RV Summer

Chapter 1

Rick was standing out front, waiting for the bus to drop off his daughter. It was the last day of high school which meant they could start their annual summer vacation soon. He had initially been a little timid about the kind of summer vacation Alexis had talked him into years ago. His idea of a summer vacation was to fly there and rent a hotel room. She'd talked him into something else. It only took that very first summer and he was hooked. Now he was looking forward to it and this summer they had plans to go a little farther than usual.

The second he saw the school bus he began smiling. He was certain that Alexis was likely bouncing up and down in her seat. This summer was going to be different.

Alexis almost jumped out of the bus. "Hi, pumpkin!" Rick hugged her tightly and could feel her hug him back.

"Hi, Dad. Are we ready to go?" She was eager to get started.

"School's over and you're all set, I take it." He was certainly ready.

"All set. I can even take my backpack with me." She didn't have a reason to go into the house if her dad was ready.

"The last thing we have to do is to take a final look at our present RV and we can go. Make sure we didn't miss anything." Rick fished out the keys to show her and watched as she snatched them out of his hand.

"Let's go." Alexis headed toward the RV barn that fit the RV they presently had.

Their entire home consisted of three buildings. The main building was four stories high and used to be a mill, meaning it was next to a stream. Rick had spent money to have one of the buildings converted to an RV barn while the other building was an ordinary storage building. If you could call a building that could hold a car if you really tried and even had stairs up to a loft area for more storage a storage building.

In fact their main house was totally unique. Rick had wanted out of downtown New York City when she was really little which meant Alexis had grown up in this house. It had its pros and cons.

Pros were indoor space that consisted of wood and stone walls; outdoor space that was all two acres of land. The first floor was where the mill stone used to be. The stone itself was long gone and in its place was a woodworking shop. Alexis had learned that her dad was never going to be a master carpenter, but that didn't stop him from tinkering. Some of her favorite toys were the wooden ones that he'd had made for her when she was little.

It was also where the oil tank was that fed the heater that heated the entire house. The second floor was the game room. There was a pool table that doubled as the ping-pong table. A dart board, foosball table, ice hockey, poker table, shuffleboard, and even an indoor hoop game as well as a pair of old fashioned arcade games using pinballs.

The third floor was totally open and you could see all four sides easily. It held the kitchen, dining room, living room, and laundry area. Since it was totally open it also meant that there were no upper cabinets in the kitchen, though it was quite large so they weren't missed. There were two massive refrigerators that were installed side by side that opened in opposite directions. They were located on the outside wall.

The fourth floor at the start was also completely open. This floor was the three bedrooms and all of the full-size bathrooms. Instead of building walls Rick had settled for hanging curtains. At first they had been a little see through and as Alexis got older she had argued to have them changed out to something far less exposing.

Then there was the roof deck that held the grill, table, and even a small putting green that Rick never used. There were also a number of lights hanging on strings to light up the place.

In all areas there was exposed wood: exposed wood beams, wood ceiling, and wood floors. Stone walls and wooden windows.

Since it was two acres there was room to do all kinds of things. Also the stream had fish in it if you were willing to try and catch one. So far neither of them had shown any interest in that particular sport.

Cons were to get to any school, from elementary to high school, she either took the bus that at least stopped right out front or Rick had to drive her. Another was that there weren't many houses around them so they really didn't have any neighbors. Her only friends were the ones she made in school. If her friends came to her, their parents or Rick had to drive them here.

Still they both loved it.

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Alexis was sitting in the navigation chair while Rick was driving the class A RV that they'd been using; it was time to trade up to something bigger. The primary problem with something bigger was that they chose it based on pictures and floor plan. They hadn't actually ever seen it with their own eyes.

"Turn left and we're there, Dad." They were close. They were trading this one in and then would look over the new one.

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"May I help you?" A salesman greeted them especially since they hadn't driven up to the service area.

"I'm Rick Castle and this is my daughter, Alexis." He was hoping that would be enough.

"The Castles." He had been hoping to meet them. It wasn't everyday that they sold an RV like this one. "Right this way. She showed up yesterday and we've spent that time getting her clean for you. We've also taken the time to attach the matching trailer that will go with it." He started walking and soon they could see it. It was hard to miss.

"A Prevost H3 Featherlite Vantaré. Red and gray coloring as you requested. A 450 HP diesel pusher with four slide outs, on the left and right side. You have five bays with doors on each side. This left side houses one for storage." He opened the door to show them. "It's a complete pass through. Press that yellow button for me." He pointed at the button and watched as Rick reached in to press it.

Instantly the front of the RV began to slide out. "COOL!" Alexis had been impressed with what she had read on this RV, but this was awesome.

"This is your generator. You can stand on it to clean those front windows. It's also hooked up to an inverter that's attached to your solar panels on the roof. It will allow you to dry camp for as long as you have food, clean water, and waste storage before you need to move on. On your roof is the automatic satellite dish. It will find and lock on to the satellite no matter where you are on the planet," he explained as Rick pressed the yellow button and the generator disappeared back into the RV.

He showed them what was behind the other four doors on this side, which included the outdoor kitchen area that had a small refrigerator, sink, and a grill. Next to it was the outdoor entertainment system that held the TV, radio, and speakers.

He took them back to the front door. "Your doorbell."

"Our old one didn't have a doorbell." Alexis still liked the little things she hadn't read anything about. Then he opened the door and the steps, allowing them to slide out. "Let me show you the canopy slide outs." He stepped just inside, pressed a button and out slid a canopy cover. "They are both integrated into the body." Once the first one was done he pressed the other button. "Each has two LED light bars, one at the RV and one at the edge of the canopy. You can turn on whichever one you want or turn them all off."

"They look long, too." Rick liked them since it meant they might not be trapped inside if it was raining on them. They at least extended out past the two slide outs.

"Ladies first." He moved outside and motioned for Alexis to enter.

Alexis went up the stairs, looked inside, and barely kept moving. "WOW, DAD!" She'd seen pictures but this was spectacular. Nothing like their old RV. Their old RV was really basic compared to this thing.

There was a dark gray captain's chair on the right side just behind her seat while Rick drove. Next came a table with a drawer and storage followed by another dark gray captain's chair. Across from that was a dark gray love seat.

"WOW!" Rick was right behind her and almost pushing her into the space to create room for him.

The salesman was right behind them. "The floors are tile in a red and dark gray crisscross pattern. No carpet in this space and the floors are heated. This is the driver's chair; neither of them swivel though those two captain's chairs do swivel 360 degrees. This screen is your GPS and this screen will show you all of the outdoor cameras. Here's the key; have a seat, and fire her up." He held out the key for Rick to take.

Rick sat down, turned the key, and watched as everything turned on. "These are all four cameras with the RV in the middle. If you want just one of the cameras to be shown on the screen you just touch that camera."

Alexis had a huge smile as she watched her dad press the one behind them and saw the screen fill up with what was behind them.

"Simply press the center of the screen to go back to the RV with all four views." The salesman watched Rick do just that. "Your GPS has all of the Untied States including Alaska and Hawaii should you ever find yourself in either location. You'll need to add Canada to reach Alaska, however. …Shut her down, please." They weren't going anywhere just yet anyway.

"Your cup holder in your right armrest has cooling and heating capabilities depending on what you're drinking. Directly behind your drivers seat the storage cabinet has been replaced with a mini refrigerator as requested." He lead Alexis deeper into the RV.

"The loveseat pulls out into a bed." He removed the seat covers, lifted out the bed, and set it in place. "It has an air mattress and comes complete with a built-in blower and a patch kit should you ever have a leak." He put the loveseat back together. The seats were leather while the backs were a mix of gray cloth.

"This is your L-shaped dinette. It also makes into a bed. Would you hand me that pad on the table between the captain's chairs, please?" He indicated what he needed and Alexis retrieved it for him.

"This is the master control that you can use to monitor practically everything on this RV. You can lower and raise the screens for all of the windows." He pressed a button and the screens on the side windows began to lower then went back up. "The dinette table is also motorized." He pressed another button and down went the table. He put the pad down and changed the dinette into a bed. Then he reversed everything.

"Also using this device you can lower the TV screen." He gestured at the front of the RV. They stood there watching with mouths hanging open as a huge TV screen came down from the ceiling, covering up a fair amount of the front windshield. "It's a 65-inch LED. You can only lower it when the RV's in park." Then it went back up.

"This unit can also be used to monitor the amount of fresh water you have, how full your waste storage is, and how many hours your generator has worked. It can turn on or off any or all of the lights." He did just that. "You can also turn on or off any of the three A/C units you have. The vents are integrated into the ceiling pattern so they are effectively invisible." He pointed at the red slots in the white ceiling that etched its way around the ceiling in three continuous lines that followed the open space of the ceiling.

"Your kitchen. Double bowl sink with built-in cutting boards, convection oven microwave combo, and not to be left out, your dishwasher." He pulled it out from the cabinet. "The woodwork is polished cherry. Your hidden residential style refrigerator has the same woodwork. It only works on electricity but with your inverter and solar panels you can dry camp as long as you wish. Provided that it doesn't rain the entire week," he joked.

"The panels here on the wall double some of the things your pad can do. Turn on exhaust fans, lower the dinette table, turn on or off lights. Oh and your pad can also extend the canopies outside as well as retract them.

"This is your pantry." He turned around, faced the dinette, and opened a red-colored wood door. Then he pulled out individual drawers all the way to show that they were really deep.

"Think it's enough?" Rick looked at Alexis. They'd seen this in pictures and debated if this one cabinet was going to be enough. "We eliminated the oven in favor of more storage on this side." Rick pointed to the space next to the dishwasher.

Alexis looked at it, the storage under the countertop, and the cabinets above the sink. It was all they had. "Maybe some of the space in your bedroom." He had a lot of space back there.

"We'll make it work." Rick was willing to give up a little of his space.

"Through this door." He opened a red paneled pocket door that separated the front of the RV from the back. "This is your bunk bed. As per your request only the upper bunk remains. The lower bunk is a closet." He opened doors and drawers. Then he pulled out the cherry wood ladder that allowed access to the upper bunk. "Give it a try." He looked at Alexis and they both watched as she climbed up and lay down.

"My TV!" She lowered it down into position that was about just above her stomach.

"It's connected to the satellite dish system as well as the DVD player. It also has a built-in DVD player so you can watch something else while your father's in his room watching what he wants to watch." She wasn't stuck arguing about what went into the DVD for the RV.

"COOL!" She didn't remember reading anything about that. She found that her decor was a match for the main RV, lots of red and white everywhere. She just needed sheets, a blanket, and pillows. "Hey." She found a net at her head and one at her feet.

"Those are meant to hold whatever you want. Magazines, books, whatever. You'll also note that you have a pair of USB plugs to charge various items. There are two more in the kitchen and two more at the table between the captain's chairs as well as two in the master bedroom." He'd forgotten about those.

Alexis climbed down so they could move on and pushed the ladder back into place.

"This is your lone bathroom with a shower. Having the bunk bed floor plan removed the second bathroom that was really a half bath." It meant they would have to share. It had also reduced the size of the pantry. The bathroom had a pocket door and just to the right was the toilet, in front of them was the sink, and to the left was the shower.

"You first, Dad, you're bigger than me." It looked like enough space to her. She saw a small shelf for her to put various tubes and jars and other items. There was storage below the sink and just to the right of the toilet was a small amount of space.

Rick stepped inside, taking up most of the empty space. Then he slid the shower door open and went inside. "At least it has a skylight." It was just above where part of his head would go when he showered. "Just like the other RV." It was going to be tight for him, but he was used to it. "It's enough."

"And the master bedroom." The salesman slid the pocket door open and went inside to get out of the way.

This room was different from the rest of the RV. It was all white with the same red A/C outlets in the ceiling. It was here that the tile floor ended and the beige carpeting began. There was a king size bed to the right with white cabinets all the way across the top. The bed had a red headboard.

"This is one of your hanging closets." The salesman was standing in front of it so he opened it for them to see. It had two drawers at the bottom. "If you would, please open that door behind you for me."

Rick opened the door and started to smile. Alexis smiled as well. "Full-size front loading washer and dryer. I know you asked for those."

"Yes, we did. This was a must have." When they had first started camping using a trailer it didn't have a washer and dryer so they'd had to use laundromats. Even the class A they had now didn't have these, mostly because it was a lot shorter than this rig. Alexis also didn't have her own bedroom space. She was sleeping on the dinette after it was folded down.

"You have more hanging storage across the back. There's a little storage below and to either side of the TV. And if you'll lift up the bed you'll find even more storage," the salesman told them.

Rick and Alexis lifted up his bed that was on hydraulic supports so it was easy. "I think we just fixed our dry storage problem, Dad." Alexis saw lots of space for cans and boxes of stuff.

"We can put your spare bedding in that closet and even bedding for the beds out front." He would make do with the storage across the back.

They had reached the end of the tour. "Questions?"

Rick and Alexis had read about everything else. They knew how much power the generator produced, how much gas it used, and how big a gas tank they had for it. How much diesel they could handle, how much potable water they had, how big their dump tank was. Even how much electricity their roof-mounted solar panels generated.

"Fuel dispenser?" Rick knew they had one and they still had to go through the matching trailer.

"Of course." He'd forgotten that part. He led them back outside, went to the left side of the RV, and continued to the very last door where he opened it. "This is your fuel dispenser for non-diesel fuel. You have a thirty gallon tank that can be filled here." Then he left that door open and moved forward a little. "This is one of your diesel tanks and this is the other one. You have two tanks. When you get a warning light that you're low on diesel you really will be low on diesel fuel. You can monitor how much is in each tank from the driver's seat as well as your control pad.

"Ready to go through your matching trailer?" Unless they wanted to go up the attached ladder to walk the roof, it was all that was left.

It was just a trailer that had a dual axle but Rick wanted to see it.

"There are two doors. This is your main door located on the right side." He opened it and let them go inside. "If you leave it connected to the RV you can use electricity from the solar panels; otherwise you will be using battery power."

It was mostly an open bay trailer that didn't look like anything special. There were a number of drawers and doors at the front. "You have a few drawers and doors to put tools and maybe spare propane bottles inside." He began opening them one at a time.

"On the floor are the channels for you to secure whatever you decide to put in here. If your car is small enough you can store a car along with a pair of motorcycles and maybe even a quad. You have the same channels across the ceiling for you to hang things like bicycles. There are also hooks so you can secure things like gas cans, for example. Cabinets to put oil in, drawers to put tools in along with space for spare parts. The trailer has a brake system that's attached to the RV at the hitch. When you brake so does the trailer. Just be careful going down those steep hills." He didn't want to see them racing down a steep hill and then using one of those emergency runoffs meant for eighteen wheelers who have lost their brakes. That would be bad.

"Did I miss anything?" He couldn't think of anything. "Oh, the door to drive a car in or quads or motorcycles." He folded down the ramp the took up the entire back of the trailer.

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It had taken them a total of three hours to get rid of their used class A RV, buy a new one, and hit the road for home. They discovered that the potable water tanks and all of the fuel tanks were already full, thanks to the dealership. They just had to get home, get some sleep, and start loading it with everything they needed.

After that they would head for the dealership where they were going to get a new car that would fit inside their new trailer. It had taken a fair amount of research and debate before they finally decided on one. They didn't have any quads and for this summer didn't have any plans to add them. Those remained in the future for now.

"Night, pumpkin." Rick kissed her forehead and headed for his bed.

"Night, Dad." Alexis was sure she wasn't going to get any sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a really big and very busy day. They had a lot to do before they could begin their summer vacation.