The fulltiming adventure begins

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by sd90mac

Thanks for the history and geography lessons.

Hello from KOA in Flagstaff, Az. We stopped and had lunch with Rich, Eleanor and Emma Luhr and had a great visit. It was so nice to see them again. Sophie enjoyed seeing them also.

No problems today, thank you God, good traveling weather and traffic.

Still love the scenary. We are sitting on the side of a mountain and relaxing. We were going to stop and see the petrified forest, but time was against us, so we are thinking to take a trip back here in a few months to see several places we wanted to see.

If traveling on I 40, be careful, there is a lot of road work being done.

Take care.

Marie

Marie,

Thanks for the update, only another 500 miles to your new home. Take it easy across the desert.

Bill

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by sd90mac

...No problems today, thank you God, good traveling weather and traffic.

...If traveling on I 40, be careful, there is a lot of road work being done.

Take care.

Marie

Hi Marie,

As they say, “The only thing that’s constant is change.” I-40 is always under repair, everywhere. It’s one of the oldest and heaviest traveled Interstates there is.

Glad you had a good day. Best wishes.

[CanoeStream]

tap-tap-tap... This thing on?

I'm sure we have a couple tired cowboys and their steed, Sophie. She's worked hardest of all.

[doorgunner]

Originally Posted by sd90mac

That and .50 will get you a cup of coffee somewhere!

.50?.... a fifty caliber will get you anything you want anytime you want it!

(Devil made me do it)

travel safe calif means Can't Afford Life In Florida, any truth to that?

[Airhog1]

Hey Terry and Marie,

Hope this finds you both well and rested SOOOOON!!!!

Congrats Marie on your 500th post!

And if you look up "road work" in the dictionary...it says "I-40"

G

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Airhog1

And if you look up "road work" in the dictionary...it says "I-40"

G

Rant warning. I think "road work['s]" second meaning is "any highway I'm driving on". I wonder as I wait at a construction project about how I keep hearing about the nation's highway infrastructure crumbling (and I agree it is), if there were enough money voted for highways, whether another 50,000,000 road signs would be produced that say "road work ahead", "prepare to stop", "flagger ahead", "20 minute delays possible", and "reduced speed limit ahead". Another 10,000,000 flaggers would have to be hired. I wonder where all the people who were supposed to be working are when there's no flagger, no road work, or anything else going on. I wonder about the miles of cones before anything is going on, or not going on. I could give examples of roads completely rebuilt and in 5 years bumpy and already being patched. Since we bought our Safari, I am more conscious of the lousy condition of the highways, both old and new ones since I have more axles to feel the bumps and holes and ruts. Since flaggers were getting hit in the '90's, the construction industry got laws passed to allow them free reign over highways and they have overreacted with long delays, endless cones, and with less oversight by highway officials, built some pretty bad roads. Rant finished.

I expect by now you're at your new home and I hope it is everything you've dreamed. No hurricanes or tornados, occasional earthquakes, volcanos are far north (what was the name of the movie about an unlikely volcano in LA?).

Gene

[Crusty]

I was stunned when I saw the road workers in Illinois with arm rests mounted on their shovel handles.

[Inland RV Center, In]

[QUOTE=ROBERTSUNRUS;622825 And when you get to California are you going to work for Andy, Rod, or Uwe?[/QUOTE]

No, when Terry Halstead gets to California, he "IS NOT" going to work "for me."

But, he will work with me, to oversee everything that takes place at Inland RV Center, Inc.

Ultimately, Terry will take over the daily operations, so that I can renew my interests in some special projects, that I simply have not had enough time to pursue.

His title?

Will post that next week.

Along with Terry's and Marie's arrival, we installed our new web site.

Now all I have to do is figure what part of the body shop work, Sophie will be in charge of.

All of us look forward to more innovations and expanded parts and service.

Andy

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

But, he will work with me, to oversee everything that takes place at Inland RV Center, Inc.

All I can say is Wow!

Brad

[nohillgrish]

What a great opportunity for all three (sorry Sophie, I meant four). I wish you all the best in your respective new ventures. I assume the last leg of trip was uneventful. I didn't notice any posts where Terry replaced all waterlines and kitchen sink plumbing within the last 500 miles of travel.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Along with Terry's and Marie's arrival, we installed our new web site.

Andy,

Just took a peek at your new website and it looks very nice. Guess its time to order those door seals for our two Motorhomes!

Brad

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

tap-tap-tap... This thing on?

I'm sure we have a couple tired cowboys and their steed, Sophie. She's worked hardest of all.

They did pass by Area51 yesterday, didn't they? Hope they didn't run into any intergalactic gray guys.....

Jim

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

They did pass by Area51 yesterday, didn't they? Hope they didn't run into any intergalactic gray guys.....

Jim

No, but if you see the frame to our trailer, send it out to us...
Sorry about the misdirection, but we didn't want to really announce what was going on until we got here. Andy posted the above while we were sitting in his office this afternoon.
Now, for the daily "what fell off the trailer today" report:
Yesterday we stayed in Flagstaff, at the KOA there. Morning temp was 35 degrees, and we had to run the cat heater for a few minutes to take the chill off. We left the campground, and met up with a bunch of Airstreamers on their way to the Balloon Festival, traveling in the opposite direction as us. We spent an hour or so chatting and drinking coffee untill all the members of the caravan showed up, then we all went out and admired everyone else's coaches. Leaving Flagstaff, we went through more construction zones, and wound up in Needles, California, about 1 PM.
I'll stop here, and share a few photos of the group gathered at Flagstaff:

[sd90mac]

Good evening,

Yes, we have arrived. Bertha is in her new home next to the shop and plugged in and, ready to go. Cooked dinner tonight, no, not pancakes.

Sophie is curled up on a rug in the shop while we work on the computers, and seems happy to have landed. Be interesting to see if she tries to get in the van in the am to go. She was very good and only had one problem in Az. no grass, only rocks in the dog walks and she had a hard time going out. Andy has nice soft grass outside the gate and she loved it, was rolling in it. Yes, we do clean up after her.

Well, need to get the tv off my bed, do the dishes, and neaten up the house. Have a great night. By the way, the area we are in, in Corona, is very nice and quiet.

Marie

[Foiled Again]

Glad you made it!

And please tell me that one of the special projects Andy will be working on will be an EAST COAST office of Inland. Virginia Beach would be excellent.



Paula

PS Give Sophie a pat on the head for me.

[overlander63]

We traveled through the Mojave desert, and stopped for a rest room break at about the midpoint. I did my walk around, and noticed nothing untoward, checking tire temps, looking for nails and low tires. I then went "potty", and coming out of the rest room, I noticed something odd about Bertha. I went over, and crawled around near the front of the trailer, a place I usually have had no need to be, up to now. Imagine my surprise when I saw the belly pan hanging down, and nearly dragging the ground! After looking closer, I saw something that would make anyone's skin crawl, doubly so in the middle of the desert with no help for hundreds of miles: The frame on the left side of the trailer is rusted nearly in half. The flexing of the frame is what caused the belly pan to be torn loose from its mooring. I scrambled around, with the by-now-requisite creation of new words, found a sheet of aluminum, and riveted it to the belly pan and bananna wrap in the area that was drooping the worst. I used the hydraulic bottle jack and the 2x6 I normally place under the tongue jack to hold everything in place so I could rivet things back.
After doing this, and getting cleaned up, we departed the rest area, at a reduced speed. Suddenly the California state speed limit of 55 mph seems recklessly fast.
We arrived at a campground in Victorville around 8:30 last night, well past our scheduled arrival time, but we made it. I had no intention of traveling Cajon Pass in the dark... It was after settin gup I found the bathroom door had fallen off its slide, and had to force it open. It's still hanging from one slide, I'll be taking care of that in the morning.
This morning we departed the campground (no wifi there, so no update) at 8:30, and traveled again at reduced speed over Cajon, through all the myriad cities along the route, and arrived at Inland RV's world offices about 11 am.
I guess one of the first things I'll be doing is replacing the part of the frame that has rotted away to a nub.
At least we made it here, more or less in one piece. More details will follow later.
For now, here's a kind of artsy shot taken a couple of days ago, also in the middle of nowhere:

[safari57]

Quite the trip-alogue. I enjoy the detail. At times one wishes they were along, at others as when little discoveries are made like the frame incident, one is very glad that they are not part of the physical trip. Not that I wouldn't be glad to help but if I had my druthers, well, you know what I'm saying.

You guys are going to have a lot of fun over the next while. I'm looking forward to reading your perceptions on life in CA after laid back Florida.

So, welcome home.

Barry

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Glad you made it!

And please tell me that one of the special projects Andy will be working on will be an EAST COAST office of Inland. Virginia Beach would be excellent.

Paula

PS Give Sophie a pat on the head for me.

No, Grand Junction first! Well, after the frame is put back together.

Gene

[warbler5]

Originally Posted by safari57

Quite the trip-alogue. I enjoy the detail. At times one wishes they were along, at others as when little discoveries are made like the frame incident, one is very glad that they are not part of the physical trip.

What is amazing is how they take it all in stride!!!!!

Welcome to California....Marie, Terry, and Sophie!

[sd90mac]

Originally Posted by warbler5

What is amazing is how they take it all in stride!!!!!

Welcome to California....Marie, Terry, and Sophie!

Good morning,

We have to take things in stride, because if we didn't, after the last 1 1/2 years, we would be totaly nuts by now.

Thank you for all of the good wishes, we feel very blessed to have been offered this opportunity.

The area we are in is very beautiful and peacefull. Everywhere you look there is a mountain. I love mountains, yeah, I know that won't last long, but for right now it's great.

Starting Monday, I will be looking for a nursing job. There seems to be plenty of them around. I'll have to do something else until my Ca license comes through, but since I'm not afraid of hard work, It will be okay

Well time to make coffee. Have a great day.

Marie