Well our 36 hours of hell is finally over. Wouldn't you know that the day we go to pick up our new motorhome is the day it rains all day without letting up. This hasn't happened for weeks in Florida. We got to North Trail RV at 10:00am on Thursday in a torrential down pour. The first thing that happened is they inspected our 5th wheel to make sure it was in as good a shape as we said it was. Well even though it was raining it was very warm and the 5th wheel was parked out in a remote parking lot with no hookups. As soon as I said to the inspector person let me start the generator and turn on the air conditioning for you. He said "you have a generator"! Being somewhat surprised. At that point I knew we were home free. I also knew our 5th wheel was in excellent condition. I later saw him and ask him if there were any problems or if he had any questions and he said no everything was good.
Next we went to the business office to pay for the unit. We ran into a little hiccup. Steve the business manager was suppose to have called us earlier in the week and tell us to bring a certified check which he failed to do. I said I have a check I will be writing on our brokerage account and he had kind of had a blank stare on his face. He then went to talk to his boss. Steve still not back but minutes later we got a call from Dynacheck and I knew they just lost 1% of the check amount in profit by insuring our personal check through a third party. Damn, no body trusts anybody any more.
We then had the pleasure of having Lonnie Cook show us every single thing this motorhome had on it. He started inside at the passenger seat went down the passenger side then up the drivers side on the inside of the motorhome. We then went outside and went around it starting at the door and ending in front at the generator compartment. A lot to remember but I was familiar with most items due to research or based on owning the 5th wheel previously. When he learned I had zero experience driving a motorhome he was initially surprised but then told me to "drive it like you stole it" he said don't be timid because it drives like an over sized car.
On to the store. Lonnie took me to the store while Huli stayed with Tanner and Sydney. I bought a hard wired surge protector, two Dish network receivers, and some tire covers. Dropped a few hundred so they could get back at us for having to insure our check.
Throughout the day I would check on the service department to see how the wiring was coming on my truck.
Later in the day after the business stuff, PDI, and visit to the store was handled, they moved the 5th wheel next to the motorhome so the doors were about three feet from each other. We thought in about two hours we would have this move from the 5er to the motorhome knocked out. I think that was at about 4:00 pm. At about midnight we quit with all but the stuff under the bed to be moved over but neither of us had the strength to do it. The thing we learned during this move was if we don't get a grip on things we could be on the next Hoarders Show. We had stuff we have been hauling around for years we didn't know we had. We both wear basically the same clothes over and over even though we bring 90% more that we never ever wear. When we get back to Warsaw we both have a lot of purging to do to get rid of this stuff we don't use or need.
Since we were having some items installed on the motorhome and since the work was being performed outside in the rain things took longer than usual. This was ok with us since we were no where close to being ready to leave when they were going home for the day on Thursday. They gave us a key to the front security gate and said good night.
We got up at 6:00am Friday morning and got the balance of the move completed but were waiting for them to complete the surge protector and the installation of two Dish receivers. The truck was completed the evening before so we said we were going for breakfast. Good thing we did since we had some issues with the wiring job they did. When we returned I dropped the truck off at the service area and told them they had some issues on the job they did the previous day. Turns out they had a ground problem in the wiring.
At about 2:00 pm our salesman Kyle came back to drive the motorhome out of their parking lot and to help me hook up my truck to the back of the motorhome. I was just hoping the work I had done on the tow bars and the air lines was ok and everything would work correctly. After about 15 minutes everything was hooked up and we were good to go. The air lines were ok since the brakes worked great. Everything on the tow bar was also good. I had one right turn and two stops to make in about a 100 yard distance to get my experience before entering six lanes of bumper to bumper traffic. (The guy who helped me on the air lines, who is from Canada, still can't believe they will let me drive this motorhome in the U.S. without some kind of a special driving license.)
We got to the park a couple of hours later and our new neighbor with the $1.25 million Prevost was there waiting to help guide us to our new site 366 at the Okeechobee KOA. He told Huli "we take care of our own in this area of the park". As he was looking our unit over I told him my offer to trade him even is still stands if he really really likes it. After driving in bumper to bumper traffic, on the highway, taking it through narrow streets in the campground, and backing into the site I would agree with Lonnie. It drives like an over sized car. The cameras in the back and each side allow you to see whatever you need to see. We had just one little problem on our initial trip. I ask Huli to get me a can of Pepsi out of the refrigerator which she did. However, she forgot to lock the refrigerator door which we discovered the hard way after making a hard left hand turn. The bottle of hot sauce that broke on the granite tile christened the interior of the motorhome.
We were glad to be back in the campground and love everything about our new home. While setting up the motorhome we had a parade of people coming over to congratulate us and telling us they were glad we made it because they were worried when we didn't make it back the previous day. The top three things we like the best about our new motorhome would be 1) King sized bed 2) Larger stable toilet 3) Residential refrigerator. Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.
Here is a couple of pictures of us arriving at the KOA with the truck in tow. I am getting ready to unhitch the truck before entering the campground.
