Camping Weekend

We've done it!  We got away for the weekend, scratches down the side of the Journey and all.  We are not gonna' let the scratches ruin our fun.  I think we've set a new record, too.  Marti has not had to go in to her office (keeping fingers crossed) at all.  She actually has had a chance to relax.

We're at our favorite campground, Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, VA and have even lucked out and got the corner site we like.

As you can see, there are a LOT of trees so we have the portable dish set up.  We do enjoy a chance to sit back and watch some TV, we don't always get that chance during the week.  We also picked up a couple of new items, a Sony camera for Marti to replace her Kodak Easy Share that died and a Cradle Point router.  Marti, my on staff Geek, was able to hook up our air card to it and now we're both on line at the same time. Cool!  Ain't technology grand?

While we were out on a walk with Zoe, the Wonder Dog, we had some entertainment with some folks towing a 30 foot long travel trailer with a half ton pickup truck.  It was obvious they were new to the RV scene.  The driver tried to get into a couple of sites and had trouble backing up.  He almost hit a tree and an electrical post, despite the screaming of his wife to stop.

They finally got into another site and as the guy was jockeying the trailer there was a loud BAM!  We wondered what that was from because we could see he didn't hit anything.  We walked over to see if they needed some help and saw that the trailer had popped off the ball and mangled the back bumper of the pickup.  The guy did not have a tow hitch on his truck, he stuck the ball through a hole on the bumper, designed for light weight towing, not a big trailer.

We commiserated with the guy and recommended where he could get a heavy duty hitch installed on the frame.  He said he couldn't understand why the trailer came off the ball, the guy he bought the trailer from said it would work just fine.  Yea, and the check is in the mail.

We felt bad for him, and continued on our walk.  When we came back, they had left the campground.  I hope they made it safely to where ever they were going.  It is a shame that the seller of the trailer was more interested in selling the trailer and didn't advise the guy that he needed a better hitch.

So we're kicked back and enjoying each other's company.  I have some more interesting stuff for tomorrow's post, so stay tuned.  Yep, I'm lazy... ;c)

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August 20, 1977

September 1976 found me in the college dorm lounge fiddling around with my new Polaroid SX-70 camera.  It was after dinner and three pretty girls came walking by and saw me with my camera.  They asked me if I'd take their picture.  Who was I to turn down these lovely ladies?  So I snapped away, took three pictures, gave them to them and they went on their way.  One of the young ladies caught my eye and with some detective work on my part, I tracked her down and asked her out on a date.  She said "Yes".

Fast forward to August 20. 1977 and see this picture:

That day, 33 years ago, I married Marti, my best friend.  We've had a wonderful life together and look forward to new fun and adventures on the road.

Oh, and we have those three Polaroid pictures, safely tucked away.  How many guys have pictures of when they first laid eyes of the love of their life?  :c)

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.

Winnebago For Dummies

You've seen the books, Cooking for Dummies, Skyscraper Building for Dummies, Mouse Catching for Dummies.  I'd like to show you another reason why we like our Journey.  It's Winnebago for Dummies, and the dummy is me.

An RV is a complex machine. It's made up of many components, with lots of little parts and intricacies.  Looking at the wires, plumbing and other nuts and bolts items ranks right up there with the Space Shuttle.  And to think, they gave me the keys to this thing!

Winnebago saw guys like me coming.  So to make our ownership more enjoyable and user friendly, they created the Black Bag.

Open up this 10 pound plus back and you see all this.

Starting at the front are these manuals. 

The first one is the Operator Manual, it shows in great detail how to use all the components of the Journey.

I appreciate all the pictures and especially that they use small words that even I can understand.

The next two manuals are parts blow ups of the various systems and components.

There are other manufacturer's manuals for some of the bigger parts of the Journey, such as the transmission and the chassis.

And other neat things like the satellite dome and the washer/dryer.

Winnebago even designed the bag with labeled compartments so I know where to put the manuals back after I'm done with them.

This is going to come in handy for the body shop that is going to repaint all the scratches in our Journey (See yesterday's post).  It is touch up paint and paint codes so the body shop can match the paint.

Also included are special tools, including an electrical bypass for the power awning if the motor or switch acts up to get the awning closed.

The U shaped tools remove the radio.  A spare electrical plug for the toad, a chassis serial number plate, an Allen wrench to tighten the mirrors, caps to service the Rest Easy bed and a wrench to crank in the slides in case of a hydraulic pump failure...um "Hello Emergency Road Service".  I guess if we were stranded in the middle of the desert,  miles from civilization, with about a week of free time, I might try the wrench. ;c)

I use the bag to keep my high tech Maintenance Records (handwritten notebook) and a pouch for my repair/parts receipts.

It's nice to have all this information so I'll never make a mistake operating my Journey.  Now where did I put the black bag this time????

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.