France

If any of you saw that movie, ‘If it’s Tuesday, then it must be Belgium’ then you know what I’m talking about.  We took a 2 week bus tour through France.  We saw about 17 towns in 12 days.  We took my 23 year old granddaughter with us and she seemed to enjoy herself.  First time in her life she’s been any further than about 150 miles from her home.  So this was a huge experience for her.
My favourite..a vineyard!
Chenonceau Chateaux

We did enjoy it although Ken and I both agreed that we loved Italy far more than France.  We will return to Italy but no so France.  One of the stops was Normandy.  That was very sad to see the rows and rows and rows of crosses.  We went to the American cemetery.  Would like to have visited the Canadian one but our guide said it was about 80 km away and was very small.  Apparently Canada shipped the majority of the bodies of the soldiers home to be buried and there is only about 2000 Canadian graves.  I can’t remember how many American graves there were but it just went on and on.   In it’s sadness it was also beautiful and peaceful.  And we saw Omaha beach where they came ashore and the German bunkers.
Normandy 
Honfleur
Mont St. Michel

That’s a long flight 7 hours to London, then another hour to France.  My rump was numb by the time we landed.  Most of the hotels we stayed at were average, but a couple of them, oh my.   Rustic is certainly an understatement.  And what’s with the twin beds in Europe?  Almost rolled right out of a couple of them.  So tired of living out of a suitcase.  Always so nice to come home.

We are discussing a river cruise in Europe.  Any of you taken one?  If so let me know what you thought of it please.

Our big 5er had the washer/dryer installed and all minor things repaired.  It’s winterized and sitting in the storage lot until we bring her home about 3 weeks before Christmas.  Then I start the loading for our sojourn south. 

Christmas is very quickly creeping up on us.  We’re hoping to get away the day after depending on the weather of course.

Until later…take care.

Safety Brake Cable Works !!!

Well we found out that the safety break away brake cable works.  The hard way.  As Ken was pulling out of our driveway he has to make a 90° turn out of the driveway and onto the street.  I guess we had the cable secured to the wrong spot because as he turned it pulled it out of the rig.  Instant stop!!!!!  Couldn’t figure our for a minute what the heck the problem was then it dawned on me about the cable.  Checked it and sure ‘nuff’ it had pulled it out as he made the turn.  Perhaps it caught on part of the hitch.  Anyway, he put the clip back in and away he went.  Nice to know though that it does work.

I closed up and secured everything inside the rig.  The RV dealer now has to correct a few small concerns we have and also install the washer/dryer combo.  They also noticed a gouge in the dining room table when it arrived so ordered another table.  As Jayco makes all their own cabinetry etc.  they had to make another table.  Supposedly, it has arrived and they will replace it with the damaged one. 

As I couldn’t winterize it because they are going to install the washer/dryer and will, of course, be needing to run water, I have asked them to do that for me this year.  We really do not feel like bringing it home again and parking it just to winterize.  We will do it in the future just as we did for the motorhome.  I do like having it parked in the driveway as I can run in and put stuff away as I come across things, but it really is just too big to keep it there all the time, and then we have to juggle between our car and the truck on the other side of the driveway.  No sooner have we deposited it back in the store yard when another pile of RV things starts to grow.  By the time we get it home again mid December the pile will be quite large. 

We were always very comfortable in our Class A but found that things just kind of ‘hung around’.   There wasn’t places to put the odds and sods that need to be used everyday so they just kind of sat here and there.  Now with this 5th wheel, we find that we have lots more storage and places to put things.  Jackie’s bowls, for instant, we now have a great spot out of the way to put them.  And Arthur’s litter box, once we park and the lounge chairs are pushed forward there is a whole ton of space behind them and that’s where I put his box, out of the way, visually and physically.  Great!   On our shakedown trip we found that we were very, very comfortable, much more than before.  So much more living room and kitchen space.  And I have always hated the bench kitchen table in the Class A and now we have table and chairs.  Who rah!!  Even in restaurants we always ask for no benches.  Funny everyone else seems to love them. 

So we are really looking forward to taking this monster south this year.  The truck is so much more powerful than our gas Class A, and hills don’t seem to bother it at all.  Where as the motorhome would literally slow to a crawl on any significant hill.  In hindsight if we had to do it all over again we would have bought a diesel Class A right from the start.  But we are loving this 5th wheel or 5er as we call it. 

So until later then…take care.   Be safe out there.