Good Morning COVID-19 Warriors! Today is day #329 of the epidemic for me. I don’t see it ending very soon, although vaccines are being distributed. I’ll get mine at some point. Not concerned at this moment because today I have……….
Mama Bear!!!!!! OMG she is so big! Much bigger than I realized until I looked at this picture of me beside her. Remember, I was thinking about getting a TAB! She is only 20’7.5″ long and 10’2″ high. She seems so much taller than that, but Daisy was 9’8″ so not that much different. Here are a couple of inside shots:
This picture was taken from the banquet and shows the kitchen – the slide, which is about 18″ is out and it holds the kitchen. The faucet has an end that comes out with a hose. I was hoping I’d have that. The stove is a two burner stove. Daisy had 3 burners but I never used more than one so this is fine. It does need to be lit with a lighter. There is a nifty little circle behind the sink which is a phone charger. I just put my iPhone on it and it will charge. It’s pretty slow. I’ll need to test that out and compare the time it takes to charge. One thing though, it’s a great place to put the phone so I always know where it is in the rig. Plenty of storage space there above and below! There is a smaller than Daisy’s refrigerator but should be adequate for me and Metaxa! Freezer is tiny – may need to cook and not have too many frozen dinners – Ice Cream will fit! The window behind the sink slides open. The windows are lighter and easier to open than the ones in Daisy. Not sure how I feel about that. Could be cheaper windows or perhaps new, lighter technology. They don’t have the same type of locks on them as Daisy had, but that was on “first blush” yesterday. There could be a lock of some sort. I must say – having a “BRAND NEW 2021” rig is exciting – the exterior is beautiful and clean and I love the logo on it. Here is a picture of that:
They’ve modernized it with that big “W”. You can see the stabilizing jacks down. Right now I’m using the “tool” to do it – good upper arm exercise. Bill said they will get harder to lower as time goes on and I might want to use a drill bit. Right now – I’m good with using the tool. I think I’m going to sleep in her tonight and make coffee in her and go to my 8AM meeting from inside her tomorrow. That’s the plan – so today, I’m going to set up the bed and bring in the coffee maker. I brought in the trash can and a roll of paper towels yesterday. I put the shower curtain up. I’ve decided to keep the trash can in the bathroom. There seems to be enough room in there for it and it will also be able to hold my toilet paper so I don’t need to “hang the bag”. We’ll see how that goes. I bought some “stick on” hooks as the cabinetry seems to be laminated and I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be drill screws in her. I’m so glad Bill is still here – he can help me with that – he’s so handy. And HE drove Mama Bear home yesterday from Tucson and effortlessly put her in her place by the car port. Lots of learning for me to do – confidence is lacking at this moment. I suggested we go camping at Kartchner and he was “up” for that – that made me feel good!
Another inside look:
That picture above shows the luxurious bed. IT”S HUGE! And it is very comfortable. I love the blond wood – laminate – it’s so fresh and clean. The two round things to the left is where the heat from the furnace comes out to heat up the place. You see a bit of one of the seats to the banquet. You can see how the front of the camper curves down into the “teardrop” look. So my “tear drop” shirt is now resurrected. Plus I have this shirt:
I wore this shirt yesterday when I picked her up.
Here is another inside look:
This is the bathroom. Lots of storage in there too – medicine cabinet to the upper left of sink is good placement – no head banging. The sink is stainless steel as is the kitchen sink. Much better than the plastic ones in Daisy – I’ll need to get some stainless cleaner! I miss MOUSE! She was my house cleaner in Naples – always did such a nice job cleaning my place there! Love you MOUSE! Anyway, I digress! The shower is hysterical. Just a little plastic pan for a floor and regular plastic walls with a shower curtain that wraps around it. Big people will find this shower lacking and I’ve seen complaints about it. I’m not sure how often I’ll be using it. Probably on the long trip Susan and I are planning, but I think that is going to be the home of the kitty litter also.
Here is the storage behind the toilet:
Plenty of closet space. Bill gave me a couple of ideas about what type of clothing to keep in the rig. I think it will be nice not to have to hang everything from the bathroom door like I did in Daisy:
I always needed to keep the door to the bathroom open, but I won’t need to do that in Mama Bear – at least I don’t think I do. Anyway – you can see how I “junked” up Daisy when I was living in her! No wonder I needed this:
I’ll take a picture of Baby Bear today since I’ve FILLED HER UP!!!!!
More pictures of Mama Bear:
This is the pantry by the door. Great door with a wonderful screen door for Metaxa to see out and be “on the porch” in Mama Bear. I think I may need to get a strap to hold this door shut when traveling. Don’t want all of the pantry stuff on the floor after traveling down a rocky road. I might put cargo straps inside this pantry if I can figure out how to “screw” them in place – sounds like a Honeydew – Bill Bass!
So now I need to rename the blog. Not a real rush at this point since I still own Daisy. I’ve had 28 people contact me through FB or RVT. Nothing has happened yet. I have a young guy begging me for her but he doesn’t have enough money. He contacted me yesterday while I was picking up Mama Bear and has given me a sad story about his “situation” with his wife and baby. He needs a home. I’ve got a guy out of California that has asked a TON of questions and I’m hoping he’ll offer to buy her – seems like he might be able to come closer to my asking price. I contacted Mescal to see if they would do an “inspection” and they said they would, so that is something I have going.
So when Bill drove my truck yesterday he noticed a “balancing” issue with the truck tires. Then of further inspection, he discovered a “plug” in one of the tires which isn’t supposed to be there, so bottom line – he says I need new tires. He is taking his Jeep in to get new tires, and I’m going to follow him in the truck – he doesn’t think I should wait to get tires. SO there you go – another $1000 for tires, but then Papa Bear will be up and running great! The tires will be balanced so it should keep me safe when traveling with Mama Bear. So that is the project of the day. It’s only money!
Here is another inside picture:
That picture above is of the banquet area across from the kitchen. The seats are surprisingly comfortable. The table is on rolling legs that will allow it to be taken outside – doubt I’d ever do that. We forgot to “strap” it down yesterday for the ride home. I think I might just strap it in place so I don’t need to worry about it when traveling. We’ll see how that strap works – there are two eyelets on the floor to strap it to. The table collapses to make into a bed. Doubt that will ever happen either, unless Susan travels with me for some reason. The handles to the storage under the seats stick out a bit and I cut my leg on it first thing yesterday. We’re going to try to figure out how to take them off. They look like rivets to me, but they could be screws – didn’t really look at them closely yesterday.
Now for how great she looks in her homebase:
Bill got her straight in and sent her all the way to the back of the pad. It’s necessary to have her back that far so we can hook her up to Papa Bear on the “flat” of the pad. We’ll need to work out some “hints” as to how far back she is. Lots of measuring to do. Anyway, she looks so cute tucked in so nicely. I went in this morning to see how cold she was. I turned on the furnace and it’s cycled on a couple of times, but isn’t working right, I don’t think. I’ll have Bill check it out. I saw on the FB page someone complaining about the thermostat and indeed, the one on the wall is not that great. Bill said he could help me change it out. I’m not giving up on it quite yet. I am going to go inside and do my 10% Happier Meditation. Be right back!
Here is Baby Bear all filled up:
She is pretty much filled, but I’m going to take out the bedding stuff and put it in Mama Bear today. I brought the radiator into her to warm her up. While sitting in her while meditating, the furnace did cycle on but I wasn’t feeling much “heat” coming out. I’ll just need to play with it to determine how it works. OH NO – need to read the book on it!!!!
So I was wondering if it came with a fire extinguisher:
It’s the tiniest one I’ve ever seen! And also the door comes with a shade for privacy that is REALLY cheap, but will do the job. Only problem as I saw on YouTube that I need to open the door – b/c of the screen door – to close it, so when it gets dark – I need to open the door in order to bring it down. But I’ll probably figure out the time on it as the day goes on and I’m in her. I like sitting at the table and looking out the door window to the outside.
Like this:
When I was sitting at the table today, I could see out the windows really well – it’s nice to have clean, new windows and the view was wonderful. I’m going to really like sitting inside and looking out.
So the LED lights are pretty cool. The one at the door is on a switch but all of the others have a button in the middle to turn them on. Lighting is really amazing inside the rig.
I guess that’s about it for now. We’ll be leaving for Sierra Vista soon to order tires for Papa Bear. Going to Discount Tire rather than Del’s because if I have a flat “on the road” the chances of having a Discount Tire nearby makes it easier to get work done if necessary. One thing I need to decide is about “roadside” service for us. I found out that my Coach-Net membership is good until October/November(?) of 2023. Once I sell Daisy, I need to call Gerzeny’s in Ft. Myers to switch to a travel trailer policy. Now I’m going to go on FB to determine what people use for their Roadside Assistance. Be back later.
Bill & Cathy got me a Gift for Mama Bear! It’s so sweet!
I put it on the awning first:
But the velcro would not stick with the fabric on the awning, so I’m trying the wall instead. Anyway, we’ll see if this sticks – if not, we’ll try something else, but isn’t it sweet? It’s a wooden block painted with Mama Bear on it. Pretty cute! I love it!
I guess that’s about it for today. I’ll take pictures of how it’s “progressing” inside of Mama Bear tomorrow. I was going to sleep in her, but decided it’s too windy and cold. I know I need to get used to that type of weather, but not tonight. Thanks for visiting!
