RV Things I Have Learned

Ready for lesson number 2. 

First I am going to start with a disgusting part of RV’ing, draining your sewer tanks.  RV’s have a gray water tank where water from the sinks and shower drain and they have a black water tank where your toilet drains to.  These two tanks then have a valve to open and close them for draining.  This valve, on many RV’s, is near the tank and not at then end of the drain pipe where you connect your sewer hose to then connect to the sewer outlet at the RV park.

Here is what happened to me and how I solved it.  On our previous RV, a travel trailer, unbeknownst to me the valve for the black tank did not close fully so when I went to connect the sewer hose to the drain pipe I was met with a very unpleasant situation when the drain cap was removed.  Sewage had collected in the drain pipe and, well you can figure out the rest.  Obviously the valve needed to be fixed or the obstruction cleared, but I found a backup remedy that is now a mandatory purchase for any RV I own.  It is a twist-on valve that goes on the end of the drainpipe.  This allows you to close the pipe right at the drain cap, thereby allowing you to remove the cap without any accidents. 

Next item regards leveling your RV.  It is important to get your RV level, both side to side and front to back.  This allows for better draining of your sinks and shower, plus you do not want to be sleeping uphill or downhill.  Front to back leveling is fairly easy as that is the natural axis of the trailer on its wheels.  Side to side leveling becomes a little more tricky because it requires raising the trailer on one side.  Depending on the size and weight of your RV it gets a little more difficult.  When we had travel trailers I learned very fast that the easiest way to level the RV was to have four scissor jacks installed on each corner.  These jacks could physically lift the trailer off its tires.  I would then just have a couple little stick-on bubble levels positioned so I could see what I needed to do to level the trailer.  Now on a fifth wheel it is a little harder because the RV weighs a lot and the jacks installed in the rear are for stabilizing the RV and not supporting the weight of the trailer.  The system I use starts with a very large bubble level mounted on the hitch (so I can see it from the cab of the truck). 

What is nice about this level is that the black lines shown on the level indicate you need to raise that side of the RV by one inch.  First I move the RV around the site to see if there is a more level spot.  If not then I see how close I can get it to level.  In the picture above it shows the ball a little to the left, meaning the trailer is about 1/2 inch off level on the left side.  To make it level you would need to add 1/2 inch under the left side tires.  At 1/2 inch I probably would not do anything as the levelers I use are in 1 inch increments.  So, in conjunction with this level I use these blocks which raise the RV in 1 inch increments and they are stackable.

The bubble level also has a small level built into it so you an can level from front to back.  I then use my remote, which controls the front jacks, and stand at this level and lower or raise the front jacks until the trailer is level.

Lastly regards the roof vents on the RV.  RV’s come with a various number of vents in the roof that are covered by a plastic lid that opens from inside the RV.  These vents are usually in the living space, the bathroom and in the bedroom.  Some have fans in the vents.  The problem is that when you open the vent rain can come in, meaning you cannot use these vents in the rain, and you may need to.  To resolve that issue they sell a plastic cover that mounts over the vent on the roof and changes the opening so it is now vertical and makes it more difficult for rain to get in.  I have had these on every RV I have owned.

I am sure there are many other great ideas out there, but these have become my mandatory items.  If I cannot take them from one RV to the next they are my first purchase before I ever take the RV out.

Internet Complaints

Since we are here in Arizona for the next 6 weeks preparing for our daughters wedding there most likely will not be much to report on any sightseeing.  So I will take this opportunity to talk on some issues with our Life on the Road.

The ability to do this lifestyle is made much easier by technology, especially the internet.  Before the internet was available as it is now I do not know how full timers could have done it.  Think about getting your bills timely, paying your bills, getting your pension check and getting it deposited, getting prescriptions filled and the list goes on.  With the internet we do all these things online now.  The mail we do get, via our forwarding service to our daughter, is not even worth looking at, and if it is our daughter scans it in and we retrieve it, via the internet.

With such importance on the internet I made sure, before we left,  that we could stay connected where ever we are.  Our basic access system is our smartphones.  This gives us internet access via the Verizon network, which has been great throughout the United States (great job Verizon!).  To have that access on our laptop I found a program that allows you to tether your phone to the computer so the computer can use the phones data network.  The problem with that is we now have data caps in place from Verizon on our phone (bad job Verizon!).   Our tablet also has a hot spot feature that allows tethering, but data limits are in place.

The phone data network was meant to be our backup as most RV parks have Wi-Fi internet access.  This is where my complaint arises.  These parks realize that to be competitive they must offer Wi-Fi and they will include it in their write-ups and advertising.  However we are finding that most do not live up to their claims.  We have found that some you can only get a strong signal if you are in the office area.  Others the signal goes in and out during the day and most have bandwidth issues as the volume of users become higher in the evening.  The problem is that you do not find all this out until you have set up in your spot and logged on.  At that point is it worth it to find another spot or ask for a refund and go to another park?

I am sure it can get expensive for a park to do Wi-Fi and do it right as you have to install access points throughout the park and these parks can be quite large. Bandwidth may be an issue with the internet provider and not the park, but all this should be provided to you when checking  in.  We have found parks that do Wi-Fi very well so it can be done.  The park we stayed at while in Santa Fe, New Mexico had access points for each row of RV’s.  The signal was strong and the service was free.  We have found a few parks that have contracted with a provider, Tengo, that provides good service.  They monitor bandwidth usage in a 24 hour period and tell you they will reduce your speed if you download a large amount (1gb) of data in a 24 hour period.  I have no problem with that as they tell us when we log on and they offer very good speed as long as you stay below that limit.  Obviously if you were into streaming video and downloading movies it would be a problem.

These parks need to step up and live up to their advertising regarding Wi-Fi.  Internet access has gone from being a novelty to a necessity and the RV parks need to recognize the importance RV’ers place on this.

ONE YEAR!

This week marks the one year anniversary of our Life on the Road.

Here are some stats from the year:

2 countries

2 Canadian Provinces

21 states

21,397 miles driven

Updated trip map:

Top 5 places visited (my choices):

1.  Banff, Alberta, Canada

2.  Colorado Springs, Colorado

3.  Leavenworth, Washington

4.  Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

5.  Redding, California

Frequently asked questions:

Are you and Fran still talking?  Yes we are.  No injuries.

What do you do?  We enjoy walking in the morning, reading, exploring the area we are in and meeting new people. 

What do you miss?  Our friends back in the Chicago area.

What do you like the most about Life on the Road?  To be able to go where we want and see and do things we have always wanted to.  Visit with relatives and friends we have not seen in years.

Membership

We attended our membership sales presentation yesterday as part of the deal for our free stay here.  I will get into that in a minute, but first I wanted to tell you about the golf course that is part of the RV park.  The course is called Jackass Flats.  I guess the name comes from the wild burros that roam the area, although we have seen none.  The course is across the street from the park and is a little nine hole Par 3 course, with the longest hole at 90 yards.  What is a hoot about this course is that there is no grass, just dirt, sand, rock and artificial turf.  They have men and ladies tee boxes made of artificial turf then an expanse of rock leading to a green made of artificial turf in different sizes to simulate a green and the fringe.  If your ball lands in the desert, you have two options, one is to move it to a turf patch surrounding the green, “drop zones”, or you can carry a small patch of turf with you and put it under your ball and hit it where it lies.  We had a blast playing this course, especially since it is free.

Here is a picture of one of the holes

Ok, onto membership.  I had a little understanding of these membership parks but not the specifics.  The sales person was a very nice older man who was not high pressure at all.  This company has 8 parks, most of which are all on the Colorado River.  You buy in at three different levels starting at $8,000 and going to $13,000.  You then pay an annual fee, which is currently around $450 per year.  For this you get unlimited use of their parks free of charge.  The only stipulation is that you can only stay in the park for 14 days at a time and must leave for 7 days, but you can just go to one of their other parks.  You also get to use parks in affiliated clubs at $10 per night with the restriction of 7 days at one time. 

For a full timer it is not a bad way to go as it could pay for itself very quickly and you still are left with an asset (you can sell or will your membership), but the value of the asset is very questionable.  From what I am reading most people have found it difficult to sell or transfer and have tried to walk  away but were met with resistance as it is a “lifetime” contract.  We were a little interested and decided to see how far they would deal.  Our sales person then brought in “the closer”.  Now it was just like buying a car.  “The closer” reminded me of a used car salesman.  He tried to meet our offer in a roundabout way, but we decided since we were having reservations we should not go forward.  They were quick to give us our “goodies” and get us out so they could talk to the next couple.  It was not a bad experience and they did give us some good incentives to attend the presentation. 

Colorado River

We moved from Yermo, California to Earp, California (find that on a map).  We are on the California side of the Colorado river near Parker, Arizona.  We are so close to the state line that they use Arizona time in the park and our cell phones think we are on Arizona time.

This park is one of those mega parks I have talked about before.  It has something like 800 spaces.  It is a membership park and caters to the snowbirds and those that are boat owners or ATV owners.  The sales company for the park got our name through Jayco and called us to see if we would wanted to come visit, free of charge.  Of course we do have to sit through a 90 minute sales presentation, which is scheduled for Wednesday.  Since we had time to kill and they were giving us a decent full hookup site for 4 nights free, plus some other things, why not. 

It is an OK park, nothing special and not one I would probably consider buying a membership into.  This company has 8 parks all, except one, are on the Colorado river.  So really it is more for people that are into water activities and the desert, neither of which we have much interest in.  I am interested in seeing how these membership parks work as it may be something we will consider in a few years, but for now it would not really work for us.

We are one row from the river.  The peculiar thing about this park is that the river front sites are not set up for motorhomes, which are the predominant RV in the park.  The motorhomes must back into the riverfront sites so their big front window is not facing the river.  For fifth wheelers, like us, it is great as our window is in the back.  Strange configuration for a premium site.

Here are some pictures

Amongst the masses!

Nestled in between palm trees

Beach on the river

Nice homes across the river

We are here till Friday then drive to Apache Junction, Arizona (outside Phoenix) to spend the next 6 weeks.

Calico Ghost Town

As mentioned in my last posting we are making a stop in Yermo, California for the weekend.  This is just outside Barstow and is where an old mining town, Calico, is located.  Calico became a ghost town in the early 1900’s when the mine shut down and in the 1950’s Walter Knott, of Knott’s Berry Farm fame, bought the town to restore it, which he did over a period of years and then donated it to the County of San Bernardino in the 1960’s as a regional park.  It is a nice little diversion to spend a day with some nice little shops and a few attractions.  Everything is reasonably priced so a family does not have to spend a fortune to have some fun.  You can find out more about the town at http://cms.sbcounty.gov/parks/Parks/CalicoGhostTown.aspx

I came here when I was young and it was still owned by Knott’s Berry Farm and returned when I was in college on my way to Las Vegas.  It still is the same.  Fran had never been and found it a nice way to spend a day.  We went today and could not have asked for better weather, mid 70’s and sunny.  Going during the week means we were about the only ones in town at times, however three tour buses with foreign tourists stopped, but they only had a hour to view the town. 

Here are some pictures from the town

View of town from entrance

View from parking lot

In the town one of the attractions is a gravity defying house.  This is where the house is built on a hill at an angle so that you walk slanted to stay upright and water appears to travel uphill.  We were the only ones on the tour and here is Fran trying to stay upright.

We are still here!

We are still in Bakersfield and will be here until this Wednesday, 2/8, when we will move to the Barstow area for the weekend.

To catch you up, we have been visiting with Fran’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins who reside here in the area.  Activities have included golf, Super Bowl party and a ski outing for Fran.

Fran had never snow skied and really wanted to do it and the opportunity arose while here in Bakersfield as her cousin had an outing planned for this past Saturday to go to China Peak.  So Fran tagged along to take a lesson and try her hand at the beginners slope.  I did not go.  I had skied for a few years in college and lost interest so I decided to stay back and watch golf, true couch potato.

She did well and had no injuries.  Here is a movie of her going down the hill.

She had a great time!

As mentioned above we are moving to the Barstow area to visit Calico Ghost Town.  This is a tourist attraction that was built by Knott’s Berry Farm many years ago and is now run by the San Bernardino County Parks.  I had been there a few times when I was younger and wanted to see what it is like now.  Fran has never been.  It is on our way to Arizona so why not stop.  After that we are stopping at the Colorado River at a membership park as they offered us 5 days free if we would sit through the presentation.  Since we have time to kill, why not.  After that it is on to the Phoenix area for 6 weeks for our daughter’s wedding.