Our First Long Trip - June 2013

Our first long trip was to Southern California and Nevada in June of 2013. We learned a lot about "The Navion" on this trip and we grew to love her more and more. We found that it drew in a lot of people with it's unique style and many people talked to us, asking questions about it and touring the inside. We got a lot of compliments about it.
We had a wonderful trip except for getting it stuck in the sand at Walker Lake, NV. - word of advice - even if there are other campers off road and down in the sand close to the water it doesn't mean that you can - they all had four wheel drive!

Stuck in the sand with the sun going down!

We did find out though about CoachNet - which is like AAA for RV's. We got our first year free in our package that came from the dealer. I should mention that it's worth it - we renew it every year. We used it 3 times in our first 7 months! Every time, the phone operators were polite, cheery and always helpful. 
Another thing we got in our dealer package was information on WIT Club which I checked up on  online and we joined right away. We also joined our local WIT chapter - Fraser Valley Explorers. Both clubs are fun and helpful for things you may need to know - a network of information. It gives us an excuse for little get-a-ways that we always thoroughly enjoy.

One thing we did realize on our trip was the fact that it would be nice if the front seats would rotate to make extra seating. The newer models come with this but ours didn't. As soon as we got back I researched this modification online and found quite a bit of information on it. I found a few places that sold adapter plates and also what problems etc. people had with each one over another, on the installation but we settled on ones from Discount Van & Truck (part #114022) which we ordered online. We did have a little bit of adjusting to do on one of the bolt holes (needed drilling out slightly) but they went in and look great.

Adapter to make the seats swivel

Another problem people had with them is when they rotate they catch on the base and people were cutting the plastic "cover" on the seat to make it swivel properly. I realized all you had to do was pump the seat up to the top before swivelling - maybe they didn't realize the seats are adjustable. No cutting needed at all! There were also comments on how they wouldn't swivel on the drivers side because of the hand brake being in the way - we fixed that by releasing the handbrake, swivelling the seat and then reapplying the handbrake! You also have to put the seats all the way forward, swivel around halfway and then push the seat back  again. Even easier - open the doors, swivel around with no problem and then close the doors again! SIMPLE!

Swivel seats make it more cozy to sit
 with good friends like Tony and Allison!

We ordered the passenger one first because of the comments about the hand brake and when we ordered them they happened to be on sale ($169. from $199.US.) Once we had it installed and realized how to overcome the hand brake problem, we ordered another one a few months later. Unfortunately, they weren't on sale and they wouldn't match the previous price for us.

This trip was also where we learned what "The Navion" could do and the power it had. We like to avoid the main highways and stick to the less travelled roads. After leaving Reno, we headed N.on #395 to Susanville, the #44 to Old Station and then toward Redding. We then joined the #299 W. to the coast. When we reached Willow Creek, we decided to take a side road, the #96, through the Hoopa Indian Reservation, north to Weitchpec. Just on the other side of the town there was a smaller side road and so we crossed over a bridge and followed it. It went from two lane paved to one lane paved and narrowed even more and then eventually became gravel. We climbed higher and higher through switchbacks and steep grades. We met few other vehicles until we neared the top.

Pretty flowers.

There were some surveyors mapping the road. They told us where we could get some good views  and when they learned I was a photographer they also told us about some special flowers further along the road so we stopped so I could photograph them and the beautiful panoramic vista below. No photo can do it justice - it seemed like we were at the top of the world with nothing below us but beautiful scenery.

On Top of the World!

We travelled on, seeing Schoolhouse Peak Fire Lookout and the path to Historic Lyon Ranch, slowly dropping again to a few Forestry trails along what we learned was Bald Hills Road and out to the coast at Orick. It was the most spectacular drive I'd ever experienced. A larger RV would never have passed through those switchbacks and we were so glad that we had "The Navion". It didn't hesitate at those switchback hills - it climbed them like nobody's business.