Our Newest Toy!

As I mentioned a post or three back, we found out on our Grand Adventure to Texas in December, that we do like the "travel trailer life".  So, to go with Max's new truck, we've added a brand new fifth wheel!


We ended up going with a dealer (Four Seasons RV) in Abilene, Ks.  What an awesome group of people!!  Talk about customer oriented.....


When we arrived on Wednesday, they had our new fifth wheel setup in their adjacent RV park.  Here's what it looked like shortly after we arrived.

Yep, all of that stuff around it is what we hauled to Abilene in the truck.... in order to at least start stocking the new fifth wheel.  One of the 4 Seasons guys spent quite a bit of time with us, going over how everything worked both inside and outside the unit.

Then we set to work unpacking and stowing the gear.  We ended up staying two nights in Abilene, in order to get used to the new trailer.  And the 4 Seasons guys checked up on us quite a bit during that time.  Did I mention how wonderful they are?!?  Since we are such newbies at this, you can imagine how many questions (and yes, some of them were REALLY dumb) that we had.

Of course, while we were in Abilene, we HAD to do some of the tourist stuff.  We ate dinner one night at the Kirby House restaurant.  It is housed in a grand old Victorian home (which they have in abundance in Abilene).  Here's a pic of the front of the place.

Their chicken fried steak is one of the best I've had.  And the service was awesome.  However, we were the only ones in the place that evening, so the wait staff was definitely not distracted!

And of course, you can't go to Abilene without touring the Eisenhower Presidential Museum.... so we spent a couple of hours there.  Very impressive! 

Touring the museum only reconfirms my desire to visit all of the Presidential museums.  Yep, Max just rolls his eyes at that one!

So after a couple of days learning about our new rig, it was time to load up and come home.  Again the 4 Seasons guys came down and showed us how to setup the inside for transport, unhook from all of the ground support, and hook up the the truck.  

Here's what we look like when we are ready to roll down the road.

Dang, I love how that truck looks!  <grin>

The drive home was uneventful.... thank goodness!  Getting backed into the driveway took more than a few tries....  and we still have to navigate getting it stowed in the storage place.  Ah well, something else to look forward to.

All in all, we both love the new rig.  And we are looking forward to many adventures to come!

Cheers,

Dr J

Work Continues

As I mentioned before, work continues on the remodel.  My timing for the trip to WDC meant that Max got to paint the bath walls and ceiling all by himself last Sunday.  Ask him sometime about painting at 2am.  <grin>  But for a couple of touch up areas, it looks awesome!


And now the shower walls are up.....  I am loving how the Onyx looks.  Sorry about the lighting quality of the pic.  We are without lights in the bath just now!

And James also got the upper cabinets and hardware installed.  They are just gorgeous in my humble opinion!

The only disappointment so far is the flooring.  We are having a Mannington stone look flooring put in the bath.  We finally opened one of the boxes today and it doesn't look much like the sample we were working from.  Hopefully we'll get that straightened out next week.

This weekend is bedroom painting time.  Do we know how to have fun or what???

Cheers!

Dr J

Cherry Blossoms in the Nation's Capitol

I spent the early part of this week in Washington DC for a credit union conference.  And while the conference was great.....  the best part had to be, hands down, the cherry blossoms!

The local news guys let us know that we picked the absolute best time of the season to be in WDC as the blossoms were at their peak during this week.  And good grief, I believe them!  And to top that off, they were having unseasonably warm weather.... at least 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal.

So we spent a couple of hours one afternoon walking around the tidal basin.  It is completely ringed with cherry blossom trees.  And they were at their showy best!  Of course, I couldn't resist a pic or two (or ten!).  I though the one above framed the Washington Monument beautifully.

I always thought that cherry blossoms were, well, cherry colored!  Not exactly.  Apparently when they first start coming out, they are a lovely red/pink color.  I found a couple of trees that had a few new buds on them, so you can see what that looks like on the right.


But as they "age", the blossoms fade to a pinky white, as you can see above.


As always, my photos just don't do this justice.  It is incredible to be surrounded by all of these lovely blooming trees.  And as a gentle breeze blew across us, it seemed as though it was raining white blossoms.  Too fantastic!


Work continued on the home remodel while I was gone.  Wish I could say that it was completed while I was gone, but no such luck.  <grin>  Max was called to duty as the painting contractor during my trip.  Lucky boy.  More on that next time.


Cheers!


Dr J

The Remodel Continues

Work continues on the remodeling adventure......

The old and ugly blue carpet from the bedroom is now gone.  In it's place will be a lovely new Mannington floor sometime soon.  


And the wall between the bedroom and bathroom has been reconstructed.  


The new upper cabinets are done.  And man, are they beautiful!  James has the glass sides installed and has dry-fit them on the counters, as you can see below. 

I tried to do a close-up of the glass, but it just doesn't do it justice.  It is called "rain", and is just lovely.  Can't wait to see it with the doors installed as they have glass panes as well.

So now it is our turn.  We are the "official" painters for this project.  


Unfortunately, with the sad activities of today and my trip to WDC tomorrow, Max is stuck with doing the painting by himself the next few days.  


The bathroom is first as next week James plans to permanently install the cabinets and start the installation of the shower walls.  


So Max has his work cut out for him on Sunday! My husband is such a trooper.  Grin.

As for me, I'm headed to Washington DC for a credit conference.  Hopefully the cherry blossoms will still be in bloom so that I can snap some shots to share with you.  Until then,

Cheers!

Dr J

My aunt.

Debra S Maddern. Rest in peace. Play without physical boundaries.

Computing Capability Returns!

And to add to the stress........


I finally gave up and decided to get a new computer.  Good grief.... that is a painful process!  Well actually, picking out and buying the computer wasn't.  But getting all the stuff transferred from my 10 year old Gateway to a brand new, shiny iMac was stressful!  For the past 5 days, the techs at Best Buy have been struggling with getting all my stuff (particularly the email) from the old box to the new one.  Apparently the version of Outlook I was using on the old box is no longer supported.  By anyone.  In any way.  Ack! 


Anyway, the Geek Squad worked their magic and I'm now typing to you on my shiny new Mac.  Dang, I'm gonna love this pc!


Work continued on the bath remodel (despite my inability to blog about it!).  Thank goodness.  Max and I got the closet disassembled and repainted.  And Max wore his back out tearing up the old carpet.  

I think that it turned out pretty good.  Now all we need is the new carpet installed in there.  And then of course, we still have to setup all of the "gutty-whats" that makes it a closet!

James got the plumbing for the new shower in place and got the new shower pan installed.  

Dang.... that seems like it is gonna be a HUGE shower.  Sweet!
























And he also got the sheet rock on the bedroom side of the wall done.  I'm guessing that we'll be painting the bedroom in another few days.  sigh.  

So yes, while the stress still continues at the Johnson household, we ARE making progress!  Yay!

Cheers,

Dr J

Work Continues.....

One thing about it...... remodeling NEVER happens quickly!  But work does continue on our bathroom remodel.


All of our Onyx arrived late last week.  That is the product we are using for the countertops, sinks, shower, etc.  This is a pic of our counter/sinks.  Yes, I know you can't see the sinks much, as it is wrapped in plastic.  And yes, it has even more covering over it now to protect it during the construction process!

And later in the week, James (our contractor) got the soffit covered in sheetrock, metal edge, and mesh.  It is now ready to be mudded!  Yay!

He also got the framing started for the wall between the bath and bedroom.  (That's the new shower pan you see laying in the background!)  We are going from a double door to a single door between the two rooms so that we can have a larger shower.  

All in all it is going very well.  Of course, because we are the home owners and not the contractors, it is going too slow!  <grin>  But that is the way of remodeling......

Cheers!

Dr J

'Nuff Stress??!

As if remodeling isn't enough stress in our lives, we've decided to add to it!  


As some of you know, we had a Grand Adventure last December where we drove to San Antonio, rented a travel trailer, and toured the Hill Country for about 3 1/2 weeks.  


Despite the periodic unk-unk during the adventure, we did finally decide that we liked traveling that way.  And of course, the girls really enjoyed it!  <grin>


So instead of going the whole rental route time and again (that has its own set of difficulties!), we figure that we would put that rental money to use in a new fifth wheel!  And of course, to haul a fifth wheel, you have to have a truck.


So here is Max with his new toy.......  

Yep, he is actually smiling for the camera!  <grin>

And here's a front view of the new truck.

Dang, I think that is one hot ride!  <grin>  And yes, that is my old SUV in the background of the photo.  We traded it in on the new truck.  sniff, sniff.  I already miss it!

Anyway, we've also spent the last month going around to RV dealerships, researching online, and even going to the local RV show.  And yes, we've ordered a new fifth wheel as well.  More about that when it actually arrives.

Cheers!

Dr J