Travels with haRVy

Today was all about being outdoors in the sunshine. I got out early for a walk around the complex, which is quite an unusual mix of nice homes, natural landscapes, ponds, bike and nature trails with an array of wildlife. I walked up on a pair of Sandhill Cranes and they could have cared less about me. I got within 5 feet of them.

After breakfast we went for a bike ride and saw more birds and even an alligator.

Later in the day our hosts took us around the area to beaches on Long Boat Key, Lido Key and Siesta Key.

Wildlife Accept Human Presence in Florida

While it felt REALLY good to be out in the sun, it got pretty hot and by mid afternoon I had had enough so we had an early dinner and headed back home.

My husband got the spare tire installed this morning and worked on a few more odds and ends this evening. We officially begin our journey north tomorrow morning. After we provision at the local market and fill up on diesel, we’ll head across the state to St. Augustine.

We were pleasantly surprised to wake up to perfectly clear blue skies this morning, despite last night’s forecasts for more storms. After an early morning jacuzzi as the sun rose and a simple breakfast I headed out to the garage to break open our boxes of stuff and start making haRVy into our new home on wheels. All my chores went smoothly as I got all the kitchen supplies and food stored away (with plenty of space to spare). I made up the bed, stored the maps and guides, and figured out where to properly store all the electronic gadgets, chargers, and remote controls (haRVy has TWO!).

Al tempted Murphy (of the infamous Murphy’s Law) by boasting about how well he had engineered the exterior spare tire holder on our bicycle rack that he shipped down for this purpose. Well…the bolts he fabricated for the job weren’t quite long enough so we had to find replacements, which required several stops at auto parts stores, muffler shops, and finally a very well equipped hardware store. We think we now have exactly what is needed and hope to get the tire safely secured tomorrow. Luckily all the necessary stores and a nice health food store were within a few miles of our home base.

It was a magnificent day with temps in the mid to high 70’s with no humidity and gentle breezes. It was just about as perfect as weather can be so it was nice to be out and about, even though it did feel like a lot of running around in traffic from shopping center to strip mall. This area (Sarasota) is busy!

We both continue to be amazed at how well engineered every inch of this vehicle seems to be. It is all so logical and efficient, they seem to have thought of everything. For instance, every window has a retracting bug screen and privacy shade. The cupboards have roll-top desk style openings so there are no cupboard doors to open and get in the way. The large skylight automatically closes if it starts to rain. We can’t wait to take advantage of all these niceties as we travel.

Nice alfresco barbecue dinner tonight with some of our favorite relatives. Tomorrow we hope to enjoy some of the more natural nearby attractions.

Did not watch morning news and missed all the announced warnings at our airport departure gate as we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast elsewhere in the terminal. Good thing too or our anxiety level would have risen during discussions about terrible weather across the entire state of Florida and how we might get delayed or detoured.

The second half of our flight was very rough, but our able flight crew managed to dodge the worst thunderstorms and tornadoes. We arrived only 45 minutes late while many other flights were delayed hours. It was pouring when we arrived, but we found our salesman and headed over to the RV dealership after a quick stop for lunch.

My husband and I were both a bit apprehensive as we caught our first glimpse of haRVy in real life, but our fears swiftly melted as we looked him over. Everything is in much better condition than expected. The more we saw the happier we felt about our decision. He seems to be in tip-top shape with nearly all the original mauals and equipment even a matching umbrella.

The guy who was supposed to give us the full vehicle demonstration was out unexpectedly because his house roof blew off earlier that day. Another very nice service guy helped us go through the manual to figure out everything we needed to get started. haRVy has many unique features and systems unlike other RVs, so even these guys who work on them every day are not familiar with some of them.

It continued to pour rain with with thunder and lightning all afternoon, but at least we know that haRVy is water tight. Earlier in the day the wind ripped an awning off another RV at the dealership while they were showing it to prospective buyers.

After 2.5 hours to 3 hours we finally started haRVy up and drove over to the sales office to hand over our fat check. At 5:20 haRVy is ours and we are soon cautiously sailing down the highway under threatening skies. We arrived at our relative’s home (where we shipped all the boxes with our RV stuff, remember?) at around 8 o’clock –  tired but satisfied that we had accomplished what we set out to do that day.