The Launch- Glad it’s over

Well the last 3 days prior to leaving were very busy. At times it seemed that the travel gods did not want us to go.

Last Thursday we received a call from Independence RV saying that the motorhome was ready for pickup at noon on Friday. That meant a trip to Orlando to pick it up and return home. That also meant that I was going to miss the granddaughters (Morgan) championship playoff softball game. I’m proud to say that Morgan’s team won the game and the league championship! Morgan’s team only lost one ballgame during the season. Way to go Morgan! Unfortunately, I missed the game due to the 420 mile round trip to Orlando.

Saturday morning we pulled the coach up in front of our home to load all our stuff except food. During the loading I noticed oil was dripping from the rear differential of our Jeep. Closer inspection revealed that the leak was coming from the pinion seal where the dive shaft enters the differential. I do a lot of my own mechanic work but this is more than I want to tackle. Off to the Jeep dealer we went. Thankfully, the local dealer, Maroone Jeep, has Saturday service hours. We got the Jeep in about noon hoping they could work on it. The service writer, Dino, was very helpful. It turns out Dino is a Jeep owner and enthusiast and after I explained our trip launch schedule, he kind of pushed through the work on the Jeep. The Jeep was done by 2:30 pm! Thanks Dino!

Saturday evening was my retirement dinner. We spent the evening with friends and had a great time. But that closes the last chapter on that part of our lives and now we are excited about making new chapters, which starts with this journey.

Sunday we pulled the coach back in front the house and finish loading and stocked the frig. I say pulled back in front of the house because we cannot store the coach at our home due to city regulations. We have to keep it in storage facility that is located about 3 miles from home. Not the most convenient setup, but that is the way it is. Sunday afternoon had me out in the hot Florida sun putting up our storm shutters. They will be in place while we are gone.

Monday- launch day! We loaded up our laptops, cameras, some final various items and our 2 cats, LeMeiux and Hurakan. The cats have travel with us for the last 7+ years and travel well. They are Burmese.

We were down to the last 5 minutes prior to driving off, and were in the process of unplugging TV’s, computers, etc, when we discovered a leak in the water hose that leads to our ice maker in the home refrigerator. So that was a 45 minute delay to cleanup that mess. So with that cleaned up, away we went.

Whew, that was easy!

Fortunately, our first days trip was only 180 miles to the Great Outdoors RV Resort in Titusville, Fl. We will stat two days to rest up from launch preparations. Tonight we meet with friends Carolyn and Jim Mullican at the Irish Pub for fish and chips. We have not had the pleasure of their company in a while and look forward to dinner.