Dallas (point 1) - gearing up

Saturday morning was an exciting time as the time had come to pick up the new Chev. It was driven to our hotel by one of the guys from Classic Chev and as he needed to return, we (he) drove back to Classic. By the way, I'm sure "Classic" was "meant" to be. Ken, Steve, Ashley and the people there have been great, but the clincher is the suburb (or city) - Grapevine. Just knew it was meant to be!

Time for me to to drive solo on the way back. It's funny and pleasing, but as I was here three months ago and drove for a week, I slipped quickly back into driving on "their" side. However, I have to get used to the length (22 feet - just under 7 metres) and the turning circle of a Mack truck. Other than driving over the kerb a couple of times, I'm now getting the hang of it.

We're using a Tom Tom for guidance and have downloaded Homer Simpson's voice for navigation instructions. Ironically his humour and the way he provides guidance has been fantastic - on the occasions I've taken incorrect turns, his droll voice and tones and relaxed "ummm" cause me to relax as well. If he's not stressed, why should I be!! After giving about 10~15 instructions, he will say "can I hear a thank you" and you find yourself responding with the "thank you". I'm sure it will become annoying as the weeks go by, but for now it's still fun.  

After returing to the hotel to pick up Grace and the girls, we drove to United RV at Fort Worth to meet with Phil and look at our 5th wheeler for the first time. It's fabulous - bucketloads of room but very nerve wracking to think I have to pull this goliath around North America. The formal introduction and explanation to how everything works is to be given on Monday so we'll return then - apparently this will only take a couple of hours.

Sunday - not much to do today other than to try to stay cool and get the body into Texas time. The weather here, in a word is HOT. For the past few weeks the daytime temp has not been below 100F (38 C) and tomorrow is expected to be near to a record 109F. Off to Wallmart in search of pillows, sheets etc that will be needed to spend our first night in the Fiver, and on our return the girls opened their Distance Ed books for the first time.

Monday, a BIG day for me as this will finally be the day I have to tow the goliath. I have had ongoing apprehension about driving 58 feet of vehicle (Chev + Sierra hitched up) up a dead end street or cul-de-sac. Anyway, Mike commenced showing us around the Sierra around 9.30 and by the time Grace & the girls had finished putting away our 16 (or so) "travelling lightly" bags plus what we bought in Wallmart, it was just after 5 pm - so much for the 2 hours and you're away!

My apprehension grew as did the time of day - 5 pm is the beginning of peak hour and if I found it necessary to have to swing across 3 or 4 lanes of freeway because of an exit.....

Grace found it most amusing to film my instructions and first attempt to connect the Chev to the Sierra - thought she might make a few dollars on Funniest Videos.. Unfortuantely for her, it all went very smoothly. OK, no further delay or procrastination...away we went. To be honest, it feels no different to pulling a caravan and the hitching up is certainly easier. Just have to remember to swing very, very wide on RH turns.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that other drivers in Dallas courteously gave way when I was trying to change lanes. I subsequently did make mention of that to Kevin at DFW and he said it's probably due to our having Florida registration plates and we would be perceived as tourists...little do they know!

The 23 miles from United RV to The Vineyards (the beautiful RV Park we're staying in - can't seem to get away from the wine scenario) went quite smoothly except when I pre-empted one of Homer's instructions and I turned 250 metres too early. That caused us to go up a relatively narrow street, turn right and go back to the (3 lane each way) highway we should have been on. My heart beat increased when he told us to turn left then immediatley right - that meant crossing 6 lanes in about 100 metres - Grace said she felt like crying and I could feel the heartbeat through the veins in my head!

Mike (United's instructor) did tell us that size is good, so when we had a break that seemed appropriate, off we went...delighted to say, safely across and right - thanks to those who assisted us by slowing and not displaying the bird!! Drove the remainder safely to The Vineyards and are parked in a "Pull through" site, no reversing required.

On Tuesday I dropped Grace and the girls off at Walmart to do some serious shopping for all our essentials in the Sierra and I went back to DFW to have a tonneau cover fitted. Several hours later I picked them up and we needed most of the truck's 8' of length to store the goodies and return them home to the Sierra.

Wednesday (today) has been very good. A huuuge night's sleep aided by a tablet, cool weather (mid 20s) with some rain and a great chance to sit indoors for the girls to catch up on their school work.

I'll post photos later as we have a little more shopping to do. I also need to re-plan this first part of our trip leading up to the ship cruise from Seattle. Yesterday we found out that the weekend we need to be in Seattle for the start of our cruise is also their Labor Day holiday weekend - flights and accommodation may be in short supply

LA then Dallas

Our arrival at the airport in LA and transport to our hotel should have been dull, but wasn't. We needed confirmation where our hotel shuttle left from so asked a local "friendly" wearing a formal looking ID and assisting all and sundry.

He pointed out the spot (about 5 metres away from where we were) and then produced another ID showing he was collecting for ??? He was very insistent we should pay for his help so Grace offered about AUD 7 in coins - so, to say he was vocally disappointed is an understatement!! "Loose change, and from another country" he stated loudly, but still took the money.

Now, travelling "lightly" with the family (I'll be in trouble for saying with 4 females) internationally for an extended time could be construed as a misnomer. We had distinct differences in counting the correct number of bags, both checked-in and hand-carried. Grace, Meryla and myself had varying numbers, anything from 16~18 articles. The differences were small packs that were given on the plane and whether or not they should be counted.


Enormously frustrating and, of course, ending with an argument. As a result, once the bus dropped us off at our hotel and had left, we discovered one bag missing. Not an unimportant bag either, the one carrying all our cameras, the mini Mac computer, an iPod and all associated chargers and cabling. Fortunately I was there 3 months ago and knew the location of the next stop. A quick sprint through a laneway and I luckily managed to stop the bus and retrieve our bag.
This photo is us at nearly midnight, waiting for the hotel shuttle bus from DFW Airport in Dallas.

Uneventful for the balance of our overnight stay and off to the airport again on Friday afternoon to fly to Dallas. When we went to the check-in, we were told our allowance was only 1 bag/person and we needed to pay an additional $25/bag - until they found out we were still "in transit" internationally and waived the fees.

However, each of us were seated in between 2 people in separate rows scattered through the plane. Neither safe nor acceptable to have our girls between 2 strangers. So, for a USD 29 fee each, they could all be seated in the front row of economy, behind the bulkhead. Pay up we did.

Arrived in our Dallas hotel at midnight local time

New baby - YAY - timing - well done Nona!!!!!

Wow, talk about last minute happenings, as we were about to take the luggage from the house to the taxi and leave for the airport, Colin phoned to say Nona had just given birth. Following a chat with the driver, we were very happy to find out we had enough time with a detour to call in to the hospital on the way for a brief visit.

We felt very priviliged when we arrived and were allowed into the delivery room - their new son (yet to be named) hadn't even been weighed or measured!! He looked fantastic, good head of hair and you can certainly see lots of Nona's features - congratulations to you both. As we were leaving the hospital, Brenda and Keiran (Nona's parents) were arriving and we had the chance to congratulate the new Grandparents and say our farewells.

When we checked in we found out the plane loading was full - not a spare seat anywhere. Grace and the girls got the middle four seats on the new A380 and I had an aisle seat, hoped the person next to me wasn't a 150kg giant. I was pleased to find out that wasn't the case but I had the passenger from ?? in front - he was very large and insisted on dropping his chair back as far as possible, as quickly as possible and as frequently as possible, crushing my knees often....oh well, only a 13 hour flight :-(

Due to the excitement of the new baby and delayed arrival to check in, the person responsible for getting our GST refund at the airport completely forgot - I've given myself a good dressing down and don't want to look at the receipts to see we should have got. Also managed to send our cameras into "checked in" luggage (clearly didn't want to do that) so we've been unable to take photos to record our departure...another black mark for the person responsible - yep, me again!!

LA here we come

House sitters in - we're out!

The day for us to start our trip has finally arrived and all preparation time over the last week has evaporated at an alarming rate. The house sitters are in and have been given instructions about alarms etc - hope they follow the alarm procedure well because not so long ago we managed to have the police on our doorstep when we accidentally activated the silent alarm! Wonderful to have the technology and back-to-base stuff but sometimes a bit tricky.

We had a lovely dinner at our neighbours Indian restaurant on Tuesday night with Nona (now 1 week overdue), Colin and the Bryans. Hope the curry can have some effect on Nona's impending birth as we would love to welcome the newest Lowther before we leave.

I'll keep this blog short as we still haven't finished packing and only have hours till our taxi arrives to take us to the airport.

6 days to go!

I can't believe the speed at which time is passing as our countdown till we leave gets closer. The hour hand seems to be spinning like a fan! The external memory of daily chores yet to be completed is increasing, despite being busy with what was already in place...??

Great news earlier this week - the Chev is finally registered and ready to go. The rear view cameras, DVD head rests, under seat storage and 5th wheeler hitch have all been fitted.

I didn't realise some of the complexities between States in the USA. We bought the Chev in Texas and we insured it there through a National insurance company. However, the only street address we could use was in Florida, therefore registration was required to be in Florida. It took 3 weeks to discover that the Florida Dept of Motor Vehicles would not register our truck unless insurance was taken out in their State. Thus, we cancelled the insurance in Texas and re-insured through a broker based in Florida with exactly the same insurance company!?

Unfortunately the Sierra is not yet registered, but soon to be, we hope. Phil (United RV's Sales Manager) told me they could fit temporary plates, however, as the correct plates will be coming from Florida, I'm not too confident they'd find us when we start our travels. I think it's better for us to wait in Dallas till we get them. The safes are in place and later today (Texas time) the rear vision camera will be fitted.

I took Meryla to Canberra on Wednesday to meet with her new teachers in Distance Education. They were great, very helpful and understanding of the flexibility needed by those "on the road". We're very happy that they'll allow us to do the vast majority of Meryla's schooling via the internet. Not too much required in the way of postage - that being said, they gave us all their paperwork for the balance of the course for 2010. The box is one of those outer boxes you get when you buy 6 reams of paper - it's absolutely full of Meryla's work!! There goes the "travelling light" concept.

Grace and I also took Chantelle and Rochelle to Stanmore yesterday to meet their new teacher at the Primary School Distance Ed. They both have the same teacher (Frank Bowman) who has about 12 other students in various locations around the world. 2 are on a yacht somewhere, 2 are in the USA travelling with an exhibition of Australian reptiles (that was poorly written, sounds like the kids are part of the exhibition), another 2 or 3 are travelling somewhere in Australia prior to them going overseas, a boy in Bosnia and a few others whose location I've now forgotten.

Frank puts out a weekly newsletter so it will be great to learn more about their travels as we do ours. Unfortunately, the Primary School curriculum doesn't lend itself to be covered via the internet. We've got some of their material for the next few weeks but I have to go back there on Wed next week to get 2 more packs for each of them. We have to post their completed work back to Australia every 2 weeks so I guess we're about to learn lots about the American postal system.

Today Grace and I are off the the solictiors to sign updated wills (sounds morbid I know) then the accountants to complete the tax returns. I'm also trying to get the video conferencing working properly. For those I've not told, the lovely folk at Chantelle's and Rochelle's current Primary School (Shelley) are setting up a Blog site so that the girls can communicate with their current classmates. They'll be able to upload and send both pictures and video clips, all within the safe confines of the Department of Education' intranet.

The video conferencing (if we can get it to work) will allow our girls to see and talk to their classmates and vice versa live while we are in locations with suitable time zone differences. The concept is great - fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we're going to our boat to meet someone who is flying up from Tasmania. I have relucantly decided to sell her after about 15 years of faithful service and fun.

 Boats are wonderful and provide a fantastic lifestyle, but are a terribly expensive burden, particularly when not being used as often as they should. Chantelle is very upset about selling the Statesman and was in tears again last night - certainly doesn't make my decision any easier. Well, we'll see what he offers - it's really a terrible time to sell as the market for our size boat is very depressed, down 20% over the past 10 months. However, to keep her would still cost us over $10,000 per year for mainteneance, insurance, etc...

On our return to Australia we'll look again at boats. Our decision will be guided by what available time we will have as the girls sport and leisure commitments may cause us to wait till they get older. We will dearly miss the great people we've had so much fun with for so many years in the Berowra Waters Motor Yacht Club - fear not (or fear lots), the Lowther's will return to the BWMYC as active members!!

Time now to call this blog to an end - it's getting long winded and the girls are preparing for their 3rd last day at school - a time for drama, happiness and tears.

The Chev

I've finally figured out how to upload a slideshow with photos of the Sierra, but the program doesn't seem to let me change folders between the Sierra and Chev, so I'll put a few shots of the beast here.

I had to fly to Dallas to buy the Chev because we wanted a Single Rear Wheel (SRW) model and, despite looking online for months, couldn't find a good used truck with low mileage.

The Chev is a Silverado 4 wheel drive and has a 6.6 litre turbo charged V8 diesel engine...not so green eh!? It's a bit over 7 metres (22') long and I'm told will pull the Queen Mary up the Parramatta River!

It's easier to undestand how big the Chev is when I'm standing next to it. Note the bonnet is almost at chest level and with my sneakers on, I'm about 6'1".

The height of the rear sides is higher than my armpit!

That rear checker-plate bumper bar could come in handy, despite the large reversing lights! We're having rear view cameras fitted at the back of the Sierra, inside the tray to see the hitch as it lines up (save's Grace yelling at me) and one beside the number plate so that I can see what I've hit...

The interior doen't have huge leg room in the rear seats but still great for the girls. We're having DVD players fitted into the rear of the front head rests and the girls can have a different DVD on each. The person in the middle has a switch on their headphones to choose L or R.

Reviewing the trip route

The map now shows version 40 and that will do....for this morning anyway!

We've made a significant and better change for the trip routing (unfortunately more expensive) because the pressure for us to get to Seattle in time to catch the ship was causing problems.

We're now going to fly to Seattle from wherever we are in time to arrive on Sept 2nd or 3rd and fly back after the cruise. So, if that means Dallas because the vehicles aren't ready, so be it, the pressure is off.

Hopefully though, we can get to Billings in Montana (10) or thereabouts because we'll reduce the chances of driving on zero degree icy roads through Montana and Canada during late Autumn.

I'm also going to try to post some photos of our Chevy and 5th wheeler - so fingers crossed that will work