2017 – Shortstop: Holiday RV Park, North Platte, NE

We had an unexpected stay at Holiday RV Park in North Platte, NE. As we traveled across I80 our F350 pickup had a problem that needed attention. We spotted this campground and decided to stay there while our pickup visited the local Ford dealer. This campground is very convenient to those traveling I80, located right on the frontage road. In spite of its nearness to the interstate, the highway noise wasn’t especially objectionable. All the sites are pull-through with full hook ups, including cable. Park WiFi was pretty good. There’s a pool that looks nice. The campground is sandwiched between some commercial buildings and a motel. Walmart and most any business you need is just a few minutes away. The sites are close but not tight. I felt that it was overpriced, in fact, the price I paid matched our highest nightly stay of the year. However, in this case it was all about location. Happily, our after a few hours in the shop and a swipe of the credit card our pickup was road ready again.

2017 – Water Alarms

Here’s an inexpensive add on that might save some money by detecting water leaks early. We put one of these alarms in the bay of the 5th wheel. The other is under the kitchen sink. Hopefully, they are unnecessary and will never be used. However, just one event in which we are given early warning will make these water alarms worth every penny. We got them at Lowes.

2016 – New Air Conditioner Project

Our surprise change of plans means we’re “enjoying” our first Houston summer since retirement in 2013.  It’s also our first extended hot/humid stay in our 2007 Hitchhiker II.  Of course, the weather isn’t unexpected.  After all, we lived in this area for many years.

While we’re ready to cope with the “summer swelter,” apparently our Hitchhiker isn’t.  It’s wired for two rooftop units, but only has one and as an uncommonly hot June arrived the comfort level in our house, well, let’s say it wasn’t so comfortable.

My first effort at keeping my cool was putting Reflectrix on several of the windows.  It makes the camper feel a bit cave-like but it does help.

Unfortunately, not enough.

My second effort was to close off the vents in the bedroom and keep the door closed.  The idea was to keep all the cool air I could in the kitchen/living room area.  I think it made a difference – at least it made the bedroom hotter.

So, unfortunately, not enough.

My third effort was buy a portable air conditioner.  These units have a big dryer-like hose on them that vents the hot air and humidity out the window.  The 10,000 btu unit we got was pretty loud and, if I put it in the closed-off bedroom it worked okay.  However, downstairs still got uncomfortably warm.  Not only that, but the unit we had tended to spit water at us.  I decided it was not only lacking in cooling ability for our needs but was probably somewhat defective.  I took it back.

We still didn’t have enough.

My fourth effort was to call an a/c guy to come in and evaluate our rooftop unit.  By now I was starting to think my only hope was adding the second rooftop air conditioner.  He thought my air conditioner could use a good cleaning and that it might help a little.  However, he warned us that our air conditioner was, after all, a 2007 (or earlier) model.  Freshly cleaned or not it was getting close to going to the air conditioner retirement home.  Maybe, he suggested, it was time to bite the bullet and go for a new one.

A few days later, with the wallet somewhat deflated, our Hitchhiker has a new 15,000 btu air conditioner.  I’m not sure how it will do come August, and it may be that we will have to deflate the wallet even more for a second unit, but for now….

….I think we have enough.

2016 – Volunteering at Battleship Texas

I haven’t done any new posts in a while because we are pretty much doing a repeat of last year’s winter volunteering stint at San Jacinto Monument-Battleship Texas State Historical Park in La Porte, Texas. Most everything I’ve written before still applies. The ship looks the same (as should a museum ship!), the staff is pretty much the same, and the other volunteers are the same good people (with the exception of one fine couple who have had to leave the RVing lifestyle). This is a great place to volunteer, at least during the mild Houston winters, and people renew their commitment to return year after year.

While we much prefer the traveling lifestyle, I have to admit that there’s something comforting about returning to the same campsite with all the same neighbors after being strangers pretty much everywhere we’ve been through the majority of the year. Also, we enjoy our two-day-a-week volunteering as we talk to people about Battleship Texas and it’s 102 year history, serving in both World Wars I and II.

We also enjoy being close to family and friends. Sundays are especially a joy as we attend church with my sister and our son and his family. What a blessing it was to see our grandson called up to the front to help the pastor light an Advent candle and to see our granddaughter singing on the church Praise Team!

Meanwhile, these months are our medical months. There have been several doctor’s visits with more yet to come. Jackie and I have both had to change our primary physicians this year. Her change worked out better than mine and I’ll be doing some more doctor shopping in the near future.

While it’s beyond the scope of this blog, I’ll mention that this volunteering time has included my having a major round with my lower back. Frankly, it’s just as well that we aren’t traveling because for a while I couldn’t even bear to ride in a car much less tow the 5th wheel. Apparently, a lower back tweak manifested itself in such a way that I couldn’t bear to sit down. I spent my days either standing up and laying down. The funny thing was that I could spend my workdays on the battleship standing up, doing tours, etc. without a lot of pain. Then, to my dismay I couldn’t sit down without whimpering in pain!

After seeing a couple of doctors who did x-rays, etc. to rule out any fractures or the like I decided to switch over to a highly recommended chiropractor who assured me that the problem wasn’t in my hip where the pain was the worst, but was in my lower back which was manifesting itself in my hip and down my leg. I’m still visiting him three times a week and progress is being made. At least I can drive again and sit down for awhile before the pain reappears.

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Also, I’ll mention that we returned to the Battleship to finish the year and into 2017.  Most of the photos below were taken in the first part of the year, but a few of them were taken in November and December.

Campground Review: Dakota County Fairgrounds – Farmington, MN

Dakota County Fairgrounds is in Farmington, MN about 30 minutes south of Minneapolis. Its pure fairgrounds camping: a big, mostly level grassy area with no trees to speak of and just the basics for a RV. There are no sewer hookups but there’s water and 50 amp electric and a nearby dump station. The camping area is set up for clusters of four RVs to set up around four hookup power/water pedestals. That’s not immediately apparent upon arrival, though, because there are a few exceptions to that setup (along the roads) and also, some folks park a distance away from their hookup point and stretch cords to their hookups, giving them some elbow room from their neighbors. There’s a range of people in the campground – guys working in the area, retired people, and families all taking advantage of probably the lowest camping rates in the Twin Cities area.

We arrived on the heels of the area receiving three inches of rain and the wet, grassy campground was pretty spongy. Making matters worse for us, although we didn’t realize it at the time, one of the leaf springs on the camper broke just as we arrived. That meant one of our wheels was literally dragging against the floor of the camper as I drove out onto the grass. I drove to our spot, then tried to move the camper back a bit and got stuck immediately. The issue was mainly the broken spring but the soft parking area didn’t help any. A fellow RVer pulled me out and then diagnosed the real problem. The campground didn’t have an actual campground host at the time, and one of the other campers suggested to the folks filling in as camp hosts that I be allowed to pull up onto the only gravel site in the place, the vacant host site, where the 5th wheel could be safely jacked up and worked on. At that point, I needed to find a mechanic to install the spare spring I had with me. Before I knew it, Bob, who had pulled me out and diagnosed the problem showed up with his tools ready to do the repair. A couple of hours later the camper was ready for the road again. Jackie and I are humbled and thankful for the Good Samaritans who helped us in this breakdown.

The fairgrounds has lots of good gravel roads, so there’s plenty of places for a nice walk. There’s also Dakota Village on the property. It’s a small town of several carefully restored buildings dating back to around 1900. There’s a church, schoolhouse, drug store, blacksmith shop, and several other buildings. During the fair and at other times, local volunteers come out in period clothing to make Dakota Village come alive. There are also equestrian and canine groups that do training adjacent to the camping area. It’s fun watching these activities.

The campground does have restrooms (although the one right at the campground was undergoing repairs during our stay). I saw a single shower in the restroom, though, and it didn’t look very inviting – the toilets, though, were acceptably clean. We had full scale Verizon 4G and, with no trees to speak of, no problem getting a satellite signal. The county fair takes place in August, during that time all campers have to be out, as the area is used for venders and parking.

Repair: Broken Leaf Spring

After our last move I had a problem getting the between-the-wheels chocks in on the curb side of the 5th wheel. I looked under the camper but, frankly, I didn’t know what to look at. When I mentioned it to my good friend Ron he looked under the camper and reported a broken spring. Today he came out, and with me mostly looking on and doing a bit of fetch and carry, replaced it. Apparently, this isn’t an indication that the other springs are on the verge of breaking, but I’m now carrying a spare, “just in case.”

September, 2015 follow up: Well, it was an indication that the other springs were on the verge of breaking. After another 3000 miles of towing a second spring broke. We used the spare to keep us moving, and then a couple of months later decided to upgrade all four springs to heaver springs. Once the upgrade is complete I hope we will be able to close this chapter of our adventure.

Winter projects 2013-1014 wrap up

We’re winding down our first winter as fulltimers and looking forward to several months of travel; exploring new places.  We divided our winter between Dickinson and Rockport, Texas.  Dickinson is close to family and friends (and doctors) and Rockport is a nice Winter Texan destination.  Obviously, there are advantages to being in both places.

During these months we’ve taken on several projects: including the maintenance, repair, and upgrade varieties.  Here’s a wrap up of those projects.

Maintenance:

  • Washed camper, waxed front cap
  • Flushed the water heater
  • Sanitized the fresh water tank
  • Replaced the reverse osmosis water filters
  • Had the pickup transmission and rear end serviced
  • Had the pickup tires rotated
  • Refreshed and repaired some of the camper caulking
  • Checked roof and applied fresh Dicor caulking where needed
  • Repacked the wheel bearings

Repairs:

  • A biggie: had to replace a bent axle (I know exactly where the damage was done)
  • A few light switches that were getting quite stiff to operate were replaced
  • Camper floor reinforced where factory had under-engineered it
  • Recaulked the floor around shower stall where there were some leaks
  • Pulled the toilet to replace a leaky valve
  • Changed pin height on camper (needed a bit more space between camper and PU rails)
  • Fantastic Vent repaired (now opens and closes with thermostat – and rain sensor works)
  • The two camper 12V batteries replaced
  • Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors replaced

Upgrades:

Yet to come: the F350 goes in the shop to find a small coolant leak

As you can see, there’s been a lot to do! Special thanks to my friend Ron who is the brains behind many of these operations – I couldn’t do the mechanical stuff without him.

We love being touring fulltimers, but we’re learning that these rigs need more upkeep than a “sticks and bricks” house does. As you can see, most of the time and effort went into routine maintenance that needs to be done on a regular basis.

Now, with Spring upon us, we’re getting excited about our 2014 Adventure!  Stay tuned, good times are ahead!

Lessons learned: Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarms

Our 2007 camper has a carbon monoxide and smoke alarm.  The other night (and it always happens at night) one of the alarms started beeping.  I know about the beeping – time to change batteries.  I pulled the battery out of the carbon monoxide detector and went back to sleep.

Today, I put new batteries in it but it continued to beep about every 30 seconds.  I read the information on the back of it and discovered that this is the “end of life beep” – time for a new detector.

I decided that while I was at it I would check out the smoke alarm.  Should have done that on January 1 anyway.  To my surprise it was completely dead in the water.  I’m not sure if the battery died without the smoke detector going off or if the detector itself died.

A quick trip to the store and I returned home with new detectors.  I replaced the two we already had and added an extra smoke alarm to the bedroom.

The new carbon monoxide detector is supposed to last about five years.  I’m going to put new batteries on the calendar to remind me to check them even if they don’t remind me.  There’s also a LP detector in the kitchen.  It’s permanently installed and showing all systems go.  I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if it too won’t need replacing one of these days.

Campground Review: Tombigbee State Park – Tupelo, MS

We thoroughly enjoyed the first of what will be three journeys down Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Trace is closed to commercial traffic, has no businesses or advertizing or stop signs on it, and has a leisurely 50 mph speed limit.  We enjoyed the beautiful, easy drive and are looking forward to continuing it in the days to come.

The centerpiece of the park is a pretty lake.  There are rental cabins, pavilions, and a nice playground.  The park features not one, but two disc golf courses.  The courses are not for the casual player as they take one up and own steep hills and through the woods with out much more than a footpath for a fairway.  We’ve seen several groups playing and having a great time.  It’s an interesting way to take a hike through the forest and a surprisingly challenging sport as well.  Using my Wilson Sleek cell booster I’ve been able to get on the Internet with a medium to weak 3G signal strength.  After moving the dish around a bit I was able to lock on to a very good satellite TV signal.

I have one rather serious concern about this state park.  Every night around midnight the campground voltage has risen to the point that our camper’s electric Surgeguard has cut power to the camper.  It reports voltages as high as 134 volts.  The Surgeguard is programmed to protect the camper’s electronics from things like too high and too low of voltages.  We had a neighbor who was getting the same readings.  I talked to the park employees about it and they said it would be looked into but, apparently, they were in no hurry because after 5 nights the spikes continue to happen.  After the first night we unplugged the electric before going to bed because we didn’t want the Surgeguard cycling the electricity off and on through the night.  After doing that a few nights we left it on.  About midnight the problem became evident again and the camper had to be unplugged for the rest of the night.  Of course, the camper can handle being off grid.  Still, I can’t help but wonder what damage is being done to other campers in the park.

So, I like this place.  It’s pretty and the campsites are very nice.  At the same time, the electricity problem concerns me.  I’d come back, believing this issue will be resolved.  Till then, I don’t think I’d recommend the park to people without some kind of high voltage protection.  Pretty park or not, it’s probably not worth damaging one’s air conditioner, etc.

Campground review: Allegany Mountain Resort at Rainbow Lake, East Otto, NY

This is an old campground situated on a beautiful lake.  The campsites are smaller, but after looking around I found a spot I could fit into.  In fact, I got stuck in the first one and thought for a while that I would need a tow to get out.  Also, the roads are narrow and some are steep.  I’ll take the blame for it, but while making one turn I nearly took out a post and then, making another turn I managed to drop the driver’s side camper wheels into a fairly deep ditch.  Damage was minor and it could have been worse.   Damage was moderate – bent an axle, found months later when a tire began to show considerable wear, around $350 for the repair.

The “overnight” campground area has no sewer sites and power is 30 amps.  The power and water hookups aren’t where you expect them to be.  I had use an extra water hose to reach water and then had to borrow an electric extension cord from the campground to reach the electric.  Then, over the hot weekend, the voltage kept dropping below 102 volts which caused my trusty surgeguard to shut the camper’s electric down. Once the weather cooled, the electric settled down.  Word is that this section is slated for a 50 amp upgrade.

If you have a small camper you’ll love coming to this resort.  If you have a bigger one, try to arrive on Sunday-Wednesday when there are plenty of campsites, then, in the overnight area, head for the first two roads up from the lake for the best chances of getting a site you can get in to and that will be somewhat level.  The farther up the hill you go, the harder it will be to find a spot.

Would I return?  Yes!  That is, unless I had to arrive during a busy weekend!  In that case, I’d find another place.

Meanwhile, I think a couple of issues with the F350 have been fully resolved.  The truck had an overheating problem when towing in heavy traffic in Dallas.  It had never repeated until the day we came here.  As we pulled up a long grade near this campground it overheated again.  I took the truck to a nearby Ford dealer and they found that the fan clutch wasn’t engaging.  It is supposed to spin the fan at a much higher speed when towing on a long uphill.  The repairs were covered by warranty so, while we were out $100, we didn’t have to pay the full cost which was several times that amount.  Then, as I drove, I felt a familiar shaking of the steering wheel.  While on one of our first tows we had a tire tread separate and we ended up buying two new tires.  Now one of the remaining two originals (which should have given us at least a year’s more service) had suffered the same failure.  We put the spare on and found matching tires in Buffalo.  This time, there was no warranty, so we dropped a big chunk of change on the new tires.  Hopefully, we’ve now solved the biggies and we will get a break (knock on wood) from these kinds of issues for awhile.

We’re finishing up our time here tomorrow, but the move will be just a few hours to the east.  The adventure continues.