My least favorite thing

Oh how I wish there were an easier way to get our 5th wheel trailer from point A to point B.  Well, actually it's not getting the trailer to different places, it's getting me there.

I have got to be the world's worst passenger and my husband has to deal with me and my travel issues on a regular basis.  My issues with others driving styles started about 25 years ago after I was in a rather nasty automobile accident.  While driving one direction, a vehicle going the opposite way, swerved in to my lane and hit my car, tearing the driver's door off its hinges.  I ended up with broken ribs and a totaled car.

Since then, and more so during the past 10-12 years, I've become increasingly uncomfortable as a passenger in a car or pickup.  I am very comfortable being behind the wheel of a vehicle, even when towing our 36' trailer. Sure narrow roadways and heavy traffic makes me uncomfortable when I'm driving, but I'd much rather be the operator of the pickup at those times vs being the passenger.

And it's not just my husband's driving that makes me nervous.  This year I have been driven places by my mother, stepfather and father in law.  Even when riding in the back seat when I can't see as much of what's ahead of me on the road, I'm forever grabbing on to the door handle and/or stopping on my invisible brake - all to no avail.

When hubby and I started our full-time RVing expedition, we both had vehicles to drive and tow; he with the big pickup and RV and me with an SUV and utility trailer.  After a few months we realized how foolish this was and sold the SUV and left the utility trailer behind for snowbird use (we store it at a friend's home while we travel, then on our return to FL, get the trailer and it's goodies back, ie, our motorcycles).  This decision, while smart on the wallet and physical wear and tear on the body, has increased my overall level of discomfort when traveling.





We use to try to do 300 mile days when moving from place to place. Now we're at 200-250.  Don't know if it's intentional on hubby's part, but I've been tasked with routing the trips so I'm selecting places along primary highways instead of interstates.  I try to figure out what time we'll reach key cities and take in to consideration rush hour and work that in to our trips.

In general I'm good for approximately 2 hours as a passenger when we first start out daily, and then "need" to take over as driver.  This works well when we're doing the shorter travel days as we also stay below the posted speed limit by about 5 mph and our 4 hours travel puts us in the magic distance range.  I tried a few times to try a reverse psychology on myself and start the day as the driver for the first 2 hours, thinking that I'd be fine as passenger for the next two.  Nope.  Once I've had the power of being in control at the wheel in my system for a few minutes, becoming a passenger is hard.

The other day we left southeastern MA and were heading for the Eastern Shore of MD.  Because of where we were located to start, we decided to bite the bullet and take I-95 through RI and CT and even do the George Washington Bridge in NY to get into NJ.  Our final destination was 400 miles and we thought we might be able to do the entire trip in one day. We also knew where an overnight stop was 300 miles in to the trip as a backup.

I decided Chuck should start the journey, knowing that we'd be trading driving duties before NY and that I'd get to drive through NYC.  Our southbound heading would have us cross over the George Washington Bridge around 12:30 which fit nicely in my plans (and I had the backup plan for the TappenZee if I wanted).

Happily the first 130 miles of I-95 was wonderful.  We did take 295 around Providence and found a very empty highway for our journey.  We were joined by a bit of traffic around New London and more at New Haven.  Then I got my turn at the wheel.  I-95 through the rest of CT was not an issue, but once we got to NY and the Cross Bronx Parkway, I knew I had made the right decision for me to be driving at that point.  With bumper to bumper traffic and being boxed in by tractor trailer trucks, while I felt a bit of unease at the location and situation, was ok.  We crawled through NY and finally crossed the GW, about an hour later than estimated.  Whether we'd have done any better taking the TappenZee we won't know, but I can cross "towing an RV across the GW" from my bucket list.

Once we got on the Jersey Turnpike, we chose a rest area and changed drivers again.  Perhaps it was because we hadn't been out in traffic or on the road for such a long period in nearly 2 months. Whatever it was, while we kept talking about pushing for the whole 400 mile trip, I knew I was not going to emotionally survive the trip.  I mentioned my increasing unease to hubby and he agreed that we'd stop at our 300 mile point and finish the trip the next morning.

I'm now working on our routing for the remainder of our journey back to our winter destination and know how I'm avoiding the DC beltways, rejoining I-95 down towards Richmond.  We have 3 weeks before we're due at our destination to I also have the luxury of planning short travel days if I want.

If anyone who reads this has suggestions for me to try to use in being a better passenger, please feel free to share your input.  My sanity could use it.

edit: 11/3/13 

Since writing this blog our journey along I-95 has continued but my issues as passenger have not been bad.  So what happened? For starters we took Rt 301 / 50 through Maryland, partially to bypass Washington DC, but primarily to put us on the Eastern Shore of MD to visit Chuck's girls.

When we left the Eastern Shore, we stayed on 301 through Maryland and in to Virginia, rejoining I-95 north of Richmond.  We also took 295 around Richmond to avoid driving through that city.  We're getting ready to enter Florida and have enjoyed the I-95 ride - no cities, no traffic, no construction. 

Florida will bring back challenges of traffic volume, but I'm looking at alternate routing to make that portion of the trip nice also.

It's been a blast, but it's time to go.

Hard to believe that just 6 weeks ago we arrived at the campground to do a short-term work camper assignment with there.  The campground closed for the season yesterday and today is supposed to be our final work day. We really didn’t know what to expect and assumed we’d be cleaning bathrooms, campsites and working in the store checking in guests.

Predicted high temps today will be in the low 60’s, tomorrow is mid 50’s and the rest of the week will see only high 40’s.  Getting a bit too chilly to want to do much so the timing to leave is just right.

As I wrote in the previous blog entry, I’ve been doing all sorts of assignments.  I had some more gardening chores since the last blog, as well as more power washing of walkways and even sealing cement blocks.  I steam cleaned several carpets and finally on my next to last day of work, was asked to wash to bathroom (single stalls) so the owners could turn off the water to them the next day.  Fortunately for me the bathrooms had not been used since they had been cleaned last so my job wasn’t bad at all.

Because of my wanting to be close to perfect, the painting job of 2 rooms took 4 full days for me to complete: I taped, did the cutting in along both the ceiling and the floor trim, and rolled on 2 coats of paint to the walls (including the inside of the closets and the track panel doors to the closet.  The rooms are in an older mobile home and the walls were wallpaper with raised trim boards covering the seams on the walls so there was extra hand work making sure the edges were covered also.  

Hubby joked with me about how long it was taking me to do the job, comparing my diligence to the mobile home to painting a room in our own home.  I retorted that it was taking longer to do these 2 rooms because I was being paid.  Had it been my own home, 1 coat might have sufficed and there’s be roller marks on the ceiling and floors and I’d be done in 1 day.

He on the other hand has not had to clean any bathrooms.  Nope, my guy has had the luxury of playing outside all the time.  The primary reason we were asked to come in to the campground as 6 week work campers was to help the owner get some new campsites in.

When we stayed here last year in July, while walking around the campground we noticed a roadway that had areas with trees taken out, similar in size to the campsites that backed up to the clearings.  In talking with the owners back then, they said they had plans to put about 10 more seasonal sites in, but weather and worker skills kept them from getting further.

With us on board this fall, the owner, his handyman and my guy were able to clear the sites of top soil and rocks, as well as clear the roadway to base level and are putting in sewer, water and electric lines.  Two or 3 sites are now at the point that they could put sand and road pack down to raise them to the desired level for campers.  With the camping season over and all of us heading out this week, completion will not happen this year.

With all the fun and sense of accomplishment we’ve had this fall, we decided that we would take next year’s travel seasons off from being on the road and come back to the campground to be one of their work camper couples (they hire 2 couples each year). While Chuck will continue with his playing in the dirt, I know I’ll be inside a lot more next year, working in the office / store.  But I'm sure there will be days when I can "play" outside also.

But for now, it's time to pack up and start our migration to Florida.  We've got a few stops planned to see family along the way.  Then on to the visiting with all the gators in the creek.

Fall Work Camping

We are currently in week 4 of a 6 week work camper stint.  When we arrived at the campground we weren't sure what we'd be tasked with, nor how many days / hours we'd be expected to work.

We have 3 days on and 4 days off, which has been really nice as we haven't worked in several years and this short schedule allows us time to feel like we're doing something, but still plenty of time to relax. On average we work 7 hrs a day, but 9 hours a week each is deducted from our pay to cover our RV site and utilities.  While we're not earning lots of money (and we weren't planning to), our savings is through our not needing to pay for a campsite nor fuel for our travels to different campgrounds.  I estimate we're saving about $1200 while we're here.

We thought I'd be working in the office, checking in campers and taking reservations and hubby would be cleaning the bathrooms; assignments we've yet to undertake this year.

Hubby's been assisting the campground owner with the work involved with creating new RV sites - clearing trees, digging soil, laying pipes, as well as general campground cleanup; cleaning out fire rings, clearing sites of leaves and general debris. He's been driving a double clutch pickup truck and just started operating a Kobota Tractor.  I've been given various assignments, from weeding flower beds to power washing cement block walls; cleaning refrigerators to steam cleaning carpets.  This week I'm painting 2 rooms in a rental unit.

Our learning curve

This past month we’ve learned a bit more about full-time RVing and living on the road.

After we left Texas, we noticed some odd cupping and wear patterns on the trailer tires.  Chuck has always been very conscientious in checking the air pressure in the tires on a regular basis, making sure to inflate them to the proper level.  Because he’s been so diligent, we didn’t think the wear was from low pressure, rather it was an alignment issue.  A month earlier, Chuck had even replaced his tire gauge with a newer one as he wasn’t sure the old was was working properly.

I should note that a year earlier we had noticed wear on the outer edge of the tires and did get an alignment on the trailer tires while in Salt Lake City, UT.  We thought it odd that we’d need another alignment so soon, but decided with all the miles we do on the road, it was a good possibility.

On our arrival in Little Rock AK, we started phoning various alignment and RV shops, trying to find a business that did RV trailer alignments.  This was not an easy task.  There was one shop everyone recommended, but they were overbooked and would not have been able to assist us for a week.  This was Thursday afternoon of a 3 day holiday weekend, so we knew it was not looking good.  After 10 different phone calls, we were able to get a tractor trailer business to agree to look at the trailer first thing in the morning to give us a better feel of what to do.

The folks there were nice, but couldn’t do much other than look at the axles and tires.  They didn’t give me much hope for our trip between Texas and New England, but Chuck was confident that we could make our trip.  Besides, it was now Friday of the 3 day weekend and no one would be able to look at and work on the rig.  I called ahead to Massachusetts and was directed to a business in the area we wanted to be that did alignments and booked an appointment for the day after our intended arrival.

We arrived at Spring Rebuilders in Worcester and were treated very kindly.  They measured and checked things out. The tires were within an 1/8” so the alignment was ok. But they noticed some wear (egging) of the suspension bars on our axle suspension.  They did not have the parts to repair and knew it would take them some time to get the parts and schedule us for that work. However, our technician urged us to contact another business over in Oxford, MA to get help.

We phoned RV’s R US and were told to come right over and they’d look to see what they could do.  We pulled in and the owner and son interrupted the work they were doing to look at our situation.  They then spent 30 odd minutes calling around to find parts for the repair / replacement we needed.  They located the parts and were able to schedule us in for repair work 2 days later, bumping some lesser work back in the day or for next week to accommodate us and get us back on the road.

Here's a photo from MorRyd's website showing an older suspension/shackle and their new beefed up version.  Want to make a guess at what we had and what we now have?  Note, ours had not worn out as the piece in the photo shows, but was wearing and would have broken, possibly before we got to FL for the winter season.

So what is the learning curve lesson?  While our trailer was built and marketed as full-time status (it’s an insurance thing), most folks who do live full-time do not put 15-20,000 miles a year on their rigs.  As such, the parts that were wearing last the life of the RV.  But because we spend a good 6 months moving about, the travel on the roads makes things wear out sooner.

So now we know, check this stuff more frequently than we thought.  And we also found 2 very good business in Central Massachusetts we will want to use should we need RV service work in the future.

Mesa Verde National Park

Today's scenic outing was spent at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  For many years I've wanted to go see the homes in the rocks built by Pueblos. We talked about doing this trip last year, but didn't make it.  Today we did.  

The cliff dwellings were built and inhabited between 750 - 900 years ago.  Because they were built out of the direct elements, they've survived fairly well.  Timber in some of the structures has been tested and dated to 1274 A.D..

Turns out there are over 600 cliff dwellings through the Park, but not too many are accessible.  We visited two of the dwellings.  Some are self guided tours, others tours require advance ticket purchase for specific times.  You buy the tickets for the tour down at the base information station, than drive 25 +/- miles up and into the park to find your tour.

Our first stop was at Spruce Tree House, which is accessible for all by a paved path down to the structure.  This was a self guided stop with several Park Rangers available to answer individual questions.  While at Spruce Tree we did our 2013 pose - yep, backs to the camera, pointing at some feature.  While the paved path was nice, it had several steep areas and switchbacks.

 We then headed over to Cliff Palace for a Park Ranger guided tour - it was a $3 fee per person for this tour.  We chose it as it was said to be the least strenuous of the guided tours.

While waiting for our tour to start, we got to experience a brief rain shower. Five minutes after it started, it was over.  And it wasn't a downpour so we weren't soaked.  In fact, standing in the noon sun just before the rain, it was very hot. With the quick sprinkle, we felt cool and refreshed to do the tour.

Cliff Palace is accessible by climbing down metal and stone stairs.  The way out is stone and wood ladders. Some sections were no more than shoulder width Whee!

National Day of the Cowboy

While we were visiting Dubois, WY, we were able to watch their town participate in the National Day of the Cowboy. National Day of the Cowboy is currently celebrated on the 4th Saturday in July in seven states.

Chuck and I headed to downtown to watch the parade and take in some of the sites and sounds.  Here are some photos from our outing.  While small in size, it was a lot of fun to see the community show their pride in the heritage of being cowboys.

Horseshoe art

More horseshoe art

Local "Gang"

Cowboy Coffee

Boots and Spur

Westernaires Riding Club

Westernaires Riding Club

You see all types ...

... of campers and such when you travel about.  Here are some of the more interesting or unique units or set-ups we've encountered.   From a houseboat/camper with folding pontoons, to a 30 y/o M.A.N. that has traveled all over the world numerous times, from extremely cute and decorated, to sheep wagons.

A houseboat/camper, complete with pontoons that fold up so the rig is road legal at 8' (www.travelwave360.com). Each pontoons is 30" wide and rests right alongside the unit when unwinched, creating a walkaround deck. This unit is owned by the designer/builder.

The yellow rig is a M.A.N. that is 30 y/o and has been all over the world. This year they sailed from home, ie. Germany, to Nova Scotia, Canada. Their plan is to drive across Canada to Vancouver, then head south along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and on in to Mexico. Owners needed a 4 stair stepladder to get in and out of their rig.

Here are some cute and little rigs; folding motorcycle trailer, decorated antiques and a sheep wagon.  We were amazed at how big the folding unit became - queen bed AND floor space for folding table and chairs. The other 3 are owned by members of Sisters On The Fly.

Finally, some other set ups that I found different.

 These campers are brave, sleeping on an open trailer with no cover. Temps got in to the 40's the nights they were at the campground.

Look closely behind the 5th wheel and you'll see his trailer and ATV that they double tow.  Something you don't see on the East Coast, but lots of double tows in the Midwest and Western States.

Here's a nice example of a toad / dingy - they have car, bike and rowboat on the trailer.  The owners had painted the words "You Can Take It With You" on their trailer.

We were surprised to see this toad exposed, but I guess if you have a Rolls, you want to show it off.

Swimming Lessons

So we have a 5 year old (nearly 6) Standard Poodle that hasn't been a fan of going in the water.  In many ways, how lucky for us.  I mean, who wants to deal with drying and brushing out a 65lb wet bundle of fur every time it goes in the water.


And try to imagine washing the dog in an RV.  We don't have a bathtub, it's a corner shower with a glass door and 2 inch lip to enter.  So if I try to use the indoor shower, I have to get the dog in the shower enclosure, have plenty of towels on the floor for the water that will come back at me, etc.  Most of the time, when Rugby needs to bath, we use our outdoor shower and let the water go where it wants.  Because of outside distractions this bathing process is a 2 person job - one to wash (and get wet) and the other to hold the dog.


Generally when we've gone for a walk along the lake/ocean/river/pond with Rugby, he's been on leash and has not shown any interest in going in the water.  In fact he much prefers to bark at waves as they reach the shoreline.  We've got lots of videos over the years of Rugby racing back and forth barking at water.

While at the Longhorn RV Resort in Dubois, WY, we've taken numerous daily walks alongside the Wind River.  We watch the water as it flows over shallow rock beds and through deep cuts along the bank.  (Many folks who come to the RV park go fishing and we've seen them catch Brook and Rainbow Trout).  Rugby hasn't given much thought to the water rushing by as we walk alongside it, other than to try to grab an occasional stick that is stuck along the shore.


About 2 weeks ago, while on one of our walks, Chuck took a few steps in to the river to see how Rugby would react.  Sure enough, Rugby started his barking and racing back and forth on the shore wanting his Man to get out.  Chuck and I traded places (me in water and him on shore with Rugby) and I was insulted, Rugby just watched me. No barking, no racing back and forth, just watching.





The other day Chuck had Rugby on leash and they were alongside the river. Chuck stepped in and we were both surprised that Rugby followed right in with him.  They stood on the rock bed with the river flowing rapidly past them for a short bit and then came back on the shore.  The next day, it was Rugby who led Chuck in to the river.



Yesterday was my turn. I opted to have Rugby off leash though as Chuck had nearly lost his balance the day before when Rugby kept circling him as they walked on the slippery rocks.  I wanted my hands free to help in my balance.  Rugby sure seemed to enjoy himself, running and jumping in the water, looking for submerged sticks he could pull up.

Because the river's water is so clean and clear, and because we've been letting Rugby go in the water around noontime and the weather is hot and windy, he's been able to dry off outside.  And there's no wet doggie smell either.    Lucky us!