Pre-Trip woes.....

In the process of getting ready to hit the road, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of things to do, and, in our case, to fix, since our fifth wheel trailer (henceforth called our 5er, and/or Big Daddy) has been, if not exactly neglected, at least forgotten, for the better part of six years, since we've been unable to travel in that time........ Mainly due to wife's work, but now that she's joining the rank of us retiries, it's time to get a move on........

I retired in '96, and we bought our 3030 Jayco Designer in '97 so I would have a place to call home while building our real house, which we moved into in 1998..... In 2000 we headed out for a trip to explore the Southern States, ending up spending four months on the road from sea to shining gulf to shinging sea. We loved it so much that we spent another couple of winters in the Southwest, but then "wifey" (is that a correct word?) landed a job which, to my dismay, has kept us "stranded" for the next six years.....

Sorry, I regress, but I thought you'd like to know the reason our trailer's been sitting for so long.....

Anyway, after extensive scrutiny of all our options (to buy new, or fix up the old), we decided to go the fixing route....... We hauled Big Daddy down to Camping World, in Burlington, WA. on April 7, and we just got it back today, May 21, 2009....... That's a heap long time, Tonto........ But what a difference 45 days makes!

Big Daddy sparkles........ He shines........ He begs to be noticed......

And what's not to brag about?

New roof job.....

Four coats of high polish wax.....

Every mechanical and electrical system checked and rechecked.....

All anomolies analyzed and fixed.....

Not to mention:

Brand new tires and brakes....

Satellite TV.....

New 2500 watt inverter, and a Honda 2000i generator.....

Hey......... We're ready to rough it!

We're shooting for a launch date of July 1, but, looking at the tide charts (which we have to, since we're dependent on a ferry), we might head out a day earlier???

We'll let you know through this Blog, so keep checking in on our progress....

Fair weather and tail winds to all fellow travellers.