Second Outing

Second Outing

We took Greycie and the hounds for an outing this last weekend.  The Countess took 1/2 day off on Friday and we packed up the pack and headed up the 101 to Oceano, to the Coastal Dunes RV Park.  This is part of the SLO County Parks system.  And it was right next to the railroad tracks.  Only had a couple trains each day so it wasn't too bad.

Left the storage place in Camarillo at around 3:00 pm.  Got to the park around 6:15, 125 miles. Not a bad drive for a Friday.

Setting up Greycie and getting loaded in with the dogs for the first time was a bit of a challenge.  Had to help Vid and Doog up the ramp a couple times to get them used to getting in and out.  Molly went in and out with no problems.  She used the stairs.  She don't need no stinking ramp.  After I lowered the ramp to the first step, it was much easier for all and they were in and out with no problems.  So we set up the rest of the living space and had dinner.

Had to get up at 1:30 am to take the hounds out to pee since that is their normal routine, but we don't have a dogie door, so I had to leash them up and walk them out and about.

Saturday we had breakfast, took a walk and headed up to Costco in SLO.  Needed to get a second dog bed.  So we drove around and saw some of the sights in Pismo and Avila Beach.

Came back to Greycie and got set up for dinner.  Took another walk, the Countess is still having issues with her achilles surgery.  We set up the x-pen for the dogs and that worked out pretty well.  They are able to go out without a leash so I can let them out at night without having to get shoes on myself.  A bit more convenient, but still need to work on changing their schedule.  Still had to get up at around 2 am to let them out.

Sunday was fairly relaxed in the morning, until about 9.  Then it was time to get Greycie ready and get on the road by 11.  The Countess did a wonderful job getting the inside ready for travel, and I worked on the outside.  Folded up and loaded up the x-pen and chairs.  Then did the black/gray tank dumps, cleaned up the lines and put everything away.  When we got Greycie lowered down on to the wheels, the left front tire was down to 28 psi.  Luckily for us there was another camper with a compressor and we were able to fill up with about 80 psi and be on our way.  The tire held up fine for the trip home but I will have to get it fixed before our next adventure.  Don't want to fool around with tires.  Ordered a compressor to keep with us from now on.  Will need to get tools to change a tire as well.

Second trip - 250 miles on Greycie for a running total of about 1470 miles.  The truck averaged 11.5 mpg and handled the hills and road just fine.

We have Greycie!

We now are the proud owners of the 5th wheel known as Greycie the Greyt.

I picked her up on August 29th.  My first experience pulling something that big was to jump on the 405 in Fountain Valley, head north to the 101, then west to Camarillo where I had to back in to a 12' wide spot next to a $150,000 motorhome. That was not as harrowing as expected. 88 miles, 2 hours.  

Next adventure began 2 days later. On Thursday August 31st we picked Greycie up and brought her to the house.  After some ingenious maneuvering we were able to park her in front of the house.  I had to trim the neighbors tree in order to get it close to the curb.  That was quite a sight.  So we loaded her up and went to bed. Getting up at 3 am, we set out for Tucson. We made our first gas stop at a Chevron on Tom Wells road about 3 miles inside the Arizona/California border.  I had about 20 miles range left in the tank.  We arrived in Tucson to stay at the Far Horizons RV Park with Don and Melanie.  I impressed everyone with my ability to back Greycie into the spot.  566 Miles, 10 hours 40 minutes. 

Now we began to open things up and get her plugged in for the first time.  After some insecure moments on our part, she came to life.  All the lights, ac units, water and slide outs worked. Tucson temperature - 104.  Nice to have 3 working ac units now. Visited with all the usual suspects + Bob and Mary in Tombstone.  After 4 days of 100+ temps it is time to get back to 75 deg Oxnard.

Left Tucson around 8 am on Sept 5th and got back to the storage facility at 8:30 pm.  Had a 1/2 hour side trip into Simi Valley for gas since it seemed to take a bit more on the trip back.  Note to self - Don't let the gas get below 3/4 for any reason.  Stories about pulling a rig through a gas station are all true.  Not a fun thing to do unless you are into reality horror.  But we did it and got Greycie backed in to her spot and out the gate at 9:10 heading for home.Total trip was 1367 miles, 28 hours 34 minutes, 11.2 MPG and 48 MPH average.  On to bigger and better adventures!!