Contrary to popular belief Fulltiming is not all fun and games. There are trials and tribulation. The reason you don’t hear about them much is because of the frame of mind of a fulltimer. Seem nothing can discourage them. Here are a few of the trials and tribulations we have encountered. I will post more as they pop up.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Oh Yeah, we got a generator
Last night the power went out right in the middle of Susan cooking dinner in our convection oven. She said she had about 45 minutes to go before it will be done. I told her I would finish it up on the BBQ outside. After standing in the cold rain cooking I suddenly realized, we have a generator! All I needed to do was push a button. Oh well, BBQ was out and cooking.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
When things go bad
When something major goes out it’s not just a matter of calling in a repairman or heading down town to buy a new one. If you are lucky, you are in a town where you can get someone to repair it. Our refrigerator has been out for 3 weeks now and it is looking like it will be at least another week and a half before we have it fixed. It’s next to impossible to get someone to come out to the motorhome to repair it so we will have to pack it up and take the motorhome to them.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Getting repairs
One of the problems with our lifestyle is when we need to send in something for repair. We don’t usually spend a lot of time in one place so sending something in for repair and waiting for it to return can be a problem. I have been fighting with a mattress in my airbed that is leaking down. I have narrowed the problem down to the pump. I called the company and they didn’t want to just send me the part but wanted me to send the pump in for repair and wait for it to return. I finally convinced them to send me the part only if I agreed that the warranty would be void.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Nothing gets done
I remember my dad asking me how I got so much done while working, when he was retired and couldn’t get half the things done that I did. Well now I know how he felt. I can’t seem to get much done. I think what the problem is, when I look at my list, I say, “I got all the time in the world. I’ll do it later.” Not that I don’t do anything all day. I find plenty to do, just not the things that NEED to get done.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Defrost the Frig? Dumb idea!
I did something really stupid. Our refrigerator needed defrosting so I thought I would wait until Susan was out doing her shopping. It was about 111 degrees outside, I turned the refrigerator off, melted the ice with the hair dryer, and when Susan got home she stuffed (and I do mean stuffed it) with warm food.
It took 2 days to finally cool down again. I was ready to set the food out on the counter because it was cooler inside the coach than it was inside the refrigerator.
It took 2 days to finally cool down again. I was ready to set the food out on the counter because it was cooler inside the coach than it was inside the refrigerator.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Things shakin' apart
Motorhomes are subjected to some pretty tough conditions. Some say going down the road in a motorhome is like your house going through a 6.0 earthquake and tornado winds. Well I have proof that is true. The other day while traveling down the road my TV cabinet developed quite a squeak. When we landed, I checked the cabinet and discovered that it was about to fall off the wall. I removed the TV from the cabinet to discover that all 6 screws holding the cabinet to the wall were stripped and the only thing holding the cabinet to the wall was the fact that it is wedged under a cabinet mounted to the ceiling. The TV cabinet now has 16 screws folding it to the wall. A little overboard? I think not.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Edward Scissorhands?
One of the problems with being in a different place all the time is finding someone that can cut my hair. Seems anyone can claim to be a barber but not to many are. Today I got my hair cut by a guy that must be related to Edward Scissorhands. This guy just started whacking and hacking at my head like he didn’t have a clue what he was doing, and it shows. I don’t have a clue how to cut hair but when I have to come home and fix what the barber did…that aint right. I wish Susan knew how to cut my hair.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
GPS programmers joke?
The other day we were out picking up a few things when we got hungry. Susan wondered if there might be an Olive Garden Restaurant around. I pulled out my trusty GPS and pulled up the Points of Interests/Restaurants and low-and-behold there was one not far away. We started following the directions from the lovely female voice of the GPS. Suddenly she said, “When safe, make a legal U turn.” OK, I did. Then she said, “When safe, make a Legal U turn.” What! I just did that. Ok, I did again. Now she says, “Arrive at destination in .5 miles.” What the heck was that all about? I guess it was just a little humor from the programmers.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Easy job? Nah!
Why is it the easier the job the harder it is to do. Today I was simply going to change the anode rod in my water heater. After removing the old one I realized I bought the wrong one. Fortunately the old one was not all that bad so back in it went. Of course it would not stop leaking after I reinstalled it. Then I filled the water heater and fired it up. It would not stay lit. So everything came apart again. The second time everything went right.
On the other hand. I replaced my holding tank vents with “Xtreme Vents”. I though I was going to run into all kinds of problems but the job went very well. Good thing I did the vents last so it made up for the anode rod fiasco.
On the other hand. I replaced my holding tank vents with “Xtreme Vents”. I though I was going to run into all kinds of problems but the job went very well. Good thing I did the vents last so it made up for the anode rod fiasco.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Parking lot lights
One thing about camping in a parking lot is the parking lot lights. We are presently in the parking lot at the Lancaster Fairgrounds for a rally sponsored by our motorhome manufacturer. The lights don’t bother me but Susan is a bit of a freak about it. The little green light on the CO detector in the bedroom is enough to drive her crazy so you can imagine what a big old parking lot light shinning in the bedroom window will do.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Living in the service center
One of the down sides to living on the road in a motorhome is when you have mechanical problems. Today, the motorhome refused to start. Fortunately we are in an RV park. I called my roadside service and they will not do anything at the park. They want to tow us to a service center. We don’t want to live in a service center. I know what the problem is and managed to get it started, but I don’t know why this is happening.
Footnote; July 30, 2005
The problem turned out to be a fuel pump and filter. The great folks at The Truck Center in Sioux Falls had us going in less than 4 hours.
Footnote; July 30, 2005
The problem turned out to be a fuel pump and filter. The great folks at The Truck Center in Sioux Falls had us going in less than 4 hours.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Vehicle Miantenance
Being the Motorhome is a vehicle, it requires maintenance just like the family car. This can be a problem for things as simple as an oil change. Most RV parks do not allow oil changes in the park. This means you have to pack up everything and uproot your home just to take it in for the oil change. What a hassle!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Modern Technology
When you depend on modern technology such as cell phones and the internet, you can feel real isolated when they fail. Recently we lost our cell service. Susan talks to our daughters and her mother several times a day so when she lost contact she was panicking. Also I use the cell phone to access the internet so when we lost our cell service I was lost. I had to actually use a pay phone. Good thing there was one near by because with the invent of the cell phone, they are becoming hard to find.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Water leaks
I mentioned I discovered a water leak in the motorhome roof. It was raining 4 inches an hour that day. I found some water stains in the ceiling that indicate it has leaked before but I guess it wasn’t enough to drip from the ceiling as it did this time. I was able to clean the stains. They say we got 7.5 inches in the short time it rained that day. I couldn’t even see out the front because of the sheet of water running down the windshield even though I have a rain gutter over it. It was like looking through the back of a waterfall. I found that the rubber boot used to seal where the antenna wire comes in was not only pulled out of place but the Motorhome manufacturer had cut a hole in it to run some additional wires and did not seal it. I fixed that with some silicone. However, I also noticed that there was moisture running down the crank used to raise the antenna. I found out there is a seal inside that should be lubricated every 6 months to keep it from leaking. I am going to wait until we get to Myrtle Beach to tackle this task because there is a Camping World there incase I find I need parts.
Friday, May 13, 2005
No Frost Free
Our refrigerator is not frost free. This means once in a while I have to defrost the dang thing. I found the duration depends on how humid the area is. This is not a long process though. The only area that frosts up are the top two shelves. This is where the cooling unit is located. It only takes about 15 minutes with a hair dryer on high.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Are you a gambling man?
If not then the fulltime life style is not for you. You never know what the road conditions are like or what the neighborhoods are like or what the campgrounds are like. Today we moved from Tallahassee’s Big Oak RV Park to Wood’s Gulf RV Park. Big Oak was a winner. Wood’s Gulf is a looser. We were told not to go highway 19 and to stay on Interstate 75. We were also told that Highway 19 was good. I made the decision to try Highway 19. This was a winner. A nice scenic country drive with small spread out towns. It’s a gamble, you never know.
Friday, March 04, 2005
The numbers keep changing
Just before we sold the house and went fulltime we made the discussion to buy a dual adjustable air bed. We bought it with the intention of moving it into the motorhome with us. What we didn’t count on is the effect that altitude has on air. As we go up in altitude the bed gets firmer. As we get lower in altitude the bed gets softer. I guess it’s a good thing it is adjustable but once I get it just where I like it we move and it changes.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Rock Dings
Driving at 57 to 60 mile per hour can sure save a little on gas. But there is a down side. This speed is too slow for the trucks on the road and they all like to pass. I now have 2 rock dings in my windshield from the trucks throwing up rocks.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Dirty Cars
It’s amazing how dirty a car can get dragging it down the road. I like a clean car and try to clean it up every time we stop for while. The problem is most park rules do not allow washing your vehicles. I found that most times a quick bucket wash will do the trick and most parks don’t mind. I usually go by the rule that if I don’t ask, they can’t say no. If it is excessively dirty I will ask if there is a place I can wash it down.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
You just don’t know
You just don’t know what’s going on in town until you get there. We find that when we get into an area we can usually pick up a paper telling us what is in the area to see. The problem is, if we had the info before hand we could pick a more centrally located camp so we would not have to drive so far.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Lesson Learned
As with all things in life, you learn from your mistakes. The fulltime life style is no different. I have learned that when we pull into an unknown town, we need to find a place to park the motorhome, unhook the car, and go looking for an appropriate campground. This experience came from the time we pulled into the first campground we saw and after checking in and driving to our site found it was a real dump. We did move later that day to a much nicer campground.
Friday, February 11, 2005
My mapping program does not discriminate
When I ask my mapping program to show me the shortest route from point A to point B, it does just that. Unfortunately the condition of the roads may not be the best. On our trip to Lake Pleasant my mapping program led us down a dirt and rock road. I really shouldn’t have taken the motorhome with car in tow down this road but being the macho male I am we did it. Fortunately we made it without incident.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Fulltiming can be tough for a Do-It-Yourselfer
I was always a do it yourselfer. I always did all the maintenance on any my vehicles. That becomes a problem when living in a motorhome. You would think it would be an easy task since you are there all the time but the fact is most RV parks frown on working on your coach in any capacity. Some won’t even let you wash it. The motorhome was over due for an oil change until we went to the Bus Nuts rally. Here at the fairgrounds I found time to crawl under the motorhome and discreetly drain the oil and install a new filter.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
It gets cold in there
I was under the understanding that my coach had heated storage compartments. I even asked the service center and they confirmed my suspicion by saying there is a heater duct that blows under there. I now think otherwise. I have placed remote temperature sensors in various locations and ran the heater and have observed no increase in storage temperature. There may however be a heater duct in the holding tank location, I haven’t figured out how to get to it to monitor it yet. This is where it is needed the most anyway.
Even though the outside temperature has dipped into the mid 20s the storage compartments have not dropped to freezing. This, I am sure is due to the insulated storage compartment doors. We still need to be careful what we store and how cold (and maybe even hot) it gets in the storage compartments. The other day I retrieved a bottle of olive oil for Susan and it had turned to gel. Another lesson learned. I may get energetic enough to install some 115VAC light fixtures with 100W bulbs in some of the storage compartment to keep them a bit warmer. This should work well as long as we are hooked up to shore power.
Even though the outside temperature has dipped into the mid 20s the storage compartments have not dropped to freezing. This, I am sure is due to the insulated storage compartment doors. We still need to be careful what we store and how cold (and maybe even hot) it gets in the storage compartments. The other day I retrieved a bottle of olive oil for Susan and it had turned to gel. Another lesson learned. I may get energetic enough to install some 115VAC light fixtures with 100W bulbs in some of the storage compartment to keep them a bit warmer. This should work well as long as we are hooked up to shore power.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Holidays
Holidays can pose a problem for Fulltiming. People tend to make reservations for holiday weekends well ahead whereas Fulltimers usually don’t make reservations at all. This means Fulltimers have to remember the holidays and make reservations also. This can be a problem if you don’t know where you will be in a few months from now.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
This place stinks
Seems I have been fighting a problem of stinky holding tanks. I never had a problem before, perhaps because the tanks had a chance to dry between trips. I saw a vent cap at the last rally that creates a suction in the vent tube to draw odors out of the tank. I will be giving them a try as soon as we get to the next rally.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Can't wait until all the problems are fixed
Back on Sept 15th I called Temecula RV to confirm our Sept 17th appointment. I was told at that time that the parts would not arrive until Oct 28th and they would call me as soon as they arrive so we can get this spark plug wire problem fixed. Well I called today, Oct 19th, to check on the status and was told the parts arrived on Sept 23rd. Since no one called to schedule an appointment when the parts came in, now we have to wait until Nov 22nd to get in. It’s a darn good thing we planned to be in the area then or I would have been really P.O.ed. And I am going to let them know that too.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
My feet are getting crusty
Not that I don’t clean them. I wash them every night. It is the calluses that are building up on my heels from not wearing shoes anymore.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Stressful Travels
We were mostly packed up to run the Aerbus to the shop this Friday when they called and said the parts will not be available until the end of October. This is not too big of a problem except I was looking forward to traveling the next 2 months without having to worry about when the next plug wire will fry. Now the 2 month travel is cut to 1 and I will be stressed about the plug wires for the whole trip. At least it is not a serious problem and I do have 7 more spare plug wires to change when they do fry. It’s just a pain in the you-know-what.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Their messing up my yard
We got invaded by campers here this Labor Day Weekend. In all the years I have camped I have never seen so many inconsiderate slobs. Maybe it’s just because this is ‘My Yard’ now but there is trash everywhere. I walk by sites that are littered with trash. I wonder what their yards looks like. It sickens me to sit here and watch the trash float by in the lake. I try to pick up as much as I can but can’t keep up with it. What surprises me though is that it is quiet and mellow around here. Maybe the 102 degree weather has something to do with it.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Oh No Not another problem
I was relaxing by the motorhome the other day and noticed a wet spot under the motorhome. I thought, Huh, the last guy that parked here had a leak. Then I though, Huh, sure strange that he parked in exactly the same position as I did because the spot is perfectly positioned right under my transmission. Better check it out. Damn! It’s coming from my transmission.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Note to self...
Move the vacuum cleaner before bringing in the bedroom slide. Now I have a busted cabinet door to fix.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
HA! Talk about your predicament.
I bought a data cable and software to hook my laptop computer up to my cell phone for internet access. When I installed the software, one of the first things I needed to do is setup it up for my model of phone. I went the list to pick my phone and it wasn’t on the list. No problem, I thought. It has an auto detect feature. Auto detect couldn’t find it either. Well, I thought, my phone is so new that they haven’t updated the software in the package yet. Surly there must be an update on the web. There is an update on the web but you have to access it from within the software. OK…How do I update from within the software if I can’t use the software to get to the web!? I called and asked this question to there support people. There answer was, We could E-mail you a link to the update. OK, How do I get to my E-mail with no web access?
I ended up having to access my E-mail account from my work computer, downloaded the update and burned it to CD. Then I inserted the CD into my laptop and installed it. Whew! Now will it work? We will see.
I ended up having to access my E-mail account from my work computer, downloaded the update and burned it to CD. Then I inserted the CD into my laptop and installed it. Whew! Now will it work? We will see.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
WHEW! Finally the house is empty.
It came down to the wire but we finally sold the last items of furniture in the house. I was starting to sweat it for a while there. We still had some rather large items to get rid of and I was worried that we would not be able to sell them. I didn’t have an alternate plan. Everything we own is now in the Aerbus. Wow that’s a scary thought huh?
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Another funky plug wire.
I was driving the Aerbus today and it burned another plug wire. I had a feeling that was going to pop up again. This time I will insist they replace the exhaust manifold studs and gasket like they were supposed to do last time.
Added note Friday, July 23, 2004
I bought a set of plug wires from my local auto parts store for $50 and used one of the wires to fix it myself. I will be talking to Workhorse about the burnt plug wire I found and see what we can do to prevent this from happening again. In the mean time I have 7 more wires for when it happens again.
Added note Friday, July 23, 2004
I bought a set of plug wires from my local auto parts store for $50 and used one of the wires to fix it myself. I will be talking to Workhorse about the burnt plug wire I found and see what we can do to prevent this from happening again. In the mean time I have 7 more wires for when it happens again.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Don't forget the auto repairs
Spending more time on the road leaves you wide open to more mishaps. The Saturn’s windshield got nailed by a rock from a truck the other day. Well, it’s a good thing I budgeted for auto repairs. I think that used up this months allotment.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Oh, The Let Downs
We were all fired up that the house sold. At least we thought it had. Looks as though the buyers had Buyers Remorse. They backed out of the deal and the house is back on the market. We are, however, continuing with our plans to move into the motorhome by the first of August. I am sure it will sell soon.
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Am I too BIG
I was originally looking at 32 footers for our fulltime life but soon realized it just wasn’t going to be roomy enough. We settled on what is suppose to be a 35 ½ foot but in reality measures 37 feet bumper to bumper. This is nice and roomy but is going to be a problem. Already I have run into situations where I am too BIG. Once while trying to squeeze around an object I scratched the painted storage door on a tree branch. And another time I had to run the rear wheels up over a curb getting into a campground because of the tight turn past the checking kiosk. And recently we just barely stuffed ourselves into a campsite with just enough room to move the slides out. The living room slide was in the bushes, which from experience can create a nice bridge for the ants. There was literally no room to sit in our site. Fortunately we were right on the beach so we set up in front of the motorhome. Upon leaving we found out we could not get into and out of the dump station because of the tight turns. Had to take it with us and find another dump location.
But I would not give up our room. We will manage.
But I would not give up our room. We will manage.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The new motorhome Blues
When we decided we need a new motorhome to fulltime in, I was smart enough to purchase it at least a year in advance so I can get all the bugs worked out and not have to deal with them while on the road. Well here it is 10 months down the road and it's still in need of attention. Most of the problems didn’t pop up until recently. It will not stop us from moving in to the motorhome. The way I see it is we will have more time to address the problems. It won’t be the first time we will have to spent the night in the Service Center parking lot.
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Getting ready
I never realized how hard it was to go fulltime. It is a whole lifestyle change. There is so much to be done. Finding the right RV to travel in is challenging, Deciding to sell the house or keep it is a tough one, then selling everything and downsizing is a monumental task. We have phones to change, insurance to change (health and auto), and residency to change. Then there is the toad to buy, light weight items (for the RV) to replace the heaver ones (from the house) for the RV. Here is the best one, Jobs to quit. And last but OH not least figuring where to invest the money. I am wondering what is going to happen when we go from all this to nothing to do but relax. I think I will implode. But that’s a good thing.
