Leasons Learned

Lessons Learned

Bring plenty of quarters. No matter how many quarters you bring on an RV trip you will need more. Before you leave take every quarter out of every jar, pot or piggy bank in the house. You will need them for laundry, newspapers, water, etc.

Stop often. The journey is the destination. The whole point of having an RV is the freedom to stop and go wherever and whenever you want.

Dry camp. Don’t be afraid to stay overnight at Wallmarts and other shopping centers. Pull up to friends’ houses and use their driveways.

Pick campgrounds wisely. The biggest ones might have too many rules. The smallest ones might not have essential services. Get both the Trailer Life and Woodalls directories

Books. We found “The Next Mile” very helpful. It tells you what to expect at the next interception.

Talk to people. At gas stations, restaurants, campgrounds. Get referrals on the next place to go.

Expect to spend money. RVing is not cheap. We ate all our breakfast and lunches in the RV and still spent about $1000 per week on everything.

Get the Good Same road service plan. We found them helpful in the accidents and problems we had.

Get all the discount cards. Good Same, KOA and others. They will pay for themselves.

Get gas discount cards. Some credit card companies are offering 10 cents or more off of every gallon for the first 90 days. Get that kind of card before a long RV trip but be sure to pre-pay so they don’t hit you will high interest charges and penalties.

Arrange to do all your banking on-line. Have standard bills such as mortgages paid automatically.

Find a good way to connect to the Internet. Many RV parks advertise that they have WiFi but only a few really have it. Check out cellular modems. Satellite direct broadband is very expensive.

Don’t take too many clothes. You will never have the right amount of the right kind and you will find that you wear the same outer clothes day after day until they get dirty. Bring about two weeks of underwear. Make sure that you don’t have anything that needs to be dry cleaned. Buy clothes as you need them from Wallmart or other cheap stores.

Bring lots of tools. Make sure that you have a complete set of mechanics tools as well as carpenters tools. Be ready to fix anything automotive, electrical (12 volt and 110 volt) , plumbing or carpentry. You need a cordless drill and screwdriver.
Bring extra fuses and light bulbs.

Get a mechanic’s toolbox and fit it into the storage department under the RV.
Don’t buy a cheap RV vacuum cleaner from Camping World. Get a real vacuum from Wallmart.

Don’t buy RV toilet paper and chemical from Camping World. They charge too much. Buy it from Wallmart. Camping world has the highest prices anywhere. Try to buy elsewhere when you can.

Share the driving with your partner. Take time to look at the scenery.
Get travel books. The Lonely Planet books and the National Geographic books on various states are great. Go to local museums. Learn the local history and lore.

Get a GPS card for you laptop along with mapping software. We like the DeLoran setup. You can use this to estimate distance and driving time to you next stop.
Eat dinner at the bar at restaurants that have a bar. That way you can get to talk to others at the bar and the bartender. Always order a local beer.

Be prepared for the unexpected. Make sure that you have plenty of propane, water, food and gas.

Keep a journal.

Take lots of pictures.

Go to sleep late. Get up early. Take naps. Dance. Listen to local music.

Have fun.

Tunnel Trouble

We drove to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel but were stopped from going through. The wind was too high. We were put in a holding parking lot for about half an hour and then allowed to pay $28 to go through.

As we were nearing the end of the first tunnel our mirror was hit by a dump truck heading south. It smashed the mirror and also smashed the driver's window. I was driving. I was covered in glass. I kept control and we called 011. We were met at the north end by the police and we made a statement. While I was doing that Helen tried to clean up the glass. In order to do it easier, she put the dog in the car where he shit. We got all the info on the other driver.
We stopped at Accomack where a glass company made a plastic insert for the driver's window.

And we got home at about 2pm on Friday, March 10.
The dog was very happy to get home. He ran up on the porch and barked until we let him in.

Heading North

We left Sarasota on March 4 and headed north. We stopped at Lazy Days again to meet with our salesman, look at our intended RV, and while there we attended a lecture on a Caravan to Mexico. We signed up with Fantasy RV Tours and are looking forward to our Mexican trip next January. We spent the night at a friend's house in Melbourne e, FL and used her clothes washing machine. We then headed north to Jacksonville where we spent the night at a Walmart and had dinner with friends and watched the Academy Awards.

Getting ready to leave on Monday, I noticed that the magnetic lights that I had on the car were not working reliably. These are the lights that attach to the roof so that people behind can tell if we are stopping or turning. So we stopped at an RV place near Jacksonville where they found that one of the bulbs was burned out. They had a replacement.

When I ran the cable from the back of the car through the SUV and under the hood, I must have made the slack too short. As a result it pulled out of the RV and at some point it was dragging on the road and broke off. We knew it because a tractor trailer kept signaling us.

We called Good Sams Club and got the name of another dealer, this time in Brunswick, GA. They were able to replace the entire light arrangement with permanent lights. There is now a separate circuit in the SUV with a receptacle at the front of the car that connects to a wire that connects to the receptacle in the RV. And we paid another $500. The delay made us too late to have dinner with a friend in Charleston, SC so we pulled into a campsite in Georgia.

The next morning we left late and drove to a consulting assignment north of Charleston, SC. We unhooked the car and Helen drove to Myrtle Beach, SC where my brother lives. I did my work and followed with the dog. We stayed in Myrtle Beach for three nights, right on the beach. We stopped at Camping World to get an oil change and then headed north on I-95.

We got as far as Emporia and found a Walmart. We stayed there along with about 10 other RVs. Near us was an RV from Quebec. The family could only speak French.
We left on our last day, March 10.

Frolics in Florida

We drove from Destin to Sarasota stopping overnight in Ocala (at a Walmart) and then in Tampa. In Tampa we stopped at a Home Depot to meet with the technical from the exterminating company. He gave us a second and final (and successful) treatment for ants. We then continued to Lazy Days RV dealership. We had a wonderful time looking at new RVs. We are considering upgrading to a Diesel. We had lunch at Lazy Days and continued on to Plant City, FL where they were getting ready for the strawberry festival. We bought a how flat of beautiful strawberry for a few dollars.

Finally we continued on to Sarasota where we had a reservation at the Sun N Fun RV Park. Sun N Fun is a very large park and is totally full at that time of year (mid February to Mid March). Many of the sites are occupied by permanent trailers (called Park Models) that sell for $20,000 to $50,000 and the people need to pay ground rent ($5,500 per year) and utilities. We were stuck between two park models which was not the most enjoyable thing.

Our good friends Glenn and Sharon Gale were already at the park. They drove from their home in Connecticut with their Chevy Suburban and their Airstream trailer. And their large, energy-filled, dog. A golden retriever pup.

We got to Sun N Fun on a Saturday Night and we had a ball making supper on the grill and drinking margaritas. We made it into a progressive dinner starting with dinner at our RV and finishing with desert at their camper (a short walk away).

We stayed at Sun N Fun for two weeks. Not along enough. The park has a large number of English and Canadian people. Lawn bowling is a popular activity. During the 14 days we went to the beach, attended to our property in Sarasota, ate a lot of great food and I did a little work. I did some consulting in Clearwater for two days.

While Sun N Fun advertises that it has Wi-Fi it really does not. The service was almost impossible to obtain.

The park has a large number of activities including a woodworking shop, music events and a fitness center. It has a wonderful pool.

New Orleans and East

The City of New Orleans

We drove across Texas as quickly as possible. We spent one night in Beaumont along the way. We chose a simple seafood restaurant for supper and were seated across from a large family of refugees from New Orleans. They were in town for a cheerleading competition. The grandfather was about our age. We started talking to them and found out that their house was destroyed along with their daughter's house and several rental houses. I asked him if he was retired and he responded, "I am now". His job was also destroyed. They are living with relatives while they try to rebuild one of the houses.

Many people had warned us not to try to get into the city with a RV. They said that there were no spaces. I took the campground directory and started calling. Several were full or were closed but I did find one that had one space. It was on Chef Highway, about 5 miles from the French Quarter.

The closer we got to New Orleans the worse the city looked. There were wrecked houses everywhere along with wrecked cars and mountains of trash.

The RV park we found was in a formerly middle-class area. It had been under 27 feet of water. The owner's house was flooded and then looted. Across from the park was a pile of trash crowned with a toilet.

Almost every house had a spray painted symbol indicating the date it was inspected and the number of dead people and animals. Almost every street light was not working. They were replaced by temporary stop signs. If all the people from the city returned traffic would be impossible. However, there were few people so the stop signs worked.

Electric still has not been restored to much of the city. Almost all the street lights are down.
The only area that is mostly normal is the French Quarter. There, most of the business are up and running.

The local government is now suggesting that about 5500 houses will need to be destroyed. I believe that the number is too low. I think at least half the houses must either be destroyed or at least gutted.

And the 2006 hurricane season is just four months away. There is no way that the city can be ready in time and they can only hope that the storms will miss them.

Moving East

Traveling East from New Orleans we came to Gulfport, MS where 95 percent of the buildings were destroyed. In Beloxie, MS about half were destroyed.

Destin, FL

We stopped in Pensacola, FL to pick up our mail from the forwarding service and continued to Destin, FL. A lovely town. We stayed at a wonderful campground on the beach for three nights and then drove to Ocala, Fl and stayed overnight at a Walmart parking lot.
The next day we drove to Tampa and had another treatment for ants and then spent a half day at the Lazydays RV dealership looking at larger RVs.

Sarasota, FL

Finally we got to Sarasota, FL where we had a reservation at the Sun N Fun RV park and met our friends who have a trailer and got there ahead of us.
We got to Sarasota on Feb 18 and will stay there until March 4.
-- Howard

The Texas Hills

Saturday, Feb 11, 2006.
We left Carlsbaad, NM on Friday and started our journey east. Raggles (our dog) had a very bad night. His breathing is getting worse. We were out of medicine for him but we had a perscriptiong from his vet in Maryland. The first Wallmart did not have the pill form. We moved on and at the second Wallmart, I accepted the liquid form. Big mistake. Giving it to him requires holding him down and using a seringe without a needle. Each time he struggles and we get more on ourselves and the RV than in the dog.

We took Rt. 285 from Carlsbad to Ft. Stockton, TX in order to reach I-10. This is very vacant country. We went miles without seeing a house or farm. We drove on I-10 to Keerville, TX and just had enough gas to get to the station. We are burning about 6 miles per gallon.
The Steer-Safe springs we put on the RV make a big difference. Drving is much easier. We do not get blown around as much by tractor-trailers and the wind. As a result we can drive for longer periods of time.

We found a Wallmart in Kerrville and spent the night in the parking lot along with five or six other RVs. Now we are heading east, hoping to get to Lafayette, LA tonight so we can dance to live Cajun music tonight. It will be about eight hours of driving.

This is Lyndon Johnson country.

The Cave

Feb 9,2006
I was last at Carlsbad Caverns in April, 1964. That was the last time I drove across the country. At that time I was in college and I was driving a VW bug. There was me, two other guys and all our luggage for six months. And we fit in a bug about 10 feet long. Now I am traveling with one other person in a 37 foot RV towing a full size SUV. Times change.

And the caverns have changed. In 1064 the caverns had lots of water. There were many active stalagtites and stagmites. Now it is mostly dry. In 1964 I walked into the caverns on a one-mile ramp. This time I took the elevator.

But the caverns were beautiful. Really amazing.

One the way back to the campsite we picked up take out food and ate in the RV. The air was cold and the sky was very clear.

The dog is having problems breathing.

The Hole Thing

Carlsbad, NM Feb 9

Throughout the trip we were having trouble with the steering. It required constant correction and two-handed driving on the Interstate. We heard about the SteerSafe system and were lucky enough that their headquarters was in Deming, NM. We made arrangements and arrived at their factory in the morning. The device consists of springs and attachments to the wheel and the frame of the RV. It made a huge difference! It is not like driving a sports car but it now is easy to drive in winds or on the Interstate.

We left Deming and drove to Silver City, a town at about 7,000 feet above sea level. It is a wonderful, authentic, town filled with galleries, coffee shops and small stores. Yes, they even have a WallMart. We stayed at a small campsite in the middle of town. During the night our water hose froze.

The dog has been having problems and wet the bed for two nights. We arranged to take him to a Vet in Las Cruces, our next stop.

We decided to drive from Silver City to Las Cruces over the mountains -- the scenic route. The road was twisting and steep. It was the kind of road you see in car commercials. There were very few cars on the road and almost no RVs. The Scenery was breath-taking. We stopped several times to see it and take pictures.

The air was perfectly clear. We were well above all the pollution and at times we were at 8,500 feet. That is about as high as I would fly in my plane, when I had it.

We got to Las Cruces in time to check into the campsite and get to the vet. Raggles did have a urinary infection. The vet gave us some pills and we think they are working.

We left Las Cruces yesterday and drove to Carlsbad through El Passo. El Passo is right next to the Mexican border and is very much a Mexican town. We ate lunch in an authentic Mexican restaurant and then drove and drove over the mountains through incredibly vacant land to Carlsbad. We got here in the dark but luckily before the office closed at the campsite. We had our mail forwarded to here and it included lots of bills. This morning I will do some bookkeeping and when we go visit the cave.

More later.

Heading East

Demming, NM, Feb 5, 2006

We are heading East on Rt. 10 between Tucson, AZ and Demming, NM. During the past two weeks we reached California and enjoyed a week in Malibu at a beautiful RV park located on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We were able to park the RV with the front facing the ocean so we could see the Dolphins play. We visited with our son who lives in Beverly Hills and had great meals. We saw the Albert Brooks film, "Finding Comedy in the Muslim World". It had it good points and was funniest when it showed the Indian call centers handling US complaints.
After Malibu we traveled to Ojai, CA where I did a day and a half of consulting in return to room, board and free spa treatments. Helen was a secret shopper at the spa. We had a great meal and I played golf with my stepson. I celebrated my birthday while I was there.
We had to put the dog in a kennel while we were there because he tends to bark in a hotel room.
We picked up the dog and headed east. We stopped for two nights in Desert Hot Springs, CA (near Palm Springs) at a very modest RV campsite that had four natural hot springs. I can't tell you how relaxing it was to soak in hot water for an hour after driving through the Los Angles traffic.
We left Desert Hot Springs at 6am and headed East on I-10 in order to get to Phoenix,AZ in time for me to take an airplane to Albuquerque, NM. I had a training assignment there with a hotel and casino. On the way we stopped at Quartzite (one of our favorite towns) top buy a second salt lamp. This one for our son and daughter in law in New York, City. We had spent a night in Quartzite on the way west. It is a tent-town of perhaps 100,000 people in the winter. In the summer it probably has 1,000. The only permanent buildings are a church, a post office several gas stations and 2 or 3 restaurants. The rest are tents, temporary buildings and thousands upon thousands of trailers and RVs. The town started as a place for rock collectors to get together. Now it is also an RV Mecca. There are dozens of places to buy new and used RV parts and tools. There are several RV dealers there also. And there is dust everywhere.
On the way west we paid $5 for the privilege of parking in a hard dirt parking lot. That is all. Just dirt. We used our generator and our on-board water. Coming east we just stopped for a salt lamp. That is a lamp made out a lump of natural salt.

We made Phoenix on time on Feb 1 and after hooking up at the Desert's Edge RV Park, Helen drove me to the airport. I got the one-hour flight to Albuquerque, drove to the hotel and spent the night and taught the next day. Helen had the RV to herself. While I worked she went to the Herd museum, a museum dedicated to Native Americans.

I got back to Phoenix after teaching on Feb 2. I spent Friday running around Phoenix visiting clients and potential clients. I took the dog with me and he helped me make my visits. In the evening we had dinner at one of our consultant's home.

I was not feeling well on Saturday and staying around the RV and napped.
We are still bothered by ants. We finally gave up on over the counter poisons and called a professional exterminator. He came on Saturday and sprayed the RV. The idea is to speed the kind of poison that the workers will bring back to the queen. So far it has not worked and we intend to get another treatment in the next town.

So now we are on the road in a very vacant part of Arizona. Actually, it is only vacant of people. It is filled with desert life and mountains. In fact the mountains, particularly at twilight, are indeed purple just like the song says and they are majestic. The land rolls on forever. It is filled with low lying bushes and the dominant color is brown. It is start and it is beautiful. And it is dry. So dry that we have used a humidifier in the RV at night. Phoenix has not had any rain for 110 days and there is no rain in sight.

We have been on the road for five weeks now. We are adjusting to the life very well. It is very comfortable. The only problem is when we try to work on the two computers. It is a bother hooking up the printers and sometimes the wireless internet does not work as well as we would like. We saw a new, larger, diesel RV for sale in Tucson that had adequate office space. Maybe next year.

We are making our plans for our next RV trips: Alaska in the summer, Mexico in the winter and Nova Scotia in the fall. Not all in one year. Not year.

You can't return to the same city twice

Jan 17: We arrived in Tucson after dark and after a long hard drive. There were high winds and a lot of traffic. I drove most of the way. We got up early and found the laundermat. Helen exercised while I washed clothes. We found out that this park is a "seniors only" park. There are lots of rules concerning children and pets. Neither are liked very much. We took the RV to Mesa RV a few miles closer to Tucson in order to get the radio replaced. We were noticed by a salesman when Helen was looking at diesel RV and we promised to return later in the day. We drove to Tucson looking for the old and funky part of town that we remembered from our visit ten years ago. It is all gone. We found vacant buildings, empty lots and new offices.
When we returned to Mesa RV to pick up our rig Ray, the salesman, saw us and began the sales process. "Have you ever driven a diesel", he asked. I had not so he got another salesman to take us out for a test ride. It was great. The air bags prevented us from feeling the un-even road and the acceleration was great. But the damn thing cost $200,000.
We were there until 6:30 as they tried to give us their "best deal". We said no and finally went home. We had a late supper and then to bed.
We decided not to get a new RV or the CB radio. Today will be about relaxing and doing some work.

Car trouble in Las Cruces

Jan 15: We are now in Tucson, AZ. We drove through Texas and spent two days in Las Cruces, NM. Anyone that is planning to come to Las Cruces should make a point of eating at Lorenzo's Restaurant. Great Italian food. And he does magic.
On Saturday, Jan 14 we went to the balloon festival. More than 100 hot air balloons ascended. Some were funny shapes. We were able to get right up to the crews and help them launch the balloons.

After that we went to the farmers' market. Great food and crafts. Even custom made dog biscuits.

On Saturday evening, we unhooked the car and drove over the mountain to the White Sands proving grounds. Once over the mountain the alternator quit. We turned around and tried to get back on the power in the battery. We didn't make it. The car died at a Jiffy Lube and this was the one time that neither one of us had a cell phone. We called AAA and got towed to Pep Boys. We left the car there and had the tow truck driver take us back to the RV Park.
Today we picked up the car ($400 repair bill) and drove to Tucson, AZ. Heavy winds and dust storms. We got to the Voyager RV park at about 7pm in the dark. This place has a lot of rules. -- Howard

We fight the ants

Jan 11: Yet another trip to WallMart to get the super ant poison. We found that the liquid bait works. We put the dog in a kennel and spent the day in downtown San Antonio. Riverwalk is great but they had drained the river for maintenance. The so-called craft market was a disapointment. We had a dog free night.

Remember the Alamo

Jan 10: We drove all day and got to San Antonio, TX. We are staying at an elaborate RV resort on the edge of town. Raggles had an "accident" in the RV when we were getting gas and we had to spend time cleaning up. He can't seem to get used to the RV.

We are getting about 6.5 miles per gallon over the road. of course this is the result of pulling the car.

Tomorrow we will put the dog in a kennel and expore downtown S.A. -- Howard

Ready to head West

Jan 10: I woke up early from he sound of a train passing by. The sound of the semi’s on the nearby highway got me going. It was 5 am but I am ready to be on the road. Helen and Raggles are sleeping. The ants have gotten worse. -- Howard

Hot Times in LA

Jan 9: Today was beautiful. The temperature was about 70 degrees under sunny skies. The morning was spent on maintenance. I did two loads of wash, Helen cleaned the RV. We have been invaded by small ants and have tried several methods to get rid of them. Once the chores were done, we got a “drive yourself” tape from the office and headed into Cajun country. Our first stop was the Tabasco factory. It is located on top of a salt dome south of Lafayette. We had lunch at the store and had a disappointing factory tour.

We visited New Iberia and then headed back to the RV. On the way we stopped at a Daiquiri drive through shop. They are all over this part of LA. Drinking and driving does not seem to be a problem. We also stopped at a Cajun Asian take out store and bought dinner. I had shrimp and rice and Helen had fried oysters and shrimp and rice.

The Internet was so slow that it was not worth connecting. We ate supper, watched television and went to bed early. Tomorrow we drive to San Antonio. -- Howard

We eat crawfish

Jan 8: We drove to Lafayette, LA. We found a KOA campground and lucked out. All the other campgrounds were full. They were occupied either by Katrina refugees or by FEMA personnel or by insurance adjusters. This campground decided to keep some spaces open for people passing through. After setting up camp and looking around we went to dinner at Randols a local Cajun restaurant and dance hall. Helen had a huge serving of crawfish and I had crawfish eteufey. Crawfish are small shellfish shaped like little lobsters. Each was about two inches long. You pull off the tail and squeeze out the meat.
The place had live Cajun music and a local Krewe was preparing for Mardi Gras. They were in costume. We danced a bit and got talking with the people. The waitress even helped Helen get the meat out of the little things.

Raggles slept in the car. On the way home we stopped at Wall Mart (again!) for a whole chicken for the dog. That will last a few days. – Howard

RV Problems

Jan 8: As we were getting ready to leave we realized the radio did not work. Also all the things that we had plugged into the 12-volt system were not working. I tried calling the Good Sam network but was put on hold too long. I got out the manuals and traced the problem to the fuses for the chassis the 15-amp fuse was blown. We had too many things in the various power outlets. Another trip to Wall Mart and I came back with a variety of fuses. I replaced the fuse and everything worked again. – Howard

Mississippi Revisited

Jan 8: We are now in Louisiana heading west. We will stay in Layfayette, LA tonight. Last night we were in Hattiesburg, MS the site of my civil rights adventures 41 years ago. All the campgrounds were full because of FEMA and hurricane refugees so we stayed in the WallMart parking lot. This is the second time we have done that. The neat thing about “dry” camping at WallMart is that they have 24 hour security. There was one other RV and several over the road truckers.

We were in Birmingham, AL on Thursday night, all day Friday and Saturday morning. I was working at the Wynfrey Hotel and Helen caught up with her email and shopped. I checked the oil in the RV on Saturday and found that the oil filler cap was missing. So we went on a mission to replace it. We had to go to a Ford dealer where, thankfully, one was available. This morning when I checked the oil I found the cap. It was left in the engine compartment by the people who did my last oil change.

I resisted the temptation to wander the streets of Hattiesburg again. The past is the past. We got on the road, looking for Cajun country.

Raggles has been a bit of a pest. He does not want to be left alone. When I was working in Birmingham we left him in the car. He not only barked but he shit on our coats. We will have to find doggie day care in the future.

It is 74 degrees out and we are in short sleeves.

We have seen a lot of broken trees and broken billboards but otherwise little damage from the hurricanes. – Howard

It is all the same

Jan 6: So far we’ve been on the road for 5 days. I am struck by how all of the area we’ve been driving through is all the same. Mall after shopping center after Wal-Mart Super Center. Here we are in Birmingham, AL. We might as well be in New Jersey. On this trip I am searching for the unique side of America, if it still exists. - Helen