We ended our volunteer gig at Savannah NWR on Saturday, February 16, and moved from the site on Tuesday, the 19th. We then spent 2 nights in the parking lot of a Camping World in Pooler, GA, 1 night in a Walmart parking lot in MacClenny, FL, and finally arrived outside of Pensacola, FL on Friday, February 22 which is where I am sitting right now as I write this.
Here we are unhooking our tow car at the campsite in the Pensacola area. If you have been following us on this blog, you're scratching your head right now and thinking, hmm, didn't they have a 5th wheel and a truck? You would be correct only you would be behind and need catching up; after all, it's hard to keep up with the Joneses.
In about a week's time we managed to trade our 5th wheel for a 33-foot long Winnebago motor home and trade our F-150 truck for a new Ford Focus so that we are able to have a vehicle to drive when the motor home is parked. It's been a wild ride. The most difficult part was the car deal. We have MN drivers' licenses without valid addresses, we have a permanent mailing address in South Dakota, and the car dealer was located in South Carolina. But you know, when someone wants your money, it is amazing how far they will go to get your business. The process has been fast and white-knuckled at times, but the SC Ford folks stuck with it and made the deal.
We spent 2 nights and 3 days "camped" in the parking lot of the Savannah Camping World getting orientated to the new motor home and cleaning out our 5th wheel. The couple next to us had been there a week waiting for a part to come in. Contrary to what you are thinking, they were happy to be there, at least the husband was. His attitude was that the money he was saving on not paying for camping would pay for the part, and they were in Savannah and were having a blast being tourists. Now that's the right retired attitude.
We thought we had learned our lesson about accumulating stuff when we moved out of our house in MN. It was unbelievable how much stuff we had squirreled away in the 5th wheel. We even made a run to Good Will and dropped off some goodies. And, as usual, the little stuff overwhelmed the big stuff. It was deja vu all over again. How could we have so much stuff being roadies? We'll never learn. Our life as roadies is suppose to be simpler. Couldn't tell by the amount of stuff we were dragging along with us. Now we have more storage space. Yippee!
The decision to make a switch has been brewing for quite awhile. If we truly are full time RVers, we really did need something a little more comfortable and roomier which meant bigger. The bigger the 5th wheel , the bigger the truck; and the bigger of everything means an increase in the difficulty and complexities of driving and getting into places. So, we did a lot of looking and surfing and just happened to hit a deal that we could manage, and we surprised ourselves by coming away with a new motor home and new car. So, far we have only driven it on interstate highways and have not had the opportunity to test it on narrower two-lane roads,but our time is coming.
We do have much to catch up on, but I hate to overstay my welcome for now. We are poised to start our RV caravan trip with our first group orientation tomorrow morning. There will be much to blog about as we travel with the caravan. And then there are some past adventures that I need to share, with pictures. So, I'll write again real soon. Promise.
2 comments:
Holy crap....look at the size of that thing....where do the elephants ride?? I remember the old days when the Joneses were fat and happy living in a Scamp from Backus, MN. Now look at them. What's next, a Taylor Swift tour bus?? TB
If it was up to me, we'd still be in the Scamp. Of course if we were still in the Scamp, there probably wouldn't be a we.
You have much to look forward to in retirement, Grasshopper.
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