Since October it has been hard to tell that we are full-time RV travelers.  We dropped anchor at our daughter's family home and that's where we've been ever since.  We're starting our sixth month without moving.  But it's all going as planned.  We sought to spend the winter with our grandkids in close proximity and that has been accomplished.  And as luck would have it we had relatively easy access to replacement equipment our rig was in sore need of.  Some of it we knew about, some we didn't.

The first thing to crop up was a bad circuit board on our water heater.  It was the "brains" of the water heater and we could not run on electric or propane, it was totally down for the count.  Most places we have been it wouldn't have been a big deal but in our North Carolina location the well water coming to us was running at about 35 deg F.  That's uncomfortable to wash hands in, let alone take a shower.  I didn't waste any time in getting a replacement board from an RV dealership in the next town to the west and becoming the contortionist that I had to be to get to the board under the sink, in the back, tucked behind the water heater.

Electric power in the part of Buncombe County that we are in is plentiful, maybe a little too plentiful.  Our power management system does more than just act as a surge protector.  It also analyzes the wiring of the power pedestal and continuously monitors voltage and amperage of both lines of the 50amp service.  If anything wanders out of range the power management system will shut off the flow of electricity to the coach, thereby saving electronics and appliances from damage.  We had been seeing a number of these "clipping" events that were initiated by high voltage.  In our 12 years of travel we had seen plenty of clipping events caused by low voltage but this was our first high voltage experience.

But after one of these now familiar high voltage events the power did not come back on.  Again, normally this would not be a big deal.  We go where it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  But this time we were definitely not where it is warm in the winter.  During our power problem the overnight lows were dipping into the single digits.  All things being equal this should not have been a problem either.  We built our coach with a large battery bank, 4-6V AGM batteries (rated at 390 Amp Hours each).  That should be plenty of power to run the propane furnace at night to keep from freezing up.  But there is a fly in the ointment.  Those batteries were on our planned list of things to replace.  They were 11 years old and WAY past their life expectancy.  We had to kluge together a generator hook-up directly to the battery bank.  But even then the batteries would give out, they simply couldn't take a charge as fast as they were giving it up to the furnace.  We couldn't run the furnace enough to keep from freezing up.  Luckily PEX piping is pretty forgiving, nothing ruptured.

It took four days to get a replacement power management system.  Luckily the power management system is fairly well located for easy access.  Nothing like the circuit board for the water heater.  All I had to do was completely empty the basement, crawl in on my hands and knees and sit crossed-leg for about an hour.

And there it is.
This little bundle of wires, resistors and e-proms 
dealt some discomfort for four days.
And for those of you that look at it closely, no, the 
picture is not upside-down.  This is actually the way it is mounted.

And wouldn't you know it.  As soon as we got our power problem fixed it warmed up to staying just barely above freezing at night and mild during the day.  But with that improved weather came rain, lots of rain.  Cyndee is pretty eagle-eyed, she spots deer by the road at night way before I do and she can see a speck of dirt on the carpet in the next room with the lights off.  So when she said that there was a dark area on the ceiling in the bedroom all I could do was say uh-oh.  I couldn't see it, my eyes just can't discern that small of a shade difference but I had no doubt it was there and I had a pretty good idea what was causing it.

So, first dry day I climbed on the roof and went straight to the forward air conditioner.  I took off the cowling and got my ear down on the roof so I could see under the A/C and get a look at the hold-down bolts that go through the roof.  Sure enough, years of bouncing, twisting, jolts and bumps had caused the bolt holes to become wallowed out.  They were allowing water to wick down the bolt and "moisturize" our bedroom ceiling.  That diagnosis resulted in a more involved removal of the A/C so that I could get to the bolt holes and squirt them full of a super-duper caulk.

Our fifth-wheel coach is equipped with a stackable washer/dryer.  These appliances are built specific to marine/RV needs and are compact and not inexpensive.

Big loads are not their forte but they do a great job for two people doing frequent light loads.  That is until they don't.  Our washing machine had started having problems spin-drying loads a few years ago.  Recently we had to start doing even lighter loads but it was manageable.  But then the transmission in the washer became even more dysfunctional and we budgeted for a replacement machine.  Evidently they are more expensive to repair than replace.  

You can't just walk in any appliance store and get one of these things.  Luckily for us we are about a 40 minute drive to a very large Camping World and we simply drove over and picked one up.  The rest wasn't so simple.  Cabinet doors had to be removed, the threshold of the cabinet had to be removed and the interior cabinet lighting had to be removed, all to get the size-to-size fit washer out of the cabinet.  

Then came the trick of getting the 90lb washer down four very narrow steps to the living area and then a 90 degree change in direction of travel and another four, steep, steps out the door.  In coming out we could let gravity do its thing and help us go down.  Coming in with the new one was a whole different ballgame.  Lots of sound effects and a copious amount of sweat.

With this planned replacement done we could now focus on the research for our next planned projects - batteries and entry steps.  Both of these projects are going to take some doing.  We are not going back with the same kind of batteries, instead we are updating the technology to the LiFePO4 batteries.  We'll have nearly twice the run-time at a 86lbs per battery instead of 125lbs per battery.  But to do that I will also have to replace my twelve year old converter/inverter/charger.  My existing system just can't be programmed to the charge profile required by the lithium batteries.  This is going to be a big job.

Programmable battery charger, just not for LiFePO4

Giant batteries.
6V AGMs weighing 125lbs a piece.

Converter/Inverter/Charger (white box)

Nothing in the above pictures is salvageable, everything will have to be replaced.  I'm contemplating professional help for this one.

And then before I could start work on the entry steps, another unplanned replacement happened.  This time it was the clothes dryer.  Our luck with clothes dryers has been pretty good.  We have never had one go belly-up on us in less than 15 years, but this one went at 12.  So it's off to Camping World again and a repeat of cabinet doors removal and so on.  But this time we're dealing with only a little more than half the weight of the washing machine.  An easier job all around.

Okay, back to the steps.  The way to go would be to replace with the exact same steps.  Same size, same bolt holes, same dimensions, easy-peasy.  But my usual luck ran out.  Our steps, originally made in 2012, are no longer manufactured.  The people that built them don't even make steps anymore.  So I'll be retrofitting something as close I can get to the original.  Which I found is not very close at all.  I've ordered the steps and started the process of making some home-made adapters to get them to fit.  It's a work in progress, I'll update when I finish welding and drilling the adapters.

They Do Not Call Them The Smoky Mountains For No Reason

 

October 2024

A perk above and beyond being parked steps from our children and grandchildren is also just being minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's very easy to just jump on the parkway and go either direction for some beautiful fall scenery.

On a weekday soon after our arrival in the Asheville area we dropped our granddaughter off at school that is well north of Asheville and then we meandered on backroads our way to Grandfather Mountain.  We thought that with it being a weekday that we would miss the fall color crowd.  Didn't work that way.  The place was jam-packed with retirees just like us.

But all was well, the lines to pay to get in moved well and the drive from the pay booth to the summit was unhurried and pretty.  Our last time to the visitor center at the summit was in 1997, everything sort of looked the same but we're pretty sure that some renovation and "upscaling" had taken place in the last 27 years.  The visitor center building more or less blended into the environment and the inside was all full of light and sparkling clean.

But the main attraction is the mile high swinging bridge.  It spans a chasm between two granite outcroppings, the farthest being the peak of the mountain.

The above bridge still has the same tower supports from our visit in 1997 but the bridge itself was obviously updated.  The walking surface was all galvanized steel as well as the side rails.

The bridge in 1997 was a wood plank walking surface and the side rails were just heavy gauge chain-link fence.  It took lots of coaxing to get Cyndee to cross that bridge in '97.  She wasn't coaxable in 2023.  I popped across and clambered around for a few scenic shots of the Smoky Mountains on my own.

Mixed in with our sightseeing are some chores.  We have not been anywhere that would let us wash our camper since we left Granger Lake in Texas back in the spring.  The 35 sq ft that is the leading edge of the camper collects a considerable amount grime and bugs.  Being almost 14' tall it is quite a challenge to be able to properly remove impaled and baked on "stuff".  The use of ladders and long-handled brushes is a must.

This is the third wash of the day.
All the big stuff is off, now to climb on a ladder and hand-wash
the more stubborn things the power washer couldn't get.

A bigger chore was to finish the construction of our RV pad.  The contractor that built the pad made no allowance for the contractor that was installing the septic system.  The result was I had to make my sewer connection 30' away.  Most RV sewer hoses are just ten feet long.  I carry two for the occasional connection that is just a couple feet further than my single hose will reach.  Upon arrival we had to acquire a third hose and build a sloped ramp to put it on.  This is okay as a temporary solution but not good long term.  Time to put on my hard hat and get to building.

The retaining wall at the end of the pad had been partially removed so that the septic system could be installed.  The stub pipe (my connection) stuck up out of the ground at the very edge of where the retaining wall should be, thirty feet from my connection on the camper.  First order of business is to hand-dig a thirty foot trench at the proper slope for drainage pipe.  As if hard packed clay wasn't bad enough, the space was so cramped between the shop and my rig that it was not possible to get even the smallest ditching machine in there.  So for three days a shovel, pick ax and knee pads were my best friends.  If not for the cramped working space I could have had the ditch dug in a few hours.

Ditch dug, pipe laid, ditch covered, connection to septic system done.

Pretty ugly!  The wall needs to be finished 
and a lot of fill dirt brought in.

Okay, fifteen new blocks, custom cutting around the pipe 
and thirty loads of fill dirt in that wagon from an acre away.

Much better but the stub pipe is a bit of an eyesore.
I'll get gravel for the pad, grass for the slope and maybe 
an azalea bush to hide the pipe.

With the above work done my sewer connection to the rig is less than three feet away.  Very manageable for a winter's stay.  I have a number of other projects lined up to do but the next immediate thing to do is enjoy being with family for Thanksgiving.

Putting Down Roots for the Winter

 

October 2024

Okay, so the above pic is not our winter home, except in our dreams.  However it (The Biltmore) is just a stones throw away from where we are setting up housekeeping.

As planned, our departure from Dumplin Valley RV Park in Kodak, TN was early with only about an hour-and-a-half traveling time to our destination in Candler, NC, a western suburb of Asheville.  But it wasn't quite as easy as it sounds.  The last four miles was like running a gauntlet.

As soon as we took the I-40 exit to Candler a four mile obstacle course began.  The roads were just barely wide enough for two sedans to pass one another without taking a wheel off the edge of the pavement.  But that would be ill advised as steep and deep trenches lined both sides of the road.  Getting an eight foot wide and sixty foot long truck and trailer combination down these winding mountain roads was an altogether different drive.  Many of the turns in the road required me to pull into the oncoming lane to keep from dropping the trailer into one of those deep ditches.  And if that wasn't enough there were tree branches, large tree branches, extending out over the road that were eager to scrape my air conditioners and satellite dish right off.  Since most turns on our path were blind, I had to creep along looking for gaps in oncoming traffic so I could pull into that lane to dodge an overhanging branch.  Seen from above I would have looked like a snake slithering over a dark path.

But it turned out that was the easy part of the drive.  Our turn off the county road onto our kids neighborhood's private drive made the county road look like a super highway.  Cyndee got out of her car and walked alongside and behind me telling me when I was clear to start a turn without hitting a tree or mailbox with the tail of the trailer.  It was agonizingly slow but we finally got up to the target driveway without doing any damage.

The RV pad that our kids built for us ran parallel to a 40' metal building, our son-in-law's knife making shop.  As the property is on a slope (everything here is on a slope, it is the Great Smokie Mountains after all) a retaining wall had to be built and then many truck loads of fill brought in to get things level.  The outside edge of the wall ran parallel with the property line and for permitting purposes had to be a certain distance away from the property line.  This left the pad being just barely wide enough to fit our trailer.  And a short time before our arrival a couple of large truckloads of crush-and-run gravel had been laid over the clay fill dirt.

So, we were parked on the neighborhood "cart path" facing uphill.  I was going to have to back into the RV pad by transitioning 90 degrees and going from a front to back slope to side to side slope and then transition to the flat RV pad.  All of the slope changes have an effect on the turning characteristics of a truck/trailer combination.  It's the idiosyncrasies of the geometry of a fifth wheel connection.   So I was going to have to manage all that while truly threading the needle of getting the trailer positioned on the pad as close to the metal building as possible while still allowing room for the slide outs but leaving enough room on the other side so that our entry steps didn't end with a two foot drop.

I wish I could say I did in one stab but that is just not the case.  Getting the side-to-side position as precise as it needed to be took some doing.

So there we are.  All tucked in for a winter's stay.  That gravel layer turned out to be pretty thick.  I had to use 4-wheel drive for the last push all the way back.

East Bound - Destination Asheville, NC

 

Last Week of September 2024

With our chores done at my mother's house in Borger, TX we are ready to make the 1,234 mile "hop" to our winter destination, Candler, NC, a suburb on the west side of Asheville.  One single road all the way, I-40.

First layover, Mustang RV Park, Oklahoma City.  We have stayed at this campground numerous times over the years.  Our first time they were still under construction and we pretty much talked them into letting us "test" a camping spot for them.  Prices were pretty decent our first few stays but in the post-Covid world that's not the case anymore.

Next night was Outdoor Living RV Park, Russelville, AR.  Bare bones and tightly packed.  Classic old-school private campground.  But the convenience to I-40 and the price were right.  537 miles down, 1,200 to go.

First Week of October 2024

The next leg was a long one, we drove roughly double our normal time.  Stopping in our normal range of four hours would have dropped us right in the middle of Memphis, TN.  We've stayed in the Memphis area before and there are no campgrounds that are either comfortable or easy to access.  Next best choice for us was another 3.5 hours down the road in Yuma, TN.  874 miles of 1,234.

Parkers Crossroads RV Park was really pleasant.  We 
were tempted to stay extra nights.  Wood deck, manicured lawn 
and splinterless picnic table.  Very tempting indeed.

View from our wood deck.  Lush lawn, gazebo and through the trees 
a small lake with a big fountain.

Next on the hit parade was Dumplin Valley Farm RV Park, Kodak, TN.  Another long day but we wanted our next stop, which was our destination, to be a short day.  It is going to be a real chore getting into the RV pad at our daughter and son-in-law's property so we wanted to get there with plenty of daylight to overcome any obstacles that may present themselves.

But first, Dumplin Valley.  Another very pleasant RV park.  Not as well developed as our previous campgrounds on this trip.  It really is a farm that also hosts bluegrass festivals.  They have plunked down utilities and grass on previously terraced farm fields and when not having a festival they rent to casual travelers. 1,166 miles of 1,234

Terraced (former) farm field (see the camper on the upper terrace).
Check out my bottom step.  My lot was so sloped (rear jacks fully extended while front 
jacks barely extended) that the bottom step couldn't unfold completely.

No concrete pad, no picnic table, no fire ring, no laundry, 
no bathhouses.  Just power, water and sewer.  Which suited us
just fine.

After back-to-back-to-back travel days, with some of them being much longer than we prefer to do, we are going to take a break and stay at Dumplin Valley a couple of nights.

We needed to do a grocery run too.  The nearest town that had a Walmart was Sevierville, TN, about 18 miles away, south of I-40.  We headed that way the next morning and found ourselves in a town that had a LOT of entertainment options.  We had not realized that Sevierville was a suburb of Pigeon Forge.  We put this place on our list of potential future visits.  For now we had to rest up and prepare for the final leg to our winter destination.

On The Move!

 

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Reservoir

September 18, 2023

The above pic was our last look at the reservoir before leaving Utah.  It doesn't look like it but the locals said winter could set in in a couple of weeks.  We want to be well clear of the area before that happens as we have many 8% grades and hairpin switchbacks to negotiate to exit the state.

One last hurrah was held before departures began.  All our fellow volunteers gathered at the volunteer campground's common firepit for a cookout and saying of goodbyes.  The fire ring area was so big one couldn't get everybody in in a single shot so I put a group shot of us in with fire ring pics.

The group above operated the FGNRA's visitor center, Green River boat ramps, the Swett Ranch, and Ute Mountain Firewatch Tower.  We didn't see much of each other during working hours but did do things together on off-hours.  These folks "meshed" very well, we had a great time with them.

One of our mantras since beginning full-timing is 'we don't collect things, we collect experiences'.  This summer has been one for the books.  

Six places in New Mexico

• Ft Sumner, Billy The Kid Museum
• El Bosque Redondo Memorial
• El Malpais National Monument
• El Morro National Monument
• Aztec National Monument
• Chaco Canyon National Historical Park

Three Places in Colorado

• Durango
• Silverton
• Mesa Verde National Park

Twelve places in Utah

• Arches National Park
• Sego Canyon
• Moab
• Colorado River Scenic Drive (out of Moab)
• Canyonlands, Islands In The Sky National Park
• Canyonlands, The Needles National Park
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
• Jones Hole Fish Hatchery, US Fish and Wildlife
• Skinwalker Ranch
• Antelope Island State Park
• Great Salt Lake

We didn't go to Bryce, Zion or Pipe Spring since we had visited these parks in previous years.

Four Places in Wyoming

• Cody - Buffalo Bill Center of the West
• Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• Jackson

All of the above done between the last of April and middle of September 2024.  What a whirlwind summer.

And to throw a little icing on the cake, we blew the engine on our little grocery-getter, Pepe, on our way home from Capitol Reef.  This bit of drama started late in the afternoon on May 17 while we were based in Thompson Springs, UT.  The nearest car lot was east, an hour away in Grand Junction, CO and we had to report to work, a 4.5 hr drive north of Thompson Springs on the 19th.  So a new experience for us; disposing of a lame vehicle and acquiring a replacement that had a tow package and capable of handling the weight of the cargo trailer in less than 24 hours.  No research, no shopping, just seek and purchase and pray it won't put us in the poorhouse.  Someone was looking out for us.  We had a replacement picked by 10:00am on the 18th.  After more than a couple hours paperwork we were on our way back to Thompson Springs and prepping for an early departure the next day.  While we maintain an emergency fund in our budget it was nowhere near enough to cover the purchase of a vehicle.  We had to dip into funds we were putting away for replacement of aging appliances and discretionary spending but we covered it. 

Cyndee's new rig all hitched up and ready to go 
27 hours after we knew we needed a vehicle.

But that was then (the beginning of summer) and this is now (heading to winter location).  First extended stop is to be the town in Texas where we grew up, Borger.  But the large petrochemical complex is undergoing routine turnarounds as well as some new construction.  There is not a RV pad to be had.  Contractors in RVs are stacked like cord wood for miles around.  We finally found a spot 45 miles away in Dumas.  Home of the Dumas Demons, a high school rival to our Borger Bulldogs.

We decided to exit Utah differently than we came in.  We came in from the south but we are departing by going north to Wyoming and jumping on I-80.  This route will eliminate 8% grades and narrow hairpin switchbacks.  It's more miles but less time because of the improved driving conditions.  All-in-all 864 miles that we did over a four day period.

Our Dumas campground is essentially right in the middle of town.  Neighborhoods and high school athletic fields all around us.  The park we're in looks like a converted mobile home park.

Shortly after our arrival in Dumas we were treated with 
this huge rainbow, full from side to side with a faint double.

Driving south on the east (flat) side of Colorado yielded grasshoppermagedon.
I dropped $12 at the car wash and still had to take it home and do individual
spot cleaning for over an hour.

We arrived in Dumas the weekend of September 23rd and have a week or more of things to take care of in Borger before we head east for the long trek to North Carolina.

Summer is Moving to the Rear View Mirror

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

 September 2023

It's hard to think about it but the time is coming near when we have to pack up and leave this summer paradise.  There are a few days of fire watch tower duty left and a multi-day excursion to Yellowstone National Park and then that's it, we head south.

Labor Day weekend tends to be Flaming Gorge's biggest visitation time.  Bigger even than Independence Day.  But our visitation at the fire watch tower had been such a dribble for the whole month of August that we figured that since we were so remote that we probably wouldn't feel the effects of the holiday.  Couldn't have been more wrong.

The tower, being the wooden legged structure that it is can only hold so many people at a time.  We had a ten person limit on the tower at one time.  We had only seen that limit hit a couple of times when we had tour groups come to the top of Ute Mountain.  The rest of our time we never saw more than one or two vehicles (2 to 6 six people) in the "cul-de-sac" at a time.  Labor Day weekend that all changed.

A chock-full cul-de-sac and steady stream of people all
Labor Day weekend.

We had to quickly develop a new method of how we managed our day.  Suddenly we were having to divide our time between being docents and traffic control.  But a lot of credit to a successful weekend goes to the visitors.  They were really great at working with us on the ten person limit.  Groups organized themselves and everybody was real good at being patient waiting their turn to come up.

Not only was a date on the National Recreation Area calendar telling us that this was our last hurrah but our first day on duty (Friday) this weekend we were greeted by a message from Mother Nature that summer was coming to an end, abruptly.

The mountain top to our west-southwest revealed a fresh coat of 
snow on the morning of our last weekend.

Inside the cab was frigid.  Our presence fogged over the 
windows immediately.

The last hoorah weekend went well.  Our final act was to pack up the displays, removing the more valuable items, and prep the cab for winter.  Then we left Ute Mountain for the last time.

Now it was time for a mini-vacation.  We asked for, and got permission to leave our rig in its current location for the few days we were going to be in Yellowstone National Park.  It wasn't that big of a deal though, we also agreed, gladly, to an extra week of work on the historical ranch when we returned.

You would think that in mid September, with no holidays in the immediate future, all schools back in session and winter looming that one could easily find a hotel room and at a reasonable price in the Yellowstone area.  Wrong!

First, hotel rooms were in short supply and the ones that could be had were extraordinarily priced, anywhere anywhere from $500 to $1,000 a night.  No way were we going to fork out that kind of money.  Cyndee spent hours searching an ever-widening circle for a hotel room that was not insanely priced.  Cody, WY at an hour-and-a-quarter away from the east entrance was where we landed.

In the end it worked out great.  Cody had a lot to offer, most prominently was the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  One couldn't tell from the outside but this is a world-class museum.  On approach we thought we would be in there maybe an hour and check out some cheesy exhibits.  Couldn't have been more different.  This place was exceptional and we had to break off our visit after 5 hours without seeing everything.

The next several days were spent commuting to Yellowstone NP early in the morning and dragging home late in the evening.  We took it all in and took well over a thousand photos.  No narration but here are a few pics.

Trumpeter Swans.
Less than 15 of these left in Yellowstone

Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

My bride enjoying the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Scalding hot fountains depositing minerals.

Mineral terraces.
Boardwalk to get close was closed.

Mineralcicles not icicles

Happened upon this bull elk as he was
scraping the velvet off his rack.

Got really excited when I thought I was photographing wolves.
When I got home and studied the bone structure closer it didn't 
look heavy enough for a wolf.  I think they are just big coyotes.

That's a creek directly in front of them.
They were very skittish about ducking down and getting a quick drink.

It just wouldn't be right to go to Yellowstone and not 
make it to the lodge at Old Faithful.

The architecture was beyond impressive to me.

Inside as well.
We just lingered for a good while and took it in.

Still going strong

I switched to video for the eruption, so no stills.

Our daughter just happened to call as we were waiting for 
the eruption and she asked if there were very many people 
since it was the off-season.  The picture is of the crowd to 
my right, there was an equal number to my left.

What would a trip to Yellowstone be without a bison encounter?

Our last day in Yellowstone we exited the park to the
south through the Grand Tetons.

Gorgeous!

Exiting south out of Yellowstone, through Grand Teton National Park 
took us straight into Jackson, WY.

Well, it's back to Flaming Gorge to spend a week tying up loose ends and prepping to move a little south and a lot east.