Our week started out slowly with discussions about our July trip and what trails we wanted to ride as well as if we should buy a generator to be able to boondock on our drive up and back. Currently we can carry water and run the lights and water pump off the battery but we can't run the AC, TV or charge our devices from the trailer due to not having an inverter or enough battery power from the one stock lead acid battery that came with our RV. We have been trying to figure out which way we can or should go to be able to boondock, or camp without hookups.
On Tuesday I had a late shift so I worked on our blog and the new calendar that I purchased from Erin Condren. I'm excited to try out a different kind of calendar to document our adventures. I'm currently using a journal that I received from my mom for Christmas. I love the style but it ends this month so I needed to find another option. The customizable Erin Condren calendars seemed to fit what I wanted. I was able to customize the cover, add our name, choose the layout I felt would work best for me and pick the color scheme. I also bought an extra sticker pack because, well, stickers! I'm excited for so many things happening next month.
Dom had found a 2016 diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit in our local area that looked really good. He went to check it out and brought it home for a test drive. It drove well and we really liked it. We took it back to the dealership and went home to discuss changing our tow vehicle or keeping what we have. We decided to sleep on the big decision.
Wednesday we decided that if we could negotiate a deal we were happy with then we would get it. We worked the deal for the Jeep and we got what we wanted so, we signed the papers (well actually the finance guy's desk was a large touch screen that we signed on!). We had a new tow vehicle which we feel will pull the RV much easier. The new-to-us Jeep can tow 7,400lb and has 420ft/lb of torque at 2,000rpm. We will do a walk through video of our Jeep soon.
Thursday night we went out for frozen yogurt, DEF fluid for the Jeep and some more quick connects for the RV water hose. Now we can move our hose in seconds from the city water connection to the black tank flush or the spray handle. This is a big time saving improvement.
Friday night we watched a movie to relax some before a busy weekend. On Saturday we had coffee and bacon with our neighbors. It was a fun time getting to know more about them and sharing our stories with them. After they left, we went out to do some shopping. We headed to DSW for some new shoes for Dom, I picked out and ordered new biking sunglasses and new lenses for my eyeglasses. I also ordered replacement lenses for my current sunglasses. I had no idea that I could order replacement parts for my Maui Jim sunglasses until I mentioned that they had been broken for over a year while at the eyeglasses place. They told me about Maui Jim's replacement policy and I looked it up online. If it has been more than 2 years or the broken part is not a result of a defect in workmanship, there is a cost for arms or lenses, nosepads are free. I entered my information, received an email with instructions to print a packing slip, box up my glasses and send them to the manufacturer. They will make the repairs and mail them back to me. In total it should take about 9-12 days. 2-3 days for my glasses to reach the factory, 5-7 days for them to repair the glasses, and 2 day expedited shipping that I paid extra for. I'm so excited about this as I've had these glasses for 8 years and now I can have them for a lot longer! When we got home, we borrowed a ladder from our neighbors and installed the backup camera that we bought. Unfortunately the camera did not appear to be getting power. So we took it down to send it back, this was an issue that some reviewers on Amazon had mentioned which was fixed with a new camera.
Sunday was a ride day! We headed to Erwin to see if we could complete the trail and increase our speed. We did finish the trail and feel that we are getting some of our skills and speed back. We washed our bikes and added some stickers that we had bought as well as some flat pedals for my bike until I can get my confidence back from not being able to ride for so long. This time I went with RaceFace Chester pedals. They are a composite pedal and feel light while also matching my color scheme. After our ride and cleaning everything up, I was pretty wiped out so I convinced Dom to watch a movie.
And so ended our 16th week of living in our RV. We can't believe how fast time is going by. We are so happy to be able to share our adventures and life with you.