Phew, this hot weather was taking a toll on the COW!  It has been 90 degrees in my office, so I ended up adding a second roof mount air conditioner and putting the door back on between the office/living room and the rest of the COW.  This was completed yesterday by Caswell RV in Ionia, who did a very good job on it and came in less than the estimate.  It is keeping my office very comfortable today and was well worth it and needed as I head to hotter weather in Idaho in a couple of weeks.   One more problem to take care of - the refrigerator mother board is bad, it works fine on electricity, but does not on gas.  The igniter circuitry is evidently faulty and we will need this for the 2 week trek to Seattle then Idaho or just leave it off and buy all our food as we go.  But I am getting more proficient at setting up and taking down and learning more as I go.  I did mess up the tailgate on the truck, but not terribly bad, as I forgot to put it down when I was unhooking and pulling away.  So a fifth wheel tailgate will be in order one of these days!

The Dream is becoming Reality!

Staging and loading in Lia's garage - Thanks Lia!  

All of this!   Well not all.  Note to self, next time you move from a big house and plan on 

moving into an RV, make sure you pack what you want in the RV separate from what you want to store!

And I took up more than my fair share of the driveway! 

Setting up my new office - I worked on a folding table for a week in my apartment

 My first ever site setup at Snow Lake Campground north of Ionia -  a very nice Christian campground with an on-site chapel.  Thanks to Rick and Janet Bredeweg for donating that nice blue yard carpet!  Helps keep the COW clean!

 Ok, this was the first part of the fun!  Hooking up the water and sewer - and of course when I opened the sewer cap to hook up the hose, out came smelly water!  Yecch!  So I'm learning!  And again, thanks to Rick Bredeweg for recommending what I might need and helping me spend my money! :)  That original sewer connection hose that came with the COW would have been WAY too short, but on Rick's recommendation, I had purchased additional hose and adaptors so hook up was a cinch (except of course for the sewer bath).

 So the first thing I did was to pull that ugly hide-a-bed couch which was terribly

uncomfortable and move the recliners in the area it was in.

Have to make sure I have a TV and sound system! - Note the fireplace, more on that later. 

And, of course, the all important office to finance this dream!
 I was even able to fit a small file cabinet in for storage and to be a printer stand.

Getting organized!  My good friend Donna has been helping me and organized the kitchen for me.  Thanks Donna!

So I'm busy putting away and figuring out what I don't really need, so this is the current state of my dining area!  

Again I have to thank Rick and Janet for these Corel dishes for the COW.  Rick and Janet have had a 5th Wheel RV for a number of years and are well experienced at it and their help and advice has been invaluable.

A few clothes to fold and put away but I got it done and all stored!  Note the different bedspread!  I am not really happy with the patterns and colors in the bedroom, so I change what I can!

And finally, I figured out all by myself how to get the awning set!  Not as easy as it looks!  But I've worked a whole week in it now.  The campground Internet access was extremely limited, so I'm using my Verizon MiFi which has worked very well.  The only concern I had there was it appeared I was using about 3/4 GB a day and with a 5GB limit for the month I was going to be in trouble.  I changed the plan to 10 GB and believe I can add more if I need to.  I also disconnected my VOIP phone system and I'm just using my cell and so far it seems to have saved a fair amount of data use.  I won't be able to watch any Netflix or TV shows, but I am able to pick up a number of stations with the roof mounted antenna.

I have had two issues with the COW, not real serious and I was able to resolve them successfully.  The first was that I weathered my first major storm the other day, very interesting!  Water was leaking in to the living room under a window, so I sopped it up and yesterday, picked up some sealer and liberally sealed around the window and along the roof seam on the slide out where it leaked.  Had some fairly heavy rain today with now leaks.  The second problem was the water heater spewing water out of the pressure relief valve.  I thought the valve was bad, so picked up a new one and replaced it, but in the process discovered that a temperature sensor on the side of the tank had come loose and some connections were bad.  So I reset the sensor, crimped on new connectors to the wires and so far it has performed admirably.  The heater is designed to operate either on electric or gas.  I had no problems leveling the COW up and setting the pads, so I feel pretty confident about it, and pulling it was not an issue from Dorr.  So I'm looking forward to more travels and more interesting experiences.  I still have a fair amount of settling to do, but have three weeks before I leave Snow Lake so should have no problems getting it done.  I have been overloaded with work lately, but am getting a handle on it now, so will have a little more free time again.  I rode the Fred Meijer trail the other night for about 8 miles, and had a swim off of Donna's pontoon boat up at Nevins lake where she has a cottage and dinner with her.  I arrived back at the campground around 11 and it's 2 AM now, so I'll call it a night.  Stay tuned for further events!

I will add new pictures of the living room after I have it setup as my office.  i have the desk and file cabinet in place, but nothing else yet.  Stay tuned for exciting developments!

The One Legged Traveler and his COW

What you would see if you got in front!

Side View

Dining Area

Kitchen - Entrance Door

Looking into the Lving Room, future office

Entertainment Center - to be renovated!

Original Arrangement - Desk will go here

Hide-a-bed Couch - VERY uncomfortable!

Bedroom View One

Bedroom View Two

Looking the length of the COW

I now have a pickup and a condo on wheels so I'm no longer homeless.  I'll be staying local in Michigan while I get the hang of this new lifestyle, then head west to Idaho and California.  I'll post pictures of my COW (Condo On Wheels) as soon as I can.

Cheers - Dave