Izzy's Last Adventure

We finally took another trip. It was a long time between the June Campout with the Happy Tennessee Travelers and our trip up to the Hershey RV show.

After our last big trip in May, we had pretty much decided that Izzy, our Dynamax Isata 3, just was not big enough for longer trips. She lacked interior as well as exterior storage. Since we also travel with our dog and cat, it was just too uncomfortable, and so the search for a new rig began.

Hershey seemed the logical destination since the annual RV show was approaching, and so we headed out in Izzy.

After 3 days, we arrived in Hershey a couple of days early. It gave us some time to stock up the fridge and pantry, go to Hershey Chocolate World and just prepare ourselves for searching out all the different RVs that interested us.

We actually thought we would end up with a Newmar, because of the quality. Unfortunately, they didn't have a floor plan and storage that would work for us.

We also looked at the Coachmen Mirada. It was nice, but seemed way to big and still that external storage didn't seem to be enough.

The one that grabbed us? The Winnebago Adventurer 27N. It had the accessible exterior storage and floorpan that spoke to us. On Friday, September 20th, we took delivery in Syracuse, New York after a visit with family in the Buffalo area.

Izzy? Izzy was traded in. Bye, Izzy.


You can catch our adventures in our new rig, Wandering Wanda, here

Camping with a Group!

While in Perry, Georgia at the Family Motor Coach Association convention, hubby and I joined an FMCA chapter, specifically, the Happy Tennessee Travelers. It's not a huge group, but it is pack with lots of fun members.

This past weekend, we spent it camping at the Clarksville, Tennessee RV Park. We had so much fun. The food, oh my. Our Saturday evening dinner, hosted by Debra and Glenn Joyner, was a low country boil. I swear, I ate a pound of shrimp along with all the other good things.

Friday night, there were severe thunderstorms, and it took part of a tree down onto the cab of a truck with a 5th wheel. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Saturday morning, after clearing the limb, the owners were able to drive off in their truck, hauling their fiver!

There are a lot of people who enjoy games. I played two new ones to me - Sequence and Jokers and Pegs. Some people call Jokers and Pegs, the Dirty Board game. Both were games of strategy and I enjoyed both immensely.

Sunday night we spent in our RV dealer's lot, waiting for an early morning service call. The fascia I broke on the slide the first week of ownership, has now been replaced. Clips were installed on a couple of the the screens, to hold them in place, and we now have the return of our little light that shows we are connected to electricity. The drawer under the dining bench seat was repaired, only to have that fail on the way home. They were something I had to have mainly because the interior storage is sadly lacking. I am hoping tips I received from other Dynamax owners will prove effective.

As always, I am glad to be home at the S & B place, mainly to enjoy the pool in the Tennessee heat, and think about the next trip.

The Trip - Part 4 - The Visits

The whole purpose of our trip was to visit with family and friends. First up was our friend, Mike with whom hubby worked with at Ford many years ago. He was nice enough to pick us up and we ate at Rivers Edge microbrew in Milford, Michigan. It was pretty close to where we staying.

Next was one of my sisters, Diane and her hubby Pat. We drove our rental car out to where they live, near a lake. We had dinner at Captain Joe's, if my memory serves me. The food was good and we had a great time with them.

Family

For lunch the next afternoon, we met up with friends from an investment club hubby belonged to when we were first married until 1988 or 1989. We've kept in touch and it was good to see them again. Lunch was at the Block Brewery in Howell.

The following day, we went to Brighton, to the home of one of hubby's cousins. It was so nice to visit with them. Hoping they had as good a time as we did.

On Thursday, we had lunch with friends that I went to high school with. Some of us look a lot older and some still look the same.  That lunch was at Leo's Coney Island.

High school friends.

On Friday, lunch again, this time with hubby's cousins from his mom's side of the family. We discovered Red Robin has really awful coffee.

We met up with The Wild Ones and spouses on Saturday. The Wild Ones are my genealogy friends with whom I have shared many research hours and research trips to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We've been friends a long time and it is always good to see them. Lunch with them was at the Draught Horse Brewery in New Hudson.

Wild Ones

And Spouses

The Trip - Part 3

After the visit with my sister, we headed out the next day to Zeeland, Michigan to visit with my Percival cousins on day 15. It had been a while since we last saw them, and we had a really nice visit. My cousin, Mary, made me these cute potholders and a scrubby for the RV. The first thing I used was the scrubby. I love it. The potholders haven't been used it. I'm looking for a place to hang them. They're really too cute to use.

We started the homeward trek on the 16th. Our intention was to spend two nights on the way home but the most convenient campground had no openings, and we were within reach so we headed home. For most of the trip, our Garmin RV 770 led us true. On the last leg of the trip, it confused us and we made a wrong trip. My reaction was let's turn around and go back and get on the right road. Instead we followed the Garmin. Garmin did not know about a bridge being out and led us through to where we had to follow a detour on country roads. OMG. I was never so glad to get out of Kentucky and back in Tennessee. So it was on the 17th day, we arrived back at home.

The Trip - Part Two

On the 13th day of our trip, we broke camp and headed up to northern Michigan to visit with my older sister and her husband. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law was a bit under the weather, but we did have a great visit with my sister. We had a nice lunch at Burke's on one of the lakes in Cadillac, Michigan. 

We stayed at Camp Cadillac. It really wasn't busy, with the weather still on the coolish side. But we were treated for the two days that we were there to a tree-carving in progress. Apparently the oak tree that the bear was carved from had to be taken down. I'm glad that we saw this work in progress.

The Trip

Hubby and I and dog and cat returned from a 17 day trip up to see friends and family in Michigan. It was quite eye-opening.

First, not all campgrounds are created equal. Our first night stop was interesting. The people were nice. Very nice. But the spots were extremely small and not particularly level. But it was a place to stay after a long day of driving I-65 from mid-Tennessee to Clarksville, Indiana. This place also boasts being a KOA.

The first night it rained. Thus began a wet trip. The next two nights were in Elkhart, Indiana at the Elkhart campground. It was nice, we had a pull through spot, but more rain ensued. We did take one factory tour on Friday, packed up and in the morning, turned in our rental car and headed to Michigan.

As it turns out, we were closer to Michigan than I expected. Still took a few hours to get to our destination, Haas Lake Park RV Campground. We lived in southeast Michigan for years and can't tell you how many times we may have passed the street this campground is on. We had one day where we could put up the awning - the first day. We had about a 30 degree drop in temperature from when we left  Tennessee.  The second photo is our view of one of the lakes.

We were there for nine nights. During that time we visited with friends and family, with something going on every single day. While we hated to leave the campground, the muddy road in and out was awful. Izzy really needed a bath when we got home.

Campout!

We joined an FMCA Chapter while in Perry, Georgia last month. This group, Happy Tennessee Travelers, has campouts every month from April to October. We joined the April Campout which was held in Pikeville, Tennessee.

It was a nice campground with pretty good facilities. Which was good because we had rain every day.  Friday evening we all met for dinner at the pavilion which was bring your own. Saturday, breakfast was potluck, bring your own beverage, although coffee was available. Saturday lunch, you were on your own. Some of the group made their way into town for an auction. Apparently, it was very crowded. We took the opportunity to play pool in the game room.

Saturday evening was again a potluck. There are a lot of great cooks in this group. I haven't really learned to cook in my convection microwave. As you can see I am not even on eye level with the center of the microwave. I'm also leery about using a step stool since I tend to forget I'm standing on one. I do have some great recipes that would lend themselves to convection microwave.

I wish I had taken more photos. I spent my time meeting and trying to remember the names and faces of the other people there.

We had a lot of fun until Saturday night, Sunday morning when we had thunderstorms with a lot of wind. I don't think we've ever camped in that much wind. Hubby is an early riser and made coffee and breakfast for himself. When I got up later and went to make coffee and breakfast for myself, we discovered the power was out. I am very thankful for our propane generator.

We discovered it is not so bad having a rainy weekend with other campers.

Still Here -- More Stuff for the Dynamax Isata 3

No, we did not fall off the face of the earth after returning from Perry, Georgia and the FMCA convention. One of the things we returned with was allergies due to the high pollen count. Poor hubby caught the norovirus, pinkeye and is now dealing with allergies due to the high pollen count at home.

The Defiance Tools e-bikes we ordered from https://www.clarboard.com were delivered and hubs and I assembled them. Assembly consisted of unfolding the handlebars, adjusting the seat, putting air in the tires and putting on the pedals. The jury is still out about whether or not the fenders will be installed. I'm considering painting my fenders first.

My older daughter and I did test them out. Oh my, they are fun.

Safety first, hubs and I finally shopped for and bought helmets. And bought a trailer hitch bike rack. Our next camping trip is coming up soon and now we are prepared.

Peachy in Perry - Seminars and Shopping

There was so much to do at the FMCA convention in Perry, Georgia that Hubby and I took one day to shop. We had already purchased a tire pressure monitoring system, a temperature monitoring system for the interior of the RV, and OMG, vibrating pillows. We walked, we took the trams, we looked at RVs. Some of the days were pretty cold and gloomy. But it didn't stop us from walking and walking and more walking.

We shopped for e-bikes. More importantly, they had to fold for transportation. We looked at Jupiter bikes, which were purely electric. Wow! Those things start up quickly. We looked at Freedom Trikes, electric trikes that were a ball to ride. But, I told hubby, I didn't think we'd be likely to take those to a state park. Let alone lift them on and off the hitch rack. Finally, we found B-2 e-bikes. They started up by pedaling, get them moving and kick it into electric gear. We're currently waiting for those to be delivered.

One night, we attended a Chapter block party. This particular Chapter was a group from Tennessee that we joined. It's a small group and we look forward to some adventures with them.

Everywhere we went, we met the nicest people. I'm so glad we got into camping. Hubby, who had never camped a day in his life before we bought an RV had a great time.

FMCA 99th Convention - Peach in Perry (Georgia)

Hubby, Champ, Mouse and I attended our first Family Motor Coach Association Convention in Perry, Georgia last week. I can't believe how many people were there and how well organized it was. A lot of people showed up early, some in large groups. Since this was our first convention, we were allowed to show up on March 11th, two days before the start of the convention.

We were in Lot A on 3rd Street. Except for a handful of class Bs, another handful of class Cs (we were parked between a Forest River Sunseeker and a Thor Siesta Sprinter SK (rear bed) we were surrounded by class A motorhomes of all shapes and sizes. The red one you see there is a 1962 Flxible. It's for sale. Unfortunately, I did not photograph the sale info. It looked pretty awesome. The big green generator was just one of the many in family parking. This one supplied 30 amps to quite a few RVs. Those big suckers aren't too noisy, if you don't have to park next to them. It took a while for them to start some of the generators because at least 50% of the sites had to be occupied. 

We had water as long as our water tanks held out. Our 35 gallon water tank on our Isata 3 probably does not hold 30 gallons. We had it filled once and the black and gray tanks emptied while we were there. It was a unique camping experience. We discovered we like full hookups the best!

Izzy’s First Big Trip

I started this last week on arriving at Georgia National Fairground for FMCA convention.

This is the week of the Family Motor Coach Association’s 99th Convention. It is being held in Perry, Georgia. It is also our first time attending and the first week long trip with Mouse our cat and Champ our dog. Champ does not particularly like cars.

The first day, he whined and cried for anout 45 minutes - about halfway to Chattanooga from our house. Then blessed quiet until we stopped at the Georgia Welcome center. Then whining for a few minutes more.  All was good until we got in line to be parked. He cried so loud, we pulled him out of his crate and he laid down on the floor. So far both are doing better than expected.

We are in a parking area where we are hooked up to generators. I had been worried about the noise, but its been ok.

Izzy performed wonderfully on the highway. She/He handles very well. We still have less than 2000 miles on Izzy, but are pleased with the performance.

Isata 3 Storage Bay

While hubby and I are waiting to embark on our next trip, we took the time to clean out the exterior storage bays. We measured them, took pictures and replaced items. Then I sat down with my scrapbooking software (MyMemories) and made a scrapbook that integrated the pictures we took with the measurements and the contents.

The background of the page is there only for the purpose of viewing on this blog. It's been an interesting project!

Cold Weather Prepping Our Isata 3 Series Dynamax

It's cold here in Tennessee. Not the butt-numbing cold of the northern states, but it's cold nonetheless. Hubby and I grew up in Michigan where we met, married and raised our kids. Eleven years ago we left Michigan and moved to Middle Tennessee, which we love. For the most part our winters are relatively mild with averages in the upper 30s to mid 40s and lots of rain.

This week however, it is cold. We woke this morning to snow flurries and temps in the teens. While the sun did come out, it really didn't warm up. Tonight it's supposed to be colder still. We're ready for it.

Monday we took our beloved Isata 3 "Izzy" to Christiana, Tennessee to A & L RV Sales for some warranty work. Hubby also had the brilliant idea to top off the propane tank while we were there. Smart man.

First, they fixed the black tank issue so it doesn't dump on us. That was the major issue. Second, they replaced the seal on the back of the bed slide. No more gaps! Third, there are two window screens that don't fit right. New ones were ordered. And finally, fourth, was the piece of trim I broke which will be ordered.

One of the best things about having an RV is having a fridge and taking your lunch with you. We stopped in Lebanon, Tennessee at an outlet mall and had our lunch there and did a little shopping while we were there. Our last stop was the gas station to top off our tank in preparation for the cold weather.

One cold weather memory I have of Michigan that really sticks out is the winter somewhere in 1996 or 1997 when we had temps of -28F. Yes, that says MINUS 28 degrees Fahrenheit. We lost power, the kids had no school and by the time the power came back on it was near 50F in the house.

This year, we are prepared for power failures with our sweet little Isata 3 series by Dynamax. Our propane tank is full and the generator works great. The bed is made and it's ready for hubby, me and our dog and cat should the need arise.

The Drain Post - Isata 3

Hubby and I are trying to avoid taking a bath in waste water when it's time to dump Izzy's waste tanks. A friend and very experienced RV-er, Carol over at Reflections from the Fence, had a solution.

First, let me remind you that our sewer pipe is 10 inches back from the side of the RV. Second, we needed an extender. On measuring, it seemed that a 5 inch extension pipe and then the twist on dump valve would be ideal. 

The first picture shows what we would expect to be our ideal configuration. Except that the valve hits the bottom of the RV. Also, the cap, after being detached from the original location fit great putting it on, but in taking it off, the valve came off too!  The bottom photo is the current configuration. I have no faith in that. The problem seems the extension. I think when it gets warm again (barely above freezing here now - where are those 60 degree days when you really need it) we will attempt to remove the extender and just attach to the sewer pipe. 

Hubby still doesn't think it will remain in place when we drive.