Home Away From Home

Saturday, 29 January 2011

The plan was to pick up the coach and take it to storage on Wednesday, the 26th. But Mother Nature played a trick on us, dumping 8 inches (20 cm) of wet, heavy snow on the area. (Click here to read about our first real snowstorm of the season.) So, we postponed getting Phae to her home away from home until today.

We headed to Restless Wheels bright and early this morning. The temperature was just above freezing, but considering it was in the teens just a week ago, we weren’t complaining. When we arrived at 9:00a, they were just unlocking the doors. The coach had been stored inside the shop during the snowstorm, so it was snug as a bug in one of the service bays.

It’s time to get this baby home.

First on our to-do list was to make sure the levelers were functioning properly. After all, that was the reason why we’d brought the Phaeton to Restless Wheels in the first place. After positioning the landing blocks he had made the previous weekend, Mui dropped the levelers. We held our breath as the legs slowly moved down and came to a stop. When we noted that the indicators were flashing green, a cheer went up. Our pleasure was doubled when the levelers retracted without a glitch.

The blocks will reduce the distance the leveler legs have to drop.

The source of the problem — a fried control board.
(be glad your noses are being spared the burnt smell.)

After nearly two months, the coach was ready to go home. One of the technicians drove the Phaeton out of the shop and positioned it so that we could hook up the toad. Under the watchful eye of Paul, who’d installed the towing system and trained him last week, Mui went to work running cables through the d-ring and connecting them as he’d been instructed. He gets a gold star for getting it all right!

here she comes.

Mui gets to work hooking up the toad.

All hooked up … and this time, we have somewhere to go.

I have to admit to a bit of a trepidation as we slowly moved out of the parking lot and made the turn onto the street. After all, once 40 feet (12 m) in length, we were now 59 feet (18 m) long with the toad attached. Mui was confident that we’d do fine; he was right. It felt good seeing the toad in the rearview camera display on the dashboard. Our camping horizons have now expanded considerably.

There's plenty of snow still, but the roads are clear for our first towing event.

the toad obediently follows behind the coach.

On our way to Restless Wheels, we’d checked to make sure that a tree that had been blocking the road to the storage lot had been cleared. Sure enough, it had been removed overnight. So, seeing a bunch of utility trucks ahead of us as we neared our destination came as a total surprise. The workers were equally, if not more, surprised to see a giant motor home bearing down on them. A quick conversation with the foreman, a few orange cones repositioned, and we were past the work area.

A utility crew is hard at work restoring power, but there’s
enough room for us to get by.

After successfully negotiating the unexpected hurdle, we continued a few more miles to the storage lot. Knowing that the side road to the lot was not completely cleared of snow, we stopped just outside the gate to unhook the toad on dry pavement. Then, I followed Mui to the Phaeton’s new home away from home.

A handsome pair — now unhitched!
(the coordinating colors weren't by design.)

Living in a townhouse in the suburbs of Washington DC, we have no choice but to keep the coach in storage. When we brought the Phaeton from Oregon to our neck of the woods, we found a storage facility in Manassas. As it was the only place with an open spot, we took it; but kept our eyes open for something closer to us. Coincident with the installation of the towing system, we got a call from a facility where we’d put our name on the waiting list. Needless to say, when they told us that they’d recently expanded and had room for us now, we jumped on the opportunity. Too bad it’s not covered storage, but in this area, that would be a miracle — with a price tag to match.

we would have preferred not having snow today …

… but the Phaeton gets through without any problems.

It turns out that the corner spot we picked for the great maneuverability that it offers is just a tiny bit short for us. We left the coach there temporarily until Mui can consult with the lot manager and pick another spot. We’ll be back tomorrow to relocate the Phaeton.