The Time Is Close for Our Departure

Just as they promised the coach was finished late Tuesday afternoon. I picked it up about 5:30PM and brought it home. The shades are a great improvement over the pleated shades that came standard. I failed to take a picture of the old pleated shades before we replaced them, but here's a picture of the new AutoMotion shades we had installed.

The upgrades we wanted on the coach are complete now and we have a couple of days to finish getting the motorhome loaded and the house cleaned out. We have to finish and be out of here sometime Friday.

The next couple of days are really going to be busy.

Until next time...

Front End Alignment and Back to Classic Coach

I picked up the motorhome from Classic Coach on Friday and took it back to the house so we could load some of our stuff into it over the weekend. The refrigerator was finished and it really looks good. 50% more space in roughly the same space as our old Norcold 12 cu. ft. fridge and an ice maker that can keep up with us. 

This is a photo of our old Norcold 12 cu. ft. refrigerator before we replaced it with the Samsung residential model.

 

And here is the new Samsung model RF197 residential refrigerator we had installed.

We're very happy with the new refrigerator. What we like the most is it is an 18 cu. ft refrigerator vs. the 12 cu ft Norcold, It stays colder in the fridge and freezer and is less dependent upon the outside temperature swings as the Norcold is, and the ice maker makes plenty of ice for the two of us. We use a lot of ice and the ice maker stays full of ice.

We worked on loading the motorhome over the weekend and on Monday morning we took the motorhome to Josam's for the front end alignment. When we left Josam's to head back home I noticed right away there was a drastic change in the steering and handling. I'm very pleased with the work they did. It was like driving a totally different RV home. 

Alan called me Monday afternoon and confirmed that the shades did ship and would arrive at Classic Coach on Tuesday morning before 10:30AM. I dropped the coach off at 8:00AM on Tuesday morning and I am suppose to be able to pick it up sometime this afternoon.

A Bit of a Change in Plans

I dropped the coach off at Classic Coach on Tuesday morning to have the refrigerator installed and the shades replaced. The coach was suppose to be finished by Friday and ready for pick up. We were going to pack some things over the weekend in preparation for our departure. Then on Monday take the coach to Orlando to JOSAM's for the alignment. Then we would be finished with the coach modifications. We would have 3 days left to finish packing before we were to leave. 

I received a call from Alan on Wednesday to let me know that the shades that were suppose to arrive on Thursday did not ship. It seems the manufacturer has an issue receiving some part of the mount for the shade from their supplier. The shades were ready but couldn't be shipped until the part for the mount was installed. The shades would not ship until Monday, May 7th. They would be shipped overnight at the manufacturer's expense. They should arrive no later than 10:30AM on Tuesday and they would be installed the same day. Now I'm worried again. Alan assured me the technicians would stay until the job was finished and I would take the coach home on Tuesday night. 

I told Alan I had an appointment at JOSAM's on Monday morning for an alignment. He told me the refrigerator would be finished by Friday and we could pick it up so we would have it for the weekend to be able to pack and return it to them Tuesday morning to have the shades installed. What a plan!!! If it all comes to fruition as planned.

That will give us two days to finish loading everything in the motorhome we're taking with us and get the house cleaned out. We'll have to see how this all works out.

The Last Garage Sale and Getting the Coach Ready To Go

We dropped the motorhome off at Creative Coach on Friday morning, went to breakfast at the Auburndale Diner, and went back home to get ready to go to the closing. What a wonderful day!!! We have waited for this day for a long time.

The closing was fast and went very smooth. After the closing Don took us all to Red Lobster for lunch. It was very good and we truly enjoyed it. Then it was back home to get things ready for the garage sale on Saturday. This was going to be our last garage sale, finally. When we dropped the coach off at Creative Coach we asked the guys if we could leave it until Saturday afternoon. By leaving it there I wouldn't have to move it down the street to my neighbor's house again as we have been doing for the previous garage sales. They were great guys and told me it was no problem at all. 

The garage sale went great and we got rid of a lot of stuff. One of the people that came by told us since it was our last garage sale he would come by and make us an offer on what was left if we were interested. Since we didn't want to take anything back inside and it was going to be our last sale we said sure. He came by after the sale, loaded up what was left, folded up our tables for us, and we were finished with garage sales.

After the garage sale was finished we stopped by Creative Coach to pick up the motorhome. I had told them when we dropped it off that I thought there might be something wrong with the steering and asked if they would check it out. Sure enough, Lester, the service writer, told me I needed a front end alignment and recommended a place in Orlando called Josam Frame and Alignment. He said it was the only place he would recommend and they use a laser alignment system. We looked it up on the internet and decided to see how soon we could get an appointment. I called them today and they said they were about a week out so I made an appointment for next Monday. 

I sure hope this all works out. The coach is scheduled to go to Classic Coach on Tuesday morning to have the refrigerator replaced with a residential model and all the shades replaced with the AutoMotion day/night shades. It is suppose to be finished by Friday. Then I take it to Josam's Monday for the alignment and we have to be loaded and out of here on Friday May 11th.

A lot to do in a short amount of time.

Until next time...

Events of 4/12 - 4/26 (Continued)

We are closing on the house tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM. We have an appointment to take the motor home in to Creative Coach tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM to get it serviced. I heard about them from a blog that I follow and they are close to where we live so we thought we would try them out. They are going to change the engine oil, oil filter, and fuel filters, replace the transmission filters, and lube the chassis. We will drop it off tomorrow morning and hopefully pick it up tomorrow afternoon. After the closing at 11:00 Don is taking us and the buyers to lunch at Red Lobster. 

When we finish lunch we are going to come back home and work on getting things together for the yard sale on Saturday, which hopefully will be our last yard sale. I talked to Alan of Classic Coach Works this week about upgrading our refrigerator in the motor home to a residential refrigerator and replacing our shades with Auto Shades day/night roller shades. Alan told us we would need to get the coach in no later than Wednesday morning of next week in order to have it all finished by Friday. I told him we would have it  there no late than Tuesday morning, in case there were any problems it would give them an extra day to get them ironed out. 

We want to get the upgrades done that we want before we make the move into the motor home in 2 weeks. I'll tell you more about the upgrades we're doing in a later post. For now, I need to get to bed and try to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

Until then…

Events of 4/12 - 4/26

We have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. Our efforts to get rid of the "stuff" has escalated to the next level and in the mean time I have fallen behind in posting what has been going on with us. I apologize for that and will attempt to catch you up on our progress.

We have sold most of our larger items by posting things to Craigslist on a regular basis. If, after a week or so there is no interest, we lower the price and continue this until we see activity on the item for sale. You reach a point where time is of the essence and the goal shifts to getting rid of it even if you don't get what it's really worth. We have a limited amount of time to get rid of all this "stuff" and you have to do what you have to do. In the end, it doesn't matter. What matters is to be able to get rid of it all and not stress out over it. We have a yard sale scheduled for this coming Saturday and we hope this will be the last one. It will be the largest one yet and the goal this time is to get rid of it at any cost.

We are closing on the house Friday morning 4/27 at 11:00 AM. Don has invited us and the buyer to lunch afterwards and we are so looking forward to finally closing on the house. Last week the temperature in the refrigerator started rising and by Friday I could tell there was something definitely wrong so I called the repairman. The condenser fan was bad and he didn't have a replacement on hand. He gave the fan a spin and it started running again but not knowing how long it would last I told him to order a replacement. He said it should be in by Monday or Tuesday. I kept watching the temperature in the fridge over the weekend and by Tuesday I had to spin it to keep it cooling about 4 different times. Man, was I glad when he called Tuesday afternoon to tell me he had the fan in. He came out to replace it late Tuesday afternoon and we are back up and running again. 

I loaded the motorcycle on the Hydralift and drove over to Lazydays RV on Thurday, 4/12 to drop the motorhome off to have the last two items on the warranty list taken care of. We also contacted Wade RV, which is located on the premises of Lazydays about installing their snap on tire covers while the coach was in for repairs. The black and grey tanks have been giving us erroneous readings since we bought the motor home. The last time I had it in the shop, which was back in October, just before the snowbirds started coming back down for the winter I was told that the tank sensors had been replaced. If they were replaced, I had the same problem when I picked it up as I had when I dropped it off. The great thing about Lazydays is they will eventually take care of the problem if you continue to have issues. I had researched some tank probes online and found some probes called Horst Miracle Probes. It sounded like the solution to my ongoing problem so I order a set for the grey and black tanks. When I called to make the appointment to take the coach back in, i asked if they would install the probes I had bought online under warranty since I was still having the same problem after they had replaced the probes. They agreed to do that and I must say the tanks were reading properly when we picked it up. I'll let you know about the probes after we have had them for awhile. The other problem was the porch awning would not close all the way when it was retracted. The problem was a bad motor and they did not have one in stock. It had to be ordered and wouldn't be in until the first of the following week. The plan was to drop the coach off on Thursday and pick it up on Friday afternoon, then spend the weekend at the Lazydays Campground. With having to order the awning motor they had other jobs that could be completed so they didn't install the probes before the weekend either so a quick call to Shawn, our service advisor, and the coach was put on a service site for the weekend so we enjoyed the weekend away anyway and at no cost. It was a great weekend. The coach was finally ready the following Saturday so we picked it up in the afternoon and brought it home. 

Sorry for the lengthy post but when you get behind and at the pace we're moving right now it takes awhile to get caught up. I'll stop for now (it's getting late and I need my rest) and I'll try to finish catching everything up tomorrow.

Until then...

What a Relief!!!

I received a call from Don somewhere around noon on Wednesday. He told me he heard from the bank on the appraisal and wanted to call instead of sending a text. He said he wanted to hear my reaction when he told me the appraisal came back with enough to carry the offer. What a relief that was and I immediately felt a load lift off my shoulders. I didn't realize how wound up I was over the appraisal and hoping it would be "enough". Ellen and I had discussed it previously and we had decided that under the circumstances as long as the house appraised for enough it didn't matter to us if it appraised for much more. From everything we've heard from several people in the real estate market I don't believe that it did. The bank won't tell the seller how much a house appraises for unless it's not enough to carry the loan, but if it carries they will only let you know that it was enough. We could probably ask the buyer and I think he would tell us but we decided it didn't matter to us, so we won't ask. We both have been doing a lot of praying lately and thank the good Lord we can now continue towards our dream. We should have a closing date in a few days and we are both so very excited that our plans are moving forward.

Until next time...