Almost Done...

We've finished up our training at the Whippany,NJ site. Peggy and Roger have been awesome trainers and great hosts for us while we've been here. It was an exhausting week...our heads are filled with all the info we learned and we've got all kinds of manuals and notes with us to help us when we get to a site to do things on our own. (We also have Roger and Peggy's cell phone numbers :) We are sad to be leaving our new friends but we need to be in Woodbridge, VA for more training on Tuesday and Wednesday. There we will learn about renting Penske trucks.

We will pack the rig up tonight and head out early in the morning. We have 5 hours to drive tomorrow till we get to the campground in Dumfries, VA where we will be staying tomorrow night. We may also have to stay there on Tuesday and Wednesday night because we're not sure that we can make the turn into the Woodbridge facility with our big rig. They said they have difficulty getting in with their 26' box trucks so it sounds a little tight. I've made "just in case" reservations in case we have to stay more nights at the same campground.

Training Underway...

We have had two days of training so far in Whippany, NJ at the Mini U location here. Boomer made friends with Duke and Lobo right off the bat. They are the black labs of Peggy and Roger, the managers who are training us. We are having a great time and couldn't ask for better training. Very thorough....great personalities and fun to be around. We are loving it ! I find the reports to be very similar to ones I worked with at Penn College and the end of day reconciliation comes very easily to both Linda and I since we've dealt with end of day balancing before at other jobs. It was super easy to get "into" our site as we just pulled down along the fence and set up there...directly across from where the electrical room and the 50 amp receptacle is. Our cord wasn't long enough and the only bad thing, our first night here, was that we had to drive to Lakewood to the Camping World to buy a 50 amp extension cord. But now we have it and should be OK at any future sites and we'll get reimbursed for it from Mini U. There is alot to learn but the more we do the work the more it gels in our heads. Tomorrow we learn more about renting the one truck that we have at this location. Our training next week, in Virginia, will be on Penske trucks and one way and local rentals and what is involved with renting them. All of the customers are super nice...you can tell that Peggy and Roger have a great relationship with their customers. I have been working in the office with Linda, to learn that side of things. On Friday I will work with Roger on the outside stuff....maintenance issues and building systems like sprinklers, elevators, etc. The day flies right by and before you know it, it's time to go home for the night.

On Monday when we were getting ready to leave Linda's brothers house, we noticed that we had a leak under the rig. It appears to be something to do with the black water tank, as it is not holding any liquids. There wasn't hardly anything in the tank since we just dumped it on Saturday morning. After doing some research and talking to the Excel factory, we have decided to go to the Excel dealer in Virginia the day after we complete our training next week and get it taken care of. We are hoping that they don't need to order a new black tank as it will mean that we'll have to sit and wait 3 days for it to arrive. We're hoping it's something simpler than that so we don't have to stay off the road for too many days. This will be the first time that we've had to use the service contract that we purchased so we'll see if that covers the repairs as I think it is supposed to. We should only have to pay a $50 deductible....we'll see how it goes.

Just three more days here...will keep you posted on how our training goes.

Family Fun

We arrived at Linda's brother's house around 5 p.m. on Saturday. The party was in full swing with all the family there.Boomer was such a good boy. He got lots of luvin' over the weekend from everyone there. He was on surveillance, making sure that none of the kids dropped their food and made a mess.... I got a nice picture of Linda with her brothers and sisters. Brother John stayed behind in Chambersburg....he's not much of a traveler. Roy (Linda's brother)and Kathie's back yard makes such a great place for everyone to hang out. A large beautiful yard....a great pool for the kids to swim and play in...and plenty of places for people to sleep. We were able to park right at the curb out front of their house. Linda's sister and husband had their large pop-up camper at the top of the driveway and Roy and Kathie had their pop-up just behind the fence in the back yard...Family members came from far and wide to be together over the weekend. Some left on Sunday...others stayed till Wednesday...we left today so we could get set up at our training site and be ready to start work tomorrow. We left about late morning and made our way to Whippany, NJ. When we arrived at the Mini U location, we had a great location to put the rig but our power cord wasn't long enough to reach over to where the electrical room is. Peggy and Roger called a nearby place where they were able to get an extension cord one other time for an RV'er but they didn't have what we needed. Linda and I ended up driving 1.5 hours away to Lakewood to a Camping World store to buy a 30' extension for our 50 amp cord. Since getting back, we're beat and ready to get a good night's sleep before work. Peggy and Roger have two black labs...Duke and Lobo. Boomer has found two new chums to run with here in the enclosed compound. Peggy and I took them all out tonight and let them run around the property a bit. We are all looking forward to our week here with the Moss family.