Category: RV Life

Our First Harvest Host Stay

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Harvest Hosts, Lance, RV Life, Travel1 Comment

Many RV’ers take advantage of a website called Harvest Hosts.  It is a searchable map of wineries, farms, museums, golf courses, and assorted other attractions that allow RV’ers to stay overnight for free.  The assumption is that you will patronize their facility.  Cristy and I found Klinker Brick Winery in Lodi, CA through Havest Hosts and stayed there this past weekend.

They have a great facility with LOTS of RV parking behind the winery right next to their  vineyards.  It’s a beautiful view!  The only problem we ran into was that it had rained heavily off and on for the past two weeks.  This made for some very large puddles and some very soft ground.

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I did my best to find a high spot to park the trailer but we were tip toeing around puddles all weekend.  Still the folks at the winery tasting room were really friendly and understanding.  They offered to pull out their tractor if I got stuck in the mud. And the view during breakfast was outstanding!

After breakfast we took a walk before heading over to the tasting room.  I don’t drink wine and Cristy can’t drink wine so it was a short visit.  However, since we wanted to support them Cristy bought a T shirt.

We really enjoyed our stay at Klinker Brick and can’t wait to try another Harvest Host location.  Which, incidentally, will be next weekend when we stay at Vista Ranch and Cellars in Merced, CA.  We’ll let you know how that went.

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Beautiful walk!  But COLD!

Securing The Bug Screens

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Lance, RV Life2 Comments

One of the modifications I made to our Lance trailer was to add insect screens to keep muddaubermud daubers out of the furnace exhaust and water heater vents while the trailer is being stored.  The little buggers are everywhere out here and while they are not aggressive and don’t sting (at least I’ve never been stung by one) they build their mud nests in small holes and clog things up.

So I bought and installed some screens to prevent this.  However, the screens were meant to be mounted with really weak springs.  Other Lance owners have complained about brushing up against the screens and knocking them off the trailer.  Mine barely made it home from the RV storage lot after I installed it.  To rectify this I used some safety wire left over from my airplane builds and fastened the screens on securely.  They feel very solid now.

I did have to drill a couple of holes in the water heater access door to attach the screen.  The grate that is built into the door comes out too easily.

Both screens feel really solid now and won’t easily be knocked off either by my clumsiness or while driving down the road.

First RV Mod

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life2 Comments

I belong to an RV owners group called LOA or Lance Owners of America.  Once of the points of pride in ownership for Lance owners is the modifications or “mods” they have done to their RV.  I’ve completed my first mod.  The trailer comes with a large closet in the back with a single shelf near the top.  We plan to use the closet as a pantry and storage area.  To that end I installed two more shelves in the closet.  I also added a couple of Command brand broom hangers.  There was one little “oops” but I was able to conceal it fairly well.  Cristy is pleased with the result so I’m not going to point it out! 🙂

Normally they would be mounted so that the lip would be pointing down so that you can hang clothes from them.  I mounted them with the lip facing up to keep items from falling off the shelves during transit.  Here are a few photos of this first mod.

I’ve got a pretty good sized list of mods I want to make to the trailer but some of them are pricey so they will have to happen over time.  Here is a list of the mods I want to make:

  • Front Window Cover – To protect the front window from road debris
  • Oxygenics Shower Head – To replace the factory shower head which has very low water flow.
  • Upgraded bed lift struts – The bed lifts up to reveal more storage.  The factory struts are not strong enough to hold the bed up when opened.
  • Bedside closet organizers – The closets on each side of the bed can actually hold more if shelving is used rather than the hanger rod that is in the closet by default.
  • Receiver Hitch – To be installed on the back of the trailer.  This will allow for the mounting of accessories such as a bike rack.

Here is a list of the mods I have already done.  I’ll have to get some pictures of these and write more about them in a future post.

  • TPMS System – Tire Pressure Monitoring System.  Allows me to monitor trailer tire pressure and temperature.
  • Bug screens – Screens over heater and refrigerator exhaust openings prevent insects from entering these openings when not in use.

That’s it for now.  We are really enjoying this little trailer.

The RV Journey Begins

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, Travel2 Comments

After 4 years of research and one year of actual shopping we have finally purchased our first RV; a Lance 1995 Travel Trailer.  We picked the trailer up on Saturday from Meeks RV in Acampo, California.  They gave us a walk through and demonstrated how everything works which took about an hour and a half.  We signed the paperwork and pulled out onto the highway for the first time.

I had to do some work at my job at 2am so we booked a spot at an RV park about 10 minutes away from where I work.  I got everything set up just in time for the rain to start.  I started going through some of the inspection items that I wasn’t able to complete at the dealer.  There were only two things that I could pick on.  I’ll start a list for when I visit the dealer again to have them take care of the repairs.

The RV park itself was pretty nice.  I’ve driven past it for years but this is the first time I’ve been to it.  I was assigned a pull thru site which made set up really easy.  It was really quiet which made resting before my late night work easy.  They gave me a key to the gate for a $10 refundable deposit so I could get in the gate after my work was done.

I rolled back into the RV park after doing my work at about 3:30am.  I turned the heater on and listened to the storm raging outside my warm little camper.  I actually had to turn the heat down at one point because it was too warm.  I slept in and completed a few more inspection items before joining my wife and son for some lunch.

My wife then rode back with me to spend the night in our new RV.  We had a really enjoyable time in the quiet RV park.  It rained and stormed most of the time we were there but there were but we still really enjoyed ourselves.  If our first shakedown cruise of the RV was this good then we have many more adventures to look forward to.   We plan to use this time to learn the ropes of living in an RV.  We’ll spend as much time in it as we can over the next 7 years and make sure that full time RV living is something we really want.  We can’t wait!

On “Not Waiting Until Someday”

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Opinion, RV Life, Six Chuter P32 Comments

One of the discussions my wife and I have from time to time is that we don’t want to wait until “someday” to do things.  Mainly travel and seeing the country.  I remember my parents having the same discussions except someday never came for my mother.  Mom and Dad got to travel a bit but didn’t get to see the country like they wanted.  I’m making plans for an early retirement but again, that’s someday.

To help bring someday a little closer I have come to a decision.  It’s not an easy one for me to make.  If you know me or have read this blog much you KNOW how big a part of my life aviation is.  For over 25 years aviation has been a part of who I am.  But it’s not a part of who my wife is.  And she’s an even bigger part of who I am.  I have decided to sell my powered parachute and trailer and begin the process of buying a smaller travel trailer that I can tow with my truck.  As much as I enjoy flying, I think I would enjoy weekend trips and camping with her even more.

I used to feel sorry for the pilots I knew that seemingly one day decided to just sell their airplane and buy a motorhome.  I couldn’t understand their motivations.  I remember declaring “I’ll never do that!”  Well… I’m ready to do that.  Now, this doesn’t mean we’ve given up our dream of big truck, big 5th wheel trailer to travel in full-time.  That will still happen… someday.  But for the here and now, we’ll settle for a somewhat smaller dream.

I just have to figure out how to break it to the guys at Six Chuter.  They have been wonderful at helping me through every issue I’ve encountered and all issues appear to be ironed out now.  Someone is going be buying themselves a wonderful machine!  I’ll be coming up with a “For Sale” post on this blog soon.

Domicile Decision

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life1 Comment

I’m not retiring for 8.5 years.  We can’t travel full time at least until then so why am I deciding on our domicile so far in advance?  Because I can’t help it, I’m a planner.  We’ve had three states in the running; Florida, Texas, and South Dakota.  I had always thought we would move our domicile to Texas but recently I’ve been waffling.  South Dakota was starting to look very attractive which made me rethink my decision.  After crunching the numbers and reviewing health care options I have decided to stay with Texas.

So why even blog about this.  Mainly it just helps to write out my thought processes.   Also, I’ve done a lot more research on what we need to do to emigrate to Texas.  I’ve got a timeline now with what tasks we need to accomplish step by step as we moved to Texas.

The rough outline of the plan is this:

  • Purchase the RV prior to retirement
    • We’ll buy the RV a few years before we retire so we can get the RV outfitted and get some practice before we retire.
  • Sell the house
    • Once we are comfortable towing and living in the RV, we’ll select an RV park near my work to finish out the last few years of work.  Then we’ll clean out the house, do some minor remodeling, and then sell it.  We’ll pay off the RV and then invest the rest.
  • Full-Timing
    • At this point we will not have a house but I won’t be retired yet.  We’ll use this time to get used to full-timing and prepping for retirement.
  • Retirement
    • First we’ll set up a mail service in Texas.  More than likely this will be with Escapees.  They have tons of resources for full-time RV’ers.  This will give us our street address.  We’ll change our bank, insurance, etc to use this new address.
    • Next we’ll have to find an insurance agent in Texas to insure our vehicles just prior to the trip.
    • After retirement we’ll pull up stakes and head to Texas.  We have a 40 day trip planned to get to Texas.  Once we’re there we’ll set up shop and begin the process of registering vehicles and getting Texas driver’s licenses.

The domicile process:

  • Once we arrive in Texas we’ll head over to Escapees’ RV park, Rainbow’s End, to set up as a home base to begin all the tasks involved in becoming Texans.
  • Register our vehicles
    • We may be able to register our truck and trailer before we even leave for Texas.  However, it may be cleaner and easier to register once we get there.
  • Apply for Texas drivers’ license
    • Once we’ve insured and registered our vehicles we can apply for a driver’s license.  Once we have our TDL we are for all practical purposes, residents of the State of Texas.
  • Begin professional relationships
    • After we complete the domiciling process we need to talk to an attorney because California is notorious for going after people that it THINKS are California residents.  We want to talk to a lawyer to make sure we’ve got all our i’s dotted.

After we’ve got this process complete our next stop will be to near by Lake Livingston where we’ll stay for a month or so to just decompress and decide what to do next.  Again, we have 8.5 years before any of this happens but in that 8.5 years we need to buy a bigger truck, buy our 5th wheel trailer, get rid of our possessions, and sell our home all while holding down a full time job.  And we need to help our daughter move out and get established.  That’s probably JUST enough time to do all this.  It will be here before we know it.

The Dream Is Still Alive

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Ram Truck, RV Life, TravelLeave a comment

I haven’t written much about retirement plans lately because there isn’t much progress on that front except for the slow crawl of getting through the years to get there.  After starting with my present employer I found out that to receive the pension I must put in 10 years of full-time non-probationary employment with them.  As our probationary period is 1 year I have to work 11 years total before I can retire and get my pension.  At this point I am at the 8 and 1/2 year mark.

The dream is to be able to get out from under the crush of “stuff” we have and travel.  Since full-time travel won’t be a viable option for at least 9 more years we can still travel part time.  And we can still get out from under our home and the crush of “stuff.”

My brother is doing just this.  In fact he blantantly STOLE my idea of living in an RV full time and travelling.  (That’s humor folks, don’t get upset.)  But you did read it here first!  It was MY idea.  NO one EVER thought of this before me! 🙂  He and his wife are selling their home and embarking on a journey to Texas this week in his Airstream travel trailer.  Good for them.  I hope they enjoy this new chapter of their lives.

The Trailer

But as this post is titled, we haven’t given up the dream yet.  This past year we have struggled over whether to get a smaller trailer and take shorter trips while having a small “home base” to return to.  My wife has been looking at homes both near and far for several months now.  This past two weeks have been a game changer for her.  We went to look at the smaller trailer we were considering.  I asked her to just spend some time in it with me.  After 30 minutes or so she needed to get out.  I then asked her to imagine spending a rainy weekend in that small trailer.  Not a pleasant thought but the weather isn’t always sunny when you’re camping.

 

When we got home I showed her a slightly larger (yet oddly, less expensive) travel trailer.  The Grand Design Iagine 2670MK Travel Trailer.  It has a much more spacious floorplan and a desk which was a feature we loved!  It was easy to just sit in the recliners and either nap or read.  It alsoWe could see ourselves spending time in this trailer.  The only thing we really didn’t like about it was how cramped the bedroom was.

 

The salesman that was showing us the unit told us that they had a 5th wheel with a similar floor plan but had a bigger bedroom.  Now, we really didn’t want a 5th wheel but it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.  We walked across the lot and he showed us the Grand Design Reflection 320MKS 5th wheel.

Now… this was more like it!  It had all the same features; desk, outdoor kitchen, but it had a bigger bedroom WITH a closet!  The kitchen had a larger refrigerator and a large pantry.  Cristy was sold.  We spent quite a bit of time in this trailer.  There were some things we liked about the Imagine travel trailer better but the Reflection just seemed more rugged and spacious.  Cristy almost fell asleep in the recliner.

If you’ve followed my blog you know that we’ve changed our minds several times.  That’s the beauty of dreams!   But this is the dream at the moment.

The Truck

Trailers don’t pull themselves, you need a tow vehicle.  When we were going with the Lance my RAM 1500 was enough to pull it.  The moment we decided to go with a larger trailer the decision was made for us that we had to scale up the truck.  I want to stick with RAM trucks so that part of the decision was made.   The only thing we needed to decide was to go with a RAM 2500 or 3500.   While the RAM 2500 is enough to pull the Reflection 5th wheel, that’s really all it could do.  There would be very little load carrying capacity in the truck beyond the hitch weight of the trailer.  Therefore it had to be the 3500.  It would EASILY tow the trailer and anything we could cram into it.  Decision made.

So… when can all this happen?  We think it’s best to make this all happen while I’m still earning money.  After retirement we’ll be on a fixed income.  So step one is to finish paying off my current truck.  Then we’ll trade it in and buy the new truck.  A few years after that we’ll buy the trailer and hopefully get it paid off before retirement.  We are also talking about selling our house prior to retirement and just living in the trailer in the final few years before retirement.  But dreams are cheap and easily changed.

We’ll see.

2014 Ram 1500 ST Integrated Brake Controller Installation

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Ram Truck, Repair, RV LifeLeave a comment

I didn’t specifically buy this truck to do any towing.  It was literally going to be just a replacement vehicle for the minivan, which, was falling apart.  Especially after seeing the abysmally low tow ratings for the RAM 1500 ST.  Then I started researching light weight travel trailers and starting thinking “what if”?  Then I found the Lance model 1985 travel trailer.  It has a gross weight well under my truck’s max tow rating.  However, I would need to add a brake controller.

I actually already had a brake controller I could have used but it’s the type that hangs down below the dash and you end up knocking your knees on it getting in and out of the truck.  After doing some research I found it was possible to add the factory supplied brake controller.  I used THIS DOCUMENT as my guide to installing the Ram Integrated Brake Module (RIBM) and everything went (almost) well.

When you order the RIBM, it comes with two bezels, one charcoal grey and the other tan.  I used the grey bezel to match my panel obviously.  It installs into the below space in your panel.  Originally there was a small change holder here.  It removes easily with two screws and the RIBM slides right into place.  Ram supplies an extra screw to hold the RIBM in place.  These are Torx 20 screws.

 

To get at the wiring you have to remove the kneeguard panel just below the steering wheel.  This is super easy as well.  You remove two screws at the bottom of the panel and it snaps out.  Then just let it hang by it’s wiring.

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Here is unfortunately where I stopped taking pictures.  To complete the installation I had to tap into the pink wire in the upper right corner of the above photo.  I then had to run this wire over to the brake controller.  The reason I had to do this is because the RIBM comes with two connection ports.  I had the first connector in my truck.  This is the one that goes to the 7 way plug back at my tow hitch.  The second connector supplies power and connects back to the truck’s EVIC or Electronic Vehicle Information Center.  My truck didn’t come with an EVIC so they didn’t bother to put this second plug in.  So at the other end of the wire I ran I installed a small female pin that fit the male pins on the second RIBM connector. (These connectors are available on Amazon.)

I crimped the pin onto the wire (make sure you use the proper crimpers for this or else use pliers and some solder.) I put some heat shrink over the end so the bare metal connector wouldn’t short against any of the other pins.  To make sure the cable stayed on I used some super strong duct tape to tape the wire to the bottom of the RIBM.

I plugged the red wire into the smaller connector and then installed the RIBM into the panel.  After it was secured I plugged the connector I found under my panel into the second larger connector on the RIBM.  When I turned the key and saw that it powered on I put all the dashboard panels back into place.

I know that CF means controller fault and that’s because there is no trailer connected.  What I don’t know yet is how long it flashes this message.  I didn’t leave it powered on that long because it was starting to rain.  I’ll do some more research today and see if I installed it correctly.

UPDATE:

The CF (Controller Fault) problem has been solved!  When I first read about this installation many of the people who did this before me said that I only needed to hook up the +12V line on the second jack in the controller.  This the the single wire I connected as discussed above.  This was simply not true.  I had to connect the CANBUS + and – lines as well.  Even though I don’t have an EVIC, these lines are needed by the controller.  Otherwise it thinks there is a problem.  After I connected these pins per the document I referred to above, the controller functioned correctly!  I have not connected a trailer to it yet so I don’t yet know completely if the RIBC is fully functional.

Interim Dreaming

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, Travel3 Comments

Since I bought an interim truck to hold me over until I can buy the big truck, Cristy and I started thinking about buying an interim trailer to hold us over until we can buy the big trailer.  My Ram 1500 has a max trailer weight of 6050 lbs so I began looking for a lightweight travel trailer I could safely tow with my Ram.  After doing some research I came across Lance Travel Trailers.  Lance is well known for their truck campers but they also make some really nice, light travel trailers.

The largest model my truck can safely tow is the 1985.  It has a maximum weight of 5700 lbs.

The 1985 is small enough to fit into most state and national park campgrounds, easily towed, yet JUST big enough to be livable for more than overnight trips.  It’s literally the biggest little trailer I could find.

Fully loaded the trailer will be over 5000 lbs.  The Ram 1500 owner’s manual strongly recommends using a weight distribution hitch for trailers over 5000 lbs.  For that I’ll go with the Andersen 3344 no-sway hitch.  This type of hitch transfers some of the trailer’s weight to the front wheels of your towing vehicle.  What’s really nice is that no modifications need to be made to your vehicle, the weight distribution hitch clamps to the frame of the trailer’s hitch.

We’re not quite ready to buy the trailer but this is the new plan.  We will still move toward the bigger truck and trailer but for now this is what we will learn the ropes on.

 

Goodbye Sienna, Hello Ram

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Opinion, RV Life, WorkLeave a comment

img_20161119_143059After 18 years of reliable service we decided it was time to put our 1998 Toyota Sienna out to pasture.  I knew that I wanted a Ram 3500 to be our tow vehicle when we eventually start travelling full time.  I also knew that we won’t be able to live that lifestyle for another 7 to 10 years.  There would be no point in having a Ram 3500 as my daily driver for the next 7 years.  But I also knew the Sienna wasn’t going to last another 7 years.  After discussing it with my wife she suggested I get an interim truck.  After searching around a little I finally settled on a bare bones Ram 1500.  This particular truck has storage compartments on either side of the bed, and basic instrumentation.  I went basic so the truck wouldn’t be an attractive target for thieves.

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It’s good to finally have a vehicle that doesn’t sound like it’s about to fall apart, will pass smog, and can tow heavier loads than the minivan could.  I’m even starting to think about a small travel trailer so my wife and I can do some camping.