Ready, Set, … Go?

By Regis.

Last post I told you I would post about the RV upgrade projects. Well I haven’t a clue how to present that in an interesting way. So what your’e going to get is a list and some pictures with a short description.

But first, as the title teases, we are about to start this years trip! The continued cold weather does have us worried a bit. The plan is to head to the Pacific Northwest and spend a lot of time around in the state of Washington. Apparently, the shortest way is to head to South Dakota, then west. Fair enough, we like that part of the country. But if it doesn’t warm up we may be snow camping! Fortunately, we have a working heater. Unlike the first year in this RV, where we found out how much colder it can be at 7000 feet elevation (without a working heater) verses 5000 feet. Check this post  brrrr-and-wheres-dart-2
Our first several days will be at the local beach. We actually have a water front site! No, not the ocean water or even the ICW water but maybe a marsh of some type but we can walk to the ocean! Then we head to the gulf coast for a bit then bee line for South Dakota.

One more thing before I get to the upgrades and pictures. I wanted to let you know how you can follow our blog posts! I know some of you get our posts forwarded to you by a friend or notice the Facebook post. You can “sign up” on our blog site, then you can get notified when ever we post, you won’t miss any of the action and you can comment as well!

to sign up on our blog:

goto landrtravel.com or click here ====> Button

It should take you to our latest post. On the right side panel you should see a list of older archived posts. ( read through and catch up!) Below the archives will be a “button”  “follow us we’re lost.” Click it and enter your email.

Now you should get notified when we update our blog! FYI… The first time you comment on a post it will need to be approved by us, so be patient, we’ll get to it! (internet access out in the wild can be spotty!) Once you get approved your comments will post immediately.

On to the upgrades!

I’ll list what I’ve been doing then expand on a couple;

• Air horn
• espresso holder
• basement organization
• reroute some electrical
• Flash light holders
• Four wheel weight RV
• Align headlights

Espresso holder?

In the RV space is at a premium, even in a big RV. One thing Linda and I will not do without is our espresso drinks. She, a cappuccino, me a latte. Our espresso machine, while not big, will not fit in any of our cabinets. It resides on one side of the stove in camp and on the other side when traveling. Problem is when traveling ANYTHING not tied down will bounce and shift around while going down the road. My solution is to brace the machine on the counter with a “stop” wedged into a gap between the stove and counter. This works great and version 2, made of IPE wood, even looks great!

Basement organization.

There are several compartments below the living space, the “basement”. This being the longest trip planned and other factors, we need to be more disciplined with the basement storage. I had seen a great Vlog from the RVGEEKS about how they organize their basement with plastic totes. I went with the concept about the totes. What it has done is to delineate space, which helps keep stuff in its place. One compartment was a big problem in that removing one thing causes two others to fall out! No more!

RV Weight.

For two years now I’ve been wanting to get the RV weighed. Ever since I found out that I under bought (not by much, but still over loaded) the truck to pull the 5th wheel, the RV weight has weighed on my mind. I even had a weigh in scheduled last year be had to cancel. The manufacturer does supply a sticker that lists the weight of the RV, full of fuel and propane, out of the factory, but is it accurate? Well it probably is. But how much STUFF have you added? Great news is that the manufacturers weight was darn close and even with most of our stuff we were well within weight limits on all four wheels! FYI we have been adding more stuff and will be getting a per axel weight soon but I don’t think it will change dramatically.

Headlights?

The only time slot I could get to weigh the RV was 9:30 a.m. and it meant I had to leave at 6:30 a.m. Since I had to fuel up before going I had to leave by 5 and that meant getting up by 4. At O’dark thirty you tend to rely on your head lights while driving. Besides not driving in the rain much (see is winter over yet) it was probably the first time driving the RV in the DARK. HA! Two summers on the road and just now driving in the dark for the first time and realizing the head lights are all akimbo! Well, I spent some time tweaking the lights and probably need some more.

Last but not least AIRHORN.

The RV is built on a medium duty truck frame, a Freightliner M2. Think of the largest UHAUL truck you can rent. Pretty big right? Now think about driving it and having to hit the horn and it sounding like a Toyota Corolla. Not impressive right. It might be a GUY thing but I had to install some air horns on the RV. Still not the sound I want but much better!