Category: Blog Series

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#5: Adventures in RV Travel – January 15

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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We Leave in a Few Hours!

I should be sleeping instead of writing this blog post. I had to do something to wind down after a really hard day of work. The last day of packing the RV for the trip. The last day of really hard work although the first day at the RV park is pretty hard work and the days of driving aren’t easy work. We’re driving 1000 miles and right at this minute, that seems like a long way!

Today, like yesterday, was wall-to-wall packing except for a few minor things. My traveling companion got the tow dollie and car hooked up to the RV. That doesn’t sound like much work but when it is 43 degrees and raining and the tow dollie is slick, believe me, it’s not easy. Now he hopes he can make the turn out of the driveway to drive up the road! These things want to make me giggle tonight even though they are not funny. That’s because I’m so tired I’m on the verge of hysteria! If I did giggle, my traveling companion would not be amused! RV’ing is not for the faint of heart!

As for me, I made a grocery store run, stocked the pantry and refrigerator in the RV, washed all the RV dishes and pots and pans, and generally cleaned things up. Then, I came in the house and started working on my clothes. If you knew about my clothes, you would be the ones giggling! You see, I like clothes. I have a lot of clothes. But, my clothes are not necessarily all suitable for RV’ing. So, I spent a lot of time picking out what was suitable for the trip and realizing I have more cold weather clothes than warm weather clothes. Good! That means I’ll get to go shopping since we’re going to south Florida! I love jeans. Nice jeans. Levi jeans. There is a Levi outlet very near Ft. Myers. What a shame that I have to go shopping there! 🙂 Actually, I have enough jeans but who has to know?

What I don’t have are shorts because I seldom wear shorts. Maybe I can find Levi shorts? Since I’ll be making at least one trip into my beloved Everglades, I’ll definitely need shorts. Hot there! I’m a bit of an environmentalist about all wildlife. The python situation in the Everglades disturbs me.

Back to packing. We’ve covered food and clothes. But, there is so much more. We had already packed linens but we forgot towels. We almost completely forgot towels. That would not have been a good thing. I had to pack a tote for my dog and cat. A tote for my sundries like hair products. A tote for cosmetics. Multiply this by two when you take my husband into account except he doesn’t need cosmetics! Or hair products.

Finally, he is gone to bed and I am writing this blog post. We will leave by 9 a.m. tomorrow. I still have to shower and make a stab at those sundry products. Then bed for a very few hours. I’m the navigator so sleep wasn’t as necessary for me. We will drive only about 250 miles tomorrow.

We will make about a two-hour stop at a good friend’s home in Tennessee. We’ve been friends all our lives but I’ve never seen her home, so that will be fun. We’re taking things a little easier this trip to Florida and stopping when we want. We’re anxious to get there. We aren’t anxious to kill ourselves doing it!

The next time you hear from “Adventures,” (tomorrow) it will be from the road. I’m excited!

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Eight Items to Remember if You Are Traveling in a RV

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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There are items that people who travel in a RV often forget from trip to trip. I’m not talking about full-time RVer’s. Those people know everything as far as I’m concerned! I’m talking about the rest of us who take occasional trips in a RV. I forget the same things from winter to winter when I play snowbird. Here are some examples and this list is not exhaustive:

  1.  Clothes that don’t easily shrink in the dryer: One year, we came home from being snowbirds and literallly every piece of clothing we’d taken with us had shrunk. We learned a valuable lesson that year. RV park dryers have one drying temperature. HOT. Ditto for laundromats. Watch what you take. RV trips are very casual. Take casual clothes. I take lots of clothes so I don’t have to do laundry often so my clothes don’t have a chance to shrink!
  2. Several pairs of comfortable shoes: This is not the time for high heels, girls. Many RV parks are the best places in the world to walk the dog, walk yourself, or ride your bike. Take your walking shoes and more than one pair. I take maybe two pairs of dressy shoes to go out to dinner at night. Dinner is usually casual too. I don’t mean fast food. I do mean nice, casual restaurants. Hint: I don’t cook much at night!
  3. An umbrella: Everyone I know forgets an umbrella. Most people don’t purposefully go where it is constantly rainy but it does rain almost everywhere (sorry California). Take an umbrella or two.
  4. A GPS especially for RVs: This has been worth its weight in gold. It tells you the height of the overpasses, what detours are RV-friendly, where the truck stops are, and many other facts crucial for RV owners.
  5. Computer/phone cords for charging your stuff: If you are reading this, you’re a computer user. It seems like most of us have a smart phone these days. Some RVs have a few areas where you can charge your stuff — and some don’t. Take plugins that have multiple slots for USBs so you can plug in more than one USB-enabled computer or phone cord at once. You can get them at Wal-Mart. I have the ability to plug in ten computer/phone cords at one time. I’ve never tried that for fear it would torch the RV electrical system but I’ve plugged in a lot.
  6. Phone with Personal Hot Spot Capability: If you work from the road as I do, or if it just important for you to keep in touch, know the WiFi at many RV parks is heavily used which means you cannot always get online. The parks are sometimes out of the way and not near a cell tower. Bottom line? Signal strength is bad. Set up a personal hot spot when you need one. It will make your life less stressful.
  7. The food you normally eat: You will feel better if you stick to your normal diet. Before you hit the road, stock your RV pantry and refrigerator with the same things you eat at home, at least for the part of the trip when you are driving to your destination. You can grocery shop when you get there. Don’t buy big groceries until you do get there as that will cut down on the weight of the RV and beef up your already pitiful gas mileage. 🙂
  8. Lawn Chairs: Unless you are going to the North Pole, you will want to be outdoors. A lot. RV’s get pretty confining, even the largest RV with the most slideouts. One winter in Florida, it rained. And rained. And rained. It was cold. My husband was lucky to have survived. 🙂 That was only one winter. The part of Florida we go to is almost always warm and dry in the winter with very low humidity. That year was an outlier. Take lawn chairs.

These are just a few items to remember and consider before you take a RV trip. I hope this list helps those of you who travel!

 

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BLOG SERIES: Snow #4

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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What if you looked out your window and saw THIS? Again, this is a house in Truckee, California after the blizzard. I would be scared to death, but the people who live here know how to deal with blizzards and the snow. The added benefit is that this kind of know in the High Sierras will help break the California drought this summer.

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#4: Adventures in RV Travel

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Getting Close to Leaving!

Two days away! We only have two days left until we take off on our RV trip. I’m excited….and tired. Very tired. I haven’t stopped moving in days. I’m resting tonight. I told a friend, if I didn’t, I’d be in the hospital, not in the RV! I just started my third list…….third in the last three days. One list seems to lead to another. I’m down to last minute things now. One of the most important things on my list for tomorrow (Saturday) is going to the grocery. I won’t completely stock the pantry and refrigerator for the trip. I will stock up for the duration of the drive to our destination in Florida.

It’s easiest on you if you continue with whatever diet you eat at home. For me, that means salad. Lots of salad. For the first part of the drive, I chop up all the salad vegetables, put them in separate bags, and refrigerate them. That will get us through a couple of days. Then I’ll do it all again. Just like at home. This is just an example of what you might want to do if you’re taking such a trip. Simple is better. Search the Web for camping recipes. You’ll find recipes using only a few ingredients. As for me, I limit my carbohydrates. I have more energy if I do as my blood sugar stays lower. Try it! You might find the same thing. I keep lots of tuna, salmon, and boiled eggs on hand. I also have a lot of water with me.

After going to the grocery and putting everything in the RV, then I box up my clothes and put them in the RV. It sounds funny, but it’s hard to think in terms of packing for a climate where it is 70-80 degrees in the daytime since it is certainly not that warm where I am now…..well…….it’s hard to think of packing t-shirts, sandals, and jeans! I keep trying to pack sweaters, which I won’t need! Then I will pack sundries, cosmetics, etc.

While I’m doing that, my traveling companion will be finishing up cleaning the RV, hauling the heavy stuff to the RV, and getting the car we are towing ready for the trip. It needed the oil changed, tires checked, and other general maintenance. We have a small car that we drive around town and also use for towing. It’s a Toyota Scion. They are good little cars for both purposes.

Speaking of the car we’re towing, one thing you have to be hyperaware of when going on a RV trip, is weight. Even though you pack what you need, you don’t over pack or travel with heavy objects if you can help it. Why? Gas mileage. Rv’s are gas hogs. Our RV gets about 7 mpg. Yes, that’s what I said. Seven mpg. It never sees a gas station it doesn’t like! This is made worse by towing and any heavy packing you do. It is like any other vehicle. The faster you drive, the more gas you eat up. We drive no faster than about 65 mph and often not that fast.

In the past, we’ve driven as far as 400 miles in a day, but that is really very hard on the driver. We also have a dog on board and that means frequent stops. We’ve decided to drop that down to a maximum of 300 miles per day this trip.

So, dear readers, things are moving right along toward Monday, when we leave. We hope to be out of here early in the morning. More of all the last minute stuff from “Adventures” over the weekend!

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Posted in Blog Series

#3: Adventures in RV Travel

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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More Getting Ready and Why it’s the Middle of the Night

January 11, 2017: Whew! Today has been errand day for me. Today has been a day of working on the interior of the RV and finishing up some exterior things on the RV for my traveling companion. He had some fittings to grease underneath and installed our TV inside. We use the TV very little, mostly for news and weather, but on the occasional bad weather day, it’s nice to have. Since we are both basketball fans, we like to catch basketball games of our favorite college team. He also started putting away his tools inside in preparation for loading the RV. I think he only has a couple of very small jobs left to do on the outside of the RV. Yay!

We take the TV in and out of the RV. We use it in the house when we aren’t using the RV so it is a little bit of a job to put it back in and set it up. Most RV campgrounds where we stay have cable TV that we hook up to. All the comforts of home! Well, almost.

I have spent the day, the entire day, running errands necessary before we leave on our trip. The things you have to do are legion. You have to deal with your finances. You make sure any and all bills are being paid automatically. I use automatic bill pay. If you are going to be staying in one place long enough, you can have your mail forwarded, but it takes 2-3 weeks to make that happen. If you don’t have that kind of time in one spot, save yourself some worry (and save your credit score!) and just have everything automatically debited. Make sure you’re enrolled in online banking so you can monitor your bank statement.

You have to notify any credit cards that you’re going to use when you’re away that you are going to be traveling. Otherwise, the credit card company will think your card has been stolen and someone is using it out of state. That means they will decline it and cause you embarrassment and inconvenience. Just some tips if you’re traveling that are applicable even if you’re traveling by car.

If you take any medications, get your refills. If your insurance company is like mine, you probably can’t get much extra and you have to get refills wherever you are when you run out. A Giant Pain. At least, try to get your doctor to write your prescriptions for a three-month supply. Some pharmacies will give you what they call “vacation refills” once per year. Since I am an insulin-dependent diabetic, I have to be sure I have enough insulin as I am very careful about controlling my diabetes. I had a bit of a run-in (an understatement) with my doctor today over this, but after calling in reinforcements, we came to an understanding and, I hope, I have all the insulin I need! I live on salads, which reduces my need for insulin, but that is a bit more difficult to do when traveling.

While I was out running errands, I had miscellaneous things to do. Pick up food for the cat, treats for the dog, a new purse (or three) for me, a few shirts, a little gift for a friend I will see along the way, and the list goes on.

Now I am home and I wish I could go to bed! I promised I would tell you why it is the middle of the night, but if you have read the above paragraphs, you already know. It’s been a busy day and I have another busy day tomorrow.

More from here and “Adventures” after the day ends tomorrow…..another busy day. Right now, I wish we were packed and already on the road!

Posted in Blog Series

BLOG SERIES: Snow #3

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Lake Tahoe Blizzard of January 2017

When I was a child, living in Kentucky, sometimes we got some serious snow. As a young adult, there were a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s where we had good amount of snow. Maybe 2-3 feet. But I have never ever seen snow like that snow in the picture above.

This is a street in Truckee, CA, high above Lake Tahoe, and this picture was taken the day after the blizzard. Notice that the snow is up to the top of the stop sign. The STOP SIGN! You can only see a couple of letters on the stop sign and that is because of drifting.

Do any of you, dear readers, live in Big Snow Country? Tell us about it and show us some pictures!

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BLOG SERIES: Snow #2

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

The first part of the Lake Tahoe blizzard January 2016

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I don’t know where all of you live, but where I live, this is some serious snow! This picture was taken about three days ago, around January 7, 2016, in Truckee, California, high above Lake Tahoe. You’re looking at my cousin’s house and her husband, who is shoveling snow out of their driveway. Looks like a hard job, but I think the snow there is mostly powder. I’ll have to ask her!

It’s still snowing there. A blizzard warning. I couldn’t live in this kind of snow though I know it is wonderful in the summer. I guess, if you like winter sports, it’s wonderful in the winter!

More to come!

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#2: Adventures in RV Travel

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Getting Ready for the Trip

January 10, 2016: It’s hard getting ready for a RV trip when you live in a state that has winter and the high temperatures have recently been in the 20s! Today, we caught a break. The temperatures hit 50 degrees and, except for about one day, they are supposed to be 50ish until we leave. Whew! Makes it easier.

Some days, I find myself turning round and round in a circle, not knowing what to do first. That’s been today. So, I decided to make lists. A grocery list to stock the RV refrigerator and pantry. A list of errands I have to run before I leave here in my town. A list of appointments I have before I leave. Lists of sundries, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, kitchen supplies, and ALL my computer stuff. The computer stuff is a lot of stuff.

Let’s see. Computer supplies. The big thing to remember regarding the computers is to take all the various charging devices, USB cords for both Apple and Windows-based computers, flash drives for both operating systems, the cigarette-charging based chargers, etc. You see, you can charge everything in the cigarette lighters (but not the Apple computers) and in something called an inverter. Don’t ask me what an inverter is. It allows you to use electricity much like you would in a house….that’s about all I know. As it is, there aren’t nearly as many charging outlets as I have things I have to charge (can’t forget the cell phones!). So, I suppose something or several somethings will be charging all the time while we are gone. Should be confusing.

Since I can’t buy doubles of much of this stuff without bankrupting myself – from clothes to computer stuff – it has to all be packed at the last minute. AACCKK!

While I did all of this, my traveling companion worked on the water line that goes from the RV to the water line in RV parks so we can have city water while we’re gone. It’s always something.

So that’s been today! It isn’t over yet. Tomorrow is garbage day here. I cleaned out the two freezers we have – cleaned them out until they are totally empty except what we will use in the next few days. There could be a power outage here. There often is in the winter. I don’t want a mess when I get home! Like I said, it’s always something when getting ready for a RV trip!

More from “Adventures” tomorrow!

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BLOG SERIES: Snow #1

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The beginning of the blizzard in the Lake Tahoe area.

I’m going to write a short snow blog series. After all, it is winter in most of the U.S. and the Northern Hemisphere. Even though snow is not my thing, lots of folks live in snow country and find activities that they love to participate in. I’ll have to admit that I love the Winter Olympics. I’m just glad I, personally, aren’t out in the snow!

I’m lucky enough to have a direct line to the High Sierra region of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. They are having a blizzard. That’s very fortunate for California as it will help with their drought conditions. However, the people who live in the High Sierras have to be prepared.

My cousin and her husband live near Lake Tahoe and they are being inundated with snow. She is sending me beautiful snow pictures that I want to share with you although she has to stay in until it’s safe to go out. The snow is like a sculpture. Smooth in spots. Very uneven in other spots. Beautiful to look at.

Watch this space for my Snow Series! We’ll follow the western blizzard near Lake Tahoe and go some other places as well!

The picture at the top of this post is some of the initial snow they got near Lake Tahoe.  This is my cousin’s deck. The Sierra’s are under a blizzard warning today, January 10, 2017.

Posted in Blog Series

#1: Adventures in RV Travel

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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We are getting ready to take a trip in our RV! We’re going to play snow birds this winter. We don’t every winter, but we do most winters. We have a favorite place we go in Florida (a surprise for a later post). We’ve been working on our RV for a month to get it road ready and ready to accommodate us on the inside, along with our small dog, Betsy, and our yellow cat, Tigger. Everyone travels!

Getting a RV road ready is no fun. It’s a great big job. It’s a good thing my traveling companion is a good mechanic or the cost of getting the RV in good shape would be prohibitive. All that mechanical stuff is not much fun, though. The systems are complicated. Like a truck, but more complicated. I think there are a couple of other things we have to do and the RV will be ready to roll mechanically.

 

Our RV used to be considered to be fairly large but no more. There are some really big ones out there! Ours is only between 35-40 feet and is certainly not new, but it is nice enough. We have the conveniences we need. Plenty of room for two adults and pets. Unfortunately, I can’t help drive because I’m too short to reach the pedals! It’s a standard shift which is no problem for me but when the pedals are two feet away from your feet, not even cushions behind you help!

We hired a housesitter to live at our home while we are gone. He’ll be here the day we leave, but he’ll come by before to get the key, the instructions for the alarm system, and the other information he needs. I hope he doesn’t get snowbound here!

I’ve checked the weather on the day we leave. All clear! We just recently had a snow so I was worried. It’s always a roll of the dice when you leave in January. No way can you take the chance of getting an RV out on the snow. There would be danger in that. We would have to leave either early or late if snow was predicted either here or along the way. There is a mountain we have to cross between here and there but nice weather is predicted there as well, even at the top.

I hope you enjoy this blog series. I’m going to be doing lots of things along the way and when we get to our destination. I’ll be taking many interesting side trips as well. I’ll take all of you along with me. Maybe I can bring you some Florida sunshine and some laughs! I would love to hear your travel stories!

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