We have been out in the new RV several times in the past two months. All has worked well. Since we now have a different brand of coach, we have new groups to join. We joined the "Lone Star Allegro Club" which is a very nice group of folks. We attended a weekend rally with them just north of here in the Montgomery TX area. I took no pictures, however. They meet once a month within about 150 miles of Houston. We will also be joining a group that is in the Texas hill country area.
As you know our back yard is our favorite feature of our home.. and we spend most of our sitting time in the family room which overlooks it through the 3 6x8 foot windows. It is in these chairs where we browse our computer and tablets, read our Kindles, papers and books, and watch the ever-changing wildlife shows in the bushes and trees.
We have a funny little iron and vine "tree" which has some lights on it that sits just outside between the windows and the pool. Each of the last 3 days this little guy has come to visit. He is a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and is the only one we have ever seen. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-crowned_Kinglet/id
The red crown appears to change in size as he chooses to display it. He doesn't sit still for more than a second and hops all around but seems attracted by the tree. He also sits briefly and looks into the window at us. He didn't even fly away when I stepped outside to take a picture with my cell phone. The others are taken through the window.
He pays no attention to the two main bird feeders and the other visitors there; just our little weird tree. Maybe it's the red lights. Always something going on in the back yard.
We are still at Buckhorn on our original spot. It was a rather dim and misty morning today and Carol spotted these two guys walking by the front of our coach.
They are Egyptian Geese. A member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. They are native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley. They were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians and appeared in much of their artwork. They are presumed to not carry Ebola.
And here is the start of an invasion of over 80 Beavers.
Their rally starts here in a day or so. The Beaver Motorcoach Corp. is now a defunct manufacturing company that was based in Oregon. Initially it was located in Bend and later moved to Coburg. It was founded in the 1960s and made slide in campers for pickup trucks.
By the early 1990s they employed almost 300 people but went bankrupt in 1993. The Beaver brand was then bought out by a series of companies: Safari, then Monaco, then the company was purchased by Navistar in 2009 but the Brand was not purchased and it died in 2009. All of these are now really "big rigs." The have the Beaver logo on the front.
They seem to have a very loyal following as many of the coaches here already are from the northwest and California. I understand that they have as many as 30 rallies a year across the US.
Once again we drove to Kerrville for another week at our favorite RV resort.. Buckhorn Lake RV. This time it was with the Diehl's. We had our usual nice spot overlooking the small "lake" and the park of oak trees. We had deer up and down in front of our rig each evening after it got dark. We have now spent 17 nights in the Coffee Plantation and are very happy with our new acquisition. And we had a great week of dining, snacking, resting, and shopping with Bob and Barb. (Thanks again for your generous sharing of the special popcorn and ice cream bars)
We planned an easy late start today (Saturday) after a hard rain last night. However before we had completed packing up the office called and said they had a cancellation and our current spot was now open so we decided to spend another day or so here.
It wasn't long before this pulled into the spot where Diehl's had been in their nice 26 ft. Chinook. It sort of blots out the sun and anything else we might want to look at to the east. This is the "big brother" of our rig, an Allegro Bus. Likely 45 ft. vs our 34. A beautiful rig, indeed. And notice what they were towing. A Volt.
I accomplished two of my planned "improvements" on the RV today. I spent from 07:00-9:00 on top of our 12'10'' rig installing two MaxxAire II vent covers. For the non-rv'ers out there.. this allows you to keep the powered air vents open, even in the rain or while driving. Not a difficult project but tedious and messy with the sealant that needs to be applied. The original sealant needs to be cut away to accept the metal brackets, then things resealed. Not fun on the roof for someone as mature as me.
This picture shows pine needles as well as the two covers, (one behind the round TV antenna,) and the front AC unit, fridge vent cover and bathroom skylight.
And, I spent from 2:30-4:00 underneath our rig installing a Steer-Safe system. For the non-rv'ers out there.. this device stabilizes the steering and keeps the rig from being blown around by cross-winds and semis. It also is a big assist in the event of a front tire blow-out from what the videos show. Info Here Again... not a difficult project but messy with the grease and wrenches and sockets and heavy parts. Not fun under the bus for someone as mature as me. (A complete description of what is involved is shown at THIS LINK when I installed one on our previous coach)
But.. I feel really good this is done. We will be ready for our next trip with Bob and Barb Diehl to Kerrville.
Two additional "improvements" yet to make... stay tuned.
A quick update... Since getting the new coach three weeks ago, we have spent 10 nights in it. We got back to Houston on Saturday having spent the previous 3 nights at Buckhorn Lake RV Park in Kerrville TX.. It is one of our favorite places. I am happy to say all is well with the rig and its occupants. Things are working as intended and I am getting used to navigating this boxcar through Houston traffic, I-10 congestion and south Austin construction.
We have about finished deciding how to fill all the storage space. However,our kitchen sink remains here in the stick and brick house since the coach has its own. In a few weeks we will return to Buckhorn for a week there with Bob and Barb Diehl.
We took the "old rig" to Dixie RV in Hammond LA on Thursday to trade in for our new one. They have RV pads on their lot, for new owner orientation and to swap out the contents.
The new one is a 2015 Allegro Open Road, by Tiffin. It is model 32ca, 34 feet, on a 22,000 lb. Ford F-53 chassis. 12"10"" high.
The Ford V-10 gas engine is the same one as on the Isata, but there have been improvements in transmission, gear ratios, etc. in 7 years.
We stayed Friday night in it at the dealer, and Saturday night 30 miles down I-10 at a KOA in Baton Rouge. I wanted to get some highway time and have down time fully checking things out. All worked. Nothing needed to be adjusted. Amazing. We then left Sunday morning and drove the 300 miles home to Houston. Very heavy rain Saturday and Sunday so we have determined nothing leaks.
Pilot and CoPilot did just fine on the interstate. It was a good test for breaking us all in. I thought it rode and handled as well as the Isata, but is quite different to maneuver of course.
It requires some careful planning for gas stops to be able to get in and out of the pumps. We towed the Honda both ways.. no difference there. It has an 80 gal. gas tank so has a range of 500-600 miles... I don't know about gas mileage yet, but will be happy with 7 or above towing. I am expecting a worst case of 6.5. The Isata got 8.5 with the Honda and 9.5-10 without.
There are more pictures HERE if you want a brief slide show contrasting "the Coffee Bean" with "the Coffee Plantation House."
It sure felt like a house for the first several hours of drive time... and, as I was backing it into the driveway for the first time at home.) It has a rear view, and left and right side cameras which help a lot.. for lane changes as well as backing into our driveway.
Pictures of the inside on the next blog post.
Actually my birthday was on July 19. But my present was a few weeks before that when we stopped in Hammond LA. We were on our way to Williamsburg VA to see Carrie and family as well as Jordan's HS graduation. We stopped in Hammond to have some minor repairs done on "the Coffee Bean" and saw something we liked better. So it is on order; ready in about 6 weeks. A 2015 Tiffin Allegro Open Road. We have been thinking about a new RV for 6 months or so. We have had the current one for almost 8 years. We have put 51,000 miles on it and slept in it 356 nights according to my log. This is still quite modest as these things go but is all we wanted. I stayed with a gas V10 engine. It is 33 ft vs. our current 26. And the bedroom and better shower will be the big comforts. We will tow the Honda CRV "Toad" as usual.
I will need to change the picture at the top and I am taking suggestions as to a new name. Brother John suggested "The Coffee Plantation". I had thought about "The Lake House"... so chime in with your thoughts.
