Traded our Jayco Pinnacle for a Redwood 38 FL (Front Living)

When we were working in Georgia, I got to looking at new 5th Wheels that would better suit our
lifestyle now that we have been on the road almost 3 years.
We have pretty much figured out what we like to do and what works for us.
Since the 2015 RVs are now on the dealer lots there are some deals on the "Left over" 2014s.
So I started working on a couple of dealers that had a Redwood Front Living Floorplan we liked.
I did not know if I could get them to my number with a trade of our current Jayco Pinnacle.
Our Jayco has served us well but if I could put the right deal together, maybe we could trade.
After several days of beating on 2 dealers for the absolute best deal, we made a deal with Lazy Days in Tampa on a 2014 Redwood 38FL. ( I know I said I would not buy from a Mega Dealer like Lazy Days, I always liked the smaller dealers)

 

 

This is the floorplan of our new Redwood 38FL

The Bedroom is in the rear and the living area is in the front over the Hitch / Pinbox area



 

 

 

Some pictures of our new Redwood 38FL taken by Lazy Days for their website

 

Fullbody paint is nice touch, two entry doors, one at the front of the main awning

and one at the rear of the main awning.

 

Kitchen and dinning area

 

Rear Bedroom with King Bed

Wardrobe in the bedroom with TV

 

Front Living area with recliners at the front cap area,

note we removed them and put our theater seating

unit in, see picture of mod further down.

 

 

On our way up to our home base in Tallahassee from Tampa after

picking up our Redwood 5er

 

 

 

One of the first mods, put up some towel bars in the bath area.

 

 

This is a picture of our theater seating unit, we replaced the recliners

with this from our Jayco Pinnacle.

We bought the Lane unit from a furniture store a couple of

years ago and had it in our previous 5th Wheel and really like it, so we moved it to our

new 5th Wheel and put the recliners that came in the new 5th Wheel in our trade in unit.

 

 

So far so good with the new 5er, we are currently in Ft Myers FL working with / training a

new tech for the area. I did have to adjust the hitch height on the truck, found the 5er to

be a little high in the noise during the first trip from the dealership.

The trip down to Ft Myers was better with the hitch reset and finding the right

air pressure for the air ride hitch on the new 5th Wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up, Grand Canyon National Park

Our next stop after Las Vegas was Williams AZ, home of the Grand Canyon Railway.
This was a really neat small town on Route 66 that offered quite a few things to do and see
other than just the Grand Canyon Railway.

The Grand Canyon Railway train leaves the station at 9:30 heading up to the Grand Canyon National Park. The Train ride is 62 miles each way.
We had the Glass Dome Train cars going up to the Canyon, what a great view and excellent service on the train.

We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, very nice park but right

next to the railway, and yes there are freight trains that use the tracks too.

Several trains come through during the night :)

This was sunset at the park, nice temps too due to the approx. 7,000 ft elevation.

 



 

Yep, another selfie, look at the lady behind us, she was laughing at us taking our selfie !!!

 

We had the front seat looking out the dome window on the train ride,

it was an awesome view on the way to the park. 

 

 

Picture of the train in front of us winding up the mountains to the Grand Canyon Park

 

Debra getting off the train in the Grand Canyon Park, better picture of

our Glass Dome Train Car.

 

Awesome views at the Grand Canyon Park

 

Yep, another Selfie !!!

 

More pictures of the Grand Canyon

 

Yep, that is the Colorado River way down there

 

 

Condor nesting area in the sides of the Canyon

 

Lots of cool plants of foliage in the Canyon area

 

 

Debra waiting at the Grand Canyon Railway Station for the trip back to Williams AZ 

 

All Aboard !!!

 

A couple of pictures of the drive back to Texas, most of the drive was not much to see

but this area had some nice scenery so I took a couple of pictures.

 

 

 

Catching Up, heading back East, first stop Las Vegas

Well we finished up our time in CA and are now heading back East, our first stop is in Las Vegas.
Lots of people and temperature was 105 to 107 everyday.

We did the strip and went to the Criss Angel show at the Luxor Hotel.

 

Debra in front of the Luxor Hotel

 

Another picture of the Luxor Hotel

 

Wow, look at us !!!

A selfie in the Luxor while waiting for the Criss Angel show time.

 

The entrance to the Criss Angel Theater

 

Criss Angel Believe Show in progress !!!

 

After we left the show we got back on the City operated double decker buses

These are not the open deck sightseeing type buses, they are enclosed on both decks

and air conditioned.

The next two shots are of the strip from the front of the upper deck, (when we got on

there was nobody upstairs, so we were able to sit up front by the window)

The city buses that run up and down the strip are a great deal, $8 for a 24 Hour pass, get on and get off as much as you want to.

 

 

Our Campsite at the Circus Circus KOA, we had a premium site gave us a small patch of

grass at the end of a row. Nice shade, table and chairs and even a grass for Bale to go Pee Pee on !!

 

Most of the sites were just an asphalt parking lot :(

 

 

We went on the Hoover Dam tour, one of the water intake pipes to the turbines

that drive the generators making electricity.

 

Even got another picture of Debra standing in front of one

section of the Generators

 

More Dam pictures, I know I had to say it !!

 

Lower section of the dam where the water exits the turbines

 

The two structures with the holes are the bypass spillways, I believe they

said they have only been used twice when the water got too high on the dam.

 

Picture of the new (2 years old) bypass bridge next to the Hoover Dam.

In the past you had to drive across the dam and it was always congested.

Now the Bypass bridge is right next to the dam and offers a quick crossing.

 

We also took a paddle boat tour of Lake Mead after we toured the Hoover Dam

Pictured below is the Lake Mead side of the dam.

 

Two of the Hoover Dam water intake towers, there are 4 of them, two on each side

 

Catchng up, 3 Weeks in California

 Well we made it to Pomona CA, no real problems traveling out from TX.

We did have another cracked Rim (Yep, one of the new Hi Spec Rims).
Our TST Tire Monitor saved us with a low pressure alarm, got off the road and put the spare tire on
and off we go again.
Stopped at a tire store and had the leak checked, they found the crack in the rim.
I contacted the Mfg of the rim and they sent a replacement to our CG in CA.

We arrived a East Shore RV Park and the first thing we noticed was the Park Dog Rules

about "Dog Defecation" being punishable by a $150 fine.

Not a problem for us since we always pick up after Bale but in many CGs this is not the case

with others, this park was Poop Free !!!

 

Very nice RV Park, not the typical Desert Park, they have good space between

the sites and lots of grass, sprinkler system runs every night.

 

This was looking down the hill at our site, see the Red Truck in the middle of the picture,

that's us. We left the company truck in TX at our local techs house and

just drove our Truck and 5er to TX. I rented the Red Nissan truck from

Enterprise Car Rental in the local area.

 

Another view of East Shore RV Park in CA

 

Looking at up the hill at our site with our GMC Truck and our rental Nissan Truck.

 

 

We spent 3 weeks at this park working and training in the greater Los Angles and San Diego

area. I had to dodge fires going back and forth from Los Angles to San Diego but never had a

real problem. We really enjoyed our stay in CA but after 3 weeks it was time to move on.

Catching up, Traveling West to Californiia

Guess it is time to catch up on our Blog

Last spring after we left Houston TX, we made our way to California heading out on I-10 making several stops along the way.
Our last training class was in Houston TX, the next class is in California, so westward ho we go !!!

Of course even though the speed limit was 80 on I-10 as we were traveling west,

we kept our speed at our usual 65 to 68 mph when pulling out 5th Wheel.

 

Traveling through New Mexico and Arizona, sure not much to see, lots of dirt and wide open spaces

 

Another overnight Stay at Hacienda RV Resort, Las Cruces NM

There was some construction on I-10 at the exit for the park which made it a little

difficult getting to the park but we arrived mid afternoon so traffic was not too bad.

 

Hacienda RV was a very nice park, we would stay here again, easy in and out, great staff

 

Arizona, yep it was HOT

 

 

Debra driving pulling the 5th Wheel on a open stretch of I-10

She did great, managed traffic fine and even went through a construction zone,

 everybody survived !!!

Another overnight stay in Indio CA at Indian Waters Resort

Next stop is our CA destination in Pomona CA

 

Fuel prices in CA are high, notice Diesel was cheaper than Regular Gas !!!!