Tech – Travel Means Life

A Problem, A Delay, And Our First Harvest Host.

Let me just say, it was good we didn’t have a long day of travel this day. We had planned to leave Bullhead City, AZ the next day but seeing that it is about 5 hour drive to Pio Pico RV Campground, Jamul, CA, and seeing how it is first come first serve to get a site, I decided to get a Harvest Host (read on to learn about it) to break up the trip and get to Pio Pico early on our reservation day. Kevin had noticed that the trailer braking system wasn’t working right. The box would take quite a while to get adjusted each time and he had to keep adjusting it. Since the box came with our first truck and was already very old, Kevin ordered a new one. (It arrived at an Amazon Locker at Circle K and we picked it up last week.) He installed it in the truck the other day but of course it wasn’t hooked yet to HOWE (our name for our 2022 Alliance Avenue – Home On WhEels). This morning he got the truck and 5th wheel hooked up, we got in and pulled out. He stopped at a large pull off at this campground. The controller wasn’t working. At all. After an hour, which he read the instructions, looked online, took off the controller, checked wires, checked fuses, checked the something at the back of the truck (he had me press the brake and that told him something)…then he realized it was actually the braking system on our 5th wheel Alliance that had broke. Underneath it, by the wheels, he could see a wire had broken. 😦 He was able to fix it but the wire and connector aren’t water proof and will need to be redone. So thankful he finally found the problem. So thankful he knew how to fix it. So thankful he had the tools to fix it. As we pulled out he said, “There is a lesson on assuming.” What did he assume, I asked. “That a 1 year old trailer wouldn’t break before an old brake controller box.” Yeah. We pulled out at 10:00 am.

The day was sunny and perfect weather. We stopped for a little break at Hwy 95 and State road 62 (CA). We had seen it before. Well, it was the pits! A gas station but so very dirty; we won’t stop there again. It has a big parking lot around it and truckers stop there but it was small, very little food, grosses bathrooms, yeah. Thankfully we have our own bathroom with us. HAHA Headed on south on Hwy 95, a new road to us. There is very little out here but a few “resort” RV/trailer parks along Colorado River. We learned from Autio (the app we have mentioned before) that Blythe, CA tried to make it big by growing pot. But failed. HA This area is all river bottoms with great soil and we see acres and acres of alfalfa and other green things we can’t identify. I texted my friend since she grew up here. This is a large farming area with desert mountains surrounding it, way off in the distance. From Blythe, we took CA State Road 78. We liked these two-lane roads.

ATV’s Enjoying The Gorgeous White Sand, Brawley, CA 02/23

The landscaped changed a bit to more bushes around. Off in the distance, I saw a line of light brown mountain range. I didn’t give it another thought. Until, we got close and discovered it is Imperial Sand Dunes. From the BLM website I learned: this is the largest mass of sand dunes in CA. It is sands from ancient Lake Cahuilla. “The dune system extends for more than 40 miles in a band averaging 5 miles wide. Dunes often reach heights of 300 feet above the desert floor.” We saw a lot of four-wheelers, two large groups of RVs, and 3 police ATVs around a group. Some places had beautiful dark purple flowers right on top of the sand.

Soon I looked over and saw the diesel tank pointer looking pretty far left. Yikes. Kevin asked how much farther to Brawley and I said 38 miles. He said we would make it but I was nervous. In fact, I was so nervous, I looked at my iPhone to see if I had signal in case we had to call AAA. (We did have good cell service. Whew!) About 100 feet before we pulled into the first gas station we found, a Pilot, Kevin said the low fuel light came on. Whew.

Sugarcane Next To Harvest Host Farm, Brawley, CA 02/23

We drove on to our first Harvest Host – Desert Olive Farms. Harvest Hosts is an RV camping membership with over 4,286 farms, museums, wineries, breweries, attractions, and more where you can stay with no camping fees. You can upgrade to have over 445 golf courses. Harvest Hosts membership allows self-contained travelers to stay for one night at each place. Most places don’t have water, electricity or sewer connections. You show appreciation for the stay by making a purchase if they have something available.

We Are Parked Next To Another 5th Wheel At Desert Olive Farms, Brawley, CA 02/23

Desert Olive Farms: Grace was weeding outside her house, welcomed us, and told Kevin where to park. There was already a truck and 5th wheel here and later a truck and trailer (mom/dad/2 young boys who were well behaved) would come. The place is beautiful! A small grove of olive trees next to us. On the other side of the driveway are pomegranate trees. There were a few fruit for birds left on the trees. Green grass everywhere and farms all around. We see sugar cane, alfalfa, cauliflower and a bunch of other vegetables. As soon as we parked, the guy from the 5th wheel came over. Soon as jacks were set (no hook ups at all) Kevin was seated on his chair over visiting with him. His wife has dementia and they started about a year ago traveling around the country seeing things before it gets too late.

We hadn’t eaten all day, except for snacks. I had mentioned before we got here (we got here at 2:00 pm) that I would like for us to drive around and find a nice sit down place to eat. After visiting with the neighbors, Kevin came in and asked if we should go get something to eat. The farm was to give us a tour around 5:00-5:30 pm. I wanted to eat before it started since we didn’t know how long the tour would be. We drove into Brawley and we saw Rally’s Burgers. Kevin said he wanted that and we pulled in. There was a nice place outside and the temps were 76 so I thought we would eat there. But he went through the drive through. So much for a sit down place. HA Kevin said we would eat it and drive around. That is fine; we do that often. The burgers were really good and we will see if it is chain. Drove main street and back. Then I asked what we should do now and he said we will go back home so we don’t miss the tour, in case the guy is early. Okay. I said we still had 2 hours and then and there we found the problem…Kevin hadn’t reset his watch to be off AZ time. (We had turned off automatic time zone because when you are literally across the river, the time can bounce time zones.) He thought we had less than an hour. Ahhhh We had a good laugh!

Clyde Telling Us Great Information, Desert Olive Farms, Brawley, CA 02/23

Here are a few things we learned for Clyde: *they have been growing olive trees for 12 years, *they have 6000 acres in alfalfa, sugarcane, cauliflower and a bunch of other stuff, *they have 200 acres in olive trees, *olives are shaken out of the trees for harvest in Sept and Oct, *they press the olives within 4-6 hours, *they are -151 feet below sea level (Kevin didn’t believe me when I read it on Garmin), *a person there years ago wrote on a pumpkin that he had water or needed water or something and that was the first water right so, this area has first water rights on Colorado River, *alfalfa that is baled and under white tarps will sit there for 6 months to go from 20% to 14% moisture and then shipped to China, *bales not under tarps go to san Diego, LA, or San Francisco, *they get 1 inch of rain a year but all the water they want from Colorado River which makes it the best growing place, *and a lot more! We tasted a bunch of olive oils and sometimes with balsamic. We bought Desert Olive Oil Roasted Garlic, Sun Dried Tomato Dipping Oil, and a jar of green olives. Our first Harvest Host was absolutely wonderful and we thank Desert Olive Farms for the great space, information, and delicious olive oils.

Thanks Clyde and Grace!

Things We Changed & Our Favorite Thing. Plus, Kevin’s Firm Restriction!

Boondocking – Camping With No Hook-Ups Out In The “Boonies”.

If you have been reading along (Thank you!!!), you know that we camped almost 200 days September 2020-January 2022. We have always loved to travel whether by car, airplane, ship, or trailer. We wanted to travel more. So in February 2022 we sold our house, quit our jobs, Kevin got a new job, and we started RVing Full-Time. In March 2022 Kevin decided he wanted a desk and we went from a 25 ft 2020 Shadow Cruiser travel trailer to a 36 ft 2022 Alliance Avenue 5th wheel.

Several of you have asked for more information about our new HOWE (the name we give our Home On WhEels). Today we are going to share with you some of the changes we made (not a lot), things we added, and what our favorite things are.

(Charla:) I love to cook, and eat 🙂 , and the stove/oven we have in this HOWE exceeds all my expectations. The brand is Greystone. In our first HOWE, the stove/oven was small and a different brand. The stove top worked fine but the oven would burn biscuits on the bottom and not be done on the top. Well, worry no more! The Greystone stove top has three large burners and I am able to put large pots/skillets on all of them at the same time. Now for the oven, oh my! Just look….

I think the oven might just be one of Kevin’s favorite things! HAHA It makes delicious cookies, biscuits and everything I have cooked. Everything cooks perfectly 100% of the time, so far. I do have to add some minutes on the cooking time but that doesn’t burn anything.

(Kevin:) I work in IT, and need room to spread out. We joked about me needing a new desk so we bought a new trailer! Well, there is more truth in that than I would like to admit. When we bought HOWE II we requested they take out the couch in the back. That left us with a blank canvas! After looking at a lot of posts and YouTube videos, I settled on IKEA drawers and table top. I measured the area where the desktop was to go, and thought it would fit. We ordered everything for pickup, so we did not have to fight the maze of IKEA! We brought it back to HOWE II and I put it together. The side compartments built into the trailer lift up for storage, and they cleared the table top by 1/4″! I would say that is pure talent and skill, but mostly it was just luck. I love the new desk. The view from the windows beats any corner office I have seen.

(Charla:) Best decision we made, since getting the new Alliance Avenue was having the dealership install a new Splendide brand washer and dryer. For me, it is nice to not have to find a washer and dryer at a campground. While the laundry rooms at the campgrounds we have recently be in are nice, you just never know about them. Yes, these are smaller than the typical house appliances, but for the two of us, I can get all our laundry done in just a few loads each week. The spin cycle can shake the 5th wheel a little bit but it isn’t worse than desert winds.

(Kevin:) Because of my job, I need reliable internet. Cellular data is great, and would meet my needs, but the coverage is spotty. I looked into different alternatives, and found Starlink. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a new company owned by Elon Musk and is working with SpaceX. They are putting up a grid of low orbit satellites to provide high speed internet no matter where you are located. Well, we purchased it! I was like a kid at Christmas!

Starlink’s Name For The Receiver is “Dishy McFlatface.” 🙂

(Kevin:) The setup is amazingly simple. You plug it into the provided wireless router, plug in the router, and use the app on your phone to finish setup. When we first received it, it was BLAZINGLY fast! Most times, over 150 Mbps. Recently, it has slowed down some, but still very serviceable for our needs. The more birds Elon puts in the air the faster and more reliable our connection will be.

(Charla:) I have a slight obsession with maps. A few years ago, I started highlighting a map to show the road trips we took. The map soon completely wilted with all the marks. 🙂 When we travel, you will often see me with Apple Maps on my iPhone and a paper map or two on my lap. Kevin surprised me with this map. But he has a firm restriction! We can only fill in each state that THIS new HOWE has been. HA! OH, and, we can’t count a state if HOWE just drove through the state. HOWE has to spend at least 1 night in that state before we can add a state sticker. 🙂

I want to write in Sharpie above this map, “This Home On Wheels Has Been To…”. HAHAHA (Kevin and I have been to most states in the US.) When we plan our Full-Time routes, we just pick where we want to go. But now, as I look at this map every single time we go in and out the door, well, makes me want to plan a little differently so we can stay 1 night in a state that is near. Oh dear! 🙂

Our Skin Is So Happy With The Water Softener!

(Kevin:) Our experience with a lot of campground water is that the water is HARD. It makes our already dry skin drier. It was starting to stain the toilet bowl. Time for a water softener! The brand name is On The Go. It ties into the input hose from the campground water supply, and feeds HOWE nice soft water. Typical home water softeners need to regenerate with salt pellets – 40 pound bags – this one regenerates with regular table salt! The size we bought takes two containers of salt. (cans? cylinders? paper tube with a metal spout on top) After installing it we noticed an immediate difference in how our skin felt, and the toilet bowl thanked me too.

(Charla:) Under our mattress is a sheet of plywood. The rough edges of the plywood would snag the sheets. I would also get splinters making the bed. I thought of this one night – put Gorilla Tape (similar to duck tape) over the edge. We used a wide tape, put half on the top and then folded the rest over the side and underneath. No more snag sheets and splinters!

(Kevin:). HOWE II has excellent tinted windows and MCD pulldown shades. The only exception is the door. Someone could step right up and look in our trailer! It also generated a lot of heat coming through the window. The answer was privacy window film. The first time I tried installing it, it fell down the first day! I then read the instructions – the second time was a success! It gave us privacy, as well as cutting down the heat coming through.

It was fun sharing these things with you. Please let us know if you have any questions. Have an idea that you think we might like to try? Let us know.

We Took A Vacation to Glacier National Park. Part 1.

22nd trip – days 105-122 July 16-Aug 1, 2021 VACATION Glacier National Park, Montana, Idaho, and Washington

We planned this vacation back in October. We thought it would be fun to see Glacier NP. While there, we could swing over to our great friends, Cathy and Dave, in Spokane. I had read from a blog that their favorite campground was West Glacier. Kevin and I looked at it online and booked it.

Friday 07/16/21 As usually, we left after Kevin got off work. We got into really slow traffic between Farmington and Layton, the same slow downs as last fall. Once we passed Ogden, it was smooth sailing and hardly any traffic. The sky looks yellowish due to wildfires in northern California and a big one in Oregon. But at least we can see the mountains. That would changed the farther north we go. Around Malad we got under some storm clouds. It didn’t rain on us but it cooled us down as the temperature outside had been 104. Just past Pocatello, ID, we entered the Indian Reservation named Fort Hall. Just off the freeway was Buffalo Meadow casino, hotel, and RV park. We were told to check in at the hotel main desk.

Fort Hall, ID open gate for a shortcut to the casino!

After checking in, we drove to the edge of casino and turned into the RV Park. This park only has about 17 spots. There was a beautiful green space, probably 2 acres, with a large Pavillion and picnic tables. We saw a large bathhouse but didn’t use it. We got parked easily in the pull through. The sites have dry grass and are narrow but a very good place to stop for the night. The site was so level, we didn’t even unhook the truck. Right behind us was the opening in the fence to go to the casino. I thought our friend, Cathy, would get a kick out of that!

We decided to go in for dinner as we saw a bill board advertising the sports grill. We both thought it very clean and better than other casinos we have been in. Dinner is the sports bar was fried bread with stuff on it (in Utah it is called a Navaho taco). Delicious! Oh, when we were ordering, I pointed to what I wanted and said, “I don’t know how to pronounce this, how do you pronounce it?” And the nice waiter told me. Apparently. I am deaf and still don’t know how to pronounce it. Why do I forget and ask?! Deaf moment. 🙂 We were asleep by 9:00 pm because we both woke up at 4:30, 5:15, 5:30 etc this morning because we were so very excited for this trip.

Saturday 07/17/21 We woke up at 6:30 am and had a good sleep. With it being so smoky outside, we slept with the windows closed and the A/C on. Kevin said he would hear it kick on sometimes but other than that, we slept well. I wasn’t hungry but fixed a bagel for Kevin to eat in the truck. We pulled out, got gas and a drink at a gas station right next to the park. Then we were on the road by 7:00 am. It was fun for Kevin to see a whole new-to-him state. The farther north we went, the smokier it got. We stopped at Dillon for gas and to walk around. Along the way, the actual interstate had gravel on it for miles. I remember this part I-15 being under construction clear back when I first came up with my friend to her parents, probably 6 years ago. There wasn’t a lot of vehicles on the road but a few passed us and boy did the gravel pelt the truck! The windshield even got a ding. 😦 On to I-90. The land is beautiful: dry with sage on one side and green pine trees on the other. Kevin listened to a book on tape and I just looked at the scenery. The day of travel time seemed to fly by.

Our campground for the night is Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula and we pulled in at 2:00 PM. Let me tell you, so far, our most favorite one. We are bemoaning the fact that we can’t stay here longer. We have never seen so many flowers, plants, statues, and garden displays. Kevin asked at the office and they said there are 4 couples who “workamp” (camp for free or discounted in exchange for doing work) here just on the grounds. 8 people. I can see how it would take all of them. There is even a green house here. We pull into our pull through site, C-10 and start setting up. I saw what I thought was a reflection in the big window. I continued doing my duty and then came back and looked and discovered the window was broken and about 1/3 of it was gone!

Thankful it wasn’t something worse than a broken window!

We knew exactly what happened. It was the gravel on the long stretch of I-15. Well, we both know that there are a lot of worse things that could happen. We went to the office to see if they knew of a window fixer but they didn’t.

Kevin calling places to see if they would come fix the window.

Kevin tried calling Safelite but was told to get online. Online we saw they only do windshields. By this time, we were hungry (we had snacked on peanut butter pretzels) and so we went in search of what the office recommended. First, we went to an RV parts place and got a cover for the back bumper (where you put the stinky hose) because we also noticed that the cover was gone today. HA He got the covers but they didn’t have anything to repair or tape up a window. We went to Iron Horse Bar & Grill. Kevin ordered fish & chips and I got nachos. The service was very bad, they brought my nachos out with japelpenos, I had requested none of those. I had to track down our waiter and tell him because he didn’t check on us after the kitchen brought out the food. We had to flag him down again for refills of drinks. And, the food wasn’t tasty at all. Disappointment. After we eat, we found an Ace Hardware, got gorilla tape and plastic and we both said we wanted to get back to HOWE.

Kevin taped up the window inside and out. He decided to wait on covering it up with plastic.

The screen held all the pieces. That is fantastic! Outside all taped up.

We are very thankful the screen held all the pieces. Nothing came through inside! We drove down the road for gas, drinks and ice cream.

Back at the campground we sat in our chairs and enjoyed the tall pine trees, grass, and shade. Later we walked around this gorgeous flowered campground. Back when we first were coming into Missoula, I asked Kevin to watch to see if there was anything he wanted to go and do, since we were here so early. Then we discovered the broken window. He said I have to chose what to do next time. HAHAHA

X Marks the Spot if You Have the Wiggles

Howe (our trailer – Home on Wheels) has the wiggles. With proper chocks under the wheels, and the stabilizers down, it still feels wiggly when walking in it. Stabilizers on smaller travel trailers are not levelers. They are designed to stabilize the trailer once it is leveled. Even with Howe leveled and stabilized, you can tell when someone is walking in the trailer. I did in-depth research (watched several YouTube videos) and decided to order X chocks.

These are jack like devices that fit between the tandem wheels of the trailer and pushes against the tires. This will greatly diminish the front and back movement of the trailer. This does not replace wheel chocks. It just enhances the stabilization of the trailer.

I have found these to greatly improve the comfort when inside HOWE. It even stays stable when Charla does the high jump into our bed. (more details in another post). They work great with HOWE but will also work great with fifth wheels.

Zion in February Rain

9th – Days 51-54, Feb 12-15, 2021, Zion River RV Resort

Zion National Park, Temple of Sinawava, Feb 12-15,2021

We have HOWE (pronounced, Howie, Home On Wheels) our travel trailer stored in St George, UT, for the winter. It is much warmer there from where our home is in the mountains. It is very easy to drive a few hours, pick it up from the storage site and go out camping. (As you can see, we are doing that at least once a month during the winter months.) When we went to hook HOWE up to the truck, the batteries wouldn’t work to raise the hitch. Thankfully, I have a smart honey who knew to plug HOWE into the truck tail and that used the power to raise it. He noticed that everything in the storage compartment was sticky with an oily substance. Oh dear. It turns out it was cooking oil from a bottle that had leaked. We stopped at Tractor Supply Store in Hurricane where Kevin bought the blue shop disposable towels and more propane. He installed the magnet-thingy on the tanks that tell his iPhone how much propane is in the tank. (See post Do we have gas? for more information.) Everything else looks good and we got hooked up quickly. We headed to Zion River RV Resort in Virgin, UT which is very close to Zion National Park. This campground is rated as one of the top in the entire country for RV resorts. A few months ago when we drove past it, I thought it looked like a neat place to stay. When we saw our site, oh goodness, it looks small and it is a blindside back in. I got out to help Kevin back in. We saw across the narrow road, a lot of people sitting around. Kevin said to them, “Enjoy the show!HAHA” and several guys got up and asked if they could help. Yes, Kevin said, my wife is deaf so you would be a great help. They had a low trailer sticking out a little ways into the road so I think they felt bad and wanted to help. They were so helpful!!!! Kevin got it right where it needed to be with their help. The weather is low 60s and sunny. On the website I saw you can have campfires and I was pretty excited. But guess what…our site is within 25 ft of the propane tank so the fire pit is filled with cement. It is fine, later it was just a bit too chilly to have one, for me.

As I was setting up the trailer, putting out the fresh towels, washcloths, making the bed and putting out the food, I realized that I took the entire 6 pack of paper towels home with us last time. (I am very careful when putting HOWE in storage to not to leave food, paper goods, etc out for mice.) Didn’t have a single one here. HAHA I am so glad that Kevin bought the BIG roll of blue shop towels. Those were our napkins for the week. 🙂

Looking towards Zion NP. Zion River RV Resort, Virgin, UT Feb 12-15,2021

Lots of people have had fires going every night. I fixed hamburger patties for supper. I thought there was green beans in Howe, but nope. HA So I added back beans. We ate outside on the picnic table.

Virgin River, Zion River RV Resort, Virgin, UT Feb 12-15,2021

We didn’t have any plans specifically to do for this trip. This morning, Kevin wanted to drive through Zion National Park again. I decided to check the Zion shuttle for tickets. Lo and behold they had some available! Kevin bought some ($1 each) for noon. It was overcast so we took coats. On the few miles from our campground to the entrance of Zion, we passed an older motorhome. Well, when we got to the entrance, of course we were in the slow lane and they passed us in the other lane. We laughed and laughed how they got into the park before us.

The Narrows in Zion National Park Feb 12-15,2021

As we rode up the canyon, it was raining. It made for stunning scenery! So many of the black rocks were shining with slippery-ness. Even the red rocks, soaked with rain and wet, looked different than when dry, as in a deeper color of red/orange. We took the shuttle to the end and got off. It was raining but we had coats and hats. I had my cruise hat that is made of straw like material and would you believe, my glasses didn’t get a speck of rain on them. We walked the paved trail, more than a mile each way, to the end of the path where the Narrows start. This is the spot that you have to walk in the river to go farther.

There are alerts for dangerous algae and posted signs not to get in the water. The walk is gorgeous with the rocks going straight up next to us. So tall, I couldn’t get it all in a picture. There was lots of red mud on the path but we didn’t slip or anything. We were able to skirt around all the water puddles…until the very last one. There was no way to go around it and so both feet got wet. That made us laugh because our feet had been dry the entire hour walking in the rain. 🙂 We jumped on the shuttle and went back to the visitor center.

Kevin: On the shuttle I was signing with Charla, and noticed a young family watching us. The Mom then said their children had a deaf student in class, with an interpreter. They knew a little bit of sign language. We tried to “talk” (sign) with them, but they were pretty shy. It is fun encountering people that have a desire to reach out and communicate.

Kevin had read about an old LDS church that had been converted into a pizza shop there in Springdale. Having only had sausage and eggs for breakfast, and cheese and nuts for snacks, we decided to go there for a late lunch. It was 2:30 PM; the sign on the door said it opened at 4:00 PM. Then we checked a steak restaurant and it didn’t open until 5:00 PM. Everywhere we went, it was closed. This was a surprise to us because there were people around who would eat. HA On the way out of Springdale I saw Stage Coach Grill & Saloon. We checked and it opened at 3:00 PM. We decided to wait in the truck for 1/2 hour til it opened. It was a disappointment, I rated my chicken fried steak at 3 stars; Kevin rated his “prime” steak at 2 stars.

View of Zion National Park from Stage Coach Grill, Springdale, UT Feb 12-15,2021

Back to the campground and boy, we enjoyed an afternoon walk. I spent about 3 hours booking places for us to camp from now until end of June. I enjoyed researching and finding places. Of course a lot of the state parks are fully booked out the 4 months.

Kevin worked on the batteries; it seems a cable was loose. The evening was spent doing what we do at home, watching movies and videos, playing games, read, visiting, etc. Absolutely perfect.

President’s Day. Disembarkment Day. 😦 We took our time getting up and around, but we sleep so well there that we wake up early some days. Kevin started on the outside and I did the inside. When we were backing the trailer into the storage spot, I did the usual thing where I FaceTime Kevin and then talk to him through that. Of course, I am deaf so he can’t talk to me but he can sign ASL. I asked if he could hear me and he signed yes. Backing him up, I said, “Driver’s side” pause “driver’s side” pause, then I started pointing to the side I wanted him to turn to. It turns out I was saying it wrong! I was suppose to be saying “passenger side”! Poor Kevin was so confused and wondered if the mirror was flipped around since I was pointing the opposite way I was saying. We doubled over laughing. Then I said, “Back seat driver’s side!” Finally I just throw up my hands and said, “Come on back, you are doing it perfect.” ROFL Thankfully, the spot is nice and wide and there was no danger.

We talked later at how “off” things were this weekend. Not with us, not one bit, but it seemed more like first time out camper problems. 🙂 However, the scenery was gorgeous and we love being together. Thankfully the drive home was uneventful and the big snow that was warned about didn’t happen. Dry roads most of the way.

Winterizing, oh the joys!

Being a new travel trailer owner, I consulted the experts on winterizing – Google and YouTube. I thought it would be pretty complicated, but it is not bad.

Here is the process I followed the first few times:

I disconnected the city water hose from the trailer.
I then opened the drains for the hot and cold pipes. On my trailer, it is just under the city water hookup.
Then I used a special fitting that attaches to the city water connection. This will connect an air hose to the city water connection.
I connect my small air compressor to the fitting, dial it down to 35 psi, then turn it on.
I close the hot and cold pipe drains.
After waiting for my air compressor to catch up, I go inside and open each faucet one at a time. Air and water shoots out. Once it is just air, I close the faucet, and move on to the next one.
Hot water heater. We turn the water heater off the night before, to let it cool down a bit. Turn the air compressor off. (see story below) relieve pressure in the heater by opening the pressure relief valve. Then remove the anode at the bottom of the water heater. This will take time to drain, I leave the anode just below where I removed it, and close everything up……time for a story. The water heater needs to be drained. The first time I did this, I left the air compressor connected and running – building pressure in the system. When I removed the plug/anode, water shot out 6-8 feet after it shot me right in the chest!
Time to work on the drains. We use the pink RV antifreeze and pour a couple cups into each drain. The measurement is very important. Usually I upend the gallon jug and wait for two glugs. B-)
That is all we do. If we lived in colder climates, we would pump antifreeze into the water pipes.

This is the process we did the first few times. After looking at the temperature in St. George where we store HOWE we stopped blowing out the lines with air. We just open the drain lines and open the faucets. This might catch us someday – who knows. Most people do this once a year in the fall but since we are using it almost every weekend, we do it almost every weekend. B-)

Internet – when we want it, where we want it

We live in an age where internet is a necessity. We are not in the position to retire, so I need reliable internet to work from any location we happen to be in. From my experience, campground wireless internet is hit and miss. Even if I am connected, it is not fast enough even for basic work.

So what is the answer? There are several different options out there, but the best and most reliable is cellular. I have an iPhone that I can “hotspot” my computer to, and so far it has been working great! The challenge is when cellular signal is not good.