Room, Lots of Room

The most important news of the day is that we got our slide fixed.  We were up and at it this morning to pull into our dealership at 8 AM.  There aren’t really appointments for service.  They tell you the day to come in.  For everybody coming in on that day, it’s first come, first served.  We fully expected it to take the better part of the day so we had plenty on our list to do.

Our first stop was at Camping World for new light covers.  All of the 12 volt lights in our motorhome have those plastic covers.  We noticed a few days ago that one of them had a hole in it where the heat from the bulb had, over time, damaged the plastic.  I decided it was a fire hazard, so took those plastic covers off the three lights we use often.  We decided to go with the LED lights instead of those hot bulbs.  They didn’t have our size plastic covers, so we still have one with a hole in it.  May have to order that online.

Our next stop was REI, but we had to pass right by Krispy Kreme Donuts before getting to REI.  No sense in letting that opportunity go to waste.    We haven’t had a Krispy Kreme since Christmas; might not have even had a donut since then.  We were way overdue.

At REI I finally bought a new pack.  I’ve been carrying a Kelty Redwing day pack for about 15 years.  I love Kelty packs and own both a day pack and a backpack.  At one time, I had three Kelty packs.  But, their new day packs I don’t like as well.  I went with an REI Lookout 40.  It’s on the large size for a day pack at 40 liters, but I like a large pack for winter hiking when I take a bulky jacket and also for those times when I want to take my SLR.  I can put the whole camera bag inside my pack.  There are also lash points on the pack to attach my tripod.  I’ve also been known to take a soft sided cooler on a hike.  The Lookout is rated to carry up to 40 pounds comfortably.  That’s way more than I want to carry on a day hike, but at least I know the camera, a heavy jacket, or a lot of water shouldn’t be a problem.  I transferred all my stuff this afternoon and walked around some.  It feels really good.  The real test will be a hike.  We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next 3 days so it may not happen until next week.  I left all the tags on just in case it turns out I don’t like it.

REI is not too far from my parents’ home so we drove over there to visit with them and spend the rest of the day.  We were really surprised when our dealer called after we’d been there only about an hour.  We rushed off to get our home and make the trip back to Montgomery Bell State Park.  The site we left was still open, so we’re right back where we started from.

It’s great to have the slide out again.  Even though we can get to everything with it in, and it’s only 2 feet deep, it makes a tremendous difference in living space.  I feel like I’m living in a mansion.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.