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| A happy grandma |
As a kid the word was used by my mother as a dire threat and a predicted outcome if I didn't complete my chores. I can still hear her voice “Pick up your room right now or you'll end up shiftless and a vagabond like those men living out by the tracks.” To this day I'm unsure what the correlation was but back then it always resulted in me cleaning my room.
This morning it struck me. Here I am, over a half century later, sitting at the dining table while using a laptop computer (didn't exist when I was a kid) to access the internet (nope, neither did it) to find the definition of vagabond. The fact we haven't been in a house for several years didn't even cross my mind until I read the definition and even then it was jumbled about with the thought that I really need to do laundry at some point today – and figure out where we're going next.
No job: check. Wanders: check. No home: in the classical sense, check.
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| I don't think this qualifies as a crop circle. |
And best of all, my room is picked up.
We returned to Wenatchee to complete our motorhome punch list with a modification to two of the slides and a replacement of our water heater cover. I really can't say it enough just how good All Seasons RV has been to us.
Back in April we arrived with a myriad of items needing repair, replacement, or just tweaking and they really came through. They accepted the challenge of us being vagabonds (full-timers) with the need to have our home back each night and went the extra mile (see what I did there) to ensure each work session ended with a fully functional home each and every time. By coordinating the parts, work, and time in the shop, even though the total time-span was just over three months, the actual work was in the neighborhood of about 32 hours. This was broken down into 5 visits with no session greater than 8 hours which allowed us ample time to return the rig back to the park and continue our hosting duties. This was a novel approach for us and one we'll keep in our bag of tricks if we need it again.
So hats off to All Seasons RV in Wenatchee Washington.
While All Seasons worked on warranty items, my brother-in-law created our first modification to the motorhome in the form of shelves in the bathroom. Outstanding workmanship using old growth fir that will definitely last a lifetime. Chris did the final finish work in sanding and staining and matched the rest of the coach's wood perfectly.
Our tire pressure monitor system finally arrived! After backorders, redesigns and other delays the Tire Patrol system we ordered back in December finally showed up. I'm sure you're wondering why we waited 6 months for a system we could have got cheaper and quicker if we had gone with another manufacturer and answer is pretty straight forward. Simplicity, expandability, and customer service. Unfortunately, there have been some hurdles to clear on this state of the art system so both we and the company are learning new things. Once the dust settles I'll have a full review and lessons learned.
This morning we are in Sutherlin Oregon. We intended to stay away from Oregon until our hosting gig this fall but I couldn't shake the worry of our rig not having a documented oil change in the past two years. Being a lot orphan, Monster's (yes, we did name the rig) only mileage consisted of delivery, short moves around the dealer's lot, and our one trip to Arizona so while the miles were low, I just couldn't shake the idea of having two year old oil. Since we were free of hosting duties, had no set plans, and were close to the border, a quick trip to a no sales tax state to get the service job done seemed to be a good idea.
Just one problem. Full campgrounds up and down the coast. Our only recourse was to stay inland and as luck would have it we found an open park we were familiar with just a short trip down the road. Timber Valley SKP. This beautiful, quiet, slow-paced park is where we had our first experience with the Escapee community and frankly, I have no idea why we had delayed our return until now.
Okay, granted you have to dodge the occasional wild turkey while parking but I don't feel that qualifies as a down check. Peaceful? Oh yes! When a doe is comfortable enough to nurse her fawn on the side of the road it speaks volumes.We'll probably stay the weekend. Oh darn.
