BIG BERTHA

Like most people, George and I had been discussing future plans on and off forever. We had thoughts of eventually buying a home somewhere, but that "somewhere" could not be decided upon. We each had our preferences, but, like a jury after a difficult trial, we were hopelessly deadlocked. 

Living in Little Miss, our 37 foot Tiffin Allegro Open Road, had been heaven, but being stuck inside her with my long recuperation time from bunion surgery and then remaining inside due to 100 degree temperatures in Florida during CoVid, the walls started to close in on us. Besides that, our two air conditioners could not keep the RV cooled below 80 degrees on most days.

George did his due diligence in searching and researching for a solution to our dilemma and it eventually led him to his long-wished-for and favorite RV. His dream-come-true was discovered sitting at Dylan's RV Center in Sewell, NJ.  I had to admit, she was a beauty. I had always told people that the only two things I truly missed living in an RV were not having a dishwasher and a bathtub. Well, he was able to find one with a dishwasher and that made me a happy camper.

On September 11th of 2020, we picked up Big Bertha, a 2019 Tiffin, Phaeton 40IH. She earns her name with her over 40 foot length, four slides, three roof air conditioners, polished tile-heated floors, washer, dryer, king-sized bed, keyless entry, power glide chassis, double-pane windows, huge shower and a large kitchen with a dishwasher! We got the layout we had preferred, one with the kitchen on the driver's side and dinette on the passenger side. 

My grandmother used to tell me of an old-wives tale, "New home, new baby." Well, we did it the opposite, new baby (Stella) new home (Bertha).

I always knew that George would find a way to get a Phaeton and I had the Big Bertha name picked out way back when we bought our first RV, Gracie. 

Stella was a little confused and unhappy for the first couple of hours, but she finally found her hiding spots and sunny nap locations and adjusted much more quickly than we did. We are still opening closet after closet and drawer after drawer unable to find what we are looking for. 

We are getting used to living life a bit fancier and a lot “larger.” There are so many buttons to operate the lights, that it took us almost the whole day to figure them all out. We have ceiling lights, sconce lighting, ceiling accent lighting, entry lights, exterior lights and baseboard courtesy lighting.  Then there are buttons to cover the entry steps, turn on the hot water heater and raise and lower the kitchen shade and TV. 

There are a couple of quirky little items that need to be fixed and George has been able to solve most of them. Whatever he can’t get done, we know certain people who can help out with the expert knowledge and/or tool for the job. Tony, Ray and Craig, are your ears ringing?

Here is our big, bad, beautiful, bodacious, behemoth Bertha, not meaning to, but showing up all the other RV's at Croton Point Park. 

All of my blog entries will include comments or updates on our sweet Stella Bella. She had major oral surgery a week ago and is healing nicely. Although getting her had been my idea, apparently, she is unaware of that fact. Her best bud is her dad - and, for that matter, ANY male who enters Big Bertha. She sidles up next to them and before you know it, she's up on their laps, purring and placing her head under their hands to be petted. I believe it might be that she associates me more with discipline and her after-care causing me to get the cold shoulder. Time will tell.  Fingers crossed that she begins to like me again, I will continue to love her, regardless. For now, the photo below depicts her recent attitude towards me.  :(

 

Awww.  Baby, you're breakin' my heart.

Deep thought for the day:  Bigger is not always better.....but Bertha is!  ~ vc