ToWanda's maiden voyage

[Henry Jay Hannigan]

---For Patty & James: the year will pass soon enough..make sure u
enjoy from NOW until the year ends......FOR JAMES with the 78
Bird...are you the JAMES from VEGAS??????
If so, I want to meet u when we get to VEGAS sometime in late JUNE.
Want to see that 78 BIRD.
Regards,
Hank Hannigan
90SP36











In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "orbitalsolutions"
wrote:
>
> Nice!
>
> When I bought my bus I drove it eighteen hundered miles in four
days.
>
> Something was pumping...
>
> Congrats, and best wishes.
>
> I don't know Ralph, but if I ever do meet him, I will demand a
great
> dinner.
>
> Of course, I will prepare it on the bus and attempt to treat them
as
> well as they have treated you. (provided he has a level place for
> me to park.)
>
>
> James
> 78FC33SB
> Parked on a ranch in Texola TX
>
>
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, KP Marsh
> wrote:
> >
> > Everyone,
> >
> > We just got back this past weekend from our 2 week excursion
to
> pick up our Bluebird, ToWanda, down in Duncan, Oklahoma. We left
> Minneapolis on Saturday, April 29th, for Duncan. We arrived early
> Sunday evening to Ralph & Charolette Fullenwider's home. Their
> arms were wide open to welcome us, dinner was on the table and
cold
> beer was waiting. We can't thank Ralph & Charolette enough for
> their wonderful hospitality and for the exceptional care they
took
> of ToWanda since she came to "nest" at their house last August
> right after we bought her.
> >
> > We stayed in Duncan the entire week, getting reacquainted with
> ToWanda and preparing her for the trip home to Minnesota by way
of
> Nebraska and Iowa. We had the pleasure of meeting some new birder
> friends and sharing in their knowledge and experience. It was a
> GREAT week that went entirely too fast. :o)
> >
> > On Saturday morning (5/6) we said good-bye to Duncan and the
> Fullenwider's hospitality to head for our next stop in Pender,
> Nebraska at the Blue Ox Factory. This leg of the trip was to have
> our hitch/tow package installed on Millie, our VW Beetle. It was
a
> fairly uneventful trip with the exception of a slight detour as a
> result of my (Patti) taking the wrong exit while Ken was
napping.
> >
> > This resulted in a "baptism by fire" driving experience for Ken
> on some VERY narrow secondary roads. The "pucker factor" was
> definitely a white-knuckle 10+ in trying to keep our big girl's
40
> foot long by 8 1/2 foot widebody centered on a barely 10 foot
wide
> paved surface with absolutely NO shoulders and an immediate drop
> off into a very deep drainage ditch..... plus we were towing a
U-
> Haul car transport trailer behind ToWanda with Millie strapped
down
> on it. But Ken kept her "between the green and with the shiny
side
> up!"
> >
> > We stayed overnight on Saturday evening in a service island
area
> on the Kansas Tollway, just north of Wichita. We arrived in
Pender
> on Sunday in the mid-afternoon. We had an appointment with Blue
Ox
> to have the hitch/tow package installed on Monday morning. We
> stayed Sunday night and Monday night at the RV park that Blue Ox
> has right next to the factory for it's customers. It was VERY
nice
> accommodations plus we made some new SOB friends, Sally Blonder &
> Freddie Lewis (retired teachers from Palm Coast, Florida), who
were
> there also having some work done. We can't say too much too good
> about the quality of the installation job and the customer service
> attitude by everyone we encountered at Blue Ox. It was well
worth
> the trip to have the installation done at the factory by their
> people.
> >
> > We left on Tuesday morning (5/9) and drove over to Cedar
Rapids
> to spend Wednesday and Thursday helping Ken's Mom & Dad with
> preparations to move into an assisted living apartment. Our only
> incident during this leg of our journey was our brain-fading and
> leaving Millie's key in the accessory "on" position. We didn't
> find this out until much later down the road when we stopped for
> lunch and discovered that as a result of leaving the key in the
> accessory position Millie has automatically locked her doors once
> she had rolled a few feet under tow. Hussy! Then we realized we
> had forgotten the "extra" key back home in Minneapolis...
DUH!!!!
> >
> > Thankfully we made it to Cedar Rapids Tuesday evening without
> further incident and had a locksmith open Millie's doors for us
> first thing Wednesday morning. Ken went immediately to VW and had
> an extra key made for Millie to be kept in ToWanda at all times.
> As Ken & I recounted the experience we took the excellent advice
> our new SOB friends gave us before we parted company in Pender
and
> we both said "Wow, Look at all the new things we've learned!"
> Thanks Sally & Freddie!!
> >
> > Things went well at Ken's folks. We had our first Walmart
> parking lot experience just a few blocks over from Mom & Dad's
> house. We got lots accomplished for Mom & Dad in helping them get
> ready for their impending move in July. We left Cedar Rapids on
> Friday morning (5/12) and drove straight in to Minneapolis
stopping
> once for gas and lunch.
> >
> > The only "problems" we experienced in our 1000 mile trip were as
a
> result of our brain-fades. Our "big girl" performed flawlessly
and
> she is a joy to drive! Ralph was absolutely correct when he
> checked her over for us last year and then told us "You definitely
> want to buy this one. She's tight as a tick and one sweet
coach!"
> Thanks Ralph! You dah man!
> >
> > We had a great time on our trip and learned a lot about our
> rapidly approaching "new" lifestyle as full-time RV'ers, most of
> all being that we can't wait until we are retired next year and
> can "keep on going" :o)
> >
> >
> > Til then, Happy Trails!
> > Patti & Ken Marsh
> > Mpls ~ Keepin' our eye on the prize
> > Full-timing as of March '07
> > ToWanda'89WLWB40ft
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>