We have been “home” a week…our “sticks and bricks” home that is! We consider “Hallelujah” a home too…sort of like people that have a “vacation condo” some where…or a “lake house”….ours just rolls down the road with us!

We had the most AMAZING three months!!! Honestly, so many things came together to make it all happen the way it did…we know it was a God thing.

 

We were gone for 93 days but 87 were in the Motorhome.. drove to TX….stayed with family in TX a few nights then 2 nights on the road to MS to pick up Hallelujah (the motorhome). (We saved about $50,000 dollars by buying her in MS!!)

These states were our destinations: TX-MS-FL-TN-GA-CT-OH-KY-NC-GA

But we also went though:AL-SC-VA-WVA-NJ-NY-AR-NM-AZ-CA

Total States: 20

We began with 121 miles on the motorhome, we ended with 6,960

How many times did we fill up?  26

How much did we spend on gas? $2,773.00

How many miles to the gallon did we get?  6

Cheapest gas: Royse City, TX (at a Buc ee’s) $1.99/gal

Most expensive gas: Mill Hall, PA (flying J) $2.82/gal

How much did we save by using a Flying J travel card: $21.61

How many campgrounds did we stay in: 7

How many other places did we stay: Flying J Truck Stops: 3

Wal-Mart parking lots: 3

Casino nights: 3

Cracker Barrel: 1

Rest Stops: 1

We stayed with family in TN: 3 nights

We stayed with family in KY: 14 nights

Cheapest Campground: Bandits Roost (a Corp of Engineers campground on the W. Kerr Scott Lake/reservoir in Wilkesboro, North Carolina) with our Senior Pass-National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass ($12/night)

Most Expensive Campground: Yogi Bear Jellystone Campgound-Nashville, TX ($78/night)

Prettiest Campground: Bandits Roost in North Carolina….lots of tall trees and we had a lake view…stunning!

Most Campgrounds were about $40-50 a night, 2 were about $70-78

What we paid (total) in Campground fees: $2,254.00 (some of this was paid for by the Air Force  while Tommy was working)

New (to us) Restaurants we tried: Zaxby’s (Tupelo, MS), Waffle House (TN), Flying Burgers and Fish (AR), Barrio’s Taco’s (Cleveland, OH) Cardinal Drive In (Red Bay, AL), Bob Evans (Cleveland, OH), Georgia Bob’s BBQ (Warner Robins, GA), Chicken Salad Chick (Warner-Robins, GA), Culvers (Louisville, KY), Charlie O’s (Warner Robins, GA)

 

We ate lots of cereal and restaurant left overs on this trip and some microwave breakfast sandwiches…we also had some cheese (from the Ohio Amish Country) and crackers and grapes, or other fruits (Peaches from Georgia). We only  cooked one full meal on this trip…at the end of the trip we had Tommy’s mom, sister Sheila and her husband, Gary over for dinner….I did not want to lose too much of the “new smell” hahaha…well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!

That about sums it up….its not cheap, living and traveling in a motorhome,…but, there are ways to cut back like we did such as not staying in RV Parks while “on the road” to our destinations…we stayed at Free Places (using the Free App “RV Parky”).  When we do that we always spent money in the stores, truck stops or at the Cracker Barrel…we would eat dinner or breakfast there, or both. As for gas, I used “Gas Buddy”. Flying J’s were the best truck stops to get gas because they usually have 2 pumps for RV’s separate from other gas pumps.

We had a wonderful trip….a great time…a fantastic summer!! Lord willing we’ll be back on the road in later November….where are we going? Texas first…then??? Address USA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people want their home to be comfortable. They want their space to be a peaceful, restful place to live in……their “safe place”,  their haven, their place where they are most themselves. This can mean different things to different people….it can also mean what their home looks like….some like fancy and some like well, not so fancy. We are living in a 36 foot motorhome….,with 2 slideouts, which gives us a bit more width….still….a very small space….but, with everything we need and even room for the dogs to play! And, we too want it to be comfortable….to be our “safe place” and haven. Fancy? There are some really fancy, 45 foot motorhomes

 

out there…..too fancy for us…..too Vegas looking on the inside. Hallelujah, our Open Road Allegro is just fancy enough for us, without looking like Vegas! Ha!

I did want to add some personal touches to make her look “homey”….to make her look more like a home and less like just a motor home right off the lot. The challenge is weight and space….we can’t add much weight and we don’t have much space! So, I put things where I could and made sure they were not too heavy.

I had a throw that is a sea glass color and decided it would go with us and that formed the basis of my color scheme….I love sea glass! I am also loving white because it’s refreshing to me.

So, here is what I have done so far in the motor home to make her “homey”…..I still have things I’d like to do but for now here she is…..our home on wheels, our RV, our home away from home, our Hallelujah!

(The little table in one of the pictures is from Home Goods and it folds out…it has plugs for our cell phones in the back….its not very wide so it’s perfect for the motorhome….we plan to raise it up a bit so I can move the chair better…..in the meantime it works well for  my morning coffee cup on and my cell phone and tablet.

I still want to replace a “stock picture” on the wall….

 

 

 

 

I love food! Ha! Don’t we all? I take it pretty seriously though…..like, I don’t care for most fast food. Oh I do love a McDonalds egg and cheese biscuit…(with a senior coffee…2 creams, please)….but, mostly just on early morning Agility days on the way out of town. I turn my nose at Jack in the Box, Burger King and, I am the only Californian who is not a fan of In n Out! Once and awhile I will eat a plain bean burrito from Taco Bell though! My favorite “almost” fast food is Panda Express…..oh HOW I love that place! Orange chicken anyone? Chicken…chicken is on my mind a lot lately…..its simply everywhere…..here! I am in the South y’all! There are more chicken restaurants than people here…..seems that way anyway. Fried is King. BUT, while in Nashville, I saw a restaurant name that caught my eye…Chicken Salad Chick! It was a Sunday, and they were closed.

I LOVE CHICKEN SALAD! Not the California kind…the Southern kind…..chopped chicken, mayonnaise, pecans and grapes! Sometimes a chicken salad with curry and raisens is good. On GOOD bread…..fresh and dense…..not the bread served at cheap cafes that have zero flavor and have no nutty taste. So, imagine my glee when I found a Chicken Salad Chick restaurant in Warner Robins where we have been staying! I had the car and had a few hours to myself. I was so excited! What a cute place! Cuteness scored it a few extra points! At Chicken Salad Chick there was so many variations on chicken salad that I had a hard time choosing…..I had the “fancy Nancy” which has the grapes and nuts…..and I chose this “side” that was…..get this…..grapes, melted cream cheese and brown sugar! (It was “pack your bags and move to the South” good!) To top it off it came with a cute and delicious cookie! You can have your chicken salad as just a scoop or as a sandwich….which is what I had, on a croissant. I was one happy camper! My new favorite obsession…er, restaurant!

The very next day, Tommy and I were going to be running errands…..what that means is buying…buying….buying…..stuff and more stuff for Hallelujah, our motorhome. It is like outfitting your whole house….paper towels, pillows, sheets, towels, bath mat, dishes, cups, glasses, etc…you get the picture. I told him about my new favorite restaurant….he was reluctant….thinking it would  be a well, “chick place”….I get it…..cute and chicken (that’s not fried!)…equals only “chicks”….but I promised him there were men there when I had lunch. So, off we went…..we shared a chicken salad sandwich with jalapenos…..pretty manly, right? And, so good! He liked it! He even liked the sweet grape side dish….and, of course the cookie. But the best part of all was while he was at Lowe’s, he overheard 2 men talking about Chicken Salad Chick and how they really liked it! Score! And, he was not the only guy there when we had lunch. Forget Burger King……for me Chicken Salad Chick reigns!

 

 

 

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Our motorhome is made by Tiffin Motorhomes in Red Bay, Alabama. Tiffin has been in business since 1972 and is family owned…in fact, Bob Tiffin, who started the company is still around and and is very accessible…from what I hear. He still goes to the many RV shows and Rallies all around the country…and, he’ll even sign the inside of one of your cabinets if you’d like…and, many do! I believe he signs them “Happy Trails”. We have not met Bob Tiffin, but everyone that has, speaks about what a wonderful Southern Gentlemen he is. He and Tiffin are known for Customer Service. This is one of the things that attracted me to Tiffin vs. some of the other companies.

Even though Tiffin strives to do their best, motorhomes don’t come without problems..especially these days. Why? So many reasons..but, a few are that these motorhomes are much more complex than they used to be. I remember when we got our older motorhome (we still have it!! Its on our friends property up in Ridgecrest)…slide outs had just come out…we thought “nah, we don’t want a slide out…they won’t last”…haha….almost all motorhomes have them now! In fact, our motorhome will have 2…some have 4.

So, how do you build a new motorhome? Here is our “Build Sheet” from Tiffin. We placed the order with Sherman RV Center, in Sherman Mississippi on March 12…the motorhome went into production on April 26 and was finished and in Sherman as of this past Monday, May 20.

On the Build Sheet the MP in the number means “Main Plant”, BEF means “Belmont”…Belmont is the nearby town where the motorhomes are painted. And, MPF means “Main Plant Finish” for the end operations of the build. I have never seen a “Build sheet” before….and I don’t claim to understand it all…but, I found it interesting to see how these things were built! Tiffin Motorhomes has daily tours and all along we had planned to try to be there (at some point) during the build of our motorhome…but, unfortunately, that was impossible with our time line….Tommy was gone on business trips during most of this time.

We added some “extras” on our order. Hallelujah was built on a bigger chassis than what is usually offered (a 24K chassis)…ours is a 26K chassis (means we can carry more!!) and liquid springs…which gives a smoother, steadier ride. There were many “options”…and we went with: the stacked washer/dryer, a ceiling fan in the bedroom, the table and chairs with computer station (vs. the booth), prep for solar panels, pre-wire for traveler satellite, 15,000 A/C with heat pump (front only), central vacuum system, Residential Refrigerator, a pop-up plug near the computer station (since Tommy will be working from the motorhome) and, my favorite…the fireplace!

One thing we did not get is the oven! With space at a premium, many people are going with the “Convection/Microwave”…..you can do pretty much with that as you can an oven….so, we went that route too…and, I asked on some motorhome forums on-line. Without the oven we will have more drawers. I will be bringing my Insta-Pot (living in the motorhome is the main reason I bought the Insta-Pot), a 12-inch Cast Iron skillet (my very first one by the way! And, I got that too in preparation for living in a motorhome)…steaks on a campfire anyone? And, a small electric skillet….I will probably have a pot or 2 as well.

Now, to learn how to work the “systems”……since I am so mechanically and technically challenged…yikes! Its all fine and good when Tommy is there…but, when he is gone to meetings, etc…. I hope I don’t have to call Bob!!

Names are important. Tommy and I name everything. We name our cars (we’ve had “Sweetie”, “Shadow”, “Captain” and “Gracie” to name a few), we name our houses….such as “Shelty Cottage” from having Shelties and living at the beach…and, we named our older motorhome… (since she was a Fleetwood Bounder and their symbol is a kangaroo), “Matilda” after the song “Waltzing Matilda”, the “unofficial national anthem” of Australia. We love naming things! We love naming our dogs and always take lots of time and care in the names we give them….and, then we give them “nicknames” too…though we don’t use those names to call the dogs, rather, they are names we use amongst ourselves….Stirling we called “Pistol” and Seamus was “Shamey”, Sailor is the “Queen Bee” and Salty….is “Salty Dog”.

Yeah, we like names….and, so naming the new motorhome was important to us. Usually names come easily but not this time…nothing seemed right. Big Bertha? Big Honking Machine? Lucy? Since she is being made in Red Bay, Alabama I began to think of Southern names…Belle? Scarlett?…….and weeks went by…Shiloh was in the running….and, not much else…and, then….Hallelujah came to mind….a Hebrew word meaning “Praise Jah” or “Praise Yah”…Hallel in Hebrew means “a joyus praise in song, to boast in God”. Yes, boasting in God is good! Hallelujah! Yes, that is her name…Hallelujah! And she will have a nickname too…. Halle.

Do you name your cars? Houses?