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The desert crossing

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Little Vineyard The days destination of Little Vineyard RV Resort in Deming, NM was plugged into the GPS at 8:30 AM for an earlier than normal start. The route for the day not only entailed exiting Texas but also entering into mountain time which made arrival 1 hour earlier at the destination. Only 4 days of driving remained for the Smitanic’s westward journey.  So during the day’s drive Theresa not only called the Deming park but also confirmed with the final Hemet, CA park, Golden Village Palms, to let them know the estimated arrival for Dec 2. The 344 miles seemed to float by with endless stretches of cacti and tumbleweeds lining the I10 corridor.  El Paso, TX was the largest city to navigate thru traffic as the highway paralleled the US Mexican border.  Yes, the Huge Border Wall was a clear visible divider of the two countries.  But mountains as well as the Rio Grande river were much more natural obstacles delineating the boundaries. The Little Vineyard RV park was little but
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Texas,Texas and Texas

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The first of 3 Texas destinations was Houston West RV Park, a long 332 mi drive for the day. Traffic was heavy with several slowdowns (some as long as 3-5 miles) due to accidents and construction areas which made the miles drag out and frustrated the Bus driver, Kevin, as he could not maintain his ideal speed nor cushion between vehicles. The obstacle avoidance sensors at speeds above 30 mph would sound a long high pitch as other vehicles squeezed in front of the Smitanic invading the established safety gap. On the drivers console a red light would show a bright red image of a vehicle until the proper gap, one vehicle (Smitanic size) was obtained. This gauge also displayed the gap distance in vehicle lengths which helped Kevin assess the ideal spacing. The back ups continued, as Theresa monitored any upcoming yellow or red zones on Google maps. Five miles before the exit for the campground there was another stoppage. Theresa found a alternative path on a Highway that para
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Traffic in the Bayou

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The planned port of call for the day was Alliance Hill RV park in panhandle of FL. This would be 264 miles away. On previous crossings, other parks used in the Tallahassee area were hard to navigate or had very tight wooded spaces. So this new park seemed like the right option for the first day's travel as it advertised ‘big rig’ accommodations more suiting to the new longer Smitanic. The drive started with a bit of light drizzle in the AM but that soon gave way to sunny skies. Traffic was light for this Black Friday. The time zone change in western FL gave the crew an extra hour making for an early 2 pm arrival. Theresa called to confirm there was availability at the camp grounds. The gentleman responded with a “sure do” and additionally told her “call me when you exit I10 and I will have my white pick up at the entrance and be sure to look for the White House with the red roof” (later this was discovered to be a Masonic lodge ). Theresa called as instructed and indeed
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The Visit in The Villages

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Kevin and Theresa were excited to see Glorianna(kevin’s mom) & Torreen(kevin’s sister) at the Harbor Chase Assisted Living Facility.  Familiar faces greeted them at the reception as they passed thru the well decorated hall ways and made their way to the Glo-Torr apartment. Reunion kisses and hugs were exchanged and all was well. Glorianna was just recently released from 2 hospital stays for pneumonia, she was week a but recovering. Yeah! Torreen was helping her mom keep the O2 supplied between bingo and other organized activities. It was great to see those 2 faces! The daily routine quickly formulated into a flexible schedule for Kevin & Theresa which went something like: Up by 8ish, Coffee & triage email, Facebook & news 2 hours of Pickleball 40 min for Theresa’s exercise commitment (50 burpees and Beachbody On Demand workout) in the parks very dated exercise room Lunch in the RV or at one of the favorite dig Americana Visit with Glorianna &
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The Trip South

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Heading south to central Florida was planned with 3 stops. The first port of call for the Smitanic was only 40 miles from home port….just in case some critical item needed to be retrieved. The Raleigh Oaks RV Resort was conveniently located right off I95 and had full hook-up sites, a nice workout room as well as a pool and Pickleball! Unfortunately, only the weight room was used by Theresa for her 40 min workout routine. Dinner was made in the RV with leftovers exported from the Tasman Frig. Theresa loaded the dishwasher as Kevin checked out the satellite and other systems. The manuals were referenced for several of the systems, but the Dishwasher operator instructions were MIA. After 2 hours of frustration and lots google searching, the proper online manual was finally found revealing the proper sequence to manually start the dishwasher was successful! The research also revealed that there was suppose to be a remote for the dishwasher as well. Another item added to the ev
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Load, Party and Go!

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It would be a few more days before the Smitanic was released from some last minute service items. So it's crew was back home empty handed to organize for the final load and departure. Kevin struggled with how to secure his 3 remote control airplanes and found a idea for a rack that could fit in the back of the tow vehicle. After carefully measuring the Jeep's constrains, Theresa recalled a bit of geometry to figure out the length of the hypotenuse on a right triangle.  She then drew the diagram inserted here. With that info and a solid design, an estimate of the PVC materials was made for the trip to Lowes. A handy PVC pipe cutting tool was recommended by the Lowes handyman, which made construction eazy-peasy. Within 20 minutes, one side of the rack was assembled. The parts were duplicated for the opposing sides. Then a quick test to see how it fits in the Jeep... not bad, but a few minor adjustments would make it just right! After some more quick cuts the rack w
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Introducing Smitanic 2

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In late August, just a day before leaving for a scuba trip, the Smit’s attended the RV show at the Raleigh fairgrounds.  Theresa sported her Tiffin sports shirt to set the stage for wheeling and dealing on an upgrade.  Turns out the dream machine was there on display and drastically reduced for a sure sale.  Kevin gave the salesperson the parameters that needed to be met and after a few rounds, it had new owners!  It was not for another 3 weeks before the anticipated delivery was finalized and all contents were transferred from the 2006 Allegro Bus with 78K miles to the new 2016 AB with only 4100 miles.  The Jeep was left behind as it was awaiting the completion of the towing installation. After the transfer, it was a mere 10 miles to a nearby campsite at Raleigh Oaks RV resort.  More stowing was completed and dinner prepared on the induction cooktop.  Yum. The next day the new Smitanic reported to the service bay.  Kevin reported that he suspected a leak in the air brake system as
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