Last Thursday we became recreational vehicle owners. More specifically, motor coach owners. Most specifically, the owners of a Rexhall Vision V-26.

I can't believe I forgot to smash a bottle of champagne on the prow.

The timing of delivery was tight; we're going to a Dog Agility meet in Oregon over the Labor Day weekend. Luckily, we got it with enough time to go on a shakedown cruise to sunny Pacifica, California.

Well, not sunny, really, but it is in California. It must be, because we only drove 30 miles. But you don't really have to drive far to shake down a new RV. They shake down while they're just sitting there. If you listen carefully, you can hear pieces falling off them from time to time.

Actually, the RV park we stayed in was quite nice. It used to be called "Pacific Park RV Resort", but changed to "Onterra San Francisco RV Park". The staff told us that in the last week it had changed owners again, but they didn't know what it was called anymore. As far as I know, ownership did not change while we were there.

The gentleman at the front desk asked if we would be ok with a back-in spot, took one look at Laura's face and found us a nice pull in spot. In fact, the space had a walkway on the right so we had extra space.

This might be a good time to mention that in our family, the woman drive the RVs. Dad will back me up on this, it's just the way it's been done. So Laura's done all the piloting. And she's a pro. That said, I'm glad we got a nice, short, 27' RV. OK, stop laughing. I swear, 27' is short for an RV.

After we were safely berthed, I hopped out and connected us to shore power and city water. Everything worked like a charm.

We spent the two days lounging about, watching a DVD on the rig's TV and walking around Pacifica. We got to test everything in the rig but the air conditioning.

We've also started a tradition. When we can park the rig with the front windows looking out over something worth photographing, we take a picture with the dogs sitting on the dash. We're calling it Dashboard Doggies™. Don't be fooled by the fact that dashboarddoggies.com has not yet been registered. I'll let you know when the IPO is scheduled.