Author: Easin' Along

Last week we posted an article about our new RV and that we would be taking her on a “shakedown” trip to the North Carolina mountains to work out the kinks and familiarize ourselves with her features.  We just returned from that trip on Friday morning. Helen (adorable wife) and I were unsure about a name for our new home away from home, so we temporarily referred to her as Gracey II until we found a name that suited her.  After some head scratching and a few test names, we settled on Lucy just before we left and we’re excited to tell everyone that we LOVE Lucy!

A trip to our mountains this time of the year can present a few challenges with the weather, so we kept an eye on the Weather Channel earlier in the week hoping that things would turn in our favor.  Finally, we got a favorable forecast with no temperatures below freezing during our camping trip.  We loaded up more than enough stuff for two nights at the Happy Holiday Campground in Cherokee, NC. I towed Lucy with Butch (our truck) while Helen drove her car. She would leave from Cherokee for a week of babysitting our granddaughters in Charleston.

Although the weather was cloudy and overcast for the entire stay, we didn’t mind a bit. Our campsite backed up to the creek, and the campground was nearly empty. The stream to the rear was calming though swollen somewhat from all of the recent rain. The view to the front (shown below) was equally serene. Views like these are the reasons we love RVing.

Good weather might have given us a few more options during the time in Cherokee, but we were there to work on our new trailer and will save the hiking for Arizona. I went to work as soon as we unhooked because Lucy needed de-winterizing.

Helen started on the interior doing “nesting” things.  She is a pro at organizing a kitchen and the cabinets.  Most of the things we brought over from Gracey were still in boxes and crates and needed a permanent resting place.  Lucy is six feet longer than Gracey with so much more cabinet, closet, and storage space that we found plenty of room for everything we brought. Nevertheless, I’m confident that we will push it to the limit when we leave on a three-month journey in March. This trip gave us plenty of ideas on how to organize and store additional food and clothing.

By the afternoon of the next day, with much of the interior organized, we planned to work on the storage space underneath the trailer.  This area we refer to as “the basement.” As luck would have it, the rain fell in buckets mixed with heavy, wet snowflakes. Neither of us felt motivated to work outside in that mess so we did what anyone would do in that situation.  We decided to go to the Casino.  Maybe bad luck with the weather meant good luck there.

In the end, our luck wasn’t exceptional, but we did do well enough to pay for dinner. We returned to Lucy with a bag of KFC and watched the Lady Volunteers lose a basketball game. Helen and I did have a better evening than the Lady Vols.

The next morning, I was up early to prepare Lucy for the trip home and cook up a stack of pancakes for Helen before she left for Charleston. The rain had turned to a foggy drizzle, then moved out as she was about to go. I had plenty of time to clean up, hook up, and hit the road.

 

The shakedown trip helped out a lot. Lucy needs a few items tweaked back at the dealership, but nothing major.  The thermostat for the HVAC acted up a bit and probably needs replacing, and some of the door locks are way too stiff for old hands like ours, but that’s about it. I’m grateful we had this opportunity instead of discovering these problems somewhere on the road less traveled.

The pictures scattered throughout this show some the interior of Lucy.  We are very excited about her, the coming year, and the trips we planned. I hope you’ll join us on the journey.  We love Lucy and can’t wait for her to begin…Easin’ Along.

 

It’s January and things are slowing down.  The Christmas rush is behind us, Helen (adorable wife) is in the final stages of celebrating birthday month, and cold days and nights are keeping us pretty buttoned up. On Sunday of this week, the skies cleared, temperatures warmed, and the rain finally moved out.  This delightful weather motivated us to move outdoors so we took the opportunity to attend the annual RV Show in nearby Sevierville, Tennessee.

Readers may remember that last year we went to this same show and a new 26-foot travel trailer followed us home. This year, we vowed not to repeat that event, but we did want to see the latest and greatest of new models for the upcoming season. We also wanted to put our names in all of the door prize boxes.  Maybe we would win a free trip to a fancy RV resort in someplace warm. We made the forty-mile drive under blue skies and the mountains soon came into our view.  

Sunday is the last day of the show and it ends at four o’clock. We arrived at two that afternoon. Nevertheless, the parking lot remained crowded and people still lined up to purchase tickets. Helen and I hustled inside and filled out a few slips for some attractive door prizes (Florida vacations).

Once inside, the new RVs glimmered in the bright lights like well-polished gemstones. There were motorhomes, fifth-wheels, and travel trailers of every stripe. We walked into a motorhome in the first aisle with a list price of over $302,000. The picture below gives a view of the living area all the way to the bedroom. I liked the reclining chairs and the comfortable seating for the driver.  Helen liked the cozy dinette for a place to work puzzles.

The second motorhome (top of page) was a bit larger and featured a fireplace and a cedar closet in the bedroom. It had tons of storage and closet space, a great feature in RVs where storage can be a scarce commodity.  Helen does a great job of organizing our trailer, but more room would be nice.

We toured a fifth-wheel trailer near the rear of the exhibit hall that was about as nice as it gets, although there seems to be no end to the features or floorplans found in modern recreational vehicles. Unlike most fifth-wheels that feature the master bedroom on the “second floor”, this RV placed the living room in that space. Helen cozied up on one of the couches and let the fireplace lure her into thoughts of a nap. I loved the kitchen that featured a full-size refrigerator and lots of very nice cabinetry.  The bedroom also had nice cabinets and a large closet. I could get used to this one…list price $105,000.

In all of the RVs we toured, the one feature that I appreciated most is how well-lit all of them are on the inside. All of the pictures shown here are good examples of the lighting in each, and most of it is efficient LED lighting placed around the RV both overhead and along the floor. An abundance of windows help, of course, but good lighting inside of cabinets, closets, and storage spaces are must-have as far as I am concerned.

As the afternoon wore on, we toured a few of the smaller RVs, such as the Mercedes Sprinter vans, and the smaller coaches known as Class C RVs.  They are all nice and preferred over trailers by some, but we like to park our RV, hook up the utilities, then shop or sight-see by a separate vehicle. We went across the country almost two years ago in a rented Class C that we named Sherman.  We have a lot of fond memories of that trip and both agree that it is a great way to sample RV living without having to make a purchase. We rented that one from Cruise America.

By the time the show closed at four, we had made our way in and out of a lot of RVs but left convinced that our RV suited us as well as anything we saw that day. We managed to keep our vow that a new RV would not follow us home, as well we should because we purchased a new fifth-wheel three weeks ago. I even handed out a slight hint.

We wrote recently about having cocktails in the “annex” during our annual meatloaf party. Well, the annex was our new fifth-wheel parked behind the house and hooked up so that we could share it with our friends.  We love this new trailer, and, after several tries at various RVs, we both agreed that we have it right this time. It has plenty of room, plenty of storage, and is so easy to hook up and to tow. We plan to take it on a “shakedown” trip to the mountains next week to prepare for our trip to Arizona. Please come back for a complete review.

For now, we are naming this trailer Gracey II because we like the name and Gracey I gave us a great deal of fun. Nevertheless, Helen and I are open to suggestions for a perfect name for our new family member.  She is pictured here. We feel so very blessed and are very eager to take our readers with us as we begin another year of just…Easin’ Along.

Right on cue, the doorbell rang at 6:00 pm on January 3^rd. I opened the door and five attractive, well-dressed ladies marched inside, all wearing Mardi Gras masks. Immediately they assembled at the bottom of the steps and began at once to sing.  January 4^th is Helen’s birthday (one of those “zero” birthdays). She had no idea this was coming and that’s what makes our friends such a delight.

Last week I posted about our annual meatloaf dinner which was a fun-filled evening as usual.  The next day I got a call from a member of the group and learned that plans were well underway for the ladies to kidnap Helen and whisk her away to dinner at a downtown restaurant. I was so thrilled for her that I could barely contain myself.  January 4^th is a horrible date for a birthday.  It falls too close to Christmas when no one wants to shop and everyone is partied out…except this bunch.

When the singing began, Helen came out from her she-shed study with a smile so large, I was afraid her face would crack.  Hurriedly, I grabbed my camera to capture the moment, but the flash didn’t sync very well and things came out a bit blurred.  Nevertheless, I posted it anyway thinking that the moment, and the masks, gave out an artsy feel.

The masks have been around for a while.  I think they found them on one of their annual girl’s trips to Hilton Head and seem to come out on rare special occasions. I thought this was a place for them, especially since this occasion featured a kidnapping. Those masks are very realistic, and it is sometimes difficult to determine where the masks end and faces begin.  Here is a group shot.  The honoree is somewhere in the middle. Cuteness reigns supreme!

Champagne from a bottle with screw-off cork (loved it) flowed, with birthday cards read aloud.  I retired to the man cave but kept creeping back to the center of activity as the champagne helped bring the laughter to increasing levels of volume with each humorous card reading. Helen received a gift of a handful of quarters. It seems that her reputation as a casino aficionado has spread. I’m sure they will be a source of good luck.

The doorbell rang again. I opened it to greet Roy, a sharply-dressed young man who owns and operates The Southern Gentleman, a personal concierge service.  Roy was the designated driver for this evening, but he also provides a variety of services to numerous clients around our city. Click here for a link to The Southern Gentleman website.

Roy gathered the champagne and helped the entire birthday party into his impressive SUV.  Everyone gave out a smile to the camera and before I could ask what was for dinner, the doors closed and everyone was off. I think Helen gave me a “Goodbye, Honey”, but I couldn’t be sure. Oh, well…it’s her night, I’ll find a baked potato somewhere and basketball on the tube.

Pictures from the evening began arriving by text. One showed Helen checking out a pair of ice skates beside the downtown ice rink. I hoped they were just props, we had enough knee trouble last year.  Another picture arrived showing the partygoers gathered around the bar at Emelia’s, a favorite downtown restaurant.  Everyone appeared to be in good shape.  The last picture I received featured Helen in front of a menu.  I’m not certain if it came from Emelia, but I agree with the sentiment.

Late in the evening, Roy returned with Helen and one of the celebrants who came to pick up her car. Roy had completed his assignment well and said he had almost as much fun as they did. By that time, I was ready for bed, but not Helen.  She was wound pretty tight so I got to hear about each course of the dinner and a thorough discussion of each dessert. It all sounded lovely, and certainly better than a plain baked potato. I managed to slip away as she counted her quarters.

The next day is her actual birthday: happy birthday and all my best to you, Love.  I doubt that I will top this event so I’ll simply close with a big thank you to our friends once again.

We look forward to 2019 with each of them as, together, we go Easin’ Along.

Footnote: On her actual birthday, it was my turn to kidnap her and take her to our favorite Mexican restaurant.  She was treated to a great dessert, a huge hat, and “Happy Birthday” in Spanish.  Ole!