Two more days to go and we are off to California. Peggy has been busy this week with teaching Vacation Bible School and I have been doing the last minute things that I guess need to be done before we leave. When we first started taking these motorhome trips we (I) was much more "list oriented" - I would make a list of all the things I needed to do and all the things we needed to take. I have slacked off the list making lately and have resorted to "winging it." This will more than likely result in us forgetting several things - I tell you what - I'll make a list of those things!
Yesterday was oil change day. I understand everyone has been focused on the price of gasoline lately - and rightfully so - but I was somewhat shocked yesterday when I bought a case (12 quarts) of motor oil and two oil filters at the local auto parts store and it cost $50. I have always changed the oil myself in my fleet of vehicles (including daughter Stacy's car) and have tended to do them all at once - but I think I will spread out the pain - the truck and the Chevelle can wait until we get back!
Good News - the price of gas in Maine has dropped about $.20 a gallon in the last week or so! It looks like we may be able to make it to California and back within budget if we can keep up this trend - but I suspect the price will go back up before Labor Day and then who knows? I noted from last years travel statistics that the price of gasoline averaged about $2.80 / gallon on our California trip - what a difference a year makes!
I'm ready - let's go !
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
"Wear" the Rubber Meets the Road
Since my father was a "tire man" most of his working life you would think that I would appreciate tires more. Actually I do a pretty good job of caring for the tires on my vehicles. I check the pressure pretty regularly - almost daily on the motorhome when traveling. The one thing I have failed to do more regularly is rotate the tires on my non-RV vehicles. Since the tires on my motorhome will never wear out - they will "age out" first - and since they never seem to show any significant wear, I don't bother to rotate them. The tires on my truck and on the Saturn on the other hand do need to be rotated more often if I intend to get the maximum wear possible out of them.
Why on earth are you bringing this subject up - you ask!
Well after replacing the tires on the motorhome earlier in the year I thought I was done with tires for a while. Well it seems that although the Vue only has about 28,000 miles on the odometer - I have towed it for another 21,000 miles and have failed to adequately rotate the tires - so the front tires have worn much more significantly than the rears and needed replacement. Did I also mention that the price of tires has gone up significantly in the past few years!! Oh-well just another price to pay for the enjoyment of being a part-time gypsy and Maineiac In Motion.
Why on earth are you bringing this subject up - you ask!
Well after replacing the tires on the motorhome earlier in the year I thought I was done with tires for a while. Well it seems that although the Vue only has about 28,000 miles on the odometer - I have towed it for another 21,000 miles and have failed to adequately rotate the tires - so the front tires have worn much more significantly than the rears and needed replacement. Did I also mention that the price of tires has gone up significantly in the past few years!! Oh-well just another price to pay for the enjoyment of being a part-time gypsy and Maineiac In Motion.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Getting Ready
We have a week to go before we leave so it's time to complete the pre-trip checklist. Actually the pre-trip checklist starts pretty much when we arrive home from the previous trip - especially if some motorhome maintenance is involved. I performed most of the annual maintenance items (de-winterize water system, lube chassis, new air filter, change oil in engine and generator) before our spring trip so those are mostly done for now. We also completed some necessary (at least I thought so!) upgrades in the spring:
- Replaced Slide-out covers that were starting to rip
- Replaced 120 VAC to 12 VDC converter with a 3 stage unit to hopefully improve battery life
- Replaced living room fan unit to a remote controlled, reversible, automatic unit.
- Installed new vent covers on both vents so we could keep both open - even in the rain.
- Replaced 5 of the 6 tires (You may remember the blowout we had last fall - I didn't want a repeat!)
The only maintenance item we had to take care of during the spring trip was replacement of the windshield wiper motor.
Since we have returned I have replaced the windshield wipers and most importantly - replaced the shock absorbers. The original shocks on the motorhome were pretty soft to begin with and seemed to be getting worse with time and miles. When we returned from the spring trip I ordered some KONI replacement shocks and installed then a few weeks ago. By the way - this is not a simple task - those things are held on by some really big bolts with fine threads that seem to be torqued to about a million pounds - before they rust!! Since I installed the shocks I have only driven the motorhome to the gas station and back for the pre-trip fill up - I think I can feel the difference (a good difference) already but I'll reserve real judgement for a few hundred miles.
Speaking of the pre-trip fill up - When we returned from our spring trip around June 13th the price of regular gas here was $4.07 / gallon. The price really didn't change much since then although it did rise to $4.09 / gallon about two weeks ago. On Monday the price dropped to $3.99 / gallon so I figured that was a good time for the pre-trip fill up. $0.10 a gallon savings adds up when you buy 61 gallons!
I only have a few more minor pre-trip maintenance tasks to do and the motorhome will be ready for travel. All that will be left to do is load some clothes and some food and hit the road.
Oh yeah - I need to remember to get Peggy on board too!
It seems our son Brian in New Jersey has taken the plunge to start a blog! You can see what he and his gang are up to with the link to his blog on the right sidebar "Organized Chaos" is a pretty good title for that bunch!!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Off Again !
Although I should probably leave well enough alone - and should live by the motto that "If it ain't broke - don't fix it" ... I have decided to try a new blog host for the 2008 Summer Trip - also known as the 2008 Nan Birthday Party / Family Reunion - California Style. I have tested this site a little bit and still have a few bugs to work out but we will give it a try anyway. If it causes me too much trouble - we can always switch back to http://2005tour.spaces.live.com/ .
The main focus of the trip this summer will be celebrating Nan's 80th birthday but we (my sisters (Marcie and Jamie) and I) also thought it would be nice to have a family reunion of sorts at the same time. So Peggy and I are off in the Motorhome on August 2nd to make the trip to Yreka where our kids and grandkids will be joining us around the third week in August. Our bunch along with lots of California and Nevada family will be gathering in Yreka on and around the 23rd of August for the big celebration. I'm sure it will be a week to remember!!! The Quiring RV Resort, Bed and Breakfast, and Day Spa will never be the same.
It has been a busy 7 or so weeks since we got back from the Spring 2008 trip but the motorhome maintenance is done (including new shocks - hopefully the ride will improve!), the lawn has been mowed, the new carpet is in, and the bedrooms have been painted - I'm beat - time to get on-the-road and get some rest. Peggy still has Vacation Bible School to survive next week and then she sounds ready for a break also. This retirement stuff is hard work!
We plan on taking a pretty direct trip out west - along the same route as last year (I-90 and I-80) until we get to Salt Lake City and then we plan on heading northwest into Idaho and then into Oregon. We plan on stopping in Bend, OR to do some genealogical research on my dad's side of the family and visiting Crater Lake before we end up in Yreka - sometime around the 15th of August (as always - subject to the mood of the pilot and co-pilot).
Also - as always - the trip home is a bit more fuzzy. We hope to bring Nan home with us for a while - we'll have to wait and see how she is feeling when we get there. We also hope to see some of Peggy's relatives along the way and in Sacramento and to make it to southern Utah and see at least Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. We also may be adding Colorado and Kansas to our list of states visited on our way back home.
Please feel free to check here often to follow our exploits and also feel free to leave comments. I will do my best to update the blog every day or so depending on access to the internet.
The main focus of the trip this summer will be celebrating Nan's 80th birthday but we (my sisters (Marcie and Jamie) and I) also thought it would be nice to have a family reunion of sorts at the same time. So Peggy and I are off in the Motorhome on August 2nd to make the trip to Yreka where our kids and grandkids will be joining us around the third week in August. Our bunch along with lots of California and Nevada family will be gathering in Yreka on and around the 23rd of August for the big celebration. I'm sure it will be a week to remember!!! The Quiring RV Resort, Bed and Breakfast, and Day Spa will never be the same.
It has been a busy 7 or so weeks since we got back from the Spring 2008 trip but the motorhome maintenance is done (including new shocks - hopefully the ride will improve!), the lawn has been mowed, the new carpet is in, and the bedrooms have been painted - I'm beat - time to get on-the-road and get some rest. Peggy still has Vacation Bible School to survive next week and then she sounds ready for a break also. This retirement stuff is hard work!
We plan on taking a pretty direct trip out west - along the same route as last year (I-90 and I-80) until we get to Salt Lake City and then we plan on heading northwest into Idaho and then into Oregon. We plan on stopping in Bend, OR to do some genealogical research on my dad's side of the family and visiting Crater Lake before we end up in Yreka - sometime around the 15th of August (as always - subject to the mood of the pilot and co-pilot).
Also - as always - the trip home is a bit more fuzzy. We hope to bring Nan home with us for a while - we'll have to wait and see how she is feeling when we get there. We also hope to see some of Peggy's relatives along the way and in Sacramento and to make it to southern Utah and see at least Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. We also may be adding Colorado and Kansas to our list of states visited on our way back home.
Please feel free to check here often to follow our exploits and also feel free to leave comments. I will do my best to update the blog every day or so depending on access to the internet.
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