First Drive!

We took delivery of the Neptune yesterday and drove down to Naples to the Coxes. What a great driving experience! But before I get to that I need to let you know about the 88 Presidential. It sold in less than an hour after it hit the market! Everybody who saw it at LazyDays was abuzz about what a cream puff low-mileage motorhome it was. a relative of one of the service techs snapped it up from David Jones. I was always very proud of the work I did fixing it up and making it road-worthy. The night we did the final changeover, Micky and I took a couple of hours scrubbing down and wiping down the interior to make sure the new owners didn't have to clean it up. And I wrote a six-page letter to the new owners telling then all the stuff we did and how to operate the camera system,charging system and all that. And I gave them contact information in case they had any further questions. It worked. While we were waiting for the Neptune to have the punchlist finished, they rolled the 88 up nose on to deliver it to the new folks. Dana Smith, our delivery coordinator, also worked that one and remarked that it was odd that the new owners didn't even want them to clean it!
LazyDays fixed all the things we found on the walk-around that morning and delivered on-time at 2 PM. When the time came to leave, Dana called me and said it's ready and you can leave. There was none of the ususal visiting the cashier to sign a workorder or anything. No bill, not even for incidentals. Just thanks for buying it!
Friday afternoon Micky and I took the RV Confidence Course from Barney Alexander along with 7 other folks. That was a great course. Barney has developed a series of small dot markers that are placed on the windshield, side mirrors, backup monitor and the driver's side of the RV that enable the driver and the ground guide (wing walker) to accurately put the RV in your lane and back into a spot. After the great classroom session, they took us over to the Rally Park and we boarded a 40-foot Winnebago Class A and drove around the park in very tight quarters.
I really enjoyed seeing wives that were always relegated to copilots and scared to death of the size and width of the RV's wheeling that huge Winnie around with confidence. One of the hardest parts is the tendency to start turning too soon, because you can't see 13-20 feet in front of the motorhome. So you measure off the distance of the blind spot in front and at the spot where you lose sight, you place a little green dot on the windshield centered in front of the driver. Then when you come to a sharp turn, you drive forward until that dot touches the curb before you start turning. That keeps both fron and rear of the RV in your lane and you don't take the nose off on-coming traffic. The other main trick is driving forward until your hips are aligned with the line you want your front wheels to take and then turning hard on a turn. That keeps the back wheels and the rear of the unit in your lane and clears the right curb or other parked vehicles with no fear. Two red dots on the mirror show the point on the ground where the back wheel are aligned and two feet out. Make the dot clear and the RV clears. Backing in re3quires a dot 8 feet forward of the back wheel centers and a little trick with the wing walker wiggling her fingers at her shoulder. All up the system works exremely well. Add in bluetooth phones and speakerphones and you've gor communications and no yelling.
Until I got to Naples and had to back down the Coxes narrow, tree-lined winding driveway to get in here. Unfortunately Micky had help. Phill had the back of the unit and saw where the back was going, couldn't see the right front. I got Micky to watch the front and avoided several expensive crunches with the mirrors and awnings.
Power from a residence for a 50-amp RV is a real problem. After trying several combinations of extension cords and 15-amp receptacles and popping a breaker, I opted for running the genset overnight to cool the unit down. Today, I drove to Fort Myers and the Camping world for a very expensive 50-amp 30-foot extension. Most homes with an electric dryer have a 220-volt 50-amp receptacle already built in!
I snaked that 1.5 inch cable out the back door to my auto transformer/surge protector and the unit plugged into it! Perfect! Conditioned safe power with no damage to the RV or the house!
We went to the huge Costco (don't have one in Augusta) and were amazed! Loaded up with good stuff. Gayle is having too much fun geocaching with the GeoMate Jr. that I surprised her with. Found one on the way and then she and Micky looked for a few more. Phil is a great cook and did a wonderful job with smoked salmon tonight.
This has been the most fun and exciting trip, ever, for both of us. Now it's time to go to bed and spend tomorow loading and organizing the unit for the trip back to Tampa to get the new steps installed. Then we'll drive around North Florida like gypsies for a while before heading home. More later.