Merry Christmas

We have a little snow so far, but we know lots more will come. Our RV is just waiting for Spring. We hope to get back into it around the first of March. This is our last winter in Washington.

Our truck gets around in this stuff pretty good. But is longing for warmer weather just as we are.

We tried to take some pictures of us by the RV for Christmas cards, but didn't get any really good ones. We settled for the traditional Christmas cards with our annual Ferguson Christmas Newsletter.
Here are a few of the better photos.

Our daughter Kim is home for Winter break. She goes to Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. She is living with us in the basement at our friends, Bruce & Carol's house. We sure appreciate them letting us spend the winter with them.

We went to our Grandson's house for Christmas. Our oldest daughter Candy was up from Vancouver. This was our Great Grandson Oliver's first Christmas. We had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Donna posing by the Christmas tree.

 

Candy getting ready to take some pictures with her phone.

 

Our Grandsons Chase & Erik.

 

Candy.

 

Kim with our Christmas morning yummies.

 

Oliver and his new Moose.

 

Erik & Sara & Oliver, ready for gifts.

 

Ollie going at it.

 

Erik, Sara & Ollie.

 

Yummy bows.

 

 

 

It was a great Christmas. Our son's family (Tim, Shannon & our Grandson Rome) had Christmas in Bothell, WA this year with Shannon's family. We did Facetime with them.

 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all...a good night!

The Annual Ferguson Christmas Newsletter

2012

 

Merry Christmas from the Fergusons

 

   This year has been one of preparation and planning. Donna and I are getting close to retirement. I can retire from Frontier Communications as soon as next July.  Our plan is to become full-time RVers . We will travel the country and see America first hand.  We are hoping this will be our last winter in the cold and snowy Northwest.

 

   We put our house on the market in June, thinking it might take a while to sell in today’s economy.  The Lord was with us and it sold in just 1 month.  Down-sizing our belongings were quite an emotional experience, especially for Donna.  We had to  move everything we wanted to keep into our 5^th wheel.  We had a couple of yard sales, gave much to friends and family, and donated the rest to the Goodwill. 

 

   We belong to several  ‘camping clubs’,  such as  Thousand Trails, Good Sam, and the like, so we had no problem finding a place close to Wenatchee to park the RV.  We lived in the RV while I commuted to work each day.  We even attended a few outings with our local chapter of the Good Sam club.  Life in an RV is perfect for us.  We love it.

 

   We have a couple of friends who needed a house-sitter while they took off on a mini RV vacation.  We gladly accepted their offer.  They took their motorhome on a 10 week trip clear around  the US.   And when they got back,  they invited us to continue to live with them (in their basement) throughout  the winter.  Are we blessed or what!  We get along great and it is working out beautifully.

 

   We attended a RV Rally in Harrisburg, Oregon in September.  It was an educational rally geared for full-time RVers  and we really enjoyed the 8 days we were there.  We learned a great deal and met lots of new friends.  We had our rig weighed while we were there and found out that our truck was overloaded by 700 pounds on the rear axle.   I guess we needed a bigger truck.  So on October 1^st, I gave myself a birthday present.  I traded my ¾ ton truck in for a 1 ton dually.  On the way back home from picking up the new truck, we stopped off to look at some newer, bigger 5^th wheels.  You guessed it….we bought one of those too.  So now we are REALLY ready to retire and go full-time!

 

   I have been working on our web site… www.thefergs.com...  And it is coming along.  I have set it up so you all can go to the site and see where we are, where we are going, and what we are doing.  You can follow us as we travel this wonderful country of ours. 

   We are receiving our mail at our Post Office box here in Wenatchee.  Still getting mail forwarded to us from our old address on Ashland Ave.  But, we also have set up our permanent mailing address that we will use when we begin our travels.  We are going to become South Dakota residents.   Our new mailing address will be:

Allen & Donna Ferguson

514 Americas Way #4481

Box Elder, SD 57719-7600

You all can use this address from now on and we will get our mail where ever we happen to be.

 

   Donna and I are really enjoying these times.  We love being together and God has blessed us in every way.  Our health is good and we are looking forward to the years to come.  We hope and pray that God showers His blessings on you all too.  Remember the reason for the season,  the birth of Jesus, the Christ, and Savior of the world.   Have a very merry Christmas and a great new year to come.

 

With Love,

Allen & Donna Ferguson   

 

   

November 11, 2012 - AGM Batteries Installed

Recieved our new Lifeline GPL-4CT AGM 6 volt batteries from Powerstride Battery. Only $285.00 each (gasp) and free shipping. I went this route so I can install them a little more centrally located. In the Basement. And no maintenence or venting. Not to mention 440 amp-hours.

I replaced the 2 12 volt batteries that came with the rig with the new 4 in a series/parellel combination. It was amazing to notice how light one of the 12 volt batteries is when compared with the 6 volt ones. 45 1/2 pounds for the 12 volt battery verses 66 pounds for each 6 volt one.

It's a done deal!!.

November 4, 2012 - From House-sitters to House-guests

Bruce and Carol came back home today from their RV trip around the US. They were glad to be back home after traveling over 8000 miles and having such a great time.

They offered to let us stay with them over the winter. We will live in their basement. We are very grateful.

We moved our rig out from beneath the 'RV Port' to make room for their motorhome. Our Bighorn is winterized and set-up next to theirs while I install the new batteries and finish the inverter wiring. Then we will close her up till Spring. Around March 1st, we will move out to a nearby campground while I continue to work for 4 more months. Then it will be 'Hit The Road' time.

Life is Good!

November 2, 2012 - Installing the Solar Set-up

For the past several days, I have been re-installing our Solar set-up that we bought from AM Solar last April. Today, they are in and working. Here is some photos of the install process.

I had to get a PV cable from the basement to the roof. I couldn't use the refrigerator vent like in our Cameo because is is in a slide. The closest vent pipe was in the wall and not over the basement, so I had to drill. I used a closet that was in our bedroom.

Here is where I drilled up to the roof. .

After my starter hole, I used a 1 1/8 inch round hole bit. Note how thick the roof is.

Up comes the PV cable and the combiner box is installed. I used lots of Dicor. No leaks for us!

I put the 4 100 Watt panels in-line with enough slack so we could tilt them. Again using lots of Dicor and stainless screws.

The PV cable went down through each shelf of the closet into the basement. I secured the PV cable into the inside corner of the closet where you can not see it.

Through the same holes with the PV cable, I ran the 2 wires for the Tri-Star RM-2 Remote Monitor for our Solar equipment and for the ME-RC50 remote battery monitor for our Inverter. They mounted great at the end of our closet.

I put new back board up in the basement for the Tri-Star 45 charge controller, 300 amp catostrophic fuse, Shunt, ME-BMK battery monitor, and the Magnum Enery MS 2012 2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter all using 2/0 wedling cable.

I connected up the 2 12 volt batteries that came with the rig, but I have ordered 4 Lifeline GPL-4CT AGM 6 volt batteries. An easy swap when they get here.

Here is the working rig. I still have to finish the Inverter install.

Done!