I’m a bit frustrated right now, and I’m finding it difficult to resolve said frustrations. Here’s a list of things that are bugging me about my RV life:
1) It’s been raining off and on for nearly two months now. The ground never gets a chance to dry out. This is a problem because our RV is sitting right on top of the septic field into which our holding tanks flush. When the ground is saturated and it continues to rain, the water just pools up over the septic field and everything turns to mush. Plus, nothing wants to flush down into the tank because it’s full. The handyman has pumped out the tank twice, but it’s still an issue. In order to avoid stepping into a sewage-laced puddle when I come out my front door, I’ve laid down a layer of straw in the muck that used to be my “patio.” It helps, but I’m sure it irks our maintenance guy. He can just hush. It’s organic and will break down by spring.
When I’m having a hard time draining my holding tanks, I’ve learned that I can use my main holding tank valve as a sort of “plunger.” When the sewage stops flowing downward, I can close and reopen the main valve and create enough suction to start the flow again. But the drain is slooooow, and my favorite thing to do is stand out in the dark, in the rain and the cold, and flush holding tanks. PLEASE STOP RAINING, and snowing, and slushing, and all other forms of precipitation!
Tags: expenses, frustrations, repairs, rv
First snow of the season today, but it was mostly slush. As a result, the ground around my camper is nothing but mud. I went and bought a bale of straw and scattered it on outside my door so I wouldn’t track mud inside the house. I also bought some salt and put it down on the steps. They were getting icy fast! I also bought some lock de-icer just in case. I have a feeling that if we get a real ice storm, we’re going to have a problem getting that door open.
It’s hovering around freezing right now, and it’s kind of chilly inside the RV. Trying to keep the thermostat down around 65 so the furnace isn’t running constantly. Using an electric heater to help out. I think I’m going to go climb under the covers and call it a day.
Turned my tank heaters on for the first time. Let’s hope they work. It’s going to get down into the 20s before the night is out.
Obviously, there isn’t room in an RV for much that is purely ornamental. Every inch of floor space is spoken for. I wanted to decorate for Christmas inside the RV, but I don’t like fake trees and couldn’t justify bringing in a real tree. I did have a little rosemary plant sitting outside in a clay pot, though, so I picked up some tiny ornaments and battery-powered mini lights at the drug store, brought the plant inside, decorated it, and parked it on the end table by the sofa. We now have a little bit of Christmas spirit inside. The great part about this sort of Christmas “tree” is that it smells great and will live on (hopefully) well past the holidays.
Tags: decorating, holidays, rv
Think RVing is something new under the sun? Guess again! This year marks the 100th anniversary of RV manufacturing in the US, so 27 years before this film, folks had been hitting the road in their homes on wheels.
Take a gander at all those vintage canned hams! I wish I had one of my own.
Tags: canned hams, rv, video, vintage, youtube
Before we even took possession of the fifth wheel, I’d been considering moving the sofa into the rear of the RV where the recliners and end table used to be. We discarded the remaining recliner when we moved in because it was broken, and I turned the back part of the RV into my little office, with a computer cart, chair, and small filing cabinet. I left the sofa in the dining room slide, we removed the dinette set, and replaced it with Lex’s desk and chair. That worked fine, but I got tired of having to put my feet up on the sofa in order to be able to face the TV which is at the front of the living room across from the door. Now, the sofa faces the TV rather than being perpendicular to it. Much more comfortable.
Tags: floorplans, furniture, living area, rearranging, rv
This has been a very wet fall. I don’t know exactly how many inches we’ve gotten, but I do know that we’ve had many more wet, gray days than not this month. Our RV is not sited on a concrete pad. Instead, we’re parked on grass. Admittedly, there is a thin layer of gravel under the parking space, but the ground around the RV has become saturated, and everything is turning to muck. We park our vehicles on the grass, too, so each time we back them out, we’re churning up more and more mud. My patio mats had gotten soaked, so I decided to pull one up and drape it over our picnic table in hopes that we’d get a sunny day or two so I could dry it out, clean it, roll it up, and stow it in the basement. No luck. It’s draped over the picnic table but still soaked, and the area of dead grass where it used to be is pure mud. Going out to empty the holding tanks is getting to be a very messy task. Maybe I need to buy a couple of bales of straw and spread it around just so we can walk around the RV and to our cars without making a mess.
I would be a very happy girl, indeed, if this rain would just stop for about a month so we could dry out. Our septic tank keeps getting backed up in this wet weather, so the problems that already exists with our sewer system are further aggravated. Until it dries up, the repair service won’t be coming out to install the new valve on the black water tank. That’s not good.
*sighs* What I wouldn’t give right now for a nice asphalt parking space for the RV and a lovely concrete pad for the patio.
Tags: holding tanks, rain, septic systems, weather
You’ve seen the commercial from Apple by now, “There’s an app for that.” Yep, there sure is. There’s an app for just about everything. In fact, there are even apps for RVers. Recently, I downloaded two.
The first is called RV Checklist. It’s just what it says it is, a series of customizable checklists to help the RVer: arriving at site, departing from site, preparing for trip, planning extended trip, and winterization. Besides the built-in lists, users can create their own lists. The primary benefit of this app is that it’s paperless. At 99 cents, it’s worth a test run.
The second app is called RV Companion and costs $5.99, so I only downloaded the free version for the sake of reviewing it. This is a much more comprehensive app than the other one. With this program, you can make to-do lists, keep a record of the campgrounds you visit, create trip logs, make procedure lists, and keep maintenance records. It has a couple of other nifty features, too. One is a leveler. The interface looks just like a bubble level. You sit the phone down on the floor and it lets you know precisely how much you need to adjust the RV and on which side. The other is a flashlight. There are lots of flashlight apps, but this one is dimmable, and it’s integrated into the program.
RV Companion is a versatile program that could be well worth the investment for those who want one handy place to keep all their records, something especially useful when you are on the road and have intermittent Internet connections and little room or opportunity to sit down and write out extensive notes.
Given the pace at which the App Store is expanding, I imagine it’s only a matter of weeks before more RV-related apps appear. There are already several campground directories, mapping programs, and even a truck stop locator. As I encounter new apps, I’ll post additional reviews.
A silent cartoon from 1937 about Farmer Al Falfa and his dog hitting the road with their travel trailer. Cute stuff.
Tags: cartoon, entertainment, history, media, travel trailer
We thought the Saga of the Awning was over, but it’s not. Turns out the RV dealership replaced the cheapo awning they initially tried to pawn off on us with HALF a new Dometic awning. They bought new fabric and hardware and strung it all up on our old roller, all without telling us! Problem is the roller doesn’t work properly after being blown down in the storm. So now we have a lovely-looking awning that won’t properly raise or lower. And we’re pissed. They didn’t just screw us over once, but twice!
Tags: bad business, diy, propane, repair, rv
Tonight’s the first freeze of the season. Of course, I hadn’t bothered to put the heat tape on the drinking water hose, so I found myself outside after dark in the cold with a lantern, electrical tape, pipe insulation, a pair of scissors and the heat cable. Half an hour later, voila, toasty-warm water line! Hopefully that will hold us.
There are drafts coming in around the beroom and kitchen slides. Guess I get the task of trying to find and eliminate them. I have spray insulation and weatherseal tape, so tomorrow I’ll do my best!
I’m determined to keep us warm and dry this winter, but it won’t be easy. We don’t have skirting around the bottom of the RV, so the winds are going to make the bedroom and living room floors chilly. Bathroom isn’t an issue because of the heated basement. Carpeting in most of the other spaces except for the tile in the kitchen. Not a floor I want to walk on barefoot at night.
The little electric space heater is doing a great job of keeping the bedroom warm at night. I turn down the furnace since mostly it’d just be heating the empty living room, I slide the pocket door closed (or mostly closed — the cat likes to come and go), and I turn on the space heater. Even on low, the heater does the trick and then some. When I get up in the morning, I turn the heater back up, so by the time Lex is ready to start work, her “office” is all warmed up again.
I’ve got to call the repairman back. Our holding tanks are leaking, one of them anyway. Not sure which. I do know that I can’t seem to close the valve on the black water tank anymore. Not good. That means the solids are going to start building up in the tank, and if things start freezing, that could be bad…very bad. Hopefully the repair is covered under the extended warranty because I have a feeling it won’t be cheap.
On another note, I’ve found a couple of very effective ways to stay warm in an RV in the autumn/winter in the Mid-Atlantic region. Snuggling up on the sofa with a Slanket, a dog stretched out across my feet and a kitty curled up purring on my chest makes for a very comfy evening.
Tags: diy, plumbing, repairs, rv, winterizing