Archive for January, 2010
Go Fever! 12-22-09
Go Fever is a an old NASA term that meant you were so focused on meeting a launch deadline that you would overlook or dismiss warning signs of a problem. “What, the left wing of the Space Shuttle is falling off? Not a problem! The shuttle still has its right wing to [Read More]
12-22-09 New Mexico
We started our day early and left at dawn. This was the last big run before we would get to our campsite in AZ north of Phoenix that we planned on staying for a few days. The trip started out pretty good. Traffic was light on I-10 until we got to El Paso on the [Read More]
12-20 to 12-21-09 Making good time
We got up that morning and gingerly made our way out of the campsite. It was a pretty site, but man it was tight! After navigating around the trees, avoiding sliding into the lake, and making the tight turns, we were on our way. We flew through Alabama, Mississippi, and [Read More]
12-19-09 Launch day for Mission #2
As we were closing out the condo, we discovered Commander Merlin hiding under…errrr…doing a final walk down under the bed. It took both crew members to coax her out so she could report for duty on the bridge of RV-103. We loaded her up in her own little special [Read More]
Comtemplation
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11-29 to 12-19-2009 Back in the RV Processing Facility
RV-103 is back and being readied for her next mission. This is the time to go over “lessons learned” from the shakedown, take off supplies we realized we didn’t need and take on supplies we found we did need. We also needed to get routine maintenance done. Up to [Read More]
11-14 to 11-29-09 Completion of Mission #1 Shakedown
We stayed at the Philadelphia West Chester KOA while doing our research work at Drexal University Library Special Collections. This was our first time staying at a KOA and it appeared well run. Nothing special about it as we learned about all the KOA’s we ended up [Read More]
11-14-2009 Houston We Have A Problem The Sequel
It was a Saturday and we prepared to leave NY for Philadelphia to continue our research work. The previous Monday I had gone to Camping World and bought a Master Tow Dolly for $1,400. Camping World said they would have to have one brought in from another store and [Read More]
11-09-2009 Commander Merlin Orders The Crew To Stand Down
We had a free day today thanks to Commander Merlin. She had decided we all needed a down day and of course led by example by laying in bed all day watching TV. The crew decided to try out their new gold panning kit in the local creek. Though New York is not known for [Read More]
10-30-09 New York New York!
Evergreen Trails Campground does not accept any club discounts, but with it being off season, the campground manager Mark did give us a nice discount. The weather up here was already cold with temps getting down into the 20’s at night and they had already had some snow [Read More]
10-29-09 Houston, We Have A Problem!
Prior to leaving we needed a tow dolly to tow the SUV. I had searched in the local paper and on Craig’s List. Most tow dollys I found were $1000 or more that were capable of towing our vehicle. I eventually found a used dolly on Craig’s List for $700 and went to [Read More]
10-28-09 There Is A Reason For Rules
We had established two rules and have found during our travels if we broke them, life became more difficult. Rule #1 Never drive at night if you can avoid it. Rule #2 Never set up your campsite at night. By the evening of Oct 28th we were in Virginia and it was already [Read More]
10-27-2009 3…2…1…LAUNCH!!!!!
“The clock is running! We have cleared the tower!” Sorry, I had to quote Commander Lovell in Apollo 13. Yes folks, after all this time, we are finally on our way. Mission #1 of Discovery RV-103 is a shakedown cruise for the ship and the crew. With our fearful [Read More]
10-25-2009 Moving to the Launch Pad!
Today is the day! We packed up RV-103, closed out the condo, and proceeded to our “launch pad” for the shakedown mission of Discovery. We traveled from our home in the Clearwater/Tampa Bay area to the Port Canaveral Campground in Cape Canaveral FL. There we got [Read More]
Satellite TV: Dish Network or Direct TV?
RV-103 is blessed with a satellite dish and had an old Dish Network receiver. It took me awhile, but eventually I learned how to manually point the dish in the right direction and choose the correct azimuth. Once I was able to lock into a satellite, that’s when we [Read More]
Blast From the Past
Yeah that’s me when I was Rocketboy. I’m the one in the center with the Mickey Mouse ears. That was in 1973 when my now deceased grandparents took me and my two older cousins to Kennedy Space Center. I was nine years old at the time. At that time you [Read More]
Fall 2009 To Present Let’s Go Clubbing!
We have found with our research, if you are going to do any serious RVing, then you should have a club membership to get discounts at the RV parks. There appear to be many RV clubs, both big and small, and many of them require some sort of yearly dues. We ended up [Read More]
10-16-2009 But Can You Color Inside The Lines?
The last major item that needed to be taken cared of was the carpet. RV-103 used to have a light brown/golden colored carpet that really didn’t match the rest of the décor very well. It appears that sometime in the past, someone had tried to clean the carpet with a [Read More]
