Big Changes Coming Soon
/When we first discussed living full time in the RV, we thought that we would travel for 5 years and then settle down with a place both north and south. We started working towards that long term plan 2 years ago with the purchase of the motorhome. At that time, our thoughts were to leave the fifth wheel in Pennsylvania to be our summer home and then stay south in the winter with the motorhome and still travel in it spring and fall. The travel part worked well for two years, but leaving the fifth wheel did not.
If you have been following the blog, you know that we have had issues with rodents in the fifth wheel over both winters with more damage found when we arrived back there this summer. I guess leaving it in Pennsylvania in a rural campground filled with trees was not a good idea. Now that we have an annual lease in Florida, we are going to try leaving the fifth wheel there and use it as our winter home. Hopefully, we won’t have more problems there!
The Fifth wheel sitting at amish family rv
The first step to doing that was to get the fifth wheel repaired. It has been at Amish Family RV since early July waiting for them to do the repairs. We knew they were busy, but we had no need for the work to be done quickly. They finished the work done last week and we are now in Topeka, IN inspecting it and making sure everything is working well. We added a few small items that they are finishing up now.
It looks pretty good considering it is 10 years old
In addition to the repairs on the electric problems, we had them go over the entire trailer to make sure it was sealed up well and had appropriate drainage in all window wells and compartments to prevent water intrusion. We also had them seal and fill gaps anywhere that rodents could get in. They felt the roof had some wear that was fine for now but in the hot Florida sun it could split or crack quickly so they recommended we get a new roof. That made it easier for them to inspect the ductwork and wiring for rodent damage and see everything that needed repaired. The last item we did was replace the worn carpeting in the living/dining area.
the same carpet was no longer available so we went with a close color in the living room and a marine grade carpet on the slides. Not a perfect match but it should hold up much better and be easier to keep clean.
we brought some stuff with us to send with the trailer to florida. have to get everything latched down and ready to travel before the driver gets here.
no changes to the bedroom carpet other that we had cleaned it earlier in the summer. it definitely was not as worn as the living area.
It now feels like a new camper inside although there are definitely age marks on the outside. All in all, we are happy with the work and look forward to using it in Florida. Now we need to figure out our summer home base. With my current medical issues, we were not able to travel in the motor home as we had planned this year. Since I will need surgery next summer, it looks like we won’t be traveling much then either. After much discussion, we decided that it was better to sell the motorhome rather than leave it sitting unused.
We said goodby to the motorhome at Ansley RV last week, just before traveling out here to Indiana. That was a difficult decision but hopefully the best one for us at this time. So what does that mean for our future summer home and future explorations?
it was hard to say goodbye to the motorhome but i did get distracted by emptying it out. It is hard to believe how much stuff we had in there.
we filled this trailer and the truck with all of our stuff. Some of it went to the trailer to go to florida and the rest is stored in Katie’s garage for now.
a filled storage area in the fifth wheel ready for travel.
You will have to wait for the next post for that update. We have something in the works but don’t want to share until it is finalized. As for travel, we don’t really plan to stop exploring; it will just become a different way of travel. We are currently exploring Shipshewana while we are staying here and have discussed future possibilities like road trips in the car; train trips, or even getting a van for Tim to build in to a camper. Who knows what the future will bring so just know that we will still be Exploring Tomorrows!
we are staying at Der ruhe blatz motel in shipshiwana, IN. I thought it looked so pretty at 7 am this morning just before it started raining.
shipshewana is decorated so nicely for the fall and the blue gate was a great place to eat.
every place in town has such cute decorations.
P.S. I didn’t get this published while we were in Indiana. The driver gave us a last minute notice that he could come a day earlier than expected for the pick up. So we were a little rushed to finish and have it ready to travel. The pickup and delivery went well and the fifth wheel is now in Florida.
