Gearing Up to Head South

Well, we are in the final countdown to leave Wisconsin for the rest of the winter! 

Fortunately, the veterinarian called us with a cancellation appointment that we could move up Nick's neutering by 8 days. That event will happen on Tuesday and we will see how well he is healed to leave near the end of the week. It will actually be much easier to keep him calm and from jumping around and being too active within the confines of the motorhome. As opposed to our open concept house in which he gallops around like a racehorse and takes flying leaps from furniture or up and down the stairs. Being under control in the motorhome or only outside on a leash instead of loose in his potty yard will make a big difference in his healing process, we hope.

Monday, Steve and I both have our yearly general checkup physicals. We've already completed the blood work for that and we should be good to go for another year. Maintenance and tune-up!

We started thinking about things that we would need to adjust with having a new active young pup along as opposed to our sedate relaxed comfortable 11-year-old Sheltie Binney.

She has never pushed on our screen door of the RV or ever even tried to go through it. But with new Nicholas, we want to be sure that he is safe and prevent escape by going through a screen.

Many RV companies sell these door grilles. We looked up and found one on sale at Camping world from $39 down to $29 this week. 

RV screen door grille

We picked one up from the local dealer in Green Bay. We don't often shop at Camping World, but in the case of a good sale, we will make an exception. 

It is made adjustable that it can fit almost any size RV door. A drill is necessary to pre-drill the four little holes in the four corners.

We had a really nice warm day in the mid-30s with no wind. Perfect time to get it mounted and level in place. 

Steve took care of the drilling and screwing in the mounting screws, and we made sure it was centered on the door. 

Once it was centered, we realized there would be an irritating rattle where the adjustable arms slide in and out of the main center section. So we did a little brainstorming:  we looked it over and figured out that if we ran a thin bead of glue from a hot glue gun in the seam between the two pieces, it would prevent any rattling noise.  This was my job. 

Here's what it looks like from the outside, with the big door open and just the screen door latched in place. You really can't see it from the outside.

We have another project to get done, and it's a preventative one to make sure that this little guy Nicholas never escapes. Even when closed, RV screen doors can sometimes be bumped open with a good push. Our screen door latch is very firm. But for added insurance, we are going to add a butterfly wing nut to the inside of the door frame, just like we did on our last motorhome. That way we are sure it is locked tight--- but we can reach in through the slider to flip the butterfly toggle open if need be. 

(This pic is from our last motorhome)

Well, since we went to Camping World for the grille, we decided to do a little shopping... Nearby at Fleet Farm. This is a farm and home type store that's popular in the Midwest. And this was something we've been thinking about for a couple weeks. We looked at various pet trailers to take along behind our e-bikes. Thinking that if the dogs would like it, it would add to our adventures. The price range was about $150 to $300 for anything made for pets!! Ack! Specialty items you know. 

Well, I happened to go on the local Fleet Farm website in their bicycle department looking for some little rubber tips for the end of our kickstands. And in the files of bike supplies--- I saw this little bike trailer! It was made for children, but what the heck, it could work for pets right? And it was on a clearance sale that I couldn't believe. 

It was $150.00 

marked down to 

only $25.00!!! 

Actually it took going to three different stores to buy it. The first one in Green Bay, at the West side store said they had ONE in their inventory. We got there, and nobody could find it. 

So they contacted the next store down in Appleton who said they had SIX of them. We went there, nobody could find ANY of the six??? 

But they kindly called up to the Green Bay East side store who promised they had TWO of them for sure. So we went there. SUCCESS!!! 

Who on Earth buys a bicycle trailer in Wisconsin in the middle of January???

We do! 

The cart collapses down flat and both of the wheels can detach and store easily for storage. It weighs 24 lb and is made of a steel frame and nylon fabric. The dogs were both very curious as we unpackaged the trailer. 

It goes together quite easily. Inside there is a little seat and harness for a child. We unstrapped most of the harness and the seat portion was just a matter of two screws to remove from the frame. Now it was one open complete space inside.

The bottom surface of the trailer is just lightweight liner fabric kind of like tent nylon. It really isn't made for pets so we adapted by adding this firm cushion as a base for the dogs. It is actually a baby changing table foam pad! Binney uses it as a bed in my She Shed. So we can put it in the trailer and put it back when not in use. 

 Just enough room for 

two pampered pets!!! 

Binney always does anything that we ever ask her to do without question. So we popped her in and quizzical Nicholas had to see what was going on. 

Here's a little video:

Once we get down South, and settled in somewhere, then we can add the bracket to the back axle of one of our e-bikes. Not sure which one of us is going to pull the trailer yet, but we can order an extra bracket so we can put it on either bike if we wish. 

We will start out with just walking alongside of the bike, until they get used to it. We hope that they will both enjoy going for rides with us. 

If they don't like it, we can always easily resell it for either a child or pet trailer, considering the price we only paid for it. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon packing up things that can go in the motorhome already waiting out in the driveway. We're pretty much all set with clothes and dry goods and non-freezable items.

Slowly I am filling up these totes, lined up by the back door. These are all the items that could freeze. Even though we are enjoying some unusually warm weather in Wisconsin, best to not put anything out there that can freeze up. I don't think there's a single night this week that it's going to be below 32°! 

Once the vet clears Nicholas for being able to travel, we will toss in these last few totes and hit the road! 

Not sure exactly where we are going, we play it by ear. Probably down through Arkansas into Northern Texas or loop over into Oklahoma. We will see. We've done a lot of winter desert camping to Arizona and New Mexico, so maybe we want to do something a little closer in the middle of the country. We will see. Plans made in Jell-O! 

In the meantime, 

look what's happening here

 in Wisconsin!

All of our snow is melting melting melting melting! We got 18 inches from that last storm. Now we are down to bare ground in some areas and whatever remaining snow there is, is only about 2 in thick. This is almost unheard of for January in Wisconsin. Wowzers. 

And to finish up on a doggie note, we took Nicholas and Binney for some socialization over to Steve's brother's Pete and wife Cindy's house. They met Finnegan, their handsome golden retriever. I'm pleased to say that all three dogs were on their best behavior and socialized quite well. 

And we will finish off with a video

I think one of the best ones I have made:

It seems like we have been watching football all day. Glad to see Kansas City make it into the Super Bowl. Now we are watching the Lions against the 49ers. Hoping for the Lions. Third quarter and things are at a tie.