a ton of unusual small things. The fellow that bought our bedroom furniture, TV, and sound system is coming to pick them up today. Tonight we're on the floor but we still have the small TV in the bedroom and our alarm clock.

They should finish our truck tomorrow so we can leave on Monday. The people we bought from in Indiana were very helpful when I asked to change the pick up time so we have plans now to pick up the rv on Thursday morning. We'll spend Thursday, Friday, living in it at the dealership campground and then hit the road on Saturday. The two days there should uncover the bugs they ALWAYS have and get us back here for the 12th. We have permission to park it on the visitors lot for the 12th, 13th, 14th, so we can move our things into it and an rv park reservation for the 15th.

The only variable right now is whether or not they can get the truck finished on Monday. The shop came highly recommended but they seem to be really slow. I set it up so they would have more than enough time to do the job, based on what they told me, but they still have a huge days work to do Monday. We have a couple of days built in for variables, that always come up, but it irks me when people don't do what they say they will. Maybe my age is showing a bit.

So we'll be silent on here for this week, as we travel, but the next post should be fun with pictures of the 5th all hooked up to the truck.

It's all so close now only 16 days until we are official full timers.

Our Baby is Born

We got to spend a few hours washing and polishing our new baby this afternoon. She should be home on Monday all set for her maiden voyage to Indiana.

The Wine Is Chilling

:-) I am more than a little bit happy to report I passed the driving test for my class 1 licence today. Nobody can possibly be as surprised as I am. The examiner told me twice I passed and laughed when I asked him again. I couldn't believe it.

It is just a huge relief to have this behind us. Everything hinged on having a class 1 licence, because without it this whole adventure would not be possible. But I did pass and it possible and it is going to happen.

The licence is done so we were planning to leave for Indiana on Monday to get our 5th wheel. BUT we did run into a bit of a snag today when the repair shop told us they couldn't finish the hitch install and some other work until Monday. Not a big deal, it just sets us back one day and we'll be fine leaving on Tuesday instead. The problem is everyone is in holiday mode with the long weekend this weekend.

We were able, after about an hours work, to get a motor home licence for the truck yesterday. It was a bit of a hassle but thanks to persistence and a really good young man at the insurance agency we got it done. We were very pleased, it saves us a few hundred $ a year and makes it a certainty that we don't have to pay commercial fees as we travel.

Bernie and I are going to spend a few hours on the truck tomorrow, using a polishing compound to get the paint all nice and shiny. Once we get back from Indiana with the trailer we are going to take the truck back out there to have the frame sandblasted and then painted. Since it has been used commercially the salt has taken it's toll on the frame paint. We want it nice and shiny and black so we're going to get it done asap. Unfortunately we can't have it done before we go for the rv because time is running short. We have to be out of the condo by the 20th which means we're down to less than three weeks.

Gotta go, Bernie is preparing a nice celebration dinner and as I mentioned "the wine is chilled."

Talk soon and thanks for reading our blog.

Neal & Bernie

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning and all is quiet at our house.

Things are progressing nicely and it looks like we just might be ready to leave for Indiana on July 5th. Thinking positively, we made an appointment with the rv people for the morning of the 7th.

The driving lessons are going well, they think I am test ready on a number of points but I still have to work on the air brake inspection some more. Daughter Leslie suggested I cut it up into a bunch of small tests in my head and then just memorize a series of bite size pieces. I think it's going to work. I have the majority of it down pat and will have the rest by the end of next week when I hope to do the exam.

The hitch arrived from Kentucky on Friday and we moved the truck from one shop to another. Now it's going to get the hitch installed and a whole lot of little things done that are necessary to make it an rv puller. The big ones are the hitch and the electrical connections for the trailer. The truck has air brakes and the trailer has electric brakes so they have to install whatever it needs to do that conversion. Apparently it's no big deal but I know "0" about those mechanics.

On Monday afternoon we're going to licence it. We want to licence it as a motor home and I think we should be able to do it. Our provincial regulations say it has to have a bed plus a sink or fridge. It has a bed and we'll put our travel fridge in it. This makes it a motor home in my opinion, however "my opinion" doesn't really count for much with the insurance company. The savings amount to a few hundred $ per year and I would like to do it if I can.

So if this all falls into place we'll have our Freightliner motor home ready by next Friday. I just can't wait. The day we head out on the road with this thing will be a BIG BIG BIG day for us. We're close now.

Today we're going to a motorcycle poker derby, show and shine, and bud and spud dinner. It's called "Wings For Warren." Warren was a good friend who passed away last year from cancer and this is a fund raiser for cancer care.

I would like to encourage you to please leave a comment on here once in awhile if you're reading it. They don't bite and it will make it more fun for those that are reading it. I follow a couple of other "full time rv" blogs and the comments are great.

Have a great week, I have to go and study a "bite size piece" of an air brake manual.

The Big Rig

So here is, yours truly, and his training truck. I finally had enough nerve to ask them to take my picture with it yesterday. Rob wants to know if it comes with "Training Wheels," and Brady thinks me driving this is a "Scary" thought. Nice to have support from your family.

These guys have five of these rigs and are adding at least two more. They aren't cheap so I have to think they must be doing ok.

I'm about 1/2 way through the course now and I'm making progress. Last night (4:30 to 8:30) we were in town all the time, but, tonight we get to do some highway driving. I really like that idea. The inspections and air brake knowledge is building and although I have a tough ten days ahead of me I think I can get through it all by the beginning of July.

The air hitch for the truck is on it's way from Kentucky, the new fenders for it have arrived, the old bumper is off and the new one goes on today. We did a deal with the seller to exchange the 24" tires for some low profile ones which should make it more functional for our purposes. The guys at All Rig Custom are expecting to get their hands on it tomorrow to start installing the hitch and lay it out for the Smart car. Can't wait to head down the road in our Big Truck, with a little Willie Nelson on the radio, and my CB humming in the background.

Some guys "Never Grow Up." It's a good thing...........

Been away for awhile

Since we were away for awhile I got very behind on updating this, I wasn't worried until sister Jan and friend Lynn told me they have been watching it. So to those of you that have been watching I apologize.

We were away for Amber's (daughter) university graduation in Calgary, Alta. She and her husband Dallas have purchased a new home there and she now works with Shell Oil in corporate communications. It was a proud moment for us and a great family afternoon at Amber and Dallas's home.

Following Amber's grad and surrounding festivities we left for our annual motorcycle adventure. Son's Brady and Rob, son in law John, and yours truly left on a fantastic seven day motorcycle adventure from Calgary to Vancouver and back to Calgary. We rode some amazing roads through the US and Canadian Rockies. We had a few days riding with friends Roland and his son Anthony, Glenn, and then a nice breakfast with Mick in Kelowna.

We were able to spend on day and night with daughter Colleen and husband Tim and their family in Langley, BC. They just finished an amzing new home. We had a fun time in the pool and hot tub with their kids.

This link will take you to our motorcycle blog www.johngergely.com/blog

We got to spend some time with my sister Jan and her husband Mel in Calgary as well. She spoils me with her famous carrot cake every time we go there. Bernie stayed on for a couple of days after we left for our ride and they did their best to get into trouble. They didn't say much but I do know there were significant amounts of Chardonnay and shopping involved.

So now that fun and family time is over and we have to get back to passing this class one drivers test. I had two lessons last week, both involved driving and pulling a 53' trailer. The driving part is progressing nicely but the air brake testing part is giving me an ulcer. Since there are no choices I will pass it. They have tightened up the rules a lot in recent years and it's tough. I guess it should be. They tell me that 80+% of the commercial drivers on the road today couldn't pass this if they were asked to do it today.

One example is we have to back the truck and trailer through a set of cones without touching any one of them and bring it to a stop within 3 feet of the rear center cone which of course you can't see. The time allocation is 5 minutes and you can only pull forward three times. The trailer is loaded to 20,000 lbs. Touch any cone, pull ahead 4 times, or miss the 3' mark and you can go home. Actually this would be a really fun course and enjoyable if it weren't for the time pressure we're under. I certainly am going to be a better driver at the end of it.

The truck is in the shop now, having a bunch of work done to it so we can have it by month end. They have taken the commercial hitch off of it and removed the instructor seat. The big bumper has been removed from the front and is being replaced with the proper Freightliner one. Bernie and I are having them install a new set of fenders on the back to protect our trailer. Then it goes over to the other shop for install of our air ride 5th wheel hitch and then it will be ready to go for the new trailer.

We're going to worry about paint and so forth once we get moved into the trailer and life settles down a bit.

So that has to be it for now as I have to go and study an air brake manual.

I passed the test

Wow - I passed.

Yesterday was the big day and to my surprise I actually passed the Professional Drivers and the Air Brakes written tests.

Now all of the practical things can start to happen. I have medical doctor and eye doctor exams scheduled for next week. On the assumption I pass them, I can then get my learners permit and they let me behind the wheel of a big rig. 40 hours behind the wheel and I then have to pass three practical test. 1) is a safety inspection of the truck and trailer. 2) is a complete air brake inspection of them and 3) is an actual 30 minute driving test in the city with a 53' cargo trailer. Once they are finished I'll get my licence.

Quite a process to go through. At 25 no problem but at this stage in life, just so I can tow a fifth wheel, it seems absurd. Not to mention _____ expensive.

I pushed the instructor and he tells me they are already enforcing the 10,00 lb (max tow on a regular licence) rules and will be out in full force on them this year. So I have to do it, no sense complaining. Beyond that I'm going at this from a safety point of view and this whole adventure will be a whole lot more fun if we're safe.

Last night and today we're just sort of taking it easy. I'm meeting with the instructor this afternoon so he can give me a cd of some kind on air brakes. We're going to take some measurements of the truck as well.

We've been toying with the idea of putting a Jeep YJ on there instead of the Smart car. The Smart can can be loaded sideways but of course the Jeep has to go lengthwise. We have to leave enough room for a full 90 degree turn of the trailer which leaves us wondering if we have enough length. Others have lengthened the frame to accommodate but we aren't anxious for the increased expense.

We'll keep you all posted on how this goes.

Have a great long weekend.

Found the truck

Have a look at the truck in the middle.

It's Friday today and we get to scratch one more thing off of the "to do" list. A big one. After weeks and weeks of searching we decided on a truck yesterday and did a handshake deal. It's the 01 Freightliner I mentioned before.

Bernie came back from Vancouver Wed. and we went to see it yesterday. She realized right away that it was far and away the cleanest, and we believe best maintained, truck we've found. The seller agreed to do a few cosmetic things to it, bargained some on the price, and we shook his hand. We're still going to get the oil tested in the engine, transmission and each of the differentials to be certain there's no issues. The transmission was just rebuilt and the engine seems fine so we're confident we have our rig.

It's sweet, a real trucker's truck. Chrome wheels, big exhaust stack, sleeper, 13 speeds, 435/470 HP Detroit diesel, all the things you want your truck to be, and CLEAN..............

I have my first class for commercial driver training next Monday night. Our new truck is one of the schools trucks so I think I'm going to do just fine. We both have allot at stake in my passing.

So that was the last of the big decisions, and now we can go after the dozens of little things that have to be done. We started a list of them and it was off the page in a heartbeat.

Yesterday on our way back to the city we stopped at a campground we had researched and we had visited before. It's called the "Arrowhead RV Park." We've decided to stay there, after we move from our home, until we head for the South. Nice place, smaller, very clean, friendly people, some other full time rvr's, and full services. With Internet access, $430 a month (power in). That was within our budget and being 7 minutes from the city will make for easy access to the kids and services.

I'm anxious to post some pictures of the new truck and will do so as soon as I get some.

That's all for now, have to go and work on the "To Do" list.

Air Brake Lesson

Happy Mother's Day to All Moms.

Yesterday's air brake lesson went very well. He walked me through a sample system he had in his training room. I was really quite a show. He has a complete air brake system set up, with compressor, tanks, gauges, air lines, valves, everything. In 1 1/2 hrs I learned more than I would have in a month of studying the book.

I've decided to go for a Class 1 licence, which in Manitoba allows me drive anything from highway trucks to school buses, anything I want. The class 3 that I need costs $1000 and is not tax deductible and the class 1 costs $3000 and is tax deductible. So my true cost isn't much difference and I don't have to worry about it again.

He doesn't have a class 1 program starting for awhile but after we talked he said he'll start one for me. They normally run 200 + hours but with the right students he compresses it to 40 and he figures I can do it in the 40. So here we go.......

Rob figures I'm way to old to get a driving job (stuff it Rob) but it does open that door if I ever wanted to. I am likely too old but ???????????????

The instructor then took me out to his shop where all the trucks are and I got to play in one he has for sale. OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH, nice truck. Once Bernie gets back from Vancouver we'll go see it together. It's a Freightliner Columbia with two rear axles rated at 40,000 lbs each and our rv weighs 20,000 lbs so I think I might :-) have enough capacity. With it's 450 HP Detroit diesel engine. I doubt I'll ever find a hill that would cause me have to downshift, oh ya, I forgot, 13 speeds and a nice sleeper.....

No fridge, tv, or microwave but I have that figured out already. We have a freind in Texas that makes cabinets. Should be a no brainer for him.

The Kenworth

The KW in Sioux City didn't work out so we're back to "0" on the truck part. The dealer was trying to pass the truck off as 335,000 miles when it was really 1,335,000 miles. Nice guy, not. My brother Rick in Regina helped me uncover a Volvo 670 up there and we're working on it now. I can't seem to get the dealer to react to my requests for pictures. If they don't act soon we're headed up to the Volvo dealer here in Winnipeg. Brenda, our daughter in law, knows some people through her work that can help us at that dealership and we should be treated fairly. Not knowing much about trucks is a bit of a hurdle but I'm finding many people that are willing to help so it's not "mission impossible" by any stretch.

I'll keep posting our progress here.The adventure has begun.

How we plan to do it

I thought a pictue of how we plan to do this would be in order. I robbed this picture of someone elses rig off of the internet. You can see from this how we're putting it together and where the car fits in relative to the truck and trailer.

It's Sold

We just had word that our home sale did go through, and we have to be out and in our 5r by July 20th. That means we're "Full Time RVrs" on July 20th. So now we can begin all of the next steps, like getting a commercial driver licence, and finding a truck, and selling all of our furniture, and having a garage sale for all of our stuff, and going down to Indiana to get the rv, and on and on and on. Sounds like a wicked pace for the next 9 weeks but in the end it will be worth it. We're so excited.

I have an appointment tomorrow with a commercial driver trainer in Steinbach who is going to give me an overview on the process and a crash course on air brakes. Then I have to study and write two exams and then I get behind the wheel of the highway tractor for the fun stuff.

We'll see how I do, I'm hopeful that our experience pulling our 5th wheel will help me some.

Home is sold

Last night we were successful in getting an offer accepted on our home. We're one step closer now. The purchaser still has a 48 hr cooling off period so we won't know for sure until Friday afternoon. I started work on the truck today so I can put that decision to bed on Monday of next week. We have our eye on a Kenworth T800 in Sioux City that will have to be painted to match our RV but otherwise it seems like a perfect puller for us.

Our New Home

In The Beginning

This is where it all begins, the "full time rv" dream is almost reality.

This is where we plan to post as much as we can about our adventure and plan to use it to keep in touch with our family and friends as we go.

It's now May 4th 2010, our home is on the market, we've purchased the 5th wheel and are looking for a tow vehicle. After we get the tow vehicle I have to go and get a commercial drivers licence, then we have to find a Smart car to load on the truck, and then we can go. Everything has to hold for now until our home sells; then we can unload all of our "stuff," and then we can hit the road. The excitement level is high, the "scared" level is just as high, and one of our friends asked us if "we're nuts." I guess that sums it all up, "hurry up and wait to find out if we're out of our minds." By fall we'll have it all together and by the end of October we'll be back in the Rio Grande Valley.

If you find us here please leave a note, we'd love to hear from you.

See you on the road.

Neal & Bernie