Follow up to some posts

Oh why can’t I just write about all the things I want to share and do it in a timely manner?  So many times I think to myself “That would be a great blog entry” and by the time I get home or some down time, let it go by.

Tonight I can’t sleep and want to catch up a bit on some thoughts and whatnot.

For starters, I reread some of my more recent blogs, which were posted last fall.  As follow up to “My least favorite thing”, we made it to Florida with no more passenger anxiety issues for me.  I think part of it was the volume of traffic on I-95 south of Washington, DC is so different than the Northeast Corridor, and that we had taken the alternate route around DC and Northern VA.  We also cut our days’ drives down to 200 miles between overnight stops which made it easier on all.

While in Florida, I decided to sell my motorcycle and we decided to buy me a car, my first used car purchase.  Having the car made getting around in FL much nicer for me since I didn’t have to tie up hubby’s pickup truck to go to the store or visit a friend.  He then had the option of using his truck or riding his motorcycle when he wanted to go out.

For our northbound trip this past Spring, we brought both the car and truck with us.  I drove lead in my car and he had the truck and camper.  We had CB radios to stay in contact with each other and also to listen to the truckers about any traffic issues on our journey.  We kept our travel days at 200 miles since we both were doing the same amount of driving and had the potential to be extra tired.

Now that we’re settled in to the campground for the season, we use the car almost every time we go out shopping or even sightseeing; partially because Chuck lets me plan the trips and drive but also because the car is more fuel efficient.

Another area that needs updating is our camping destination.  Last October I had a few blog entries about our Work Camping opportunity in NH.  We decided last fall that we would accept the invitation to be one of the 2 couples the campground hires for the camping season.

We’ve been here for 2 months this year and still, to this date, my darling husband has not been assigned bathroom cleaning detail.  He has been shown how the owners want the bathrooms done, but I ended up doing that cleaning while he went back to other projects they have him doing.  One day I asked him to plunge a toilet that wasn’t working properly - I would have done it but it was in the men’s room and one of the campers wanted to use the shower...

I spend most of my time in the campground office, answering the phone, making reservations, checking in campers when they arrive and keeping the main building clean and neat.  The campground has an impressively stocked store, especially when compare to other campgrounds we’ve been to.  Items range from groceries to camping gear to RV supplies and souvenir clothing and gifts.

It’s fun to hear campers rave about how nice and clean everything at the campground is.  The owners take pride in this place and we enjoy being part of the team.

RV Hints - What's my size

When traveling through a new area, it’s always helpful to know not only how tall your rig is, but also how long.  And if your journeys take you across the border, it’s even more helpful to know what those numbers are in metric too.

We know the manufacturer's listed height and RV length, but didn’t know how long we were when hitched up to our pickup truck.  One day we measured the truck and trailer to get our length, making sure we included the ladder on the rear of the trailer.

To make sure we don’t have this worry on future travels, we’ve created a label that is attached to the truck’s dash.  Listed in both feet and meters are our height, RV length and length overall (truck and trailer). Now when we make reservations or travel routes, we know for sure what our limitations are.

Knowing our overall length is helpful as some campsites may be ok for a 40' bus. They think since our trailer is 36' long we can fit the same space. When you add in the length of the pickup truck, we need a site closer to 55' if we stay connected. 

Storage Wars

Like many other folks who use their RVs a lot, one of the key things we all wish we had more of in our units is storage.  While our fifth wheel has a good amount of storage, including a number of closets and cabinets, we still had issues.

One of our fixes was for my clothes shelf closet.  While it was fairly large, it was totally open.  I commented to Hubby how nice it would be if I had shelves or dividers to help me keep my clothing organized.  We discussed how many slots I wanted / needed and he went to the local hardware store and purchased some plywood and trim board. 

Hubby cut the boards to make a shelf that was about 1/2 the depth of the closet and also some boards to give me dividers under the shelf (and to use as support for the shelf.  He then screwed the pieces together and in to the closet.

The three pictures for this project show the shelf system; plain sheets of paper to give an indication of size; and finally the shelves in use for clothing.  The front area of the closet is where we put nicknacks or other items we need to store when traveling, but leave open when we’re parked and camping.

Another issue we experienced with our storage is the height in the closets.  We both wear long rain coats (below knees)  and I have some dresses, but the closet is not tall enough for them to hang properly.

My fix is to use a combination coat hanger (hanger for shirt / coat with clip for slacks / skirt).  I overlap the lower sides of the coats or dresses in thirds, then bring the bottom hem up to the clips on the hanger which shortens them, letting it hang freely in the closet.  Now we can find our shoes and other items stored on the floor.

Four photos show this solution: raincoat hanging below closet floor; combination coat hanger; bottom edge overlapped and clipped; coat hanging freely in closet.

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.