September 21, 2026; Dateline, arnett, Oklahoma.....
On the return of the autumnal equinox, I thought it'd be fun, and instructive, to visit our shared history a bit, dear reader,
and to offer up some tips and tricks we've learned along our now-almost two year journey.
Anybody remember Highlights magazine? The one we all read back in grade school?
It left an indelible mark upon this troop, not the least of which were the characters, "Goofus and Gallant." They were the two exemplars of how to comport yourself in society, what to be, and what not to be. Their names ought to inform you of which one may be the more successful and desirable one in life!
Despite our efforts to strive to be a Gallant, inevitably, one will be a Goofus. The goal is to make Gallant > Goofus!
Same goes for RVing: there are certain things you learn to do/not do, and actions to take/ought not to take. This will be a bit of discussion of those things, in no particular order.
Join me, willya? 😋
1) How to avoid testing the theory of gravity
Never leave anything--and I mean ANYTHING--on a surface, or in a closet, shelf, or other storage areas, that can fall down...because, it will fall down. A good rule of thumb--or noggin--is the questions, "When (not if) this thing falls down, how much damage will it cause?" or, "How much will it cost to fix/replace?"
One area, in any towed RV, is the rear: This is where the most violent ups and downs occur, due to things like...physics. It's also why one should never buy a towable with the kitchen in the rear: bad things *will* occur!
In ours, there is this nifty little shelf area, above the cabinets that *seems* like a good place to store things, it even has a lip, to help stuff not to fall off.
In theory.
We have found that, unless it gets stuffed in, like a pillow or a blanket, any box, irrespective of size, will get chucked out, and onto the floor, the worst consequence of which is, said object can impede the in/out motion of the slide.
Like a guitar case...but I digress.
Likewise, if you want it to stay put, during travel days, and you do not want it to fall off/down, it MUST be glued/bolted/epoxied in place. Bag tape or Alien Tape are good solutions. Positive locks, like on our printer desk, are better.
So, Renee and I have this entire process down to a fine art: the day before we travel, I will do the 'outside stuff:' I stow the power cord and conditioner, put back any of the totes we carry in the basement that we may have taken out (refer back to "Jenga"), put the bikes back up on the rack, heft the poo wagon up onto its cross, neaten up the front compartment, in preparation of putting the jack buckets in their travel position.
Renee handles the inside stuff: objects put into drawers, or in sinks, holdback bars in the fridge installed, and door locked; cabinets secured with stop bars, chairs strapped down, floors swept. We both have a myriad of things, some of which we forgot, and paid the price: remember the guitar case that was left on the floor, when brought the slide in? The damaged area on the hard shell case is where the slide tried to smash the guitar. Fortunately, it is a hard shell case, and saved the very old, very expensive guitar from any damage.
 |
| The odd-looking orange and black object, under the jack pad? A jack bucket. |
2) "But, honey, the Internet SAID we'd be there before sunset..."
Any amount of time you spend planning your stops along the way, almost any amount of effort used to ensure things go smoothly...WILL get hammers tossed into the works! It's virtually inevitable: the surprise is, when things go right.
This was a bit of a surprise, and one where our inexperience actually cost us money. We had made a route plan--trip tix, for the oldsters!--that had a couple of paid-in-advance parks, with hard refund windows.
Well...we stayed at one stop a day longer than we anticipated, and forgot to tell the next stop, by which time it was past the refund window, and they had no no spots to rent us, AND, that was a day we had to drive about 9 hours--4 past our absolute maximum-- to find any spot to stop for the night. We were toast.
Lesson learned; check your route plans, obsessively, and at each stop. Keep the numbers of future 'stoppenplatzes' handy, in case anything goes off the plan.
Which it will.
3) "I know I stashed that fakatka drone somewhere..."
Irrespective of how well you think you've arranged things, the process never stops. When I say 'things,' I mean...your things. Foodstuffs. Clothing. Tools. Equipment. The dog's food bag.
[Free tip: when the slides are all the way in, there is no easy way to access the rear storage areas of the trailer, other than clumsily climbing over the island sink. DO NOT put the dog's food container in the back of the trailer.]
Also, as you travel, you learn to store things in ways that make it easier to access often-used stuff, like spices, camera equipment, shoes, and your umbrella. You learn to put these things not in the back of closets, but in the front. You also need to follow the rules of falling out[see #1]: to keep things like personal hygiene products, medicines and the like, always use some kind of container, a small tub, if you will, to put them in.
Ditto for medicine cabinets, because pils bottles will fall over/down/spill.
Clothes closets: the hanging rods these things come with are THE WIMPIEST, cheapest things possible, and will not handle a lot of weight. Over the past few years, we've pared down our couture quite a bit, and a rule, not just for clothes, but for most things is, if it hasn't been used in a year, it may be time to get rid of it.
For instance, if you do as we do, and avoid winter climates, you really need only one coat, maybe two. You do not need three pairs of winter boots. You do not need 13 pairs of socks.
Paul. 😐
We are continually amazed that we can lose stuff, in 250 square feet of home!
4) Always carry a good-quality tire pressure gauge and use it *religiously.*
The rear duals of The Beast carry upwards of 11,000 pounds; this includes the nominal load of an unladen truck--5400 pounds on the rear axle--plus whatever tongue weight and carried equipment weight on the bed of the truck. It is a MUST to use commercial scales, to accurately determine this total weight, ditto for the trailer, too.
Tires have a maximum load capacity, easily read on the side of any tire, and it's critical to not exceed that upper limit. In our case, the upper limit of the rear duals is 15,000 pounds (~6800 kg), and we regularly carry ~11,000 pounds (~4900 kg).
Going down the road, especially in some of the hot temps in which we travel, tires not only get hot from the surrounding air and pavement, but mainly from flexing. Tires that run at lower pressures flex more, which equals more heat. Excessive heat murders tires: not the least of problems associated with that is the cost of replacing a blown tire, but the dangerous situation that can occur when it blows, and repairing all it takes out. Keeping the pressures at the recommenced level--in the truck and trailer--is right around 100 psi (6.9 bar).
Nothing good can be reported about not following these rules...
 |
| Fortunately, not our rig...because I follow my rules! |
I am *obsessive* about making sure the tires are at the proper pressure! Also, completely irrespective of how much tread is left, I will not use a tire more than 6-8 years old. How do you determine a tire's age?
 |
| All tires have a similar date bubble: this was made in the 46th week of 2024 |
I do not apologize for following these rules... 😇
4) Driving time
As many of you have experienced, driving any vehicle for 3-5 hours, even though you're 'just sitting,' takes a lot of brain power. It can be surprisingly exhausting.
Now...couple that, literally and figuratively, to a 12,000 pound truck, towing an 18,000 pound trailer, paying attention to the mirrors, constantly assessing them for traffic, and to keep an eye on things--like, are the slides staying in? Has the poo tank remained in position? Do you see any parts being scattered behind you?--is trebly exhausting.
To that end, we really try to limit travel days to no more than 4 hours, 5 tops. Heck, sometimes, we'll find a good Harvest Host that might only be 2-3 hours down the road, and we'll go for it!
What the heck? We're retired!
5) Are we still digging' this lifestyle?
We get this question a fair bit, both from our stationary friends, at homes, and from others, who are also nomads.
As of today, just shy of 22 months have been spent wandering around these beautiful United States. Despite the political turmoil all of us are now being subjected to, with very few instances, nobody has been anything other than decent and friendly and helpful. We have almost all the western states, and a fair few midwestern ones, crossed off our map..
 |
| 18 down, 40 (contiguous) more to go! |
Yea..it's been work...but, all in all, enjoyable work. Freedom to go where we please (within limits), the wonder of seeing places and people we'd not otherwise gotten to experience, learning how well we work together as a married couple (totally subjectively, I'd give us a solid 9/10!), and just reveling in the grandeur that is this country.
Now, the not-so-fun TED talk about...
6) Costs
Make no mistake about it, full-time RVing is not a budget way of living. We knew this going into it, and fully--well, to the best extent we could--factored in the costs of traveling.
We allowed a fuel budget, based upon $3 to $5 per gallon of diesel fuel.
Seen the news lately?
At the moment, the best we can find is ~$6.50 a gallon: in California-Oregon-Washington, that’s now approaching $9 to $10 per gallon. that has greatly altered our plans. We totally gave CA-OR-WA a miss, because of the rise in prices.
But, we now have the Maverick with us, and that has been a boon, for us to make side trips, and to get supplies.
For instance, a recent trip to Boise, from our summer spot, would have been ~$180, round trip, in the The Beast: In the Maverick it, was $45. Even with the added expense of wear-and-tear, maintenance, and insurance, using the Maverick saves us a bit in our overall costs; plus we can carry a few things in it, like our front lawn, our chairs, and firewood; it's *WAAAY* easier to park!
Having this mid-continent camping spot, in Oklahoma, that is essentially free, has also made continuing to travel possible, even if it will not be as extensive as we had planned. Remeber back, a few articles ago?
We'll figure it out!
So, that's a bit about our travels, up til now. Soon, we will be beginning to traverse New Mexico, and heading south to Yuma, Arizona, for our third winter.
Stay tuned!
