Finne's Follies: Home Again!

I hate moving!

Getting ready to empty our borrowed trailer into the "house"

On April Fools Day we moved into our new home. (Hopefully, this is not some cosmic practical joke we'll live to regret.)

Our new home feels very much like the previous one. Yes, we bought another Alfa SeeYa. Mark would have nothing else. It's two years newer and two or three feet longer. I'm not quite sure, because the "38 foot" model is actually shorter than 38 feet - closer to 36 feet, and the 40 foot (what we now have) probably isn't exactly 40 feet. But who's quibbling over inches? The place is noticeably bigger.

Our grandson, Alex, came over to
help Grandpa with the heavy stuff

It looks very much the same on the outside, but there are quite a few differences inside (see pictures at the bottom of this post). The shower is bigger. There's only one divider door between the bedroom and the living area, which makes the bedroom look and feel bigger, but puts the bathroom sink and vanity in the bedroom instead of its own separate space. The bedroom also has an extra little nook on the other side of the closet, which I have claimed for my crochet supplies. The fridge and pantry are the same as in the old one. But the washing machine was moved from the bathroom to the kitchen next to the fridge. There's a desk area, complete with a cabinet to store our printer. We have a table and two chairs instead of bench seating. There's no oven, but I never used the one I had before anyway. I have two small sinks instead of one big one - I like this arrangement better.

And we have a recliner.

There's also a dishwasher. I almost forgot to mention it because...well, it doesn't work. That was a very sad discovery. After loading it all up, adding a little soap pod, and hitting the "on" switch, all I got was some disturbing noise that ended with a flashing error code. Mark looked it up online. It seems the motor is bad. We'll get it fixed, of course, but there are other more important issues to resolve first, and our resources are limited.

Unfortunately, there's no getting around the fact that old RVs need fixing. This one is no exception. We knew when we bought it that there were some issues that would need immediate attention. For one, there were no TVs newer than 2005, and you probably will remember what those monstrosities looked like. We removed all three of them, and Mark installed a 32-inch flat-screen at the front of the coach to get us by until we have our TV cabinet installed next month. Once that is done, the smaller TV will be moved to the bedroom and the area above the dashboard will eventually be converted to additional cabinets.

The power cord that goes from the coach to the electrical power post was a frightening mess. The previous owner had done some horrific modifications that looked downright unsafe. We thought it prudent to call out a mobile RV service right away to fix it so as to avoid any inconvenient fires or electrocutions.

At some point we're going to want to replace all the carpet with something wood-like. Carpet traps dust and dirt and is much harder to keep clean.

We have another RV refrigerator. One of the things we'd originally planned to do in our previous Alfa was to replace the RV fridge with a residential refrigerator. We still may do it in this one, but like the carpet, it will have to wait a while. This one works pretty well keeping things cold, but there are some minor issues with it that we'll be getting repaired next week, and if all goes well, Mark will have his ice maker.

Now, THIS is more like it! It only took a week. ;-)

Even though this coach came with its share of old-age problems, for the most part it is in pretty good shape. The rest of our appliances are working well (so far). So is the generator. We have new tires, and the batteries have a few more years of life in them. We'll be putting the engine through its first major test when we head to Mississippi next week. God willing, it will also prove to be in good working order. It certainly should be with only fiftysome thousand miles on it.

It took me a full week to move in, but today I can finally say that everything is put away in its proper place. What a good feeling! We are home!

Speaking of home, Mark and I have decided to change our domicile state from Texas to South Dakota. We're doing it for two reasons:

1) Cost of Living. South Dakota has a much lower tax burden than Texas. By initially registering our RV in South Dakota instead of Texas, we calculated that we will save over two thousand dollars in sales tax. Not only that, but South Dakota does not require annual vehicle inspections. In addition, South Dakota does not require a special driver license endorsement to drive an RV - even a big one like ours. That will be good for Mark...but bad for me, because it means I lose my very handy excuse for why I can't drive the motorhome. Looks like I'm going to have to "put on my big girl pants," as they say, and learn to drive this thing. Hmm.

2) Authenticity. "Don't Mess With Texas" is a sentiment every true Texan has no trouble standing behind. But me? If I were to put a bumper sticker with those words on my car (something I actually considered), I'd be looking over my shoulder all the time, worried someone might decide to test them with a challenge. No thanks. I like the idea of being a Texan, but just deciding you want to suddenly be a Texan isn't enough to make you a Texan. They are a special breed. In fact, every time somebody asks us where we're from, neither one of us can comfortably say "Texas." It's always, "We're actually from Minnesota, but we have an address in Texas." The truth is, our roots are in the north. I was born in Washington state. My parents lived most of their years in Washington, Idaho, and Minnesota. My family roots are in those northern states. Mark was born and raised in Minnesota (even though he sometimes loves to pretend he's from San Diego). Being "from Texas" just isn't real for either one of us.

South Dakota is a nice compromise between Washington and Minnesota. It's a beautiful state and we know we're going to love calling it "home." Who knows? We may even settle there some day. You'll find our new mailing address on the "Contact" page. Make sure to update your Christmas card list. :-)

Our plans are still a bit in flux, but I'll try to keep our Itinerary page up to date as well as I can.

Safe Travels!

More pictures of our new home...