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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Alaska Expedition

The Big Winne
OK so here we go, the planning process has begun and we have a ton to do and what should be a fair amount of time to do it in. I will get out of the Marine Corps on July 23rd of 2011 at 0800, yet as I said before I will still get paid until Sept 1st. My wife and I have decided that we are going to take a two month trip to Alaska. That being said we realized that the kids school will start in late August so we have decided that we are going to be home schoolingthem starting next year. We do not have all the kinks worked out of this plan yet so there will be more to come on that in the future. We rationalized that considering we both have education beyond High School, and our oldest would be in 5th grade that we can handle the teaching aspect. Both of our boys are on the honor roll with straight A’s so I am confident they will be able to handle the transition. Also, as a plus, we will be able to interject into their curriculum the religion that I feel has been so absent mindedly left out of modern education, without the exorbitant cost of Christian School. We will be giving them hands on education, which leads me into our second big decision…

We are buying an RV…not a trailer, not a pop-up camper, not a tent, a full blown Class A Motorhome. HOW, might you ask? Simple, we have saved a bit of money here and there, and having had the advantage of a steady job over the last couple years when many others have lost theirs we kept our debts low. When I walk out the door of the Marine Corps for the last time in July I will have absolutely no debt. All car payments will have been paid off, all creditcards paid off, no house payment yet, and no college bills because the Marine Corps has covered them all so far. So we will have no obligations tying us to anywhere, for the first time in our lives we have a little money and the time to spend it. We have already found the prospective RV, and keep in mind I said we have a little money. It is a 1989 Winnebago Chieftain, and it is awesome. Don’t let the age fool you, this RV has been babied by its current owner, it has always been kept indoors, and only has 46,000 miles on it. It has all the 1989 bells and whistles hahaha, but some have been upgraded including the Microwave, Fridge/Freezer, and AC/Heater units. It has new tires, and everything else works too. The current, and only, owner took it on a few trips to Florida and back and has just bought a new one to upgrade. So how much are we getting this gem for you ask….$5000.00 that’s right only 5K.

Winne's Kitcken
So a little more about the RV, this little beauty has yet to be named but she actually isn’t very little. At 33’ long and almost 9 feet wide this behemoth is a sight to behold. She does not look like a product of the 80’s, there are no ridiculous colors or ugly brown tweed, nor are there any mullets or insta-perms to be found! It has a queen bed in a rear room, a central dinette, and a couch with two captains chairs opposite. We will be taking out the old tv and replacing it with a new 47” flat screen, and turning the storage cabinets around the old TV mount into DVD, Blueray, and Wii storage. It is wired for indoor and outdoor speakers which we will be upgrading and linking into a new radio tuner with Sirius, which also connects to the TV. I am considering how to get satellite TV right now, haven’t figured that part out yet. There will be a TV mount added to the exterior, and it has a new full length awning with a screen surround. Talk about a nice place to watch Mystery Alaska, while sitting beside a lake somewhere. More pictures of the RV can been seen below:
Winne's Coach View
So there you go, to make this trip we will drive our RV from North Carolina to Michigan, dropping off our little yorky with my parents so he doesn’t become a Grizzly Snack, and heading to Alaska. Up next in the Planning process….THE ROUTE! So stay tuned because it will be up soon.
Winne's Rear Queen Bedroom
Until next time
Stay Frosty
USMCPatriot                                          

                                                                   Update: We have since bought the RV in January and have changed our plans of a 2 months vacation to a whole year on the road exploring. This post was created a few months ago by my husband, please stay tuned to see about our travels.