Week 762-763 - Proving Craig Right! - 03-28-2021

Proving Craig Right!

This week we drove from Paso Robles, California to Harrisburg, Oregon. We came here to have our four slides repaired by the technicians at Elite RV.

Most motorhome owners travel a lot in the first few years and then settle into a couple of locations. We did not do that. We have continued to travel everywhere over the last 16 years. We have stayed at over 600 locations.

And since we have revisited many of the locations, we have actually moved over 1,200 times!

No manufacturer every designed their slides to come in and out that many times. Our four slides each came in and out 2,400 times!

These repairs are very expensive. But, as our son John stated, we intend to "drive until we drop", thus repairing the Mothership is not an option.

Each slide has its own personality. Passenger front waddles back and forth as it comes in. Passenger rear grinds like it is on gravel (or broken tile as Elite RV thinks).

Driver front comes in and out smoothly, but at times need us to help pull it in. Driver rear has always worked, but has sounded stressed since day one.

Elite RV says the slides will be better than new when they are done. Better materials are now available and they will spend more time than Monaco did when it was built.

Now back to Proving Craig Right. Craig was a mentor that we met on our 2nd day of full timing. Craig and his wife were in their 12th year of travel. He said to enjoy everyday of travel and never get tired you need to "Drive less than 200 miles per day, get there by 2:00 pm and stay at least 2 days." We dubbed this Craig's Rule.

On this trip we did not do that. An 800 mile trip, per Craig's Rule should take eight days. Due to last minute doctor's appointments, we have only four days to travel.

Day one: Paso Robles to Flag City RV Resort, 250 miles. Too far, too tired.

Day two: Flag City to Rolling Hills Casino RV Park in Corning, 150 miles. Shorter day but two days of travel with no day to rest.

Day three: Rolling Hills to Walmart in Medford, Oregon. 195 miles, 3rd consecutive travel with no rest.

Day four: 200 miles to Elite RV in Harrisburg. Are we tired? Absolutely.

We have mentioned Craig's Rule dozens of times on our web site and hundreds of times in person. It works; do it. When you break the rule, travel is not fun, it is a chore. We arrived on Sunday exhausted, thus this travelogue is not as robust as most.

Nonetheless, thanks for listening and good night!

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from March 2021