I’ve controlled Snowflake!
This afternoon I drove Snowflake myself for the first time. I drove "bob-tail" (no trailer) to a nearby mall (about 15 miles east). The mirrors are wonderful. It is amazing what the driver can see.
I must say that driving the "big truck" really isn’t anymore difficult than driving the Ford F350. It is louder, but that seems more pronounced in the passenger seat than the driver’s seat. My sole gripe is that the seat belt in the driver’s seat is placed too high. As it crosses me in the front it crosses my throat – I do not like that. Robert said that he thinks we can get a clip that would allow us to lower the seatbelt attachment. That’s important! I don’t want my head to be decapitated!
We were very diligent in housecleaning at this stop. We cleaned the outside of the rig over two days. Amarillo is extremely hot and windy (today Snowflake reported 113 degrees). Yesterday we cleaned the front end-cap and the passenger’s side (in the shade) and today we finished the rear-end and the driver’s side.) It was certainly better to clean the rig over two days rather than a major cleaning endeavor in one day! We’re pleased with the results.
This evening we visited the "Big Texan". The Big Texan is a historic restaurant in Amarillo. (I think it may be a bit tourist-y-. ) The Big Texan is famous for the steak challenge - if you can eat 72 oz of steak in one hour, it is free. (Eat 72 oz (4 pounds) plus 2 sides (shrimp and baked potato) in (1) one hour and your meal is FREE!) The challenger sits at a raised table in the center of the restaurant (with a time clock counting down the minutes).
While we were there, one man finished the 72 oz. Challenge. It’s a bit unseemly; the rules address how much the challenger must swallow (and the return thereof... – ugh!!)
–Just for the record, I ordered the smallest steak possible (8 oz sirloin) and brought half of it home in a box for tomorrow.
Leslie
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Welcome Snowflake (the truck)
Driving, driving, driving. We’ve driven six straight days to get from West Yellowstone, MT to Poolville, TX (a bit west of Fort Worth - Dallas). Molly & Cody are clearly tired of travel days. We never drive that much, so why, you ask, were we in such a hurry to get to the heat of Texas in July? The answer is that we decided to morph our Ford F350 pick-up truck into a 2009 International Durastar 4400 Medium Duty Truck (I think that it is really big). It is 14" wider, 20" longer, and 14" higher than the Ford F350. It has two 50 gallon fuel tanks and we’ve been told that our mileage will not be significantly worse than in the Ford.
Welcome Snowflake!
Robert named the truck Snowflake because it is snow white (and not little and dainty).
We bought the new truck over the phone and via email. The process was very easy. Wayland Long of 2L Custom Trucks is known for producing beautiful truck conversions and he has delivered one for us. The interior is beautiful.
This picture is meant to provide a bit of perspective on the size of Snowflake.
Climbing into the cab is a two-handed operation.
Snowflake has a push-button automatic transmission (that should be the easy part) but also has switches to control things that I’ve never of heard of previously.
Hitching up seemed easier in part because Snowflake as a rear camera so Robert can see the hitch and in part because it doesn’t have tailgate side walls that obstruct my view of setting the height of the 5th wheel. The air-ride seats will take some time to get used to controlling. (Each rider inflates his or her seat independently, depending on how much cushioning one wants.)
Oh, and Snowflake does have an air horn in case someone wants to make a statement!
HONK!!!!!
Welcome Snowflake!
Robert named the truck Snowflake because it is snow white (and not little and dainty).
We bought the new truck over the phone and via email. The process was very easy. Wayland Long of 2L Custom Trucks is known for producing beautiful truck conversions and he has delivered one for us. The interior is beautiful.
This picture is meant to provide a bit of perspective on the size of Snowflake.
Climbing into the cab is a two-handed operation.
Snowflake has a push-button automatic transmission (that should be the easy part) but also has switches to control things that I’ve never of heard of previously.
Hitching up seemed easier in part because Snowflake as a rear camera so Robert can see the hitch and in part because it doesn’t have tailgate side walls that obstruct my view of setting the height of the 5th wheel. The air-ride seats will take some time to get used to controlling. (Each rider inflates his or her seat independently, depending on how much cushioning one wants.)
Oh, and Snowflake does have an air horn in case someone wants to make a statement!
HONK!!!!!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Yellowstone NuWa Owner's Forum Rally
From Saturday, June 20th until Tuesday, June 30th we were camped at Lionshead in West Yellowstone, MT as part of the NuWa Owner's Forum Rally. We had a blast hanging out with our 85+ new best friends. NuWa is the manufacturer of our 5th wheeel and the Owner's Forum www.nuwaowners.org is a collection of NuWa Owners and wannabes who hang out together on line. We've been members since long before we purchased our rig in 2007 and have made some wonderful friendships there.
Unlike most RV Rallys, there was no commercial component to this rally. It was entirely organized by volunteers. Everyone just pitched in to make things happen. My personal contribution was to take pictures (portraits) of all the attendees and then to post the pictures with the correct identity of each person. While this took me a huge amount of time (I was posting every night), I do think it helped people learn each others names more quickly. The best part for me was that by working with the attendance list and pictures, I think I actually did learn everyone's name. Here's the picture of us that someone else took.
We had wonderful pot-luck dinners every night and fun evening activities such as a birthday present version of the stealing Christmas presents game. Mostly it was a wonderful chance to meet in person people with whom we've corresponded for a number of years. I think that everyone had a wonderful time and it was clear that many more sub-rallys will occur as people travel near each other throughout the year.
The other highlight of our week was that Brad & Laura Kildow and their son Garrick came to vist us in West Yellowstone. Brad & Laura were AFSers with me to Sweden in 1975-76 and we re-connected on the AFS Reunion Cruise last fall. (Yes, Brad & Laura were both AFSers; they married each other after college.) Garrick is in the Air Force and is headed to Korea in September. He is a delightful young man and we wish him lots of luck. For some unknown reason I can't find the pictures Garrick took of us that evening. I'll keep working on that.
Robert and I stayed in West Yellowstone for a few days after the official end of the rally. We wanted to have a few days to visit Yellowstone by ourselves. (There were so many rally activities that we were afraid that we wouldn't have time to do our wild animal search.) On Sunday we joined a small group of NuWa Rally people for a private tour of Yellowstone. The advantage of the private tour is that someone else is driving so we could all focus on looking for animals. The highlight of that tour was this bull-elk that we saw in the early afternoon.
I also captured some impressive pictures of cow elk with very young calves.
We were carrying all our elaborate camera equipment including the spotting scope and my 500mm lens in hopes of a really great bear or wolf picture, but we weren't so fortunate. It appeared that most animals had taken Sunday off. The steaming sulfer pots were as impressive as ever.
We did spend one afternoon in the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Although we had seen much more impressive grizzly bear last summer in Alaska, this wolf was pretty impressive.
From Yellowstone we've changed directions; we're headed east and south! for a surprise to be revealed on Monday.
Leslie
Unlike most RV Rallys, there was no commercial component to this rally. It was entirely organized by volunteers. Everyone just pitched in to make things happen. My personal contribution was to take pictures (portraits) of all the attendees and then to post the pictures with the correct identity of each person. While this took me a huge amount of time (I was posting every night), I do think it helped people learn each others names more quickly. The best part for me was that by working with the attendance list and pictures, I think I actually did learn everyone's name. Here's the picture of us that someone else took.
We had wonderful pot-luck dinners every night and fun evening activities such as a birthday present version of the stealing Christmas presents game. Mostly it was a wonderful chance to meet in person people with whom we've corresponded for a number of years. I think that everyone had a wonderful time and it was clear that many more sub-rallys will occur as people travel near each other throughout the year.
The other highlight of our week was that Brad & Laura Kildow and their son Garrick came to vist us in West Yellowstone. Brad & Laura were AFSers with me to Sweden in 1975-76 and we re-connected on the AFS Reunion Cruise last fall. (Yes, Brad & Laura were both AFSers; they married each other after college.) Garrick is in the Air Force and is headed to Korea in September. He is a delightful young man and we wish him lots of luck. For some unknown reason I can't find the pictures Garrick took of us that evening. I'll keep working on that.
Robert and I stayed in West Yellowstone for a few days after the official end of the rally. We wanted to have a few days to visit Yellowstone by ourselves. (There were so many rally activities that we were afraid that we wouldn't have time to do our wild animal search.) On Sunday we joined a small group of NuWa Rally people for a private tour of Yellowstone. The advantage of the private tour is that someone else is driving so we could all focus on looking for animals. The highlight of that tour was this bull-elk that we saw in the early afternoon.
I also captured some impressive pictures of cow elk with very young calves.
We were carrying all our elaborate camera equipment including the spotting scope and my 500mm lens in hopes of a really great bear or wolf picture, but we weren't so fortunate. It appeared that most animals had taken Sunday off. The steaming sulfer pots were as impressive as ever.
We did spend one afternoon in the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Although we had seen much more impressive grizzly bear last summer in Alaska, this wolf was pretty impressive.
From Yellowstone we've changed directions; we're headed east and south! for a surprise to be revealed on Monday.
Leslie
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