Annie Gets a Seahawks Decal

Our RV came with a Falcon decal but we requested it be removed so we could add our own... We tried to honor our favorite team and our live for Mexico!

We Made it to Ocala

We spent a total of 5 nights in the trailer and figured out real fast that 1. it’s too small for the 4 of us, 2. it needs more counter space, and 3. the shower is too small. We are already talking about upgrading... 

First off, after we left Nashville, we headed to Destin to see daughter Tristian. She was there for a modeling shoot camp. We were able to see her each day, which was really nice. We even got to have dinner at the house and meet some of her friends and the organizer of IBMS. It was nice to see what it is she loves doing.

After visiting with her, we packed up and drove to Ocala to my mothers home. We have been there getting our affairs in order (tags for the car and trailer, setting up a few appointments and hoping to attend an RV show in a few days). You know, important stuff. Keith did add a decal to our trailer - I’m working on posting that video shortly. 😉

I’ll try and update the blog when interesting things happen. We may head to see friends this weekend in FL. Then in a few weeks we head to Myrtle Beach to see friends Rob and Kris in the RV. It will be our first RV road trip with friends! 

Our First Night in the RV

We arrived in Nashville around 4pm at Nashville Shores RV Park. Keith quickly setup everything with only the hot water heater giving him a bit of frustration. The first setup was a bit stressful but after he got the pilot light lit and had some time to relax, it felt do-able. The dogs weren’t really sure what to think of the space. Lionel looked displaced due to his size. We had planned to use the table but that plan quickly changed. I removed the table and made Lionel his own cubbie. Once he has his own space he stopped pacing and relaxed.

We had planned to go eat dinner out with friends but the plan changed and we went to their home instead. This plan was perfect as it great to see their new home plus it was more relaxing than a restaurant. Thank you to Sonia and Tommy for opening up their home to us. As always, I love seeing and spending time with them! Another great surprise was having Melissa, Brian and their daughter, Grace, join us. We all had the best time in college so I’m always happy to see them and catch up! Lots of wine and laughter made for a terrific evening!

We headed back to the RV around 10pm and fell asleep rather quickly. The bed is a queen but we decided to sleep on it horizontally so we had more room. We both agreed we slept pretty well so we may try it again tonight... our feet hang off but I think that’s ok, we both sleep somewhat balled up. The dogs slept great, so there’s that...

This morning Keith went to Starbucks rather than making coffee. We will eventually “cook” but today wasn’t that day. He then came back and we slept till 10am. Tonight we head to Murfreesboro to see friends! ❤️

Long story short, things have gone well but we do know one thing... Next one will be much bigger!

The Maiden Voyage

Want to Join Our Community for Exclusive Content?

We recently learned about Patreon and loved the idea of building a small community where we can share more exclusive content of videos, the dogs, more posts, gifts for support and hopefully more... You can see our page here.

Keith & I started a page where we will post a lot of the same content on here but we'll also post more videos that have been edited and share our adventures more in depth. No pressure to join but check it out and see for yourself - maybe you will find it interesting enough to join. Yes, it does help support our travels and that is always a plus.

It could be a huge flop (very likely) and no one signs up, but no worries, that won't stop us from traveling. 

What do you think? Is it lame? Great idea? Please let us know!

Making Our Travel Trailer Cozy is My Jam

Here’s how I spent my Valentine’s Day! ❤️

Frank Gets a New Transmission & Keith Has a Mission

Since we have no legs to stand on, at the moment, we found a transmission guy through my family’s referral who will be putting in a new transmission. That’s around $4,5000 for those of you wondering... we aren’t thrilled at all but our adventure requires a truck so we are doing what needs to be done to move forward.

Keith, on the other hand, has a new mission. He’s taken to social media, reached out to the BBB, emailed the Chrysler CEO and then some. We feel the dealership has acted unethically to not stand behind a product they sold us. They knew why we bought the vehicle and what we needed. To top it off they told us it was a Harley Davidson edition. It’s not. It was just up-badged to appear to be so... when we test drive the truck Keith noticed a spitter and they guy claims he took it back and looked into, claiming it wasn’t anything major. After driving it again it appeared to be fixed and we were told it was just b/c it was cold.

We take responsibility for not taking it to a mechanic but is it wrong to want a reputable dealership to sell products they’ve tested and checked? Hell, to stand behind the products they sell! I don’t think we are asking for something unreasonable. We hadn’t even owned the truck a week! Do what’s right Capitol Chrysler!

I Spoke Too Soon...

Ok, so our first major bump has occurred... on the way back to my Dads from picking up Annie, Frank decided he didn’t want to tow and started sputtering. Thankfully we made it... My brother-in-law has a diagnostics scanner so Keith ran a scan and it seems we got a “gear 5 incorrect ratio” alert. What does that mean you ask... well, it means that our transmission has to be rebuilt. 😳

We called the dealership and they refuse to do anything. They weren’t kind about it, just blew us off. We’ve owned the truck about 6 days and it needs a new transmission. That’s insane! Missouri’s lemon law doesn’t apply to as-is used cars and we were offered no warranty when we signed. It’s been a nightmare!

DO NOT USE CAPITOL CHRYSLER IN JEFFERSON CITY, MO!!

Our Children Meet

The day has finally come. (Insert cheering here!) 🥰 We drove up to Buckeye RV to pick up Annie today and sadly it was a very cold and wet day. That’s ok, nothing is getting us down! Once we arrived we realized she was still outside in the cold weather and hadn’t been taken into the garage to be inspected so that meant we had to wait for about four hours. Not ideal, but we waited. Thank god for cell phones...

Once she was ready, we were given a walk through to see how everything works. I, of course, made a video!

We did have a few moments of “is she big enough now that we have a truck” but it passed. We are in love with her and ready for all the adventures ahead!

Our first adventure begins on Friday as we head to Nashville for a few days. Stay tuned to our adventures and please feel free to comment, especially with well wishes. We are going to need them as this is new for both of us. I’m sure we’ll have some bumps along the way... but let’s hope for nothing major! 😉

It’s a Girl!

It’s been a busy week! We welcomed a new boy to the family (our truck, Frank) and now we welcome a girl, Annie. We bought Annie back in November from Mexico. My father went to look at her to make sure she was what we were looking for (price, bathroom, room for the dogs...). She’s around 1,600lbs and 21ft. Of space. What do you think of Annie?

It’s a Boy!

We have been struggling with the idea of buying a truck to pull our travel trailer or using our current SUV to pull it. Our car can tow 3,300lbs and the Travel trailer is 1600, with non of our stuff in it... today we finally made the decision to buy a used truck.

We looked at several trucks and, after many hours, decided on a 2013 Ford F-150 that we found in Jefferson City at Capitol Chrysler. We have named him, Frank. Hopefully Frank will give us many great years of towing capacity. He’s capable of 11,000lbs. Way more than we need but it opens us up to an upgrade in travel trailers in the near future. 

UPDATE: Capitol Chrysler sold us a lemon and refuse to do anything. We do NOT recommend using them for anything!!!

Remodeling Is For The Birds

For me (Tarah), remodeling a home is pure joy. I love picking out the colors, decor, layout, furniture, decor... you name it! For Keith, it’s pure stress. Now I love this man more than life itself but I constantly put him in this situation. He always agrees. By the end of it he’s stressed and saying never again.

On this trip we decided to redo our drab laundry room and guest bedroom closet. Both were dull and ugly. We were going to hire a painter but to save money, I did it myself. I am really proud to say, it turned out great! We went to Home Depot with a plan but then saw the Behr 2019 color winner, which is this amazing blue. So, the plan changed! We had originally wanted to do a shiplap peel and stick wallpaper but come to find out our walls are textured and the wallpaper won’t stick.

Next up, the closet. It was a hot mess! The previous owners just had a big board shelf for luggage. No place for hangars or clothing, drab walls and the light didn’t work. I opted to paint the walls my new favorite blue, we added a shelf and clothing bar, added a dresser, a rug and a very fancy chandelier light. Classy! I didn’t take a before picture but I assure you, it was bad. What do you think of the update?

Finally in Lake Ozark

We made it to our condo, The Blue Cat Condo. This is what we woke up to - isn't it beautiful?! We are here for a little over a week and then we head to Ohio.

While here, we have to get the place finalized and ready to be rented for the high season. We have just a few things left to do and I am sure we will post pictures.

Have a beautiful day!

Visiting Friends in Texas

Now that we are back on US soil we headed for Paige, TX to see two friends from Mexico, Haril and Karen. They were so kind to offer a place to stay with our two dogs. Plus, they planned a full day of awesome sights in Austin.

Austin is a really cool city with lots of unique local art and eclectic shops. After roaming around getting coffee, candy and having lunch, we went to tour the capitol building to learn the history behind Austin and Texas as a whole. It was a great day and it made me realize we need to visit Austin again for a longer trip.

The next day, Keith and Haril did some target shooting while Karen and I stayed in and caught up. It was a lovely visit and we look forward to seeing them again very soon.

Next on our agenda was heading to Ft. Worth to see more friends from Mexico, Vince and Annette. On our drive up Annette had mentioned we should stop by Magnolia Market to check it out as it was on the way. Since I am obsessed with home decor these days, that is exactly what we did. If our car wasn't already completely full I may have walked out of there with more than a few candles...

Oddly enough, we were close to the site of the Branch Davidian location in Waco, TX. We had just watched a documentary on it, so I wanted to go and pay our respects to those who lost their lives and gawk at it a bit as I was curious. It is currently still owned by some survivors and it seems they still operate a church there. It was sad, odd, interesting and creepy all at the same time. We just drove in and drove out - we never got out of the car. There is now a new church building built in the location of where the compound once stood and you can see some of it's footprint. After gawking and stopping to see some cows, we headed to see our friends. 

We met with them at their home where the dogs were very excited to see their pugs again and had a great time playing. That evening all of us we went to dinner with two more friends from Mexico, Greg and Amy, at a really tasty Tex-Mex restaurant (what can we say, we all love Mexican food?!). 

The next day we went to explore Ft. Worth by going to the stock show. We started petting animals at a petting arena and then moved on to the bigger animals - I even had my picture with a 1,400lb steer named Outlaw. The day was really fun and introduced me to a world I wasn't familiar with at all. Keith enjoyed himself and left wanting a truck. We JOKED that maybe in 5 years we will end up in Texas with a giant truck living next to Vince and Annette. Who knows... ;)

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast with our friends of home made biscuits and gravy (not keto) and then we hit the road to Missouri. We had a 8-9 hour drive ahead of us and then a week to relax in one place. We are looking forward to getting there.