August 17, 2003 - Nacogdoches, TX - 4 (On the way to here)
When I hit the brakes to take a picture of the apples on the water tank, neither of us knew what state we were in, much less the town! We'd observed several decorated water tanks, some like hot air balloons, and another with vegetables, but this one had a place where we could pull off and we did. And this is the coach in Kodak, TN, where Barb had the chance to "seriously" look at a Foretravel. Remember now, that we think differently, my bride and I. It's easy for me to look at something and decide I want it long before I can afford it or buy it or whatever, so I'd pretty much made up my mind about the Foretravel before we got here. Barb on the other hand, needs to be "ready" before she can seriously consider something, be it a car, a home, or maybe even clothes. Impulsive she's not when it comes to making changes. Good balance for me, and also challenging for me to accept at times. I knew that if she didn't like the floor plan, or felt she couldn't be happy without a slide out or two, that Foretravel wasn't in our future, and we'd have a whole different set of plans.
John and Elaine, the truck buyers, had tickets in their hands for Houston, and we were committed to meet them the following Wednesday to turn the truck over to them. That meant that if Barb said, "No way" to this coach, we'd wholesale the trailer someplace near Houston, put everything into a U-Haul truck, give the keys to Moby Dick to John and Elaine, and go shopping for #2 choice, a Country Coach. For about the same price we could get one with at least one slide out. I simply like the engineering of the Foretravel, the engine, the transmission with its joystick retarder, the large storage bays, etc., a lot better than Country Coach. Not that the CC isn't a fine coach, it is. It's just a matter of choice.
You can imagine my internal reaction (being cool and calm on the outside, mind you) when Barb's first comment was, "YUK! I don't like that dark wood on the floor of the kitchen." But pretty soon she was pulling open drawers (they come clear out and I can stand on the darn things to use them like a step stool), cabinets (mostly lighted), pantry drawers (there's 7 of them) checking out the spice cabinet that was large enough for her complete collection, the full-sized wastebasket on it's own slide-out under the sink, and things like that. Accompanied by approving grunts and a real interest in how things worked kept my heart from stopping completely. After an hour or two of poking around, we'd come to the conclusion that the floor plan was acceptable, but the floor coverings were not, and that we truly needed to have that little table between the kitchen counter and couch converted to two real file drawers, and the little table behind the passenger seat needed to be turned into some kind of a computer station. While the in-motion satellite dish was nice to have, it wasn't a requirement, but the ceiling fan over the bed probably was. Don Green, the salesman knew we were heading to the factory to see the coach there, and still treated us real well. He even went so far as to dig up a brochure from 1999 on the coach for us. We felt privileged to make his acquaintance, thanked him for his time and for letting us take advantage of the parking space with its full hookups including 50-amp power for the night, and left.
Well, long story shorter, we bought the one with the green stripes and tan furniture in Nacogdoches. And I realized that we'd never fill in the blanks on this map, so I'd better take a picture of it to prove we'd done some moving around in the trailer. There are actually 6 states we've not been to yet. Rhode Island isn't filled in either, but it's too small to show up in the picture. The actual move was made easier (a LOT easier) by having that ramp between the rigs. We did a whole lot of back and forth walking in those 3 days we had to get things moved. And nobody fell off the ramp, and I never did hit my head on either door, but I did hit it hard a few times--for the last time--on the trailer bedroom slide.
No sewer hookup, but the dump station is about 100 yards away. And with the large holding tank we didn't need to interrupt our activities to dump anyway.
Been carrying that extension cord around for a while now, and finally got to use it. Glad it worked, as I'd wired it up but never tested it before. And then a "before" shot of the kitchen/dining room.
The "after" shot of the interior, and a "before" shot of the basement. Well, sort of. I had started to fill it and then took the shot. The large bay to the right has a slide-out drawer that's split in the middle. Half comes this way, and half goes the other way. The steel drawers above it are handy and sturdy too. Both bays are full sized, and you can see that the doors run up parallel to the side of the coach, rather than sticking out to hit me in the head. See that little ding in the decal on the door on the left? It's not there anymore. They replaced that decal as a normal part of their Pre-Delivery Inspection, or PDI as it's called. The list of things these people take care of before they turn the coach over is amazing to me.
Bad enough I get to learn how to operate seven remotes, one of them has 39 buttons, can you believe it? I'm not loosing sleep over it, but it does kind of bug me that there's so much to learn about the important stuff, and these things lay around laughing at me. The move was completed, sort of, and here we are at the dealers lot in Kerrville, the morning before I left the trailer here and took the truck to Houston. This is the last shot of the rig hooked up. It's been a good home for us for 5 years and 2 months.
Meet John and Elaine. What's not to like about people who can smile like that? Even if they did drive away in Moby Dick later. Our short time together was fun for me, and I hope for them as well. After Barb picked me up and we drove back to Nacogdoches and turned in the rental car, this is what was waiting for us. Our new home, cluttered though it may be. At least it was clean on the outside!
This is some of the stuff that won't fit in the motorhome, and then a shot of our neighborhood. The buildings to the right are the normal service bays and also the home of "Forestar," the reconditioning operation that all the pre-owned motorhomes with a warrantee go through. We have the 12 month or 12,000 mile warrantee for everything except cosmetic items. Amazing that things like the refer, which usually has a one-year warrantee is now warranted for another year and it's 3 years old! Whoopee!!
This is J.C., the fellow who does the woodworking for those of us who want modifications done. You can see the nearly finished computer station to the right with the lamp on it. The goal was to have room for all the computer stuff, without making it look like an office. We carried the scanner and printer over already and checked it out. Everything will fit just fine, thanks to adjustable shelves. And then just a shot of the woodworking shop. A lot like the coach. Nothing very flashy, but everything quite useful and good quality.
Inside the shop where Forestar lives. Notice the shiny floor and lack of clutter. Efficient and yet relaxed. Nobody ever told me I couldn't watch or even chat with the technicians working on our rig. There's a small sign that I'm sure the insurance company insisted on, but getting things done the way the customer wants it seems to be the prevailing attitude here, and sometimes it's best if the customer is right there pointing things out to the technician. And Barb with Dave Zimmer, our salesman. Just before we left, he showed up with a big basket of goodies that Barb won't let us open until we're with her family back in NH or MA or ME or someplace up there.
Well, this really belongs in the "Stupid Tricks" section, but I suppose confession is good for the soul. Or at least it's good to know somebody else can do dumb things too. Like I told friend Bill, who is getting used to their new-to-them 40' diesel pusher Mountain Aire and has collected a scrape or two, some stories sound better than they really are. When we drove off to the dump station and forgot to unplug the shore power cable the other day, that wasn't a big enough deal to even mention. But running over my bar-be-que table is another matter altogether. We like to use the bar-be-que at least once a week, and since this was our week to wait for counter tops to be made, drawers to be built, and computer stations to be put together, we'd gone to the TTN park at Lake Tawakoni to enjoy some quiet time, which included plenty of naps and relaxing to make up for the past couple of weeks. And one day we were moving to get to a clear area so the TV guy could come out and do his thing and get us up and running with the new system. We'd had Dish in the trailer, and the motorhome came equipped with DirectTV equipment. A few days earlier, I'd taken the table and stuck it under the coach to keep it out of the rain, and during my final walk around, I was too lazy to bend down and peer under the coach to see what might be lurking there. And as we drove slowly out, my neighbor waved for me to stop, which I did, and he came over to the window and told me my wheel was sitting on something, and I'd better drive slowly to get off of it. Sure enough, I'd squashed the table--beyond repair, dang it anyhow!. We'd had the table for several years, and it was very useful. Anyway, it is no longer part of our inventory.
What's this? Barb shot a squirrel? Well, good for her. She got a couple shots of it, both going up and going down a tree. And while sitting under the awning, this red guy goes zooming by. I grabbed the camera and took lots of pictures of him, but he was so fast most the shots are blurred. What is it? Not a spider, because I can only see 6 legs, way bigger than any ant I've ever seen. Suggestions?
This is what it's all about. Sitting and thinking, or just sitting. That's me under the awning, while Barb is wandering around with the camera. We spent more time sitting under the awning watching it rain, watching the lightning, listening to the thunder, watching the sun set, then either of us can remember. It was great! Too bad the 30-amp breaker kept tripping with only one air-conditioner running, or we'd have stayed longer. I ran out of patience with it so we came back here to the factory parking lot campground. Naturally, while she was out wandering, Barb found some "flowers" of some kind--of course they were weeds. Nice contrast with the green, don't you think?
That's it for now. All caught up. Tomorrow the coach goes in for its work, and we'll be living in a hotel room until its finished. As soon as it's done, we rent the small trailer for our stuff and head to MA.