The decision to keep the house has calmed me down. I am not so worried anymore what kind of rig we have, or if we have enough room. Not that having the house will help anything with the fact that we are living small while on the road, but just the knowledge of being able to return here will release some of the pressure of having to sell everything. It might actually be worth keeping the furniture at least some of it, so we don't have to go all crazy spending once we are done roaming around the country.
We also are relieved that we don't have to fix as much right away, since we are not trying to sell for a top dollar. Some changes that we need to do can be done down the road, whenever it seems necessary and we get to keep our nice neighborhood and all our friends and family close. Such a nice feeling. I am already feeling a little sad of missing on all the fun lunches and dinners with one of my closest friends. We usually have dinner in our favorite Indian buffet once a week, or anywhere we feel like, and those will sadly have to be iced until we come back from our Tour de America.
Fresh herbs will be greatly missed, especially the basil that
took over the whole back yard
I have been following a few RV bloggers and I have to admit that I am pretty anxious to get on the road. Some of the bloggers have absolutely amazing photos on their blogs, and I am sure they would be able to make our dumpster to look like a dream vacation spot, but I can't help but wish I could go to see all those fabulous views and sceneries that they have photographed to their blogs. Looking at those pictures it just makes you think that they are either professional, or they have a camera that has a button "$1M" that makes everything look like million dollars. Maybe you can train your eyes to see the photo in front of you, but the colors look sometimes so surreal, maybe they have more professional gear than my point and shoot.
I have been frustrated with my own photos, since there isn't really anything yet to take pictures of, and when you are trying to blog about the brainstorming it gets a bit difficult to take photos that are actually somehow related to the post itself. I have to use pictures of what ever random stuff that are not related to anything that I am really talking about, but that have something in them that I like, not necessarily great photos, but images of things that I like. This is one of the reasons you have seen so many pictures of our critters and our home. But this is one of the things I would like to concentrate more once we hit the road. I can't wait for that one.
Another amazing photo of the... vegetation on our yard.
Moving from 3000 square feet to about 150 will be a huge change. I am sure the lack of storage is not going to be the only issue, one of the things I have been threading is the cooking. We have a pretty big kitchen with all the possible appliances and gadgets and the RV, well, it just doesn't. I have been thinking about toaster oven and maybe a single burner to add little cooking power, but then again storing them will be an issue. I think we will just try to figure out how to use the convection micro as an oven and try to get by with as little as possible. I think my Kitchen Aid might not have a spot in the RV, drats!
Really hate to do this, but we really don't need 2 RVs.
Really rare side entry Chinook with permanent bed floor plan. Low Miles, around 40,000.
We just took it on one last trip and it performed flawlessly over the 450 mile journey.
If you are looking for an easy to drive RV, this is it! If you are looking for an RV that is the sports car of RVs, this is it! Made of a one piece Fiberglass shell, it should last a Long Long time.
As the driver of the vehicle I can attest to the handling, speed, braking, horsepower, and comfort of it. You can cruise at pretty much any speed you would want to drive. It easily handles 90+ mph, in fact it is fun to pass sports cars in a motorhome effortlessly. Averages 10-13 mpg with a full load of water, gas, supplies.
Some of the features:
Ford 6.8 Liter V-10 Triton Engine
4 Speed automatic w/ overdrive
Power windows
Power locks
130amp Alternator
Cold in dash A/C
Driver and Passenger air bags
37 gallon gasoline tank
Onan Microlite 4000 watt gas generator with less then 80 hours. Auto cutoff if gas tank goes below 1/4 full.
6 CU FT Dometic 2 door refrigerator/freezer, 3-way runs on A/C, D/C, or LP.
I believe an 80 watt solar panel on top to keep your batteries charged.
2 burner stove
Microwave
Kitchen sink
Shower/toilet combo unit with medicine cabinet. REALLY hot showers
LP 6 gallon water heater (heats quick and is HOT)
32 gallon fresh water tank
36 gallon gray and 15 gallon black tank
16000 BTU Furnace
A/C unit on top
30 amp plug with 23 foot cable. Has adapter to plug into a normal 110 outlet as well.
Full size permanent bed 75"x47"
Dinette converts into a 1 person, or 2 child bed. (Twin bed)
2 Deep Cycle Marine batteries for 250 amps of power, batteries less than a year old.
Sewer hose and a new in box spare sewer hose
Windows all have the double privacy screens on them
Privacy curtain that snaps onto the front cab of the unit
13 inch tv
VCR(easily swapped) and stereo
12 gallon LPG tank
exterior shower
Carbon Monoxide and LP gas detectors
Equipped with Vehicle Boost Start, in case your engine batteries are dead, it allows you to start the engine with the coach batteries.
Tow hitch, can tow 8000lbs
Tires have 90+% tread remaining.
2 Fantastic roof fans, one in main cabin and another is the restroom/shower.
Small enough unit for stealth camping, see Glenn's Blog to see how he gets away with free parking 99% of the time.
Side Entry in a rig this size gives it many advantages over a rear entry model. For one, you can have a trailer or car towed along behind you and not have to unhook it in order to go outside. Or if you opt for a cargo hitch to carry stuff it will not interfere with your use of the main doorway. Also folks with pets report problems with the rear entry models as you end up opening right into the street, whereas the side entry, you end up away from traffic. Plus for full timers having a permanent bed is a boon to having to constantly put your bed up every day and back down again at night. Plus there is a big storage area under the bed, easily accessible from the outside.
All the electronics work perfectly, mechanically in superb condition. Has some minor wear on the exterior, but for a 14 year old rig it handles better than any of my other vehicles. Chinook put out a Super high quality vehicle.
Located at Plano TX.
Contact Lee with any questions: leebailey@gmail.com
We both agree that the Beast needs a name. So far she has been just the Beast, but I don't think any lady would be impressed if called with a name like that. So it is time to at least entertain other options, and this is where you my dear readers will come into the picture. While our lil' Beastie is resting at the RV repair place getting her refrigerator fixed, I would love to come up with a name for her, so when she comes back we can have a fresh start, sorta... Makes sense, right? I know it doesn't but just play along, it will be fun.
Lee has claimed all the rights for her sweetheart, including the name. But it doesn't mean that we couldn't suggest names that would fit a sporty lady. Ok, I have to admit that the Beast is actually pretty fitting, and lots of people have called her Beast (including me, when I first saw Lee drive her to our cul de sac, that was the only word that came out of my mouth), but it just doesn't feel very ladylike, though I have to admit that she is quite a tomboy, but maybe she just needs some gentle guidance. So let's get all those ideas flowing. What ya think??? The Beast forever or should I keep pushing for another name? I know, our problems are not always so grave.
Spent some time on the Revcon trying to track down the mysterious power drain. After a while, my neighbor and I discovered his amp meter only measures A/C current, so our previous readings were all wrong.
So a trip to Home Depot and 150 bucks later I had the only AC/DC Amp meter they had in stock in my hands. After hooking it up to the DC panel I was getting solidly good readings on everything I turned on, but no phantom power drain.
Glenn saw my wife's posting yesterday and sent me an email with the ingenious idea to hook up the amp meter to the battery itself and then monitor the amp readings. So I proceeded to do that after checking the amps going through the DC panel and immediately noticed something draining about 16.5 amps, which is next to cataclysmic for someone who would want to spend any length of time in an RV. That drainage explains why my batteries got killed overnight. To put it in layman's terms, something draining 16 amps per hour and a battery when fully charged is 125 amp/hours, at best you have 7.5 hours of power.
So, the good news is my purchase of the amp meter was justified. The good/bad news is now I get to put on my detective hat and trace down the power-sucker. The adventure continues...
On two occasions already the Revcon has totally gotten drained out of all three batteries. First time happened right after we got it home, and today we noticed that it has happened again. First clue was that the stairs did not retract out when we opened the door, also the automatic locks did not work. There was no charge left what so ever. Our neighbor, super handy guy, who knows everything about plumbing, electrics or building anything (I bet if asked, he could build a space craft, we... not so much) took a look of it with Lee. They went through all the wires, and they seemed to be working just fine, but for some reason the batteries just get drained out.
See the cord running to the Revcon... hope it gets a bit charge from that.
We are suspecting the fridge, since it should not be on at all, but today even after quite cool night, the freezer felt really cold, colder than what I think it has been at any point in the last month. Lee suspects that there is some sort of limping mode that it goes into in some events and will stay there until the batteries are drained. I know nothing about limping modes, or anything else electrical, I just hope that we get it resolved before hitting the road, would be really sucky if we got stuck somewhere cause our batteries unexpectedly died. Limping doesn't help, the food will get spoiled anyhow after the limping ends in few hours, but the trip is spoiled long before that if you are stranded in the middle of the wilderness. Gave us something to think about. Have to come up with some sort of emergency plan for the cases like that.
What is going on here???
We are scratching our heads, me mostly, cause I'm not really good for anything constructive with these matters. Though I have made plans of painting some, and changing the flooring and other grand ideas that will not help at all. But hey, someone has to be the one who thinks about pretty things. :D
Any ideas are welcome! I know that solving this distantly is pretty impossible, but maybe experience will give some possible clues to what might cause this.
For one, the shell is made of aircraft aluminum and should in theory last damn near forever (think Airstreams). It is rated at R-20 Insulation as well, so it should keep it cool or warm inside as needed. Not sure how the black paint will affect the temperature yet.
As you walk into the side door up the automatic steps, you come directly to the dining area, a booth dinette with leather seats. The TV is mounted on the wall on the left.
To the right is the master bed, which is the king size bed above the truck cab. Doesn't appear to be a California king, but still, not too shabby for an rig of this size. Kings are hard to find even in huge class A's. It has sliding screen windows on the left and right as well and the screens and the windows both slide in case you are in an area without bugs.
The 'kitchen' consist of a 2 burner stove, convection microwave, good sized sink with telescoping faucet and a double filtered water dispenser. It has a standard dometic 2 door fridge/freezer that runs on AC/DC or propane.
Behind this is an electronics rack with the satellite equipment, stereo, DVD, VCR, and hidden behind it somewhere is a wireless router in case you have satellite internet to share. Next to the electronics rack is a full size Maytag stacked washer and dryer. This is something that's even more rare than the king size bed in any sized RV. Most RVs that do have a washer/dryer, it is normally a very small unit that is both in one, so loads take a really long time to wash (3 hours for a single wash/dry cycle and very small loads.)
The back room has a small futon-like sofa that makes into a single bed or so.
The closet in the back is rather large, doesn't look like much, but they are rather deep, and hopefully sufficient for our needs.
Across from the sofa is the restroom, stand-up shower and restroom area. Currently there is a curtain instead of a door to the restroom, we plan on putting in a sliding or accordion style door there. And just to make it a bit more pleasing to eye, white toilet seat is in plans.
You can crawl under the main bed into the cab of the truck, where currently there are 3 seats, the 4th removed for extra storage space (we have the 4th seat as in the garage, never been used). Doubtful we will be replacing it as it does provide a good amount of storage space that we will need. To be honest, we will likely remove the 3rd seat also.
Storage space is about the only thing this RV lacks. As it only stands 10.5 feet tall, it doesn't have the under storage the bigger RVs have, but those RVs normally sit around 14 feet tall as well. There are a decent number of overhead storage bins though, so I think we'll be able to get by.
A rooftop view shows the self-stowing satellite dish, a solar panel, the 2 A/C units, and the 2 fan vents. I hope to add more solar to the top eventually to make this unit almost completely independent. We'll still need diesel and propane from time to time.
Here's the main electric awning. That's most of the stuff that is visible. I'll have to get into some of the inner workings in the future. Mostly I need time to figure it all out myself.
We will add a video of the insides later on, once we have had a chance to remove extra stuff and do a good clean up in it and maybe add some of our own belongings to make it feel more like ours.
