Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!!!

Seven years ago I met this beautiful lady, we chatted on the phone back and forth for a couple of weeks, then decided to met in person. Our first date was in Victorville, CA. half way between our homes. We met for coffee at Barns and Noble bookstore and instantly felt the connection, next was dinner at a local BBQ place (yes we know, don't eat messy food on a first date). But that was the idea, at our age, we just said, this is us and had a great time. Dinner went so good, we didn't want it to end, so a movie was in order, Meet the Fockers was playing, we laughed till we cried at some parts and just kept enjoying the evening. Before we knew it that first date was over, and we both knew we had found something special. Fast forward a few years, Sheryl's mom (who was quite the lady herself) wanted to know when I was going to make an honest woman out of her daughter?? We had been talking about marriage for a bit already, so it was time to make it official. On June 28, 2008 we married, it was a beautiful ceremony in the back yard of our home in Amarillo Texas. What made it really special was all of our kids were able to come from all over the country to attend.

This year the love of my life and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary with a quiet dinner at a local restaurant here in Alamogordo, NM. The restaurant is Memories and is located in an old 1900 style house which had been converted, imagine a nice Bed and Breakfast decor.

We started with a nice glass of wine and the best Clams in White Wine Sauce we've have ever had.

Dinner was a seafood feast, Grilled Shrimp for me and Grilled/Glazed Salmon for Sheryl. Dinner was excellent as usual for this place and the company even better.

I could not ask for a more beautiful woman, both inside and out to spend my life with. Now we are both living our dream of fulltime RVing, wow I don't think life can get much better!!! So here's to many, many more years together and just Lovin our Life!!!

Off to the Pool, ah, er, Gym!!!

 Last week Sheryl's Physical Therapist began introducing her to weight machines at their facility along with other therapy. We asked her about going to the gym on our own inbetween sessions, and she said that would be really good for her. Well, since we are here at a military base, we have access to the base gym, and this one just so happens to be a really nice one. They have every different weight/aerobic machine you could imagine as well as many other activities. So we started going and hope to go at least every other day until we leave for the road next month.

An added benefit of the gym is the indoor lap pool, it's nice to jump in and have a relaxing swim after a good workout. Plus on these 100+ degree days it's great for cooling off. We'll miss this bennie when we leave here, but plan on taking advantage of the gyms at various bases web visit on our travels. The PT has also given Sheryl plenty of exercises she can do at home, so those will help keep her (us) limber when a gym is not available. Between the treadmills, weights and pool we have been getting quite the workout, and both hope to be in better shape before long.

That's it for today, we're just trying to stay cool and don't plan on being in this heat next year. Take Care and see you on the next go round.

New Juice for Big Red

 We'll, it seems as if Big Red has been getting jealous of the Scout with all the attention she's been getting lately. So ole Red decided to let her batteries peter out and just go bad all together (that'll teach them to ignore me!!!) I've been having to charge the batteries more and more lately, as when I hop in the truck to starter up, shes just dead. Well I finally had enough and took her into the dodge dealer to be checked out (incase it was something else) and they confirmed the batteries were bad. Ok, kinda figured that, however what I didn't figure on was what they wanted to charge to install 2 new batteries. The Service Rep gave me a call here at the house with the quote, and after I picked myself up off the floor, said I'd be down to pick the truck up and see if I could do better in town. The good news is, there was no charge for the diagnosis (have to hand it to this dealer, they have been very good to us over the years) but they were going to charge $380.00 to install the 2 batteries. (see why I almost fainted). I picked up Big Red, and drove down to the Car Care Center here on base because I knew they sold Interstate Batteries and to see what they would charge (at least I could save on the Tax). Long story short I walked out with 2 new Interstate Batteries @ $89.00 Each, compared to $175.00 each at the dealer. So for a total bill of $179.00 I saved $201.00, We're happy campers!!!

So after around a 1/2 hour of work installing them, Big Red has a nice new pair of batteries. I must also comment, that the new ones have 100 more cranking amps than the factory replacements from the dealer, so even a better deal.

I thank everyday that I decided to stick it out and make the Air Force a career. The end retirement check is not a good as some, but not bad at all. What does make up for it, is the other benefits you don't think about. These save us alot of money through out the year and add conciderably to our quality of life. The above is just a small example of that.

Well, another unexpected hick-up taken care of, and another day closer to heading out at the end of July. Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you on the next go round.  

Little Change, Big Improvement

It funny how the smallest changes can make the biggest difference. In this case, quality of life. I was reading the Scouts owners manual (I know, say it's not so) and it suggested a 60 psi water regulator to protect the RV's plumbing. We have been using a 40-50 psi regulator on the trailer and just transferred it over to the Scout when we hooked her up. and the water pressure was, lets just say, dismal. While we were at the RV Doctor the other day, we picked up a 50-55psi Hi-Flow regulator, brought it home and replaced the old one. All we can say is WOW what a difference that made, the shower now feels like a real home shower!!!  Of course all the other faucets work that much better also, but the shower is best. The other big change (which actually came with the rig) is the 10 gallon Hi-Intensity water heater, we have yet to run out of hot water, and that's taking back to back showers and not turning the water off during each one. Ahhhhhh life is good!!!

We have a window behind the head of our bed with the Day/Night shades. We both like to sit in bed in the mornings, have our coffee and make some valid attempt at waking up. We found ourselves leaning against the shades, as well as the pillows hitting against them as we were going to sleep. We decided to look at putting a headboard up to save the shades from our daily assault on them. While at Hobby Lobby (you remember Sheryl's favorite store) we found this rustic but lite headboard. Sheryl's wheels started turning and she told me her plan for it, so we picked it up. Once we got it home, she went right to work with the transformation. She had some left over batting from a quilt she made, plus a bed skirt from the new bedding set. So after a little cutting, stapling and hot glue gunning, we had a headboard to match our bedroom. We both think it turned out pretty good, and it keeps us from destroying the shades protected behind.

That's it's for today's home improvement projects, really not much to do in the Scout, just little changes that make a big difference. So until next time.....you know the drill.....see you then.

A Day at the Doctor (RV Doctor that is)

 A couple of days ago, it was time to empty the black tank and well the ole girl just seemed constipated. Pulled the handle on the tank and nothing, not that lovely sound of rushing stuff through the hose, just dead silence. Of course my first thought was, oh this isn't good. Well after trying several different home remedies, she just wouldn't give it up, so an appointment was made with the doc. Our appointment was yesterday so we hooked up and made it to the doctors office around 10:00 for what should have been a 2 hour procedure. Sparing you the gorey details, 6 hours later, she was ready. The diagnosis, lets just say she was really constipated. Seems the previous owner (not a true RVer) who just lived in the trailer, thought it was ok to leave the black tank valve open all the time (which we were unaware of). Well, as all you fellow RVers, know what that leads to, yup, 6 hours of flushing out the tank and a new valve.
  

 Knowing the surgery was going to take a good cut out of our wallet, we decided to rub salt in our wound and spend a couple of hours at the DMV. You see we have been in New Mexico of over three years now and finally decided to get our Drivers License's, heck we had nothing else to do. We thought spending a few hours with a bunch of happy like minded individuals was just what we needed to take our mind off our Scout being at the doctors office. We both walked away with a shiny new Drivers License and are now official New Mexicans.

A quick word on our choice to become New Mexico residents. Most folks in the fulltime RV world have their residency in FL, TX, SD and other states with no income tax. We chose to stay in NM, as all of Sheryl's doctors are here, the cost of living is low, taxes are low as well as vehicles registrations, etc. We did live in TX for a while and learned, even though there in no state income tax, the state sure gets their money out of you in various other ways, so it works out about the same in the end.
 

So towards the end of the day and with her digestive system feeling all better, we made it back to our spot at Holloman AFB. When we pulled up, I thought, we don't have any pictures of our new rig and our new truck together. So a couple of shots later and here they are. This was also our first time pulling the Scout with Big Red, and as you could imagine, she did just fine with her Cumins Diesel engine.

One last thing we discovered during our hook up and travel to the shop, is the front landing gear is shot and needs to be replaced. We had the repair shop order us a new system and it will be installed next week. (more on that later) We also knew going in that buying a pre owned rig, you take a chance with things going wrong. Good news is, shes paid for, so no big payments on top of issues coming up, and we also budgeted for any fixes that may rear their ugly head. Life is still good, just with a little lighter wallet

That's all for this installment, we'll see you next time and of course, keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours. 

New Toys For The 5ver

 Yesterday and today we picked up a couple of toys for the 5ver and also got one in the mail. The first was the new Capture plate needed for the Pullrite Superslide Hitch to operate correctly. The capture plate fits over the king pin and up against the kingpin skid. The new plate is held in place with bolts. The top pic is the kingpin with out the plate and the second is with it. The Y at the rear of the plate matches the Y notch on the hitch allowing it to lock together and turn as one unit. Woooo Hoooo now we can actually tow our rig with our own truck!!!

 The next items are more for convenience and to make life on the road just a little bit better. Back when we had our house I had a nice portable air compressor, however it was alittle to big to take along in the trailer. We ended up selling it, as I had a nice little 12v compressor that did the job. Well, with the 5ver and the larger tires requiring 80psi the little 12v job is just not up to the task. Today I found a nice small in size 120v air compressor at Home Depot, and just the right size to fit in the outside storage compartment. I tested it out on the 5th Wheel tires and it only took a couple of minutes to bring them up to 80psi from 60psi. I like it!!!

Our next purchase was a vacuum, we had been looking at small stick vacuums, since we only have carpet in the bedroom, we just need something small. Then while shopping for the compressor I ran across these little Shop Vacs. I talked it over with Sheryl and we decided it would work fine for the bedroom and do double duty as a regular shop vac if needed (we have needed one in the past). So for less than $100.00 for the two we walked away with life becoming just alittle better.

Sheryl hasn't quite finished her decorating project yet, so we'll have keep you in suspense just alittle longer. Sheryl's Physical Therapy is coming along nicely as well as good news from the pain management doctor, looks like she'll be running circles around me pretty soon!!! She can't wait!!!

Things are coming together and looks like our departure for the open road is going as scheduled, end of July, and we are both so looking forward to it.. That's it for this installment, so keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours.

Out With the Old and In With the New



In famous Sheryl fashion, it didn't take long to begin making our new 5th Wheel fit our style. One of the first things to go was the that hideous futon it came with (the previous owner was so proud of it). We replaced it with a new small sized couch/chaise lounge, and wow is it comphy!!! Good thing is it fits in the same space as the original RV couch, maybe just a little longer.  It looks kinda big it the space, however we like the way it helps define the living area and separate it from the dining/kitchen area. You also may think that with it's size comes alot more weight, good thing is, it's not very heavy at all. We also removed one of the 2 big rocker recliners to give us more room. So with replacing the original couch, and the extra chair, the weights for the trailer pretty much remain the same.

So our little house is coming together, once again it's beginning to look like a small apt rather than a trailer and that's the look we are going for. We are also awaiting a package from Brown Santa (UPS) which will actually allow us to move the trailer, so, we'll so you that when it comes in.

Ok, take care and see you soon!!!



New Shoe's and a Surprise???

 When we bought the truck, the tires were, well, just about worn out. So, with the sale of the trailer it was time for Big Red to get some new shoes. After scouring the internet for good deals, we decided on a set of Cooper All Terrains from Discount Tire. I prefer buying tires from national chains, mainly for their road hazard warranty and the number of stores located around the country. This way if something happens, theres a good chance There will be a store nearby. I know a lot of folks don't believe in buying the road hazard warranty, but with the number of miles we put on our rigs as Fulltimers and some of the rough off road travel  we do, for us it's peace of mind.

 I've never used Cooper tires before, but have read a lot of good reviews on this particular tire. Discount was out of the tire I originally had in mind, these Cooper's were a more expensive tire, but they came down on the price to match the ones they were out of. Some folds may disagree, but I've always had great customer service at Discount, and this time was no exception. So we'll see how the Cooper do out on the road.

While we were on our road trip for tires, Sheryl has some decorating ideas for the new rig, so a stop at her favorite store was in order!!! You can see she has a pillow from our new couch (too be delivered on Tuesday) to match up colors. You maybe wondering just what she has up her sleeve...................you'll just have to wait and see..............I know, it's not nice to tease!!! After a long day it was back to the campground, a lot of miles to take care of these couple items. I love the small town atmosphere of Alamogordo, however you have to travel abit for big city stores and amenities.

That was our day yesterday, and a couple more checks off the list to getting back on the road at the end of next month. Ok, thats it for now and we'll see you next time.

Sold!!!

 Our little trailer sold in just 3 days!!! Wooooo Hooooo!!! We had a couple travel 150 miles to look at it and bought it on the spot. We came down a little from what we were asking for it, but feel we both got a good deal. We also did a good deed for a family down on their luck, let me explain. The couple who bought the trailer are not true RVers, but rather a couple who fell on hard times. The gentleman had his identity stolen and this caused them to lose everything they had to include his job. Hard to believe criminals can have such power over you. The couple managed to save X number of dollars over the last year and needed to buy a place to live. Believe it or not, they have been living in a utility trailer for the past year, with no power or water at all, man that is true love to stay together through that. They drove the 150 mile here and their truck started acting up, to the point they can not tow the trailer back home, (bad luck strikes again). After talking it over with Sheryl, we decided, we would tow the trailer back for them (heck we have nothing else to do, we're retired!!!) You would not believe how grateful these folks were, on top of that, they were just the sweetest couple, and just down on their luck. There were some other issues that we worked together on, but long story short, we were able to sell our trailer and at the same time, help out some good folks in need, we feel really good!

So around 2:00 pm we all got on the road, we towed the trailer from Holloman AFB (south central NM) to southwestern NM. Sheryl had never been to this area of NM, so that was an added bonus for her. I'm sure most everyone has heard of the fires burning in AZ. In the picture above, that low cloud on the horizon is actually smoke from the fires blowing into NM, and this is the smaller one burning in southern AZ.

After dropping the trailer at their RV site (yes they were actully living in a small utility trailer, wow) it was getting to be dinner time. They recommended a local steak house for dinner, so we said our goodbyes and off we went. All we can say is the dinner was GREAT and one of the better ones we have had out in a long long time. As you can tell I've purposely left out the name of the town in which they are staying to protect their privacy. However, if you would like the name of the restaurant and town, just drop us an email and we'll hook you up. This place is well worth it if you are in Southwest NM.

So that's it, the trailer is sold, and a good deed done to boot. We're one step closer to getting back on the road, can't wait. Ok, until we meet again, keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours!!!

Cleaning Day

We finally got everything moved over to the new rig, so today was a day of cleaning both. Sheryl worked on cleaning the travel trailer and getting the inside presentable for sale. We have it listed on Craigslist and are hoping for some good news and a quick sale. As Sheryl worked on the Trailer, I worked on washing the outside of the new rig, well at least getting the first layer of grime off. Seems as if it had not been washed in a long long time. Even got up and did the roof, after a few hours we were finally done, man what a job. Next step will be to give her a good coat of wax (the rig not Sheryl). 

Sheryl also went for her second Physical Therapy session and to our surprise it's working already. With nothing more than a few of the right stretches shes actually feeling some improvement. So things are looking up for us.

Not much else for us, just enjoying the new rig and all the room. Still trying to get organized, but that is with any new place. So that's it for now, take care and as we say..........well, you know the drill............see you next time.  

Our New Rig!!!

 She's finally here, our new to us 5th Wheel. It's a 2001 Sunnybrook Mobile Scout, 33' Triple Slide. There are 2 opposing slides in the living area with a rear entertainment center, and 1 slide out in the Bedroom.

 The day started out bright and early with a trip down to El Paso to pick it up. We were so excited about picking it up, we forgot to take pictures. After spending some time with the owner, and going over some last minute items, we were on our way back with our new rig, Wooo Hooo.  I must say, she pulled like a dream, and that was pulling it with our neighbors GMC 2500 Gasser. We had to borrow our neighbors truck as we needed a regular hitch, until we can order the proper kingpin plate. Can't wait to see how the Dodge does. Once we made it back to Holloman, the real fun began, moving everything from the trailer to the 5ver.

 Amazing how much stuff we had in that small trailer!!!

 The outside needs a good wash and wax, but other than that is in pretty good shape. Here's a few pic's of the outside.

 The previous owner had the carpet removed and replaced with wood flooring, nice. Once again we were able to fit (with a little modification) our 40' TV, got to love the big screen!!!. He also left us a nice stereo receiver and DVD player. Here's a few pics of the interior.

It sure is amazing how much more room there is, both inside and storage outside. How did we ever make it before.....lol. The rig does have a couple of minor issues, that we have taken care of already or are in the process of taking care of, but we knew that going in. For a 2001 model it's in pretty good shape though and we feel we came away with a good deal and a really nice rig for what we paid. Sheryl has some decorating ideas, she will be doing. We will also be changing out some of the furniture to more fit our style.

This rig is going to make our fulltiming adventure much more comfortable. We may not beable to get as far into the backcountry as we could have with the trailer, but we still have the truck to take us there. So that is our new rig and we are very happy, so as always, keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours!!!