Although mostly the "same ole, same ole" is the status quo; I thought I would post an update. We have been mostly working, coming home to our motorhome in the evenings, relaxing and preparing for the next day of work. Exciting life style eh?
We have been going to the "sticks and bricks" on weekends to sort through some of our belongings and prepare to get rid of a lot of stuff. I still have not taken any steps towards the major repairs to our house, I am trying to decide if I should have the repairs accomplished or sell the house "as is" at a discounted price. I know the quicker I sell the house, the quicker I may be able to retire and travel a whole lot more.
Another decision I am wrestling with concerns where to have some warranty work done on our coach. I have taken it to a local service center that will do the work, but I don't know if I am getting the same quality of work that I would at the Tiffin factory. I need the front heat pump checked out, a leak at the bottom of the entry door solved/repaired, the dining room slide checked out/adjusted, and as of late the home entertainment system repaired (HDMI cable came apart). I have to wonder how long it would take at Red Bay and if I would need to take one week of leave or two??
That is just a quick summary of what is happening in our lives presently. We hope to take another leisurely weekend trip soon (we sure need it). Until next time may God bless us all.....
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Repairs, Adjustments and HIGH Data Usage!
Time for an update. We had a pleasant (except for Dallas traffic) and productive trip to Hickory Creek COE park. Camping World in Denton installed our new sleep number bed and we are both happy with it (still trying to find my number). We made it back to Barksdale AFB Famcamp (home base for now) on Monday afternoon. We have settled back into a routine of up early, off to work and then home around dark for dinner, maybe a tv show and bedtime. Oops forgot to mention, all the time counting down to the weekend!
We still love our new home on wheels, although we keep finding minor things to get repaired or adjusted. I discovered the fantastic fan in the front bathroom does not raise by the power button, only manually (probably a connection loose). The front heat pump seems to only put out cool air, no matter what the temps are outside (i.e.: above 45 degrees). One problem I found may not be so minor. Every time it rains there is water in the bottom of our door, the metal threshold part. I cannot find where it is coming from and the techs at Bayou Outdoor Service Center thought they had it solved and repaired, but the next rain has proved them wrong! It may be time to plan a trip to Red Bay.
We have not had satellite hooked up as of yet and I am still trying to decide which service to use. Dish has the “pay as you go” service. You buy the receiver then pay for 1 month at a time with no contract. I am leaning in that direction, but discovered the prices they quoted did not include “HD”.
Cheryl and I both love surfing the internet, so a good connection is important for us. I purchased a “cradle point” router, and plugged my AT&T air card into it. It is a good connection, good signal and we both surf with our laptops at the same time. Three weeks into using this setup I received a “high data usage” warning email from AT&T. Now we don’t watch a lot of streaming videos or movies, just facebook and blogs mostly. I am trying to determine how we used almost 5gigs of data! The new billing period began the 13th of January and on the 18th I received another warning ( I am at 3.5gigs)!! We have been watching our usage carefully and I just cannot figure out what is happening. Maybe I have been hacked! I am using WEP2 security with the default password (maybe I need to change that). The router stays on 24/7 also, wonder if it uses data by just being on? I need to figure this one out soon or change data plans to 10gigs.
Well that is our update for now. Hope to follow up again soon. GBY
We still love our new home on wheels, although we keep finding minor things to get repaired or adjusted. I discovered the fantastic fan in the front bathroom does not raise by the power button, only manually (probably a connection loose). The front heat pump seems to only put out cool air, no matter what the temps are outside (i.e.: above 45 degrees). One problem I found may not be so minor. Every time it rains there is water in the bottom of our door, the metal threshold part. I cannot find where it is coming from and the techs at Bayou Outdoor Service Center thought they had it solved and repaired, but the next rain has proved them wrong! It may be time to plan a trip to Red Bay.
We have not had satellite hooked up as of yet and I am still trying to decide which service to use. Dish has the “pay as you go” service. You buy the receiver then pay for 1 month at a time with no contract. I am leaning in that direction, but discovered the prices they quoted did not include “HD”.
Cheryl and I both love surfing the internet, so a good connection is important for us. I purchased a “cradle point” router, and plugged my AT&T air card into it. It is a good connection, good signal and we both surf with our laptops at the same time. Three weeks into using this setup I received a “high data usage” warning email from AT&T. Now we don’t watch a lot of streaming videos or movies, just facebook and blogs mostly. I am trying to determine how we used almost 5gigs of data! The new billing period began the 13th of January and on the 18th I received another warning ( I am at 3.5gigs)!! We have been watching our usage carefully and I just cannot figure out what is happening. Maybe I have been hacked! I am using WEP2 security with the default password (maybe I need to change that). The router stays on 24/7 also, wonder if it uses data by just being on? I need to figure this one out soon or change data plans to 10gigs.
Well that is our update for now. Hope to follow up again soon. GBY
Monday, January 16, 2012
Decisions
I thought it to be about time for an update. We have been real busy trying to prep the house to sell, settle into the motorhome and working at the same time. There have been some changes in our plans as of late. We discovered that we have a major problem with our sticks and bricks house that will alter our plans a bit. The problem could come with a repair bill of about $25,000. We are trying to decide whether or not to repair the house or just try to sell it “as is”, knocking the repair cost off the asking price. Either way I will lose a significant amount of my equity, resulting in us working for a while longer to make up loss.
The news was devastating at first, but we are now putting it in perspective. We are still going to travel as much as we can until we retire and then enjoy our retirement even more once we are able to travel. It will give us time to adjust to our new lifestyle and put away some funds. I may need the extra time to figure out where the heck in the motorhome we are going to put everything!
I have also been a little busy trying to learn all the systems on the coach. I learned we had a propane regulator that was sludged up and had it replaced after a cold night with no heat. The experience also taught me that heat pumps only work until it gets really cold! Speaking of heat pumps, also found that our front heat pump only puts out cool air, no matter what the outside temperature. Looks like more warranty work needs to be done. I did find a local dealer that will cover the warranty work on Tiffins, although I didn’t purchase from them.
These few problems we have experienced are topped off by the fact that our bed is not really comfortable. It is an “RV Comfort “and is basically a mattress with springs covered with a small amount of foam. We went and purchased a mattress topper which helped a little. Now we are thinking of purchasing a “sleep number” bed from Camping World; I just have to make the time to head to Denton, Texas (our nearest Camping World).
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Ok, I am writing this paragraph after a week from writing the above paragraphs (no I don't procrastinate). We are at Hickory Creek COE near Denton, Texas. I have an appointment this morning (Jan 16) at Camping World, to install a sleep number bed. We could not tolerate the existing mattresses any longer!
We love it here at Hickory Creek, it is one of our favorite camping spots (so far). We have been here since Saturday afternoon and wish we could stay for a while, but alas I have to work to get that sticks and bricks sold.
I have to get the coach ready to roll for our appointment so I will try to post an update later.............
The news was devastating at first, but we are now putting it in perspective. We are still going to travel as much as we can until we retire and then enjoy our retirement even more once we are able to travel. It will give us time to adjust to our new lifestyle and put away some funds. I may need the extra time to figure out where the heck in the motorhome we are going to put everything!
I have also been a little busy trying to learn all the systems on the coach. I learned we had a propane regulator that was sludged up and had it replaced after a cold night with no heat. The experience also taught me that heat pumps only work until it gets really cold! Speaking of heat pumps, also found that our front heat pump only puts out cool air, no matter what the outside temperature. Looks like more warranty work needs to be done. I did find a local dealer that will cover the warranty work on Tiffins, although I didn’t purchase from them.
These few problems we have experienced are topped off by the fact that our bed is not really comfortable. It is an “RV Comfort “and is basically a mattress with springs covered with a small amount of foam. We went and purchased a mattress topper which helped a little. Now we are thinking of purchasing a “sleep number” bed from Camping World; I just have to make the time to head to Denton, Texas (our nearest Camping World).
######################################################################
Ok, I am writing this paragraph after a week from writing the above paragraphs (no I don't procrastinate). We are at Hickory Creek COE near Denton, Texas. I have an appointment this morning (Jan 16) at Camping World, to install a sleep number bed. We could not tolerate the existing mattresses any longer!
We love it here at Hickory Creek, it is one of our favorite camping spots (so far). We have been here since Saturday afternoon and wish we could stay for a while, but alas I have to work to get that sticks and bricks sold.
I have to get the coach ready to roll for our appointment so I will try to post an update later.............
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