Yesterday Dave and I headed off to Oklahoma City to the Fairgrounds
to pass our time looking at new RVs. While making a quick stop on the way at Sam’s Club
for dog food, I got a call from our friends, fulltime RVers, Bobbie and Jim
Chapman. They were coming in from
Clinton, OK and wanted to get together for some dinner and good ole fashion
conversation. I said that would be great and Bobbie was to give me a call when
they got into town.
We finished our purchase and had to drive to the main
gates of the fairgrounds instead of the 10th street exit to get in
as they had all kinds of construction going on around the Fairgrounds. There
was a Horse show, RV show, Motorcycle swap and a Coin show going on. It was a zoo of people. We paid our money, $7.00 with the help of a
$2.00 off coupon, got our hand stamped and started looking.
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| Keystone Alpine 3495 FL We really like the layout of this one. |
There’s nothing like climbing in and out of 5th
wheels, some with 3 steps (where’s the climbing gear?), and some with the
coveted 4 steps. If I were a trailer designer
I would require that all trailers have 4 steps plus deeper steps. RV steps are too shallow and not well spaced
and in my estimation dangerous, and what’s up with dinky handles to hold on to
going in and coming out of trailers. If
it’s to save money, forget it. I wouldn't mind seeing a collapsible bar that you could slip into some sort of clamp gizmo
that would give you a hand rail down the full set of steps. It would save a lot
of falls outside of the trailer.
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| 3495 Living Room |
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| Master Bedroom with a King Bed |
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| Lots of space |
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| 3495 Kitchen |
If one of these contraptions is going to be my new home
then I want features that I feel safe with and coming out of a 5th
wheel trailer with an arm full of food or laundry or anything else, I want to
know my feet are on a firm wide stable footing.
Another feature is handrails inside where you go up the three steps to
the upper area of a 5th wheel.
Apparently the industry has heard people on this but not all of the industry.
Thank goodness I had my knees replaced as I would not be able to get up and
down in these trailers at all.
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| I like the full size showers with a seat |
We saw all kinds of improvements in the 2013 models and
some head scratchers as well. There was
one trailer that we really liked and it was a beauty to boot, had everything we
wanted except an area for a washer and dryer. If you are living full time out
on the road and you want to do a quick load while you lay over for an evening
in a Wal-Mart parking lot, you don’t want to have to seek out a Laundromat in
an unfamiliar town. At least I don’t. I don’t mind going to a Laundromat in the
daytime but in the evening, uh…no.
In one trailer I was looking at I met a young man who had
not thought of the prospect of traveling the country and working out of a
trailer. He is a computer programmer who
works out of his home. I asked him if it
was necessary for him to be tied to his home and he looked at me as if a light-bulb
went off. “No” he replied, to which I replied “Well there you go, get out there
and enjoy life” I told him about Roadschooling (which is just another word for
Homeschooling) being done by Rachel Rowell you can read her blog here about heading out with her family of 4. I've been inspired by what Rachel and her
family are doing. Why wait for retirement to live your dream. I guess I must have planted a seed because
the young man quizzed me further and I passed on several RV websites for him to
look at.
After climbing in and out of about 60 trailers, Dave and
I looked at each other and said it was time to hit the road, besides Bobbie
should be calling at any moment. We had
just left the fairgrounds when the call came in and we headed over to the Elks
Club in Mid-West City just north of Tinker Air Force Base. I almost got us in
trouble as I saw the SW 15th street sign and said “turn left here”
thinking it was a straight shot through to the east side of town. It could have
been a big mistake as it took us through a very rough part of OCK with lots of housing
projects and an industrial area with no through access. We did find our way out of the district and back
to I-40 which we took to the SE 15th exit off of I-35 and made our
way to the Elks Club. Jim is an Elk and for their members they provide free
hook-ups, or you can give a donation to the club for your stay.
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| Our Chicken Pot Pie |
Bobbie and Jim looked great and we were happy to see
them. We decided on Cheddar's for dinner. As usual Dave and I had the Old Fashion
Chicken Pot Pie Dinner (our favorite). Bobbie ordered a delightful Salmon
dinner and Jim followed with Chicken Pot Pie as well as an appetizer of onion rings, yummy. After an hour or so of great conversation, we
all left stuffed.
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| The salad we had with dinner |
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| Bobbie and Jim Chapman |
We took them back to
their trailer, said our good byes until the next time we meet. What a fun
couple. I just wish we had more time to
visit. They are the ones that planted our seed of fulltime RVing to which I am
grateful.
We got back to Norman, fed the dogs and then went over to
the Cleveland Count Veteran's Memorial at Reeves Park in support of the Vets who were marching at their
memorial in Washington DC.
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| Cleveland County Veteran's Memorial |
Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown
406 Days till we’re out there!
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| Eagle of Freedom |
