Getting The Unit Ready For the BIG Trip

Over a year has passed since we acquired the RV (hereinafter referred to as "The Unit" (long story)) which we hope, will take us to some wonderful places over the next several years.
It's a 1999 American Coach, Dream, with 22000 miles on the odometer, barely broken in.
I found The Unit near Grande Prairie, AB, a long way from our home near Toronto, ON. After a search of over 2 years I knew this was the one as soon as I saw it. It needed a little TLC and a few age related replacements but nothing to break the bank. It's very well built and nicely laid out. It sits on a Spartan chassis with a 330HP Cummins diesel doing the heavy lifting.

The days are quickly counting down before our first "BIG" trip. The plan is to leave Toronto around the end of October, head south to the Gulf of Mexico and then make our way west towards Texas. We will be stopping at Mexico Beach in the Florida panhandle, Grayton Beach State Park which is a bit farther west, New Orleans, Galveston, Corpus Christie and the Rio Grande Valley and then ending up in Austin. We will store the unit in Texas, drive home in the car we're towing and then drive back to Texas in March and do our return trip arriving back at home in mid April. About 6 weeks per trip. That's the plan, anyways.

In preparation for the trip we have replaced the original tires, rear air bags, ice maker, an incredibly expensive ball joint and the inverter/charger and RH windshield, to name a few of the more costly items, plus dozens of minor things. 

For our "Toad" we found a 2005 Honda CR-V in great shape with low km's. All it needed to be towed (toad?) was a baseplate ($349 US, $619 CDN, go figure), a Brake Buddy (used) to stop the toad, a tow bar (also used), and a wiring harness (home made) to turn on the toad's lights while being towed.

I'm also bringing a bicycle which I bought used. It will be mounted on a bike rack between The Unit and the toad. The rack wound up costing about as much as the bike. But it's a very cool bike rack.

More updates soon, stay tuned.