Tag Archives: adventure

SEMI Insane

Campventures, Fun, Life, SCUBA, Travel, Vacation, , , , , , , , ,

Do we ever do things a “normal” way?

So, y’all recall the challenges we had with getting the Camper back up to the river, right? (you can relive it here). We decided to go an alternate route and find a truck that would pull the camper no problem, but that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. So Austin got the wild hair idea to start looking at Semi Trucks on Facebook Marketplace.

“What do you mean your husband can’t?”

This man surprises me at almost every turn – and I should be used to it by now, but I’m still in awe of him. With some of his previous work experience, he had a CDL. While growing up driving tractors was also a thing in his wheelhouse, a semi was just “another vehicle” in his mind. In my mind, I’m thrown back into the driving course I had to take after my first speeding ticket, sitting next to a truck driver who said out loud… with his whole face… that he’d just SET THE CRUISE CONTROL TO 55MPH AND GET OUT OF HIS SEAT TO BRUSH HIS TEETH ON THE HIGHWAY.

Meanwhile, A just shrugs his shoulders and gets to shopping….

Our time at the river seemed to go by incredibly quickly this year but it was jam packed full of family, river time, and oh yeah… we bought a little Lowe fishing boat too 🙂 (hooray for Facebook marketplace again!)

Because she’s a Lowe, we’ve named her “Expectations” and will be purchasing the name stickers in time for next year’s drop in. Here’s the lookbook of our summer:

Not only did we get quite a bit of fishing in (I caught 2 Walleye this year!) so that makes me 3-1 against Austin and won me a “Walleye Whisperer” t-shirt, we also did quite a bit of traveling.

Locations checked off this Summer for fun

  • Disney Springs/Disneyland (I have a pin problem)
  • Clayton, NY
  • Chittenango, NY – Mitchell Tenpenny Concert
  • Leesburg, VA
  • Mexico
  • Chicago (YAY an O’Hara Baby is due in November!)
  • Niagara Falls/Canada side
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Orlando
  • Miami
  • St. John
  • Curacao

Locations checked off for Work

  • Jamaica
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Atlantic City
  • Dallas
  • Grenada

This year my role at work has had some updates, I’m still the National Manager of Dive Sales, but I’m also taking on some of the video and event elements. Which means I was a co-host on our Jamaica Independence Day Live event, the content collector during the Travel Advisor Golf Tournament, and of course attending Dive Week!

But back to that semi thing… Austin found a gentleman in Tampa selling a 2012 Volvo 670 with almost a brand new engine in it. He was in FL for work already so he was able to go take a look at it, and for the price – it was checking all the boxes, including the APU unit which allows it to run on a smaller engine instead of keeping the big engine going if you wanted to overnight in it. Now, there are a few loophole ideas that take a bit of work to get this thing “normal person” ready – meaning, registering it as an RV so it’s no longer a commercial vehicle. A found a way to do so by starting his LLC back up (in Montana), registering the Semi as an RV under the LLC, and then us going back and forth to get the correct elements into it to receive the tags/title, etc. It already had 2 bunks, a fridge & inverter, so it just needed a cooking element, and toilet really.

We added a camper toilet, microwave, and coffeemaker. Now the back & forth with the company helping A do the paperwork was annoying, but we finally got the permanent tags (due to the truck’s age) and the title. So all we had to do was fly to Tampa and drive it back to New York… 23 hours.

We took a weekend to do this together and start the adventure. As we made our way from Tampa through Jacksonville, and up I-95 – we stopped for an upgraded mattress for Austin’s bunk (my top bunk is smaller), we fueled up, and made a few stops. First in Leesburg to show the family the new RV, then in MD to see Brother & sister in law, then we overnighted about 15 minutes from Nana in PA. I will have to say, some of these truck stops are NIIIIIICEEE.

They’ve got 24 hour buildings/bathrooms, showers, hot food, and of course the convenience side of things. If it’s a true trucker stop, it’ll also have some of the little things a trucker might need – equipment wise, etc.

We figured out that this thing is easiest to drive at night when theres almost no traffic and you can just set the cruise control. It is a 10-speed manual, so I’m just the passenger princess here. But it’s short lived as I’ll have to drive the Tacoma down to NC while A pulls the camper.

It did take us 2.5 days to get up from FL to NY with our stops & overnights, and we still had to get a hitch installed (because it was originally a 5th wheel puck). I swear, nobody has more confidence in their wife than a blue collar man with no other help. A and I maneuvered that puck from the ground back onto the semi to take it to his friends at a steel company for scrap.

BUUUUT by the time we did get back to the River, the hitch hadn’t arrived yet and we were heading out on vacation! We’ll plan it better next year because, while we had an amazing vacation, we were RUNNING when we got back to get everything packed up and done to head down to NC. We were on our last days and the water at the marina had been shut off (I didn’t fill the freshwater tanks before I left either).

Our first vacation stop was Miami where A would fly in from work and pick me up for a night before our flight to the Caribbean. BUT he was already in Orlando for work so I packed up early, joined a work training in Syracuse and stayed at Hotel Grandma for a night before hopping a flight there. That meant we got a day at Disney Springs Orlando for me to get my Disney Pin fix (and a seafood boil)!

From there, A’s suitcase had a broken zipper so we headed off to TJ Max to find a new one – then we had to ship his old one full of work clothes & his 70lb toolbox back to the river so we weren’t traveling with it for the next 2 weeks.

Our flight Saturday Oct 3rd was out of Miami, we headed that way in the rental car for a night in an airport hotel. The next morning we were off to St. John to meet Mom & Dad and Chris & Becky for some Island Time! The 4 of them had arrived a few days earlier, and it was Uncle Chris’ first opportunity to scuba dive in the ocean! (I took him to sinkholes in FL last year… he won’t let me forget it). So we loaded up our 2 hard case suitcases, our regs box, and our backpacks for the first flight to St. Thomas (St. John doesn’t have an airport).

Upon arrival in St. Thomas, we found our way to a taxi to the marina, then the marina onto a ferry to St. John, and then St. John marina to the Westin where home base would be for the next few nights. It was a lovely 2 bedroom condo and Becky has been to this island many times so she had all the hotspots noted.

We especially loved the Maho Bay Beach and spent most days there snorkeling and enjoying the Vanilla Chilla beverages at the local bar. Each night had a new restaurant for the tasting and we even tried Triggerfish for the first time! YUM.

Our dive excursion took us to Lowkey Watersports right in town and we almost had a private charter! It was the 4 of us divers, our 2 snorkel companions (Mom & Becky) and ONE other dude that booked last minute.

The water was beautiful, clear and warm and we got a turtle sighting! Had we known we could have been lionfish hunting here, we would have pulled our spears out – but USVI have some permit requirements for hunting that we had been researching online.

We thoroughly enjoyed the first vacation stop and weren’t done yet! We hopped a flight back to Miami for a couple nights before heading off to Curacao. But you know we can’t sit still… We did some boat shopping (still on the hunt for our perfect liveaboard) and then in my all-knowing-Google-Machine-Research…. I found out that the Lionfish ZooKeeper company is actually headquartered just north of Miami! So we took a drive up, unannounced, un-appointment-ed… and knocked on the door.

Tim, the Owner, was in for the afternoon and was so welcoming. We told him we were looking to purchase a ZooKeeper for our upcoming trip, and figured we’d come straight to the source vs. waiting for it online or searching through different dive shops. He brought us in, asked us what color we wanted (told us if he didn’t have it he could make it in about 5 minutes) and then ended up GIVING us a brand new Mini in the military partnership green. I had remembered seeing the Sandals Branded one he made for us at DEMA last year, and he mentioned he’d been trying to nail down some conversations with our ops team. I’m setting that up for DEMA Show in November – we’ll see if we can’t get the ball rolling there. Our divers LOVE the conservation aspect of lionfish hunting, and ZooKeeper sponsors SO many events.

After our warehouse tour and chatting with Tim about all his partnerships, sponsorships, and events – we left with a brand new Mini ZooKeeper, a brand new travel size spear, a couple stickers and registration for their Winter Challenge Lionfish competition…. (Guess that means we’ll be taking another dive trip before New Years!)

After collecting all our Amazon packages from the hotels, and waiting hours for other packages that never arrived…. We were packing back up for our next flight to Curacao for A’s Birthday!

We arrived on Oct 10th which is of course Austin’s actual Birthday AND Curacao’s Independence Day! Indulge we did on the Sushi, birthday cake, and evening fireworks! I think besides the scuba diving and constant breeze, the resort bikes were Austin’s favorite part of this resort. He’s been busting me for not taking him to Sandals Curacao since it opened – I’ve been almost once a year since it’s opening for work and we were finally able to get this time booked for him – we also had friends traveling at the same time so it was a win-win!

We got right to work Scuba Diving & Lionfish Hunting. I had emailed & whatsapped the team ahead of our arrival to let them know we were coming, A was finally coming with me, and we were bringing our own lionfish gear. We had pretty full boats each day, and didn’t hear any complaints about the hunting (some guests don’t like to see it/don’t understand that Lionfish are invasive and are killing the reefs). We made out with 7 fish on the first day (and missed about 5 others) which almost filled our Mini, thank goodness they make a packable extender!! We’ll be ordering that ASAP. Austin prepared/cleaned the fish right there on the floating dock when we returned and we brought it to the beachside restaurant to be prepared for supper. Our friends were arriving that day as well so we were able to share with everyone!

That first day of diving had some pretty rough swells, and we decided it was probably due to the hurricane that has just passed through the Gulf. While Curacao is outside of the hurricane belt, that doesn’t stop the connected Caribbean Sea from getting churned up when weather is on this side of the world. We slept in and had breakfast with the crew Monday morning and then did some pool time.

The remainder of the week was spent diving in the mornings, and finding the group after lunch. We also took one afternoon to grab a taxi into downtown Willemstad and wandered around a bit! I finally got my ChiChi too!

As we walked across the floating bridge, the first spot we found was of course a Brewery! We actually spent most of the day there, The Swinging Old Lady. Beers were tasty, snacks were delicious, and they had a breezy outdoor patio for us to enjoy some Country music!

As Curacao’s time came to an end, we weren’t yet finished with vacation – we still had a wedding in Charlotte, NC to get to! The rest of the group was staying another day, but we arrived a day early to accommodate the Friday wedding date and headed back through Miami, then into Charlotte on a late night flight. We hopped an uber to our hotel and got a good night’s rest before the wedding.

Totally normal to walk into a Lowes at 10pm in formal wear… They didn’t have enough of the bolts that we thought we needed for the hitch, so we collapsed into the hotel bed around midnight.

The following morning had us up early and back on a flight to Syracuse. Grandma kindly picked us up and took us back to her house where the Taco has been parked since October 2nd (THANK YOU!).

BUUUUT We still had some stops to make along the way before we could get back to the river; pick up the amazon deliveries, and install the semi’s hitch… yeah, remember that’s still a project to complete before we leave MONDAY.

We also still had to return that second mattress we bought from Costco for the Semi… the one that was too big for my bunk. So a stop at Costco ON A SATURDAY, ARE WE INSANE. yes. Then stops at 3 different Lowes stores to collect (6) 3/4″ Grade 8 bolts. We finally made it back to the river around 5pm, hauled the Lowe out onto her trailer and after a couple snafu’s… Austin finished the hitch install close to midnight.

Up early Sunday morning (for A… I got to stay in bed an extra hour) and we were cleaning/packing/organizing as best as possible for a lunchtime departure….

We found out that the light connections from the semi to the camper were juuuuust a bit too short, so off on a 45 minute trip I went to the Tractor Supply in Governur, NY that had the right part.

At least it was a pretty drive! Upon returning we continued to pack the camper, the semi, and the Taco along with getting the Kayak over to 4 for the winter… sadly the wheels on the kayak carrier got brittle and broke in half. We sat there looking at it for way too long before we both went “it’s a boat…. we’re on a marina… why don’t we just kayak it over to the boat house?!” and so I did… against the wind… in 4.5 minutes. I definitely started that on my Garmin Watch for workout credit – HA!

C&B were up to take their big boat to Keewaydin State Park for haul out and we hooked Lowe Expectations to C’s truck for winter storage at his house. Then it was just us to hook up and haul out… closer to 6pm that evening, so we only went as far as a truck stop in McGraw, NY which was about 2.5 hours from the river, but South of Syracuse traffic for Monday morning.

Monday morning about 6:30am we were on the move again and this was my view for the next 16 hours.

What’s life without a few challenges right? Everything was fine on Sunday evening’s pull – the hitch of the trailer sits a little too high on the semi but Austin can fix that with some upgrades once he gets to a place that has all his tools. We went VERY slowly down the highway and kept to a max speed of 65mph regardless of the posted signs. The hitch carrying our eBikes sparked on a few bumps but until Monday morning everything was smooth. As we hauled onto the I-81 on-ramp in McGraw… I started to smell and see smoke coming from a driver’s side camper wheel. We immediately pulled over and assessed that the rotor on one of the tires was RED hot…. glowing.

*not our actual wheel*

Our fix was…. disconnect the lights. It was daytime so we were very visible but as we crept into the afternoon, we decided our next best option was to figure out which wire controls the electric brakes and “modify” the connector so we have running lights, turn signals, etc. still.

I’ll tell you what…. I have learned SO many things in my 8 years with this man. He found the connector’s diagram, and we modified that thing perfectly. All lit up for the remaining hours to Flat Rock, NC and we were almost HOME!

The RV Park called me as we were still about 5 hours away – I let them know we probably wouldn’t make it there that night, and that we’d see them in the morning. We’re booked into our spot Mid-October 2026 through Mid-May 2027 so our spot is OUR SPOT for the winter. We rolled into the QT parking lot down the road from the RV Park around 10:30 that night and backed everything into a truck spot to go to sleep. The next morning we were up at 7:30a, in the RV Park by 8 and setting up.

About 9 people stopped to talk to us in that first 30 minutes that we were there. We were rushing through the basic setups as I had a hair appointment that’s been booked since April, but we got electric, water, and sewer lines ready to go and the heat on. Gremlin is certainly happy to be home again (he’s not really a car-ride cat).

We then hopped back into the Taco and headed up to Papaw’s house for a little time with him and our pitiful pup Charlie. Austin also decided it was the perfect time to teach me how to shoot a crossbow… he was pleasantly surprised with my aiming skills as I went 4 for 4 shots on target! The final one I actually accidentally managed to put through the first bolt… so we’ll have to replace that one for Papaw. Whoops!

This also means we’re going on my first deer hunting trip this weekend, so OBVIOUSLY I needed super warm camo coveralls. I’m way more excited than I should be about cold-weather clothing. I do be loving my sweats, blankets, electric hand warmers, etc. though.

Austin was off on a 6am flight to Indiana for work Wednesday, and I’m back in office catching up until the first week of November when I head to New Orleans for the big DEMA dive show.

It’s been a rush of a month and we had an amazing vacation, but I think we’ve decided that we need to be SEMI-sane and give ourselves that lead-up time to pack up and be ready to transport. We’re learning each trip what we need/don’t need and how to make the transitions smoother.

Here’s to Blue Mountain Fall/Winter, hikes, hunts, and hot chocolates.

Camper & Updates

Campventures, Family, Fun, Life, SCUBA, Travel, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We’ve been bunking with mom & dad in VA for the month of October while we awaited Keystone’s driver to pick up our rig. While we did have the space in A. Bay until October 13th, we had a wedding in Lancaster, PA I had a work trip, and then our Jamaican Vacation was scheduled so it was time to pack it up (yet again) and make the moves down south.

The wedding in Lancaster was a hit! And we had been able to repack (for the umpteenth time) the camper into those black & yellow Lowe’s bins that we’ve come to love so much… With items at Mom & Dads, In condo 4 at A. Bay, and leaving one of the trucks parked at Grandma’s house in Syracuse we just about emptied the entire unit!

September 26th Austin flew back into Syracuse and rented a car. We headed to Grandma’s house (I had breakfast with her that morning!) to pull all the stuff out of the Tacoma in her driveway, reload into the rental and start the 6+ hour drive to VA. I had the F-350 loaded down bed to roof with all the last bits & pieces and we caravaned down 81. We passed quite a few accidents on the way down, but came through unscathed.

The driver was supposed to pick up the camper the week of Sept 29th. We waited, and waited, and waited for the driver to let us know he was on his way/there to pick up the camper – and he finally showed up Oct 3rd. Apparently he tried a few excuses with Austin to say he wasn’t sure he could pull it because of a “toolbox in the bed of his truck” and “he couldn’t find the camper” (it’s kind of hard to miss…) and Austin set him very straight. So the camper was picked up and driven the 12 hours across NY and into Indiana where we waited for more updates.

We have no idea what the camper looked like once it made it to Keystone – they didn’t send any photos but we did get an update (finally) while in Jamaica that it had arrived and they were doing their own inspection of all the elements as they don’t rely on Camping World’s reports.

We were hoping to have the camper back by November as we have a space reserved in Hendersonville, NC Nov 7- mid May…. but that was obviously wishful thinking. We are glad they are doing their own full blown inspection and not relying on Camping World, they’ve already noted that they’re replacing pretty much the entire fiberglass exterior sheeting, interior wallpapering/walls that were cracking, the front entertainment center cabinetry, and a new back ladder (apparently it’s bent?!), and they’re adding flex adapters to the front area that will actually allow the unit to flex as it should when on the hitch. We’re hoping we get the update that they’ll be re-welding all the connections that we saw were broken as well once they get that front cap off again for those flex pieces… It sounds to us like there have been MANY issues like ours with this particular model and they’ve had to fix more campers than expected which is why we have not paid a penny out of pocket for fixes past 2 new tires. When it’s all complete which sounds like another 6-ish weeks…. (3-4 weeks before they get it IN to the production line, and another 2 weeks working on it) they’ll then tow it down to Hendersonville’s Camping World for us where we’ll pick it up.

After the Pennsylvania Wedding, I had a trip up to Ohio to cover some events for work where I presented and met with new advisors and got more interest for diving at the resorts! Because it was just a 2 nighter, I packed myself in my backpack and caught a quick flight from Dulles.

It’s been great to be around close family – as it allows us to get to the nibling’s sports games and take advantage still of walking into town for experiences. We celebrated our house sale & the money being deposited – which we then turned around and wiped out some debts, and invested with our financial advisor! We also finally decided on an eBike and it arrived for Dad and I to put together!

Mom also called Dad and I to jump into some Pickleball at the local gym they’re members of as they needed a few extra players. It’s only my 2nd time actually playing games and I’ve got to get my swings under control – I tend to hit it long A LOT. BUT I’m running my butt off getting to stuff and burning ALL the calories haha!

It was just about Jamaica time!! So we packed our suitcase (and Austin’s backpack – because he’s weird) for a 6-night stay at Sandals Negril with friends! It was Austin’s & our friend Sandy’s birthdays, what better way to celebrate!

We were immediately spoiled on arrival in Jamaica – the resort team (who I emailed ahead of time and told them we were coming) put us in a beautiful butler villa (without the butler service) that had it’s own backyard and pool!! We figured out in Antigua back in 2020 that we are definitely room pool people, Austin gets uncomfortable just sitting on the beach in the heat and either has to have something fun to do, or be in the water.

I, on the other hand, am perfectly fine with a book and a beach chair soaking up all the sun…. I finished that book on the 2nd afternoon and had to steal Austin’s book for the next 3 afternoons. Thanks Babe!

We also got some diving in!! I finally talked Austin in to completing his Invasive Species Tracker Certification which “legally” allows him to hunt lionfish!

He’s a natural and got about 5 on the follow up dives we did! We also got to do a super cool dive called the Throne Room where you descend through a crack in the coral formation and come out in a opened coral cavern.

Hangry Austin – Happy Austin!

We had a fabulous time on a worry free vacation in beautiful Jamaica. Did some professional resort photos (our first since our wedding), and I even got to practice my bubble rings on dives 🙂

We had planned to fly back into Syracuse for Punkin Chukin weekend in Clayton, NY but plans changed and we swapped our flights to fly into Charlotte to spend time with Austin’s family instead. It was fun to watch him & his brothers run around like kids again, especially when they caught glimpse of a black bear running across the ridge! (its black bear hunting season and they all SPRINTED off to try to get it).

After stopping by the Tennessee storage unit and seeing if we could cut the locks off (we couldn’t), we headed over to see Mamaw & Papaw and of course Charlie. He’s a happy pup there and has gained probably 15lbs with Mamaw’s cooking.

A 6.5 hour drive from Marshall, NC back to Leesburg had us arriving back at our current home base just around 11pm. Austin was headed out on a flight to Canada for the week Monday and I was back in office to follow up on all the vacay emails that came in. Plus prep for DEMA Show which is the largest trade dive show of the year! This year it’s in Orlando and is only a few weeks away!

Mom & Dad arrived back home from Punkin Chukin to a full house – Meg & the Niblings were riding bikes and it was the perfect fall day to kick the training wheels off Knox’s bike and get him riding like the big kids. He was a little nervous to start but had a whole fan club cheering him on and he GOT IT!

I’m super grateful to be here for moments and memories like these. He was so excited to be a full blown bike rider that we all took our first big family bike ride up to the park across the street!

It’s been a trying year for me and Austin – but we are so lucky to have family support everywhere that is open to helping us. We’ve had so many good moments among the craziness and I wouldn’t want to trade any of them.

One final happy update for me – I finally applied for my Master Scuba Diver Certification with PADI! While this isn’t necessarily a “certification” in the same sense as most – it does have a few requirements:

  1. Complete your Rescue Diver Certification
  2. Complete 50 Dives
  3. Complete 5 Specialties
  4. Submit application with all those elements & receive a new card!

So I did!

  1. Rescue Diver Certification completed 2022
  2. 214 Recorded dives to date
  3. Specialties Completed: Deep Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Digital Underwater Photographer, Boat Diver, Enriched Air Diver, Full Face Mask, Invasive Species Tracker

On to the next adventures!!

Feeling Back to Normal

Campventures, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s been a few weeks for us being back in our actual home and we are loving it!

With the one minor detail, that we’re living around a bump out that’s fully closed in the living room, everything else is working perfectly (knock on wood). We’ve been able to enjoy our evenings and weekends again without feeling like we’re on borrowed time. I especially love having my own washer & dryer, although the loads are smaller and I have to empty the grey water tank every 3rd load.

Since moving back in, we have kept busy – I headed to the Bahamas for work and introduced 4 colleagues to Scuba! They got to try Discover Scuba Diving with our team at Sandals Royal Bahamian and enjoy all the resort amenities.

We ate all the sushis, soaked up all the sun, and even got to see a Shark on their first ever dive (at a Shipwreck)! There’s just something about floating in the sea that warms your soul.

After the Bahamas Trip I came home for a quick weekend to welcome BigSeester and the Niblings (Nephews & Niece) before I had to take back off for Ohio.

That weekend happened to be Pirate Weekend in A-Bay! I had some portions of a costume already in the camper (some of my favorite shirts, by Migdalia – I found her in a booth at the Hendersonville Apple Festival a few years ago!)

Is it giving Pirate? or more Kid Rock?

I tried to swap the dates on the Ohio trip so I’d get more than 3 days with the family but sadly that wasn’t meant to be. Watertown has a teeeeeny tiny airport, the photos below are both the check-in counter, and baggage claim. And most flights take off at 6am, so you’re there around 4:30a to check bags and head through security. The actual gate waiting area is on the other side of this wall, but they do have donation coffee and a vending machine!

The Ohio trip went really well! We had about 3 days to connect with Travel Advisors from Cleveland through Columbia and the BDM did a phenomenal job on our itinerary. While there wasn’t time for a visit to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, we did take a drive around Cedar Point! Both add on’s for the next trip for sure.

We ended up meeting 41 Travel Advisors and opening up their travel opportunities to SCUBA in those 3 days. Here’s hoping for more visibility soon!

Austin had been pulled from his Syracuse job that week as well, so he was back on the road in Texas. By the time I got back to NY, the fam had been having a fun week leading up to a very special 7 year old Birthday Celebration! I was glad to not have missed that day.

Oma and Daddo treated us all to mini-golf, digging for treasure, and bumper boats! I had to jump out mid-day to coordinate a virtual meeting from the car, but it was buckets of fun for everyone!

As the weekend approached, it was time to get everyone “home” and back on the boat, into the water with C&B and Adopted Uncle Dave & Aunt Judy. I managed to pack all the dive masks & snorkels and got all the kids snorkeling around the boat with Austin – they FLOCK to him and he’s so great with them.

The Niblings’s final night was spent on a foam mattress with blankets for everyone, outside stargazing till late in the evening – on BigSeester/mom’s approval. We even downloaded some stargazing apps for each kid to look for constellations. We had so much fun pointing out the big dipper, and all the satellites streaking back and forth across the night sky.

With Keystone still planning to collect our camper at the end of September for fixes, we’re looking forward to spending some time in VA with everyone. It’ll allow us to get to fall practices and games and just be with family a little bit longer.

Austin was able to get the trolling motor all situated on my kayak like he’s been wanting all summer. So now it’s a true fishing kayak and he took the big kids out on a ride before they packed into the car to head home. I took it out myself (without using the motor, because I didn’t realize it wasn’t hooked to the battery) as a core/upper body workout the other windy day and it got my heart working!

It’s been extra windy this last week so I haven’t ventured back out with it again.

That next weekend we decided to head into some of the local dive shops and grab some new, and some rental gear to check out the 1000 Islands dive experience. It’s COLD.

BUT I’m obsessed with my new Halcyon backplate & wing BCD. It’s a discontinued color so we got a hell of a steal deal on it. It was also time for my regs to be serviced and good thing, the shop said they were gross. Somehow I managed to wedge a small piece of metal into a spot where it shouldn’t be and it punctured another spot and had been rusting! The Dive Shop is fixing all that now ahead of my next 2 trips in September.

Did I mention that the water is COLD here. Well, colder than I’m used to so I also bought a 5mm wetsuit, but we got Uncle Chris hooked – sorry, not sorry! Welcome to the cult… I mean Club! Next up is Uncle Dave!

It’s been nice to have our own space back as I noted before. The cat is a happy camper on his spot on the couches, and I’m able to finagle my work schedules a little bit so I can enjoy some early morning fishing some days.

I caught my first Walleye this past Monday!

As we get into our final month of time here at The River, we’ll start unpacking the camper for Keystone. It’s been helpful as I’ve always been an over-packer so we’ll be able to actually get some of the things we didn’t use the last 6 months out and have a better understanding of the basic necessities for our future trips. We’re also planning to be back here next summer so we’ve been graciously offered to keep the summer necessities stored here at Grandma’s our C&B’s houses.

I like my stuff. D&J have figured that out with us as we’ve used their address here for our Amazon deliveries… sorry, and THANK YOU!

This first week of September brings another 2-week out of the month travel month for me. It’s Labor Day weekend here at The River and should be an exciting bit of fun. Then I’m off to host some divers in Antigua, do some dive training webinars for Travel Advisors, and help host our Inaugural Dive Week in Curacao!

I’m so excited for Dive Week – we have an awesome itinerary scheduled and some of my favorite people partnered with us.

We’re still trying to fit visits in with the rest of the family in the area – our plans were just so thrown off by this camper debacle that we feel terrible it hasn’t all happened yet and now we’re running into a time crunch.

The plan is to head back towards NC/TN area for the winter (once Keystone tells us we can have our house back) but we’ll see what happens! The house closing is still on for September 16th – we’re just waiting for the closing lawyers to get paperwork together and sent out to us. They originally tried to get us to sign blank documents which I absolutely was NOT doing, and it seems to be a challenge getting them to understand why… You’re a law firm! You should know better! We’ll be doing a mail-away closing so we’ll also need to connect with a Notary up here.

We are HOME!

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Temporarily.

Good news! Camping World Cicero was able to fix the leaf spring and replace TWO tires (apparently they’re only ordered in pairs) and Hubby was able to pick up our house on wheels last Wednesday. Things are finally starting to feel normal again.

Uncle Chris came up and helped Austin move the temporary camper we were borrowing, Austin backed our baby in and set it all up. He said it pulls like a totally different camper with those two fixes and an adjustment to the pin box. It didn’t beat him up as hard on the hour-ish pull up 81.

Now we have to move all the stuff I packed into the other camper over the last month back into our camper for 2 months.

While we cant use that right side living room bump out because the track is broken, its so nice sleeping in my own bed, and knowing all my stuff is right where I put it.

We’re a bit of a mess still as I was traveling last week, will be in the Bahamas this week and Ohio next week… But little by little we’ll reorganize and settle back in.

The plan now is to enjoy our camper through the end of September until Keystone heads over to pick it up and haul it back to Indiana. We’ll then be waiting again for fixes and updates as they comb their way through the flexing, welds, slide, and anything else they break on the road back.

We’d like to be back in Tennessee for the winter near Hubby’s family and are already ready to claim our summer 2026 spot up here in Alex Bay. We both recognized Friday evening that we’ve never been so happy/excited to come “home” than when we’re up here. Having our house was nice (and what I wanted 6 years ago) but the freedom we have currently to come home, have no projects or yard work, and be on a boat fishing within 20 mins of parking the car is *chefs kiss*

We are toying with the idea that we could find a nice catamaran to winter on in the Keys, and then summer in NY… maybe plot the sail up, but depending on size we’d have to find a different marina so it fits. We’ll see!

Right now I’m very happy to have my washer & dryer back so we’re not stopping at the bank each week for rolls of quarters. I’m taking in all the moments here and prepping for Pirate weekend next weekend!

Camper has left the chat

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Keystone Corporate is coming to Cicero, NY to pick up our unit and tow it to their headquarters for fixes.

Does that make me incredibly nervous? YES – MORE SH*T COULD BREAK. But we’re being told anything they break in this tow, they fix – no questions asked. We still haven’t been given any type of figures on cost to us out of pocket for the past 3 weeks, with warranty and insurance, we’re hoping it’s minimal if any. Cicero keeps saying they’ll be fighting for us to not be out of pocket at all.

In the last week we have been back and forth talking to Cicero, and Statesville (finally got a hold of the GM). Cicero says they left a couple messages for Statesville, Statesville says they never got any messages so New York Missy had to be polite but firm that this needs to be dealt with.

After finally getting a hold of Alan Good, Statesville’s GM on July 10th, I was not taking “he’ll call you tomorrow” for an answer. We’re going on Week 3 without our unit, or any information on fixes happening anytime soon. I’m losing my patience. After confirming to Satesville’s team that yes, I know I called North Carolina, that’s where we bought the unit. Yes the camper is in New York…. Alan, upon hearing of our struggles, jumped into action by calling Cicero – sadly, Kim (who we’ve been working with here in NY) had already left for the day. Service guys leave at 6pm, but the front desk workers in service leave at 5 – explain to me how that makes any sense…

Anywho’s…. Alan calls me back at both 5:22p and 5:50p to note that he’s 100% on the issue and calling back to get the full details as soon as Cicero opens the next morning as he’s now playing catch up. He did speak to hubby when all this originally happened but apparently didn’t take any notes about it/couldn’t remember all the details. By 9:25a the next morning (July 11) Allen calls me back saying he’s tried Kim twice with no luck and his Director of Service was also going to connect with Cicero’s DOS for updates. At 10:09a we get a call that Statesville now has all the updates they need about our unit (he’s also pulled our service records from November since he wasn’t the GM there yet – I bet that was fun for him to read about, his new team dropping the ball and all). He’s calling his Keystone contact directly to expedite this process for us now that he understands this is our summer accommodation in a campground… He reiterated that he’s in the office all weekend and is “on it” for us. It’s nice to have some backup. He’s also told Kim that anything warranty or Keystone rejects – to please send him the quote so he can “see what he can do”. As much as I appreciate that, I don’t know if that will happen or what could happen. So it sounds like another weekend of waiting it out for Keystone to respond.

Hubby and I decided to visit our poor, broken down camper that Friday evening after work – take photos of the broken welds, broken wood supports, etc. for our own records and pick up the last few things we absolutely need for an extended outplacement.

No big deal – we’re getting used to quiet weekends with no yardwork. We have not completely become lumps on a log though we helped build a tiki bar/shed at the river this weekend! I also finished another book, that’s 9 for 2025 – how many do I need for a pizza party again?!

We’re also thoroughly enjoying having our Kayak back and an easy launch point in and out to do some evening fishing and a decent workout. We honestly haven’t been in the kayak but twice since we bought it in 2020 during Covid. The Gander Mountain near us in NC was going out of business and we got a helluva deal on it.

It’s so smooth. Plus we’ve been spoiled with friends & family boat access. Bring on the Perch, Bass, Walleye, and Pike!

No news on Monday as I’m sure Keystone had to go over the full report of issues and she’s not just broke. She BROKE broke. I’m no welder (hubby is, surprise surprise), but FOR THE LOVE OF METAL…. WHO WELDED THIS?! Because… they should be fired.

Also, these should not be pinched….

Thankfully hubby is in the area for work this week – so he’s only an hour or so away from CW and was able to chat with the team Tuesday. We got the update that Keystone was coming to GET our Unit and take it back with them. Nothing has been fixed, but the cap has been put back on the front for transport. So it’s in Keystone’s hands now… whatever they break – they fix in that tow. Misty from Keystone HQ connected with hubs on the next step – she has to figure out WHEN they can get the camper in. It could be this week, and in reality – it could be MONTHS from now.

More Waiting. Great, my favorite thing. Hubby is being annoyingly level headed about it. I’m wonky brained because “HELLO – I’VE BEEN WITHOUT MY CAMPER THAT MY WHOLE SUMMER LIFE IS PACKED IN FOR ALMOST A MONTH NOW. I WOULD LIKE IT BACK SO WE CAN ENJOY IT.” And this jerk’s logical brain comes back with “well, we’re not the only ones with a camper in for problems….”

Me:

So we’ll just be here waiting for more updates. Will they get our camper in quickly? Will they offer us a temporary replacement while we wait? Will it be fixed for sure? Will it be returned to us sometime before the end of the summer when we head back to NC?!

ho hum…

Is no news, good news?

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The old saying is “no news is good news” but is that really true?

For some instances, like working from home and not hearing from your boss, sure no news is good news – “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. That’s where you don’t want to be the squeaky wheel… But knowing our camper (with the wonky wheel and the cracked leaf spring already) has been at the Camping World in Cicero since June 21st and WE keep having to call in for updates – not so great.

We are in a temporary solution currently – Aunt & Uncle’s old camper (that they sold to their neighbors) needed a place to be stored, and we needed a place to stay here in Alex Bay. Win-Win since we already paid for the whole summer in a permanent RV site up here! We’ll be able to utilize this camper for a few weeks until the owners are ready for their vacation in it.

After we dropped our unit off on that Saturday and waited a few hours – we had no great update. We finally called the following Monday (June 23rd) to be told “we’re going to do a flex test this week” requested by the manufacturer, which in non-mechanics terms is to determine just how much the frame is moving from point A (not being hooked up) to point B (when the hitch is fully attached). And they asked if there was anything we wanted to grab out of the fridge/freezer since they were keeping it hooked up for us (its a residential fridge – the freezer was full). So we came back down the 1.5 hour drive and grabbed a few more things hoping it would only be another week or so.

By June 25th hubby emailed again asking for an update and we were told the flex test would be performed on the 26th (5 days after drop off). So we waited… It worked with our itinerary as we would be headed back into the Syracuse area for Uncle’s retirement party that Friday – we also commandeered a room in their house for that few days.

33 years in the Sheriff’s Department! Well done Uncle Chris! We joined Aunt Becky and the rest of their family to surprise him on his final morning outside the department with cinnamon buns and mimosas before the big party that evening with all family and friends.

We love a celebration! Especially when the WHOLE crew gets together.

Since we had to drive past Camping World on the way back up to the river that Saturday, Hubby and I left early so we could stop to get an update. Mind you, it’s now June 28th and they’ve done the initial diagnostic and a flex test – no fixes. We get a little bit of information that day and start packing up more items from the camper that we need for basic living. They talk a little bit about the flex test and as a non-engineer, I can’t tell you what is “acceptable” frame flex, but when they told us that our frame’s flex was a 1/2 inch change – they didn’t say it with a smile or upbeat attitude.

We grabbed more items out of the fridge and freezer, it’s been “no problem” keeping it plugged in out front for us and we head back up to the river for a weekend of boat lounging and relaxation. Brother, Sister-in-law, Big Sister & the kids were up for the party so EVERYONE got to do some fishing!

Now it’s June 30th, and at 5pm-ish we get a snarky email from Camping World telling us the manufacturer wants additional inspection of our camper and that means they’ll need to move it from the front of the building (could be that day, could be a few days from now). No problem – had we been communicated with about that ahead of time, we would have taken care of everything, but after hubby’s rough Monday travel day (3am alarm, flight delays & cancellations, a 9+ hour drive instead, and luggage that made the plane but not him….) we were in NO mood for the tone perceived within the email – you be the judge and tell us if we were too sensitive –

“You will have to clean out the remaining food that is in the fridge and freezer in the event we have to unplug it for an extended period of time. We technically do not allow customers to keep food in their camper as we have to unplug it and move it from time to time. I was being nice under your circumstances but now that we have to run further inspections, the fridge and freezer will need to be properly cleaned out.”

The first email drafts back were NOT polite. Husband, while usually a teddy bear himself – has no-fluff in his emails – that’s an engineer for you. But we finally came to a seething with sweetness re-write of “no problem, be there tomorrow” response. So I drove down again to remove all the freezer & fridge contents and pack more long-term needs, you know – the cases of wine, a bottle of tequila, my bag of brand new books, work brochures for sales calls, laundry baskets, two right shoe only black sneakers…. essentials 😉 With them being SO nice to keep our camper plugged in this whole time, it was frustrating to open the fridge to see no light on, and walk around the camper to confirm that it was NOT actually plugged in, and that the batteries were most likely dead from the extended power outage.

I clearly didn’t check to make sure I had a full pair… I just grabbed the sneakers that were next to each other in the closet.

A quick stop at WalMart on the way back up set us up for the rest of the work week ahead of the 4th of July holiday. With more friends and family coming to the river, we were able to donate some of the freezer food anyway to the weekends festivities!

So here we are, 16 days after the initial camper drop-off (which we DID have an appointment for, mind you) and no good news. I did happen to ask during our visit “is this going to be a one test a week kind of thing? Because while we do have a temporary solution, if it’s going to take more time we need to find a longer term solution” and was told that they have explained to their manager & techs that we are a “rush” due to our circumstances. We’re only here till September and if I don’t get to be in my OWN, 8-month-new-to-me camper (or a replacement), it’s going to be a frustrating pill to swallow.

They’re telling us (as of Thursday, July 3rd) that they’re going to have to remove the entire front cap of the camper to asses the welds on the frame, how long that’s going to take – another question for the universe. We figured it’d be a skeleton crew for the holiday but we’re about at that stage where we’ll start calling every day or every other day for updates until we get a solution.

Our house is still on the market in NC, so as a worst-case scenario we could always move back in there but we’re VERY much enjoying the freedom we currently have. With the occasional heart rate spikes – everyone’s blood pressure here is pretty relaxed.

Welp…. the hits just keep on comin’

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That break I was hoping for – nope. WHOLE lotta nope there in nopeville.

We pick back up after we’ve brought the camper back to Mom & Dad’s house for 24 hours on Friday to load up and get ready to start the haul to NY… No issues there thank goodness (no complainer either) but 2 unmarked police cars did happen to drive by….

So we pull out of VA just before 6am and work our way up to I-81 to stay on the straight and narrow for our drive. GPS keeps saying 81 is closed so It’s trying to take us a different way which was just fine. We had our 3pm appointment at Camping World of Cicero so we still had plenty of time to keep the speed limit (usually under) and stay in the right lane.

A couple stops for fuel and bathroom breaks and by 1:25pm we were pulling into Camping World Cicero. Unfortunately… this is where the bad news begins to pile on.

Since leaving VA with our back drivers side camper wheel still at an odd angle – I noticed this when we left NC on 6/14/25. When we pulled the camper to the house November 9th, 2024 (yeah it took them that long to work on the items we asked for) the camper has not moved and I was in the truck with hubby originally. So we didn’t know anything was amiss until this first pull.

Also, that crack in the front wood at the entertainment center that we asked about in October and were told “It’s fine, there’s nothing that can be fixed with that” so it wasn’t written down on the ‘We Owe’…. is worse, and the OTHER side is now cracking. This points us to thinking there is frame flex.

The above annoying/unsightly but something I could look past crack, Now looks like this….

This crack was the reason we reached out for a service appointment in the first place and spoke to Keystone Corporate. We attempted to schedule mobile service from Keystone’s contacts – but all 3 were unavailable.. Our first attempt at a service appointment was in Manassas, VA – but their first appointment availability was July 20th, the first mobile guy was a little curt on the phone and said “I’m not doing that right now”, and the second mobile guy was “unavailable”. We tried.

When we pulled around at Camping World Cicero, we checked-in noting that we were early, but had an appointment. They asked if we were okay leaving the unit until Tuesday to be diagnosed which made us gulp. In talking to Kim originally in their office the previous Monday, we had been back and forth on appointment dates, so the note that Saturday’s they don’t do same-day diagnosis for waiters, was missed. They were able to squeeze us in and we headed out to the camper to take some photos….

We were met with the right side slide-out somehow having wedged itself out… the slide portion of it is supposed to be on the INSIDE.

Not sure how that happens on the far left corner of the slide out while we’re headed down the road with no bumps…. physics isn’t on our side for that one and the wind keeping it in line. That back wheel? Oh yeah, the leaf spring is broken…. (We’re asking them if they can investigate to see if it’s been broken for a while or within the last 2 weeks – hubby says you can tell by the amount of rust that may be on it). Then we noticed all down the drivers side of the camper, the gaps at the bottom of the storage compartments that were flush originally, now have almost an inch of space between the door and compartment outer. There are cracks INSIDE the camper now on the corners of both front living space bump outs (significant cracks – 6+ inches long). The silicone seals around a lot of the storage compartments and water sealant spaces are cracked – Kim noted that these “fixes” were not done properly because they’re not even lined up with how the original camper should be. There’s a weird wiggle in the frame/fiberglass directly behind the ladder at the back of the unit that wasn’t there before, oh and the 3 self-tapping screws that were under the tongue holding the fiberglass around the brand new installed hitch were rolling around in the bed of the truck…. did I also mention that the original water pump was leaking when we first took it home?

I cried.

Our whole current life is packed in that camper. Thankfully we have family here and we have help (which is hard for me to accept – but 1000% appreciated).

Our next steps were to get all the photos taken, parts priced out, and submit it all to the elite coverage warranty we purchased through Camping World/Good Sam originally. We also purchased the full/maximum coverage insurance through Camping World/Good Sam so we SHOULD have two options…. ideally speaking. The wait is what’s killing me the most – we have no control over what’s happening next. Hubby did call the Statesville location on Saturday before they closed to give them a heads up that we are facing some BIG problems and that we may be calling back much more heated. He’s keeping a level head, I’m all up in my emotions. That GM appreciated the call. for now.

So that’s where we are – waiting to hear back from warranty and Camping World. To then decide if they will fix everything, or if we have to submit through insurance. It sucks. I am emotionally exhausted. But it is totally out of our control.

On the positive side – we got river time on Aunt & Uncle’s boat so that took our minds off of the shit-show for a little while. Hubby got to fish (and caught some bass!), we floated, relaxed for the weekend, and are picking up the workweek fresh.

Please send positive energy. We are in dire need of it.