Final Snowbird Preparation

So the first question is what do you pack for a 5 month trip.  The second question is what do you need to do around the house when your away for 5 months.  To start with there were some minor issues with the trailer that we identified in our first trip in mid-July.  We brought the trailer to the dealer so they could attend to these items.  You remember.  The local dealer whom we paid more to so we could have someone local to take care of our issues.  Things have not gone well.  Skipping ahead, as we drive out of the driveway for Az the 2 main issues have not been fixed and won't be till we return in April.  They aren't major but irritants just the same.

Then there was the issue with our garden tractor which has been bullet proof for the 15 years we have owned it.  Started stalling so decided to take it to the John Deer dealer and have it serviced.  Three trips to the dealer and three times they said it's fixed.  Bottom line is its still in their lot and will be till spring.  How hard can a garden tractor be to fix, really.

After the above problems and a few other issues we have had while trying to get ready I am certain that customer service is DOA.  The standard response you get now when phoning a company is "we are experiencing a higher number of calls than normal so your wait time may be, like FOREVER."  If you get this message repeatedly then I think the company needs to change their definition of normal.

We did manage to do a couple of modifications to the trailer over the summer.  On one of the Forums that I follow a lot of people had being using the Smart stick on tiles as a backsplash to enhance the kitchen area.  I made the mistake of showing this Mod to Lori and it was off to Home Depot.  It certainly does look nice and very easy to do.  

 The other Mod was entirely me.  A Progressive Industry Electrical Management System.  Expensive, but a must have in my books, to protect the electronic components in the trailer.  A little more difficult to install but, as I was to find out, it would pay for itself in short order.

We had made up a list of all the things we needed to get done all the while watching the weather forecast to ensure we got away before the weather turned.  We pared down the list, made arrangements with neighbours to snow blow the driveway, check the house while we were away, arrange for renewal of our vehicle insurance and the renewal and mailing of my drivers license to Yuma.  Our departure date moved from Nov 10th to the 7th to the 6th as the weather forecast got uglier.

So the trailer is packed, neighbours Lloyd and Richard will look after the snow clearing and a daily watch of the house.   A final visit from friends, Debbie and Don, who will be doing a weekly interior check of the house and picking up our mail and we were as ready as we were going to be.

November 6th, 4:30 AM and the alarm goes off.  Final items packed, house winterizing done and we pull out of the driveway at 6:18 AM.  We are about to find out how truly small that little box, we call our lives, has become.  We are off on our new adventure and a big step out of our comfort zone.

Next up.  The first few days of our drive south

Later