Getting Ready For The Weekend

This morning we had to get up early to get Taylor and Toby to Janet's by 8:15. Janet is the boy's groomer and her shop is in DeSoto County about 30-35 miles from here. We don't mind because she's the best. While we were waiting for them we did some last minute shopping and found the perfect coffee maker and a new atlas for our journey.

After we got back we dropped the boys at the house, went and got the pop up and brought it home. We spent the next 4 hours packing the things we will need for the four day three night stay at the Turtle Creek campground in Homosassa, Fl. We are officially pooped! I just checked the forecast for Homosassa and they are saying there is a 50% to 60% chance of rain all weekend. What will we do with 4 adults, 3 dogs and a very active 2 year old in a 24 foot pop-up if it does? Well I guess we'll see.

Until tomorrow...

A Screw Here A Bolt There

Today Rainy had a dentist appointment that left her a little incapacitated so we did'nt get much done. I finally found a pair of towing mirrors at Auto Zone so this afternoon I put those together. The factory had the straps inside out so it took me forever to figure out that they wouldn't fit because of that. Once I turned them around it took minutes to install. I also put together the portable grill we bought. That too was in a million pieces and the instructions were only pictures, no text at all. It is really great. It is light, compact and the legs fold up for easy traveling.

Until tomorrow....

Things to Do, People to See

This blog will cover Monday the 24th, Tuesday the 25th and today, Wednesday the 26th of May. On Monday I woke up with a bit of a cold with a sore throat, slight fever and just not feeling real good. So we decided not to go to the storage place and play with our new toy (our pop-up camper). Instead we stayed in and planned our route from here to the wild, wild, west and back. If we stick with this route we will travel in access of 7,900 miles and see all the wonders of the continental U.S. and visit all of our relatives.

On Tuesday we did go and play with our pup (short for pop up camper). The first thing I wanted to do was to see if the 12V electrical connector line was long enough now that the connector on the van had to be raised from below the hitch bar. It wasn't. The next thing we checked was the left rear tail light that the RV guys fixed that was not working when we bought it. It wasn't. So I marched right over to the RV guys office, where I had already paid over $75 for them to fix the light, and told them of the problem. They said, "Oh that ain't right, I fixed it myself." I said, "Duh." They sent a new guy over to our pup, assessed the problem (a faulty ground) and took care of the problem post haste. He also extended the electrical cord by about 2 feet. Both task and did'nt even charge us a dime. Yee Haw! We really liked him. He said that he and his wife traveled around the country full time for about a year in a pop up camper. While he worked Rainy and I took total advantage of his road knowledge and asked all the questions we could think of concerning the mechanics of of the pup, campsites, national parks, sites along the way etc. He was very generous with his answers. We raised the camper, slid out and secured one of the beds, but by the time the rv mechanic was finished so were we. It had gotten pretty hot and the only shade was that of a pull behind travel trailer parked next to our pup.

Today, Wednesday, we shopped. Except for Rainy's annual physical and my glaucoma check up, we spent the rest of the day buying things we will need on the road. I won't go into an exclusive list but we bought lawn chairs, camper canopy rug, camper size microwave, water jug, camper grill, port-a-pot and a sundry of other things we believe we can't live without on the road.

The best deal of the day was something I found on Craig's List. This guy had a portable folding grill table. Brand New at a retail price of $69.95. His price $35.
I went to see it while Rainy was in her check up. I offered $30 and he took it. I should've offered $25. It is really nice. It folds up into a carrying case and sets up real easy. It should serve us well.

Until tomorrow...

Three days little progress

I haven't blogged since Thursday so I will give you the highlights of the last three days in this blog. Today is Sunday, May 23rd. On Friday we had the house air conditioner serviced. It hasn't been done in about 6 years. It was fine. The technician cleaned and lubricated everything and installed new internal filters. Rainy had one of her annual medical check-ups. Everything looked good there too. We started doing some of the shopping for camp stuff while we were in Port Charlotte, but we had left our list at home, so we had to rely on our memories and that's not a good thing.

On Saturday I called the campground in Homosassa Springs that we had decided on for our Memorial Day weekend stay but they were completely booked. I called our second choice, Turtle Creek, they had a spot, so I booked it. We are going up on Saturday morning and coming home on Monday afternoon.

Today we drove down to Fort Myers. Matt, Amy and Wyatt went along for the ride and we had lunch at Matt's favorite burger place, 5 Guys. Great burgers!! We went to Bass Pro Shop and bought some of the things we needed like a good lantern, coolers, hot dog fork etc. Believe it or not we left our list at home, again. After leaving there we stopped by Camper's World but was very disappointed that they didn't cater much to pop-up camper people. We looked around awhile but decided that the things we could get there we could get at Wal-Mart cheaper.

Until tomorrow...

Decided on a trial run

Today (Thursday) we decided to take a "trial run" over the Memorial Day weekend to a RV park in Homosassa, Florida. The campsite is called Nature's Resort and it is about 3 hours north of here. Matt, Amy and Wyatt may be going with us or meeting us there if we decide to go up a day earlier than they can. This camp ground has concrete pads for our pop-up, electric, water, cable TV, WI-FI, swimming pool, fishing pier, playground, showers, hiking trails, and just about anything else you may need while camping in the wilderness:)

This area is famous for its manatees. Something about the combination of salt and fresh water and how it creates warm pools attracts thousands of manatees. You can even swim with them if you want. Also the Homosassa State Wild Animal Park is just minutes away. Rainy and I have been there and we can't wait for Wyatt to see all the animals. Everything from Florida brown bears and alligators to pink flamingos. This area is where we got our start kayaking a couple of years ago.

This trip will give us an opportunity to check out our rig and see how everything works and decide what we need to take and what we can leave at home.

We continue with appointments tomorrow and we got several months "Revolution" ordered for Taylor and Toby.

Until tomorrow...

Road Ready (But Broke)

Today (Wednesday) I took our Honda (in camper language the TV (tow vehicle))to Venice Honda to have the transmission cooler installed. I had made a deal with them over the phone on Monday and they matched Charlotte Honda's price. I got there early because they said it would take a couple hours to install. After waiting about an hour the service manager came out and said that the transmission cooler could not be installed because it had to be bolted where the factory power steering cooler is. But, if I wanted to pay an additional $170.00 they could install a heavy duty power steering cooler just above the transmission cooler. (Are you confused yet?)I had him get the parts manager and the three of us went out to the automobile bay so they could show me what they were saying. After the explanation I decided that I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted the transmission cooler. We did a little negotiating and they agreed to install the power steering cooler for less than $100.00 including tax.

They had a Honda Odyssey up on the rack with the front bumper off and the undercarriage unsnapped ready to install the coolers. The problem was it wasn't our Odyssey. Oops. Sure enough it was someone else's. Good thing I went out there or my coolers would be on some other Odyssey. Boy were they embarrassed. Sat and read old magazines and drank luke-warm weak coffee for three hours waiting for them to finish.

This afternoon we took the Odyssey back to the hitch guy so he could raise the electrical connector and yes, you guessed it. The one that came with the hitch they installed couldn't be mounted higher so I had to purchase a different one but he was gracious enough to give me credit for the other one, but once again Ka-Ching! - another $75 bucks. Then we went to the DMV to get our camper licensed. We had to pay sales tax on the total purchase price plus tax - Ka-Ching - Ka-Ching - Ka-Ching!!!

Anyway, we were so glad to get home so we didn't have to spend any more money. At least for today. Until tomorrow....

Clean Bill of Canine Health

Today (Tuesday) not much was accomplished concerning getting ready to leave on our road adventure. We did however order a car charger for our phones and we took Taylor and Toby for their annual check up. The Doc said they were just fine and fit. He gave them the necessary vaccinations and drew blood for testing. The assistants had a real hard time finding Taylor's vein. They tried in three legs but still couldn't find the vein. The Doc came in and found one first time. It made me a little queasy. Rainy made me leave the room. The "boys" are ready to go except for their teeth cleaning which we scheduled for June 3 so now our new target date to leave is June
5! Until tomorrow....

Transmission Cooler Madness

Today (Monday) I went to two different auto shops asking if they would install a cooler if I purchased it. One said that they do not have the necessary equipment and the other said yes but wasn't sure that it would be that effective since it was not designed exclusively for my vehicle. What to do? What to do? So, I called another Honda dealer and got a quote from them to install the Honda cooler. Their price was less than the first Honda place, but it was a little further to drive. So I called the first Honda place told them the quote I got from the second. They matched that price and so we scheduled the installation for Wednesday morning.

I had mentioned in an earlier blog that we damaged the electrical connector on the hitch because it was installed to low. Wednesday afternoon the hitch guy is going to raise it to the height of the hitch.

Nothing more today except we are beginning to look at road maps and camping facilities.

Until tomorrow...

Not much progress

Today (Sunday) was strictly a research day. Continuing to research "pulling and traveling with a pop-up camper." Rainy had to work at the antique store and I had our grandson, Wyatt, until almost noon so I spent Sunday afternoon doing more research and making notes and I have to admit that I caught a little nap. Tomorrow I am planning to wrap up trying to get that transmission cooler taken care of. We promise this blog is going to get more exciting once we can get on the road. Until tomorrow . . .

A Better Place To Park

Today (Saturday) Rainy and I went back to Matt's house to fetch the pop up and take it to the storage place. We were both concerned that if we try and move it out of the yard the same way we brought it in we would cause even more damage to the electrical connector. So when we got there I had this great idea. I would disconnect the bracket that holds the connector, tape it safely up under the van temporarily, back the camper out onto the street, reconnect the bracket, hook up and be on our way.

Easier said than done. I had to lay on my back reach underneath the van, behind the hitch to unscrew the bracket. As I was finishing up, and wiping sweat from my brow, Matt comes out and says, "My truck has a higher clearance, why don't we hook it up to my truck and I back it out to the street?" Great idea. Where was this suggestion 30 minutes ago before I scratched up my knuckles and almost died of heat prostration.

So that's what we did. I got back down and re-attached the bracket, Matt hooked to the camper and backed it into the street, we hooked up the van to the camper and pulled it to the storage facility.

Until tomorrow....

Not in love with Love Bugs

Today (Friday) Rainy and I left home about 9:00 a.m. to make the 2 hour drive to Sebring to pick up our new pop-up camper. Our conversations were mostly about places of interest that we want to see and how we can get there by mostly avoiding interstates. As we left the coast (we live five minutes from the Gulf of Mexico) and was getting further away from the sea breeze we began hearing the pitter patter of what sounded like a medium size rain shower. But no it wasn't rain it was Love Bugs. Millions of them splattering themselves on our windshield, grill, luggage rack and side view mirrors.

For you fortunate ones that haven't seen this phenomenon Love Bugs is the term for a mating ritual where a male and female good for nothing black flying insect attach themselves to each other(god know where)and fly around in swarms until the female is inpregnated and then the male dies.

Anyway, we had to stop twice on the way there and once on the way back to wash and scrape the dead and nearly dead bugs off the windshield. Yuck, yuck it was horrible!

We got home with our new pop-up mid afternoon and took it to our son Matt's house and parked it in his yard. Sounds simple right? Wrong. Once Rainy and I decided how and where we were going to park it I drove and she navigated me through his swale and as I pulled it up the small incline the electrical connector dug into the ground and broke the cover. We did get it parked but we weren't satisfied with leaving it there more than overnight because it was on an incline and, although we had it chocked and the hitch lowered we didn't feel that it was the best place for it. So we called around and found a place just down the road from our house to store it until we leave. Big day, some mistakes, but all in all a great adventure. Until tomorrow....

Van Ready

Today (Thursday) was a big day in that we got the hitch and harness and brakes all installed on the van so we are now ready to go get our new portable home tomorrow. Also, the transmission cooler the rv place had wouldn't fit the Honda transmission so we researched and found one on-line to order. So now we have to wait until that comes in and have that installed but it doesn't hold us up from getting the camper as the transmission cooler is just to protect the van's transmission long term so hopefully we can get that done next week. This is all that was accomplished today as we had other chores/responsibilities that had to be done. We are very excited that we are going early in the morning to pick it up!!! Until tomorrow. . .

Lists and appointments

Today (Wednesday) was spent making a list of things that would need to be done before we can leave our home and be gone for an extended period, such as cancel paper, find a home for my plants, put-up hurricane shutters, etc. etc. Also, I made all the doctor appointments for us that we would need before we left. Roger actually had his check-up today so that took the afternoon between the driving distance round trip and the appointment itself. Also started a list of things that would have to be purchased that we don't already have such as a small microwave, shower flipflops, new cooler, etc. etc. This doesn't sound like much but these things are time consuming. And, of course, daily routine has to go on. But our preparation is going fairly well. Until tomorrow. . .

Transmission cooler

It is recommended that you have a transmission cooler put in your vehicle's transmission when you are going to be pulling a camper. So we called Honda and they said it would be $310.00 (we thought that was installed) so we let them order the part. They called today to say the part was in and that it was going to be $305.00 for the part plus $25.00 for another part needed to go with it plus $170.00 to install it plus tax on that so we were looking at over $500.00. So, we called the folks (which is an RV/camper place) who are going to put our hitch, run brake lines between the two vehicles, etc. They can put the same transmission cooler on and installed is $130.00 plus tax total!!! Woo Hoo - lesson learned - don't take one person's word for it - thoroughly check around yourself. We had our grandson, Wyatt, this afternoon so that's about all we got done except we did add a few more things to our "to take" list. If anyone out there is reading this and you have recommendations, we're all ears. Until tomorrow. . .

Oops

Time got away from us and before we knew it we were going to bed and realized we didn't make our post. However, there's not much to report today as yesterday wasn't very productive due to other obligations. We did get our van serviced so it's road ready and picked up the harness. We also got the parts ordered for the hitch and brakes and appointment is scheduled for Thursday morning for the install. The dollars are adding up and we're hoping that is going to end soon. We did watch a dvr recording we had made of the Grand Canyon and we're getting excited but still lots to do before we get there! Until later. . .

New Owners

Great News! We are the proud new owners of a 2007 Fleetwood E1 pop-up camper!!! Since today was Mother's Day (great gift - huh?) we didn't get much done because we took time to be with our son, Matt, his wife, Amy, and of course grandson, Wyatt. Roger and Matt made lunch for us girls for Mother's Day. Matt & Amy and our daughter, Melissa, went together and got me a new golf bag for Mother's Day and our son, Jason, and his wife, Heather, sent me a beautiful arrangement of orchids called
"Orchids on the rocks" - right up my alley! And so, it was a very good day. After lunch, we went to see the camper we were interested in and it was everything and more of what we were expecting so we made the deal. We put down a deposit as now we have to get our van ready to pull it home. Tomorrow we are having the van serviced, buying a harness and have the transmission cooler installed. Hopefully, Tuesday or Wednesday we will have the hitch and harnessed installed and if all goes well we are going back on Friday to pick the camper up. I will post pictures soon. Also got some additional research done on the recommendations of loads and towing and downloaded the owner's manual to the camper so we can start reading up. One more checkmark on the list!!! Until tomorrow . . .

Pop-Up Camper

We didn't get much done today because we kept our two year old grandson, Wyatt, but it was worth it. He's just so much fun and lovable!!! However, we did find out everything we need to get installed on our Honda Odyssey to tow a camper and we have an appointment set for Sunday to go see a camper that we found on CraigsList that we are really interested in. Hopefully, it's everything we think it is and we can make a deal. Also, Roger did research today on everything you would want to know about P-ups and he read many testimonials learning from others. We also made a list of things to take and we are sure that we will add to this list daily. It is weighing on us that we will be leaving Wyatt for an extended length of time. The longest we have been away from him is three weeks (and that was just this past March) since he was born. However, his parents are wanting to leave Florida and move back to Kentucky so one day he will leave us so maybe this will be a "break-in" for us :( Well, like we said, today was a low production day as will be tomorrow as Roger will have Wyatt again tomorrow and Rainy has to work at the antique store where she has a small business. Oh yeah, I don't believe we mentioned in our "background", we have about 200 square feet in an antique store where we sell older antique reproduction furniture and gifts and retired collectibles and we have two eBay stores, one mostly dolls and the other one mostly flags. It has been nice having Roger's help for the past year with these businesses and he has been doing consulting work too so he has been very productive while applying for a new position. Until tomorrow. . .

Background

We're Roger & Rainy Pulley. We'll be married 21 years this July 4th. We have four children (Tennessee/Missouri/Oregon/Florida)and five grandchildren, who are the grandest things since we took our first breath. We have lived in Florida for the past 9 years. Roger is in local government work, starting out in 1979 as a small town (less than 3000) city fireman and working his way up through the years being city manager, economic development and public works directors, assistant county manager (county in excess of 150,000) & county manager (county in excess of 30,000). Rainy had a long history of administrative and high level management in the private sector and retired her career in 2002 after the sale of the company she worked for and had a little ownership. The sale obviously allowed her the flexibility of retiring her career.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, Roger resigned his last position as a county manager and has been applying for similar positions since. As many of you know with the current economic conditions, the search has been gruesome. As of this posting, he is in the running for a couple of positions and time will tell how that goes. However, if we have learned anything over the past year is that you can't bet on anything until signed paper is in hand so we have decided that now would be a good time to do a major road trip, one that we have talked about doing for some time but never made the leap. So, we decided yesterday that we are doing it! And not only are we doing it but we're going to bring you along with us!!! We will be blogging the good and the bad (hopefully there won't be too much bad - keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers for us).

You'll also be meeting family along the way (Heaven help us - hehe). We have very large families - Roger comes from a family of 8 kids and Rainy from a family of 6 kids). Roger's family leans toward the quiet and conservative and Rainy's family leans toward the loud and colorful. They're all a good bunch of folks though and have open hearts.

We are planning to obviously start from Florida and then head west and eventually north and back south - that's the plan anyway.

So since we decided to take the leap yesterday, today Rainy started this blog so we could have a record of everything from the beginning and Roger is looking into pop-up campers. Depending on when we can get some appointments, we are planning a departure date somewhere around the end of the month.