OUR ROAD TO FULLTIMING
December 21, 2000: ELKHART.....FINALLY!!!!
After rereading the last article in this series, and subsequently posting it to our website, I realized that I had left out one important step in our "Road to Fulltiming"---the sale of our house. After hearing and reading about all the horror stories that can happen in a real estate transaction, we were very pleased with the way that our sale progressed. Everything went very smoothly, and the escrow closed as planned and recorded on the specified day, November 9. Because we left the area on the November 7, we had our proceeds electronically transferred to our savings account, which I confirmed online the next day. The whole process couldn't have been easier!!!
To continue our trek to Elkhart, I left off in Effingham, IL, with about 250 miles to go, on Tuesday, November 14. We didn't get a very early start, so we didn't know if we would make it or not. After skirting Indianapolis on I-465, we headed north in US31. For about 100 miles, this divided four-lane highway was much slower going than the interstates had been because of stoplights and cross traffic. As we realized that we would make it, but it would be nearly 5PM, we called Dave to let him know. He told us that our new Travel Supreme was just sitting there, hooked up to electricity, just waiting for us!!! (Actually, Dave had called us three days before to tell us that our "new home" had indeed been delivered to his sales lot.) When we arrived, he greeted us as if we were old friends, although we had never met face-to-face; we had only communicated on the phone or by email. We parked the SunnyBrook next to the Travel Supreme with the doors facing in anticipation of the next day's move. Anxious to see our "new home, we had a brief tour, and were we impressed!!! Everything was just how we imagined it would be!!!
The next morning, and taking the majority of the day, we moved. Going up and down the three steps of the SunnyBrook and the five steps of the Travel Supreme certainly gave us some much needed exercise!!! Cupboard by cupboard, every nook and cranny was moved into all the new maple cupboards, cabinets, and closets of the Travel Supreme. We were both absolutely exhausted by day's end, so we treated ourselves to a dinner at Red Lobster.
On Thursday, we finally had the opportunity to take the factory tour at the Travel Supreme plant. We were escorted all over the floor of the plant by Todd Hahn, where we saw the entire manufacturing process from the basic chassis, adding the holding tanks and heating system, the slide system, the interior and exterior construction, the cabinetry construction, just everything!!! There were perhaps ten or twelve units in varying stages of completion on the floor when we were there. We were very impressed with everything that we saw, and we have more confidence than ever in Travel Supreme's construction.
As the weatherman predicted for Friday morning, we awoke to find about ¾" of snow on the truck. Knowing that we had to hitch up and head south, this snowfall did not set well with me at all. They called it "lake effect" snow, and we were told that about 20 miles or so south, it would all be gone. But, it was still coming down, and we haven't even hitched up yet!!! When that time came, we discovered that the clearance between the fifth wheel and the boxes on the truck was not quite enough---four inches instead of six or seven. So, Dave towed the trailer to an RV repair shop, where the kingpin was dropped to accommodate the clearance. Finally hitching up in the snowfall, we were never so glad to get on the road, heading south!!! By the way, the snow did stop about 20 miles south, but our journey ahead still had very cool temperatures and even some more snow.
From here, we seemed to be living in a comedy of all the RV mistakes than can ever be made, so I will elaborate on those in the next installment. Until then......
November 1, 1999 THE BEGINNING January 25, 2000 THE DOWNSIZING BEGINS February 6, 2000 RECEIPTS AND TAX RETURNS March 12, 2000 THE FIRST "DENT" April 27, 2000 DUMPSTERS, DOCTORS, AND TRUCKS May 24, 2000 OUR TRUCK DECISION July 2, 2000 BITS AND PIECES July 21, 2000 MEDICAL CONCERNS July 27, 2000 STEPS TO A FULLTIMING BUDGET August 8, 2000 OUR TRUCK DELIVERY SAGA September 15, 2000 AN UPDATE ON OUR PROGRESS October 2, 2000 SIX WEEKS TO GO!!! October 15, 2000 MORE HURDLES CONQUERED November 14, 2000 ALMOST THERE!!! December 21, 2000 LET THE COMEDY BEGIN!!!