Well it took us three days to come back to Maine. We knew we were going to have a parking challenge with our new motorcoach when we got home. We were never planning on purchasing such a large coach considering our old coach was 35 feet. If anything, we were planning on no more than 40 feet. Would the extra five feet really make a difference.
YES IT DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were afraid to park it on our gravel driveway used for our old coach. We were concerned that we would bottom out as well as sink down due the the extra weight.
So...... we parked her in the road in front of our home. Thank goodness we had wonderful neighbors. Thank goodness the school bus and other trucks could pass along side of us. We knew that we had to have the gravel driveway redone and do some other things to make parking our coach as easy as our old one.
Oh, by the way, did I happen to mention that we began renovating our home the day after we returned. Besides that, our older son was graduating college at the end of the month and I was planning a party. Phew!!!!
Could everything be accomplished without losing our minds????????????????????
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bio-Hazard Suits NOT Required
After we successfully emptied our tank, Lee proceeded to hose down the entire area with water. He must have done this for a half an hour or more. We gathered all the "tainted" materials which were on the lot and placed them in a plastic bag and left it for garbage pickup later that morning.
It was sometime after 3:00am when we saw a security guard passing through the area. We flagged him down and told him what happened. He seemed very non-plussed. Did this really happen more often than we thought????? We just wanted to take the responsibility to ensure that there would be no further problems after the clean up. I am glad to say there were none.
After a while, Lee needed me to go into our old motorhome so he could finish the job. As I sat on the stairs, I removed my sandals and disposed of them in another bag before going in. I patiently waited until the cleanup was complete. When Lee came to the door, he had to strip down and dispose of all his footwear, etc.
Finally, we took our showers!!!! Boy did that feel great. As we settled in our bed to try to get a little sleep, we began to laugh. Had this really happened??? This would be another one for the books. Another Griswold first.
Now we were ready to begin a whole new set of adventures...........................or were we???????????????????????????
It was sometime after 3:00am when we saw a security guard passing through the area. We flagged him down and told him what happened. He seemed very non-plussed. Did this really happen more often than we thought????? We just wanted to take the responsibility to ensure that there would be no further problems after the clean up. I am glad to say there were none.
After a while, Lee needed me to go into our old motorhome so he could finish the job. As I sat on the stairs, I removed my sandals and disposed of them in another bag before going in. I patiently waited until the cleanup was complete. When Lee came to the door, he had to strip down and dispose of all his footwear, etc.
Finally, we took our showers!!!! Boy did that feel great. As we settled in our bed to try to get a little sleep, we began to laugh. Had this really happened??? This would be another one for the books. Another Griswold first.
Now we were ready to begin a whole new set of adventures...........................or were we???????????????????????????
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Required: A Sense of Humor
Well................
As we were standing there in amazement, we both started to laugh and cry. What were we going to do????
At one point, Lee motioned to me to hold his end of the hose along with mine in order to work the problem. As we pondered our predicament, we came up with a fantastic idea. We decided to use the portable dump disposal "wagon" (usually used for grey water) as our portable sewer. We emptied our hoses into this "wagon" and wheeled it over to the sewer connection where we disposed our "stuff". We repeated this process until we were done. It took a while but we did it!!!!!!!
But now there was one more thing to do........
The "toxic cleanup"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As we were standing there in amazement, we both started to laugh and cry. What were we going to do????
At one point, Lee motioned to me to hold his end of the hose along with mine in order to work the problem. As we pondered our predicament, we came up with a fantastic idea. We decided to use the portable dump disposal "wagon" (usually used for grey water) as our portable sewer. We emptied our hoses into this "wagon" and wheeled it over to the sewer connection where we disposed our "stuff". We repeated this process until we were done. It took a while but we did it!!!!!!!
But now there was one more thing to do........
The "toxic cleanup"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The "Transfer"
Thank goodness Lazy Days has the Crown Club. It certainly makes your time at the property a very nice experience while your coach is undergoing the necessary repairs/updates during the day.
In the late afternoon prior to the "transfer of items from our old coach to the new one" later on that evening, Lee and I enjoyed three Cosmos and some delicious appetizers from the buffet. I have to say that it was extremely hot (well into the
90's) and the thought of the labor intensive work to move into our new coach was exciting yet physically uncomfortable due to the temperatures. It had remained hot all through the evening hours. I have to admit the Cosmos helped!!!
The coaches were parked in reverse of each other which made it easier to transfer our "stuff". How exciting!!! We were moving into our new home. Finding new places for things, getting rid of other things, sorting out all the stuff the kids played with through the years was quite emotional.
Needless to say, when we were done, we were in desperate need of a shower. Our plan was to sleep in our old coach for the last time. However, Lee needed to do a dump.
That's when the "s__t" literally hit the fan. Our old coach was not lined up well with the septic. Lee thought he could connect an extension hose to make the length requirement. We did not have a joint connector but felt that if held properly, the dump would be successful. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before you knew it, "s__t" was everywhere. I was holding one end with you know what trickling down my hands and Lee was holding the other. We just looked at each other. It was now 2:30am and we were just exhausted. Was this really happening???
What were we going to do now???????????????????
In the late afternoon prior to the "transfer of items from our old coach to the new one" later on that evening, Lee and I enjoyed three Cosmos and some delicious appetizers from the buffet. I have to say that it was extremely hot (well into the
90's) and the thought of the labor intensive work to move into our new coach was exciting yet physically uncomfortable due to the temperatures. It had remained hot all through the evening hours. I have to admit the Cosmos helped!!!
The coaches were parked in reverse of each other which made it easier to transfer our "stuff". How exciting!!! We were moving into our new home. Finding new places for things, getting rid of other things, sorting out all the stuff the kids played with through the years was quite emotional.
Needless to say, when we were done, we were in desperate need of a shower. Our plan was to sleep in our old coach for the last time. However, Lee needed to do a dump.
That's when the "s__t" literally hit the fan. Our old coach was not lined up well with the septic. Lee thought he could connect an extension hose to make the length requirement. We did not have a joint connector but felt that if held properly, the dump would be successful. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before you knew it, "s__t" was everywhere. I was holding one end with you know what trickling down my hands and Lee was holding the other. We just looked at each other. It was now 2:30am and we were just exhausted. Was this really happening???
What were we going to do now???????????????????
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
We did it!!!!!
Well after considerable thought and negotiation, we decided to purchase our Zephyr. Yippee!!!
After the papers were signed, we went to the Crown Club and had a drink to celebrate our new home. One of the benefits you receive when purchasing a luxury coach at Lazy Days is that you become a member of the Crown Club for three years where you can eat, drink, and be merry for free. Pretty nice perk, I must say. This was particular handy during the coach preparation period.
Now the prep process is very interesting. When you buy a coach, there is always something that needs to be done prior to your taking it off the lot. In our case, we needed a new windsheild, detail work in the bathroom vanity area, caulking around the shower, electronic additions, wheel covers, etc. Then there is the "Switch". Since we had a motorcoach to trade in, there was the process of moving all your stuff from one coach to the other.
Now there was the rub!!!!! Little did we know that during the move we would find ourselves living evey owners' worst nightmare...........
After the papers were signed, we went to the Crown Club and had a drink to celebrate our new home. One of the benefits you receive when purchasing a luxury coach at Lazy Days is that you become a member of the Crown Club for three years where you can eat, drink, and be merry for free. Pretty nice perk, I must say. This was particular handy during the coach preparation period.
Now the prep process is very interesting. When you buy a coach, there is always something that needs to be done prior to your taking it off the lot. In our case, we needed a new windsheild, detail work in the bathroom vanity area, caulking around the shower, electronic additions, wheel covers, etc. Then there is the "Switch". Since we had a motorcoach to trade in, there was the process of moving all your stuff from one coach to the other.
Now there was the rub!!!!! Little did we know that during the move we would find ourselves living evey owners' worst nightmare...........
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Search and Conquer
If you have gone to Lazy Days (aka Crazy Days) you know that it is a Disneyland for grownups. As far as the eye can see, there are rows upon rows of motorcoaches in all styles and colors. Each manufacturer has its own area and within that area the different styles are parked together for easy viewing.
It is quite daunting as you can imagine. We had spoken with a sales rep prior to our visit since we were planning on checking out the coaches which we had seen on-line. If you don't have a sales rep, one will be assigned to you.
One thing we did find was that our rep had some very specific ideas of his own and would make some bizarre comments when we asked questions. At one point during our search, my husband and I had to ask our rep to give us some private time to talk since he stuck to us like glue. It was only then when we could walk around on our own (we actually tried to hide out for a little while) just so we could look at the coaches by ourselves.
We did find a coach, an Allegro Bay, which we thought fit the bill. When we caught up with our rep we talked about the possibility of special order since there were some things that we would have preferred. It was then when we were presented with the Zephyr. We walked into that coach and fell in love. It had everything we wanted and more. I do have to say that our sales rep did not try to show us coaches above our original price range. It was my husband and I who upped the ante. But maybe there was some reverse psychology going on, but Lee and I felt that we found the one.
But now the big question remained: Could we make this happen????????
It is quite daunting as you can imagine. We had spoken with a sales rep prior to our visit since we were planning on checking out the coaches which we had seen on-line. If you don't have a sales rep, one will be assigned to you.
One thing we did find was that our rep had some very specific ideas of his own and would make some bizarre comments when we asked questions. At one point during our search, my husband and I had to ask our rep to give us some private time to talk since he stuck to us like glue. It was only then when we could walk around on our own (we actually tried to hide out for a little while) just so we could look at the coaches by ourselves.
We did find a coach, an Allegro Bay, which we thought fit the bill. When we caught up with our rep we talked about the possibility of special order since there were some things that we would have preferred. It was then when we were presented with the Zephyr. We walked into that coach and fell in love. It had everything we wanted and more. I do have to say that our sales rep did not try to show us coaches above our original price range. It was my husband and I who upped the ante. But maybe there was some reverse psychology going on, but Lee and I felt that we found the one.
But now the big question remained: Could we make this happen????????
Monday, January 28, 2008
Happy New Year
Well hello fellow RV'ers,
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. The holidays are a crazy time and it is nice to know that my life in the slow lane is always there for me and my husband.
Thanks to anonymous for their comments. You can find it under the November posting. I am not quite sure why it didn't appear under the December one since it was dated December 10th.
My husband and I indeed purchased a "brand" new Zephyr (Tiffin) at "Crazy" Days. I will tell you that you get bleary eyed after you see about 10 coaches. I think we saw about 20+ new ones before we saw "the one". If you would have told me that we were about to purchase a 45 foot luxury coach with all the bells and whistles, I would have thought you were crazy. But we did and felt that we got a decent price. (maybe not the best deal financially......but sometimes the timing, your particular situation, and the convenience create a best deal at the time!)
But the process to find "the one" was certainly not easy.............
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. The holidays are a crazy time and it is nice to know that my life in the slow lane is always there for me and my husband.
Thanks to anonymous for their comments. You can find it under the November posting. I am not quite sure why it didn't appear under the December one since it was dated December 10th.
My husband and I indeed purchased a "brand" new Zephyr (Tiffin) at "Crazy" Days. I will tell you that you get bleary eyed after you see about 10 coaches. I think we saw about 20+ new ones before we saw "the one". If you would have told me that we were about to purchase a 45 foot luxury coach with all the bells and whistles, I would have thought you were crazy. But we did and felt that we got a decent price. (maybe not the best deal financially......but sometimes the timing, your particular situation, and the convenience create a best deal at the time!)
But the process to find "the one" was certainly not easy.............
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