The Beginning

We sold Southern Cross on March 7th, loaded a U-Haul with our belongings and headed home to Texas. Once there we rented a car, put our belongings in a storage unit, and stayed with Jan for about 10 days while we looked for a motorhome and a car to tow behind. Luckily we found a 2013 Honda CRV, equipped with a tow hitch, from a golf buddy of Mark Smith’s and purchased that 3 days after getting back to Texas. When in Jacksonville we attended an RV show, plus drove to see 2 RVs for sale by owner, and had compiled a list of features we wanted in an RV. We made an offer, from Florida, on a Fleetwood that we found online located at PPL Motor Homes near Sugar Land. However, we later learned it had a slide issue that would take weeks to resolve and no guarantee it would be covered under warranty. Then we were going a make an offer on a Winnebago, but it had an AC issue. In the end we were deciding between a 41’ 2019 Thor Tuscany and a 45’ 2015 Tuscany. We selected the 2019 because it was a few years newer and I was uncomfortable with the size of the 45’ to drive it.
On March 19th we drove it off the PPL lot to Jet Stream RV Park in Pearland. Over the course of about 2 weeks we moved our belongings from the storage unit onto the RV. It feels like luxurious living compared to the boat! The living space is much wider and not as cramped as the boat and the storage is much more accessible and in my opinion there is more of it, at least the previous owner did not leave a garage full of spare parts!
During our stay in Seabrook and Pearland we had a crawfish boil at Jan’s house, met up with boating friends and Sugar Land friends. I celebrated my birthday with lady friends from our dinner group, had lunch with boating friends Lisa and Kami, lunch with Diane and had dinner with my old Bunko group. We visited Kevin’s dad, who unfortunately passed away on March 27. Kevin and Siblings received a text from their stepsister, Micki, saying come now. Sydney flew in from California and Christian drove in from Austin and we were all able to say our goodbyes. He died peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones. On March 29 we went to Austin to spend time with Christian and had a delicious dinner at the restaurant he worked at.
On March 31 and April 1 we completed a 2-day RV driving course that was very helpful for my confidence and preparing for the Class B driver’s license. We took the written test for the Class B (and passed the second time!) but had to cancel the driving test due to mechanical issues on the RV. We started to take the RV out for a practice drive when the Service Engine” and a “DEF error” lights displayed on the dash. The “DEF” light was locking the gas pedal and preventing the rig from moving. Kevin called several service centers and decided to bring it to Freightliner located in NE Houston, which happened to be on the way out to Livingston, our first destination. We rebooked all our stays between Houston and Virginia expecting a delay while the rig was in the shop. In the interim Kevin changed the DEF fluid and looked at all the battery and fuse connections. He got it so that the pedal was no longer locked and we could move. He read that changing the batteries could cause the service lights to come on and in the end that was the issue, he changed the chassis batteries about 2 weeks prior.
On April 30 we drove to Freightliner and the warning lights turned off. The mechanic at Freightliner ran diagnostics and didn’t find anything wrong, he reset the computer and we were good to go. We spent the night in the Freightliner parking lot as they had electrical and water hookup. The following morning, May 1st, we left for Livingston, TX to Escapee’s Rainbow End RV park. As we pulled the bedroom slide in I noticed it did not go in properly. Kevin pulled it in tighter but it was still not right. As we extended it out in Livingston it stopped halfway. I called a few mobile RV mechanics and the next day someone came to look at it. They were able to get the slide back in so that we could drive it to Virginia where we could bring it to a shop. The good news was we could still tilt the bed up to get to the main bathroom and tilt it down to sleep in the bed.
Rainbow’s End is our domicile location and where our mail is sent. The place is interesting, there are a lot of RV’s and many are permanent. They have an “RV Care Center” where older RVers can go for assisted living type services. They still live in their RV but have help available for medical appointments, meals, etc. We stayed there for 2 nights and left to go to Virginia on May 3rd. We had not yet hooked up the tow and brake buddy system on the Honda (I had been following in the car) and went to do that as we prepared to leave Livingston. As luck would have it the brake buddy box would not power on and I ended up driving the Honda to Virginia while Kevin drove the RV!
We made 5 stops before reaching our final destination in Virginia. We stayed at 3 Harvest Host sites; Candy Cane Corral, Blessed Bounty Orchard, and Stone Bridge Equestrian Center for one night each. Candy Cane is in New Boston, TX and is a home on 3 acres with very hospitable owners who use to love to RV. The couple is now in their 70’s and 80’s and the wife’s mother is 99. Just inside their home is a huge Christmas village display with a train, lights and recording of The Night before Christmas.
Blessed Bounty is a farm with crops and chickens located in Jackson, TN. There were no crops to harvest while we were there but we purchased jam, pickles and fresh eggs.
Stone Bridge Equestrian Center is located in Natural Bridge, VA and is picturesque beautiful with rolling hills and mountains. We parked between the barn and fields where the owner’s 5 family horses are kept. In the morning I was able to talk to the owner and learn about the horses while he groomed them and I petted them. Natural Bridge State Park is a mile or so up the road but unfortunately by the time we got there and hooked up we did not have enough time to explore. We plan to return though to see it! Instead we drove to Devil’s Backbone brewery for a few beers.
We also stayed one night at Dumplin Valley RV park in TN for one night, in between Blessed Bounty and Stone Bridge, and Williamsburg RV resort. We arrived at our final destination of the trip at Camp Cardinal in Hayes, VA on May 8th. This is close to Gloucester, where we previously docked and anchored our sailboat and to Yorktown where Kevin’s brothers Steve and Rick live.
On May 9th we took the RV to a small repair shop in Poquoson that Rick recommended for the slide repair. They were able to repair it in a day and we had it back by noon the next day. They said it had previously been worked on and was close to falling off - yikes! Many bolts were missing and it was coming derailed. The good news is the motor is fine and we didn’t have to replace that. They did a great job fixing it and were super friendly and helpful, to the point where the mechanic told Kevin he could FaceTime him if he had any other issues. They put our job first priority as they knew it was our home.
We brought items from the boat to the storage unit and retrieved a lot of stuff to use on the RV that we didn’t have room for on the boat, such as our Braun coffee maker, kitchen bowls and gadgets and more shoes for me!
We hung out with Steve and Paula and Rick and Debra several nights. We were going to go to Steve’s beach house but the weather did not cooperate, it rained a lot the week we were there. Rick and Kevin installed a new battery in the Honda and found a disconnected wire for the brake buddy and got that to turn on. We ended our trip with a family outing for dinner at Chihuahuas in Newport News.もっと詳しく