It has been a very long winter here in the Southern Adirondacks.  A lot of snow, cold and dreary days.

Last weekend, while riding back in our tow vehicle, our 2005 Chevy Suburban, 1500 Z71 4 x 4 our transmission went on RT 28A south of Vergennes VT–about an hour north of our house.  Thank goodness for AAA RV Plus and we were towed back to our local transmission shop for repairs without a dime out of our pocket.

We love this vehicle and did not hesitate to put the new trany into her…but to a tune of $2800 ouch.  We did beef up a few of the components which did add a couple $100 to the ticket–but worth it when towing our 1973 Avion trailer.

We are so thankful that we were not towing when the transmission went, or that we were not half way down the east coast or mid-west.  It is worth it to put the money into her since she is expected to last us a good  many years and will need to be in prime shape for towing our Pewter Palace this summer and many more.

Kevin and I enjoy watching many of the great Vlogs on YouTube with full timers who have Airstreams (Like “A Streamin’ Life“, “Long Long Honeymoon” and “Less Junk, More Journey” and are learning a lot from them in preparation for the day/year we take our final step to full time RV living.

One thing we noticed is that all or most of them have adopted pet names for their tow vehicles.

I have been trying to come up with a pet name for our Suburban and yesterday when I was hopping in to go to work it hit me when I wasn’t even trying—whammo!

Darth Vader!!  “Darth” for short.

Notice the resemblance?? (pardon the mud on “Darth” I was off-roading a bit today)

So home from ABC Transmissions in South Glens Falls, who by the way were awesome and really stand behind their work.  Its a quality deal, with quality people and we would recommend anyone to go there.  Heck, the owner owns a 2004 LT Suburban…a kissing cousin to ours so he can’t be all that bad right!?? (BTW–he did love our vehicle and loved all of our bells and whistles that comes with the Z71 package…and he said wow, that is a sharp looking vehicle)  We agree…

So parting shot, here is Kevin with Darth and the Pewter Palace!!

Happy Trails!  many more miles to go…..