RE: Refrigerator Questions
If you run it while traveling (which I do), watch out that the gas flame does not blow out due to the wind. We had that happen several times, until I installed some window screen material inside the plastic vent on the side of the trailer. The screen material allows enough air to pass through the vent, while slowing down the wind gusts so that the flame does not blow out. (We still check the fridge every time we stop to make sure that it is still on.)
I should turn off the fridge when we fuel, but I don't. The flame for the fridge is on the right side toward the back of the trailer, while my car takes fuel on the left side. So there is about 15 feet between the fuel hose and the flame. So far, so good . . . . ;)
RE: Water Heater usage
This is actually kind of a thought-provoking thread -- I never considered turning the water heater off. We have never turned it off while camping -- it runs on propane and uses very little fuel. But if we were camping in hot weather, I could see turning it off -- although the hot water tank is insulated with styrofoam, it still heats up the trailer a little bit.
Come to think of it, it seems odd that although we often boondock in cold weather, we have never heard the water heater kick on during the night -- I guess the insulation is so efficient that it does not cycle on and off. Maybe the pilot light keeps it warm enough. Probably if we were to hear it cycling on and off, and if it kept us up at night, we would turn it off.
During the day, while we are out hiking or biking or whatever, we leave it on so that we have hot water when we shower before dinner. But really, we could easily turn it off and then re-light it -- it takes just a few minutes to get up to the right temperature.
RE: How many volts does a fully charged 12V battery have?
And "they" say don't draw it down below 12 if at all possible -- otherwise it will shorten the life of the battery. (This is for a lead-acid battery -- don't know about AGMs or whatever.) And I don't really know if this is true -- but I have been real careful to switch out my batteries when I get down around 12.
RE: Nervous wife
And if she won't take the time to look at our blog, here is an appetizer -- sunrise at 5 am from the North Rim:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dtW7wd3cENA/SwtGWhXUwAI/AAAAAAAABqI/TAFqab1ypCQ/s912/Sunrise%20on%20Rainbow%20Rim.JPG height=400 width=600
Bottom line -- life is for living. Get off the couch and get out there!
RE: Has any one noticed lately...
I think it's GREAT! The folks who run these forums ought to be able to make some money -- what is wrong with that? And when I click on an ad and actually buy something online, I always tell the vendor that I saw the ad on (name of site.com).
I think the ads on RV.net are very small and unobtrusive. Heck, if you use gmail, you will notice that if your email says "Jimmy has the flu," all sorts of health related ads will pop up. Again, that is ok with me. Plus it is really funny -- if I write "the client will not cough up the money," I see ads for cough remedies!
RE: Nervous wife
Strongly encourage her to click on this link and read our blog and look at our pix -- from Orange County to the North Rim and back --
Best Trip Ever (so far)
There are several tricks to keeping a nervous traveler happy on a long trailer trip. First, don't try to do too much in a short period of time. This is not like an "airplane vacation," where you only have a limited time to do everything. It is not like a "motel driving vacation," where you have to make reservations and have to drive a certain distance every day.
Second, be prepared. Things ARE going to break down. You are toting your house with you. Living in Calif, you know what an earthquake does to your house. Now pull your house onto the freeway and see what happens.
But with a simple toolkit, and some patience, it's all ok. It's an adventure. (Thank heavens for duct tape!)
And third, drive easy. Do not rush. Check your tire pressure often during the trip. Get the very best tires for your trailer, especially. Yes, it is an expense -- but the peace of mind is worth every penny.
Good luck!
RE: Purchased a trailer...what was I thinking?
We also bought a TT as an experiment -- that was four years and thousands of miles and 200 nights of camping ago. We are hooked. But we were not sure at first, and figured we could always sell.
And if you decide to sell, Casitas are always in high demand and hold their value better than almost any other trailer -- maybe the best of any trailer. Less deterioration/wear and tear than on a "sticks and tin" box (like mine!).
RE: anybody have a Casita??
Take a look at the smaller Fun Finders. Not as rugged as Casita -- a little more headroom and somewhat cheaper and lighter. We really like ours. But as fordsooperduty says, you better make darn sure you and your spouse are real good friends. Every summer, we spend a month at a time in ours, in very remote locations. Can't wait for next year!
RE: Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
Bring mountain bikes -- great trails. And great stars -- very clear and dark. Bring heavy jackets and hats and a tarp so you can lay down outside at night.
RE: How I fixed a black water leak -- let's see if lasts
Don't know if Eterna would work -- none of the folks I talked to recommended it, but maybe they just didn't think of it. Does it work on both ABS and PVC?
RE: casita vs. r-pod
Also check out the smaller Fun Finders and Cikiras. Very light, well made. Not as sturdy as the Casita, which is a fiberglass egg. But a Casita is more expensive, I think.
RE: Barstow nightmare
Sand is bad enough -- but stuck happens, even where there isn't any sand! This is an excerpt from our blog (see link below) describing our trip last summer to the Northeastern Sierra Nevada:
We found what looked like a perfect campsite -- secluded, away from the road, next to a stream, fully shaded. This area was at about 8000 feet, so it was surprisingly cool, even though it was early afternoon.
There was only one little problem with our possible campsite -- it was down a steep hill, with a narrow entrance, and some big rocks on either side, and a narrow steep exit. (Yes, that's more than one problem, but never mind -- these problems will come back to haunt us later, as you will see.) After some very serious scrutiny, we decided we could handle it. Back to the car. Put it in 4x4 low gear. Creep down the twisting entrance. The car and the trailer start to slide sideways into the creek. But luckily, the sliding stopped, and we were tucked into a great little spot, very cool and breezy.
A couple of days later, returning to our campsite, I backed down our little "exit road" toward the trailer. I thought that Felice (DW) was guiding me, but I misunderstood her signal and got the car stuck in some bushes (which rudely poked through the open window into the car). No problem. I shifted into drive and gently gave it some gas. The right rear wheel promptly sunk up to the axle. I hopped out. The front left wheel was three feet in the air. Uh-oh.
We figured out that the "exit road" was not really dirt -- it was loosely compacted leaves, i.e., "duff." I was able to dig out the back wheel, put it in reverse, and get back onto the dirt, with no harm done. But we realized that it would be very hard to get the trailer out of its wonderful parking space.
That night, I had trouble sleeping -- what to do? The exit road was not only very soft -- it was steep and narrow and rimmed with big rocks. I realized that we would have to gently re-engineer the road -- removing some of the rocks, filling in the ruts, and actually paving the soft part with rocks and gravel.
The next morning, that is exactly what we did -- first gathering big flat rocks as a base and then filling in with gravel. I used my shovel to fill in the ruts and level the roadway. There were some small trees in the way, but we could not bear to cut them down -- I used ropes to pull them aside, temporarily. We planned our "escape" carefully, measuring the exit area with sticks and string. We hitched up, put the car into low gear, and carefully pulled the trailer up and out of the campsite.
I hate to think what a tow would have cost -- we were probably 40 miles from the nearest tow truck.
If you want to read the whole story, and you have some time to waste, here is the link:
Northeastern Sierra
RE: Anyone ever get caught in the snow?
And then if it gets really icy and you are crawling along at 10 mph, the trailer starts to slide sideways on the curves, which are banked for 45 mph in dry weather so they slope. This happened to me at 3 am on a highway in the Sierra, after a sudden rain/ice/snowstorm left an inch of ice on the road capped by six inches of wet snow. We had to pull out of our boondocking site in the middle of the night to avoid getting trapped by the snow, and then crawled along for 10 miles on a deserted hiway in a blizzard. Had to steer UPHILL on the banked turns just so we could stay on the pavement.
Fun, fun, fun!
RE: RV park (full hookup) recommendations - Santa Rosa CA
Cloverdale KOA is nice and fairly quiet and very near some great riding, if you like hills. Santa Rosa is farther south and is somewhat more urban. The roads leading west from Cloverdale and Healdsburg toward the ocean have no traffic and wonderful views. It can get hot in the summer. This is where a lot of the Tour de France folks do their training.
Too rugged for me, though. Riding through Dry Creek is more my speed -- excellent old vine Zinfandels.
Also, check out Dutcher Creek RV Park near Cloverdale -- very quiet, fewer amenities.
RE: White Rim Trail Drive Report
Thanks for the photos and text -- very entertaining! I just missed an inning of the 3rd game of the World Series because of your great writing. (And congratulations on having married such an adventurous lady -- if she is willing to do more serious desert boondocking after that windstorm, you are a lucky guy!)
RE: What do you consider......
Our Fun Finder T-139 is 139 inches long -- less than 12 feet -- it not a small trailer -- it is a big ice chest. But we sure have fun in it:
Adventures in a Little Box
And if you want some tips and tricks on how we cope with such deprivation, see:
Care and Feeding of Little Tin Box
RE: Gas Mileage
Schwartzworld asked about 4 wheel drive vs 2 wheel -- I have 4 wheel because we boondock in muddy or sandy areas of the national forests. My guess is that someone who stays on pavement could do ok with 2 wheel drive.
RE: Well, happened again
I can just imagine the conversation among the deer: "Gee, I heard that if you look right into the headlights and open your eyes real wide, they see you a long way off and they stop right away! Works every time!"
RE: Gas Mileage
With no tow, I can get 22 mpg in my Pathfinder under perfect conditions. Towing a little trailer with a headwind, 10 mpg. Most of the time, 12 to 13 mpg. This is the price of fun.
