Four days ago we moved off the Beach House and are back in the Road House. It’s truly official when the galley on the Beach House is decommissioned, the pets are moved back on and we have our first meal on the Road House. Slow cooked Bison Bolognese over Orecchiette Pasta served with a Kale and Radicchio Salad were served in celebration. Slow-Cooked Bolognese Sauce

 

I have not posted much lately as we have been a bit preoccupied with closing down the boat and getting the coach ready to roll. The engine, chassis and brakes on the coach got a through inspection at the respective dealers. Wally changed all the fluids on the generator and repacked the entire storage area below the coach which we call the basement. We are going to roll leaner than last year for sure but never fear there will still be plenty of wine on board.

The Beach House is sparkling clean and ready to go north next spring. I spent one full day cleaning the upholstery and carpets. Yikes, did that need to happen but wow was I whipped after that marathon cleaning day. I think I logged about 6 miles just hauling stuff from the boat to the coach which is parked in the lot at our marina. Mostly it is the food and spices in the galley and clothes. About 20 blue tubs worth of stuff to be exact! I don’t leave food on board that little critters might be interested in. All of bedding gets washed and put away in giant plastic storage bags… lots of laundry was done. Even though we keep the heat on low and have dehumidifiers in the boat over the winter, I don’t like to leave clothes on board as they do get some boat funk smell.

 

 

We pulled the whaler out of the water last week and it also got a through cleaning and the engine got a tune up. It will be covered and stored on its trailer in the marina parking lot.

 

 

Getting the Road House ready to roll took longer than it should have. We had some critters sneak on board right after the Road House was moved to the storage lot…who knows where we picked up those hitchhikers. We evicted them before we left Anacortes for the summer on the Beach House but I had some extra cleaning to do inside the coach before we could move back on. Needless to say, everything in the kitchen is sparkling clean and sanitized. All the socks and most of the clothes we left in the drawers on the Road House got an extra washing.

EEK…we now have some permanent electronic ultrasonic pest gizmos. After the hitchhikers were discovered, Wally made a trip to the local Ace Hardware and came back armed for battle. I was skeptical when he showed me the gizmos and was sure we would be coming back to the coach to clean up the remains in the manual traps but to my surprise there was no carnage. Yay for the Victor Sonic Pestchaser. These plugin wall unit emits high frequency sound waves that apparently repel rodents.

SO where are we off to this winter? Moab Utah is our first stop but we have given ourselves a week to get there. There have been several stops along the way considered but given the time of year and the weather variables we will be winging it a bit on the cruise to Moab.

Arches and Canyon Lands National Parks are what is taking us to Moab. Fall is a great time to visit the parks as the weather is nearly prefect for hiking. We are staying on a 120 acre private property with our hiking pals Tom and Laurie. They are renting this cool RV and will be parked right near us. Our coach is well set up to dry camp for a week so this will be a great start to the winter on wheels.

 

 

From Moab we are headed to Santa Fe again. This was not originally on the itinerary this fall but our plans to head to Port Aransas Texas where literally blown out by hurricane Harvey. We decided to bag Texas this year and are instead heading to Palm Springs for 2 ½ months.  Then we will head to Arizona for another 2 months. It is a weird route with some backtracking but Moab was on the way to Texas and we were planning to meet friends there to celebrate birthdays and hike. Santa Fe was not in the plans at all until we got a text from some fellow RV friends and good grief it is only 400 miles out of the way! We just could resist seeing Sharon and Joe and their adorable white Boxer Cooper. Really, what the hell, we have time so why wouldn’t we go???

 

 

It was a great summer and I will miss the water but the cold days and rain are on the way, so I am excited to get the Road House rolling south and yes, we will be cranking up Willie’s “On the Road Again”.