Retirement

I retired Friday (6/4/2021)!  Now more time to RV and have fun with the Fuse.  Not sure when or where we are going next but no we no longer have to figure it out months in advance.  The path is clear ahead and the outlook is beautiful

Protecting His Mobile Man Cave Benefits New Fuse Owners

The children and I have started referring to our Fuse as Don's mobile "man cave."  We have been keeping it plugged in and when Don disappears we know to look out the front window and see if the RV door is open.  Typically, he is inside on his bed using his laptop (as you know from his' blogs he has issued the Fuse has excellent WIFI signal) or often enough has fallen asleep.

He hasn't said much about my daughter and my upcoming trip other than making sure I had driven and set up the Fuse on our last time out.  And, that we had to bring it back in the condition we took it - meaning the grey and black tanks had to be emptied.

The activity of emptying the tanks was assigned to my daughter and her friend.  I told them I didn't care how they got it done - do it themselves or sweet talk some poor fella at the campground - it just had to be done.

Don has walked our daughter through the process on several previous trips.  Neither of the young ladies have actually dumped the tanks in real life.  But to protect his "man cave" and because he has always been a great father, he decided more was required.

So this weekend when our daughter asked once again if he would walk her through what needed to be done to set-up the Fuse, (she apparently wasn't confident that I'd remember my part) including how to empty the tanks, he presented her with "flashcards"that covered the important subjects.

This was an idea that was brought up in discussion with folks in the Travato Group.  I didn't know Don had started them for our Fuse.  But now he had a captive novice to test the flashcards.   After walking through them and some editing,  our daughter is confident she can handle the set-up and emptying of tanks.

When we get back next week, we will make revisions based on our experiences and then post them for others to review.

I Saw My First Fuse in the Wild

I saw the first Fuse other than mine in the wild and I forgot to take a picture!!!

Norbert Gonzalez posted on Facebook that he was at Ft. Wilderness at Disney World.   Well what would you know that I was at Disney as well.

Unfortunately I was Fuseless.  We had a family emergency and had to cancel our reservations at Ft. Wilderness.  Sonya had to stay in Tallahassee to help her parents and I had arranged to take several days off of work.  My daughter was running in the Disney 5K and had gotten a hotel room before we had arranged our trip.    She invited me to go with her and it would be rude to turn down a trip to Disney :-)  . (Particularly when she was paying.)   So I went.

I was sitting in the lobby of the Contemporary hotel people watching when I saw Norbert's post on Facebook and I decided to take a quick boat ride over to the Fort to see if I could find him.

I walked a couple of blocks and there was the one of the prettiest things I had seen.  No not Norbert, but a beautiful Fuse 23a sitting out in full view.  Sitting underneath the awing was Norbert, his Wife, his Son and his Grandson.    I walked up and Norbert recognized me.  I recognized him and it was like bumping into a long lost friend.

It was great to meet up with a fellow Fuse owner.  We talked for an hour or so.  The Gonzalez's showed me some great hospitality.   I had a great time and it was nice to meet a fellow Fuser.

Hopefully next time I can control my excitement and will remember to take some photos.

Graceville, Florida

Today we took the Fuse to Graceville, Florida.   Why Graceville?  It is Family reunion time.  More specifically it is the time of year for my father-in-laws extended family to have their 69th annual reunion.   The group this year consisted of over 100 people coming to the Graceville Civic Center.  An age range from 7 months to people in their 90s.

Friday night I plugged the Fuse into the house electric.  This was to let the refrigerator cool down overnight and to run the Air Conditioner to mostly de-humidify the Fuse for our travels on Saturday.  15 amps from the house is enough power for both but I would not add anything else.  For that you need the full 30amps.

I used the 30 amp 10 gauge extension cord with an 15amp adapter to get to the house power.   I have tried this with my orange extension cord rated for 13 amps in the past and it worked, but I noticed with the A/C running the the cord got hot which is a very bad sign.  I now use the heavy 30amp cord and all is fine.

We loaded up the Fuse, including the Beagle, and off we went carrying various foods we prepared at home.  We brought an awesome Rum Pound Cake.  Put a crock pot in the sink carrying the meatballs.  We also had a potato casserole and in the RV refrigerator a watergate salad.  And off we went.

We had a great time.  We ran the generator for 3+ hours so the Beagle could stay cool inside the Fuse.  The temperatures outside were in the mid 90's and with the A/C on low cool turned most of the way up,  the Fuses internal temperature stayed at 75 degrees.  We did put up the front sunshade but left rest of the blinds up so she could look out.

We re-confirmed that traveling in the Fuse is great.  Going over we stopped at a rest stop and had some cool ice water with ice from the freezer and water from the refrigerator.  Going back we stopped and took a 20 minute nap at the rest stop outside of Chattahoochee.  The Fuse actually makes travel fun and relaxing.

I am noticing that my driving style is much different in Fuse.  When I drive a car I am keeping up with traffic and leading the pack.  In the Fuse I set the cruise control to 68mph and let people pass me to their hearts content.  I am driving my way, relaxed and in no hurry.

The round trip distance was 210 miles.  We traveled mostly on the Interstate.  We did have a 10 minute delay waiting for a train to pass in downtown Chipley.  Temperatures going over were in the mid 90s and coming back in the low 80s and rain.   I mostly set the cruise control to 68.   We got 15.8mpg.

Pooped Puppy

I think that the dog was more tired that any one else after our quick trip to Ft. Wilderness.

Family Portrait

This is me and my pack,  Figure out who is who

And my new favorite spot