JANUARY 2004

We started out the month looking at motorhomes. We saw a Rexhall Vision 26' Class A which we liked. We also liked the Bigfoot Class C's, although they were more money than we wanted to spend. We sat down with a salesman to talk price on a Fleetwood Tioga 26-Q, but before making a final decision, decided we'd drive over to Montclair, California to see the Lazy Daze Class C's.

So, on Wednesday, January 7, we hooked up our fifth wheel for the drive over to Montclair. We stopped in Rancho Mirage to have lunch at I-Hop, and then dropped the fifth wheel off at the Elks Club in Ontario prior to going to the "Mothership" (Lazy Daze factory). We wandered through all the models on the floor, and really liked the 23.5' Twin/King model. After talking with Tim Pease, getting a brochure and one of the options price sheets, we went back to the fifth wheel to pour over the information we'd received. That evening, we went to the Elephant Bar for dinner.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Miltie's, and then went back to the Mothership to take another look at all the models. Afterward, we sat down with Tim, and put in an order for the 23.5' Twin/King model. Then we went back to the Elks Club and hooked up our fifth wheel for the trip back home. Before leaving, we stopped to do shopping at Costco, and then stopped in Banning to have lunch at Burger King.

Once home, I put ads on several Internet sites -- RV Trader, RV Trader Online, etc. We also took the fifth wheel over to RV Lifestyles for servicing -- repack the wheel bearings, fix the window in the door which had come loose, and put in new batteries and a new inverter (which we'd fried on an earlier occasion).

Lloyd arrived in town to host the WIN's (Wandering Individuals Network) gathering out on Plomosa Road. We drove out to where he was parked to see his new New Horizons -- he'd gone from a 28' fifth wheel down to a 24' fifth wheel.

We had the fence across the front of our property put in, with one 16' gate plus a walk-in gate. Once that was done, we got more 12" square red tiles to make a walk from the front steps to the walk-in gate. Now all we need are some plants, but that'll have to wait until at least this Fall.

We walked over to the RV Show a couple of times -- fortunately, we're only about a quarter mile from the Big Tent, so we don't have to worry about finding a place to park! We finally broke down and bought satellite radio -- Sirius. It'll be nice when we're out in the middle of nowhere to be able to listen to the radio!

We saw several friends during the month who had come for the big RV Show: Ken & Debbie Toth came by for a visit (they're the couple who had purchased our New Horizons and Freightliner last year), and we went out to dinner at Taco Mio; Bill and Gisela came over for dinner one night; David and Sandi White (Arctic Fox owners who live in Glendale) came by for a visit; and Meg and Mel Rich (New Horizons owners) also came by for a visit toward the end of the month.

Handlebar Jim made another dinner this year, so we drove out to "Boomerville" to have dinner with more friends. We also went out one more time to have dinner at Bill and Gisela's rig.

On the 26th, we hitched up the fifth wheel and drove to Cotton Lane RV Park where we spent the next couple of days. Once we arrived and set up, we had lunch at Chili's, and visited some auto dealers: we checked out the Chevy Tracker, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Suzuki Vitara. The next day, we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then drove up to the Honda dealer on Bell Road to look at the Honda Element, which we ended up buying. Mom met us at the dealership, and from there, we went to the Elephant Bar for lunch. That night, Earl and I had dinner at JB's.

On Wednesday, prior to leaving, we parked the fifth wheel and the Element in front of our storage room, and proceeded to empty it. Between both vehicles, we were able to get everything out of the room! Sure saves on paying to rent a truck, and then trying to find someplace to return it! That evening, after unloading everything from the fifth wheel and the Element, we had dinner at Taco Mio.