Jackhal49
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Blog Comments posted by Jackhal49
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Grads to you new lifestyle! We started our full-timing adventure 2 years ago and we love it. Down sizing to a motor home is quite the challenge, but again it is very liberating! We did the same thing 2 years ago and sold and gave away everything we did not need or could not fit into our motor home. You will be surprised how fast you will adjust to living in a smaller place. Our 2 golden retrievers have adapted to living in the motor home and traveling pretty quickly. We started out in a 34' Journey and just moved up to a 40' with 3 slides so we have more room now, but we were perfectly comfortable in the 34'. We also do volunteer work at state parks around the country and it is a exciting and fun lifestyle. So enjoy and have fun!
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Hi Karen & Collins, Wow! You all were in Maine at the same time we were as we left Maine on the 15th of September. In fact we were north of Acadia the 1st week of Sept my visiting my brother and his wife who live in Millbridge which is about an hour north of Ellsworth. Acadia is really beautiful in the fall especially during the fall color season. We really enjoy volunteering at state parks as there is always something interesting to learn and do. We are usually volunteer interpretive staff which can be really rewarding and fun. Alaska sounds like fun, but not sure what we will be doing that far in advance, however, we will keep it in mind for sure. We head to Bentson State Park in January and February which is a big birding area in the Rio Grande Valley right adjacent to the river. Looking forward to seeing some new and interesting bird species. After Bentson we head to AZ to Kartchner Carvens just south of Tucson and be there right thru the end of April. We are looking at some fun and interesting adventures there for sure. You all sound like you have been doing some interesting travel as well. Will check out your blog for sure which I haven't done for a while. Take Care and Happy Travels!!
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Hope your buying of the new to you motor home goes well. I'm retired Navy and spent my first 3 years on the Island of Guam way back in the early 70's, loved the island. Our son was born there in the Naval Hospital at Agana. I know the feeling of traveling back and forth across the country as our second duty station was NAS Brunswick, Maine, then it was back to the west coast then back again to Maine. I also did a tour in Spain then a ship in Norfolk, Va. I retired after 21 years and my middle brother did 24 in the Coast Guard. I am also a retired chemistry teacher and we full-time in a Winnebago Journey and love it. We just traveled across the country from Colorado to Maine and it was pretty hot. Make sure your AC's work well as you will need them. Have a safe trip across the country and thank you for serving our country!
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We have been full-timing for the last year and love it. I took several years researching motor homes before we purchased ours used. IMHO the best companies out there are Winnebago, Tiffin, and Newmar at least in the modest price range. All three of these companies have been in business for a long time and have not gone into bankruptcy. Prevost and Newell are way out of my league. Of course you also have to decide whether to go gas or diesel which only you can decide which is best for you. A good source of information on specific makes and models is the forums on iRV2 website as there are forums for Winnebagos, Tiffins, Newmar, and other popular motor home makes. We really like our Winnebago Journey and have had really good luck with it and my FIL is on his third Adventurer and loves them. A good friend of mine, also a full-timer, has a Newmar which he also loves and has had good luck with. So good luck with you hunt for that new motor home!
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I hope all is going well with knee and your next knee replacement is a great success. We have had the mice battles before we started full-timing. A mouse chewed up a little rug we had in the bathroom and I couldn't not find the mouse nest to save my life. However, I eventually found the nest and it was in the stove! I just happened to lift up the top of the stove where the burners were and there was the nest made of the rug fibers. I have tried just about every type of mouse trap on the market so I have quite a collection of them! I hope it has cooled off for you, we just got through traveling from Colorado to Maine and the heatwave seemed to follow us across the country. Hope all is well with you and you are well on your way to a full recovery! Jackhal
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If you are thinking of going to Nova Scotia take the coastal route along the Maine coast really a beautiful area. There are some really nice state parks along the way like Camden State Park, Acadia National Park (depending on the size of your motorhome), Lamoine State Park, Cobscook Bay State Park, and then there are some great Canadian parks as well like Fundy. Have a great summer where ever you end up going!
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Glad you two are having such a great life full-timing, etc. Wow! Punta Cana sounds really tropical! We are loving our experience volunteering here at Buescher SP, TX. It is a wonderful place in the lost pines with lots of wildlife and really quiet. We will be here thru Apr then head west to Las Vegas to visit Peg's sister the head to Colorado to visit our daughter and family. Not sure where from there but will be in Maine July and Aug before heading back to Texas. Have a great time in Punta Cana and keep enjoying the life.
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I'm so sorry for your loss. It is so hard to loose a four foot member of the family. Six years ago we lost our first and favorite golden retriever. My son rescued her from an abusive situation when she was 3 months old and we had her for 11 years and lost her to cancer. She had the most amazing personality and we still miss her dearly every day. However, we rescued another dog, mixed collie/golden, and lost him before Snoops. When we lost Snoops I was heart broken, however, I felt the best way to honor her life was to save another life so we adopted another golden a week after she passed. Adopting our next golden, Oliver, was such a wonderful thing. Yes, we missed our beloved Snoops, however, Oliver needed our love and he gave us back more than we could ever have imagined. We still have Oliver and we have since adopted another golden, Annie. They both full-time with us and help make our lives so much fuller. Remember the good times and Nickolas will live in your hearts forever.
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Hi Tom & Louise, Sorry about the refrig! We have never had the door come off, but have learned to be very careful of the refrig when opening it after a day of travel. On several occasions we have forgot and just opened the door and had a bombing run of eggs come out of the refrig. Yuck! What a mess! Ah the adventures of motor homing! LOL! We found something interesting in our stove once we got here to Goliad. We had been fighting mice invasions when we were storing the MH in the front yard of our Maine home. However, we could never find a nest until the other day. Would you believe one built a nest in the stove! Yup! Where you lift up the burner cover, the mouse had build a nest there. Lucky we never had a fire when we were using the stove.
Hope you are all have a great time in your further travels! Jack
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Just for curiosity how many hours did you have on your generator and how old is it? I didn't know my Onan generator had a belt either. I have an Onan 7.5 KW. Jack
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Hi Karen & Collins, Well as you will see in our new blog entry we are just about to leave. We had a few minor medical issues to take care of before we could leave. The MH is all set with the toad attached and we will pull out early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, we will have to head straight to our first volunteer position in Goliad, TX without doing any real sight seeing. However, we are very excited about our volunteer positions and are really looking forward to seeing and learning all about the local area history and its customs. I think our two goldens are wondering what is really going on, but I think they are really going to enjoy the adventure of it all. Sounds like you two are having a great time! We hope to visit the Charleston area on our return trip next spring. Have an awesome time you two. Hopefully, our paths will cross sometime! Jack, Peg, and the fuzzies Oliver & Annie
Hi Jack & Peg,just wondering if you ever got on the road & how it was going for you. We're having less & less "learning curves" every week & are having a great time. We're in the Charleston area now & will be for another week. We've done some sight seeing & will do a little more before we leave here. I hope all is going well for you.
Karen & Collins
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Hi Karen & Collins, Looks like you are all having a great time! How Awesome! We still haven't left as yet due to some unforeseen medical issues, nothing really big but needs to be taken care of. We had to change our travel plans so now we will not be driving to South Dakota and then to Colorado on our way to Texas. We flew to Sioux Falls to get our SD driver's licenses and now will leave sometime next week going straight to Texas for our volunteer positions. To say we are anxious to get going is an understatement! Yesterday we tested out our towing equipment and towed the car and all worked out fine. However, we were also going to dump our tanks at the local campgrounds and our tanks were full and the coach filled with a nasty smell. At first we thought the black water tank could have over flowed into the coach, but thank goodness it was just smells. Lesson learn, don't drive will full tanks! Yucko! I have found Freightliner service centers seem to do a really good job. We have had the MH serviced by the local Freightliner center and the prices were quite reasonable. My advice for servicing the MH go to the larger centers, Freightliner, Allison Transmission, Cummins, etc. Hope you are still having a great time traveling. Take care and have Fun! Jack, Peg, and Oliver & Annie the goldens
Hi Jack & Peg,Well, we've been full timers for just about 6 weeks now. We spent about 3 weeks in NC enjoying so many things. It is really beautiful here. We've been to the Smokey Mts, driven the Blue Ridge Prky (in our car - which was recommended to us by another full timer), seen the Biltmore Estate -wow- & found some beautiful waterfalls. We've decided we like staying in one place at least 2 weeks & driving to different places. It seems easier to be settled & you get a better chance to meet people. I hope you guys will be leaving soon. I know you're going to really enjoy yourselves once you get going. We've already learned so much & thankfully haven't had any more problems like we did the first night. One thing I will tell you, is be very careful if you need service on the road. These repair shops really don't care about you for the most part. I've now learned when I call for service, I specifically ask if they will take care of it on a certain date. We will also make a written list of the problems & have them sign off on it. If you have an extended warranty, followup to make sure they get approval before they do the work. So far, as a newbie, that's the best advice I can offer. Good luck, karen & collins
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Hi TBUTLER, Maine is a beautiful place in the summer, however, its the 8 months of winter that are killers! The north coast is awesome like Acadia and northward. It would be a great place to just have a pad with a full hookup for the summer. Just because you don't have a pad here there's lots of nice camping areas along the coast. Some of the state parks are really great and inexpensive compared to RV parks, etc. Have fun in Denver area, we will be in the southwestern area of Colorado in a month. Maybe we will see you all sometime out there. Have Fun!!
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Hi Karen & Collin, Wow! Sounds like you had quite the experience on your first day out! You two must have been beside yourselves by the days end. Hopefully, that will be the worst day you have for the remainder of you motor homing experiences. At least you did not damage the motor home like I did the first day we had ours when a clobbered the roof. Ouch! Glad you ran into another motorhomer that helped you out. One great thing about RVing is there is always more experienced people to help you out. For the most part we are a pretty tight and friendly community. One thing I really love about going to chapter rallies there is always someone more experienced to answer your questions and lend you a hand. Sounds like you had a great time at the Louisville Rally. We haven't been to one that large yet. The largest rally we have been to was the Norhteast Rally at Essex Junction, Vermont last year. We really enjoyed the seminars and learned a lot plus bought stuff for the motor home.
We know what you mean about finding areas to stow everything. The 34H Journey maybe small compared to other rigs, however, it has lots of storage inside and out. Compacting everything and having all our gear organized is quite the chore. I'm sure we will leave here with things left to be done as there are so many things to remember and do. I have made check off lists to remember everything we have to do before we pullout so we don't forget to hook something up or something.
Hope you get your maintenance issues taken care of. Some RV places aren't the greatest at getting work done on time or to the quality one would like or expect. I found Freightliner shops very good and the quality of their work excellent. We had our toad wired and faceplate done at Seacoast RV in Saco, Maine and they did excellent work and were very helpful and friendly. Finding good maintenance facilities can be a challenge but asking at forums is a big help.
I'm a big fan of Velco myself and use it a lot for anchoring items down in the motor home. Great stuff! Again I hope all is going smoothly for you two now. I'm finally being able to walk around taking it slowly and I can drive now as well. I still have to be very careful though. I hope we can meet up some place along the way and I'm sure we will. Best to you! Jack, Peg, Oliver, & Annie (our 2 goldens)
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Hi Jack & Peg!I too am glad I found your blog. My husband,Collins, and I, Karen, are getting ready to go full time too. We're also Newbies & have only had our RV out a couple of times, once to the FMCA rally in WI last month. We moved all our furniture out of our house this past weekend & are now sleeping in our RV in our driveway. We will be renting our house. I'm trying to get the rest of the stuff moved into the RV & figure out what we need & where to put it. We lived in our house in Elgin, IL for 25 years & believe me, it's been no easy feat trying to figure out what to keep & what to get rid of. Luckily for us, there is a Goodwill Store close to us & they have gotten car loads of stuff. I can't believe how many clothes we owned. Collins & I were realtors for almost 25 years & decided this was a good time to call it quits. We.ve talked about buying an RV for the last 5 or more years, but decided to go for it this year. We bought a 2006 Monaco & are busily trying to learn the things we need to know, which is a lot. We've discovered a bad leveling jack & an intermittant problem with the wiring. Right now, we're waiting on a new jack & don't know what they're going to do about the wiring. Every once in awhile all the breakers shut down. We were going to leave in April, but Collins ended up having knee replacement last month so it slowed us down. We are going to the big RV rally in Louisville on July 21-25 with or without the RV. I'm afraid it's going to be "without" since they haven't gotten the jack yet. Also, Collins hasn't been released from therapy for his knee, so we'll probably be back in IL for a few more weeks. I think what we're going to do is head to our friends in Nashville when we do leave, then go to the Smokey Mts & the Carolinas. We'll head down to FL & end up around the Tampa area In Dec. We'll leave the RV in storage & come back to IL for the holidays. Then we'll head to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, for 3 months. When we head out in April 2011 we plan to head up the east coast. I think the scariest thing for me right now is that there are so many things about the RV we don't know. Just moving in the past few days, we haven't been able to get our Satellite TV to work & it's so frustrating. We took a few hours of driving lessons from an instructor for the long haul truck driving school at the local junior college. I found it very helpful & have driven the RV myself. We've taken our car out on the dolly once. Our car can't be flat towed, so we have a tow dolly. I think we have it figured out. I'll be following your blog & hopefully I'll learn a few things along the way. I hope your heel gets better soon so you can head out. Where are you going. I'll be following with interest. Karen
Hi Again Karen & Collin, One quick note on driving motor homes. Lazy Days has an excellent driver's confidence course with videos posted on this website http://betterrving.com/Article/RV_Tips/RV_...or_High_Quality . My wife and I both found the tips very helpful. Good Luck, Relax, and Enjoy!
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Hi Jack & Peg!I too am glad I found your blog. My husband,Collins, and I, Karen, are getting ready to go full time too. We're also Newbies & have only had our RV out a couple of times, once to the FMCA rally in WI last month. We moved all our furniture out of our house this past weekend & are now sleeping in our RV in our driveway. We will be renting our house. I'm trying to get the rest of the stuff moved into the RV & figure out what we need & where to put it. We lived in our house in Elgin, IL for 25 years & believe me, it's been no easy feat trying to figure out what to keep & what to get rid of. Luckily for us, there is a Goodwill Store close to us & they have gotten car loads of stuff. I can't believe how many clothes we owned. Collins & I were realtors for almost 25 years & decided this was a good time to call it quits. We.ve talked about buying an RV for the last 5 or more years, but decided to go for it this year. We bought a 2006 Monaco & are busily trying to learn the things we need to know, which is a lot. We've discovered a bad leveling jack & an intermittant problem with the wiring. Right now, we're waiting on a new jack & don't know what they're going to do about the wiring. Every once in awhile all the breakers shut down. We were going to leave in April, but Collins ended up having knee replacement last month so it slowed us down. We are going to the big RV rally in Louisville on July 21-25 with or without the RV. I'm afraid it's going to be "without" since they haven't gotten the jack yet. Also, Collins hasn't been released from therapy for his knee, so we'll probably be back in IL for a few more weeks. I think what we're going to do is head to our friends in Nashville when we do leave, then go to the Smokey Mts & the Carolinas. We'll head down to FL & end up around the Tampa area In Dec. We'll leave the RV in storage & come back to IL for the holidays. Then we'll head to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, for 3 months. When we head out in April 2011 we plan to head up the east coast. I think the scariest thing for me right now is that there are so many things about the RV we don't know. Just moving in the past few days, we haven't been able to get our Satellite TV to work & it's so frustrating. We took a few hours of driving lessons from an instructor for the long haul truck driving school at the local junior college. I found it very helpful & have driven the RV myself. We've taken our car out on the dolly once. Our car can't be flat towed, so we have a tow dolly. I think we have it figured out. I'll be following your blog & hopefully I'll learn a few things along the way. I hope your heel gets better soon so you can head out. Where are you going. I'll be following with interest. Karen
Hi Karen & Collin, Wow! Lots of parallel things between the two of us. We are also living in our motor home with the upstairs of our house guttered. All our furniture was removed when we were at the Cape Cod Canal rally. Our son and family are taking over the house and he is renovating the entire upstairs. Really feels weird going in the house and seeing everything gone and the rooms bare. We have lived in the house for 25 years as well. Maine is a great state to live when you are young, but now the winters are not fun anymore it is time to migrate south with the birds. We will head out to South Dakota, then go to Colorado to visit our daughter and family. After a nice long stay in Colorado we head to southeastern Texas where we will do volunteer work for several state parks for the winter. I can sympathize with Collin as I am going through things with my broken heel, I have to start physical therapy the end of this month. The doc said I could just attend several sessions just to get some good tips on getting back to normal with walking, etc. We also will be coming up the East Coast in the spring to visit my wife's sister in Tenn. and a friend of hers in VA. Don't worry about not knowing much about your motor home, we all start that way. Following the forums and blogs on the internet really help and ask lots of questions. Also you will find other motor homers at campgrounds are more than willing to help. It seems I learn something everyday like with the windshield wiper arms, I asked lots of questions on several forums and got diagrams and lots of good advice. iRV2.com is a great place for forums and you will find a forum just for people who own Monaco motor homes which is a great resource. Another good forum place is www.rv.net. The FMCA and Motor Home magazines have great articles and you can subscribe to them online so you can get the magazines downloaded and not have to worry about having them mailed to you. You can also access all their past articles which have a world of information. We have not towed our car yet as Peg is just learning to drive the rig and I can't drive with my broken right heel. I have all the towing equipment ready to go now I just have to wait for the doc to say it is ok to drive. I am lucky as my father-in-law has been motor homing for quite a few years and is going to assist me in hooking up our toad which will be a great help. Hopefully, our blog will be of help to you all. Maybe we will hookup along the way sometime which would be lots of fun. Good Luck and Enjoy the Experience!
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Hi Jack and Peg!So glad that I found your blog as we have just purchased our first motorhome and plan on touring North America when we retire. In the meantime we'll have to learn a lot and get our feet wet with many mini trips! I will be following your adventures with great interest and how exciting for you!
Good Luck and may the wind always be at your back:)
Laura Regnier
Hi Laura, I hope our blog helps you out that is my intention. We learned so much from others and I hope to pass on the favor. There is so much to learn about motor homes it is incredible. We started thinking about it almost 5 years ago. I has been a long journey so far and lots of fun. We researched motor homes for over 3 years before we bought one and we bought a used DP as we couldn't afford a brand new one and were lucky enough to find a great coach at a great price. Taking lots of weekend and longer trips is the real way to learn. Reading lots of forums and blogs help and you learn a great deal from others. One awesome thing about motor homing is you will find most everyone is very helpful and a great bunch of people. Good Luck and Have a Great Time! Jack
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Oh yes, on our "maiden voyage" I did drive some and found it not as intimidating as I feared. I don't think I am ready to do a lot of backing and adding the toad will lengthen that tail swing area, but my husband, as a former trucker, says it will come with time and practice. Straight driving seemed fine.Judy Aselton
Glad you have gotten behind the wheel and as you have said it is not as intimidating as one first thinks which is natural. Backing is an issue and we never back the rig without one of us being outside directing. Our son bought us walkie talkies that really help so we have good communication which is really important. I clobbered out roof the first time I backed the motor home the very first day we had it. Ouch! A hard lesson to learn is not only watch the trees but their limbs as well. Peg's driving instructor calls it GOAL which stands for "get out and look" when ever in doubt. He also said avoid backing into a campsite on the passenger side as it is quite blind and even experienced truckers avoid that. Backing just takes practice and taking your time. As the driving instructor said it does not cost anything to get out and look. Using your convex mirrors is really important as it tells you where your back wheels are and how you are traveling within your lane. Lazy Days has some great videos from the driver's confidence course here is the URL for the site http://www.betterrving.com/Article/RV_Tips...into_a_campsite . Good Luck & Happy RVing!
Jack, Peg, & Little Annie Girl
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Not sure how you feel about being our forerunners and experimentors. However, we appreciate your writing your blog so we can feel more confident as we follow in your foot steps. We still have lots to pack up and are leaving some things in the house for showing purposes. We were thinking of getting a pod, but haven't fully researched that yet.We did a preliminary overnight camping trip last week just to learn, without pressure, how to set up and take down while being only 50 miles from home with back up at home to bring us a vehicle if needed. All went well except we need to practice the leveling thing better. We relied too much on the bubble and only after seeing the motorhome from the front in the light of morning did we realize how "unlevel" we were. We have ordered our Blue Ox hook up and that should be in next week. We also want to get the full check up for the Motorhome as you are doing. We were told it was recently washed and waxed so hope we don't have to redo that right away. Since I am working with the Census, we won't be able to take off until August ourselves. Maybe we will cross paths somewhere out there in Adventure Land!! Judy and Jerry Aselton, Ellijay, Ga.
Hi Judy & Jerry, Your are basically following the same path we did. Start out slow and learn lots from others. I hope our blog will help you out, I leaned tons from others on blogs and forums. The wonderful part of motor homing is all the motor homers are awesome and always will to help out. You may want to join a local FMCA chapter as you will met lots of experienced people that will help out also. Leveling can be a challenge as you found out. We have a round bubble level that really helps out. Keeping your jacks clean and lubed helps out when they retract. We will tow our Subaru Forester in the next month or so for the first time so that will be an experience. About a month to go before we depart for the wild west and we are getting anxious to get going. We just have to wait for my broken heel to mend enough to start driving and walking around. Take care and ask any questions we'll be more that glad to answer. Jack, Peg, and Little Annie Girl (little golden retriever)
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We, hopefully, will be keeping our blog updated. As I mention in the blog we have been planning this escape for years now and it is almost here! Getting rid of junk (trash or treasures) is not an easy task, but it is really amazing the junk we put away and never ever use. Good Luck to you both on the road and hope to see you out there sometime! Jack & Peg
I plan to follow this blog, considering it to be a learning experience. My husband and I just bought our first motorhome and will be taking off possibly in August, following in the footsteps, if not the tire tracks of Jack and Peg. I hope what they learn and pass on will be fair warning or fair learning for us!! We have our house for sale and are still going through the "junk", trying to cut those emotional ties to some of this "stuff". However, the call of the open road is strong and time to respond seems to get shorter every day.So, to Jack and Peg I say, Go forth, leave plent of bread crumbs for those of us coming behind you and lets all have a great adventure!!
Judy and Jerry - June 24, 2010.
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in Adventures in fulltiming
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Good Luck in your travels. We have been full-timing for 2 years now and really enjoy it and I'm sure you all will too once you get over the newbe jitters. Getting underway with a new to you coach is always a bit nerve racking but by the second or third day that all goes away. Make sure you have a good road service like coach net it is will worth the money per year for peace of mind. We just changed coaches and will be traveling back to New England from AZ so the first few days will be a bit anxious especially going from 34' to 40' but we love our new to us coach. You'll be fine and don't forget to enjoy the adventure of it all!