Happy New Year

2010 is about to come to a close.  Like all years, we have wrung every minute out of her and left her limp.  Every moment that has passed is gone forever and can never been recaptured.  Time is funny that way.  A couple of lines from a poem I once wrote go like this:

...you cannot go back to a happier moment
You cannot recapture a day
For time passes by us and then it is over
Relentlessly going its way.

I am too old for resolutions...I know they are but an exercise in futility.  But I am not too old for hope.  My hope for the coming year is that I not squander one moment.  That when 2011 ticks its last moment away, I will have spent each one wisely.  I hope that rather than just wring empty moments from this year, that I explode with moments of joy and love and laughter.  I hope that I realize and accept that I CANNOT fix everything for everybody - some things are just not fixable.  I hope I realize there is a time for me and my husband and that it is okay for that time to take precedence over other concerns.  I hope that life is gentle with my children and grandchildren and that they will accept me with all my foibles, as I accept them.

AND I HOPE THAT OUR MOTOR HOME GETS FINISHED SOON 'CUZ WE ARE READY TO HIT THE ROAD!  I can only imagine the adventure that awaits two old geezers who have the desire and the will to not let 2011 pass them by.  We will not grow old gracefully - we will grow old squeezing all the life and joy we can from each and every moment.

I suppose I am thinking about time not only because we are about to embark upon a new year, but also because in four days, I will be another year older.  My husband ordered a book for my birthday and it was delivered today.  He wanted me to open it RIGHT NOW (he can never keep a secret) and so I did.  Since I opened the book, he also wanted me to open the card.  It was a singing card and really pretty funny.  But there was no writing from him anywhere on the card or envelope.  I asked him why and he explained:  "It's such a funny card, I thought you might want to re-use it."  That's my Russ - but he is awfully sweet.

On a different note...we had a simple New year's supper.  Not only was it filling and warming on a cold winter's day, it also used up most of the left-over Christmas ham.  YUMM!

Good ole navy beans and ham.  Since I was too lazy to make
bread, we had warm flour tortillas with this.  Very tasty.

Looking Good!

Still more progress on Therapy.  It seems like it has been a long time since we ordered her back in September.  But the time is passing quickly.  We have accomplished quite a bit while we have been waiting and there is still more to do.  We have a pile of provisions ready to load in as soon as we get her home.  We have blankets and dishes and pans and glasses and knives, and even an itty bitty toaster oven.  We don't have everything together yet but we have made a good start.

One thing I have been working on is an emergency handbook.  I will make three copies of this book; one will go in the motor home with us, one in our toad, and one will stay at home with a relative, to be opened only in case of emergency.  In this notebook I will list all of our bills which must be paid monthly, our bank accounts and passwords, our online sites and passwords, our medical information, insurance information, list of who to notify in case of emergency, a copy of our will, and our medical directives.  If the worst should happen and we are both incapacitated in an accident, it will be so much easier on the family if this information is at their fingertips.  Of course, you want to make sure you leave this information with a trustworthy individual!!  Just think what would happen if your were in the hospital for an extended period and you had bills that were due every month.  How would your family know what was due and to whom and how would they pay these items?  Something to think about.

Now, back to Therapy.  More pictures arrived by email and we can see that it is coming together nicely.  We were promised delivery by mid-February but this looks like it could be sooner.  One can only hope.

The windows are in - YIPPEE

Beginning to look like a Lazy Daze!

Thank God for Building Permits

Oh my goodness, where would we be without the city government to protect us (which is what they assert is the purpose of building permits)?  The ongoing saga of our RV shelter has yet another chapter.  First they charge us a substantial permit fee to put up a pre-fab metal shelter that will house nothing but an RV.  They base that fee on what they perceive the value of the shelter to be and charge us accordingly.  The permitting office valued our shelter at more than twice what we actually paid for it.

Now comes the REAL reason for issuing permits...the county tax assessor paid us a visit today.  Seems the value of our property is greatly enhanced by having a large metal shed in the middle of our driveway.  Guess it doesn't matter that the shed actually decreases the use of the formerly large and open driveway.  Yeah, it bugs me but I have a feeling we will be contesting our tax bill next November.  In Oregon, property taxes are supposedly limited to a certain percentage of the tax assessed value and that percentage cannot be increased.  That is all well and good except the taxes just keep going up because the value of the property keeps going up - even in a VERY DOWN market.  If I could get someone to pay me what is listed as the value of my home on my tax bill, I would sell this place today.

Okay, enough of the rant.  What I really need is to get out of here and see some new sights and quit fretting about taxes!  Someday soon, Therapy will be finished and we will hit the road.  I can hardly wait.


Before



After

Making Progress

Waiting is never easy and patience has never been one of my strengths.  But, I am actually glad that it takes some time to manufacture the motor home.  I watched a special on the travel channel the other night.  They visited the Winnebago factory and we watched as the chassis went down the assembly line.  The motor home was completely assembled in five days!  FIVE DAYS - can you imagine that?  Of course, the pieces were pre-fabbed and ready to install but still...how much care can you take when the line is moving and you only have a certain allotted time to get your portion completed.  No offense Winnebago owners - I know they make a fine product, I just worry about the pressure to get them out so fast. 

I am so pleased with the care the Lazy Daze factory takes when completing their product.  They take the time they need to fit each component into its place and make certain that it all goes together as planned.  Each piece of insulation is hand cut and fitted into place.  The cabinets are affixed to the frame with steel brackets.  Those babies are NOT coming loose anytime soon! 

So a Lazy Daze takes a little longer but I am full of hope and anticipation.  We got some interim photos and it still looks a little rough.  My sister quipped on seeing these pictures, "I thought you were getting a new one.  This one looks like it's all torn up."  Just you wait sister...just you wait!

From the back looking forward. 
That is the foundation for one of the twin beds,
with the wardrobe at the end.

Driver side, siding going on.

Driver's side, back to front. 
Siding going on over the insulation. 
LOVE those big windows.

Interior looking front to back.  The bedroom is at the very back,
then the bathroom (shower on one side, toilet and sink on the other), then the kitchen. 
Sofa, table and two easy chairs at the front (not shown).

Shelter is Legal!

After waiting for more than a week for the correct engineering specs from the manufacturer, Russ finally called them again.  He hates to bother people but in this case it's a good thing he did.  They had forgotten all about us.  Gotta love the holidays...does funny things to the thinking process.  So we finally got the correct engineering specs and scheduled another inspection.  The inspector came today and we are finally legal with our RV cover.  It is ready for occupancy, now all we need is the motorhome!

Day Off

We took the day off today and drove up to the small town of Oakridge on Or. Hwy. 58.  We visited Casey's Riverside RV Park in Westfir, about four miles west of Oakridge.  We will be staying at this resort in May for a Lazy Daze get together.  It's a very nice place and right on the river.  The river runs fast and deep here so you want to keep your pets and small children on their leashes! 

Click on any photo for  a larger view.

The driveway into Casey's RV Resort.  It was drizzling and cold so
I was lazy and took the pictures from inside the car.

This is the small creek at the entrance and on the left is the office.

This is outside the store/office.  Cute!

Their mailbox is unique.

A view of some of the riverside sites.  Very nice.

That is a rock fire-pit and table right by the river. 

What a wonderful place to spend an evening...when the weather
warms up!

This is a group area - perfect for a potluck!

Russ took this one through the windshield just for fun.  I like it!

This is our stop at Greenwaters Park and Rest Area at the east end
of Oakridge.  Rusty was interested in this hollow tree.

Rusty and Poppy like to go down the boat ramp and eat grass and
explore all the yummy scents along the river.

Russ is all bundled up against the cold.

I think Rusty was wishing it were warmer so he could go swimming.

Rusty found a small clump of snow that had fallen from someone's
car.  He wanted more!  I love this rest area because no matter how
cold it is outside, the bathrooms are always warm.  They have great
infared heaters inside.

A Microscopic Inspection

The building inspector came yesterday.  To our surprise, our shelter failed the final inspection.  Turns out we don't have enough screws in the metal!  I was prepared to be upset with the inspector but further investigation found that the problem lies elsewhere.  Seems the shelter company sent along the wrong engineering specs.  Those specs were for the old style that used smaller sheets of metal and so used more screws.  They now use longer sheets; less seams, fewer screws.  So, the company apologized and assured us they will get the right engineering specs to the inspector and that should be all he needs.  Let's hope that's true.  Glad we started this early - still have plenty of time before Therapy is ready.

Shelter is Done

Wow...two workers completed the shelter in only one day.  Can you believe it?  First they put the "ribs" together then placed them on the rails.  When all the ribs were in place, the metal siding went on.  Took them about 6 hours.  The building inspector is due on Tuesday to give the final approval.  Now all we have to do is wait for our Lazy Daze to be finished so we can park her in the shelter.  Hopefully, she won't be parked there very much!


The "Ribs"

The siding is started

The completed shelter 14' X 36'
This is going to take some getting used to!



The Work Continues

As the concrete was poured, large bolts were inserted into the drying mixture.  Then rails were placed on top of these bolts and secured into place.  This is the foundation of the shelter.  The framework is a series of "ribs" that will fit over the rectangular projections shown below.  Then the metal roof and siding will go on.  This concrete was left to cure for a couple of days.  The rest of the work will take place on Friday and it should be completed in one day.

A New Home for Therapy

Did I mention we were afraid to tell our kids? Since the fiasco with the last motorhome and how we had crowed about being free of it, we were certain our kids would not understand. They were likely to call us crazy and insist we were wasting our money. And so that thinking led us straight to the name for our new Lazy Daze: Therapy. When the kids call us crazy our rejoinder is: that’s okay, we’re in Therapy. And we freely admit we are off our rockers – which at our age is a good thing. We could sit around in our rockers from now until we die and watch soap operas and eat bon-bons, but would we be any better off? I don’t think so.

Oh yeah, there's some rot there!





This photo shows the arborvitae (and the
milk cartons we used to layout the width
of the proposed shelter!)



Before we could put up a shelter, we had to cut down a row of old arbovitae hedges.  We used to have these hedges the entire length of the driveway and it was very nice.  The hedge provided a lot of privacy and gave us nothing but green to look at; no roofs or fences!  Then the neighbor closest to the street needed to replace his fence and couldn't get to it because of the big arborvitae.  So we took half of the row out.  Now we have to take the rest out as they are so old they are leaning over.  We have to prop them up with boards and I think they are mostly rotten.  Hate to see them go, but, oh well!

RV Shelter materials

We got our materials delivered today and a new RV shelter should be completely up by the end of next week. We are making it 14’X36’ so there will be a little walk around space inside. It is a carport type shelter and not a garage because we hope it will not be parked here long enough to really warrant a full garage.

When we made the decision to put up a cover, Russ was concerned about the whole process. We live in Lane County Oregon outside of the city limits of Eugene, but within the urban growth boundary. Lane County is famously hard to work with and the reputation of the city is not much better. Russ didn’t know which agency to start with and was dreading the process.

Here’s where we get real. Russ has diabetes. He also struggles with some emotional issues, some related to dealing with a chronic illness and some just part of his genetic make-up. The point is, he hates dealing with hard issues. His mind tends to always go to the worst case scenario and he can quickly enumerate all the reasons something will not work or all the problems we will encounter. He gets so worked up that he sometimes gives up before he ever gets started. And so it seemed ‘twould be with the RV shelter.

Finally, I stepped in and made a few phone calls and did some online research. Turns out that because we are in the urban growth boundary, we have to deal with the city. Now here’s where Russ’s compulsiveness holds us in good stead. Years ago we had an old fuel tank removed from the property (this used to be a farm but was all sold off except our ½ acre). Russ still had the plot plan that was professionally rendered at that time. He also still has the original 1960’s blue-prints that we got from the original owner when we bought this place in 1976….but that’s another story. We took the plot plan along with the information from the shelter company down to the city and talked to a very nice woman. She told us what else we needed, and when we got those documents together, Russ took them back to the city.

Some officious, “i” dotter and “t” crosser took his application and had all kinds of questions and set up all kinds of road-blocks. We would have to provide gutters and drainage to the storm sewer. Russ argued that it was in the middle of a gravel driveway that had been rained on in the same place for eons. If the motorhome were parked there without a shelter, we would not have gutters and storm drainage! There were several other nit-picky things, including talk about a trip to the county for some kind of approval. We were told the process would take up to two weeks – wonderful, since the permits costs were going up in about 3 days. Russ finally asked to speak with the woman we had met at our initial trip to the permit office. She took all the information and was very gracious. Long story short: We had the permit in hand the very next day, and no need for gutters and downspouts!

What’s important about this is not that we conquered the City of Eugene but that Russ did it himself. He did not get discouraged and walk out of the office. He successfully argued his points and saw that he could stand up to City Hall. He saw that things are usually not as bad as they seem and perseverance pays off. He is acting as our own contractor in all of this process and doing a darn good job of it too. His confidence has improved and because of this success, has been able to tackle some other onerous tasks as well. It’s all good.

Each hole is about 18" deep

Today sixteen holes were drilled for the concrete footings. Monday those holes will be inspected and then filled with concrete and lag bolts. After that, the process goes very quickly and we should have a new home for Therapy completed by next week. Do you think the kids will notice a 14’X36’ metal RV shelter in the driveway?

So, you see, Therapy is working already. I can hardly wait to see what the future holds. We are not too old to change and we are NOT too old to enjoy what is left of our lives. We are: Off our rockers and into Therapy.
Happy Travels and God’s Blessings.

The Toad

We had our new Lazy Daze on order but we still were not quite convinced we wanted a toad. So back to the message boards. Reading of others’ experiences and pro and con opinions on towing a car, we made up our minds; we needed a toad.

We started out thinking we wanted a Suzuki or maybe a Jeep. Both seemed rather hard to acquire. We looked at Motorhome magazine’s list of best tow cars and compared features. We knew we wanted to flat tow. We had towed with a dolly before and it was NO fun.

Then I noticed a little gem called a Fit. Made by Honda, this little dude is flat towable and weighs in at a whopping 2500 pounds. We have never been fans of sub-compact cars but when one was advertised the very next Sunday in our local paper, we decided to have a look. We followed the owner’s directions to the house and as we turned the final corner we saw a small red car sitting at the curb. Now, I don’t have anything against red, it’s just that it wouldn’t look very good behind our charcoal and gray Lazy Daze.

I was so relieved when we got closer and saw that the red car was not a Fit and was parked a couple of houses down from our destination. The Fit we were looking at was parked inside a garage and it was (drum-roll please) dark GRAY. Perfect. The car was two years old with less than 15,000 miles. It was clean and shiny and looked like new. I drove it and what a kick! It drives like a sports car – responsive and sassy. My 6’1” Russ had plenty of leg and headroom.

"Wee Fit"

We bought the little bugger and brought it home. With the rear seats folded flat and a new foam mat installed, it is perfect for the two of us and our two furry kids.

We wanted to name it. We thought of all the obvious: Miss Fit, Hissy Fit, well you get the idea. But none of it sounded quite right. We picked up two of our granddaughters from school one day and put the question to them. What should we name the car? With not a moment’s hesitation, ten-year-old Cailin stated the obvious, “Wii Fit”. This is one of the grandkids favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa’s so it had a lot of meaning for us. We changed it up a bit and got a license plate holder that reads at the top “Wee Fit” (well, it is a small car but we do still fit) and at the bottom, “I Go Where I’m Towed”. Corny, maybe, but it works for us. It’s all about having fun.

Happy travels and God’s Blessings.

The Decision

The decision to make a major purchase is never an easy one and so it was in the case of our decision to purchase a new motorhome. We have never, in our entire lives, made such a large purchase. Even our home did not cost this much.

And so we struggled. We have always been savers. When we started our careers, 401(k) accounts and IRAs did not exist, and with four kids to raise, we probably could not have made contributions anyway. As we became more established and the kids became older, we began to fund our 401(k) and retirement accounts. We did not save as much as we would have liked but we did our best. Unfortunately, I had to retire at age 50 due to a serious medical problem.

Then, at age 62, my husband’s job was eliminated. Not only that, the employer dropped all medical insurance and so COBRA was not an option. With his poor health and his age and the state of the economy, my husband was not able to find another job. We finally decided to just bite the bullet and call it early retirement. Thankfully, he had enough years in at a former employer to qualify for retiree’s medical insurance, albeit at an enormous price. With his diabetes, we had no choice.

We were prepared to pretty much sit in our rockers and do nothing more than a few close trips to see family every so often. After all, we couldn’t touch our retirement savings as that was for our old age!

Well sitting around got old really, really fast! We started getting the travel bug again, and made a few very enjoyable trips. But staying in hotels and eating in restaurants gets pretty expensive and is not my favorite thing to do anyway. Then came all the talk about BED BUGS! EWWW YUK! Just thinking about them made my skin crawl. I started carrying a flashlight and inspecting the mattress with a magnifying glass when we checked into a hotel. Call me crazy, but I just can’t stand the thought of bed bugs.

When we sold our class “A”, we were so glad to be rid of it that we thought we never wanted another motorhome. But seems that travel bug is as hard to kill as a bed bug. I talk in another article about how we came to decide on a Lazy Daze, but this is about how we came to the decision to actually make that purchase.

I think a lot of people our age must go through the same struggles that we did. How do we justify purchasing something so EXPENSIVE, just so we can enjoy life? After all, aren’t we supposed to save money and not spend it? Shouldn’t we spend it on our kids, our grandkids, our church, the homeless, the hungry, World Peace? Shouldn’t we leave it for our kids or save it for medical expenses? These thoughts chased each other ‘round and ‘round in my head like some crazy merry-go-round on steroids.

And it is about more than just having fun. We have lived in this big old house since 1976. It is full of memories and it is also full of “JUNK”. It just seems to accumulate over the years. We are tired and old and don’t want to spend our remaining years tied to ‘stuff’ and moldering memories and yard work and housework and ….. We want less of everything. When Russ dumped the hanging baskets and flower pots at the end of the season I knew I had planted my last – I had 47 baskets and pots that I had tended over the spring and summer in addition to the flowers and vegetables in the ground! That’s just crazy! So although this house and land have served us well over the years, it’s time to move on. We plan to sell within three years and either full time it or rent a small apartment for when we need to come “home.”

Finally we came to this conclusion: We don’t need to justify our decision. If it is right for us or if it is wrong for us, it is our decision to make and we will live with the consequences.

I had planned to detail here all the justifications for our purchase, but that would mean I am still feeling guilty and trying to make it right in my own mind. There will always be alternative ways to spend money. There will always be need, and we have never been stingy in our charitable giving or in helping our kids. But as we have watched our retirement saving eaten away in the last several years, we decided we wanted to have something concrete to show for part of it.

And so, we made the decision to purchase a used motorhome, and that decision morphed into purchasing a new Lazy Daze and we couldn’t be happier. Yes, it took a very large percentage of our retirement holdings, but we could let that money sit and perhaps disappear altogether or we can have ten years or so of enjoying our “golden years”. Some may not understand our decision but for us, at this moment in time, it is the right one.

The Quest

Okay, we knew we wanted a Lazy Daze. I found one on Craigslist that was only about 50 miles away but by the time we called it was sold. We searched our immediate area for weeks and found NOTHING. We expanded our geographic search area and still, NOTHING. We found several on the Lazy Daze Yahoo site but they were all quite a distance from our home in Eugene, Oregon.

We had decided to buy used. We had a budget that we wanted to stay within. As we looked and looked, that budget began to grow. We read up on all the changes to the Lazy Daze year by year and finally decided we wanted something no more than five years old. Oh boy, these Lazy Daze people seem to want to hang on to their coaches for 10 years or more. Hard to find a newer model.

Finally, we found what we thought we wanted. It was out of our area but we paid an expert to go look at it for us. The online photos posted by the owner were beautiful and the report from our expert showed only minor problems, along with the note that it needed a good detailing. Looking at the pictures we thought, how bad can it be? The owner assured us that he would have everything fixed and the coach would be ready to go when we got there. Being cautious, we told him we were 99% sure this was the one we wanted but insisted on a personal inspection before making a formal offer.

To make a long story short, we walked into the coach and walked right back out again. If the owner could not even bother to wipe old breadcrumbs from the counter, drain the murky water from the sink, or clean the mold from the frig, what else had been neglected? It just did not leave a good feeling. This was likely to be the last major purchase we would ever make and it had to be right. No time for another mistake.

Since we were already in So. California, we went to the Lazy Daze factory. Oh my, what nice people and everything so fresh and clean! We inspected the models they had, and drove a 27’ since they did not have a 31’ floor model. I could not believe how easy it was to drive. Just like driving a pick-up truck (well, almost!). I know the mid-bath is their most popular model, and has a wonderful CCC, but by now, we knew our two dogs and our two selves would be happier in a 31’.

This is a 27'.  Ours will look like this only a little longer.

And so the next day we were back, check book in hand and we ordered our 31’ TB in charcoal and gray. Over budget? Yeah, guess you could say that. But we got what we wanted, it should last as long as we do and it’s all going to be “our” dirt on the inside!!

Happy Travels and God’s Blessings

Due Diligence

When we first starting thinking about getting another motorhome, we decided we wanted something small, easy to drive, good gas mileage, and we definitely did not want to tow a dinghy. So we started out looking at Sprinter based models. They certainly look good on the websites. Those Mercedes diesel engines get up to 20 miles per gallon and are easily good for 100,000 miles. The coach is small enough to drive and park anywhere, negating the need for a tow car (toad). From the looks of the pictures, there was plenty of room for two people and two medium dogs.

And so we went shopping. Oh my goodness!! Those Sprinters were indeed easy to drive, until you get passed by an 18 wheeler going 65 miles per hour. Then it’s hang on for an E-ticket ride. And they are indeed space saving. I stood at the two burner stove and my behind was practically touching the bathroom door! The passenger bench was just that: a bench! Where would both dogs sit? So while I am not denigrating those who would be comfortable in that type of vehicle, we found right away it was NOT right for us.

I was ready to give up on the dream. I had driven some larger class As and Cs and just could not feel comfortable with the drivability, the quality, the safety, or the price. Then Russ started investigating Lazy Daze. We had looked at a small one years ago and been impressed, but it was too small for us. So we joined the Lazy Daze user group on Yahoo and started doing our research. We ordered CDs and books on motorhome ratings. And we really paid attention to what current owners had to say about their coach. Quality, drivability, safety, and price seemed to come together in the Lazy Daze.

So our direction changed. Having done our due diligence, we set about looking for the perfect used Lazy Daze. How hard could that be? Well, that’s another story!

Happy Travels and God’s Blessings

A New Beginning

Okay then, I may as well get started! I toyed with the idea of writing a blog several years ago and just "never got around to it!" How often have I said those words in my life time? So now I am going to begin. My life has changed/is changing and I will be traveling to some exciting destinations in the near future.

Russ and I with our SOB (that's Some
Other Brand in Lazy Daze talk) taken
around 1998

My husband, Russ, and I have always traveled as much as we could, and at one point even owned a Class A motorhome. However, constraints such as working and helping family members tend to take a large chunk out of the travel time. Not to mention the fact that the motorhome turned out to be, shall we say, not the ideal travel vehicle!!

Now we are both retired, the grandkids are grown or halfway there, the kids are all doing just fine on their own, and it is finally OUR time. We struggled a long time before we made our latest decision but we figured if not now, when? We went to California in September of this year (2010) and visited the Lazy Daze Factory in Montclair, California and ordered a brand new motorhome. We did our research this time and decided that, for us, the Lazy Daze was the only way to go.

If you are unfamiliar with the Lazy Daze brand you can go here www.lazydaze.com/index.htm and see what they are all about. You can also google Lazy Daze and find all kinds of user groups and owner comments about the brand. These motorhomes are not in the "fancy-dancy" category, but they are safe, extremely well made, and easy to drive...all things that were lacking in our other motorhome.

So now we are waiting. It takes about four months for the coach to be built on a Ford E450 chassis. While we are waiting, I'll share some about how we got to this point in our lives, what we are doing while we wait, and perhaps go back in time a ways and share some of our previous trips. Wherever you are on your own 'travel-quest', I wish you happy travels and God's Blessings.