On the road again!

 

This is the last view of the RV storage area after we paid up and headed over to our first park this year at Sandy Lake in Carrollton. The water tower here in Addison is really neat. At first glance it looks unfinished but if you look closely those spikes on the top are power generating wind turbines ... really clever adaptation of technology.

 

The next day over to the old apartment with the arrival of the moving trailer and two guys from Best Movers of Dallas. While their name is a bit presumptuous it was accurate. We moved all of our stuff which filled the trailer below in four hours at a cost of $397 on time and exactly as advertised.

The attack of the green slime. We did a lot of the pre-packing and wrapping including wrapping all wood products especially the chairs and the things with drawers. I think it was about 3,000 feet of the green plastic wrap we used before the movers arrived ... really neat product and we'll see how it ages in the storage area.

Let's see is this an artery or vein ... glad I'm not a surgeon, eh ... as I rip the vitals out of the washer and dryer. Speaking of surgery, in this photo I've got 12 stitches in my back from the removal of a cyst on my back a couple of days before.

And if you remember the pic of the storage area when it was almost empty ... here's the final shot of the 10 by 30 foot space piled to the 16 foot rafters with our things. One of the mover guys said, "You're going to need a semi to get this stuff on the road again." Yup.

The bottom line is that we are out of the now unloved Turnberry apartment and back into our home on wheels which we love ... the adventure begins anew.

To celebrate we tried a new place in Addison called Kenny's Wood Fired Grill for lunch. Unequalled food, service, and ambiance. Here's the French onion soup accompanied by their signature popover rolls. With a glass of Malbec and one of Merlot the soup was wonderful. We then split a mushroom and Swiss burger and it rounded out a perfect meal.

Scotsmen Reunited!!

 

We got the Flying Scotsman back from its hostage location at McLain's RV south of Fort Worth last Friday and back into the storage lot near the apartment. OK, drive the 50 miles over there, negotiate a bit (a lot) with the insurance folks and the RV folks, hitch up the new car for the first time, buy new parts 'cause it wasn't quite like the old one ($$), and then the 50 miles back through the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex back to the RV storage joint in Carrollton ... long day.

Of our numerous requested repairs only two were done this time but both essential ... in three months. The leaking shower pan was fixed and the broken dryer was repaired. For these two it was about $1,800 and the warrantee covered all but $250 so not a bad RV experience ... except the time! All this time we had to keep the lot at the RV storage place available just in case it was repaired on time (overly hopeful) and that was $100 a month for the three months.

Below is the bus with its bunkmates as we prepare it to be home in a couple of days. Actually we have two more days in the apartment and then the Flying Scotsman will again be our comfortable home for the future.

Here is the co-pilot bringing another load of stuff over to the bus to make it a home once more.

And at this price we are ready to HIT THE ROAD!!!

 

 

We have booked a week at the Sandy Lake RV park for the next week as it is about a mile from the storage location and the apartment basically to do the final shakedown (literally) tests and get it ready to live in for the next year or so ... unless the apartment in Barcelona frees up unexpectedly ... who knows.

Multi-Tasking

 

We are working hard to get out of the apartment in a week or so as well as have fun with the Dallas part of the family and it is keeping us on the go.

 

Here is the old guy putting the really essential duffel bag that was issued in basic training sometime in the last century into storage ... again. 

 

And filling the once cavernous storage place with all of the stuff that won't go in the Flying Scotsman for the next undetermined stretch of time ... moving van arrives to fill the gaps on the 28th!

To have a break in the moving operation and enjoy Ev the grandson we headed off to the Dallas Zoo to see all the creatures for the day. Obviously if you are a four year old things that move are as much fun as the creatures, especially when you get to ride an eagle.

For some reason when the four year old acts his age in the land rover the senior who is well beyond sanity must act the same ... go figure.

Now, I have been thirsty and hungry but I just couldn't help including this one below which only a giraffe of the opposite sex could interpret accurately ... tried to explain it to the grandson .... then it was time to quickly to see why the lions were roaring ...

We did get to see a lot of animals and even pet a few goats on a beautiful 70 degree Texas winter day and the Dallas Zoo is great. I still think we like the Houston one for its layout and displays, but this one is quite nice and being updated all the time.

Car Update

 

OK, we just did get a new GMC Terrain Denali to replace the aging HHR which has done so well over the last 6 or so years. It was a great "toad" or tow vehicle and we had virtually no problems with it but it was getting pretty beat up.

 

 

So here is the new machine. Unfortunately it arrived as a normal car and could not be dragged by the Flying Scotsman on our adventures. The first step was for Camping World to install the Roadmaster Baseplate. Sounds simple ... hah. Literally the whole front of the car that you see here has to be taken off and the reinforced tow plate bolted to the frame. Here is a website that shows the entire 5 hour process if you are interested:

https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-roadmaster-ez-base-plate-kit-2013-gmc-terrain-523163-1.aspx

 

When it as all put back together I had a couple more things to do before it could become a toad. I had to tear apart the old bar assembly that lets the RV hook to the car and paint and reuse some of the parts that fit.

 

The reason the hood is open is that I had to put a fuse substitution switch on the fusebox that cuts out the electronics as the vehicle is being towed, thus preventing battery drain, because as you know the ignition has to be on to leave the shift in neutral.

 



 

 

Here are the resulting attachment points ... extremely well hidden and only an experienced RVer would know what the small holes are for.

Once reassembled and painted the former attaching points are rotated into those holes.

And the crossbar is slipped onto them as we will do for every stop and go along the road if we unhitch long enough to want to use the car for sightseeing. The bus tow bar then hooks into that thing and off we go.

A really slick engineering retrofit to a neat car which has already in 2000 miles hauled at least a ton of boxes and stuff to the new storage area ... and another ton of stuff to go before the 31st!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!!

 

The wanderers are busily planning the travels for the new year and decided to post this classic from the Café de Flore in Paris, which we've been to several times. The additions are the wine glasses given to us by Kerry and obviously the one on the right is for Jo-Anne ... and if you believe that ...

 

 

We actually had a very quiet night of watching movies and drinking some champagne ... however poor ol Bandit looks like he really had a bad night of it and is wondering how he got onto the arm of the loveseat the next morning. Kinda 'chairhair' ... sorry.

What's going on with the wanderers?  I'll post a lot more detail in the next couple of days but:

The Flying Scotsman is still in the RV hobby shop at McClain's south of Fort Worth. It should be back in our hands by next week to make it ready for travel and full time occupancy.

Our lease at the apartment in Dallas is up on the 31st of January so we are madly packing boxes and getting ready to put all house stuff back into storage .... yeah, I know .... again!

So when you put the above two things together we will happily be living on the road again in the RV and see where the "roads untraveled" will lead. Love it.