… begins with 6-feet.

Yes, folks, I have, for the first time, attached my big beast of a tow vehicle and have hauled my fifth wheel.  Six feet.  And I did it without causing any kind of personal or property damage.  Is there a merit badge for this?

We had to reposition the coach on the campsite to get both sewage outflow pipes within 10 feet of the sewer.  Last weekend, after using a plastic tote to empty the rear gray water tank manually – for the second time – I vowed to never do it again.  Emptying a 60-gallon tank requires about 10 back-breaking, smelly trips through mosquito-infested weeds.  Think Humphrey Bogart in African Queen.  A nasty, nasty job.

So this week I bought a new flexible drain hose and a hose support thing called a “Slunky” (because it looks like a rectangular Slinky) to support the hose.  Jett and I took them up to the campsite on Saturday after Jett returned from VA (she delivered the grandkids to the loving arms of their father) and had a peaceful day and night.  On Sunday afternoon I prevailed on Jett to do the move.  She was still exhausted from the two weeks with the kids and the trip to VA, but it had to be done.  Besides, it was good practice.

So we closed up the coach just as if we would be hauling it a hundred miles. Close the windows and vents.  Secure anything that could fall. Clear the floors.  Close the slides.  Empty the tanks.  Stow the hoses.  Remove the tripod stabilizer.  Raise the rear stabilizer legs.  Lower the tailgate.  Prepare the hitch.  Back the truck in VERY CAREFULLY.  Snap the pin into the hitch.  Attach the umbilical.  Disconnect the electric cable.  Disconnect the TV cable.  Disconnect the hose.  Remove the chucks.

Finally… gently pull the coach forward about 8 feet.  Remove the leveling lumber.  Reposition the leveling boards.  Put the truck in reverse and push the coach back about 2 feet onto the boards.  Check the level.  Pull forward.  Adjust the boards a bit.  Back it again.  Done!

Then reverse all the steps to open it up again.

The whole process took nearly 2 hours.  It wasn’t fun but it was certainly educational.

I now feel like a veteran OTR fifth-wheel hauler.  I have logged 6 feet.

I spent my third night in the coach last night and it was the first night spent on the newly foam-enhanced mattress.  I was very pleased.  I slept well with no hip soreness from a too-thin mattress.  Of course it helped that we were smart enough this time to turn off the gas water heater (the intermittent startups are just loud enough – and close enough to the bed – to wake us) and close the windows so we didn’t freeze our butts.

It was Jett’s fourth night in the coach as she came up Friday with the grandkids.  Yes, we have our two lovely grandkids – Regan, 12, and Patrick, 7 – staying with us (or, more accurately, Jett as I need to work) for 2 weeks.  I pray for fine weather.

Patrick went hunting for frogs yesterday at the campground’s pond and found a few.  But he also slipped in the mud and fell into the pond.  I guess he need pond practice.

I drove up with a very light load in the big GMC pickup yesterday – just a rug fragment that we intend to us outdoors for the season, my toolbox and a plastic tote filled with a couple of pillows, a DVD player that will travel with us, and a few other items that Jett requested.  I threw the day’s Boston Globe on top, latched the lid and headed north.  About 3 miles up I-93 I was surprised to see the Globe blowing away in a storm of full-page confetti.  I can imagine that the drivers behind me were none too pleased.  I wasn’t very happy, either.  I got to the breakdown lane without running anyone off the road, got out of the truck and was proceeding to move the tote to the front seat (which is where I should have put it to begin with, obviously) when a state trooper pulls in behind me.  I had visions of me being cuffed and imprisoned for felony littering, but he was very nice.  He wanted to know if I had lost anything other than the paper and the tote lid.  I said that was all, he wished me well and let me proceed.  But the truth was that I thought I had lost a bag of bulkie rolls (I had seen them twirling in the air when I first noticed the paper storm), a pair of sandals and maybe the remote for the DVD.  I devoted the remaining hour of the trip north to mentally kicking myself for being so careless and thinking about how to replace the remote.  But when I got to the campgound I found that everything except the paper and the lid was still in the bed of the truck.  I was relieved.  But still angry with myself.

Maybe I will take a quick look for the lid tonight when I go back.  Not that it is so valuable, but it would be one less piece of trash to feel responsible for.

It has been another busy week.  My main activities have been (1) completing the installation of the hardwood floor (DONE! Whoopie!) and (2) dealing with back pain.  You might wonder, as I did, whether the two are related.  I doubt it, but I have to admit that being hunched over, on my knees, for hours at a time, is not a recipe for a healthy back.  The pain has been sufficiently severe and has lasted for a sufficiently long period of time (nearly two weeks now) that I actually got off my butt and went to see a doctor.  I was actually worried that it might be a kidney problem masquerading as a bad back, but the tests seem to indicate that my kidneys are ok.  Good news there.  Now if I could just stand up straight without wincing, I could fully appreciate my gleaming new floor.

I still have a bit of finish work to do – installing a narrow strip of wood along the baseboard to cover all of my installation sins.  A couple of minor blemishes that need a little lipstick.  And I still need to paint the trim in the closet.  But all of that is maybe 4 hours of work.  The big job is done.

Jett’s brother, with assistance from Jett’s son, have also completed the carpentry on the deck.  We now have handrails, for the first time ever – something that we dearly missed over the past 7 years whenever the steps were icy.  This renovated structure will last 10 years, easy, before needing this kind of work again.  Good job, guys.

Again, some finish work is needed, but I plan to get my side of the family involved in that.  My son Frank will fill the nail holes, sand the surface and paint it all.  But we have had a lot of rain and all of that needs to wait until it dries out a bit.

But those are the last two big jobs that we had on our “prep the house” list.  Everything else is small, by comparison, and, frankly, not vital.  I think the house is just about ready to take on some new residents.  And there is progress there, too: we have a potential renter who seems very interested and a potential buyer is coming by for a viewing this morning. First one to hand us some cash wins.

It’s going to happen, folks.  We are going to be outahere in September.