Settling In !!!!!

We are settled into our resort in Sunny Florida. We left home on Oct 28, with Archie and Anne. First stop was Clewiston Me, for the night, then onto Fishkill NY wallydocking, then onto PA for a night at our standby park Western Village and then into VA  where we parked up and had a great 4 day visit with our daughter and son in law, while Arch and Anne motored on into Washington area to tour around, and to  Jekyll Island. They will arrive here at our resort around Dec. 5th. 

We had a small tire glitch after leaving VA and heading into the Carolinas, ended up spending the night in Selma to regroup~and we send out a big "thank you" and "you guys are amazing" to Perry Brothers in Smithfield, NC...they couldn't do enough to help us. Their technician even worked through his lunch hour to get us on the road early afternoon. 

So Torrey now had a full set of brand new 2014 good year sneakers...thankfully we did not have a flat in motion and our glitch was discovered at a rest stop. So also a great 'big thank you to that angel that was riding along with us'.

The trip down was fantastic..that F350 platinum, towed that Newmar fiver like a dream. I wasn't the least big nervous...I'm sure you all remember what a wreck I was in the DP, to the point of actually medicating myself at times. 

Due to losing a day for the tire issue we missed out on visiting our friends in Lee this time but we will surely get together over the winter months. 

Upon arrival at our resort that Friday the 7th, sweet Donna was here to greet us with lots of hugs..then other friends arrived to say hello and visit, and poor Rick ended up setting up and unhooking pretty much by himself ~ I was so busy socializing.

Our other NB friends arrived on Monday and its been happy hours, cards, golf and shopping trips ever since. 

Are we loving the fiver? You betcha!!!! We've had class C, Class A gas and Class A diesel, we've also had fivers in between the As finishing up into the DP and now into this setup. I love the living space, love love loving my washer and dryer~ and I'm still in the process of making it 'homey' as I'm definitely a 'nester'..and I am not intimidated driving that big truck, so I would say all is well with our decision. It was nice to travel down the road and be able to talk to each other without raising our voices, and of course that stereo volume was cranked from state to state :).

A big shoutout of congratulations to our dear friends Larry and Marilyn-the Amazing Vanstones who left Canada today heading in a southerly direction~they were awaiting the arrival of their darling new grand baby, Evie who finally put in an appearance. Safe travels folks.

Friday we had lunch with RV friends, Gail and Rick and Dave and Deb and we were all so busy eating and visiting we forgot to even take a picture. We are getting together for happy hour this week and will be sure to snap some then. 

We did have to make a trip to the local vet, seems we forgot our revolution at home for the fur kids, and they will not dispense it here without a heart worm test first..so Thurs we got that taken care of and both are negative results so we await the meds to arrive by mail.

The heat and humidity is a bit hard to handle thank heavens for AC, but I won't scream that out loud considering everyone back home is dealing with the snow and cold. We have had a couple of cool nights which I welcome, but the heat pump takes good care of that. 

I will transfer some pictures from my iPhone to the macbook (I'm sure there is a way of posting here without transferring  but I'm not sure I can figure that out)..

Have a super Sunday folks and a great week ahead, all of you that are travelling, stay safe!!!

Home is where you park it

Elaine, Rick, Tucker and Lilly..

Why did we do it.

Back in March before leaving Florida for the winter we started discussing looking at the possibility of moving to a fifth wheel from our much loved Class A "Ossumer". Our way of spending the winters has changed from travelling to one of staying in one place for extended periods of time, do we need that large travelling machine with all its glorious motor and running gear to sit on a lot in Southern Florida for 5 - 6 months. The maintenance costs on a diesel MH can be high even for just oil and filters. Insurance and license are costly. The thought of having a major part like a blower fail costing thousands of dollars was always in the back of our mind. When you do have a mechanical failure you cannot just find a local Ford or Chevy dealer to fix it. Anyway enough excuses we talked ourselves into getting a fifth wheel and truck and letting our wonderful motor home go to someone else . We loved and enjoyed our motor home and it served us well.

"Torrey"

Good bye "Ossumer" hello "Torrey" . Torrey is a 2008 Newmar Torrey Pine 38' gently used by her previous owners. We have had her out for 2 weekend trips to the beach to get the feel of things and so far so good we love it.

This week we have been doing some projects getting ready for the migration.

The Progressive energy management system (surge protector) was installed you can see it under the shelf with the yellow drill on it. Those 2 shelves were also fabricated providing some storage space from a almost unusable space.

This is our new Super Glide hitch that we picked up today still have to install the capture plate on the pin box and then we will be able to give it a try. The truck came with a hitch installed but we thought we liked this one better.

Torrey came equipped with a Mor / Ryde pin box which is supposed to take out some of the chucking between trailer and truck, that's where the capture plate will be attached tomorrow.

This is not a good picture but it is hard to get a good one where she is currently parked in our driveway maybe when we test drive the new hitch we will get some good combo pics.

Inside pictures will be coming soon but at least you know what to look for coming down the road.

Posted by Rick

Home is where you park it.

Elaine, Rick

Fur kids Tucker and Lilly

Getting ready

Hi everybody thought it was time to get back on here and make sure we still know how to do a post.

We have had a busy summer with both of us working at the RV dealership full time, and to top it off we decided to trade the MH for a 5th wheel and a new truck so getting everything off loaded and reloaded took some effort. A ford F350 Lariat Platinum edition..and a Newmar Torrey Pine 38' fiver..so far we are very pleased with this new setup. We finished up work last Friday, so now we are onto the Christmas shopping and organizing to take off the end of the month.

Current plans have us leaving New Brunswick the last week of October and heading back to The Glades in Florida. The next couple of weeks will be spent putting some finishing touches on the fifth wheel we call her Torry.

This is the new truck

The trees in our backyard are in their glory.

We are Finally back in our home and Installed at our summer jobs!

Happy Victoria Day to our Canadian Friends!! 

It has been so so long since my last post I'm not sure where to even begin..so I will just sum it all up here...

The winter was good, the trip home was almost uneventful --a 1/2 truck with a load of beds and furniture on it lost its load..so we luckily dodged everything while pulling over and came to a stop..we were lucky and definitely had an angel onboard that day..we were 3 cars behind this 1/2 ton and...traffic was busy so knew we couldn't get ahead of it...so lagged back...when the load let go the cars in front of us pulled into the left lane..we had no where to go so we pulled to shoulder and braked hard..we were surrounded by box springs, mattresses and a big bolted down in the box tool box that was no longer in the box..its was directly in front of us with only inches to spare.

We arrived back around April 10th..our chosen daughter called us on the 9th and her basement apartment was flooding so we advised her to shuffle herself and the kiddos up to our place and it wasn't a problem as the weather seemed to be turning to spring somewhat at home so we could sleep in the MH...bless her heart she was out of her place for three weeks..it was a rough three weeks..one evening we even had to shovel the snow off the MH steps to get in..anyway we all survived and we all still love each other so another hurdle jumped.

We are both back to work at our summer jobs at the local RV dealership..I'm service writer this year and I have to admit I love the fast pace, and the constant problem solving with clients..I come home at night very tired..but content knowing I made a difference in some rver's life that day..Rick is performing pdi's, deliveries just about anything they need him to do...Saturday we finally got our MH pulled around to the back yard (yes it finally dried up enough) dumped and parked on the summer pad. 

The other week I lost a dear friend unexpectedly..she wasn't sick..I was talking to her on Tues and Thurs morning she passed away..she was younger than me!! it was heartbreaking and I'm still in shock..my heart aches for her husband...so mothers day was spent in the funeral home honouring her!! Life is short and times like this make me realize just how short it is. Our youngest son flew home for the funeral, so it was nice to see him for a few days.  Seems our spring is just springing now..the weather has not been warm enough for me yet..but that could be because I am not climatized to his climate like I was to Florida..

I have been peeking periodically at your blogs..I need to focus..and get back on task..seems there is not enough hours in the day...

Take care all and safe travels...I will try to do better, if any of you are planning on a visit to the east coast this summer be sure to let us know!! We have space and hookups right here for y'all...and welcome you at any time...

hugs,
Elaine, Rick and the furkiddos

2014-3rd Attempt

Well folks, this is the third attempt at my blog today...seems its been so long since I've blogged I'm not sure where to start. I have been feeling major guilt over not keeping the blog up to date. It seems the longer you get away from it the harder it is to regroup and get back to it. I have been reading and keeping up with you all periodically, and now that most of you are on Facebook, I get some daily updates on your lives from there.
We have been busy!!! We helped our friend next door purchase a new RV trailer, and get all moved in and setup. Rick has been busy, rebuilding her steps to fit her new rig. He also installed a new floor like ours in our other friends 5th wheel..they were happy to get rid of the carpet.
We had a great Christmas, volunteering  at the local legion again this year, and we served up 666 dinners for the sick, shut-ins and seniors.

Ready to serve at the Legion

After our work at the legion they fed us too!

 Followed by a wonderful dinner back here at our resort.

New Years, we attended the resort dance and party with friends and a great time was had by all. 

Why do flashes make your eyes 1/2 close :) It had to be the flash lol

The sad part of our New Years was the loss of darling boy Duffy. His mom and dad had to let him go on Dec. 31st. We were visiting in NC in Nov. and helped him celebrate his 15th birthday. He certainly had a wonderful long life, thanks to the excellent care he received from his owners. He was a registered therapy/hospice dog, and certainly deserved all the medals and awards he won over the past 15 years.

Darling McDuff -RIP dear boy across Rainbow Bridge

On Jan. 1 our boys arrived from the west coast of Canada to spend some time with us. We visited Sanibel Island..On the 3rd we all headed down to Key West for a long weekend. 

Pilot house Key West-Beautiful place to stay

Taken from top of Mallory Square

Taken from top of Mallory Square

What a wonderful time we had. The boys flew back home  on the 7th, our time together sure went by fast, but we were so grateful to them for coming to visit.

Our Boys Rob and Craig

Sanibel Island-bowmans beach

We met up with Rick and Gail  and had a great lunch together and another fun happy hour visit with them while they were parked just up the road from us at the Ortona park....

Gail and Rick-it was so nice to spend time with them

We headed on over to the Tampa RV show this year, meeting up with our dear friends, Donna and Ralph and Buck and Jeannie, it was nice that we all got to park together for four days. We ran into a lot of fellow friends and rvers at the Tampa RV show...was so nice to see everyone!!

Jeannie Myself and Donna-we have such a good time together

My cousins came down to visit while we were in Tampa and I hadn't seen Dan or Deb for many years so that was a nice surprise!! On Saturday my sweet cousin Lori and her hubby Randy came to Tampa for the day..it was a wonderful gathering of cousins. We were so busy catching up we didn't even think to get some good pics.

We have been busy with potluck dinners, bean bag baseball, euchre, and mexican train. 

Rick has also been busy renovating here in our own Motorhome. We removed the big TVs and he re worked the cabinetry in the front and installed  a nice new flat screen TV. In the bedroom he removed the big one that was in there and hung the new flat screen on a door and I now have a huge closet area behind that tv. (and yes its found space so of course I claimed it as mine). We no longer hit our heads on the big protruding TV in the living area :).

He removed the roll out shelf and storage shelf on the computer station area in the front, it was something we never used much as we have laptops, and he  installed our fireplace in that area. So its nice to have that floor space back. We plan to remove the carpet on that part of the slide and tile it with 4x4" tiles.We purchased new solar shades, for the living area, and I'm very happy to see the day nighters gone!! Rick had no problem measuring up and installing them. 

Not easy to capture a good shot the colour is charcoal apricot-they are like MCDs but are not MCDs and the price was fantastic!

Sure pays to have a handy man. I'm very pleased with the new shades!!

Hope you are all doing well! Enjoy the rest of your winter it sure seems to be going by very fast...

Happy and Healthy 2014 to each and everyone of you!!

Rick Elaine Tucker and Lilly

Merry Christmas Friends!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to all of our RV blogging Friends....near and dear, far and wide...All the very best of the very best in 2014 to each and everyone of you..Be safe be happy and please remember the reason for the season!!!!

Finally Time to Update!!!!

We are finally at our resort..after being on the road since Oct. 31st..we sure covered a lot of visiting on the way south this year. Now I remember why we used to wait and do the visiting on the way home...it was cold on the way down.

We had a wonderful visit with our daughter Becky and SIL Matt in VA...we stayed a week with them. It was 2 years since we saw them so we crammed quite a bit of visitation in our one week with them. We shopped, visited, shopped, visited, shopped some more and we also toured the Monticello house which is the estate of Thomas Jefferson. Definitely a must see if your in the area.

Our Beautiful daughter Becky

Becky myself and our son in law Matt

Nothing like a mama -daughter hug

Monticello a must see if your in the area very interesting history here

We left the Richmond area on the 11th and motored over to Shelby NC to visit with Cathy Brent and Duffy. Altho Brent was still in New Bern we had a great visit with Cathy and Duff and as an added bonus Tina Cathy's sister was visiting from Ontario. We were pleased as punch to be there to celebrate Duffy's 15th birthday. What a special boy McDuff is..he was out of one of our litters 15 years ago. 

The Birthday boy-Happy 15th Birthday McDuff you are so special

He's definitely a 'superman'

After a wonderful visit there we motored onto Hendersonville NC to visit with my dear Aunt Kay, my cousin Pat and her Hubby Steve. 
Even tho Aunt Kay is 86 she moves like a 40 year old and I can't keep up with her. 

My wonderful Aunt Kay 86 years young

From there we met up with our friends Larry and Marilyn at Walkabout Campground in Woodbine GA. and spent the weekend together. Mar had a great supper all ready for us upon arrival...thanks for the great weekend...

Marilyn and I

Hows that for a cool chandelier...at a pub the four of us had supper at

After woodbine we were Florida bound...stopping in Lee Florida to visit friends Jeannie and Buck...always a great time at there place for sure. Buck has a great setup with full hookups. We left there on Thursday and arrived here after a long drive day. Did the basic hookup, and went out to supper with friends here in the resort. 
Friday was a deep cleaning day, laundry and organizing of the cupboards, closets and dressers...and we finished setting up the outside. Then it was off to Clewiston for supplies at walmart and the liquor store of course.

Today, dear friends Debbie and Kenny came to visit us and brought their new fur kids...two darling yorkies!! And what cuties they are. 

Saturday evening we played cards with Cheryl and Cal, and now we're crashing for the rest of the evening..
The weather has been excellent, hot and sunny, in fact its 9:54pm and Rick just left for a quick dip in the pool to cool off.
Sunday it was back to town to grab some forgotten supplies, and hosted our first dinner party, full roast beef dinner, wine and desert then a round of card playing.

I see some of you are at your winter homes safe and sound, and others are travelling, while some are still on the count down to leave. 
Be safe out there everyone...!! 
Elaine Rick Tucker and Lilly

We are in Ashland VA and new wiper motor is installed

We arrived in Ashland VA which is just north of Richmond on Monday afternoon and were greeted by our daughter at the campground. We are staying at the "Americamp Campground" just off I95 at exit 89.

We have spent the last few days visiting and catching up with our wonderful daughter that we have not seen in almost 2 years since our trip to Mississippi.

The new wiper motor for Ossumer arrived as scheduled on Wednesday afternoon from Portland Oregon. This morning although it was cloudy and looking like it might rain I decided that I would try to get it installed. First we had to make room to work so Ossumer had to loose his front door to the generator.

We got the door off and a tarp down to catch any bolts or such that we might drop and loose in the gravel. The step stool is for us to sit on with our back to the genny and then reach up inside to install the motor.

The pic above shows the new motor installed. This was only a 10 minute job and went really well just a little uncomfortable reaching up to get the 3 bolts installed that holds the motor on the bracket and one nut that holds the linkage to the motor.

While trying to source a supplier for this motor I found that this same make "Denso" supplied the motors for many different motor homes so if others ever have this problem this could be a good starting point , just Google Denso wiper motors.

We are here in Ashland till Monday when we head to North Carolina forsome more visiting with friends and relatives then it will be off to Georgia to meet more friends we may never get to Florida.

Rick Elaine Tucker and Lilly

Carlisle PA

Had a nice drive today from Fishkill NY to Carlisle PA. We are parked at Western Village RV Park a place we have visited before . The fall foliage is still beautiful here compared to home in NB where all the leaves have been on the ground for a few weeks.

This is the wiper motor that gave us all the grief on Thursday sure did not need it today nice sunshine although a little cool.

Tomorrow morning we continue south with a stop in Chambersburg PA to have a quick visit with Debbie our neighbor from The Glades Resort, then on to Richmond VA for a weeks visit with our baby girl Beck.

Safe travels to all the snowbirds making the migration south.

Rick and Elaine Tucker and Lilly.