Well, the RV has been here for two weeks now and just today I finally finished getting it registered and on the road. Suffice it to say that there were many hoops through which to jump -- insurance, temporary tags, inspection, permanent tags, etc. -- but I'm finally through them.
In the meantime, I've bought dishes and other items for the kitchen. I've also gotten an "air card" for my laptop so I can be online just about anywhere and I picked up a new camera. I think I've got about everything a roving blogger needs at this point. In the next few days I'll outfit the rig with my clothes and other things that will make it like a small apartment.
Soon I'll post some details about the "Shakedown Cruise."
Friday, February 20, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
It's Here !!
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Around 11:30 on Friday morning a mocha-colored RV came rolling up my street. Behind the wheel was Brian, the owner. His son Stephen came along for the ride. As I tried to provide direction, Brian expertly maneuvered the behemoth - it seemed bigger than I had remembered - into our driveway. After hellos, etc., we posed for a celebratory photo of the "passing of the keys."
The past couple of days have been a whirl of manual reading, systems checking, and just sitting in here playing house. I'm in here right now. I guess the laptop picks up the wireless signal from the "real" house. There are so many aspects to an RV - electrical, plumbing, heating, kitchen, bathroom, mechanical, and on and on. Lots to learn. And it's all fun.
As to the name "GoJoe," it's growing on me. Just now I'm not sure whether to apply it to the RV itself, or use it as my own road-warrior moniker, or, more ephemerally, to the totality of the experience itself -- Me, the RV, and the "journey." The "GoJoe" of it all. Stay tuned.
The past couple of days have been a whirl of manual reading, systems checking, and just sitting in here playing house. I'm in here right now. I guess the laptop picks up the wireless signal from the "real" house. There are so many aspects to an RV - electrical, plumbing, heating, kitchen, bathroom, mechanical, and on and on. Lots to learn. And it's all fun.
As to the name "GoJoe," it's growing on me. Just now I'm not sure whether to apply it to the RV itself, or use it as my own road-warrior moniker, or, more ephemerally, to the totality of the experience itself -- Me, the RV, and the "journey." The "GoJoe" of it all. Stay tuned.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Anticipation
It's just after 5:00 in the morning and here I am excited about the Big Day. Big because my new (well, new to me) RV arrives today. It's being driven here to Maryland from Pennsylvania by it's current owner. I was going to name it GoJoe, but my son suggests that it needs something more substantial, more fitting to my "journey." We'll see.
What is it about a tiny house on wheels that has so much appeal? I don't know. When I was a kid in the 50s, pictures of covered wagons or articles about converted buses in Popular Science would send me on flights of fancy about living mobile. My dad had this bug, too. He used to make drawings of the kind of travelling unit he'd like to have. Later, he owned a VW camper van and a succession of small travel trailers.
But anyway, GoJoe (not it's real name) is a gem. It's a 2003 Lazy Daze Class C RV. Lazy Daze is a quality-built product from a somewhat quirky company in southern California. They've been building these things there since 1956! You can buy them only from the company in their one location. No dealers, no middle men. To get a new one, you go (or call or write) to headquarters and make your order. When it's ready several months later, you go there and pick it up.
Since that's the way it works, most Lazy Daze RVs tend to be on the West Coast. Finding one in the East is not that easy. So when I saw this brown beauty posted on the Internet in nearby Pennsylvania, I had to go take a look. And one look sealed the deal.
I'll probably be standing out in the driveway when GoJoe (not it's real name, really) comes tooling up the street later this morning. I'll let you know how it goes.
What is it about a tiny house on wheels that has so much appeal? I don't know. When I was a kid in the 50s, pictures of covered wagons or articles about converted buses in Popular Science would send me on flights of fancy about living mobile. My dad had this bug, too. He used to make drawings of the kind of travelling unit he'd like to have. Later, he owned a VW camper van and a succession of small travel trailers.
But anyway, GoJoe (not it's real name) is a gem. It's a 2003 Lazy Daze Class C RV. Lazy Daze is a quality-built product from a somewhat quirky company in southern California. They've been building these things there since 1956! You can buy them only from the company in their one location. No dealers, no middle men. To get a new one, you go (or call or write) to headquarters and make your order. When it's ready several months later, you go there and pick it up.
Since that's the way it works, most Lazy Daze RVs tend to be on the West Coast. Finding one in the East is not that easy. So when I saw this brown beauty posted on the Internet in nearby Pennsylvania, I had to go take a look. And one look sealed the deal.
I'll probably be standing out in the driveway when GoJoe (not it's real name, really) comes tooling up the street later this morning. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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