Sunday, January 2, 2011

Blue Ox, Roadmaster, Brake Buddy… Oh My!

Now that we have our toad it is time for us to get the toad ready to be towed behind our future home.  I wanted to buy the entire towing system and install it before we get our motorhome (since we don’t have one yet) but it appears as if we really need to wait on some of the parts since a crucial measurement is needed before installation on the toad.

It has been suggested to first measure the height from the ground to the center point of the motorhome’s hitch receiver and from the ground to where the base plate tow bar connections would be on whatever hitch plate system we decide upon. Why? Well most tow bar manufacturers recommend there be no more than 4" difference between these two measurements.  This will prevent the toad from pushing under or over the tow bar connection points during emergency stops.

But that shouldn’t stop me from buying and installing the base plate on our 2011 Honda CR-V. All my research has narrowed down my choices to Blue Ox and Roadmaster. After reading the installation manuals for both of them I feel more comfortable installing the Roadmaster since it doesn’t require any cutting of the existing frame structure of the CR-V whereas Blue Ox does. Both require taking off the front fascia which I admit seems a bit scary but doable.  Both require drilling new holes and fitting new components. Those who have installed them their selves suggest the Roadmaster is easier and will take about 3.5 hours to install.

So it looks like I will purchase the Roadmaster baseplate and then decide on the tow bar and brake system later…

Which tow bar and brake system would you recommend for the CR-V with a roadmaster base plate?

Saturday, January 1, 2011

1-1-11 or Happy New Year…

We welcomed in the New Year Texas styled… we had a plate of homemade tamales (the ones we made), black eyed peas with jalapenos and homemade cornbread… and all I can say is mmmmmm mmmmmmm good! We even chased it down with a bit of bubbly…

2011 foodSo out with 2010 and welcome to 2011. The year 2010 was an interesting year with the changes in my job and the realizations that we were ready to depart the place we called home for the last 25 years. The good news for us in 2010 was that the stock market rebounded and empowered us to be able to retire when we had hoped for in March 2011.  So no changes to our retirement date were made which makes us really happy and we are enjoying the fact that 2011 is finally here.

I never have had much luck making New Year’s resolutions… only made one in my life that I was able to stick to.  What was it – you may ask? To Never Make Another New Year’s Resolution!!! I will stick to this resolution for 2011 as well.

Now that we made it to the year 2011 we are going to have a very busy time as we find our future home on wheels…

Hope that everyone out there in blog land will have a great 2011!