Hey, everyone. Thanks for letting me join the forums!
I just started full-timing on Sept. 8, and that was my first night in an RV ever. Yeah...serious learning curve! I'm driving my 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport, towing at the top of my capacity with a 1996 Thor Prism 2000 20-foot travel trailer. I left my home state of PA on October 26 to begin my first season as a snowbird in the Southwest, and arrived in Las Vegas on 11/20. Given my relative newbieness and the age of my rig, I consider myself lucky to have only experienced one major setback in that entire 2700-mile trip. That was losing my electric hitch tongue motor in Ohio. Fortunately, I hadn't unhitched during my stay, so I was able to get directly to an RV Center for the replacement. I opted for a manual hand-cracnk, which is, yes, more difficult but not a lot. And I have the peace of mind that the motor can't strand me again.
I went through some snow and sleet in Ohio and Missouri, and waited out a day-long snow storm in central Oklahoma, where I was lucky to have my entire rig pulled into a friend's huge horse barn and never saw a flake of snow on any of it! I did, however, make fairly regular use of my propane furnace, and discovered on arrival in Vegas that it's no longer working. Checked the control switch inside, changed the batteries, checked the fuse, checked the propane. All ok. My friend Tom, an oil burner technician and veteran RVer, told me the fact that I've smelled propane and can't get the furnace to kick on indicates that my spark ignition system is either dirty or broken, so I'll need to have it looked at and either cleaned or repaired/replaced. He says it shouldn't cost more than $150, so I guess I'll take care of that when I get set up in AZ this weekend for a two-week stint.
When that's done, it'll be time for me to leave my Thousand Trails park, so I'm going over the mountains back to Prescott Valley, where I enjoyed staying at the Fairgrounds RV Park. There, I'm having a local guy install my solar power system. I already bought most of the components, so I just need them installed properly to allow me to start boondocking right after Xmas. I'm going to the Xscapers' New Year's Bash in Quartzsite, then moving to the Womens RTR in Quartzsite/Bouse and the regular RTR after that, so having the solar power is critical to me being able to stay and also to work during all that without annoying everyone with a generator.
I'm an avid metal detectorist (detecting101.com) and happy to give lessons to anyone interested wherever I stay. My Jeep is yellow and black, so she's named BumbleBeep Jeep, or Bumble for short. She pulls my trailer, Wildheart, which I hope to soon be able to paint the same color. Because this old, scuffy white just ain't cuttin' it.
I'm traveling with my 16-year-old blind cat, Idgie, who has adapted to life on the road at least as well as I have. She's great company. I am blogging our journey at http://www.wildheartwanders.com.
I just started full-timing on Sept. 8, and that was my first night in an RV ever. Yeah...serious learning curve! I'm driving my 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport, towing at the top of my capacity with a 1996 Thor Prism 2000 20-foot travel trailer. I left my home state of PA on October 26 to begin my first season as a snowbird in the Southwest, and arrived in Las Vegas on 11/20. Given my relative newbieness and the age of my rig, I consider myself lucky to have only experienced one major setback in that entire 2700-mile trip. That was losing my electric hitch tongue motor in Ohio. Fortunately, I hadn't unhitched during my stay, so I was able to get directly to an RV Center for the replacement. I opted for a manual hand-cracnk, which is, yes, more difficult but not a lot. And I have the peace of mind that the motor can't strand me again.
I went through some snow and sleet in Ohio and Missouri, and waited out a day-long snow storm in central Oklahoma, where I was lucky to have my entire rig pulled into a friend's huge horse barn and never saw a flake of snow on any of it! I did, however, make fairly regular use of my propane furnace, and discovered on arrival in Vegas that it's no longer working. Checked the control switch inside, changed the batteries, checked the fuse, checked the propane. All ok. My friend Tom, an oil burner technician and veteran RVer, told me the fact that I've smelled propane and can't get the furnace to kick on indicates that my spark ignition system is either dirty or broken, so I'll need to have it looked at and either cleaned or repaired/replaced. He says it shouldn't cost more than $150, so I guess I'll take care of that when I get set up in AZ this weekend for a two-week stint.
When that's done, it'll be time for me to leave my Thousand Trails park, so I'm going over the mountains back to Prescott Valley, where I enjoyed staying at the Fairgrounds RV Park. There, I'm having a local guy install my solar power system. I already bought most of the components, so I just need them installed properly to allow me to start boondocking right after Xmas. I'm going to the Xscapers' New Year's Bash in Quartzsite, then moving to the Womens RTR in Quartzsite/Bouse and the regular RTR after that, so having the solar power is critical to me being able to stay and also to work during all that without annoying everyone with a generator.
I'm an avid metal detectorist (detecting101.com) and happy to give lessons to anyone interested wherever I stay. My Jeep is yellow and black, so she's named BumbleBeep Jeep, or Bumble for short. She pulls my trailer, Wildheart, which I hope to soon be able to paint the same color. Because this old, scuffy white just ain't cuttin' it.
I'm traveling with my 16-year-old blind cat, Idgie, who has adapted to life on the road at least as well as I have. She's great company. I am blogging our journey at http://www.wildheartwanders.com.
