After 15 years on Springbank,
it's time to leave..
Not homeless entirely, we're changing direction, literally as well as figuratively Introducing our current collection...
As of June 30th 2014 we, the intrepid adventurers, a.k.a. Phil & Trish, Nana & Grandpa Nau, relinquished our home base of 15 years on Springbank Drive in London, Ontario, and set out upon a journey unknown, which isn't quite right, we're currently sitting at Dalewood Conservation Area at present, between London & St.Thomas. Anyway back to the incredible story.........
Our first day we docked the shuttle on a site at Fanshawe Conservation area, the mothership being in the paint shop. Between the wrong colour paint and a dozen other fun happenings we ended up docked at Fanshawe until Day 14 when we were able to transfer the Shuttle to Mike & Lou in Morpeth and settle the mothership into site 130 Dalewood Conservation Area. We are here four weeks, until Day 39 (August 11th.) in order to tidy up the loose ends.
Now if anyone's wondering or indeed cares why, we have a lot of tasks to accomplish before we shoot off into the great Galaxy. Leaving, just isn't that easy, Neighbour Mike still has some of our stuff in his front room, that we have to sort, our remaining original fleet had to be safetied and sold, the homestead, it's furnishings, car and trailer already gone. This done, then the pod had to be equipped with it's new docking device that attaches it to the mothership, also known as base plates and wiring harness. Our old ground control had to become a new ground control, with days spent on learning about mobile communicating, after all we were still on the flip-phone. Our current communications consist of a PC/Mini-Mac/Aolian Tablet/Alcotel Tablet/ no-name tablet/motogo smartphone/lg Nexus 5/ mini ipad and two old flip phones, something has to go !!!!! You say WHY ??
Instead we pulled out our oversized gravity chairs to make sure they were comfy enough.
OK, where were we................ yes, we knew our flip phones weren't going to cut it so, we have a moto go with WIND, not the gassy kind, ........ that way we have a hotspot and text and phone in Canada and the US, but only in populated areas. So we then have a VIRGIN Nexus5, we're not touching that one with a bargepole...... for areas across Canada not covered by WIND, this is apparently unlocked thereby when we travel in the US we can get a different sim card and speak in the American Tongue......., an Alcotel Tablet with a sim card that gives us a Hotspot (where do they come up with these names ) in Canadian places where the Wind doesn't cover........., the aolean tablet is just a mini android computer, useful for the alien encounters, the no-name is missing, the mini ipad was purchased to allow face time with the grandchildren, as they all have them, when they've not been confiscated for bad behaviour, the ipads that is, not the children, and the two old flips are out of service as of the 1st.August. Well that was simple !
Then we tried to set up with Verizon for the US, but that became too complicated, yawn.... later .
Right, so next I have to get my Canadian Passport, so I can stay in the US for longer, that's applied for...... our pod apparently is of the alien variety in that it needs a specialty wiring harness, one that we can only purchase in the US, yawn...
We decided that we didn't need 8 bunks in the mothership so we advertised the lovely leather bed sofa, the guy came out , he purchased and removed it from the mothership, Phil says, thanks, the motherships on rental we're taking it back tomorrow......... poor guy gets shell shocked, 'til he sees joke. Week later he calls us up, seems bed having been attached to the floor in RV, now tips over when mattress pulls out, didn't want to return just wanted to let us know, can't get that image out of my mind now.
We're learning certain things about a new to you vehicle, there are reasons for certain oddities, our convection oven, had an ugly blue cloth on its ceramic t/table, obviously placed there for a purpose, we threw it out. When next, Phil removed a dish, the ceramic t/t stuck to the bottom of the dish until in mid air it unceremoniously dropped,on the floor in more than one piece. The new one only available in the US only ....... $53 !!
We now are the proud owners of a propane regulated campfire courtesy of a kind gift from our neighbour Karen, Trish thought it ran off 1lb bottles, but nah, 20lb which we don't have room for, so we're off to the propane suppliers to see if they can attach a hose to our main tank. Also we'll have to make sure it's long enough away from the mothership, or we could be roasting more than marshmallows....
Our double door fridge is a Norcold, and being familiar with RV fridges and Norcold recalls, we checked and sure enough ours is on the recall list, that's scheduled in for Mon. I think the icemaker is on strike........
Phil has been busy cleaning up the lights on the front of the mothership, and after the paintshop has finished with her for the second time we'll be taking her in for new graphics.
The chairs are awesome ...... but it's raining, a lot at the moment
I've decided there's a few things about living in the mothership that needs to be changed, I'm just not a "blinds down" all day person, and curtains drawn around the front window. We've ordered from the US (not made in Canada) the inside shades that no-one can see in from the outside, yet we have full view, next I want the side ones doing then I can keep all the blinds open. I'm sure the neighbours will tell us if the view is too vivid, in fact they'll probably move away in no time flat............... Phil's happy because he wasn't fancying jumping 12 ft up to secure outside blinds..
The shuttle was outfitted with led's now It's the motherships turn ...... yawn yawn
We needed a drop down hitch for the pod, needed to be a 2" square receiver kind with the ability to accommodate the two wheel space rovers amazingly difficult to find but we managed, we'll have to lock it on though as the aliens will be after cloning it.......... We'll hear the groans if anyone tries to "borrow" it, soo heavy.
The chairs are awesome, Dalewood is lovely, Logan was here today with his mom, we were at the pool most of day, then Grandpa took Logan off to get supper in the pod with it's roof down........ Time to try chairs out again, they're great for snoozing......
Our first day we docked the shuttle on a site at Fanshawe Conservation area, the mothership being in the paint shop. Between the wrong colour paint and a dozen other fun happenings we ended up docked at Fanshawe until Day 14 when we were able to transfer the Shuttle to Mike & Lou in Morpeth and settle the mothership into site 130 Dalewood Conservation Area. We are here four weeks, until Day 39 (August 11th.) in order to tidy up the loose ends.
Now if anyone's wondering or indeed cares why, we have a lot of tasks to accomplish before we shoot off into the great Galaxy. Leaving, just isn't that easy, Neighbour Mike still has some of our stuff in his front room, that we have to sort, our remaining original fleet had to be safetied and sold, the homestead, it's furnishings, car and trailer already gone. This done, then the pod had to be equipped with it's new docking device that attaches it to the mothership, also known as base plates and wiring harness. Our old ground control had to become a new ground control, with days spent on learning about mobile communicating, after all we were still on the flip-phone. Our current communications consist of a PC/Mini-Mac/Aolian Tablet/Alcotel Tablet/ no-name tablet/motogo smartphone/lg Nexus 5/ mini ipad and two old flip phones, something has to go !!!!! You say WHY ??
Instead we pulled out our oversized gravity chairs to make sure they were comfy enough.
OK, where were we................ yes, we knew our flip phones weren't going to cut it so, we have a moto go with WIND, not the gassy kind, ........ that way we have a hotspot and text and phone in Canada and the US, but only in populated areas. So we then have a VIRGIN Nexus5, we're not touching that one with a bargepole...... for areas across Canada not covered by WIND, this is apparently unlocked thereby when we travel in the US we can get a different sim card and speak in the American Tongue......., an Alcotel Tablet with a sim card that gives us a Hotspot (where do they come up with these names ) in Canadian places where the Wind doesn't cover........., the aolean tablet is just a mini android computer, useful for the alien encounters, the no-name is missing, the mini ipad was purchased to allow face time with the grandchildren, as they all have them, when they've not been confiscated for bad behaviour, the ipads that is, not the children, and the two old flips are out of service as of the 1st.August. Well that was simple !
Then we tried to set up with Verizon for the US, but that became too complicated, yawn.... later .
Right, so next I have to get my Canadian Passport, so I can stay in the US for longer, that's applied for...... our pod apparently is of the alien variety in that it needs a specialty wiring harness, one that we can only purchase in the US, yawn...
We decided that we didn't need 8 bunks in the mothership so we advertised the lovely leather bed sofa, the guy came out , he purchased and removed it from the mothership, Phil says, thanks, the motherships on rental we're taking it back tomorrow......... poor guy gets shell shocked, 'til he sees joke. Week later he calls us up, seems bed having been attached to the floor in RV, now tips over when mattress pulls out, didn't want to return just wanted to let us know, can't get that image out of my mind now.
We're learning certain things about a new to you vehicle, there are reasons for certain oddities, our convection oven, had an ugly blue cloth on its ceramic t/table, obviously placed there for a purpose, we threw it out. When next, Phil removed a dish, the ceramic t/t stuck to the bottom of the dish until in mid air it unceremoniously dropped,on the floor in more than one piece. The new one only available in the US only ....... $53 !!
We now are the proud owners of a propane regulated campfire courtesy of a kind gift from our neighbour Karen, Trish thought it ran off 1lb bottles, but nah, 20lb which we don't have room for, so we're off to the propane suppliers to see if they can attach a hose to our main tank. Also we'll have to make sure it's long enough away from the mothership, or we could be roasting more than marshmallows....
Our double door fridge is a Norcold, and being familiar with RV fridges and Norcold recalls, we checked and sure enough ours is on the recall list, that's scheduled in for Mon. I think the icemaker is on strike........
Phil has been busy cleaning up the lights on the front of the mothership, and after the paintshop has finished with her for the second time we'll be taking her in for new graphics.
The chairs are awesome ...... but it's raining, a lot at the moment
I've decided there's a few things about living in the mothership that needs to be changed, I'm just not a "blinds down" all day person, and curtains drawn around the front window. We've ordered from the US (not made in Canada) the inside shades that no-one can see in from the outside, yet we have full view, next I want the side ones doing then I can keep all the blinds open. I'm sure the neighbours will tell us if the view is too vivid, in fact they'll probably move away in no time flat............... Phil's happy because he wasn't fancying jumping 12 ft up to secure outside blinds..
The shuttle was outfitted with led's now It's the motherships turn ...... yawn yawn
We needed a drop down hitch for the pod, needed to be a 2" square receiver kind with the ability to accommodate the two wheel space rovers amazingly difficult to find but we managed, we'll have to lock it on though as the aliens will be after cloning it.......... We'll hear the groans if anyone tries to "borrow" it, soo heavy.
The chairs are awesome, Dalewood is lovely, Logan was here today with his mom, we were at the pool most of day, then Grandpa took Logan off to get supper in the pod with it's roof down........ Time to try chairs out again, they're great for snoozing......
Phil had been getting the laundry done, but today Day 18 we decided it was time to work out the controls on the motherships laundry equipment. AWESOME , this thing spins 'til the stuffs almost dry, washes well, just have to remember to do little and often. Soon decided I didn't want to use the dryer, so now let's go and find out what anyone else uses on their motherships, seems between them and the ytube you get some white pvc, some corners, some clothesline and pegs and make your own..... enough of that, bought an awesome $10 fold up wheelie stand at the thrift store ! plus a $4 on-off part for the shower that was going to cost me $24 at Canadian t.
Anyone who knows Phil knows he eats bananas to balance his meds, and bananas make other fruit ripen really quickly so lets gets a banana holder and separate everything. Phil comes back with a Christmas ball holder, you know the thing that a centre ball hangs from and six more balls perch around the spiral ring attached....... well I tried not to laugh, I really did, I hung the bananas and then perched apples and oranges around the spiral, it lasted all of a day and I bought a wooden one, but Phil likes big bananas and they were too large for the wooden holder............. so I bent his holder until it fell apart, now it works......
The Convection oven doesn't vent outside, so we needed charcoal filters, guess where we had to buy them ..............
We needed a new Baggage door lock, preferably before the re-repaint, guess where it had to be ordered from ..........
Anyhow, that's about where we are, this week could prove to be a busy one for us, Phil left tonight to bring back the shuttle from Mike & Lou's in Morpeth, so that we have somewhere to sleep while the mothership goes into the shop.
Shuttle now at St.Thomas for a couple months storage before we winterize and put her in indoor storage for the next six months.
While we were at Dalewood we ran into a couple of problems,
