Galveston and the beaches

Post covers: Jan 14 to Jan 22, 2017

After leaving Gulf Shores we headed towards Galveston. We hadn't been there before but had read good things about the area and this time I researched it enough to learn that all the beaches there are dog-friendly and require leashes (our favorite combination). We actually ended up making reservations at a different park than we first thought about going to, as the first one didn't have space for our entire stay. We stayed at Stella Mare RV Resort. It's a pretty new park and we got one of the back in spaces on the side of the park and this gave us a lot of grass behind us. The only negative we had was that the spaces are a bit tight but not enough to make us regret staying there. It is right across the highway from beach access, so it was convenient to go for walks there everyday. We also found that at most of the beach accesses you can drive onto the beach and park. Made it convenient for taking the babies for walks. The babies loved going to the beach every day and Vinnie is walking like a champ on the sand with some support from a scarf under his belly.

The staff at the park were all friendly and helpful. We set up the fences for the babies and while sitting out with them one afternoon, one of the staff came by and asked if she could take our picture with all of us so they could use for their brochures. So they are definitely dog-friendly but are strict about their leash policy, which we appreciate. We found that most people on the beaches followed the leash law, we only had one run in with someone who thought it was okay for his dog to be off leash and run up to others. We didn't have an issue with his dog but it was disappointing to find someone who acts like this, they can ruin it for all us quickly.

While in Galveston, we had nice weather. 60-70s during the day with some fog but little rain. We did a few touristy things and went to visit Seawolf park which houses two WWII era ships, the submarine USS Cavalla, and the destroyer escort USS Stewart. You get to self-tour both ships which was great fun and a good learning experience. We also visited Moody Gardens and toured the rainforest pyramid and did the Colonel Paddlewheel cruise on the bay. Unfortunately the aquarium was closed while they remodel it so we didn't get to see that. It was a fun time and worth the time and money to go see.

We had a great time in Galveston and already are planning on going back there. Maybe even this year before heading back west. But we had to leave for a planned rendezvous with Kim's mom and uncle.

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Gulf Shores, AL

Post cover Jan 10 to Jan 14, 2017.

We left Tallahassee for Gulf Shores in Alabama and had a nice drive until going through Pensacola when we had a rock fly up and put a nice chip in our windshield. Oh well at least it is small enough so that we can get it repaired and not have to replace the windshield.

We pulled into Gulf State Park and were wow'd with the area. It is certainly one of the nicest state parks we have been to. The site we had picked out was as nice as it looked online. We were right across the road from the canal that runs through part of the park and had a pull through site. Off to our other side (passenger side) was a brushy / swampy area so it was nice and private. We also found that the swampy area was full of frogs that serenaded us at night. We had great Verizon and AT&T service and wide open sky for the satellite. There is no wifi in the campground. We paid the standard site rate since we were across the road from the canal and not right on it, so at $37/night it wasn't too bad for being in such a gorgeous spot. With having a nice large space, we were able to set up a large area with the pens for the babies to play in and us to sit in with them.

Some how when I started looking at this area to visit I misread the information on the beaches being dog-friendly. When we got there and start looking at all the beaches in Gulf Shores, we found none of them allow dogs. This was frustrating to say the least and it's hard to understand why the whole area would be so unfriendly to dogs. We found some other parks in the area that are okay to take the babies to but it's not the same. It was also frustrating as the beaches are gorgeous with nice white sand.

We did find that the island next to Gulf Shores, Dauphin Island, was dog friendly on all it's beaches. One day, we hopped on the ferry that goes from Gulf Shores to Dauphin Island and took the babies on an outing to the beach. It was their first ferry ride, Spella and Vinnie did great but Prada was her nervous self and was a bit unsure of what was going on. Once we got to the island, we found a few beaches that were nice to walk on and easy for the babies. Vinnie got a nice stroller ride and a few short assisted walks on the beach. The girls got to play on the beach and dip their paws in the gulf waters.

Vinnie enjoying his stroller view of the beach

 Spella daydreaming while she looks at the gulf!

After finding out about the lack of dog friendly beaches, we decided not to stay too long and made plans to head towards Galveston were we all could enjoy the beaches. We did like the area but found this part unfortunate.

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Brunswick, GA visit

Post covers Jan 4 to Jan 10, 2017

After leaving Raleigh, we decided to head down to Georgia. We decided to stay new Saint Simons Island as it was an area we wanted to explore. We stayed at Coastal Georgia RV Resort for a few days and explored the area with the babies. I forgot to get any pictures of the resort but we enjoyed it and found the staff friendly, the campground was dog-friendly and they had no problem with us putting up pens for the babies. The space was adequate but no large. The park was quiet and all the neighbors were pleasant to be around.

We got the babies out to the beaches at Saint Simons Island a couple of times and worked on Vinnie's rehab. He is doing great and with assistance from a sling to hold up his rear legs, he is able to walk and play. We are thinking about getting him a wheelchair but will see how it goes for him.

We spent part of a day at Jekyll Island as well and toured the sea turtle rescue sanctuary there. These people do amazing work to rescue and rehab sea turtles. They try to release all the turtles they rehab but will care for ones that can't be nursed back to being able to survive on their own. It was nice to see the people that work and volunteer there being so caring.

While we were there, the area had a cold snap come through. Luckily we left Raleigh at the right time as they ended up with snow and icy roads and even northern parts of Georgia had snow. We were just cold for a couple of days.

After leaving Brunswick, we head for the Gulf Shores of Alabama but wanted to do the drive in a couple of days so spent one night in Tallahassee, FL. We ended up picking a park as best we could from reviews. We stayed at Big Oak RV Park. While the park wasn't bad, it was more of a permanent resident park with just a few overnighters. They were dog-friendly and we were able to put up our pens.

In the afternoon we drove around the area to see what was in Tallahassee and found a little BBQ place for a late lunch. After that we decided to have a relaxing night and plan on leaving early in the morning for Gulf Shores.

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Christmas in Raleigh

Post covers Dec 23, 2016 to Jan 3, 2017.

After all the trials of making it to Raleigh, we were relieved to settle in to the Raleigh Oaks RV Resort. The staff was helpful as we checked in and the spot we got was towards the front but traffic noise on the county road in front of the park wasn't an issue. There is a train nearby but for us it wasn't close enough to be a noise issue. The only loud noise we experienced the whole time there was from a couple of Air Force cargo planes that must have been doing a low approach (made Alan recall some of his Air Force time). The park is a mix of permanent residents and travelers. All of the residents kept their spaces nice and tidy and there was none of the trashy look that some parks allow permanent residents to have. There are two fenced in dog areas and plenty of room to walk the babies. We had no issues with anyone else's dogs as everyone was respectful and kept their babies leashed when not in the dog areas. We were surprised to find that the resort had a small workout room with a couple of ellipticals, treadmills, stationary bikes and some free weights. We took advantage of this as Alan started working on some more back rehab. Also a nice laundry room and while we didn't use them, the showers / bathrooms looked nice and clean. There was also a nice looking pool, small mini-golf area and pickle ball court.

The resort is about 40 minutes from downtown Raleigh but was only about 20 minutes to our daughter and son-in-law's home. We looked at some other parks as we drove around the area and decided we made the right choice of where to stay especially to be close to family. When back in the area in the future we will probably stay here again. We had great Verizon and AT&T signals, the wifi was slow most of the time and we used our hotspot most of the time.

Yes, this big house is the office!

While in Raleigh, we not only got to spend a lot of time with Ally and Justin (daughter and son-in-law) and have Christmas with them, we also got to visit with Alan's nephew and wife. They had moved to the Raleigh area about a year ago so it was great to get so see them several times while in the area. We learned they are craft beer connoisseurs and went to a couple of fun breweries with them, our favorite being Deep River Brewing Company.


Raleigh is definitely a growing area and traffic is an issue depending on which way you are going at certain times of the day but got it figured out and other than trying to go to a mall right after Christmas managed to avoid most of the traffic.

The babies got to visit with their weenie cousin Copper while there. Copper grew up with our babies so they are all great friends and always remember each other every-time they see each other.

Prada & Copper sharing the couch

We spent Christmas eve and day at Ally and Justin's house with Kim & Ally having fun baking and such. Ally had just come back from basic training so was ready for real food and sleep! Christmas was a nice time with way too much food and presents for all.

The week after Christmas we took one day to drive to Wilmington and visit the beach. It was a gorgeous day, nice warm and sunny. We got in a good beach walk and Vinnie got to ride around the beach.Vinnie is starting to be able to support a little bit of his weight with his back legs but can't stand up by himself or walk without having a sling to support him. We knew this would be a long process but seeing that he is still happy and not in pain, we are glad that we didn't put him through surgery again.

The rest of the day in Wilmington we looked through some shops and had a nice lunch before heading back.

The rest of the time in Raleigh was visiting with both Ally & Justin and Chris & Jessica (Alan's nephew and his wife). We had a New Year's eve dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse and then went to spend midnight with the babies while the youngsters went out for midnight. Kim got to spend more time with Ally before Ally had to head back to Oklahoma to finish her basic training.

We got Vinnie in for the last of his laser treatments right before leaving and also for a follow up visit with the vet. She was happy with his progress but we know it will be a slow course for him and he may not get back to being able to get around on his own.

On Jan 3 we left Raleigh headed for Brunswick, GA.

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Reno to Raleigh, Part 2

We left Columbus, Tx on Dec 20th for Fontainebleau State Park. We knew this would be another long day of driving but decided that if we liked it there we would spend another couple days at one campground. While driving there, Vinnie began to whine as if something was hurting him and Kim noticed that he was having difficulty using his back legs. Vinnie has had back problems before and has had two surgeries for disc issues and had some residual weakness in his back legs. As we got closer to Mandeville, LA, it was obvious that Vinnie wasn't doing well with his back legs and was hurting. Kim found an emergency veterinarian and made sure they were open. As soon as we got into Mandeville, we got the toad unhooked and Kim took Vinnie to be seen. Alan took the two girls and went to get settled at the state park. It was dark and the office was closed by the time Alan got there so it took a bit to find our reserved space. At the vet, Kim had them check Vinnie over and their best assessment was that he had another disc issue going on. He was started on some pain medication and steroids and had a follow up the next morning. We kept him resting all night. Unfortunately with the problems with Vinnie we didn't get any pictures of the state park or to explore the area which looked nice and we have read good reviews on.

The next morning, Vinnie was about the same. During the night we had decided that for all his other treatment needs Kim would head to Raleigh with our car and get him seen by the vet that her daughter had worked for before going to basic training. Kim did take him in for his follow up and their suggestion was that he needed back surgery again. While Kim got started for Raleigh, Alan got the motorhome packed up and the girls ready for the drive. The motorhome was also at the point that it needed it's first oil change. Luckily, I was able to find an oil change center close by that also specialized in RVs. Alan was able to get in right away and get the service taken care. The center, Easy Lube & Oil in Slidell was professional and had us taken care quickly so Alan was able to get on the way.

Kim had thought about driving all the way to Raleigh but as it got later in the evening made the wise decision to find a place to stay. She was able to find a hotel to stay at in Lumberton, NC for the night that was dog-friendly and had rooms. The area didn't have a lot of open rooms as many people are still living in hotels as their homes are still be repaired from the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. She was also close enough to Raleigh to not have an issue making it to Vinnie's next appointment with the vet in Raleigh. Our daughter, Ally, was able to get Vinnie in right away with the vet practice she used to work at so it was important that Kim was close enough to make it to the appointment in the morning.

In the meantime, Alan had decided to see how far he could drive safely. My thoughts were initially that I could make it to about the South Caroline border. As the day progressed that didn't seem to be feasible and once coming into Atlanta on I85 and getting on I285 and hitting rush hour traffic it was obvious this wasn't going to work out. I was able to look up some Walmarts and find that the one in Madison did allow overnight RV parking. Alan and the girls pulled in and got settled for the night as best as possible. We aren't big into this kind of stops but there is an advantage to Walmarts when in a hurry to get somewhere. The only problem with this stop was that a semi pulled into the parking lot during the middle of the night and kept it's generator going all night.

The next morning Kim, with Vinnie and in the car, and Alan, with the girls and motorhome, both got up early and each headed toward Raleigh. Kim got Vinnie to his morning appointment at Hemlock Bluffs Animal Hospital and he was well taken care of by the staff. We had discussed ahead of time what we wanted to do for him and had decided that surgery wasn't something we wanted to put him through again. He did great recovering the first time but was slower to recover the second time. Now that he was 13, we didn't want to chance how he would do with surgery unless absolutely necessary. After having him seen by Dr. Parker and discussing options, we decided to do laser therapy and physical therapy for him rather than surgery. We will keep the blog updated on how he is doing with his recovery as we go along.

Alan made the drive to Raleigh without any issue and went straight to the RV campground we had decided to stay at. We were looking for one as close as possible to Kim's daughter and found Raleigh Oaks RV Resort in Four Oaks. As it turned out this was a good choice as the campground was dog-friendly and well kept. There were a bunch of long term residents there but everyone kept their sites clean and picked up. It really looked no different than any other private RV campground. They had no issues with the fencing for the babies and we saw a few others with similar fencing.

Now that we were settled for a couple of weeks, it was time to work on Vinnie's rehab, enjoy Christmas with family and explore the area. More on that and more about the Raleigh Oaks Park in the next post.

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Reno to Raleigh, Part 1

Post covers Dec 13 to Dec 22, 2016.

After spending the night at the casino parking lot in Beatty we headed off for Las Vegas. We decided this would be a shorter driving day after having a long day the day before with the doctor's appointment and then driving to Beatty to beat the snowstorm. We decided to use our new Thousand Trails membership for the stay in Las Vegas. We got there early in the afternoon and got checked in right a way. We found that the Thousand Trails in Las Vegas is a tight campground but since we were only staying one night, it wasn't a big issue. So far all the Thousand Trails we have been to don't have an issue with the babies or our fencing, so we do like that about them. The babies enjoyed being back in warmer weather and sat out for bit in the sun. We made it an early night as it was time to catch up on some rest so no casinos this time in Vegas.

For the second full day of our cross county jaunt, we headed to Picacho, AZ for an overnight stay at the KOA there. It is about half-way between Phoenix and Tucson and was mostly a nice drive from Las Vegas (excluding Phoenix area). We took about 6-1/2 hours to get there, a little longer than we like but worth it to get a jump on our travels. When we pulled in, we found a friendly staff and spots with a decent amount of space. It is the desert of Arizona, so of course it was all sandy dirt there.

As with all the KOAs we have been to, they are exceedingly dog friendly and we set up the pen for us all to sit in and enjoy some more warm weather and a gorgeous sunset. The babies also got a nice outing to their dog park and got to choose which hydrant they liked best :)

We decided to partake of the restaurant they have on site, Frankie's Chuckwagon, and had a nice home cooked style meal and fun conversation with the staff. All the wait staff are volunteers from the park, so it made for a nice evening.

The next morning we headed out for the outskirts of El Paso. This would be five hour drive today and we again had nice weather for the drive. Now that we've gotten to do several days of driving in the new motorhome, we have come to enjoy it much more than the Super C. The ride is nicer and having a larger view out the windshield makes for more fun. The babies have come to like it as well with Prada and Vinnie spending most of the time on the dashboard and Spella curls up on the hump between seats or on the floor at Kim's feet.

We found a KOA in Anthony, just west of El Paso that is brand new. As with yesterday's KOA, they were dog friendly and had a great new dog park to play. We also found the spaces to be large for a KOA and had plenty of room to set up the babies' pens. The sunset was great looking from the park as it set up a little bit above the area.

 

The next day was another longer drive to get to what we thought would be a nice place to stay. We found a park in Junction, TX on the river. South Llano River RV Resort turned out to be a small place but was easy to get to from I10 but in a quiet area. We got there late so the office was closed but we had called ahead and they had a packet waiting for us outside the office. The spaces were a bit tight but for an overnight stay it was adequate, and having a pull-through space made it nice so we didn't have to unhook our toad. We didn't get a chance to go into town as we were tired from the day of driving. This was the only campground on the whole trip across country that we didn't have any AT&T reception for our hotspot but we were able to tether to our Verizon cell phones which had decent LTE signals. I didn't take the time to set up our cell booster to see if it would help with the AT&T signal since we were leaving first thing in the morning.

We left early the next morning and only had a 4 hour drive to our next stop. We decided to stay at another Thousand Trails park, this one outside Columbus. As with most Thousand Trails, we got to pick out our site and Kim picked out a nice one right on the Colorado River. The space had no-one on the right side of us and a large amount of green space between us and our neighbor on the left. We had decided that we needed to stay somewhere for a couple nights after the last several days for driving so had picked this for the stay. It turned out to be a great choice. The park is dog-friendly and we had a nice large area to set up the pens and let the babies run around in. The park has lots of green space and a herd of deer that live there, so that gave the babies room to go for a walk in and something to look at.

We spent time exploring the area and found a small winery, Rosemary's Vineyard and Winery. The place was great to visit and when we stopped by we were the only ones there so got a nice tasting and learned the story behind the vineyard and the couple running it. We also had a chance to catch up on laundry while there and Alan got caught up on some of his consulting work. This is one of the campgrounds we are already wanting to return to when in this part of Texas.

Part 2 will complete our trip to Raleigh for Christmas with Kim's daughter.

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Back to Reno

Post covers Nov 25 to Dec 12, 2016.

The day after Thanksgiving Alan left for Reno with the new coach since there was a winter storm predicted to come in to the Reno on Saturday night. Kim was able to spend a couple more days in San Diego with her daughter before heading to Reno. However, on Thanksgiving morning we found the hot water heater wasn't working. Luckily, we were able to hear back from our sales-person Thanksgiving afternoon and he got us hooked up with the the service department of Holland RV in Santee. After showing up there right at 8, they found that it was a relay within a few minutes of looking at the heater. Unfortunately they didn't have one there but their shop in San Marcos had them in stock. Since the way back to Reno went by San Marcos, I just drove up to the dealership and had the part replaced. The repair with paperwork only took about an hour, so was on the road to Reno by about 11:30. I decided the easiest route was going to be out I10 and then cut through Death Valley to Beatty, NV and spend the night there. I decided to do this instead of going up 395 as the weather forecast was for high winds on 395. The problem I had was that everyone decided to go out I10 and there was lots of stop and go traffic all the way to the turn off to Death Valley. It probably took 3 or so hours longer for the drive. Finally got into Beatty well after dark and found a spot at the Death Valley Inn & RV Park. It turned out to be bit pricey for a spot ($38) but at least Alan and the babies had a place to stay with full hook ups.

Up the next morning (Saturday) and off for Reno. As it turned out the high winds decided to come over to highway 95 as well, so for about 100 miles it was slow going. The good thing was that the winter storm was cooperating and didn't come in early, so made it to Reno without any other issues. We decided to stay at Gold Ranch RV again since the staff and other campers have been friendly every time and they are very dog (and pig!) friendly. Kim left San Diego Saturday and made it to Reno that evening (she had good fortune and didn't hit any winds coming up 395), of course driving just the CR-V is a little quicker. But the winter storm did come in and this was what we woke up to Sunday morning:

There was actually a good deal more snow at first with the roads all covered but it melted off the roads quickly.

So the whole reason for being back in Reno was that Alan was schedule to have his back surgery on Monday morning (11/28). We had to show up at the hospital at 5:45 that morning but that meant Alan was the first surgery of the morning. To make a short story of all the events, the surgery went fine and the tumors were benign. Alan sent two days in the hospital then back to the coach for some rest for the next couple of weeks, mixed with physical therapy. Kim was able to visit family some more and registered for a Christmas craft show. She launched her new business, Rescue Me Dog Treats, did exceedingly well at the show and was able to donate several hundred dollars worth of items to the local SPCA.

Alan's follow up appointment was on Monday, Dec 12th and of course there was another winter storm predicted for the next morning. We decided not to chance getting stuck in Reno any longer than necessary so right after the appointment (about 5pm) we left Reno with the intention of making it to Hawthorne for the night since the storm was predicted to stay north of that area. We needed to get out of Reno and not be stuck there for the week as we had already promised Kim's younger daughter that we would be spending Christmas with her and her husband in Raleigh, NC so we didn't have much leeway in our travel plans.

We made it to Hawthorne and parked at the El Capitan Casino for the night. They allow RV and truck parking in their back lot so we just dry camped for the night. This worked out well and in the morning we found a small park in the town to walk the babies at before heading off for Las Vegas. The rest of the trip to North Carolina will be coming up in the next couple of posts.

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Thanksgiving in San Diego

This post covers: Nov 19 to Nov 25

After getting everything moved into the new coach on Friday evening, we headed for the San Diego area on Saturday to spend Thanksgiving with our older daughter. Thank goodness for driving on a weekend day so we didn't have to deal with the awful traffic San Diego has during the week. I had found a county park that had good reviews a few months ago and made reservations then since I wasn't sure how busy it would be over the holiday weekend. We stayed at Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita. It was only a 15 minute drive to our daughter's place. The space I picked out was on the end of a row so we had no one off our left side just a nice view of the area. There is a highway a little ways past were we parked but the noise was only really noticeable during rush hour times.

I'm guessing this park gets hopping in the summer as they have lots of activities for kids including a water park. While there were still a far number of people camping here, there wasn't any noise issue. The park doesn't have a restriction on the number of dogs and since we had a large spot, we were able to set up several of their pens so the babies had lots of area to walk around when we were all outside.

The weather was great the week we where there except for one rain storm right after we got there. Kim got to spend several days out with her daughter and they worked up a great Thanksgiving menu for us! One afternoon we all (including the daughter's fiancé) went on a San Diego bay cruise and had a nice dinner downtown. The sunset over the bay was spectacular.

We also found several trails at the park to hike and get the babies out for walks on. The only issue we had at the campground was an infestation of ants, so we had to be careful with leaving food out. We were in the older section of the campground with all dirt, they have a newer section with paved sites so we might try that next time to see if there is still an issue with ants there. I've seen a few other reviews that mentioned the same issue with ants. We also had some nice sunset views from our site and I took advantage of the evening weather to try out the new TV!

This turned out to be a great week and the campground was as dog friendly as any we've been to. Most of the others were respectful of watching their babies and keeping them on leash. The only part of the week that was stressful was watching the weather since we had to be back in Reno by Sunday since Alan's surgery was scheduled for Monday morning. As the week progressed, there was a winter storm predicted to blow in over the passes west of Reno on Saturday night so we ended up cutting our stay short so Alan left with the motorhome on Friday but more on that in the next post.

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Time to Upgrade!

Since we decided to go full-time (and even some before to be honest) we have been thinking whether our Super C was the best home for us to take on the road. As I've talked about on the RV saga page, we did a fair amount of work to make it more homey and comfortable for us. Despite all of the work, there were still things that didn't make it feel the way we wanted it to and we weren't sure it would ever feel just right. Most of this is because it is a Super C chassis and it always felt like we were in a truck, not just when driving but even when settled somewhere since the front seats always face forward and are set lower than the house portion. We also lost several feet of space due to the front engine design.

Every time we were around dealers with nice selections of coaches we would take time to look and see what's out there and get ideas of what we like. We had seen some 1-2 year old diesel pushers at one dealer that we liked but they always had something that just wasn't right. Often it was the lack of a king bed. We just don't get why they build such nice and expensive class As and then put in an RV queen bed. I'm sure we can't be the only ones that like having a larger bed and with having three furry-babies that sleep with us, it's mandatory.

After getting settled into our site in Palm Desert, we walked over to Holland Motorhomes which is right next door and started looking at their selection. One of their salespeople, Harry Carroll, started showing us around and answering more questions than most salespeople we have dealt with. After looking at several coaches and finding two we really liked, Harry let us know that is was almost time for the lot to close. I actually appreciate that he was a family person who needed to get home and let us know this but he got us all the information we wanted on the coaches before we left. We set up a time to meet the next day.

It was a long night of talking about what we wanted and where willing to do to get into a new coach. When we went back we knew that the Newmar Baystar we had looked at the day before was our preference after looking through it again. Our favorite feature is the full wall slide that opens up the interior and gives a shotgun home look since you can see front to back. I had to get over the fact that I was giving up a diesel for a gasser but after doing all the research I couldn't think of a good reason to have to stay with a diesel. I know there are lots of advantages to diesels but when we looked at all the other features we wanted and the price difference to get a comparable coach that was a diesel, it just didn't make sense to us.

Holland Motorhomes and their staff were easy to work with as talked about a deal. Our biggest sticking point was making sure we got a fair trade in for our Super C. As it turned out Super Cs are apparently popular in this area due to all the off road vehicle riding people do in the area and the fact that they tow great. We got what we thought was a fair deal and became the proud owners of a new coach!

Actually we didn't get it that day of course. Holland does a front to back inspection of a coach before delivering it, so we had to get that scheduled. Since we were buying it from a California dealer and not registering it in California (they have crazy sales tax!), we also had to set up taking delivery outside of California. The dealership does this all the time so it was a simple process but did add more time to getting the coach. The process involves their driver taking the coach across the border while I followed in one of their cars and then meeting with a notary to sign all the paperwork showing the coach wasn't delivered in California and isn't being registered in California. I then got the keys and was able to head back to begin the process of moving.

We found again that the Holland was willing to work with us on this process. We had thought about trying to do it at the campground as the site next to us was open. We decided against this since by the time I was going to get back from the out of state delivery, there would only be an hour or so of daylight left and there is minimal lighting in the campground. Holland let us pull our old and new homes next to each other (door to door) right in their main lot which is well lit all night and got us all plugged in so we could take our time and spend the night in their lot after getting moved.

The night security guard came by and let us know he would be around all night and introduced us to his K9 but made sure we knew that his dog was friendly with other dogs as he saw our babies running back and forth. What we did was set up our pens between both motorhomes so we could carry stuff across without having to step over anything but the babies could run back and forth but we wouldn't have to worry about them getting out. The move definitely stressed them out, they just couldn't figure out what we were doing and they were already a bit stressed after having watched us packing up stuff the past day as well.

The babies living in the mess of packing

Spella and Prada helping unpack

We got everything moved over and placed somewhere in about 4 hours (we are still working on final places for everything). By this time we were all exhausted and the babies were plenty stressed out so we tucked everyone in for the night and set the alarm for early the next morning. The next morning we made sure we hadn't forgotten anything in the old motorhome, made sure everything in the new coach was secured somewhere and headed off for San Diego.

So far we are enjoying the new home and all the extra space inside even though the new coach is the same length as our Super C. The class A layout just makes such a difference in space. We'll cover issues as they come up and the good and bad we learn along the way and how this space works for the babies.

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Palm Springs Area

Post covers: Nov 12 to Nov 18, 2016

We left Reno for a week long stay in Palm Springs. We decided to break up the trip into a couple days. We left on Saturday and drove to Lone Pine, CA for a one night stay at Boulder Creek RV Resort. We picked it after looking at reviews of the places around Lone Pine. When we got there the staff was helpful and friendly as we checked in. We got settled into our space and Kim immediately met some of our neighbors that also had a couple of weenies and then also met some other neighbors that travel with three Saint Bernard mixes. Some times we think we are a bit crazy traveling with all our kids and how we treat them so it's nice to see others are just as committed to their four legged kids as we are. We had a nice relaxing evening in and left early Sunday morning for Palm Springs.

After reading about others experiences with Thousand Trails and looking at the type of places we like to stay at we decided to buy an annual zone pass and see how it goes using their campgrounds for the next year. They specifically mention that they are dog friendly and don't state any limits on numbers. As with all multiple campground companies, you are best to check with each individual campground you will be visiting to make sure they don't have different rules than the main rules. If anyone needs helpful information on Thousand Trails and their options, I would recommend going to the RVLove.com blog and looking at their page on Thousand Trails. They have some great information on their experiences and what they have learned about Thousand Trails. They even have a recommendation on who to talk with when buying a membership and their recommendation to talk with Jim Randell was right on. He was helpful, get us the deal we wanted and got us into the Palm Springs campground for the week after we signed up.

When we got to the campground, which is actually in Palm Desert, we got checked in at the front gate and learned that sites weren't preassigned.

The staff suggested we park the motorhome and take our toad and drive around to pick out the space we like. We haven't had this option at anything but some government campgrounds. We found the spot we like and got backed in. The campground is full of palm trees which adds to the ambience but you do have to watch out for the them when getting into your site. Later in the week I watched someone back into a palm tree with their bus before any of us could warm him he was close. Luckily I don't think he hurt anything. The campground is incredibly dog friendly and it looked like 75% of us there have furry kids. With their fur-friendly attitude there was no issue with setting up the pens for the babies.

This is the desert so creatures do show up at all times!

This little roadrunner came by one morning to say hi. He didn't mind the babies even though they certainly wanted to get out of their yard to go say hi. The only wildlife we founded issues with were the burrs around the area. The babies got them in their paws several times and we tracked inside as well and had to check the floor to make sure none of us would find some by accident.

Next door to the campground is Holland Motorhomes. We are always looking at options so visited the lot after getting settled in and toured some motorhomes before they closed. I'm working on a whole post on that adventure and will update our RV Saga page so standby for that.

We enjoy this area as there are so many things to do in the area. We spent one day visiting the Joshua Tree National Park area and the old west motion picture set town of Pioneertown. When we visit national parks with the babies, we have to plan carefully since there are not many places that they are allowed. They did enjoy walking down Main Street of Pioneertown though as hardly anyone was around so we had the run of the place.

We were in Palm Desert for the full moon and the moon rise was gorgeous from the campground:

On the last night before we started our next big adventure we had a date night at Palm Springs Village Fest. The town closes several blocks of Palm Canyon Drive and all types of vendors set up. We found everything from a block of farmer's markets items, to all kinds of food vendors, to artisans selling everything from all types of art work, soap, candles and everything else we would want to look at. Since most items aren't an option we settled for getting some fresh bread, flour tortilla chips and homemade dips for the chips. Dinner was a nice Italian place with outside seating, Sammy G's Tuscan Grill. We would recommend it and the calamari appetizer was in the top 10 of ones we've had. Also their house made Sangria was tasty.

Next up our adventure and then on to San Diego for Thanksgiving with family.

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