Tour Schedule and "Name the Coach" Contest

The Crazy Travelers are taking traveling and tailgating to a new level!

As mentioned in previous posts, we are the first-time owners of a motorhome (coach).  And we are not wasting any time getting started with this adventure!

Our "Cocktails at the Coach" Tour starts this week along with the "Name the Coach" Contest.

Florida Tour Schedule*

Date                                   City                                        Event

 
March 3-4                         DelRay                          “Shake Down”/Maiden trip

March 5-6                         Naples                           Reunion (of sorts)

March 7-8                         Tampa                           “Homecoming”

April 15-17                       Tallahassee                     FSU’s Garnet & Gold game

April 18-19                       Cape Canaveral area       Shuttle launch

*Will update as dates and cities are added to the tour

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"Name the Coach Contest**"

 
Submit your "Name the Coach" entry by sending an email to leannmooretpa (at) aol (dot) com.  (Sorry, but if I put an easy link to an email address, I end up with spam/gremlins/bugs.) 


Follow the blog for the names submitted and to find out the winning entry.
**One entry per email address. Winning entry to be announced by April 16. Winner will be notified by email.

"Build it and they will come"

Or in our case, buy this and you will get a contract on that! 

Just two weeks after taking delivery of the motorhome, we got a contract on the townhouse in Tallahassee!

Over the past two weeks, we have made two trips to Tallahassee, clearing out and packing up stuff, some of which will go in the motorhome.  And while up there, we've been able to attend a few basketball games, a baseball game as well as get together with friends.

Stay tuned, the next chapter in the Crazy Travelers's Adventures is about to begin!

Second Annual Gathering

Since the house in NC sold over the summer, we haven't had any Wining, Dining and Chatting Society get togethers.

But with everyone finally being in Florida, Bonnie J. found the perfect opportunity to get together!  What, doesn't everyone celebrate Valentine's on February 15th?? 

We all claimed our assignments - stone crabs were imported from the Keys, appetizers and Prosecco were plentiful and plenty of sweet treats to cap off the dinner.

Alfresco dining.

Our hostess made sure there were no Valentines-y details left out (both inside and outside).

Ray with a couple Bonnies (J. on the left, A. on the right).

Frank, Bonnie and Terry

Switched Bonnie and Leann

Bonnie, Frank, Toby and Ray

Don, Terry and Ray having a good laugh.

Leann, Frank, Toby and Bob



Bonnie and Barbara

Frank, Don and Bob, trying to find pictures from their trip.

Terry with two blondes.  :o)

The Gals - Bonnie J., Toby, Barbara, Leann and Bonnie A.
Barbara doesn't "wear her heart on her sleeve".  :o)

The Guys - Frank, Terry, Bob, Ray and Don

After complaining a "guys only picture is no fun", Barbara livened things up.



THE star of the show, fresh from the Atlantic.

 

Mustard sauce and warm butter!

A toast to our hostess and host!

Sweet endings.

White chocolate raspberry mouse in home-made chocolate cups.

Hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries.

"Sweet-Tart" key lime pies.

Thank you Bonnie and Ray for organizing and hosting! 

It was a wonderful evening, terrific food and libations along with never-ending laughs!

"Caution: Student Driver"

Remember those days, back in High School, when we looked forward to Driver's Ed?  Some kids in the class had already been driving.  Some never sat behind the wheel.  All so exciting!

One of the commitments we made while researching and subsequently purchasing a motorhome, was that we would go to driving school. 

Well, today was our day.  Frank was the experienced one (with at least a full hour and a handful of test-drives under his belt).  I, on the other hand, have barely spent 5 minutes in the passenger seat, much less the driver's!  Needless to say, I was VERY anxious about the driving part of this class.

There are two parts to the class - classroom and actual driving.  The classroom part was great!  Our instructor Barney was terrific - very informative, humorous and patient.  We really learned a lot of tips and tricks to make our driving, turning, reversing and parking experience so much easier.

No only that, he authorized permission for the passenger to advise the driver of things coming up, like brake lights, emergency vehicles, lane drifting, cars in the right-hand lane.  Finally!  Someone who recognizes the importance of being a D.C.P (Diligent Co Pilot)!  (Or as he called it Nag-igator.)  (In all fairness, he did express the importance of switching drivers so there was equal time of being the DCP.

The classroom part was good, but as mentioned before, I was anxious (ok, downright nervous) about driving this huge loaf of bread on wheels.  We had a few hours to kill before the driving part so we ventured to camping/RV Mecca a.k.a. Camping World.  (This place is to camping what BassPro is to fishing/boating/hunting.)

The time came for me to get those butterflies in order - the road part was about to start.  And it was for real...no simulators!

One of the two motorhomes we would do the driving portion in.

Barney was showing us how the "dots system" works.

Barney getting things ready to doing a three-point turn to back the motorhome into a space.

I bravely volunteered to be the spotter.  And yes, that RV will eventually be in the spot behind me.

No toes or cones were crushed during this demonstration.

Frank in the driver's seat of our motorhome.

 

Frank in the driving school RV.



"Student Driver"

Keeping it between the lines!
  (Unfortunately, there won't be any orange cones laid out for me in the "real world".)

We passed!

After all is said and done, it wasn't as bad as I built it up to. I guess the experience with the boat trailer helped.  I can now say I have an hour's worth of time in a motorhome, 20 minutes driving.

 Looks like we'll be looking for the nearest WalMart, church or school parking lots to do some practicing in.  (I know I would feel a lot more comfortable!)

What a treat!

We got an invitation from Captain Pete to go on the BIG boat!  Woohoo! 

 The morning started out quite foggy, but by the time we got to the marina, it was starting to burn off. 

We tried several locations for bait and finally found "the spot", but so did everyone else.

The weather forecast indicated sunny and warm.  Perhaps there was an intern filling in because there wasn't anything sunny, or warm, or minimal wind in our experience today!

A scene from "The Perfect Storm"?

As we waited for the sailfish to come along, we saw lots of wildlife - 2 hammerhead sharks, green sea turtle, millions of Portuguese Man-O-Wars, seagulls, and pelicans.

Hammerhead shark fin.

 We also did some bottom fishing and pulled in a few sea bass and a porgie.  Even though they are small, you get a good workout!  (As much as I was hoping for a big ol' grouper or amberjack, I don't think my little arms could have handled such a monster!)

Gettin' a little help from the Captain.

The weather was quite schizophrenic today and the fish did not share our agenda..  So we called it a day and headed back in.

Thanks Captain Pete (and KM) for inviting us to go on the boat!  Hopefully the next time the fish will be a little more cooperative.  :o)

You can find ANYTHING on ebay!

Our loyal followers know that we have been in the market for a motorhome for a while now.  (See past post.)  And our sense of urgency has been relatively low because the townhouse in Tallahassee hasn't sold yet.

But, that hasn't stopped us from stopping into RV dealers, perusing various RV websites and learning about motorhomes that have become available for one reason or another.  Our research over the past few months has helped us narrow down the manufacturer (Tiffin or Newmar), engine (diesel), length (38-40'), year, colors (garnet/gold), slides (2-on the driver side), floorplan, fit-and-finish, and budget.

We have several friends who have coaches, motorhomes, fifth-wheels or campers and everyone has been extremely generous with suggestions, tips, feedback, and ideas.  We know the proverbial "garage-kept, driven-by-a-little-old-lady-to-church-and-back, cream-puff" is out there and it's just a matter of time before we connect with it.

One evening, about two weeks ago, just for grins, I checked Ebay and Craigslist.  I was curious to see if  any of the brands we were looking for might be for sale.  (We've found that especially for the Tiffins, they are sold before they even make it to the dealer for a trade-in.)

I couldn't believe it!  There was a 2003 Newmar MountainAire, gold with garnet exterior/neutral interior, 19K miles, diesel engine, 40'!  Was it too good to be true???  Oh yeah, it was in Pompano to boot!

Frank jumped on it right away and contacted the seller.  We headed south the next day to take a look at the coach. 

Holy cow! The interior was s-p-o-t-l-e-s-s!  The engine and basement were sparkly clean!  Had someone even used it?  We searched and searched to find any signs of previous occupation.  (The ice cube trays were still hermetically sealed!)  It even had the entertainment center outside we'd been talking about "needing". 

We pinched ourselves.  We picked our jaws off the floor.  Could this be the creampuff we've been looking for?  Yes, it was!

Frank found an engine guy to check it out.  He was bowled over by the condition!  Frank found another guy (Happy) to come inspect the "house" part.  He too was impressed by the 8 year-old coach! 

Each time we see it, we keep thinking, "When's the other shoe going to fall?"  "It can't really be that clean."  But it hasn't and it is!

Today was the day.  We returned to Pompano and took possession of our new-to-us coach! 

We are very excited about this next chapter in the Crazy Travelers Adventures!  We are looking forward to a "shake-down" trip (which will be somewhere local on the east coast).  And we are already making plans with friends for our first "road trip" to the space shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral. 

We've got to get it stocked and into a routine within the next few months because, before you know it, football season will be here!  Weekends in Tallahassee (and at away games) are going to be a whole new experience for us!

By the way, if you know anyone looking for a townhouse in Tallahassee, we are VERY motivated to sell!