Our Custom RV Furniture

Thanks to Nick and Terry Russell of Gypsy Journal, we knew about Focal Wood Products and their beautiful custom RV furniture.  We didn't think we'd get around to it till next year, but when we decided we couldn't justify traveling to the west coast this summer - Indiana seemed a logical alternative.
We stopped off at Focal Wood - the business of Carlyle Lehman - before coming to Goshen.  Carlyle measured our spaces, and we looked at his samples.  We decided on the type of furniture and the placement in about an hour and he said we could pick it up at the end of the month.  On the designated day - I felt like it was Christmas morning!

We drove the half hour to Nappanee and Carlyle got to work installing the furniture.

We're parked at Focal Wood Products to get our new furniture installed

www.focalwood.com

I was so impressed with how well the wood matched the existing wood in the motorhome!  This is the beginning of the dining room and my (Chris) office.  Notice the wood on the wall at the left of the picture - can you tell the difference from the cabinets?

Here's the finished dining room/office.  We put the printer in place to be sure it fit.  Then Carlyle started on Jim's office in the living room.

Up till now Jim had to put his computer on a TV tray, and we got lots of comments about 'poor Jim.' I made sure I had a computer desk in my area.  We took my desk to a local Good Will.  It's no more Poor Jim!  Here's Carlyle installing Jim's desk.

Yes, Carlyle is Amish and many people believe you can't take pictures of the Amish.  Not true.  What they can't do is *pose* for pictures because that is considered a sign of pride.  It's pride that is against their religion, not pictures.  Rarely do any Amish people take pictures .. no family albums, no pictures on the wall.

Jim's desk and storage shelves

When we were done and headed back to the fairgrounds, we knew there was a carwash with a RV/Truck bay - we figured the outside needed to be beautiful too since the inside was so nice.  I know ... we probably should get out the Dry Wash, or Gel Gloss or something ... but that's just not going to happen.  We felt lucky to be able to get the dust and dirt off in such a convenient way!

So, here's the finished interior.  Whaddaya think?

Chris' office.  My commute from breakfast to work is simply swiveling my chair!

The cabinets left of the dining table are slide out pantry drawers.  And the cupboards in the middle are storage too.

No more complaining about working on a TV tray!  

Notice the slideout printer tray lower right.  And the TV on the wall is connected to another computer operated with the wireless keyboard on Jim's desk.

Now *that's* a file drawer!  And there's still room for shoes by the door.

This window sill would never have occurred to us if we hadn't seen it in FocalWood's brochure.
What a great finishing touch!

No Odie ... you can't have the wine.

We're getting much more sociable now that we have the facilities.
Here's our friend, Al Hesselbart  over for dinner.  Notice that the table is extended with a leaf.

This next improvement is unrelated to the custom furniture, but another enhancement.  Jim went to RV Surplus and picked up some countertop pieces and the hardware to make an extension.  It really helps to have a little more counter space.  And notice the dog bowl holder on the floor - we picked that up at the Shipshewana flea market.

Ok, that's it!

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Dreams and Geeks

Last week we joined our neighbors, Howard and Linda, at their RV for a cookout with 2 other couples.  'Dreams and Geeks' That's what Linda wrote on the cake she brought.  Is that cute or what!

In case you don't understand the reference, Linda and Howard Payne are fulltime RVers and run the website/community RV-Dreams.  We met them at their first RV-Dreams rally in Branson, Missouri in 2008.  Since then we've crossed paths a few times and we can always keep up with them via their RV-Dreams Journal.  We've been able to hang out and get to know them better this month because we were both parked at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds.

We are envious that Linda and Howard do a lot more 'Real' RVing than we do.  They make an effort to find beautiful campgrounds with what they call the 'It' factor.  You know, the ones where just looking out your window takes your breath away.  They spent last winter exploring Florida and visited several places that we didn't even know about!  I will use their blog as our 'todo' list of places to visit in Florida.  

We both are trying to support our lifestyle with our websites.  We chose to go the membership route - you must pay a membership fee to see all our videos.  They chose the free-to-all route and use advertising, donations, and rallies, to earn their living.  Their website is chock-a-block full of information for fulltime RVers and, especially the wannabees who haven't made the decision yet.  If that's you, be sure to check out their page 'Is the RV Dream Right for You?  They also sell some products like hats, cookbooks, and spreadsheets to track RV lifestyle expenses. 

Recently they've taken on another job .. that of working with RV SEF (Safety, Education Foundation) to weigh RVs properly - wheel by wheel.  Here they are weighing our rig after getting our custom furniture installed (more on that in another post.)

It is only because of this new job of theirs that they were here.  The fairgrounds definitely does not have the 'It' factor.  Well ... unless you add cow and horse sh .. before it!

We really enjoyed spending time with them and wish them well in their endeavors.  We're hoping to be able to  pop in to their rally later this year at the Hershey Thousand Trails.

Oh - and Thanks Linda and Howard for helping us initiate our new dining room table!

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RV Fest Rally

This past week at Elkhart County Fairgrounds there was a rally called RV Fest.  Since we were going to be here anyway, we had contacted the organizer and asked if he'd be interested in having us present our Seminars.  We also knew that there were a lot of GulfStream owners attending this rally ... and we now own a GulfStream!
So, we exchanged our seminars for a free rally registration.  It was a full week-long rally with one or two meals provided each day - so, as we've written in this blog before ... Will Work for Food!  (we've also written 'Will work for Wine'  and 'Will work for Thank You Notes')

The best part of RVing is the people you meet.  The organizer of this rally is Les Potteiger and we really enjoyed getting to know him.

Les had a military career as a physicist.  When he retired and started RVing, he was a 'wagonmaster' (rally organizer) for GulfStream. He has also led RV Caravans to Alaska, and now he is organizing a series of these RV Fests.   As part of our week we helped Les set up a blog/website for RV Fest so he could have a place to promote future events.  Check it out at www.rvfest.blogspot.com and read about the great event he has planned for Christmas in Branson.
We really enjoyed the rally being a full week.  I don't know why more rallies don't do it that way.  It was relaxed and there was plenty of time for folks to get to know each other.  We were able to hold an impromptu 'Smart Phone Roundtable' where we taught ... and learned ... things about using Droids and iPhones.  That was fun ... we'll do that again.

We also took advantage of the morning stretch class led by John.  What a great way to start the day.
Here's a posed picture of some of the class:

Hey Les!  Thanks so much for letting us be part of the RV Fest - we had a great time.  And ... we're thinking about your offer to lead a caravan to Alaska with us ... thinking ... thinking ...

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Fire in an RV

It happens. 
No, I’m not writing to say it happened to us – it hasn’t – I’m writing because it’s something we all need to think about *before* it happens.  Maybe it can be prevented or contained and, most importantly you need to think about how to keep yourself safe if it should ever happen to you. 
RV Fires happen often enough that we personally know of two incidents where RV fires completely destroyed the RV of people who were (still are) fulltimers Just last week a fire destroyed the 5th Wheel home of Ed and Marilyn Dray “The Happy Wanderers.”  Here is their blog post where you can read about Ed and Marilyn’s horrible day. 
The other incident happened a few years ago to people we knew thru being a Motosat Dealer – Gary and Karen Swaim.  Their horrific story persists in the back of my mind and I never take our home and belongings for granted – it can all be gone so quickly.  Here’s the web page where they write about Gary and Karen’s horrible day.

From this:

To this … in less than 20 minutes

If you’ve ever been to a large RV rally, you’ve probably heard of the fire safety classes presented by Mac McCoy.  If you’re an RVer and you haven’t taken this class, you should.  We’ve taken it 2 or 3 times and heard his message that you need to test your RVs escape route – but we’ve never done it.  I’ve been afraid to push out the window with the EXIT message on it for fear that the window falls out!
Well, Mac was parked right next to us for over a week here at Goshen.  When we heard about Ed and Marilyn, I told Jim – let’s ask Mac to come over and show us exactly how the EXIT window works.  He did.  It was embarrassingly easy!  I just opened the red levers and pushed.  The window opened and it didn’t fall out!


As long as he was there, he took a look at our fire extinguishers.  We had three that we bought from him a couple years ago, and one that came with the coach.  The three were good – but the one that came with the coach was empty.  He took that one and we ordered a ‘P Can’ type of extinguisher that we’ll pick up from him in Madison where we’ll both be presenting our seminars at the FMCA Convention.

RV Fire Safety Articles by Mac MacCoy
Short video clip of Mac’s Fire Safety Class.

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New RV Factory–Nexus

 

As part of the RV Fest rally we’re attending this week, there was a factory tour at Nexus.  This is a new, Class B and C factory.  The unique twist that they offer is that you can buy your RV right at the factory.  They deal direct with the customer instead of thru dealers.  You can come to the factory, pick out or custom order your RV, then live in it for a day or two at the RV sites provided before you drive away.

It was started by two men who used to work at Gulfstream (that’s the manufacturer of our current RV) – Claude Donati and David Middleton.  David Middleton led our group on the tour.

This was the first time we have toured a factory.  I liked seeing the RVs in the different stages of construction.  They start as empty chassis.

Then, all the tanks, generators etc. get installed on the chassis, the floor goes on and interior walls go up.

Then comes the outer shell.  Here are several side walls waiting for RVs.

See how they go on.

A little more work on the interior: plumbing, wiring, carpet, furniture etc.

And, finally, the completed product is weighed.

Most of the units we saw being build were for an order of 50 motorhomes by an RV rental company in Anchorage, Alaska. 

Thanks David and NexusRV for the excellent tour, the tshirt and goodie bags, as well as the ice cream and then wine.  Do ya think they know what RVers like?!

Here’s one of the retail motorhomes on their showroom floor – the Phantom.