What a frantic and expensive week, I think I am haemorrhaging money.
Our new truck has already covered 700 miles in just over a week and we haven’t really been anywhere!!
We have shopped for our new “house” and at last we have paid the deposit and got the fifth wheel hitch fitted to the truck. We are now all set to pick it up on Tuesday morning.
It’s Sunday today and what else would you do on a Sunday except shop, especially as we have our new home to equip?! We had a run out yesterday to check the camp site where we will park it for the first few days, and this afternoon Freda has booked us in for Tuesday arrival. It is only 18 miles away so close enough if we have any problems or forget anything.
The scenery here is quite beautiful and at this time of year the trees are in full blossom and at their most spectacular. I hope to capture some nice pictures of them during the course of the next week.
Below is a link to “picasa” where my pictures are stored, click on the link (you MAY need to hold down the CTRL key at the same time) and when the page opens, click on “slide show for best results.
Eventually, the slide show will run from the blog site but this is a rapid learning exercise and I have more to learn yet!
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/ArthursAmericanDream?authkey=FS5NEtjb6tk
Arthur and Freda
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
KEEP ON TRUCKIN'
Time marches on and so do we in a very American style, we now have our new truck, you can’t be American without a truck!!
This thing is so huge it makes even American roads seem not so wide and with the longest wheel base that Ford do, with the longest bed that Ford do (8ft) and the full chrome pack that Ford do, even the Americans are a little amazed at this truck. We now have to keep a careful eye on lane discipline as it is sooooo wide!!
We have a 6.4 litre turbo diesel and auto box, with four wheel drive that should help it pull ANYTHING!!!
With four doors and more importantly, the interior space to match, there is lots of room inside for those important items that we don’t want to get wet when/if it rains.
As you can see, it’s all bright red with lots of chrome and has all those little extras that will make it very saleable when we have done with it.
Don’t take too much for granted, it’s nothing like as sophisticated as our little Renault (but what is!) It does not have full climate control and it does lack a few other items but it makes up for that in pure PRESENCE.
This is definitely a high profile vehicle but please don’t ask about MPG. (Actually, it does 16 miles per English gallon we have discovered, but that‘s not towing anything!)
We collected it on Thursday evening and the miles are clocking up very rapidly as we search for a “fifth wheeler” to hang on the back. After only three days we have almost made a decision on what we will buy. We will keep you informed.
We have had lovely weather so far and have informed the whole of America that we brought it with us from Spain. We did note that England had eight degrees today! We had 22c.
Last night (21st April) son-in-law Bruce produced invitations to the ice hockey match, Philadelphia Flyers v The Capitals (from Washington DC of course!) The invitations were to watch the game from a private box with a superb view of the action, and food and drink supplied compliments of the box owner, a local advertising company. The stadium held 19800 bodies last night, there were not many empty seats! What a stadium! The atmosphere was electric, but unfortunately the Flyers lost.
Watch this space, we have today put a deposit on our new house on wheels!!!! It’s 34ft long and 8ft wide. Oh yes, and 12ft high. Of course, when on a campground the slide-outs increase the width considerably.
This thing is so huge it makes even American roads seem not so wide and with the longest wheel base that Ford do, with the longest bed that Ford do (8ft) and the full chrome pack that Ford do, even the Americans are a little amazed at this truck. We now have to keep a careful eye on lane discipline as it is sooooo wide!!
We have a 6.4 litre turbo diesel and auto box, with four wheel drive that should help it pull ANYTHING!!!
With four doors and more importantly, the interior space to match, there is lots of room inside for those important items that we don’t want to get wet when/if it rains.
As you can see, it’s all bright red with lots of chrome and has all those little extras that will make it very saleable when we have done with it.
Don’t take too much for granted, it’s nothing like as sophisticated as our little Renault (but what is!) It does not have full climate control and it does lack a few other items but it makes up for that in pure PRESENCE.
This is definitely a high profile vehicle but please don’t ask about MPG. (Actually, it does 16 miles per English gallon we have discovered, but that‘s not towing anything!)
We collected it on Thursday evening and the miles are clocking up very rapidly as we search for a “fifth wheeler” to hang on the back. After only three days we have almost made a decision on what we will buy. We will keep you informed.
We have had lovely weather so far and have informed the whole of America that we brought it with us from Spain. We did note that England had eight degrees today! We had 22c.
Last night (21st April) son-in-law Bruce produced invitations to the ice hockey match, Philadelphia Flyers v The Capitals (from Washington DC of course!) The invitations were to watch the game from a private box with a superb view of the action, and food and drink supplied compliments of the box owner, a local advertising company. The stadium held 19800 bodies last night, there were not many empty seats! What a stadium! The atmosphere was electric, but unfortunately the Flyers lost.
Watch this space, we have today put a deposit on our new house on wheels!!!! It’s 34ft long and 8ft wide. Oh yes, and 12ft high. Of course, when on a campground the slide-outs increase the width considerably.
Friday, 18 April 2008
Departure from Spain
It was hard to tear ourselves away from Altea but the plans have been a long time in the making so off we jolly well go!
We departed in bright sunshine (and what else would you expect of the Costa Blanca?) and headed north of Valencia to Sagunto, then cut northwest, on a direct route with minimum tolls.
We used the A23, N234, N111 and the E5-E80, via Calatayud, Soria and Logroñ o, and with the cruise control set at 130 kph and with virtually no traffic, (it being Sunday) we pushed on until it was time to find a bar where we could stop and watch the F1 Grand Prix in a leisurely manner. Having refreshed ourselves we continued to Hotel Ibis in Baracaldo (close to Bilbao). Conveniently situated with only a tiny detour off route, the rooms were good but we were not impressed with the restaurant.
The last part of the land journey was at a leisurely pace with only 60 miles to do on Monday morning before catching the afternoon boat from Santander, and so we elected to take the spectacular coast road (N634). Lunchtime loomed and we found a Spanish restaurant extraordinaire! We pulled in at the Cepsa garage adjacent to Junction 194 of the Autovì a Santander-Bilbao (A8/E70) at Anero, and went in the adjoining Restaurant Los Arcos and had an amazing 3-course lunch (with ½ bottle of wine each) for only ten euros a head (£ 8 or $16 ). Worth noting for future reference.
The rest of the trip was very English even if the boat and the crew were French!
Rupert Renault is now on foreign holiday in England. I worry less about parking restrictions and speed cameras!!! Surprisingly we have already had the roof down here in the UK, but we did wear our warm jackets! Our American F250 truck is waiting for us in Philadelphia. The Honda 600 motorcycle is sulking in its garage in Altea, it still hasn’t completed 5000 miles. The Nissan will get a well-earned rest too.
England was the expected manic panic of visits, family and others and the time to board the plane for the USA can’t come soon enough!
If you wish to post a comment, you just click on the green “comments” on the Blog, and you will be taken to the appropriate page. Bear in mind the world can see what you say!
If someone were to write the definitive guide to “feeds”, we would all then be able follow that, then the Blog would automatically download whenever it is updated. Sounds like well within the capability of more than one of you!
We departed in bright sunshine (and what else would you expect of the Costa Blanca?) and headed north of Valencia to Sagunto, then cut northwest, on a direct route with minimum tolls.
We used the A23, N234, N111 and the E5-E80, via Calatayud, Soria and Logroñ o, and with the cruise control set at 130 kph and with virtually no traffic, (it being Sunday) we pushed on until it was time to find a bar where we could stop and watch the F1 Grand Prix in a leisurely manner. Having refreshed ourselves we continued to Hotel Ibis in Baracaldo (close to Bilbao). Conveniently situated with only a tiny detour off route, the rooms were good but we were not impressed with the restaurant.
The last part of the land journey was at a leisurely pace with only 60 miles to do on Monday morning before catching the afternoon boat from Santander, and so we elected to take the spectacular coast road (N634). Lunchtime loomed and we found a Spanish restaurant extraordinaire! We pulled in at the Cepsa garage adjacent to Junction 194 of the Autovì a Santander-Bilbao (A8/E70) at Anero, and went in the adjoining Restaurant Los Arcos and had an amazing 3-course lunch (with ½ bottle of wine each) for only ten euros a head (£ 8 or $16 ). Worth noting for future reference.
The rest of the trip was very English even if the boat and the crew were French!
Rupert Renault is now on foreign holiday in England. I worry less about parking restrictions and speed cameras!!! Surprisingly we have already had the roof down here in the UK, but we did wear our warm jackets! Our American F250 truck is waiting for us in Philadelphia. The Honda 600 motorcycle is sulking in its garage in Altea, it still hasn’t completed 5000 miles. The Nissan will get a well-earned rest too.
England was the expected manic panic of visits, family and others and the time to board the plane for the USA can’t come soon enough!
If you wish to post a comment, you just click on the green “comments” on the Blog, and you will be taken to the appropriate page. Bear in mind the world can see what you say!
If someone were to write the definitive guide to “feeds”, we would all then be able follow that, then the Blog would automatically download whenever it is updated. Sounds like well within the capability of more than one of you!
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