Final Preparations

Just a quick note on the eve of our departure.  Today was hectic between packing the van, fire calls, and going to the Boorums for a farewell meal and exchange of house watching lists.

Comcast will be shutting down our cable connections to the world at midnight tonight so I won't get billed for the month of May, so I have 30 minutes left to finish my computer work.  

I installed a battery powered vacuum under the 3rd seat and plugged it into the door jam 110v outlet.  I took a high shot of the 10watt solar charger I placed on the roof to trickle charge the house battery.    Candace packed the food, pots, pans, linens, utensils, cleaning supplies  and I finished packing the electronics, tools, filled the water tank, and decided that since Candace will be in her walking cast boot for the next 4-6 weeks, to take the bicycles off the back of the van and we'll leave them for another trip.   Thought  about taking just mine, but then I didn't seem fair to Candace and besides it is a lot more fun to ride with someone.    For exercise I will jog and walk. 

So, tomorrow morning we'll pack the clothes and by noon we should be on the road to Hanover, NH and then to Woodstock Vt.  for the night to stay with John and Debbie Grable.  Hope we can get everything together to leave by noon and that the Roadtrek holds together.  

The last note I mentioned that we broke down just South of Concord on the way home from Monroe.  AAA towed us to Amherst and $300 + later we have a new idler pulley, tensioner, and serpentine belt.  While it was there I had it serviced with new oil, filter, and lubed.

Time for bed.    More later...

We thought we should try out the van to see how she drove and what issues might arise. We left Amherst for Monroe NH on Friday afternoon (4/23) We went north through Boscawen where we stopped at the State Nursery and picked up 10 Balsam Firs seedlings to plant for future Christmas trees.

We stopped in North Haverall and showed Becky and Charlie the Van and stayed and talked for a while. We finally got to the house in Monroe about 6:30. A slow trip, but the van was comfortable and rode well. It is a bit noisier than either our Subaru or Prius, but you seem to get used to the rattles and wind noises. Sitting up high gives one a great view of the scenery and more than makes up for the noises. It drives like a heavy vehicle but I guess it is. There is plenty of power, more than I think it needs, but it's nice to have on hills even if the gas mileage isn't great.

I planted the 10 trees on Saturday and put some things on/in the van. Hung two bicycles off the back, put some dishes and pots and pans in the galley, the gas barbeque is now on-board, and we put a queen sized 2" memory foam topper pad over the sleeping berth. It's really very comfortable now.

We left Sunday afternoon for the journey home. The van seemed to be humming along beautifully and we felt confident that it would be a terrific vehicle for our voyage. We were just over two hours into the trip and just past Concord on Rt. 93 when I felt a thump and saw something small like a hockey puck rolling away from van through the side view mirror. The engine sounded fine but I noticed very shortly that the steering felt funny and stiff. I edged over to the side of the road and stopped and got out and first looked at the steering linkage. That area had just been worked on had new a pitman arm and inner tie-rod installed. They looked fine. I then popped the hood and saw that the fan wasn't spinning and the fan belt was just sitting loose. It seems that the idler pulley fell off. No power steering, power brakes, cooling, alternator, etc. That one belt drives a lot of things. The engine was still running and getting quite hot. We decided to limp slowly about two miles to the State Liquor Store pull off and rest area. I coasted when I could and went slowly in the breakdown lane with the flashers on. We arrived at the rest area without incident, coasted to a stop, turned off the engine, and then called AAA. Probably should have gone into the liquor store for a stiff drink, but discretion led us to wait patiently for assistance.

AAA came pretty quickly and hoisted the van up onto a flatbed truck and we were again off for Amherst. Left the van at Mikes Auto in the village and Robert (the very nice AAA driver) took us home.

Still waiting for a diagnosis of the problem and we hope to be on the road with full steam next Saturday morning. This is a slight setback, but we are glad it happened now and not on some desolate road in the middle of Kansas.

Starting to pack

Tueday 4/20.

Beautiful weather. Cool and sunny. Spread a yard of bark mulch around the flower beds and worked a little on the Roadtrek. Started to sort out the packing arrangements. Got the Honda 2000eu hooked up to an external tank and the water system flushed and running. Found I had a leaking T joint in the city water intake and ran the the hardware store for a new fitting. Sorted out tools and spare parts to take and where to put them. The tool box is still in a state of progress, but spare parts will consist of air and oil filters, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, fuses, Belts, and Power steering fluid. All of these came with the vehicle so it only a choice of what to take and what to leave behind. The PO was an engineer so it seems every possible spare piece was stored somewhere in the rig. Installed a homemade pencil holder on the side of the engine compartment. Perhaps that's my one original piece of new stuff.

Still getting ready

It's Sunday 4/18. Rained this morning but the sun came out this afternoon. The van looks clean (and it is) and ready to go. New EZ pass velcro tapes arrived yesterday so we can mount one of our EZ Pass transponders to the windshield. Good for the East coast but once we leave NY hopefully there won't be too many tolls because EZ Pass seems to peter out as you work West. I've enclosed some current pictures as the van sits now. Empty and waiting.
Bill & Candace

Off to Alaska

4/17/2010
Well this is a first for us. New to the RV life and new to the idea of Blogging.

We are now just two weeks from our departure. The van is cleaned, inspected, insured, and registered in NH. We haven't packed her up yet but we are planning on what need and what we have and where it might fit.

More later.

Bill & Candace