August 2001

We finally have our motorhome!  It's taken a lot longer than we thought; after Barrie retired in February, we thought we would be looking by mid March and buying before May. We did find the internet to be much better than looking at dealers' lots though, and finally settled on what we wanted, and made our move.

Sunday August 26th at 1 AM we pulled into our driveway with our new (to us) 1999 National Seabreeze 33 foot motorhome. We were looking for the 1999 for what seems like forever, and had about decided to settle for a '98, when the owner of the one we bought emailed us from Dallas that he was thinking about selling his '99 if we were interested. I had posted on the Usenet RV newsgroups quite some time ago that I was looking for a 99, but had long lost hope of getting a response. It was perfect timing, as we were about to take a trip to Oklahoma to see a 98. We decided Dallas was a better destination.

The flight to Dallas was a nightmare on low cost ATA airlines. Fog at the airport in Boston sent the incoming plane to New York to refuel, and it arrived 3.5 hours late. The through flight to Dallas was terminated at it's first stop in Chicago, where we spent the night in the airport wondering if our lost luggage would ever be found. We did get the first flight out to Dallas in the morning, made pickup connections with the seller, and finally saw our potential motorhome before noon on Wednesday. It looked nice, but we had lots of work to do to check everything out, get a mechanic to look at the engine

and chassis, get all the paperwork in order, and prepare to depart. Wednesday evening our luggage was delivered, but later in the hotel it turned out that a nice flashlight, a digital voltmeter, and a package of jewelry was missing from it. This was not an auspicious start to our venture, but we had many other things to think about, and a AM appointment with a mechanic.

On Thursday after the mechanic's inspection we decided to buy, and by Thursday evening we were ready to go. We had both driven it under the careful eye of the seller and could pretty well keep it between the white lines. However, we decided to sleep overnight before starting, as we were both pretty exhausted. This gave us the opportunity to buy some groceries too (including a large delicious Texas seeded watermelon that managed to just squeeze into the refrigerator-and that we are still eating on today).

Friday morning at 8:30 we drove away from the sellers house, and after turning in the rental car, headed northeast on Interstate 30, destination HOME, over 1700 miles away. We had learned to drive way ahead, anticipate turns, and always looked for open parking lots to turn around in without backing up. We quickly learned that the greater attention required to keep the motorhome between the white lines limited driving shifts to 2 hours, but that gave plenty of time for a nap while off, and the couch just aft of the driver's seat was comfortable yet close enough for the driver to waken the other when necessary.

Just as we became comfortable with Texas interstates, we entered Arkansas. We had been forewarned about the rough Arkansas roads, but after a few miles of Arkansas I 40 that was only a bit rougher than Texas, we felt all was well and Barrie started the AC generator to make a second pot of coffee. Five minutes later the road roughened noticeably, the coffee was dancing in the pot, and as the pot filled it slopped over onto the table beneath. Yikes, not doing so well on keeping our promise to maintain the motorhome in it's clean state. A few paper towels caught it before the rug got stained, so we were still reasonably pristine. We still had hours to go on rough Arkansas roads (is this where the term corduroy road came from?) before we passed into Tennessee. We did see signs of resurfacing operations in some places so it should get better in the future (whew). We first fueled near Little Rock. This motorhome is not tiny, but it never looks bigger than at a gas station blocking two pumps and sucking up over 50 gallons of regular gas. The 75 gallon tank and 9.75 miles per gallon fuel usage gives us a range of over 600 miles between fills. This allows us to avoid buying fuel in the highest cost areas. We last filled up in Virginia, and had 3/8 tank left in the driveway until anticipated price increases inspired us to fill it yesterday.

We had considered driving straight through, as Matt had to go back to college, and Carol was moving out of her Boston apartment to New York, but soon decided that a night's sleep would feel better in the middle of the trip than at the end. We were looking for a rest stop in Tennessee, but they restrict lots of theirs to trucks only. Around midnight Friday we spotted a Cracker Barrel restaurant on an exit sign in Knoxville, and decided to take them up on their offer to allow RVs to stay overnight on their parking lot. The restaurant was closed, parking lot empty, and it looked very inviting. It took us only 3 minutes to stop, set the brake, close the curtains, and flop onto that COMFY bed! It is nice to have planned everything to be locked up in advance, so we do not even have to step outside before snoozing.

At 6AM we awoke, and immediately started driving, much refreshed. Another pot of coffee brewed with no spills. Ice cold sweet Texas watermelon was breakfast; this is gonna be an OK way to travel!! This is when Barrie opened the refrigerator to get something out, the coach lurched on the road, and the half gallon plastic jug of grape juice rolled out (it was too tall to stand upright on the shelves). It dropped and hit its cap on the wall, popping it and pouring about a pint of purple grape juice onto the wood floor. YIKES!! Instant paper towel dams to keep it on the wood surface, then soak it up. The gray water holding tank will probably smell like wine next dump, but we managed to keep anything from staining noticeably. Whew, saved again! We learn to buy containers that fit!

The roads started to become steeper on I 81 east of Knoxville. We had maintained 60 mph on the flat roads of the South, but now we were driving for best fuel economy and letting the motorhome slow to 50, even 40 on uphills, and coasting down the other side. We fueled again near Smithville TN, and topped off again near Bristol before entering Virginia. The mountains were beautiful through the wide wraparound windshield, and the motorhome was fully stable and controllable going down hill with out using the brakes. The lower gears were quite adequate to control speed. We last fueled in Virginia at the border with West VA, and continued on through there into PA where we left I 81 in Scranton, and took I 84 through New York and into Connecticut. In CT we experienced our first major traffic jam of the trip, as construction left only one lane open near Waterbury. At least it was easy to switch drivers in the stopped traffic lanes.

We continued through Hartford and into Massachusetts. Claire squeezed through the narrow toll booths on the MassPike like a pro...she just followed the big semi's. I was amazed when a toll taker had to ask if we had a car in tow...she could not see around the motorhome.

We arrived home around 1AM Sunday, woke the house, and managed to clear the driveway of cars and drive in. It fit (almost)!! Only one of 3 cars had to stay on the street.

Time for a quick tour for Matt, plug 110v AC in for the refrigerator, and off to bed. Our first RV adventure is sucessfully completed. Can't wait for the next one!

Oh, we just HAD to show it off to our friends though......

Fact is, the NEXT trip is already planned. We are scheduled into the Ford truck dealer about 30 miles away on Tuesday morning after Labor Day for an engine check. Since the traffic is going to be BAD that day during rush hour, we have decided to go the night before and "camp" in the Ford dealer's parking lot. That guarantees we are on time and unstressed for our appointment. We also plan overnights in state parks in September to see what more we need to put aboard before we start out on a long trip. Better to know now, and buy in familiar stores, than come up short on the road. Hopefully by the end of September we will be moving toward warmer climes until mid December, when Matt comes home for a month's break and we will return for a month at home.