Raising the Titanic

Well plans sure have changed in the last few months. I am on orders to deploy to Afghanistan. I did not get near as much work done to the old gal as I had planned. I lived in her from April up until 2 weeks ago and she served me vey well. I started having brake issues on the drive back home but I made it safely. Looks like I will be putting her is storage till I return from overseas and continue the makeover when I get back sometime next year.

I have been looking in every now and then when I get a chance, just so dang busy lately. This is the best RV forum ever.

Stay safe Chief.

Stay safe and think of all the fun you'll have working on her when you get home.


Wendy

Take care my friend.  Tell the Afghans how much I miss them.  (At least the ones not lobbing rockets over the wire at me)    Sending you an e-mail as well.  If you aren't accessing Govt email right now, I'll send you a PM.

Thanks everyone,
Will be  glad to have it over and done with. Been there before so I kinda know what to expect.  This year has been so crazy and it looks like I will be moving to Atlanta after I get back.(promotion)!!! Then maybe we can get back to something close to normal again. At least I did get to stay in her for a while and I learned how to live life under 20 amps!!!

Hi everyone !!
I have not forgotten about you. Life has taken some strange turns. I did end up deploying to Afghanistan and I have been over here for 20 months. I was given the opportunity to extend so I could retire and I took it. I will finally be heading back to the states in less than 3 weeks. I came home on leave in October and bought a new house in North Georgia. My brake problems ended up being the brake cylinders were leaking. New shoes, seals and cylinders and all is well now with the brakes. The starter ending going on the trip to the new house, she has a new one of those now too.

It looks like I am heading to Ft Benning for my last months before I retire, problem is it is 3 hrs drive one way away from home. Current plan is to live in the motorhome again until I retire. Ft Benning has a great Famcamp facility and they have long term rates for active duty people doing what I am planning on doing. I might commute on Wednesdays to able to have some family time and not be gone the whole week. I am taking 30 days of leave before I head down to Ft Benning and there are a few things I need to do to the old girl.

1: Spare tire
2: Replace all the vent lids
3: Reseal the outside of the skylight in the bathroom with eternabond.
4: I plan on finally updating some of the interior, Thinking of painting the cabinets white, painting the walls something and some new flooring. Would like some new curtains too.

I already ordered a new blower motor for the roof AC and the new vents. Not looking forward to living away from home again but I am looking forward to moving forward on the motorhome fix up.

Welcome back Chief, and thanks for your continued service helping to keep us all safe. You'll have earned that retirement!

Thanks Tom!!
It has been a very long 21 months. I am ready for some normal, whatever that is. Looking forward to getting back to work on the Titanic. The AC blower motor should be delivered today and the 2 new roof vents are on the way too. Won't be home till sometime the first week of August and then I will get started on the fixes and upgrades.

Hey, Chief!  Good to hear from you.  I haven't been real active on the RV forum lately, but dropped in and saw your update.  Safe travels.  Hopefully someday we'll meet again some place that's not a combat zone.

For old times' sake, here's a photo from last fall.  Safe travels.

Hey JAG !!
Yea it's seems like forever ago since that day. I took another R&R in April and figured the last 90 days would fly by, well not so much it seems. Tomorrow I will be in the single digits left in Kabul. I did my last mission outside the wire yesterday so the day to fly is getting here. I told my wife we will have to go camping when I get back as she has never went camping in the Winnebago.  I am on email for the next few days.

Stephen,

The words "last mission outside the wire" are just what I wanted to hear.    I always worried a lot about you from my much safer foxhole up at Bagram.  Single digits means it's for real now.

I am back !!!
I am finally settled in at Ft Benning and my retirement is set for December of next year. I ended up driving the Winne down to Ft Benning and staying in the Famcamp as it is a 3 hour drive one way. 

Since I got home in August  I have:
Replaced 2 of the roof vents and covers
Replaced the blower motor for the ceiling A/C.
I eterna bonded around all the vents and the skylight.

I ended up having to replace the coach battery and it will need some house batteries but not an emergency right now. She drove real good all the way from home to Ft Benning. So instead of fixing her up on the weekends it will have to wait till after next summer. I may try to do some stuff during the week but it will not be anything huge. I do plan on doing some fix up stuff as we are planning on taking it to Pannamah City beach next summer. 

The unexpected great news is my wife is expecting our son in January!!! It was a shock to me when she told me but I am super excited!!! I will be home to help raise this one and not all over the world!!! 

The new son is almost here, the wife and I do not think she will make it till January.

I have started to do a little fixing up of the old girl as I think it is way past time. I have decided to start painting the walls and the cabinets tonight. I am going to get new window treatments after the painting is complete. I will post pics as the progress comes along.

CheifM, thank you for your service, good luck with your endeavors and congrats on your new son,whenever he gets here ! Pat.

Our son arrived on the 29th of December, 20 inches long and was 7 lbs, 9 oz. !!! He is one funny kid already because he makes the funniest faces. He looks me straight in the face when I talk to him. My pics are too large and I can't resize them at work, will post  when I get home.

I have finally started working on updating the interior and I will post some pics when I have made some noteworthy progress.

Hey, congrats Dad!  Enjoy.

God bless our soldiers and train up those children good ;D

Congrats on your new bundle of joy.  It goes by fast so try to slow down and enjoy him.

Thanks everyone!!
I have about 5 months left until I retire from active duty. I plan on getting a job close to home and finally enjoying being home every night and help raise this one. I am home every weekend and I go home on Wednesday nights. It's not every night right now but it's a heck of a lot better than being in Afghanistan for almost 2 years.  I plan on doing a little more updates to the motor home next  week and will post some pics.