Author: john

Once we finally decided to jump in with both feet and sell everything and make this incredibly huge move, I found out that one of the reasons Jill didn’t want to do it was because of our plants. We had several beautiful plants in our home that we have had for almost our entire lives together. I was like excuse me? Really? Our plants?

I can be so stupid sometimes. It wasn’t all the plants. It was the one plant that was given to us by Jills parents when we lost our son David Scott. We lost him 4 months into Jills pregnancy 26 years ago. She actually thought we would have to throw it away or give it to someone because we couldn’t take it with us.

Umm, when it finally came out, I was so angry at myself, how insensitive could I be. That plant will be in this home and any home we ever have until we see him again.

I love you Jill Hamilton Martin!

While our new home has very few miles on it, the furnishings and technology is 11 years old. Once we got back to Texas with it, we immediately began its refurbishing. 11 year old TV’s weighed over 100 pounds and had tubes in them. The rig has telephone jacks and cigarette lighter connections. While 11 years seems like not very long, when it comes to the technology, it really made us look at how far our world has come.

While I got the TV’s replaced with flat screens, Jill began tearing out the window treatments. They were lined with dark green wooden valances. She went to Walmart and bought regular curtains, cut them in half and made two curtains out of one for maybe 20.00 per window. 
.She then decided that the booth wasn’t home like, but more camping like. So she tore that out and got an antique table and chairs for the dining room.

She went again to Walmart and got a very inexpensive table cloth which changed the entire look of the room again, and also added a throw rug to go under it and into the kitchen. Yesterday, she topped it off by taking the sleeper sofa out, and she bought a wine table made from a dresser that she found at the antique store. She also brought home the red leather chair from storage to add to the look and of course to add more seating.

 

 

 

 

The kitchen is next, and I think she is contemplating painting all the cabinets and trim. She just doesn’t like the light color.

 

 

A fun comparison of the living room before and after and then after painting the walls Taupe and the Cabinets high gloss white.

 

 

I will be updating this post as she continues throughout the rig.

Monday morning was full of fear of the unknown. We needed to get out of Phoenix as early as possible and essentially that meant when I woke up. 😉 Which happened to be my favorite time of 4 am. We had a wonderful time with friends in Phoenix. Judy Schreiner bought us lunch as we came into town and Sharon Girodo made an incredible dinner Sunday night, but all that was distant in my mind once I started thinking about the electrical outage we had experienced the last 5 minutes of our drive on Sunday. What was going to happen when I tried to start the rig?

Hopefully when I turned that ignition everything was going to be fine. Everything was ready. I turned the key and it started. YES!!! WAIT! Why are the headlights flashing on and off in the Girodos neighborhood at 4 am? UGH!! I had to get out of there or the neighbors were going to be hot, so I pulled out and maneuvered my way through the small roads to the Interstate. Fortunately there was an open truck stop.

I have never been one to read instruction manuals. I just dive in and make it work. However this time it was different. Smokin Hot was waiting to see how I handled this. Her husband who has never done anything mechanical or physical for that matter, (if you can pay to have it done, then by all means) lol, needed to “make this work” for more reason than one. I immediately began to search for the fuse boxes. The rig has a chassis fuse system and a home fuse system. Evidently our running lights were out and the short caused a complete failure for just a few minutes yesterday. The majority of the system was back up. I just needed to track down the short. Our rig has 75000 parts to it. How was I going to track down a short in the dark at 4:30 am in the morning?

Google is a wonderful thing!! Within 10 minutes I had found the failing switch!!
I just couldn’t locate the cause. That was going to have to wait until I could get it to a mechanic. We had to get on the road. Once I pulled the failing switch out, the headlights worked fine, we just didn’t have running lights, but we did have hazard lights!! By 5:30 am, we were on the road fully fueled, showered, shaved and fed. Hazard lights and all.

The end was in sight and the Texas border was reachable that day, and if I pushed it, we might even get beyond. Pecos Texas to be exact, and if you haven’t ever been to Pecos Texas, then don’t. lol I think it consisted of, well, if you blinked you would miss it. Fortunately for us there was a patch of gravel with a few RV hookups and to top it off a wonderful couple had found their way to Pecos as well. Tim and Susie Zich were parked right next to us. They were very kind and offered to help in any way. Jill and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with them in their incredibly beautiful rig and we used that time to ask as many questions as we could about full time RV life. We will always keep up with them and their travels and we look forward to meeting them on the road again one day soon. For the first time in 5 long days our night was uneventful.

Lindale Texas was a beautiful sight on Tuesday. We were a day late, but we were safe. The rig was still soggy but it had made it through the trip of a lifetime. Our work had just begun, 4 more days before we could rest.

We were excited because the rain had stopped and we might have a chance to stop at a descent location and have an opportunity to open up the slides and air things out a bit. The amount of water in the coach was ridiculous and it was going to be a lot of work getting it cleaned up. We stopped outside Sacramento for the night in a nice quaint place. While I got everything hooked up outside, Jill began setting up the inside. There wasn’t a whole lot to do inside because all we had with us was a set of sheets for the bed and a few groceries that we had purchased the night we left. She took the rest of her time to get on the weather app and check out the forecast. She immediately called me in to look at the radar.  Essentially it was like we were in the eye of a hurricane. The worst part was coming and coming fast. We battened down the hatches and hung on.

Within an hour, rain was coming down so hard we couldn’t hear each other talk and the rig was swaying back and forth in the wind. The awnings which are automatic and cover the slides were vibrating so badly it sounded like buzz saws all night long. Was it ever going to end? Water poured in all night long and there was literally nothing we could do but try to sleep and think about the 200 miles we needed to make up the next day. The storm lasted for 8 hours and then the rain stopped before daylight. Was it the end? Would we be able to get to Southern California to dry out or was the storm moving south? I got up and made instant coffee. I was beat. We were only 500 miles down the road. I truly wondered what could happen next.

Everything ready? I asked Jill, let’s get back on the road! It was 5 am Saturday morning. Everything had been prepared, we had gotten a quick shower, had a quick breakfast shake and we were off. Little did I know that the wind had blown gallons of water under the awnings and it was sitting on top of the slides. We had brought them in and the first time I tapped the brakes, a waterfall of water came over my head in the cabin. REALLY?? LOL I just sat there and laughed. I don’t know if it was real laughter or a crying laughter, but I just sat there and laughed and cried. I have no idea how much water came into this rig, but I can tell you that within a few hours that day, my entire instrument panel had condensation on the inside, to the point that I couldn’t see any numbers. Our beautiful motor home was a soggy mess.

An hour into our drive towards LA that morning, the rain started again. The storm had moved south and I was determined not to get down. I was actually more anxious about the fact that I had to fill up with fuel for the first time. Where do I fill up so I can get back out easily? We did it!! We filled up without incident. The first thing we had accomplished without incident!! But it was still raining.:) Jill asked if I thought we had enough fuel to get through LA before filling up again, I said oh yea, no problem. WAIT? We have to drive through LA?

8 hours or so later we came up on LA. The rain had finally stopped for good and we were really doing well mileage wise. I was now driving at 60-65 mph and I was getting more and more comfortable. My muscle spasms had subsided and my adrenalin was also subsiding. I was getting really tired. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about driving through LA, but it was really bad and really scary and I don’t ever want to do it again. Put it this way. We made it through LA. Barely.

Jill, did that sign say no more fuel for 49 miles? Thats what it said, I think you should stop right now or we may end up on the side of the road. I looked down at the fuel gauge. Eighth of a tank. What does that mean? 50 miles? 100 miles? We had 59 miles to go to get to the Arizona border and I wasn’t going to buy another tank of gas in California. I knew that Arizona was going to save us 50.00 in fuel costs, so I pressed down on the pedal and blew right past our last option. Lets just hope an eighth of a tank means a real eighth of a tank. 20 miles into it, my warning lights started coming on and the countdown began. Jill was not happy with me as she was tired and ready to stop. I on the other hand was determined and pushing to get to Arizona and make up a bunch of mileage and time and save a few bucks. 40 miles, 30 miles, the gauge was saying things like are you stupid??? LOL 10 miles, I could see the station across the river. Jill wasn’t talking anymore. 5 miles, whew! We glided in on fumes. It is a real eighth of a tank. 😉

Sunday morning!! We had literally driven into the dark hours and left before light the entire trip. Today we got to sleep in, go to church, and then we only had a 5 hour drive or so to our Phoenix dinner meeting. We pulled out onto the interstate around 10 am Sunday morning. The sun was shining, it was nice and warm, the windows all open and our soggy mess was starting to dry out. We were both happy and having fun. We made it to Phoenix in great time. We were headed to our wonderful friends home, The Girodos, for dinner. After all those miles through horrible weather you would not expect the most scary time to happen on dry highways in picture perfect blue sky weather, but it happened. There was a pickup truck in front of us full of trash and old furniture. We were finally traveling around 65 miles per hour, and the contents of the truck flew out onto the interstate in front of the car about 100 yards in front of us. I saw the tail lights light up and I saw stuff flying all over the road and I immediately starting applying the air brakes. I wasn’t going to stop in time. The car behind me didn’t see me stopping in time and blew past me on the side, the car behind him left half his tire rubber on the road and our motor home was on a collision course with the car in front of us. I immediately hit the engine brake and jumped on the air brakes as hard as I could and I guided the rig around them on the side just in time. We were safe. 1 mile further and we were on the off ramp to our destination. Breathing easy, we proceeded to the Girodos home. One last turn and we would be there and it happened. The entire electronic system shut down. We limped in to their neighborhood.

To be continued

 

 

 

My eyes opened right at 4:00 am with the sound of diesel engines. I jumped up quickly to peer out of the shades and we were in the middle of a sea of 18 wheelers. I was relieved. You see, I was fearful of a knock at my door in the middle of the night. Move on sir!! You are not allowed to stay here. Or maybe even something worse. Not only had I never driven a motor home, I have never slept in one. Were we safe? I had gone through it in my head over and over, Ok, they would have to come through the front door which meant I had 37 feet of time to grab my 9mm. I’m good with that, we will be fine, I think.

I made some instant coffee, started going through a makeshift checklist that was in my mind and once I thought we were good, I turned the engine on and turned the generator off. The huge diesel engine sits under our Queen size bed, so Jill was up in an instant. 😉 I pulled the curtains back from around the front windows and immediately my second driving test was ahead of me. I had an 18 wheeler on both sides, maybe 5 feet away, we were angled towards a very small exit path with a curb on the far side. It was pitch dark and I couldn’t see the rear of my rig and I couldn’t see the front of the 18 wheeler. Not to mention the sound of the rain was deafening. What do I do? Well, I logically deduced that if I drive straight out to the curb, cut the wheel as sharply as possible, then the rear should clear the 18 wheeler. Maybe. Hopefully. I inched out as blind as I could be. I was shaking like a leaf and I remember it vividly as my body was so sore from the night before that it was painful just to shake. I got to the curb, cut the wheel and pressed the gas. My eyes may as well have been closed. I didn’t know if I would even feel it if I swiped the big truck, would I?

Once it was daylight I pulled over to check the tires, the oil etc and glanced at the rear right side of the coach, just in case I had clipped the truck and didn’t know it. The hair stood up on the back of my neck! Right there where it probably would have happened was a long 3 foot scratch. It wasn’t bad, It hadn’t even broken through the paint. I hadn’t noticed it when we picked it up the day before, but it was there now. Did I swipe that truck? I still don’t know today. It took me hours to get that out of my mind. Was I going to have a rogue 18 wheeler ram me from behind or try to run me off the road for sideswiping him? LOL My how the mind works.

I had put together a plan from the beginning and looking back at it today it was rather extreme. 😉 Fly out on Thursday and pick up the rig. Get home on Sunday night or Monday morning. Have a garage sale on Tuesday and move anything remaining into storage on Wednesday. Clean the house and pack the motor home on Thursday and Friday and on the road by Saturday. 10 days from the time we left Texas we were done and living in the coach. My reason for telling you our timeline is so you will understand why we had to drive at least 600 miles per day. We were already very behind so I took advantage of the adrenalin. However, I had no idea  what we were in for. The storm was bearing down on the coast.

The rain had not stopped even for a second since we landed. Not only had it not stopped, it was torrential. I love weather, and I love hard rains, but I was learning very quickly that I didn’t love it right now and it was getting very annoying. Several hours into the day I realized that I could handle the rig at 50 mph, so we were starting to make a little bit of headway despite the weather. Having never driven through Oregon, I had no clue of its mountainous terrain along the interstate. We began to go up in elevation, and with that rise so came the wind.

Jill kept asking me why I was jerking the rig around while I was driving, I smiled and said it’s not me baby its the wind. It was actually interfering with the capabilities of the windshield wipers by that point and along with the rain it was becoming very hazardous. We did not know that just a few miles up the road was  the worst winter storm of the year slamming into Mount Shasta, the very mountain we were climbing. The higher we drove the more intense the wind became. The more intense the wind became the more difficult it was for me to keep it on the road. Jill kept saying to me that we need to pull over, but at that point I had to keep the nose in the wind and keep driving or we might actually be in a worse situation. Not to mention I had 600 miles to drive. 😉

The rain began to turn into snow and sleet near the top of the mountain, at that point I was estimating the winds at a sustained 50 mph with higher gusts. Fortunately for us, it was for the most part a head wind. We were about 8 hours into the day, along with the weather of course was the elevation, so we had only been able to get 200 miles down the road. I was really becoming concerned. I didn’t know how much longer I could take this beating. Was it ever going to clear up?

Prior to our trip I had scheduled two stops. One in Reno to see our business partners and the other in Phoenix for a business dinner. We had decided to turn the radio on to get weather information and the first thing we heard was the road to Reno was closed due to fallen trees. That road was just 15 miles in front of us. I wasn’t as concerned about not making it to Reno as I was with how bad the wind was about to get, and what about that sign that we just passed under that said no admittance to 18 wheelers or Rv’s? What? I couldn’t stop? What was I going to do just sit out here like a sitting duck? It would have been nice to know before we got on top of the mountain??

The rain and sleet started becoming more and more intense, the wind picked up sharply and I was estimating it at that point at 80 mph and the rig was rocking so badly that things began to fall off the walls. Not only that, but the wind evidently cracked the seal on our skylight and water then began to pour in. Thankfully, the skylight is above the bathtub, so most of it fell inside, however a lot of it drained down the walls and into the carpeting. Everything seemed as if it was falling apart all around me!! FINALLY we made it through the pass and the sleet and snow turned back into pure rain, the wind was still howling, but not as badly and the stress on the engine was taken away as we began to drive downhill. Ahh, maybe it was over.

The downhill run was very long and treacherous. We had made a slight directional change and the head winds turned into a slight sidewind. Definitely had calmed a bit, but the direction change made it seem worse. I had to keep the speed down without ruining my brakes while holding the rig on the road. Fortunately most had listened to the warnings and found shelter so there weren’t many vehicles on the road to avoid. All in all, we made it 400 miles in 14 hours that day. The rain had subsided for an hour or two about the time we stopped outside of Sacramento but the radar was giving us a clue as to what was coming for the night.

To be continued

 

 

The rain was overwhelming, the plane had to crab its way in because of the wind and we weren’t thinking about anything other than how this day was going to turn out? How were we going to drive a 37′  motor home 3000 miles half way across the country?

Our ride picked us up at the curb about an hour after landing and he proceeded to take us across the river into Washington State. A state that neither of us had been. What we could see of it was beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn’t see anything more than maybe a few hundred yards around us as the rain just wouldn’t let up.

We finally arrived and upon driving into the driveway my fears began to come true. It was much larger than I imagined and I had no idea what I was going to do. Jill kept asking me if I was alright, everything ok? Absolutely I said, we’ve got this. If you can imagine, I had no choice. I was fully committed. I only bought a one way ticket. I was going home in this behemoth, no matter what.

After an extensive 15 minute orientation, (Wha?) yup, a 15 minute orientation Jill was asked to drive his truck behind us and we were headed to fill up with fuel and propane. 100 gallons of diesel and 50 gallons of propane. The rain wasn’t letting up.

So we filled up at a normal gas station, and another fear began to creep into my head. Where do I fill up along the way? I can’t maneuver this thing well enough to pull into a regular station? What if I had to back up? What if I was too high to go under the cover, what if, what if, what if? Ugh, no time for this, I had to start driving!! Jill tells this part of the story really well because she was behind me, but essentially, I finally got behind the wheel in the gas station parking lot and practiced turning, backing up and driving around in circles for maybe 5 minutes. Both of our hearts began to pound when our host said, ok, you did great, its all yours!

It was about 7 PM and we were near downtown Portland by this time and the rain was coming down in sheets. Jill asked that we just stay right there in the parking lot, get a good nights sleep and take off in the morning. We had been up for almost 20 hours by this time. That might sound reasonable to many, but I had no idea if I was allowed to stay there, I had no idea what part of the city we were really in, I didn’t feel safe. I replied with a no, I want to get down the road and out of this city first.

It was dark, it was raining, and the first thing I had to do was simply cross the 6 lanes of traffic from the parking lot and get into the left lane to position myself to be able to get up on the interstate. I had to do it, so off I went!! With traffic stopped on both sides I proceeded out into the middle of the road while the huge windshield wipers were flying back and forth. Neither one of us said a word, I don’t think either one of us were breathing.

Feeling incredibly proud, I made it to the on ramp for the interstate. We were smack dab in the middle of downtown Portland. Traffic was horrendous. I found a lane and didn’t move out of it. I was traveling at the speed of 40 mph and thought I was flying. LOL I knew I had maybe 6 inches on each side of the coach, but it seemed like a half inch and my body was beginning to tense up and spasm. I was literally gripping the wheel so tightly and grinding my teeth so hard that my entire body was following suit while at the same time, In the back of my mind, the fear of where we were going to stay the night started to creep in.

We finally made it out of the city, I think it took us an hour and a half before the traffic slowed down and the lanes of traffic reduced from 6 to 2. The rain continued. I didn’t know how tired I was, the adrenalin was more than I had ever experienced, but Jill knew, and she began to pressure me to stop. I on the other hand was trying to come up with any excuse why we shouldn’t because I had no clue where to stop? I had to face it eventually and after calling Walmarts to see if we could park in their parking lot (got turned down) a rest area sign appeared. I immediately turned down the ramp praying that we could stop there. Jill had earlier Googled whether we could stay in rest areas in Oregon and it was a big no, so I had my doubts. Fortunately there was one other motor home and a few 18 wheelers that appeared to have stopped for the night, so I slid into a spot next to a truck and then realized I had to remember everything that I was told in the 15 minute crash session. Engage the air brake, release the air shocks, drop the leveling Jacks, turn on the compressor, turn on the heat, close all the curtains, and we fell into bed and slept like we have never slept before.

To be continued

We have been married for 28 years and for that entire time I dreamed of selling everything and living anywhere we wanted in a Motorhome. Jill always homeschooled the kids, so It didn’t matter to me. Take the kids with us and lets go! Ultimately it worked out after the 4 left home, but I really would have liked to have experience it all with them if for just a few years.

On Monday Feb 9th, 2015 I got the call. My offer was accepted on a 2004 National Tropi-cal 37 foot diesel pusher with 17k miles. Only problem was, it was sitting in Washington State and we live in Lindale Texas. 2 days later, we were on an airplane headed to Portland Oregon to pick up the Coach. Yup, 2 days later we were headed to pick up a 37 foot Motorhome and neither of us have ever driven one. Jill (what the heck are we thinking?) Just get on the plane baby, its our time! LOL

We landed on Thursday morning in a blinding rain storm. Little did we know that the worst storm of the year was bearing down on the North West.

To be continued.

We have been asked by many to write a blog about our travels and experiences. Neither “Smokin Hot”  nor I write very well, but we have some incredible experiences that we love to post about on FaceBook and share with family and friends. So please bare with us as we try to share our lives with you.

BTW, I call my wife Jill “Smokin Hot” because she is. 😉 We have also set this Blog up so that both of us can comment and post. Hopefully you will find it as interesting as we do.