Home June 8 – 14
We are still at home, but things are slowly progressing.
Chuck is working on making a rack for the new RV that will hold 2 kayaks and 2 bicycles. I have joined a Facebook group that has lots of good advice for Travato owners, but most people with both kayaks and bikes are either using roof racks for the kayaks (quite a lift as the vehicle is 9 ft. tall) or folding kayaks (unlikely we can mount the hardware for the sails). There is a commercial carrier available but besides the $2k cost, I don’t think the rear doors of the RV can open with the rack mounted. Although he is not very interested in routine repairs, Chuck can be very inventive and handy when confronted with a design challenge.
Meanwhile, we are seeing friends, walking, working, reading and playing on-line bridge. My garden has been remarkably productive, given that we were not even supposed to be here to harvest: lettuce, kale, dill, asparagus, chives, onion greens and now sugar snaps; some “volunteer” potato, tomato, bean and squash plants are popping up so there might be something to harvest in the fall, too. I have also been enjoying my flowers.
We have also been raising small mammals in our garden — lots of baby rabbits, gray and red squirrels and chipmunks. In fact, our bird feeders were a favorite of one of our chipmunks, who will undoubtedly do well in life as he or she even managed to fend off the squirrels. (It is on the green feeder, with its head inside.)
On Tuesday we arranged to go to Souderton, near Philly, to check out the Travato RV on which we have put a deposit. For some reason, we both woke up quite early, and so we decided to make good on our new travel mode and stop somewhere interesting en route. That was Lancaster, PA, a historic town that we have often bypassed.
We only had an hour in Lancaster, but we will definitely want to return. We were lucky enough to be there on a market day, and thoroughly enjoyed their indoor “farmer’s market” for its abundance of local goods and foods. This is the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish and Mennonite) country, and there were lots of stalls with baked goods, sausage, etc. Lancaster also has a rich history with many historic buildings still standing.
The RV we selected has everything we want, and only one enhancement (a retractable step) that we don’t. When purchasing an RV off the lot, you usually have to take something you don’t want, so that is pretty good. We also discovered that the cab curtains, which we did want but were not included on this RV, are not that great — they do not provide full blackout. So, all in all we are happy with this vehicle and put down a down payment. We cannot do the actual purchase until the other RV is repaired. We hope this will happen soon.
We spent the afternoon measuring storage (small) and trying to determine if Chuck’s bike/kayak rack design will work. I am a bit worried about having 10 foot long kayaks attached vertically to the hitch with support only at the bottom. I think there is plenty of opportunity for the entire thing to rotate. There is plenty of space under the bed (which is about 3 feet off the floor) for things like chairs, the kayak sails, etc. but this is only 77 inches long, so the kayaks cannot go there.
The fridge and freezer are actually at least as big as in our current RV, and I think the space for kitchen gadgets is also comparable. The problem will be smaller things like toiletries. Also, it is hard to see where to put a garbage can and laundry basket. (Entire Facebook discussions are devoted to the question of where to place a garbage can.) I suspect we will not make much use of the tiny shower and the shower stall will likely be the place for these.
We spent 7 hours of driving to check out the vehicle, do a short test drive and put down our deposit. We still have to look forward to driving to Northeast and back to pick up the old RV, and then back to Souderton to pick up the new one. We are doing a lot of driving considering that we have not yet started our trip!
On Wednesday Chuck put in many hours trying to get the bugs out of his bike/kayak rack. However, in the end we decided that we cannot carry our kayaks on the back of the RV. Instead, we are going to do what many people suggested – get “blow-up” kayaks that fold up for packing and can be placed in our storage space. We will get a bicycle rack that flips down so we can open the rear doors of the RV without taking off the rack. Although we initially thought that the sails could not be attached to these inflatables, some web searching showed that some people have done this without destroying the integrity of the kayaks. I am sure Chuck will put his ingenuity to work once the kayaks arrive.
The parts manufacturer sent out the replacement motor on Monday, so we were quite surprised when our service guy said it had not arrived on Wednesday. Frustratingly enough, this was yet another mistake on their part, as UPS shows Wednesday delivery. Late Friday afternoon, we finally got the news that the service department has the part. But of course they don’t work on the weekend, so this entails several more days of delay. When I complain to a neighbor that I don’t mind unavoidable problems but hate problems due to human error, she points out that human error IS an unavoidable problem.