The last week of March and first week of April I had business meetings in Nashville, TN and Huntsville, AL. We decided to take The Bus on the road for two weeks to test our compatibility with the full-time lifestyle. The weekend before we departed it was warm enough in Maryland that I could de-winterize The Bus. We were thankful that we only had one leak after the harsh winter and it was just a loose connection at the washing machine drain pipe. Pattie and I packed what we thought we would need, hooked up our Jeep Wrangler TOAD, loaded Sparkey the beagle and Katty Kat in and headed toward Nashville.
The Bus ran great and TOAD followed along fine. We made it to a Ft Chiswell campground in Virginia before stopping for the night. We had stayed here once before overnight when we had a travel trailer as it is convenient to the highway. We hooked up to power only since it was forecasted to get down to 18 degrees that night. I had loaded about 1/3 tank fresh water so we would have all systems available enroute. Letting out the slides was a bit delayed because Katy Kat found her way under the bed where the slide mechanism lives. We heard that you must keep a eye on your pets before moving the slides, but Katy had a stronghold on her new hiding place and was not coming out without a fight. We needed something flexible to hook around one side of the bed and scare her out. It seemed to me this would be a good opportunity to try out the central vacuum system. It worked like a champ! I ran the hose in there, turned it on and Katy came out the other side into Pattie's arms.
Once the slides were out, we activated HydroHot (aka AquaHot) on electricity and waited for the warm air while syncing up the DISH satellite TV. All was working well, but the temperatures were dropping faster than the warm air was flowing. I read the HydroHot instructions and found out that it takes several hours for the electric system to heat up. If you want a lot of heat now, you need to activate the diesel burner. I flipped the switch and heard the pumps activate followed by the wonderful sound of the burner lighting. In no time, the hot air was flowing and we were toasty. I checked inside the lower compartments and they were also pleasantly warm. Sparkey adjusted quickly; but it took Katy a bit longer to come out and join us. We slept well.
The next morning, we headed out to Nashville and warmer weather. Here we stayed at Jellystone RV Park which we had also stayed at when we had a travel trailer. It had full hook ups and all pull-thru sites making it easy to get in and out. They also had WIFI repeaters throughout the park allowing us to use their service and save the data usage on out AT&T Unite Pro plan. The Unite Pro is a mobile hot spot that creates a WiFi network for up to 10 devices inside your rig. We plugged it in up front and tossed it on the dash. This allows Pattie to use her iPAD to search for RV Parks, traffic and routes as we travel. In Nashville, it was suits and ties for me working while Pattie took care of The Bus and pets.
We already had a list of things we wanted to buy and a few blocks away was a Camping World happy to help us out. We bought a water pressure regulator with gauge, small outdoor table and the infamous US Map sticker set. Pattie says we will hit all 50 states. I said we might, but The Bus can't swim to Hawaii.
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