California, Here We Come

A beautiful day for a road trip

Before we could cue up Willie Nelson and On The Road Again, we had to finalize some equipment.  First, one side of Pooh's windshield had developed two large cracks during the New Jersey rough-road experience back in July, and needed to be replaced.

Pooh gets her right eye replaced

Second, our readers will remember that on two previous excursions, we had major brake failures.  We have been determined to avoid this scenario again, and so we bought an auxiliary braking system for the Geo Tracker.  It sits on the floor in the Tracker, and hooks onto the brake peddle, and basically works by inertia . . . it senses slowing down, and then pushes down on the Tracker brake peddle.  This relieves pressure on the motorhome brakes.  

RVI Brake System

The whole system is simple, and works flawlessly, except for one minor problem.  It needs its own 12V dedicated outlet, and our old, old Tracker couldn't supply the power consistently.   Of course, we did not discover this problem until we had pulled away from the storage lot and headed out onto Ulmerton Road.  Two miles up the road, the auxiliary system beeped that it had lost power.  So, we pulled over, reset the thing, and scratched our heads as to what happened.  After it happened a second time, we returned to the storage lot to consult with our excellent mechanic Ken (whose owns the storage lot and has his auto repair shop there). 

Ken took pity on our predicament, and installed new wiring and a dedicated 12V outlet right on the spot.  But, the whole procedure delayed us by about 3 hours, and we did not pull out of Pinellas County until about noon.  But leave Pinellas County we did ... with the wind at our backs and the Ipod set to lots of twangy country music, we finally headed for California.

We know the route by heart:  go north on I-75 to the Santa Monica Freeway (otherwise known as I-10), and head west.   On The Road Again faded into California, Here I Come and Pooh started making tracks again.

Go West, Young Man

Frank and Linda are getting ready to make some Pooh Tracks again.

Since our return to Florida in late July from the Wedding Trip, we have battled e-coli (Frank), peridontal surgery and oral extractions (Linda), and a broken windshield on the Winnebago.

Everyone seems to be healed up now.  Frank has his doctors' blessings to make the trip, Linda is more comfortable with her new dentures in her mouth than with them out, and Pooh's new windshield gives us a brighter view of our travels.

We are more than ready to head West.

Frank's 50th high school reunion (Oceanside, CA class of 1962) is the main reason for the trip.  Evidently the 50th is a biggie, because the reunion festivities cover a full 5 days . . . Wednesday through Sunday.  Whew.  You'll want to come back here to read the recap of those days!

We're also looking forward to visits along the way with friends and relatives in Tallahassee, Houston, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Jackson MI.  Frank is even making a side trip --- via Delta Airlines --- to visit an old college buddy who traded the warm breezes of an oceanfront house in San Diego for a mountain retreat in Boulder, Montana.  That side trip alone should be worth a couple of interesting blog posts.

So, friends and relatives, please follow our blog, and add your comments.
And if you want us to pick up a souvenir here and there for you, just let us know!