I'm not sure where to start so I guess a little background is in order. Barb and I started RV'ing back in the mid 70's with a small Nomad travel trailer. We had been tent campers but after one final outing on Mother's Day at the Colorado River with the wind blowing sand into the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Barb was fixing for the kids she said that if we were going to continue camping it would be with an RV of some kind. So we bought the trailer. We used it for many years and towed it all over the United States and part of Canada. We sold it in about 1989 and did without an RV until around 2000. We decided to get back into the RV lifestyle so we bought a brand new 30 foot Holiday Rambler Alumascape with one hugh slide out. We were pulling it with a 1992 GMC Suburban with a 454 c.i. engine. It just didn't have enough power and I was trying all kinds of stuff to get more horsepower out of it. On one of our outings I was reading the latest issue of Trailer Life Magazine and they had done a review of the new Chevrolet Silverado with the brand new Duramax diesel motor and Allison transmission. Well after reading the review I decided that we just had to have one. We searched around and finally found one with the color and interior that we wanted. It was a crewcab duallie and it had so much power I couldn't believe what it was capable of. So now we have the "dream truck" and a travel trailer. But, "now we can have a fifth wheel" I told Barb. So we started the search for just the right fiver. That took a couple of years and in 2003 at the Pomona RV show we ordered our rig. It was to be built in December of 2003 and would be the new 2004 design. All went well until the day we went to pick it up. We did the complete walk around on the outside and were just stepping into it when Barb exclaimed "I didn't order blue". At this point let me explain something about our other trailer. We had purchased it off of a dealer's lot and pretty much took what we could get in order to get a good price. It had blue interior and Barb really doesn't like blue. But she was going to live with it because we got a "good deal". But now that we are special ordering a new fiver it has to be just the way we wanted it to be. So when she saw that it had a "blue" interior the "you know what" hit the fan. The salesman was scrambling to try to figure out what had happened that could have resulted in such a drastic error. It seems that when the original salesman wrote up the order he had noted the color on the order sheet in pencil and when it was faxed to the factory the pencil didn't show up. Nobody back at the factory suspected anything so there was no confirmation call made to the dealer. They just built the rig with the "blue" interior. So long story short, we had to wait for the factory to build us another trailer. It all worked out for the best though because we were able to add a couple of major options that would have not been on the first unit. I decided to add the MorRyde IS independent suspension and also electric over hydraulic disc brakes. I am very thankful for both additions. So now we have one of the top rated fifth wheel trailers and a fantastic tow vehicle. What's next you say. Well after reading the many RV fulltimer forums we decided that this might be the lifestyle for us. Barb was burned out of being a housewife and having to maintain a house and yard. I was burned out of my way of earning a living so it made sense to sell everything and hit the road. Now when I say sell everything I mean sell everything. We had been collecting antiques and collectibles for years. I had a pretty complete woodworking/mechanical shop. I had also been into shooting sports for years. It all had to go. We now have what's left of a lifetime of collecting in a 6 x 8 foot storage unit. Pretty drastic huh? But so far no regrets. We have been on the road since Feb 8th of 2008. We were supposed to have been in the Escapees fulltimer graduating class of 2007 but didn't quite make it. We attended the Life On Wheels seminar in Tucson in March of 07 and learned a bunch about how to live out on the road. We also met some great folks that were either contemplating the move or were already on the road and just wanted to attend another LOW seminar. You cannot learn it all in just one seminar. Anyway it was at this seminar that we really made up our minds that we were going to do it. So we came home and started the whole project in motion. I had to close up the business that we had been operating for almost 40 years and we had to get the house in shape for sale. That took a little longer than we had planned but it finally went on the market in October and we had a contract on Christmas Eve. All of a sudden reality hit us between the eyes. We are really doing this. After the initial shock was over we were giddy. Now we couldn't wait to get out. We closed escrow on Feb. 7th and got our check the next day. We ran to the bank and deposited the check. Then we sat back until the next morning and at 6:15 A.M. we left town headed for Casa Grande Arizona to attend our first rally as fulltimers. It was the Gypsy Journal rally put on by Nick and Terry Russell, publishers of the Gypsey Journal newspaper. We had a fantastic time there for five days attending classes, checking out the vendors, and just schmoozing with other RVers. After the rally was over, we moved about 8 miles into the town of Casa Grande to an RV resort called Fiesta Grande. It is situated right in the middle of town and was very convenient to everything. So for the next 10 days we did nothing but "decompress". It was great. Eat, drink, and sit. Oh, we also went out to the Casa Grande ruins that the town is named for. That was it for ten wonderful days. After this relaxing time we had to return to So. Cal. to finish up all the stuff that was still unfinished. There were doctor's appts., dentist appts., banking appts., getting together with friends and family for the "goodbyes". We were parked at a super RV park in San Dimas just over the hill from the Pomona Fairplex and above Brackett Air Field. On the other side is the Puddingstone Reservoir.It really is a beautiful setting. Very hard to get in though. Reservations are a must. We have made reservations for next year for 6 weeks. If it works out that we can't make it back we will cancel but they don't take a deposit so nothing will be lost. We were able to finish all of our business in just three weeks so we left town on March 18th headed for Palm Springs. We had hooked up with a satellite tv installer that had been recommended to us by the guy that installed our electrical management system while we were in Casa Grande. He had a used Motosat DirecTV dish that had been traded in on a new HD dish. So we had to meet up with him in Indio to have it installed. We were there for three days even though it only took about three hours to install the Motosat. Let me tell you, if you don't want to mess around setting up a portable dish this is the way to go. Just push a button and that's it. All automatic and so far we haven't been anywhere that it was blocked. Right now it is seeing through a tree that really surprised me to find a signal.
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