Roughing It Is Overrated

Yes, we're at our home base in Teague, Texas. Actually, we reside in an RV Park when we're here, but are near our daughter and three granddaughters. In fact, the youngest is 7 weeks old and a little darling. I think this one may actually look like her Mommy.

We got the new (to us) motorhome to Texas without any further problems. That is, once we got out of Orlando, FL. We bought this rig in Fort Myers, got as far as Tampa and spent about 4 days at Camping World/Lazy Days getting the front step fixed. We knew there was a major problem with it but the techs at Camping World in Fort Myers assured us that the strengthened it and fixed it all up. I guess the mold in the carpet should have told us to look closer. As it turns out, we almost lost the step... which would have meant an nasty fall for whoever was on it at the time.

The previous owners of this rig never fixed anything. The front door had been leaking for a long time. While we were in Fort Myers they caulked it when we saw the water coming in. Had we looked under the bottom step's rubber runner we would have seen a mass of rotted wood. And many ants had set up residence there as well.

So Camping World in Tampa was not happy that the rig was allowed to leave the shop at the other store in this condition. It was a liability for sure. So, Tampa store called Fort Myers store and Fort Myers agreed to do the right thing and pay for the step to be reengineered/rebuilt. This time they used sheet metal. Let me tell you, this is now a SOLID step!

On the way to Tampa Bob noticed that he was constantly overcorrecting with the steering. So we asked Lazy Days if they would do a front end alignment.

They said they would love to but they told us but they were covered up with Workhorse recalls. Then the service advisor told us they don't even do the alignments on their high end coaches ($400k-500k+)themselves. They actually send them to JOSAM in Orlando.

So we got to thinking, our Travel Supreme Select 42DSI was about a $500k unit when it was new so we should probably take it to the same place Lazy Days takes theirs to. Plus, we purchased 8 brand new tires and wanted to make sure they wear well.

So next stop, Orlando. Good thing too... both front tires were toeing out. No wonder Bob was constantly over correcting! The dual axle needed some alignment also and the tag axle was just fine. Now we could start out for home and not have to worry about "should we get it aligned or not."

Everything happens for a reason I always say and in this case, getting the step fixed in Tampa led us to one of the best alignment businesses in the world. Big truck owners come from all over just for the JOSAM alignment services.

Goes to show you, we can all learn something new every day.

When I met Bob on the Internet in 1997 (before eHarmony, Match.com, or anything like that) in my first email to him I told him I like to Rough It Smoothly. Since he worked for an RV dealer at that time I figured he'd know what I meant. That's also the hook that got me to answer his personal ad... he worked for an RV dealer at that time.

Little did I know that we'd eventually be living in a luxurious coach like this one. I love the washer/dryer combo unit. I did 3 small loads of laundry today. Plus, my drawer dishwasher. We purchased a Fisher/Paykel at Lowes and had Camping World install it.

It is so nice to have squeeky clean dishes again... and Bob can now recover from dishpan-hands. Yes, I do the cooking and so he does the dishes. Only now the dishwasher does them.

I know many people, my sister included, say we don't camp, we "RV." And perhaps they are right. However you want to look at it, I just love Roughing It Smoothly and I always will!

Happy & Safe Travels,

Vicky & Bob Heron (Capt. Jack & Jesse James)

How to work & live wherever and whenever you choose!