RVing

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First Major Obstacle

According to my financing lady, funds will be released to Miranda’s current owner Monday or Tuesday.

Thing is, her current owner is leaving the country for two weeks starting Sunday.

He’s going to try to push for an electronic bank transfer tomorrow or Monday at the latest so that he can leave keys for me with a neighbour or something along those lines.

Otherwise, Miranda won’t be mine until August 4th or 5th at the earliest.

I told him that he should have advised both me and the financing lady of this on Monday so that we could have rushed the paperwork. Anyway…

I was so hoping to have her for next weekend, though. My sister is having a party at a town only an hour from where Miranda will be parked all of August and I had hoped that this could be our first trip out together. *crossing my fingers*

At any rate, I’m not going to freak out over this until I know for sure how it’s going to turn out.

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Officially an RVer?

I got my ‘welcome to the FQCC‘ kit today!

Fédération
québécoise des
camping et
caravaning

(Quebec federation of camping and RVing.)

The package included stickers for Miranda’s upper left rear end to identify her as belonging to this group, including a series of number that identify her uniquely. I’m not sure yet of the benefit of that.

Membership has a lot of benefits in Quebec and some across Canada and even the US.

I joined mainly because membership was 58$ and meant I paid 150$ less for my insurance policy, for a savings for 92$, plus I get the rebates at specific gas stations, campgrounds, RV supply stores, and more. Membership comes with a really nice magazine, but I opted out because it’s focused on Quebec and I didn’t feel it would be worth having it forwarded to wherever I end up being over the next year.

I’m looking at other discount clubs and might join one more, but that’ll be it for my first year on the road.

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Time To Go

It’s no secret that I don’t live in a good neighbourhood. I knew that going in, but figured that I’d be fine for a year since the location is so convenient to work. I avoid going out at night on foot and am hyper vigilant when walking around during the day on weekends. During week days, though, the neighbourhood is crawling with civil servants walking to and from their jobs at the various government complexes in the area. I’m alert walking to and from work, but I never would have expected what happened to me as I headed for home today at lunch.

A block from my house, I heard a man behind me, obviously on a bicycle and on the sidewalk. He was muttering. Immediately, I tensed, knowing that ‘something’ was up. I sped up. He sped up to join up with me, pushed me into the bushes, spit on me, and called me a truly vile name.

I spent my lunch hour filing a police report, taking a shower, and washing my clothes.

In the year I’ve lived here, this was the second time I had to call the police. The first time was because I thought my neighbours were going to murder each other. In 2006, I was driving on a highway that goes through the outer edge of the neighbourhood and was struck by a huge rock thrown from the overpass above me.

It’s time to go.

I can’t wait to live a lifestyle that will enable me to leave bad neighbours and scary situations immediately.

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Status Update

Financing requested a proof of insurance in order to finalize the paperwork. Insurance required a date of possession in order to finalize their paperwork. So, financing gave me a date. Monday.

Monday?!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

My car needs a base plate! And Miranda needs her back up camera! And the parking people haven’t gotten back to me! And… and… and… I don’t know anything about RVs!

*breathes in, breathes out*

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Put It on the View Screen, Lieutenant

Miranda’s only fault is that she doesn’t come with a back up/rearview camera system. I can barely back up with a car and I won’t have any help in guiding me into tight spots. So, I couldn’t imagine hitting the road without this device.

Finding one to purchase was quite tough. The electronics stores I visited sold components for the systems, but not whole ones, and the staff wasn’t very knowledgeable about these things. I don’t have much experience or knowledge of electronic systems, so I didn’t want to go the piecemeal route. Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire have complete systems, but they are cheap and not well rated, as well as wireless, which wouldn’t work on a 31’+ rig.

Googling, I found some sites offering systems for prices ranging from 350$ to several thousand dollars.

Finally, I went to the Escapees forum I belong to (and where people have been inordinately patient with all my questions!). Someone recommended an eBay seller he’s personally dealt with and who has excellent feedback. The cheapest system was 250$ (plus 30$ shipping to Quebec) and seemed very good–weatherproof camera and cable, all the hardware needed, colour monitor, and more. So, I added one more ‘officialism’ to my list and purchased the system.

The seller also offers side cameras. Since the monitor I purchased can be hooked up to three cameras total, I had a flash of my adding two side cameras to give me a 360 degree view around my coach… not unlike the view screen on the Enterprise!

Installing the camera seems easy enough, all things considered, except, of course, for the part that involves climbing up onto the roof. 🙂