The last two weeks have been very busy in very many ways. The next two will be equally so, and the finally we will be taking off in the Alfa for a nice trip!
1. Art work: April was a good month. I'm starting to see sales as valued in gallons of diesel fuel! April will fill the tank at least twice.
May was a dud, but I did however receive an order for two sculptures, a Gnu and a White Buffalo. I started them, and will be scrambling to finish and ship them before we leave. Their sale should cover much of the diesel fuel for our trip up to Crater Lake.
2. Painting and safety equipment: Although Craig did consider safety equipment, he decided against it. He finished painting the area he could reach while seated on the walkway, but has now decided to hire someone to do the highest part. Today he is once again climbing up and down on his 20' ladder and working on the lower part of the walkway itself.
One painter came by this morning and will be sending us a bid via email. He gave us two options. Do it thru the painting company he works for at a higher price, or have him and his son do it on a weekend. Since the company has insurance and workman's comp coverage, we will choose that option. What we could save by having them do it on a weekend would be a small drop in our liability bucket if there was an accident! A second painter is coming to look at the job Monday.
An end to this project may be in sight!
3. Toad: Blue Ox and AirForce One are installed and we have towed the Accent. We still have issues with just where we will be hooking up when we leave for our trip. I'm sure once we get used to doing it, finding suitable hook up spots will become second nature. It's just that everything new is so scary! Any words of wisdom on this subject will be greatly appreciated!
4. Alfa repairs: The back corner fiberglass work came out beautifully. The entire back end has been repainted and we are still waiting for a new light glass and a new SeeYa decal. The front spoiler looked pretty good too, but unfortunately we re-damaged it going out of the parking lot of the Hitch Shop. The spoiler is just badly designed! It is way too low. Scraping it on the ground was not anyone's fault. Craig was driving as slow as he could. Some Alfa owners have the spoiler cut off. For now we will not have it repaired again.
Since the Alfa is over at the repair shop anyway, we decided to have them look for the cause of the increasingly annoying "whistle sound" in the cab area we have been hearing when we drive. It has been getting louder.
The report was that the windshield on the driver side has shifted out of the gaskets around it to the degree that it presented a danger of falling out! EEK!
That windshield was cracked and was replaced as part of our purchase in September. We called the dealer, who referred us to the glass installation company, who told us to bring it back and they would fix it. So we made an appointment for Friday morning and drove the 30 miles up there. Although we were told it would probably only take a few hours, we decided to tow the Accent. It was good practice.
It turned out that was a good idea because the glass installer decided to reset both of the front windows. When finished he told us we could drive it, but we should be very careful of going over bumps because the goo was still soft. When asked how long it took to cure we were told "two days."
We knew there are some pretty rough areas on the roads between there and San Jose. We didn't want to damage the seal, but there was no place at the glass company to leave the Alfa for the weekend. What to do?
The La Mesa dealership where we bought her is a short distance from the glass company. We first tried to call them, but got only voice mail connections, so we just drove over there, explained our problem, and asked if we could park her there until Monday. Permission granted. None of the people we had dealt with last fall were around. Since we had not had a good rapport with any of them, we were glad! They said something about being sure we came back on Monday because they had a lot of rigs coming back from a "show". We didn't leave the keys, but will go up there as soon as we are done talking with the painter at the house!
So that's where we are! Hope all is moving along for the rest of you.
At the Camel Farm, Julian CA
Showing posts with label The Alfa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Alfa. Show all posts
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Conflict
A few weeks ago Craig brought up the idea of taking a two day, 12 hours, private RV driving course. He had read an article about it and thought it would be a good idea for us.
Some of the things covered are:
We have booked the lessons in Auburn, December 3rd and 4th.
Auburn is the last town before you start going up into the Sierra's. We know we are pushing our luck on the weather. But we have driven thru there many times on our way to Tahoe to go skiing and we have not seen any snow on the ground.
What we might run into is cold, rainy or windy weather. We hope not, but if we do we will just have to learn under not so nice conditions. It will make driving in good conditions even easier.
The timing couldn't be better for us. Actually if it had been the first week of November it would have been better, but as it is it is just weeks before we take our big trip down to San Diego and to Pasadena for the Rose Parade.
We expect some real driving challenges then. One of the things I don't look forward to is the long pull up over the Grapevine, a rise over a mountain summit, and then coming back down. I think I remember it as having a 6% grade for several miles! The lessons should help prepare one of us for that! One of us will be driving the Alfa, and one of us will be driving the Prius.
We will also be challenged with driving on city streets to the parade in Pasadena, and parking the Alfa in a parking lot with other rigs. Since no slides will be allowed, I have a feeling the spots will be a bit tight.
So what is the conflict?
The drive from here to Auburn is 160 miles. Four hours, five if you count the time to get out of our road. Maybe more if we run into rush hour or weekend traffic.
We had planned on having Craig check in at work for a few hours on that Friday, and then come home so we can take off a little after noon. That gives me time to get all the necessary stuff carted up to The Big White Box.
Thats what we've done the first two trips and it has worked quite well.
But today one of the bosses talked to Craig about being sure he comes to the company Christmas party. Since he is retiring just a few weeks later, Craig figures they might be planning a little going away toast or something.
The party is on the afternoon of the Friday Dec 2nd.
Just when we want to be driving.
We've been talking about it this evening, trying to decide what to do. Change our dates? A week later and we would really be risking winter weather.
Skip the party? I think Craig really wants to go. You only retire once.
The party is going to be held at a winery in the hills above Los Gatos. We have looked at Google Earth to see road to the place and the parking. It looks like we could drive The Big White Thing to the party. Only about a mile and a half of residential and mountain road. Nothing can be worse that our road.
I am going to go drive it tomorrow. If it looks like a "go" we will take the Alfa to the party, I will not imbibe, and can drive up to Auburn. We can stay for the lunch, and then take off.
If it doesn't look like it will work, we will come up with another plan.
Actually, as we talked about it tonight, it seems like fun. We could show off the Alfa to all his soon to be former co-workers. He's been telling them he wants to fix up the house and "drive off into the sunrise." Since the sunset is just down the hill.
Some of the things covered are:
Auburn is the last town before you start going up into the Sierra's. We know we are pushing our luck on the weather. But we have driven thru there many times on our way to Tahoe to go skiing and we have not seen any snow on the ground.
What we might run into is cold, rainy or windy weather. We hope not, but if we do we will just have to learn under not so nice conditions. It will make driving in good conditions even easier.
The timing couldn't be better for us. Actually if it had been the first week of November it would have been better, but as it is it is just weeks before we take our big trip down to San Diego and to Pasadena for the Rose Parade.
We expect some real driving challenges then. One of the things I don't look forward to is the long pull up over the Grapevine, a rise over a mountain summit, and then coming back down. I think I remember it as having a 6% grade for several miles! The lessons should help prepare one of us for that! One of us will be driving the Alfa, and one of us will be driving the Prius.
We will also be challenged with driving on city streets to the parade in Pasadena, and parking the Alfa in a parking lot with other rigs. Since no slides will be allowed, I have a feeling the spots will be a bit tight.
So what is the conflict?
The drive from here to Auburn is 160 miles. Four hours, five if you count the time to get out of our road. Maybe more if we run into rush hour or weekend traffic.
We had planned on having Craig check in at work for a few hours on that Friday, and then come home so we can take off a little after noon. That gives me time to get all the necessary stuff carted up to The Big White Box.
Thats what we've done the first two trips and it has worked quite well.
But today one of the bosses talked to Craig about being sure he comes to the company Christmas party. Since he is retiring just a few weeks later, Craig figures they might be planning a little going away toast or something.
The party is on the afternoon of the Friday Dec 2nd.
Just when we want to be driving.
We've been talking about it this evening, trying to decide what to do. Change our dates? A week later and we would really be risking winter weather.
Skip the party? I think Craig really wants to go. You only retire once.
The party is going to be held at a winery in the hills above Los Gatos. We have looked at Google Earth to see road to the place and the parking. It looks like we could drive The Big White Thing to the party. Only about a mile and a half of residential and mountain road. Nothing can be worse that our road.
I am going to go drive it tomorrow. If it looks like a "go" we will take the Alfa to the party, I will not imbibe, and can drive up to Auburn. We can stay for the lunch, and then take off.
If it doesn't look like it will work, we will come up with another plan.
Actually, as we talked about it tonight, it seems like fun. We could show off the Alfa to all his soon to be former co-workers. He's been telling them he wants to fix up the house and "drive off into the sunrise." Since the sunset is just down the hill.
Friday, November 11, 2011
I was not exaggerating!
My life has been zooming by at high speed lately. So fast that I actually lost track of the days this week!
This will often happen to me when Monday is a holiday. Well, this week, we drove home from the Pinnacles and Monday was an unpacking and getting resettled day, so it felt like a weekend day. When I was making a date to meet fellow bloggers Russ and Donna I thought it was Tuesday when it was actually Wednesday!
Have you ever done that? I'm not loosing my mind, but sometimes I check the day and date on the top of the computer screen or newspaper because I'm not sure what day it really is!
I had a short but delightful visit with Russ and Donna. I wish I had more time, but because we went camping last weekend, I had to keep working so the elephant and warthog will be ready for shipping as promised.
Donna has written a very nice post today about our visit. Craig thinks I was exaggerate the difficulty of parking here.
This is their description of our road and driveway:
And what a road that is!! It has more curves than Kim Kardasian, and more twists than a John Grishom mystery. Not only is it curvy and twisty, it is skinnier than a than a marriage manual written by your maiden aunt Mildred. On one side is a steep drop-off and on the other is mountain side with a deep ditch running alongside. We were terrified driving our little Fit up there! NO WAY would we ever drive a motor home on that road.
So, I was not crazy in being worried. Craig is doing a great job getting it in and out, but it will always be hard and I will always fret the night before.
I'm stealing this picture that Donna took of me and the Elephant I'm currently working on. It's hard to take pictures of yourself, and it shows the scale of my work.
Most of my pieces are a little smaller, but this is an Elephant after all!
**************************************************
I want to thank all of you who left great comments on my post about surge protectors. We have ordered one that will be hardwired into the Alfa. I feel a bit like we have tempted the wrath of the RV Gods by having dared to go out a couple of times without one!
But Craig says to remember the Alfa is almost six years old and has not been damaged. I have a feeling that the only power the Alfa has slurped has been in high end resorts and not at sometimes iffy rustic parks. Why? Because she feels so very "unused." Just a feeling.
Do you get more reliable power in expensive private resorts?
This will often happen to me when Monday is a holiday. Well, this week, we drove home from the Pinnacles and Monday was an unpacking and getting resettled day, so it felt like a weekend day. When I was making a date to meet fellow bloggers Russ and Donna I thought it was Tuesday when it was actually Wednesday!
Have you ever done that? I'm not loosing my mind, but sometimes I check the day and date on the top of the computer screen or newspaper because I'm not sure what day it really is!
I had a short but delightful visit with Russ and Donna. I wish I had more time, but because we went camping last weekend, I had to keep working so the elephant and warthog will be ready for shipping as promised.
Donna has written a very nice post today about our visit. Craig thinks I was exaggerate the difficulty of parking here.
This is their description of our road and driveway:
And what a road that is!! It has more curves than Kim Kardasian, and more twists than a John Grishom mystery. Not only is it curvy and twisty, it is skinnier than a than a marriage manual written by your maiden aunt Mildred. On one side is a steep drop-off and on the other is mountain side with a deep ditch running alongside. We were terrified driving our little Fit up there! NO WAY would we ever drive a motor home on that road.
So, I was not crazy in being worried. Craig is doing a great job getting it in and out, but it will always be hard and I will always fret the night before.
Most of my pieces are a little smaller, but this is an Elephant after all!
**************************************************
I want to thank all of you who left great comments on my post about surge protectors. We have ordered one that will be hardwired into the Alfa. I feel a bit like we have tempted the wrath of the RV Gods by having dared to go out a couple of times without one!
But Craig says to remember the Alfa is almost six years old and has not been damaged. I have a feeling that the only power the Alfa has slurped has been in high end resorts and not at sometimes iffy rustic parks. Why? Because she feels so very "unused." Just a feeling.
Do you get more reliable power in expensive private resorts?
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tea Time in Merikay’s Woods
Craig and I have an evening tradition. At 8:30 PM he makes us each a cup of tea. He gets Sleepy Time and I get Sleepy Time Extra. Sometimes we will have cookies too.
I have been an evening tea drinker fro a long time. It has only been recently (about the last year or so) that he has joined me and has taken over the task of preparing it for us both.
Since I do 99% of the cooking and dish washing, I rather enjoy this small bit of pampering I get each night.
Last night we had our tea up in The Big White Thing.
We went up right after the Stanford game finished, (no good radio, TV or WIFI up there.) So it was a little late.
It’s so cozy up there. We slept there last night too.
Haven’t done that for a couple of weeks.
The weather has been quite mild all week and we didn’t need to run the furnace at all. I kept thinking about all of you who have had an early season snow storm.
Gotta love California!
Monday, October 17, 2011
New Name
I just don't feel like processing pictures today so the images from Moss Landing will just have to wait.
Somehow, when we arrived in Moss Landing we missed the very obvious entrance to the KOA. We went a little way past it and turned around, then we drove past it a second time.
(We were later told by Levonne that she and the manager watched us drive by.)
We stopped down the street from it, and I went into the Post Office to ask directions. Two nice ladies were getting their mail and walked out with me to point out the KOA which was all of a half block away.
They looked at the Alfa and asked: "Is that your Big White Thing?"
When I reboarded the Alfa I told Craig what they had called it and he decided that would be its new name.
"The Big White Thing"
I will probably still call it The Alfa.
Other bits:
We have ordered walkie-talkie head sets to use when getting in or out of our yard, or backing into park spots.
I called and requested an estimate from a stump grinding company to remove the stump which will widen the upper drive a bit.
I ordered a $10 toy Class A RV that I can play with to help me understand how to give better backing up directions.
We will do better next time!
Somehow, when we arrived in Moss Landing we missed the very obvious entrance to the KOA. We went a little way past it and turned around, then we drove past it a second time.
(We were later told by Levonne that she and the manager watched us drive by.)
We stopped down the street from it, and I went into the Post Office to ask directions. Two nice ladies were getting their mail and walked out with me to point out the KOA which was all of a half block away.
They looked at the Alfa and asked: "Is that your Big White Thing?"
When I reboarded the Alfa I told Craig what they had called it and he decided that would be its new name.
"The Big White Thing"
I will probably still call it The Alfa.
Other bits:
We have ordered walkie-talkie head sets to use when getting in or out of our yard, or backing into park spots.
I called and requested an estimate from a stump grinding company to remove the stump which will widen the upper drive a bit.
I ordered a $10 toy Class A RV that I can play with to help me understand how to give better backing up directions.
We will do better next time!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Worries
I know I worry too much. On any given night I can find something to worry about. I guess it's my nature.
The trouble that Judy is having with her Motorhome's breaking system, and the need to have it towed has been giving me some "worry."
I worried a lot about getting the Alfa home and getting it parked on the upper drive. Some of those concerns were validated by the fact that we couldn't get it in until an additional tree was removed.
I still have some small misgivings about pulling it out, turning it around and driving back up our road 1/4 mile of rather steep grade, but these thoughts are not too bothersome. I'll worry about that the night before we do it the first time.
What does worry me is what of something should go wrong with the Alfa, either now or in the future year or so we expect to be here, and we can't get her out? There is no way she could be towed.
Our road, Old Ranch Road, is a long, private, dead end road. There is only one way out. If we got stuck on it, we would block access to 24 other properties. It is unlikely that this would happen, but I can't help but think about it.
We live in a wildfire prone area. Our land burned over sometime in the past. We can see a few burned fence posts and charred redwoods. It could burn again. Every so often in "fire season" we talk about it. I'm of the mind that if a fire is threatening, I'm out of here. It's only a house and lots of "stuff." Craig would try to stay and run hoses.
I think that if a fire was threatening, we should be prepared to just leave the Alfa parked where she is. She can be replaced. If we blocked the road, the owners of the 24 down hill properties could very well sue us.
Fire, breakdowns, not imaginary potential problems, but things we should think thru before they happen.
Right now Craig is running the generator trying to bring the batteries up to a full status. They are new batteries and we have been using the lights a bit on and off. He has run the generator before, but not for very long. I hope the neighbors don't get mad. They are all some distance away, but I hate to pollute the mountain air. I can smell the diesel. Not nice.
Do I sound "down" tonight? I guess I am. I want to go somewhere!
The trouble that Judy is having with her Motorhome's breaking system, and the need to have it towed has been giving me some "worry."
I worried a lot about getting the Alfa home and getting it parked on the upper drive. Some of those concerns were validated by the fact that we couldn't get it in until an additional tree was removed.
I still have some small misgivings about pulling it out, turning it around and driving back up our road 1/4 mile of rather steep grade, but these thoughts are not too bothersome. I'll worry about that the night before we do it the first time.
What does worry me is what of something should go wrong with the Alfa, either now or in the future year or so we expect to be here, and we can't get her out? There is no way she could be towed.
Our road, Old Ranch Road, is a long, private, dead end road. There is only one way out. If we got stuck on it, we would block access to 24 other properties. It is unlikely that this would happen, but I can't help but think about it.
We live in a wildfire prone area. Our land burned over sometime in the past. We can see a few burned fence posts and charred redwoods. It could burn again. Every so often in "fire season" we talk about it. I'm of the mind that if a fire is threatening, I'm out of here. It's only a house and lots of "stuff." Craig would try to stay and run hoses.
I think that if a fire was threatening, we should be prepared to just leave the Alfa parked where she is. She can be replaced. If we blocked the road, the owners of the 24 down hill properties could very well sue us.
Fire, breakdowns, not imaginary potential problems, but things we should think thru before they happen.
Right now Craig is running the generator trying to bring the batteries up to a full status. They are new batteries and we have been using the lights a bit on and off. He has run the generator before, but not for very long. I hope the neighbors don't get mad. They are all some distance away, but I hate to pollute the mountain air. I can smell the diesel. Not nice.
Do I sound "down" tonight? I guess I am. I want to go somewhere!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Shake Down Weekend
Today we went thru some of the systems and checked to see if they work. Most people would do this on a "shakedown trip" but because we are driveway bound, we are doing it at home.
Craig said "we know the bed works, what more do you need?" We've slept up there several nights.
We tried the microwave.
I made popcorn.
It worked fine.
I don't have any instructions for the convection oven, but my in- house ovens are convection so I guess I can figure it out. I did run it five minutes to be sure it heated.
We located the house air filters above the cabinets over the bed, and I brought them down to vacuum them. They weren't very dirty. Either they were cleaned recently or the Alfa was never in a dusty desert environment. I asked our tech where they were, but he didn't know. I found the information in the owners manual.
We ran the hot water heater just long enough to feel the water getting warm.
We turned on the refrigerator for the first time, and let it run on LP. According to the owners manual you should test the temperature by putting a refrigerator thermometer in a glass of water, in the fridge for 24 hours. We set up one in the fridge and one in the freezer and set the temp to "4."
We were going to wait until Sunday to check them, but were up relaxing in the Alfa this evening and couldn't resist looking at them. The one in the fridge read a perfect 40* and the one in the freezer was in a frozen cup of ice reading 0* so we turned the fridge off and will be checking on the temps in the morning to see how it does holding the cold in "off."
We also plan on going up and testing the furnace in the morning. This morning the outside temperature was 48* so it should be cold enough to test run the furnace.
This evening we spent a little time just relaxing and reading our books in the Alfa.
He looks happy doesn't he?
Unfortunately our WIFI doesn't reach the Alfa up at "Camp Merikay," so I can't read blogs, but I can read with my ebook application on my laptop.
I'm writing this back down at the house. We came down so Craig could take a shower and we could have our usual evening tea. We haven't take the cups, water and tea up to the Alfa yet, and there really isn't enough water in the tank for showers.
Not everything is perfect.
We found one light that doesn't work, either because we haven't found the right switch or the bulb is burned out. There is also a terrible buzz in the radio when one of the kitchen overhead lights is on, something that baffles me. And Craig is certain that the refrigerator should run on AC when just the inverter is on. I'm not.
These are things we will have to learn about either from our good RV blog friends, the Alfa Yahoo group, or thru trial and error. They don't seem like big problems. (except for the buzz in the radio.)
So that the news from here for now.
Congratulations to Laurie and George. They may have gotten flooded out of their house, but the bought their Fiver today! Yipee.
Craig said "we know the bed works, what more do you need?" We've slept up there several nights.
I made popcorn.
It worked fine.
I don't have any instructions for the convection oven, but my in- house ovens are convection so I guess I can figure it out. I did run it five minutes to be sure it heated.
We ran the hot water heater just long enough to feel the water getting warm.
We turned on the refrigerator for the first time, and let it run on LP. According to the owners manual you should test the temperature by putting a refrigerator thermometer in a glass of water, in the fridge for 24 hours. We set up one in the fridge and one in the freezer and set the temp to "4."
We were going to wait until Sunday to check them, but were up relaxing in the Alfa this evening and couldn't resist looking at them. The one in the fridge read a perfect 40* and the one in the freezer was in a frozen cup of ice reading 0* so we turned the fridge off and will be checking on the temps in the morning to see how it does holding the cold in "off."
We also plan on going up and testing the furnace in the morning. This morning the outside temperature was 48* so it should be cold enough to test run the furnace.
He looks happy doesn't he?
I'm writing this back down at the house. We came down so Craig could take a shower and we could have our usual evening tea. We haven't take the cups, water and tea up to the Alfa yet, and there really isn't enough water in the tank for showers.
Not everything is perfect.
We found one light that doesn't work, either because we haven't found the right switch or the bulb is burned out. There is also a terrible buzz in the radio when one of the kitchen overhead lights is on, something that baffles me. And Craig is certain that the refrigerator should run on AC when just the inverter is on. I'm not.
These are things we will have to learn about either from our good RV blog friends, the Alfa Yahoo group, or thru trial and error. They don't seem like big problems. (except for the buzz in the radio.)
So that the news from here for now.
Congratulations to Laurie and George. They may have gotten flooded out of their house, but the bought their Fiver today! Yipee.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A Day at the Alfa
I spent much of the day up at the Alfa today, waiting for the mattress delivery.
I have been moving firewood (from all the tree work we had done) down from the upper drive to an area near the house. A few cartloads a day. So I did some of that. We have a DR Power Wagon (a motorized cart) that makes the task something that I can do. I limit myself to logs I can lift easily, but I find I can handle some pretty hefty ones! Craig will have to help me with what's left. Some can be rolled to the driveway. But this is a two man job because the wood is uphill from the driveway, and if there isn't someone to stop the rounds they will continue past the driveway and roll off down into the forest on the other side! Some of the rounds are so large that they will have to be split there before bringing them down. Work for another weekend!
Then I spent a couple of hours in the Alfa doing a some little things. I put hooks inside the cabinet door for my hot pads. I used the new sticky hangers by 3M that promise to be removable. I put some Wonderliner on a couple of shelves.
The cabinet above the sink has a board along the back edge of the lower shelf that is about 3 1/2" wide. A little shelf. As it was, I think anything put there would fall off when the coach is moving. So I lined it with the Wonderliner and made a little front piece by covering a strip of cardboard with contact paper and used Velcro to hold it in place. It's like a pocket now.
It's just right for a stack of plastic glasses and my boxes of zip lock bags plus who knows what else. I thought of Barbara at Me and My Dog when I bought this contact paper at the dollar store because she calls her RV "The Palms!"
I found a place, and installed a hanger for the broom in the corner behind the potty. But the broom handle wasn't compatible with the hook so I designed one that was. I used picture wire and Leopard print Duck tape. (found it at target and just had to have it)!
A good place for the broom, but it looked awful because the stick was bright yellow. I solved that by spray painting it a buff color very similar to the wall. Now you hardly see it, and yet it is handy for a quick sweep. Also found a little waste basket that fits just right!
The only other places to put the broom would have been in the large wardrobe closet, which is inaccessible when the slides are in, or down in a basement compartment.
I feel so clever today!
I can't believe I'm blogging about and taking pictures of brooms and wastebaskets!
While up there I saw several deer pass by the window, and was checked out by a bobcat.
I was up in the driver's area when I saw him walking up the center of the driveway straight toward me. He must have seen me move, because he froze mid step. He stared at the Alfa, and perhaps at me, and then came slowly forward. I lost sight of him in the front blind spot, but the door was open and he came slowly along that side of the coach. When he was only inches from the step, he paused again and looked in, before he continued on his way. I hope he keeps patrolling for rodents in the area!
Finally the truck with the new mattress arrived. Their GPS had sent them in the wrong direction, and I had given them my house phone number so they couldn't reach me for directions!
I'm quite happy with the new mattress. They told us it would feel a bit firmer than the one at the store, and it does, but I found it very comfortable when I tried it. I almost took a little nap!
I have been moving firewood (from all the tree work we had done) down from the upper drive to an area near the house. A few cartloads a day. So I did some of that. We have a DR Power Wagon (a motorized cart) that makes the task something that I can do. I limit myself to logs I can lift easily, but I find I can handle some pretty hefty ones! Craig will have to help me with what's left. Some can be rolled to the driveway. But this is a two man job because the wood is uphill from the driveway, and if there isn't someone to stop the rounds they will continue past the driveway and roll off down into the forest on the other side! Some of the rounds are so large that they will have to be split there before bringing them down. Work for another weekend!
Then I spent a couple of hours in the Alfa doing a some little things. I put hooks inside the cabinet door for my hot pads. I used the new sticky hangers by 3M that promise to be removable. I put some Wonderliner on a couple of shelves.
It's just right for a stack of plastic glasses and my boxes of zip lock bags plus who knows what else. I thought of Barbara at Me and My Dog when I bought this contact paper at the dollar store because she calls her RV "The Palms!"
The only other places to put the broom would have been in the large wardrobe closet, which is inaccessible when the slides are in, or down in a basement compartment.
I feel so clever today!
I can't believe I'm blogging about and taking pictures of brooms and wastebaskets!
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| picture from Web |
I was up in the driver's area when I saw him walking up the center of the driveway straight toward me. He must have seen me move, because he froze mid step. He stared at the Alfa, and perhaps at me, and then came slowly forward. I lost sight of him in the front blind spot, but the door was open and he came slowly along that side of the coach. When he was only inches from the step, he paused again and looked in, before he continued on his way. I hope he keeps patrolling for rodents in the area!
Finally the truck with the new mattress arrived. Their GPS had sent them in the wrong direction, and I had given them my house phone number so they couldn't reach me for directions!
I'm quite happy with the new mattress. They told us it would feel a bit firmer than the one at the store, and it does, but I found it very comfortable when I tried it. I almost took a little nap!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Let me show you the Alfa - a long post
The following post is a reflection on my first impressions of it, and a recap of thoughts I've had during sleepless hours as I visualized what I liked about it.
All of the pictures were shot very quickly after we had decided we were going to buy.
This is just fine with me. I never wanted the washer with the 18 different cycles, nor the sewing machine that could do 67 fancy stitches and was run by a computer. It seems the more electronics something has, the more electronics there are to malfunction! But I think Craig likes electronic gadgets...
For my non-RVing friends who might be reading this, the storage bays on the outside bottom part of an RV are called the basement. Two are shown here.
One of the simplified features is
the floor panel that you put in place under the passenger side chair. It's manual, not electronic. Tsk, tsk, you actually have to fold it up and down by hand. Must take at least 10 seconds to do, but it can't malfunction!
Another thing missing in the cockpit area is a "computer shelf" for the co-pilot. I saw one in a few other rigs and liked it. My lap will just have to do. Not a deal breaker.
A plus in the cockpit are the night shades that pull down over the front and side windows. I like them better than curtains because they are cleaner. Curtains get so dirty.
The upholstery is in good shape and it is pretty comfortable to sit on.
The wood table is not as tiny as it looks. It has a leaf and can be expanded to seat four.
I really like all of the windows the Alfa has. It is one of the lightest coaches we have seen. The downside to that is the dinky venetian blinds. But if they work, they will stay for a while. The carpet is hard to see under the dealer's plastic, but looks like a sad gray- brown color. The other flooring is linoleum. A few nice throw rugs will brighten it up nicely.
I'm a simple person. The wood is pretty basic, but very functional.
There are three huge cabinets above the chair. I measured them and figure they will easily hold my bread maker, crock pot, toaster, blender and iron on the top shelves, and the lower shelves will accommodate a series of baskets for things like tea, dry goods, and other smaller everyday items.
I like the fact that there are several fans. There are two small ones in the front and one in the kitchen, two ceiling fans, and two vents with exhaust fans in the ceiling. I like fresh air, so maybe in moderate weather we can open some windows and move the air around without the air conditioner on all of the time. Some of the windows have screens.
I like the size of the two sinks. It has a cartridge type water filter. The counter space is limited, but I've been practicing cooking with less space and have thought about a few ways to make the best of less room. I like the fact that it has both an oven below and a microwave/ convection oven above.
Because the Alfa is a bit taller than some coaches it has a higher interior ceiling (7'6") and thus there is room for cabinets above the cabinets!
I have never had trouble reaching my top shelves, but I'm going to have to get a step stool to reach into some of these. I have to think about what seldom-used but necessary things to put up there.
I'm happy that it has the larger four door refrigerator. I considered this a must have! I don't really care about the ice maker. I'd rather have the extra cubic feet of freezer space and use a tray or two, but Craig will like it.
The shower and toilet are on one outside wall, and the wardrobe mentioned above is on the other.
The medicine cabinets are generous with six mirrored doors. We don't have that much medicine. I'll have to think of something else to put in them. I hope there's an outlet somewhere there, I can't see one in the picture. I looked around the coach and felt it had lots of them in good places.
Speaking of laundry, about the only thing missing is a washer dryer. Not a deal breaker! I think I will be fine going to a laundromat once a week. That way the wash gets done all at once.
I didn't take any pictures in the bedroom. It has windows on both sides and more drawers and end tables.
The bed is horrible, but that can be changed! My salesman promised to see if he could find a better mattress in one of the other unsold rigs, but in the long run we may buy a new one.
There's a TV in the front and one in the bedroom. I don't watch much TV myself, and use my laptop to watch DVDs and Netflix streaming. But there's a satellite dome and an antenna. It would be funny if the antenna could pick up anything from our mountain home location.
So that's a look our new (to us) second home on wheels. Not perfect, but pretty nice for an "anytime ride".
I'm not sure where our first shakedown trip will go. Craig says just driving it home and parking it here will be an adventure!
We are trimming trees this weekend and I have professionals coming before we bring the Alfa home.
It's going to be an interesting winter in "Merikay's Woods."
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