Loved this!! What a great read. I have yet to have my maiden voyage towing my own TT but I have a lot of concerns about most of the stuff you mentioned...fitting in to places, having to plan ahead of time to stop for fuel, not being able to grab something from a drive-thru... etc. I like the idea of carrying plastic cans to fill up just in case you couldn't fit the rig in the station and really needed fuel. Agreed that being in a camper is 100000x better than motels. All of your stuff is right there! Your bed, your shower, your closet...just cant compare. I also had no idea Aldi was set up like that so thats a good thing to remember. Cant wait to read about the next trip. Thanks for sharing : )
CamperAL's First Major Trip
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Hi Hedhunter9,
Thanks for your kind comments. I like the idea of the electric blankets up front on 12 volt. Might be able to also use the inverter power somehow to heat just a bit. While your heater in front was working, ours was not! We did put light coats on and ran the furnace but really it is the cold up front. Besides that their seem to be some vents that I could not shut off, that allowed cold air in. I ended up duck taping them off to some degree until I can trouble shoot things at home.
Hi Heli_av8tor,
You mentioned making a living kept getting in the way of having fun, I was fairly lucky to work at a place that offered more vacation weeks as you continued to work. I had 5 weeks of vacation per year after I put in 25 years. On the other hand (humor alert) I would have never hired in that place if I knew they expect results. ;D
I see the motel prices climbing up to much higher prices, the only thing that campers have to really worry about is an increase in campground costs and fuel but CG seem to be fairly modest for what you tend to get and who knows about fuel. I still like the Rv'n way. Wishing you uneventful, fun filled travels as you get out on the road!
Hi rvannie23,
Thanks for your kind remarks as well! It was my goal to try to put into words my thoughts on our travels to share with others, especially campers in my shoes who are beginning the journey.
In regards to fitting into places, I have a feeling the seasoned old timers, could have done this with little trouble. Since we are new, we opted for taking smaller (easier) steps until we get brave enough (and experienced enough) to get into tighter spots.
As far as fast food, camping closer to moderate to larger cities might offer a chance to unhook (if you really want to do this) and go grab a bite to eat somewhere. Nancy and I like the Waffle houses a lot and McDonald's has the breakfast burrito, hashbrown and coffee which was always something we enjoyed on the road while traveling. Mountain House makes an item called breakfast skillet which we like a lot. Only requires boiling water to reconstitute, that we find great for breakfast. Doesn't compare to making your own fresh breakfast. Good luck in your travels and just take your time and I am sure the fear of taking the first trip is much worse in your mind than it is in reality!
Thanks for your kind comments. I like the idea of the electric blankets up front on 12 volt. Might be able to also use the inverter power somehow to heat just a bit. While your heater in front was working, ours was not! We did put light coats on and ran the furnace but really it is the cold up front. Besides that their seem to be some vents that I could not shut off, that allowed cold air in. I ended up duck taping them off to some degree until I can trouble shoot things at home.
Hi Heli_av8tor,
You mentioned making a living kept getting in the way of having fun, I was fairly lucky to work at a place that offered more vacation weeks as you continued to work. I had 5 weeks of vacation per year after I put in 25 years. On the other hand (humor alert) I would have never hired in that place if I knew they expect results. ;D
I see the motel prices climbing up to much higher prices, the only thing that campers have to really worry about is an increase in campground costs and fuel but CG seem to be fairly modest for what you tend to get and who knows about fuel. I still like the Rv'n way. Wishing you uneventful, fun filled travels as you get out on the road!
Hi rvannie23,
Thanks for your kind remarks as well! It was my goal to try to put into words my thoughts on our travels to share with others, especially campers in my shoes who are beginning the journey.
In regards to fitting into places, I have a feeling the seasoned old timers, could have done this with little trouble. Since we are new, we opted for taking smaller (easier) steps until we get brave enough (and experienced enough) to get into tighter spots.
As far as fast food, camping closer to moderate to larger cities might offer a chance to unhook (if you really want to do this) and go grab a bite to eat somewhere. Nancy and I like the Waffle houses a lot and McDonald's has the breakfast burrito, hashbrown and coffee which was always something we enjoyed on the road while traveling. Mountain House makes an item called breakfast skillet which we like a lot. Only requires boiling water to reconstitute, that we find great for breakfast. Doesn't compare to making your own fresh breakfast. Good luck in your travels and just take your time and I am sure the fear of taking the first trip is much worse in your mind than it is in reality!
WILDEBILL308
Well-known member
Al, Glad you are having fun. Have you looked at http://www.passportamerica.com/ You can save some money on camp groundes, last year I saved over $450.00.
On your heater in the front problem. Some coaches have a valve to shut off water to the heater in the front. Look for that and cheack and see if the inlet side hose is getting hot. Allso see if the floper door is closing, try running it on recirulate. Cheack your controlls, the defalt is to go to full defrost. Is your dash aircompresser running in "heat"? It should run when in defrost. The tempature control maynot be working.
Plug all the air leaks in the front fierwall. A small leak will let in a bunch of cold air.
Bill
On your heater in the front problem. Some coaches have a valve to shut off water to the heater in the front. Look for that and cheack and see if the inlet side hose is getting hot. Allso see if the floper door is closing, try running it on recirulate. Cheack your controlls, the defalt is to go to full defrost. Is your dash aircompresser running in "heat"? It should run when in defrost. The tempature control maynot be working.
Plug all the air leaks in the front fierwall. A small leak will let in a bunch of cold air.
Bill
NY_Dutch
Well-known member
Al, I enjoyed reading your adventures and recalling my own early days in a motorhome years ago. You mentioned a couple of times the gas pump limit on credit card fill ups, so I thought I'd mention that in most cases, adding more fuel is as simple as just re-swiping your card and starting the pump again. The pump limits are usually set at the per transaction amount the CC company will reimburse the station owner for fraudulent card use. Some stations set a 2 swipe limit, but that's usually enough at today's lower fuel prices.
muskoka guy
Well-known member
My friend travels in the winter to his daughters in British Columbia every year. He installed a collapsible curtain rod behind the drivers compartment. He hangs a curtain so that he can heat only the cab area when travelling and keeps the coach at a lower temperature. Not sure if this advise will help, but that is what he does. When not in use he just takes it down and stows the rod below.
Hi WILDEBILL308,
First thanks for taking the time to offer assistance with the heat problem. I haven't looked at any of those things (yet) but will pursue that when things warm up just a bit. We are also having high winds here right now and not wanting to fiddle with things. I will try each of those things and see what I can find out. When I moved the control in the front to different settings, it didn't seem to matter. I would flip the heat on and put it on full high and after just a bit, a little warm air would flow, then after a tiny bit of time, would go cold on me again. There seems to be some openings where the cold air was flowing at a pretting good rate. My wife just put down a towel to stop the air and covered with a blanket. It was only a problem when really cold outside. Thanks!
Hi NY_Dutch,
I thought about trying to swipe the card again on several of my fueling stops, but never tried to. I will remember that for future use. The real secret is being able to get to the pump
thank you for your tip!
Hi muskoka guy,
That was another things I also thought about enclosing the front end. You come up with all kinds of ideas when there is a need. I think I'll pursue some of the suggestions WILDEBILL308 made as that will probably get the front heat working. After that, we'll see if we need to add or do anything else. Many thanks to all!
First thanks for taking the time to offer assistance with the heat problem. I haven't looked at any of those things (yet) but will pursue that when things warm up just a bit. We are also having high winds here right now and not wanting to fiddle with things. I will try each of those things and see what I can find out. When I moved the control in the front to different settings, it didn't seem to matter. I would flip the heat on and put it on full high and after just a bit, a little warm air would flow, then after a tiny bit of time, would go cold on me again. There seems to be some openings where the cold air was flowing at a pretting good rate. My wife just put down a towel to stop the air and covered with a blanket. It was only a problem when really cold outside. Thanks!
Hi NY_Dutch,
I thought about trying to swipe the card again on several of my fueling stops, but never tried to. I will remember that for future use. The real secret is being able to get to the pump
thank you for your tip!Hi muskoka guy,
That was another things I also thought about enclosing the front end. You come up with all kinds of ideas when there is a need. I think I'll pursue some of the suggestions WILDEBILL308 made as that will probably get the front heat working. After that, we'll see if we need to add or do anything else. Many thanks to all!
