Mattress Wars

Seffner, Florida – Lazy Days

We had our walk through scheduled for yesterday morning at  10 am.  The guy was very knowledgeable and  didn’t rush us.   We took the opportunity to really pick his brain. Even though we’ve had rv’s for years and this is our second motor home, a diesel pusher is a whole new thing.    I don’t remember the PDI on our last motor home being that thorough.  I guess it depends on who you get and whether you know enough to even ask questions.  The last time, we didn’t know what to ask.  This time, we did.

Our friends Terry and Ralph came to visit yesterday to see our new motor home.  Terry and I worked at USAA and we both retired at the same time.  They are enjoying their “new to them” motor home and came to see ours.   Of course, it was a mess, but they got the idea, I think.

After they left, we got short storm.  At this point, we hadn’t made much progress in our move.  The storm only lasted a short time, so we got motivated and eventually got a lot of stuff moved over.  What we are learning is that the old motor home had a lot of storage for a rig that size.  That was one of the main reasons we bought it.   We had a large pantry that was at least 3 feet wide and deep.  It was huge and held a lot. It was nice, but  difficult to find anything.   I sure hope  all that stuff fits in the new one!

By early evening, we started discussing moving the mattresses.  We had been procrastinating, hoping for  inspiration for an easy way to do it.  Al finally came up with a plan.  We used two heavy duty straps that we use to tie the kayaks down.  You can cinch them down and they are very strong.  He started by folding the Monaco mattress in half and cinching it together with the straps.  It made it smaller and easier to handle.  Of course, it still had to go around the corner and out the door.  The ground was wet from the rain so we had to be careful not to drag it on the ground.  This mattress isn’t very thick so we didn’t think it would be much of a problem…and it wasn’t.  It was hard to handle because there was no place to grab hold, but we managed to get it over to the old motor home.

Our biggest challenge was how to get the Bedinabox mattress moved.  We knew it could be folded because it arrived in a pretty small box from the factory.  They warn you to put the mattress where you want it before you unpack it, because once you do, it will grow very quickly!  It is 11 inches thick and pretty solid, so we didn’t think we could just squish it back up…and we were right.  Al did manage, with the help of the kayak straps to cinch it in half.  We tightened the straps as best as we could but it was still too wide to fit through any of the doors.  We got it out of the old motorhome by basically dragging it.  I put down a vinyl table cloth on the wet ground and we just scooted it over.  Next step was getting it up the wicked steps on the new motor home and in the door.  It kept getting stuck.  I was inside trying to pull, Al was outside trying to push and the mattress would get hung up. Finally a neighbor/good Samaritan offered his assistance.   It made a big different to have two men, rather than one man and a “sissy.”  They struggled, but managed to get it inside!  Of course we both had sore backs and muscles…it was a big job.  The mattress sits on a platform, as it did in the other motorhome, but this one is higher.  With the 11 inch thick mattress, it’s 32 inches high.  I would prefer it to be lower, but I am not going to get rid of my mattress.    Oh well, it’s in and its extremely comfortable.

We spent our first night in the new motor home and slept on our own bed.  We brought Squeaky over to acclimate her to the new motor home.  She’s been ill again, so I didn’t want to leave  her alone in the other motor home.  The other kitties had to stay where they were.  Squeaky seemed to like the new place, but had a bit of trouble walking on the tile floor.  She kept slipping.  I had to make a step for her to get on the bed and teach her how to get up and down.  I don’t want her jumping down that far.  I think she’s gotten the idea now.  She was fascinated by all the mirrors.  She kept looking at herself.  I don’t think she’s used to seeing such a cute kitty.

I haven’t forgotten the pictures, but it’s a bit messy now, so once we get things put away pictures will be coming.