My gosh, I think we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel in our move from our bus conversion to our new to us Winnebago Ultimate Advantage motorhome!
In spite of all of the rain we have had this past week, Miss Terry has been hard at work emptying closets, drawers, and everywhere else we had stuff stashed away in the bus. Yesterday I managed to empty out the cavernous bays on the bus, sort through everything, and move what we are going to keep into the bays of the Winnebago. As I have said before, the great thing about a bus conversion is that you can carry a ton of stuff, and the bad thing about a bus conversion is that you usually do end up carrying a ton of stuff!
A lot of stuff did not make it into the bays of the motorhome, and Bobby Patel, owner of Elkhart Campground, is the proud new owner of some tools, a lot of hardware, and other things he can use around the RV park. Bobby and his wife Gita have always treated Terry and me like family, and we were happy to bequeath it all to him.
My friend Mac McCoy from Fire and Life Safety called the other day to see if we had buyer’s remorse yet. He said when he first bought his American Tradition motorhome, he went through a period of near panic, wondering “What did I do?” This is common after any major life event, from getting married to making a large purchase. Mac said all of those misgivings disappeared when he was about forty miles into his first trip in the motorhome.
We have not taken any trips in the Winnebago yet, but we have been living in it for several days now, and it is starting to feel more and more like home to us. So far we are very happy with it, except for a couple of little things.
The shower doesn’t have as much pressure as we had in the bus, even here on the same site where we always park the bus. My buddy Ron Speidel did some adjusting, and hopefully that will help. We may just need to replace the shower head, and we have been looking at the Oxygenics models, which we have heard good reports about. I am also finding that the shower is a bit more cramped than in the bus, where we had an apartment sized tub and shower.
The motorhome has an open bath/bedroom arrangement, with a separate water closet, so the bedroom area feels very large to us, which we enjoy. And with the two slides, as well as the fact that the Winnebago is six inches wider than the bus, we really notice the extra space. In the bus, when I was sitting at my computer (and it seems like I am always sitting at my computer), Terry had to squeeze between my desk chair and the couch to get past me. In the new rig, there is plenty of room to walk around, even when I am working at the computer.
Miss Terry loves to cook, and we seriously considered moving her stainless steel Avanti range into the Winnebago, but it would require some major renovations to the kitchen area, so she is going to try to adjust to a simple cooktop and a convection oven. The jury is still out on that one.
Terry also has a learning curve to adjust to the Splendide washer/dryer combo in the Winnebago, after her separate washer and dryer in the bus.
We are looking forward to getting back on the road soon so we can experience traveling in the new rig. I’m especially looking forward to tackling some of those mountains in the west, which were so problematic in the bus. There are a few creature comforts we’ll enjoy when traveling that we didn’t have in the bus, such as cruise control, that will be fun to have.
On another note, Bad Nick tells me he has a new post on the Bad Nick Blog for those of you who have been waiting. Check it out.
Thought For The Day – We have confused the free with the free and easy.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Five stars for the Oxygenics showerhead, I just put one in my Class C Coachmen Leprechaun — makes a world of difference! (And add a shut-off valve from Home Depot, Danco #89184 –$5.00)
I also agree with Rick Devoy. I first purchased an Oxygenic for my shower in the stick house. Liked it so much I added one to the second shower in the stick house. Then I bought one for the MH. The wife was the real test with it, she had to have enough water to rinse her hair. The test passed with flying colors, so we are the proud owners of 3 Oxygenics shower heads. E-Bay was our choice of purchase. You won’t be dissapointed Nick. Make that change, the sooner the better.
I second what Rick says, the shower heads are GREAT. I also added the shut off valve, not sure why they don’t come with one. They make a huge differance in the pressure and are well worth the $$.
Nick,
We also have the Oxygenics showerhead—(also saves water), and just love it!!!
Keep on keeping us informed on the transition to the Winnie. Can’t wait to hear how it drives.
Are you going to have a place for comments to Bad Nick??
So far we are with you on all you have written !!!
Jake & Nancy
Jake and Nancy,
Yes, there is a comment section at the end of every Bad Nick blog post.
Nick, has the water restrictor been removed from your present shower head?
Yes, Ron did that yesterday and it made a big difference.
For Miss Terry – my own Miss Suzy also loves to cook and learned very well how to deal with our three burner stove top plus the microwave/convection oven. Now she misses the convection oven while we are staying in our park trailer! At least there is the old-timey LPG oven in our stove, which heats up slowly to just 25 degrees below where it is set!
For Nick – Chris Guld is gonna have to get in there and change the caption under “Nick’s Blog” that says “Fultime RV Travel in our Motorhome Bus Conversion!”
Change is wonderful, and it’s all part of the adventure.
We have the Oxygenics showerhead, and I agree with all the previous raves. I have to tip it down so it doesn’t spray in my face, since I’m vertically challenged compared with Don’s 6 ft. plus height. But you and Miss Terry are closer to the same height, so you probably won’t have that issue.
Re the oven, Don and I have struggled to adapt our recipes to the convec/microwave. A few things simply don’t work well in it, however, especially my chile relleno casserole. So we recently bought a Cuisinart toaster oven and a glass casserole dish that just fits in it. It made the rellenos come out perfect!
We love our Oxygenics also. We also had the Splendide combo in our Class A we previously owned. The biggest change from the usual washer/dryer is the loads need to be a lot smaller and I found if I opened the washer and shook the clothes before drying I had a lot less wrinkles.
If you have ANY way possible to fit the washer and dryer in the new motorhome I would do it. We did not like the Splendide at all ( way too small and very noisy) and would not buy another motorhome unless it had room for the washer dryer combo. Also cakes and brownies do not bake well in the convection oven, I have found. (I read that this is due to the air circulation.) I get around it by making cupcakes and by making brownies in mini cupcake tins.
We agree with all of the above on the Oxygenics shower head. We installed one in our RV shortly after we bought it. We loved it so much, we bought two more for our stix and bricks home. Then we bought one for “our” bathroom at our daughter’s home. We have recommended it to everyone we know.
I have learned to use our convection oven in the RV and have not found anything I couldn’t fix just as well as in the regular oven. Brownies are the best – cooked in my silicone pan. They usually are gone before they are even cool:-)
I have no doubt Miss Terry will be able to modify her recipes and will look forward to her comments on the cooking.
RE: The Splendide W/D combo. Sandy Jones’ “Wrinkle Free RV Laundry” seminar and book make it seem easy to use.
Terry
You will have a lot less wrinkles if you fold the clothes as you would put them in a dresser and then place them in the washer. I also hang tee shirts and tops on hangers to dry. Save time, energy, and have less wrinkles.