The Beginning

The Beginning … As most of you know, Geoff and I took delivery of a Fleetwood Flair 26D motor home about a week and a half ago. The few days afterwards were focused on getting stuff moved into it and the like. We intended to do a short day trip the day after we got it but the phone company picked that day to put in new underground lines down our street and managed to block the street for anything more than a small car! We then planned our trip that Sunday, March 27th, but severe thunderstorms were forecast for the area and it was decided that a novice driver and stormy weather didn’t mix.

Sooo, finally we prepared last Sunday, April 3rd, to drive down to Daytona Beach have lunch and return. The day started out quietly and Geoff drove off to the storage area where Wolf (yes, the RV has a name) is kept only to find he could not get in! After a call to the manager and some patient waiting, they came and opened the place up. It turns out that in the last day or so they had had a significant robbery in the yard with several boat motors being removed!

Sooo, Geoff left his car there and drove Wolf back to the house where we loaded a few items and headed out, only a couple of hours later than planned. This was a shakedown cruise for not only Wolf herself but also the new tablet GPS we had acquired. Learning the basics of using it and finding a good location managed to occupy yours truly significantly. I did find that our mascot Wolfie makes an excellent footrest for the bouncy ride! The drive down the interstate went smoothly although we sure learned how much sway and bounce Wolf could achieve especially as big trucks passed us!

We had a nice lunch at the Red Lobster in Daytona Beach although in and out of their parking lot was a bit tricky. While we ate we discussed the drive and decided that it would probably be a good idea to get the stabilizers and sway bars that we have seen frequently suggested. It should make significant difference in the punishment Geoff takes behind the wheel and the roughness of the ride for my arthritic hip. According to the RV routing in the tablet GPS, that parking lot is not RV accessible. It tried to kill our route with that destination! Fortunately our shorter than many Wolf made it into the back area and out again without too much difficulty.

We headed back, stopping at the Pilot/Flying J to fill up the tank and weigh the beast “loaded” which was quite an acceptable number. Practice at doing this helps! Note to selves, try to avoid places like that on a lovely Sunday afternoon, the joint was jumping!

We restored Wolf to his den at the storage place and headed home only to find our mailbox in the middle of the driveway! After examining the footage from our security camera, we see that a small silver car sped down the wrong side of the street and clipped our mailbox and a neighbor’s probably with their mirror and probably distracted driving. Can’t identify the car but it is at least nice to know what did happen.

(First written and emailed beginning of April 2016)