A "Triumph" in Boston

Home again. It was a strange sensation to drive through Boston in a 40 foot motorhome amidst rush hour traffic. Both of us felt our stomachs knot and a rush of something (was it coming back to the hustle-bustle of city life-or the nauseating reminder of life in corporate America?)

We finally made it through the narrow streets of Salem and got to a beautiful site overlooking the Salem harbor- with a spectacular view of Marblehead from our front window. Strangely enough, the park was almost devoid of motorhomes. We decided that it must be a case of the bad weather/non-existent spring in the Northeast keeping everyone away. Even the boat ramp traffic was fairly light (at least for the first few days).

We spent a few days settling in- washing and detailing Maby Dick. We got a chance to have lunch with Sarah and Mark. They came up to see our ‘home’ and were suitably impressed. Then we got to see Martin and Christine’s new house and catch up with them (and James and Katherine). Our first week home was a whirl of doctors, dentists, mammograms, eye exams- with visits to our favorite restaurants in-between (our refrigerator was suddenly filled with Indian and Korean take-out). We got a chance to go to the old neighborhood and have dinner with Rick and Jim. It was tough to drive down the street and see our old house- looking very much the same. It was an odd feeling of sadness and relief.

On Saturday, we picked up the Honda from Doug and Faye’s house. We had a great lunch at their house- in the sunroom overlooking their new pool. John rode the Honda back to Salem, returning with a bad case of “biker butt”. Since my helmet was missing, we decided to pick up a new helmet. As I was buying my $65 helmet, I saw John resting on a Triumph talking to one of the sales reps. I knew we were in trouble just looking at the smile on his face. An hour later and John had negotiated a good trade-in on the Honda Ascot and a $4500 2001 Triumph Bonneville was in our future. We drove the Honda down for the official trade-in and John started the ride back on his new bike. He made it to the Tobin Bridge and had problems-so it was back to the dealership. That night, he got a ride home from one of the sales reps while they serviced his bike. On Saturday, Martin stopped by for lunch and a tour of Maby Dick. He drove John to the dealership and I took the train down for Sarah and Mark’s engagement announcement party that night. After a few hours on their roof deck, we took off for our first ride together on the Triumph. It was a great ride and we both loved the bike.

Our first Factory Visit

We made our way to Sandy and Gerry’s house for a pre-factory weekend. They have a beautiful house in Spencerville, Indiana- a Victorian farmhouse with a huge garage for Gerry and a small office for Sandy’s business. It was quite a sight to see the Eagle and the Heritage parked side by side. We had some great meals at the local Greek restaurants and a huge family style meal on Sunday. On Sunday night, Gerry and Sandy led us over to Decatur to get us settled in at the factory. The lot was full- ready for the 6:00 am check-in on Monday morning.

What a way to start the week. At 5:45, John was at the American Coach service door- along with 20+ other people awaiting service. We met our service advisor and walked through the list of to-do’s. Then, the work started and we were “homeless”. American Coach was in the process of getting ready for a huge announcement so they weren’t having factory tours. But, as we found out, we were in the middle of motorhome central- all within an hours’ drive. So, we spent our days going on other vendors’ factory tours- Travel Supreme, Newmar and Monaco. It was a strange experience watching this cottage industry that resembled home construction rather than car assembly. It was also a learning experience. Between factory tours, we got smart talking to other owners and factory people. The Spartan factory rep was a wealth of information as were our ‘neighbors’ in the parking lot. We spent some time in the service lounge listening to ‘horror stories’ from other owners (stories of sliders falling out on the road-leaving a gaping hole in the side of their motorhome) and getting advice. We met a slew of interesting people- Doris and Dale next door to us, Sheri and George and Bob and Trudi. We also got a little taste of Americana in Decatur with places like Arnolds Drive-in- complete with roller-skating waitresses or the Whippy Dip Ice Cream stand. It was just like being back in the 50’s.
True to form, we found another way to spend money on our coach. In search of a cup holder, we stopped by a local craftsman specializing in custom cabinetry for American coaches, “From Trees to These”. In addition to the stock cup-holders and magazine racks, he also made custom cabinetry. We saw one of his dinette/office additions and knew we had to have it. So, we spent time with Greg sketching out the plans and scheduled a return date for late July.

Our first Road Trip

Our first real road trip- a full 8 hour drive to Atlanta. We found a campgrounds just outside Atlanta (not the most charming site, but very conveniently located). We had dinner with Shelley and her new beau, Frankie, at a local sports bar. It was great to see Shell again and the time was just too short.

One night and on the road again for another full day drive. We made it through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Ohio. We had our first truck stop evening at the Pilot and had dinner at the “Awful Waffle”.. We passed by Bone Lick State Park which was just past Beaver Lick.

May 25 – 30, 2003 Charlotte, Michigan: The Spartan Rally
One more ½ day of driving and we made it to Charlotte, Michigan. Our first rally… We arrived a day early to find rows of motorhomes already parked and a line-up at the gates. Volunteers were handling the check-in and parking and it was a nightmare getting in. We finally got settled and immediately found a yellow pages to find the local ethnic restaurants. We headed to Lansing for our Mongolian Barbeque feast. We continued our evenings of ethnic foods all week- with Korean and Ethiopian. We never could convince Gerry and Sandy to try anything spicy- so we had one evening with them at a local hearty American food restaurant – topped off with a DQ blizzard!
The rally was great- the seminars, for the most part, were very informative. In between, we visited the vendor booths and bought all the latest miracle RV products. The Travel Supreme reps were there with two models for sale. We fell in love with the floor plan on one of their 2003 models and John tortured the sales rep to put together his best deal for us. We were seriously looking at it (well, quasi-seriously) and did some research on the TS. We met a couple with a Travel Supreme Select and they invited us in for a look-see. What a spectacular motorhome- 42” plasma screen TV, desk/vanity space in the bedroom, granite countertops, marble floors. It was stunning! John tortured Gerry with the idea that we might leave the "American Coach fold".

April Fools! - We're Homeowners Again!

April Fools Day and we are officially homeowners again. The closing was smooth and we moved into our new, fully furnished home. We literally moved in all of our stuff in a few hours and began to explore and enjoy our new home. Buying a furnished home was pretty strange. I don’t think that Terry and Gigi ever really lived in the house. The furnishings had no wear- the candles were still in their original wrappers and the artificial plant arrangements still had the inventory tags on them.

Mija gave us a bit of a scare with a recurrence of her mast cell tumor- this time on her leg. After doing tests to see if it had spread (it hadn’t), we opted for surgery to remove the tumor. It made for some stressful times and almost daily trips to the vet to check and change bandages.
Meanwhile, we continued our crazed lifestyle finding new projects to make the house ‘perfect’. We had contractors in for structured wiring and to built bookcases for the dining room and to add a door to the laundry room (to make it my office).

Mom and ED came on the 11th to spend the weekend. We had the chance to show them around the area, check out the neighborhood yard sale and take ED out for his 85th birthday.
We had a great anniversary dinner at a local Indian restaurant. Kate and Mike flew in for John’s birthday (and Jane’s graduation). We did an AM swamp boat tour and saw the Kennedy Space Center (with an obnoxious tour guide – “Yea”) and a great dinner in Cocoa.

With our house projects completed or at least under control, we were ready to pack up and get out of Florida. The heat and humidity were starting to kick in and it was definitely time to head north.

Daytona Bike Week

The first weekend of Bike Week was marred by huge rain storms. When we arrived at the Encore Park, the place was packed with RV’s, tent campers and MUD. We pulled into our site, trying to avoid the huge puddles of mud.

We got the “Official Bike Week” guide and checked the schedule of events. We drove downtown Daytona and watched the parade of bikes- the streets were jammed with bikers cruising and the sides of the streets were packed with parked bikes. We took a drive down Main Street to get a sense of the craziness. The Daytona police had evidently cracked down considerably on the bikers this year- imposing big fines for sound violations and for wearing thongs.
We took in the Main Street Classic Bike Show. The custom bikes were amazing.
“Chrome may not get you home, but it will get you laid”
“If it’s too loud, you’re too old”
“I’m not totally useless. You can always use me as a bad example”

We saw an even bigger exhibit of custom bikes at the “Rat’s Hole”. By this time, we figured out that there was an “Official Bike Week” guide and the unofficial guide – which we found at the biker’s bars. The unofficial guide had the listings for spaghetti, pudding and cole slaw wrestling.

Rained out at the Daytona 500

The Daytona 500! With the house and all the excitement, we decided to skip the idea of dry camping in Daytona and just drove to the race on Sunday morning. We expected horrendous traffic heading into Daytona and especially on the road to the racetrack. We had no problems- found a parking spot for $10 with the Girl Scouts (with a little bit of a hike to get to the track). By 8:00, we were at the track-for a race that didn’t start until 1:00! So, we tried to absorb a bit of the local color- the parking lots filled with people tailgating and the huge trailers filled with racer paraphernalia. The very popular racers had their own tractor trailer filled with shirts, jackets, hats, bumper stickers…. John threatened to buy a Dale Earnhardt jacket- but the prices fortunately kept him in line. After a few hours of walking through the crowds and the vendor booths, we headed to Barnes and Noble for a few hours of quiet in their café- reading the NY Times and having a bite to eat.

Just a few minutes before race time, we headed to the track. We had prepped for our big day by reading "NASCAR for Dummies" and headed to the track with what we thought was some basic knowledge. We had great seats in the Roberts Tower-overlooking the track (and at $175/each, they should have been good!). The race started with a stunning display of good old American patriotism- complete with overflights by military jets and parachuting soldiers, a rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" by Mariah Carey and a mass recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (the last time either John or I heard the Pledge was in grade school!!). These race car fans take this "Proud to be an American" stuff seriously! Then John Travolta made the announcement, "Gentlemen, start your engines". The sound of the cars whizzing by was amazing- wish we had taken our video camera)....and we got to see a roll-over crash and a few car collisions in the pit. John sat next to a good old boy who sat down and pulled out a huge bucket of fried chicken and a six pack of beer. He turned out to be a pretty nice guy- who answered all of John's novice questions (about 10 minutes into the questioning, he turned to John and said, "Is this your first time here?"). They talked about the price of the races and our red-neck admitted that he now has to budget for just a few races a year- he sets aside $6,000 a year for 4-5 races!

Well, things were going great, until the skies opened up and it started to pour. We were about 25% through the 500 mile race. No umbrellas are allowed - and since we didn't have those great New Orleans parkas, John had suggested that we bring some large trash bags. So, we cut open the arm and head holes and we sat there in our trash bags (yes- we were truly "white trash"). We finally decided that there was no way that the race was going to be completed and all of my mascara was running into my eyes and we were soaking wet. So, we made it to the quarter finals and headed back to our parking spot (about 1/2 mile away). They actually did start up the race again after we left- but only went for 100 laps before they called it and declared the current front runner, Michael Waltrip, the winner.

We got back to TGO to find the coach locked and no Mija inside. Ann, our TGO realtor, had offered to walk Mija a few times during the day and in one of her visits, the door locked her- and Mija out. So, Mija got to spend the day with the realtors in the TGO office. She had a great day.

The Great Outdoors

Since Lazy Days gives away free passes to the Port St Lucie resort, it was filled with people like us taking advantage of a free campsite. We met a lovely British couple, John and Kathy. They live in the UK half the year and spend the other half of the year in the States where they own a 40' motorhome and a lot in a place called "The Great Outdoors" (TGO). They encouraged us to come to visit and check it out. Since we were heading that way , we decided to stay a few days. TGO is located just outside Titusville and Cocoa Beach (directly across from Cape Canaveral). It's called a "RV Nature and Golf Resort". The entire orientation is for RV'ers - a gated community for people who own motorhomes. They have 24 hour security, a golf course and country club, pools, a post office, fishing lakes, restaurants, convenience stores, beauty shop, RV supply store......a self-contained community. They sell property that ranges from the "RV Site" -a concrete pad (although these pads provide you with a little storage shed and/or a little "Florida room" (a place for guests with a small kitchenette andbathroom), to a "RV Port" (a concrete pad with a cover for your motorhome and a Florida room and shed). They also sell "villas" (no place for an RV, but a small 2 bedroom house- designed for snow-birds). And the top of the line offering: the "Resort Home" – a real house with a garage for your RV!

We had been talking about our Daytona Beach offer and feeling a bit uncomfortable about the ability for it to support our lifestyle. We love the motorhome lifestyle- the idea of just taking off whenever we want – and also want to continue our overseas travel. So, we need a place where we can just lock the door and drive-or fly- away (the new term is “lock and leave”) When we took a hard look at Daytona Beach, we really felt that we'd need to have a rental apartment so someone would be there to watch the property. And that would mean dealing with City Hall to get approvals and permits, finding a responsible tenant (which could be a bit of a challenge here in Florida- there are some real crazies down here!). On top of all that, there were some problems with the title to the waterfront property- a possible lien on the title from 1924 when the developer put in a clause that gave him and his heirs use of the property. We had a few sleepless nights and came to the conclusion that no matter how beautiful the house and waterfront were, it would become a boat anchor to us.

Then we saw "the house"......imagine a house with 2400 square feet of living space - and 1600 square feet of garage! In the middle of the "snob zone" of TGO, we found a house that has 12 foot ceilings, 2 "master bedroom suites", a sunroom, a huge "great room" (living room, dining room combination) and a big kitchen -AND an RV garage (complete with full hookups), a 2 car garage and a golf cart garage. The house was built 2 years ago and was the builders model home. The original owners bought it completely furnished (decorator perfect) and wanted to sell it completely furnished. So, not only did we just buy a house, but we also got a full house of furniture and accessories. AND- John managed to get their golf cart thrown into the deal.

We set a closing date of April Fools Day- how appropriate. It's still hard to believe- we swore we'd never live in a gated community or a golf course community and never thought we'd ever own a golf cart. But, this house really supports our lifestyle. It's completely rentable--in season, it fetches about $2000/month and we won't have to worry about family antiques, etc. We can enjoy the house whenever we want- and it's perfect for visitors. We're only about 20 minutes from the Cape and the Kennedy Space Center, an hour from Daytona Beach (and Bike Week and the Daytona 500) and about 40 minutes from the Orlando airport and Disney World, Universal Studio .and "Splendid China”.