All the moving and sorting that can be done in the time we have, has been done.  The RV has a little bit of extra stuff, but we’ll be organizing that, off loading via mail, trash can, or friends, along the way.  It’s been sad for Molly and Diane saying good bye to friends and such.  Sharon, Carissa, and Cheryl really came through the last couple days with some excellent help and support.

We leave in the  morning, super early, and begin heading east.  First major destination is Nashville, TN.  Hoping to make it to at least Winslow, AZ tonight.  Plan is to stop at truck stops or rest areas along the way for some zzzz’s and dinner.  Overall, expecting to make three stops on the say, and get to Nashville by Sunday.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Kim!

Well, I’m not going to try to count the days necessarily, but this one is important.  It’s Sunday, October 30, and we’ve parked the RV at Canyon RV Park, just off the 91 between Yorba Linda and Corona.  We’d stayed here a few months back with the Komfort Kruisers, and felt it would be good to use as a local base as we moved out of the condo, and into the RV.

Sunday through Wednesday will be super busy with packing, moving into storage, and getting stuff into the RV.  Oh, and some trick or treating for Molly, and various other activities and good byes.

It’s Friday, October 28, 2011.  All the travel for Roadshows and stuff at work is done.   Today, the DirecTV goes back on, a small dumpster shows up out front, and it’s my last day here at this home office.  We’ll be packing from now till Sunday, and officially move into the RV on Sunday.  Movers are coming Tuesday to get the furniture and boxes, and get all of that over to the storage unit.  There are lots of emotions running around as we get closer.  Hopefully we can all keep it together in these final days, and then start enjoying the new fun and excitement.

We’ve got reservations and locations lined up for our longer stays from now till December.  Working on getting something for about a week in AZ/NM area, then we’ll be in SoCal the second half of December and into January.  Also trying to find/buy a Thousand Trails membership.  I see them on Craigslist and Ebay, and will likely make the purchase sometime after we sell the FJ.  That will just make things easier.  Having the ability to stay 3 weeks and go park-to-park will be awesome.  Given the number of locations they have across California, it will fit in with our late winter/spring plans to try and visit all of the California Missions.

Should start seeing posts from Diane on here soon.  We’ve got the blog linked up to our new Twitter account, @KnightBusAdvntr, and will soon link it to our FB page, Adventures in the Knight Bus.  She was hoping to be able to write up stuff, then have it go out to everyone (that wanted it), and we’ll get that all linked up soon.

Busy times!

We’re heading out three weeks from today.  I have no idea how we are all going to actually get all of our things packed, stored, loaded, etc., let alone deal with all the emotional aspects of what we are doing.  It’s been a trying time for each one of us at different times along this journey.  I’m very proud of all the girls for not letting the sad aspects get in the way of the certain adventure.

We’ve got a storage place lined up, Diane and Molly are packing and picking out what goes in the RV.  98% of all the updates for the RV are done.  We’ve even got movers planned.

It’s almost here.  I for one will be happy to get past that initial departure, and to get to our first destination, Nashville.

We had looked around at several RV parks/resorts in the local Orange County area over the past few months.  We know that we’ll be here for various holidays and to help support Megan when she is not in school.  One of them that had caught our eye was the Canyon RV Park which is right next to the 241/91 interchange.  Earlier this summer Diane and I decided we’d give it a try and check it out as a possible place to park for those holiday and support occasions.  As we looked at the schedule, we also were contacted by Jeff at the Komfort Kruisers.  They are a local Southern California Motorhome club that is affiliated with FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association).  We joined the FMCA, and Jeff had received info on a new local member, so he contacted us to let us know about the club.  The timing of their outing at Canyon RV was perfect for our schedule, so we decided to check out the park AND the Komfort Kruisers.

To be brief, both are FANTASTIC.  The members of the club are VERY friendly and presented us with a warm welcome.  We got to spend time with most of the members that were on this outing, and there’s not a bad apple in the bunch.  Even Molly was having a great time without there being other kids around.  The park spaces are big, and plenty of open space.  The freeway noise is constantly reminding you it is there, but it can be ignored, more or less.  If you want walking or bike riding, this park is about a mile long, so just one “lap” and you’ve done 2 miles.  There are plenty of nice clean bathrooms and showers, as well as a pool and camp store.  The store hours are also really good, and they stay open later than most.  We didn’t check out the laundry, but if it’s as good as everything else we saw it’ll be just fine.

Great food, great company, great times.  Such a good weekend, Molly has almost stopped giving me a hard time about shutting the door on her thumb.

We got in yesterday afternoon, after 8 nights of RV style vacation and roadtrip.  Everyone (except maybe Francie) reported they had a good time, but were glad to be home and settled in.  We had over 1000 miles logged, and 4 different RV parks checked out.  We even used a Blue Beacon truck wash location before going over the grapevine.

Now, we settle back into the house routine, but look forward to our next trip out in September to a local RV park.

So, while at the San Francisco RV Resort, I saw a Monaco Vesta rolling into the park.  Now, there are probably hundreds of these on the road, so the chance of this one belonging to Jason and Nikki Wynn, (www.gonewiththewynns.com) whose adventures I’ve been following for a few months, was remote.  It was towing a car, and I wasn’t sure they had a car.  But, I jumped on their website, saw they had a twitter account, and that they had just tweeted a few hours earlier that they were in Pacifica!  I also saw on their site where they had and towed the same car.  It had to be them.  I sent a message to them via twitter, and Molly and I ended up going over for a chat Wednesday afternoon.  What a great couple, and their friend Cassy too.  I got to here some insight in this RV living ‘thing’, and some tips on managing life with a cat on board.  It was a great meeting, and will lead to us being able to make some changes to our RV that will help with GPS guidance, the desk/workspace setup, and living arrangements for the furry family member.

If you’d like to check out some videos and write-ups of the Wynn’s adventures, take a look at their website.  www.gonewiththewynns.com

We’re heading out this weekend for a week of vacation.  Should be a good trip.  We’ll be hitting an RV place in Buellton, then up to San Francisco, over to Sacramento, then working our way home with one stop on the way.  Should be a good run for us, with 8 nights in the RV, and visiting a couple different types of locations.

We’ve also got the RV launch and work schedules lined up.  It is now set for us to head out full-time, the first week of November.  We’ll make our way to Nashville for a week or so and a work stop, up to Indiana to stay at my sisters and see the family for Thanksgiving, down to Georgia for a couple weeks of work, then back to Southern California.

Instead of being all over the place, in Florida, east coast, etc, we’ll be staying closer to Southern California for a while.  Staying close to Megan as she’s going to college is one of the desires that has come to the surface now that the reality of life is setting in.  This will work out well with my work, as the western region is more of a focus now anyway.

One other note, it seems some posts from before are not showing up on the main window.  Not sure why, but will keep my eye on it.

Things are moving forward.  Diane and I have had some discussions about timing of our departure, and then the schedule for the first few months.  It looks like Indiana for Novemberish time frame, back to CA for December/January, and then ??? for January/February.  We’d talked about Florida, but might just spend some time getting there and hang in AZ, NM, and TX for a couple months as we move across.

The RV is coming along, and fixes/updates are progressing as time permits.  After a couple orders and some searching, it looks like we have the right replacement parts for one of the drawers, and have already fixed a few other odds and ends that required parts from Winnebago.

Our latest challenge is in the area most dreaded by when people first start looking at how an RV or Camper work.  This is with regards to the waste holding tanks.  There are two, one gray, and one black.  The gray gets the water from sink and shower drains, and the black tank gets everything from the toilet.  While I have watched a few videos on how to manage and drain the tanks, it seems that what I have watched so far does not cover everything.  We need something to “flush” the tanks.  The gray is not that bad, as it does not really see any solid wastes.  The black however, is a different story.  I’ve found a few options now, and they are fairly inexpensive, $50 or less.  I need to get over to the RV, crawl under it, and see what we have.  Could be someone has installed some things already, or that I need to pick some up and get them in.  Either way, we’ll be making a big improvement on the situation soon enough.

In other news, our last trip was a last minute plan to head out for Memorial Day weekend.  This trip was our first to a KOA.  We found an open spot in Banning, CA, and stayed from about mid-day Saturday to mid-day Monday.  The location was nice, and the campground (or Kampground as they call it in KOA world) was a nice mix of long term and short term residents.  There was everything from tents to the big 40 foot rigs.  The only issue we saw was that the weather was cold and windy on Sunday, but that just allowed us to head over to Palm Springs, where it was warmer with no wind, and hang out for a while.  A good time was had by all.

The next trip scheduled is not till August.  I’m hoping we can find some more time between now and then to just get more time in the rig, but we’ll see.  The work schedule and all the activities the girls have planned could prevent any trials in June or July.  The August trip will be for a week+, so that should be fun.  Cruise up to San Francisco, Sacramento, and a few places in between.

That’s it for now.  More to follow in a couple weeks.

May the Fourth be with you.