OUR ROAD TO FULLTIMING
December 21, 2000: LET THE COMEDY BEGIN!!!
As I hinted at the end of the last article, we seemed to be living in a situation comedy of all the RV mistakes than can ever be made once we left Elkhart. So, here goes with all the details!!!
First of all, we have been RVers, in our life together and in our "previous lives", for many years, but we have never had a rig like the Travel Supreme that we live in now. Previously, we have had motorhomes and travel trailers, but never a fifth wheel. Along with a fulltiming fifth wheel, we get a whole new set of things to check and double check each time we set up or take down. That said, here are some of the circumstances we have been faced with in our first few weeks.
The first thing that occurred was one of the most common things that happen to RVers everywhere---forgetting about the TV antenna. In our SunnyBrook, I took care of readying the inside while Ron took care of the outside and hitching up, so I would lower the antenna. In the 5er, the antenna crank is just over the entry, and I can't reach it. So, on our very first stop, after leaving Elkhart, the antenna went up, but we forgot to put it down. I remembered about it just before we stopped for diesel, but by then, it was gone!!!
The next stop, since we didn't have an antenna, Ron went to hook up the satellite dish. He had his compass out and the dish set up on the tripod, but he couldn't get it to lock into position. Because it was dark and cold, he finally gave up, not realizing, until the next day, that he was trying to connect in the wrong place---into the TV cable, instead of the one marked "satellite"!!!
Now, when we had our walk-through with Dave of International RV World in Elkhart, he cautioned us about a couple of things---one of which was regarding the washer operation. When using the washer, the sewer hose must be connected from the rig to the sewer disposal point because the water drains directly out, not into the holding tank. The third time or so that we used the washer, I had assumed that Ron had connected the hose, so I started the washer. Wrong!!! When the washer started to drain, the water had nowhere to go except in the closet!!! I quickly "paused" the machine, which stopped the water flow, and Ron quickly attached the sewer hose!!! Extra towels mopped up the water, and the damage was minimal. Thank goodness!!!
Our next "comedy" had to do with the propane supply or, should I say, the lack of it. When we left Elkhart on Friday afternoon, expecting to arrive in Albuquerque on the following Wednesday afternoon, Dave had replaced an empty 10-gallon tank of propane with a full one.During our travels, the temperatures had been below freezing at night and in the 40's during the day. Just before reaching Albuquerque, I asked Ron if he thought that the propane was OK, and he said yes. But without checking it and after we were settled, we discovered that we had indeed run out of propane. Thank goodness for electric blankets!!! The next morning, Thanksgiving Day, we were in the middle of yet another snowstorm with at least an inch on the ground and more of the wet stuff still falling. Needless to say, the first order of business was to refill that propane tank!!!
Later, I remembered another contributing reason that the LP could have been depleted. In our walk-through with Dave, pointing out the features of the trailer, he had pushed the buttons on the refrigerator. It may have been left of "LP", instead of "Automatic", where it would automatically switch to shore power or the electric supply. At this point, we were just laughing!!! Hindsight doesn't do a whole bunch, does it??
Last, but by no means least, we found out very quickly that when you park a fifth wheel with slides, you better be sure that those slides will open without hitting something. And you better find that out BEFORE you unhitch the truck!!!! On our last stop before Thanksgiving in Albuquerque, in Elk City, OK, we stopped in a nearly empty campground with long, but narrow, pull-thrus. We picked a site, pulled in, and promptly unhitched, but we didn't check the slideout clearance all around. Two out of three of the slides were fine, but the space for the third, and largest, was about three inches short. So, it was hitch-up again and jockey the trailer a bit to gain the space needed. Needless to say, we now absolutely double-check for posts of any kind, tree branches, or any other obstacle that might be in the way.
As of now, we've lived in our "new home" for just over a month now, and currently, we are spending two weeks at Lake Skinner County Park, just east of the Temecula-Murrieta area, where we lived before taking to the road. We have moved boxes from the storage locker into the decreasing empty spaces almost every day, and we are finding that many things that we had anticipated taking are just not going to fit. We will downsize the storage locker and return sometime next year to possibly downsize completely; that, however, remains to be seen!!!
From now on, I will only post periodic articles to "Road to Fulltiming" when something of importance comes up, but please continue to follow us as I will be posting articles to a new part of our website "DJ's Journal" starting very soon.
Until next time......
November 1, 1999 THE BEGINNING January 25, 2000 THE DOWNSIZING BEGINS February 6, 2000 RECEIPTS AND TAX RETURNS March 12, 2000 THE FIRST "DENT" April 27, 2000 DUMPSTERS, DOCTORS, AND TRUCKS May 24, 2000 OUR TRUCK DECISION July 2, 2000 BITS AND PIECES July 21, 2000 MEDICAL CONCERNS July 27, 2000 STEPS TO A FULLTIMING BUDGET August 8, 2000 OUR TRUCK DELIVERY SAGA September 15, 2000 AN UPDATE ON OUR PROGRESS October 2, 2000 SIX WEEKS TO GO!!! October 15, 2000 MORE HURDLES CONQUERED November 14, 2000 ALMOST THERE!!! December 21, 2000 ELKHART.....FINALLY!!!