Changes in Attitude

These little guys are squirrels indigenous to the southeast part of Utah.  Nothing to do with this blog subject, but they were cute.  Refused to pose - almost had to get them on the run.

I recently did a longer-than-usual trip toward Albuquerque, New Mexico for the balloon fiesta next week. Along the way, I was thinking about how my habits have changed when I'm towing my 5th wheel.

Instead of checking Gas Buddy for the most reasonably priced fuel in my area, I drive through the area trying to figure out which gas station would be the easiest in and out when I'm pulling my rig. With the truck alone - no problem. I must have passed half a dozen stations before I found one that was easy in and had a vacant lot attached where I could park and go in the store. I've found that it's best to start looking for a station before I hit the half-full mark, depending on how populated the area is - or how desolate it is.

Another thing I've noticed is that I drive at a speed that I'm comfortable with, depending on the road conditions, grades and traffic. Just because the speed limit is 80 does not mean that's what I'm going to do. I try never to get over 60 when I'm towing. If I'm going down a steep grade and the speed limit is 60, I don't feel comfortable doing that. If it's steep and long enough, I'll put the truck in a lower gear. You don't want to wear out your brakes or burn them up trying to stop on that kind of a grade, if you happen to need to.

I'm always aware that I could have a blowout, and that keeps my speed down. I always look at my tires before a trip and check their air frequently. I've never had a blowout, but I've always made sure I have good tires and take care of them. My truck gets anything she needs to make her happy. Of course, she's good at letting me know what she wants. I believe in preventive maintenance, unlike some people who say "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!"

I've had huge rigs pass me going way faster than I am -hope they feel safe. I'm always glad it's not me.

 

Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year to everyone.   In the Caribbean islands, New Year's Eve is called Old Year's Night, which seems appropriate.  I have always liked their little phrases and sayings that are a bit different from ours.

 

The sign above is posted right as you come into the park I'm staying at, usually parks allow us to drive 10 MPH.  But, during the past year, I have learned to drive much slower so I don't mind.  In late March of 2014 I set off in my truck towing my 5th wheel trailer.  This was the first thing I have ever towed and I had towed it very little before the day I left.  I find that even now just driving my truck, I tend to move along at whatever speed feels comfortable, which is usually under the speed limit.  I usually want to look at the scenery instead of whizzing along.

 

I am going to end up staying in this park for a month, a record for me, but it's very reasonable and the people are friendly.  I can go wandering around in the desert any time I feel like it, seeing all sorts of things, like the burro family in the photo below.  Besides, it's about as south as I'm going to get in Arizona.  I'll move further west in January sometime.

 

 

Thinking back over the year, I have seen some very interesting places, have been on lots of hikes and have taken thousands of photos.  I have enjoyed myself, except for a few technical problems with my rig.  I have come to find out that I want to avoid big cities because I don't want to deal with the traffic and the crowds.  I'm missing some of the museums and other sights, but have decided it's not worth it for me.  There are museums I have seen in small town that are gems. 

 

Right now, I have a woodpecker that is perched on the hummingbird feeder and since he's so heavy compared to the little hummingbirds, he's rocking back and forth on the feeder, curled around to get his beak in the plastic flower.  This was taken through my back window since it's cold and rainy out there, and I'd scare him away if I opened the door to go out.  This was probably dessert for him.

 

 

There are inconveniences, such as the lack of good wifi, but that was the same in the Caribbean.  I have been without phone signal in some unpopulated areas, sometimes for days - but I got used to that too.  I didn't have a TV for about 15 years until I moved into my 5th wheel, but did watch some shows in the computer while I lived in Florida for the past few years.  Since I moved in, I have watched more TV, since it replaced wifi.  There are areas where there hasn't been TV either, but I always have my books.

 

I am happy to have this opportunity to travel leisurely and see all sorts of wonderful things, even though I do miss some things (and people) in Florida.  And I still miss sailing in the Caribbean, that will always be in my blood.  The gypsy spirit lives on!

 

The New Year will bring more places to see, more hikes and more people to meet.  I'm looking forward to all the places I've researched while I've had internet these past couple weeks.   I have vaguely planned my trip for this year, starting when it gets warmer.  I'll be ready!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

 



 

Murphy!!

Just so everyone will understand that the life of a nomadic RVer is not all fun and games, I guess you should hear some of the bad parts....   As you can see by the above picture, I didn't have much fun on this day. But,  I guess we have to take the good with the bad. About a week ago, Murphy joined my crew. Sure wish the cat had chased him out before he decided to do his special mischief. The first inkling I got was a funny noise under the hood of the truck one day when I hooking up. Sounded like a fan belt type noise, but it couldn't be, the serpentine belt had been replaced a few thousand miles ago. After I got hooked up and pulled out of my campsite, the noise stopped and I figured it was OK - for now.

The next morning, I started the truck again and the noise seemed louder. The general consensus from my conversation with a couple guys in my new camping area was that it was probably the pulleys that made the belt work. OK, sounded logical to me. I called a repair shop and the guy told me to bring it in and he could check it. It was a little way down the road and I figured it shouldn't take too long to do the job. Sure wish I had taken a book with me.

The mechanic opened the hood and listened to the noise - yeah, at least it made the same noise when the mechanic was around. Murphy must have been sleeping. He said it had nothing to do with the belt or pulleys, it was coming from the back of the engine. Sounded ominous, there are only expensive things back there. He finally decided it was a broken flywheel. HUH? They break? All by themselves? Not that I'm skeptical (yeah, right!), but I really didn't believe it. I told him that I wanted to see it for myself, I just didn't believe it.

He was pretty adamant it was the flywheel, so he started tearing into it to uncover the problem. Well, when he got it partially apart, the diagnosis changed - the starter gear that meshes with the flywheel wasn't retracting after the engine was started, it just sat there and pinged along the flywheel teeth. OK, I'll buy that, especially when I saw the little teeth on the starter had some new shiny spots. The flywheel teeth didn't look damaged at all.

A new starter was ordered and a few hours later he was putting things back together and I was on the road back to the campground, a few hundred dollars lighter.

A couple days later, I hooked up again and left that park. I was about 60 miles away when my brakes started pulling to the side. And I thought Murphy had jumped ship. A few more miles down the road, I smelled the dreaded hot, burning smell that demanded immediate attention. I pulled over the first chance I safely could and got out of the truck. The driver's side front tire was smoking! I grabbed my phone, got in the middle of the wide median strip and called Coach Net. While I was talking to them, a Sheriff pulled up. He helped give me information on the areas and roads I had just passed through since I wasn't paying that much attention and she needed more information than what my GPS was telling me. After that, she asked me where I wanted it towed to. Well, of course, a fix-it shop. She said I had to give her the name of one. OK, I don't understand, I told her that this is an RV specific service and since most RV people don't know what's available in the area they're traveling in, so I didn't understand why she thought I'd know what was around me. Even the Sheriff's guys (by now I had 2 of them with me) didn't know, but one checked on his computer and found a place about 25 miles down the road.

After about 25 minutes on the phone with this non-helpful person, she told me I should see two trucks in about 75 minutes - one for the 5th wheel and one for my truck. A Sheriff's volunteer spent the next hour and a half with me waiting for these guys, the first time I've been in the back of a police car!

The guys loaded up my truck and trailer in record time and we set off to the fix-it shop. Unfortunately, there was no room at the shop to park both the truck, which would be taken care of first thing the next morning, and my trailer. The tow truck guy called the local Walmart and got permission to park the trailer in their lot.

The next day, I got new calipers and brake lines for the front wheels. And I sure hope Murphy left with the calipers that went back for the core charge!

I've decided that if Murphy shows up again, I'll try an exorcism - 2 major problems in the space of a couple days means he was having way too much fun.

A Sinking Feeling

1. 

I just love those plastic screw on connectors for P traps that are under sinks these days.  Such a great invention compared to the old metal pipes that required wrenches.

When I moved into my 5^th wheel, I noticed my bathroom sink had a little drain plug.   That’s all it did – plugged the drain.   There was no little basket to catch anything that could easily be dropped right in there.   Looking straight down the pipe, I just knew that sooner or later, it would be a problem. 

The other night, I was about to brush my teeth and the cap to the toothpaste jumped right out of my fumble fingers and right down the drain – no bouncing around at all.   Bet I couldn’t aim and get it in that good. 
 

My first idea was a long stick to try to drag it out – I only succeeded in sinking it into the P trap water instead of having it float down there.  OK, it was after midnight, I knew I wouldn’t sleep if I put it off until the next day.  Took everything out of the cabinet and put down some used towels (so glad I hadn’t done that load of laundry). 

I have been a failure with house plumbing and trying to get the P trap off and back on successfully without a leak.  For some reason, those plastic fittings just didn’t want to play nice.   So, I was a bit worried about this, but I knew that within the next week or so, the RV fixit guy would be showing up to do something else for me.  So, what can I lose? 

These little pipes are so much more user-friendly than house pipes – about half the size.  The connectors screwed off easily and I spilled very little water getting it out of there.  I dumped the water and toothpaste cap into a pail and then screwed on the P trap again – it went together so nicely! 

I leak tested it by filling the sink with water and letting it all drain out.  First time and it’s dry!   I feel so much better now that one of my projects was so easily accomplished, without any bad words or frustration from having to attempt to get it leak-free multiple times. 

 

Now, to save future problems I might have, I now have a little screened wire basket in the drain.  After all, I will need all the sanity I can muster to get through re-stringing my day/night shade!  Stay tuned for more details.

Alarming

This picture is of a beautiful sunrise this week, which has absolutely nothing to do with this article, but it's pretty.....

When I moved into my 5th wheel trailer, I made sure all my alarms were working.  I had to replace the LP monitor and the CO2 monitor.  The smoke alarm just needed a new battery.  The monitors are all within a few feet of each other, my trailer isn't very big.

The CO2 monitor came with a smoke alarm also and it talks - when it senses fire, it says in a calm voice,  "fire, fire" to accompany the annoying screeching beep.  No, I did not find this out when I had a fire.  I found out when I was cooking pancakes one morning - what a way to wake up completely and quickly!  This alarm is so sensitive, no matter what I cook, it claims that it's on fire.  Forget the fact that when I have multiple candles burning, which are actually small fires - it doesn't seem concerned about them.  It just does not like my cooking - I have come to the conclusion that it reacts to a different smell in the camper.

I have been trying to remember to turn on the stove vent and close the sliding door between the kitchen/living area and the bedroom/bath area where the alarm resides.  Most of the time I forget and when it starts telling me about my poor cooking habits, I just snatch it off the ceiling, lay it on the bed and cover it.  I just hope the neighbors can't hear it , I don't want them wondering how I can eat my own cooking.

Moving Right Along.......

 

 

Just about a week ago, I finally sold my car to a gentleman who had been to see it earlier in the day.  Thank goodness this guy was easy to deal with, as I’d had a man arguing with me earlier in the week about the price - he just would not go away.  Obviously he did not know me at all, because arguing made me more stubborn!  Still, I wish I had gotten more for the car, but I was glad to have that over with.

Last weekend, I had a yard sale for 2 days to empty my house of stuff I had accumulated in the past 6 years.   Thank goodness the house wasn’t any bigger and I hadn’t been there any more years!  It took me hours to set up, both the day before and starting at 4:30 that morning.  Friday was a great day and I sold some large items and got rid of a lot of small ones.  Saturday was not very busy, there were too many group sales in the area, but I still managed to get rid of lots of things. 

Saturday afternoon I spent a few hours packing things up to take to the Hospice Thrift shop where I volunteer.  I took that load over and left the rest on the porch to pack up the next day.  It took me several hours to pack up stuff the next day – plus deciding what I should just trash.  I ended up ruthlessly trashing lots of things - I’ve become hardened to it!

Obviously I slept like a rock after those long, hard days – my first nights in my 5^th wheel; and it was very comfortable.  I thought I had moved everything in here prior to the sale, but all of a sudden I had piles of “last minute” items that had to be brought over – and stashed.   I have a feeling I’ll be organizing things as soon as I figure out what is convenient.

I have spent the last 3 days cleaning the house for sale.  You’d think it would be easy to clean an empty house.  All cabinets had to be wiped out.  I even did the windows!  I put up a new blind in the living room, after a trip to Lowe’s.  After a few more fixit projects, I had to clean out the fridge and freezer.  I haven’t brought over all my food yet, so I had to clean around what little was left over there. 

I met with the broker who assures me he can sell the house for a price that I can live with.  Even though I was skeptical, I signed the listing form, hoping that he sends over a great photographer to make it look wonderful.  We will see if he can do what he claims he can. 

The house is the last major obstacle to be dealt with before I can leave.  Of course, I have other things that need to be done, and I’m getting the 5^th wheel trailer set up.  I ended up having to buy a propane alarm and a CO2 alarm as both of them had expired.  These alarms have a shelf life of about 5 years – what a way to insure that the company will be making money in the future!

I figure I won’t be out of here until the first of the year anyway, but even that will depend on the house being sold.   Hopefully, it will be sold to really nice people, since I do like my neighbors on each side. 

 

Cattitude Adjustment

 

 

 

My Trinidad cat is now 14 years old, feisty as ever and believes that I am here just to serve her.  For the most part, she’s been healthy and hasn’t had to see the vet much.  But when she does – watch out!   As soon as I put her in her carrier and in the car, she howls all the way to the vet – thankfully a very short trip!

Because we will be traveling in a 5^th wheel, she needs to be trained to sit up in the truck with me – without the vocalization.  So I have a cage for her now instead of the carrier, maybe that will make her happier.  I’m putting her in it every day and sitting outside with her to acclimatize her to the cage and different scenery.  She doesn’t seem to mind, she’s had a strong interest in “outside” since she’s lived in a house.  She loved “outside” when we were on the boat and sat in the cockpit and watched other boats, dinghies, birds and fish in the water.

Yesterday, after sitting outside with her, I put the cage in the truck passenger seat, where she will be traveling (hopefully silent).  She didn’t seem to mind that either.  I found the seatbelt will go around the cage nicely to hold her in.  The true test will be when I start the engine – we’ll just sit there in the truck in the driveway.  After a few days of that, we’ll take a little drive around the neighborhood.  I’m hoping that this gentle, slow introduction to RVing will enable her to be a pleasant traveling companion instead of a howling monster. 

I’ll let you know how it works……


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More blogs and photos coming as I prepare and go traveling.

Learning to Hook up a 5th Wheel

Today was a productive day for me.  Since my truck was delivered yesterday, I decided to take time today to get acquainted with a few things in my truck - the shiny new Reese hitch and the Sirius XM radio my brother put in for me.  I also loaded all the safety gear from my car to the truck. 

I got out the instructions for the radio, tuned to the FM station as instructed and started playing with the buttons.  It was so easy to find the ones I wanted to put on the preset buttons - they made it pretty easy to figure out how to get around in their program.  So now I have music, comedy, or whatever else from the extensive list of channels they have on there.  OK, that was easy - let's hope the hitch is just as user friendly.

I had a general understanding of how the 5th wheel hitches worked.  In looking over the book, I found that mine doesn't have the jaws I've seen on most of them.  Instead, it has a heavy bar that pulls back with the handle, when your king pin goes in there completely, it clicks into place.  Makes sense to me.  There's a padlock that goes on the handle to keep it in place,  so I decided to give that a little squirt with some T-9 so it won't rust up. 

Later in the day, I met a friend of mine over at the storage unit where my 5th wheel has been incarcerated until this weekend.  This would be the first time in my life that I have ever attached any kind of trailer to any kind of vehicle  - in my whole life!  I had not driven this truck much, and in truth, I am very used to cars and very rarely drive a truck.  Not any more!  So, I put tailgate down and pull in front of the 5th wheel and prepare to back up the truck to put that king pin into my shiny new hitch.  This is just practice, to see how close I can get it - we're not planning on going anywhere.

I start backing up, trying to line up that small pin with the hitch I can see in the back of my truck.  I go slowly, trying to keep them in line, and when I get close - I can see that I'm only an inch or two off to one side.  OK, I pull forward a bit and back up again, not coming closer, but now about 3 inches short of success.  My friend explains that I need to pull further forward than I did, since the minute changes I made in steering don't work when I'm too close because the hitch is right over the axle.  So, I pull way forward and start my slow trip back again, lining up the pin with the hitch.  This time, it works and the king pin is in perfect position to jump right into the hitch.  We closed the tailgate because it looked SO close, and I backed up just a teeny bit and heard the hitch lever clunk into place.  Success!!   

Since it was solidly on, we decided to hook up the power cord; we checked the lights and they all worked fine.  I retracted the forward landing gear and we could see the weight of the 5th wheel settle into the bed of the truck.  OK, great, things are working nicely!  It was late in the day, so that's all we planned to do.  So, we put down the landing gear, unhooked the power and pulled the truck away from the 5th wheel - yes, remembering to lower the tailgate again.

I feel better about hooking up now, since the first lesson is usually the worst (I hope).  We'll see on Saturday when I hook it up again and take it up the road about 20 miles or so to get her roof cleaned and coated and get her some new tires. 

More fun to come!

My New Home

Wildcat will be my new home - it's a 5th wheel, Forest River Wildcat.  It's only 26' long, but tons of storage space for that size - way more than any other unit I've seen in that size.  The floor plan is perfect and it has been meticulously maintained by it's previous owner, who was the only owner. 

A thought just hit me - a 26' boat would be TINY - it would be cramped to live aboard - but this is totally different.  Even my 47' boat didn't have this much room, and storage space!  About 15 years of my life has been spent mostly on boats so I know how to live in small quarters.  This should be a piece of cake. 

I had been looking at 5th wheels for about 5 months, any size, make or model up to 30'.  A few days ago, I took a trip to Ocala and Gainesville, Florida to see what was available over there.  I spent the first day looking at units that either weren't in my price range (but they were very nice) or units that had lots of water damage and/or other problems - some I just didn't like. 

At the end of the day, I looked at a unit for sale by a private owner and as soon as I walked in, I knew this was a well cared-for unit, and I really liked it.  I could tell the owner had enjoyed the trailer, he indicated he was reluctant to sell, but his wife was done with traveling in it - and that was final.    He had made multiple upgrades to the unit and I could tell he was attached to it.  I really liked the layout and felt it would be a good match for me.

After looking around and talking to him for well over an hour, I left and found a place to stay for the night.  I sat in that motel room and planned my next day, deciding what RV sales lots I'd visit and seeing what they had available.  Most of them were units similar to ones I had seen in other locations, I had seen the layout and it was just a matter of condition.  There was really nothing new that I hadn't seen in other places.  While I was contemplating this, I went through the pictures I had taken of this unit - going over the pictures that had been on his ad.

During the night, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got on the computer to look at the pictures again, and pictured myself living in it.   The more I looked at it and remembered the feeling when I first walked in the door, I started to think it was a waste of time to look at similar units I'd seen before and wasn't that impressed with.  With only 2 hours of sleep, I convinced myself I needed to go back to sleep and decide in the morning.

In the morning, I checked my list again - ho-hum.   And then I checked the pictures I'd taken the previous day.   Yes, definitely, I did like this unit, it was clean and well maintained, even the tires and battery were only 1 year old  -  why should I look any further?  So, the decision was made - I would call the owner and set up a meeting to discuss the purchase. 

The rest of the day was spent discussing the deal, having him get the title and meeting me at the bank where I'd do the wire transfer.  I decided to go to the tag office then and get the title sent in to be transferred to me and get the registration and the plate for it.  While I was waiting for that to happen, I called my insurance company and got the insurance set up.  By that time, I was ready for the three hour drive home.

And so a new chapter in my life begins.  I'm excited and apprehensive at the same time.   It's another big learning curve, possibly not as big as when I went cruising.  In any case, my gypsy spirit requires travel and adventure, and I bet it's gonna be great!

Sign up with your email in the upper right hand corner of this blog to follow my preparations and travels.  I will be posting videos of places I'll be visiting also -
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0_Sjk6aQnK8EmA0-698i5A/feed    Hope you enjoy riding along with me.

Betty Karl

5th Wheel Delivery

Wow - what a day I had.!  A friend took me to Gainesville to bring my "new" 5th wheel home.  Since I don't have my truck here yet, we drove over in her truck.    Actually, she made me drive part of the way, to get used to the truck.  I had a feeling I knew what she was up to.

We got there a little early, so we had a quick breakfast/lunch and then met the owner at the storage lot where my 5th wheel was.  A quick walk-around, the previous owner giving me tips on the unit he really didn't want to sell, but his wife was done traveling in it.  Same story I heard while I was cruising by sailboat a few years back - boat for sale - wife wants to go "home".   I was always happy being "home" wherever the boat was.  Obviously, I was not made from the same mold as these wives!

I've never towed anything, so I watched while the previous owner and my friend hitched up the 5th wheel and brought in the landing gear, connected and checked lights, etc.  We got in the truck, waved goodbye to the previous owner, who stood at the gate gazing sadly at us going down the road.  I felt bad for him, I had the same feeling when I sold some (most) of my boats. 

Not only have I never towed anything myself, I don't think I've ever been in a truck or car hauling anything larger than a small boat or utility trailer.  I was a bit nervous at the noises it was making and kept looking back to be sure everything was OK.  In a short time, I got used to the fact that it was following us as it should - after all, hundreds of people do this daily, things would be fine.

We drove out of town and the road home was a nice road mostly through less populated areas, not much traffic,  a few curvy parts, a few little hilly parts  - hills in Florida can be 25' and we're impressed.  In a short time, my friend told me it was my turn to drive and my anxiety level went up a few notches.   She found a shaded area to pull over and we switched places.  I adjusted the seat, put on the seatbelt, took a big breath, looked in the mirrors to see what I could see.  I slowly took off and after a while, I realized that towing wasn't that hard - at least on a nice road with little traffic!  Oops, someone passed me and I noticed that I had a little parade going.  OK, I had adjusted to 40 MPH, I added a little more speed and finally got up to the speed limit.  0-60 in about 8 minutes!

We drove on and we came to a more populated area where I had to make a few turns and get into a parking lot.  Thank goodness I had a general idea of how it should be done, plus I had input from the passenger seat veteran.  I had been reading lots of information about towing, and You Tube is wonderful for instructional videos about anything you need to know about.   Really, I'm serious - I had watched videos about driving an RV, making the wide turns, backing up and all sorts of things - even dumping the black tank, which I'm sure will be another story later.

We pulled into the parking lot, made a loop through and parked way out in the lot, taking up numerous spaces - I can see I'm going to love huge parking lots.  My time at the wheel was done, I would get in my car and my friend would follow me to my home town.  What a sense of relief when I turned off that truck motor!.  My first time towing was over, but there's still a huge learning curve - on towing as well as everything else that goes with this lifestyle. 

There is a lot of knowledge out there about RVing and the more I read and talk to other RVers, the more I'll learn.  They're friendly and helpful, very much like the cruisers in the Caribbean that I had known and learned from, and in some cases they learned from me.   Maybe someday, some new RVer might learn something from me.