Yesterday the weather began as overcast and worked itself into a full downpour by lunch time. We went to Bryson City for lunch and some antiquing. We did a section of the Dragons Tail en route to Bryson City that was crazy curvy! We actually drove through some clouds too.

Today we took the dogs with us up to Highlands. Now that is an even curvier road only two lanes and the way up always has me biting my nails because I can see straight down the side of the mountain, much more comfortable going back down when I am on the mountain side of the road. The ride is only about 9 miles but you have to take most of it at 35 mph, some parts are even 15mph. Once we got up the mountain we did some shopping, I could hardly believe the Stone Lantern is still in business, last time I shopped there my oldest child was two and she just turned 40, they have been in business 53 years I was told.

The air in the Highlands is the sweetest I believe I have ever had the pleasure to breathe, it is crisp and cool and there is a meld of pine and rich earth and moss and a touch of something sweet. It is like tasting fine wine to fill your lungs with its deliciousness. We stopped at the dry falls on our way back down the mountain, last time we were there was on our honeymoon 1975. Climbing down to walk under the falls and back up again wore the dogs plumb out. Their little legs are so short they have to take 4-5 steps to our one.

We love this mountain weather, so cool every night and warms up to low eighties in the late afternoon. Today the sky is clouded in it has drizzled a few times, it is suppose to go down to 48 tonight. Decided to spend a few more days exploring the area and just being here relaxing before heading up the road to see sister Patty and her hubby Jeff. Then Tennessee is in our sights!

Gearing up for the first big retirerment trip

Changing over from pulling a dolly with a Prius on board, to flat towing a CR-V behind the rig. Lots of things to install and wiring to run and learning a whole new system. Hope to be all done and road worthy in two weeks time. Also have to get the front brakes on the RV done before we go. Have begun a deep cleaning the inside and making piles of things to load in. Our friend John at RV Detailing got our rig all cleaned up and shiny,  she was covered in spring pollen when we dropped her off and she looked like new when we picked her up. Thanks for always doing a great job and your attention to detail John.

Just Look at that shine!!

First outing since retirement

We are presently on our first camping trip since retirement on March 31.We enjoyed the cool rainy weather here @ Stone Mountain GA (the flat tire not so much), wish we could send the rain south to our parched drought situation in Tampa.The Carolina mountains are magnificent (as always), the dogwoods are in bloom and the weather is picture perfect. Although I have never lived here I always feel at home here. The canines are now in camping mode and enjoying their daily walks in the woods as am I.

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Gearing up for the BIG retirement trip

We are now officially retired. We are in the middle of switching from a car dolly towing system to flat towing our CR-V behind the rig but have a lot of installing, wiring, and a huge learing curve to figure out before we can head out. We just had the "Weinerbago" cleaned and treated with PolyGlow by John and she looks amazing she was covered in green/yellow pollen haze

My husband and I are wishing we had another bump out (slide) or two. We also are really unhappy with the size of the grey water tank it is a real pain when you go to a park w/o full hookups. One shower and one meals dish washing and we are full and that's being REALLY H20 aware when running the water for both. We love the lay out of our rig, but the recliner is not very comfortable to my short body and I can't get it reclined all the way, it always wants to fold me up unless I keep my arms (and thus more weight) above my head. So, we have come up w/ a RV wish list. Now, we realize buying pre-owned it is very, make that VERY difficult to find everything you want in a coach in a price range you can afford, but we are putting it out there into the universe and if it is meant to be, it will be...here is our Dream coach wish list

What we have

What we would like        *= really important

Nice size rig (34)- w/ generator/good tires                           Same

*1 slide                                                                                     2-3 slides *

2 door refrigerator w/ ice                                                  * 4 door refrigerator w/ ice*

Dinette w/drawers                                                               * Dining room table and chairs w/ buffet

Gel coat w/ stickers                                                                *full body paint

Microwave                                                                            convection oven

No window awnings                                                             window awnings

Manual awning                                                                      automatic awning

auto Levelers                                                                    auto-levelers/computerized

No laptop dash desk                                                                laptop dash desk

8 cylinders                                                                               10 cylinders

Tile in kitchen only                                                                 tile all the way to door

Fold out sofa bed                                                                   adjustable sofa w/ foot rests or 2 chairs

Visors                                                                                      Auto lower visors

 No  W/P switch in bath                                                                Water pump switch in bathroom

Basement air                                                                       2 roof top a/c  = more basement storage

Pantry                                                                                      pantry* or more cabinets for food storage

2000 Winnebago Adventuer                               2004-2006 Winnebago Adventuer or Itasca                      Suncrusier or Holiday Rambler or Newmar

Things that would be nice:

*Hamper                        *Ceiling fan                            *comfort select mattress

Cutting board                                                                     Basement slide out trays

Navigation                                                                  *backup side view cameras

*Skirt/ mud flaps                                                         RV Cover---------------- Washer /dryer

What our rig needs: Foggy dual pane Windows repaired,  new carpet  ,  tile in kitchen and bath,     speakers,   distributor cap/coil/plug wires/hoses and belts   

We really like the floor plans that have an easy chair or chairs w/ottomans in the bedroom/ a table , we do not like the floor plans that have the shower with a skylight over it in the bedroom that blast you awake as soon as the sun rises! Would like the doghouse lower so I don't have to climb over it all the time.  The 2005 version of what we have now is what I REALLY want but they hold their value so well I may have to wait a couple years until it comes in our price range. In the meantime we really do love our rig and plan to have fun in it until we can find one just a little bit more than this one. We will do the few things mechanically that keep her trucking along smooth and see if we can find our DREAM RV in a price we can pay cash for. Happy Campers until that day comes, our next "weinerbago adventure" probably won't be until after March as we have puppies coming the end of January, see you on the road! 

Would love to hear what other RV'ers like or dislike about their rigs in the comments

Our maiden voyage now behind us, we were quite pleased with our weinerbago. All in all everything went grand we installed our awning lights and tested all systems and everything ran well. We found the capacity of the grey water tanks to be somewhat limited which maybe will be an issue when boon docking so we will probably have to invest in a portable waste tank.

Here are some shots of Lithia Springs as well as some of the interior of the coach.

We had a good time and were quite comfy. Still need to replace cargo door lifts and install solar panel and add another deep cycle marine battery to the battery bank but we have 8 months to do it before we will be camping for any extended periods. Until our next adventure...happy trails!