New Hobby/Sport/Survival Skill!

After agonizing over the location of our next trip, we decided to head back to the White River to enjoy the remaining month of my Arkansas fishing license. We managed to reserve one of the four remaining primitive sites at the park.

Then, I stumbled across photos from spear fishing in Arkansas. I was shocked. Since I had not seen a state that allowed freshwater spear fishing I never thought to check in Arkansas. To my amazement, it is allowed with some restrictions. Go figure the restrictions included no spear fishing bass on Bull Shoals Lake. I immediately convinced Katie that we could sacrifice the $12 non-refundable fee for Bull Shoals/White River and just go back to Greers Ferry.

After I finally got off work Friday, I was glad that our destination was an hour and a half closer than originally planned. We arrived, picked out a site in the dark and set up camp. The next morning, I made the hike down to the water. I was surprised to not find a sheer cliff to the water, but a steep drop that I could get the kids down. At the bottom was about 50 feet of nice, secluded, rock beach with cliffs on either side. The water was about 75F. It was perfect!

Of course we went down later that day and I tried out spear fishing. I understand spear fishing with scuba, but I have always felt it is a little more sporting to take your game free diving. I found that it can be quite exhausting and the hardest part is finding the fish. There were only small blue gill at our private beach which was somewhat disappointing. We did enjoy swimming. Actually, I guess Steven, Cosmo, Wanda and myself enjoyed swimming. Adelyn and Katie enjoyed watching and throwing rocks in the water. I did finally manage to get Katie in the water and I think she found that it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

I was going to try another area of the park, but we got kicked out before I had a chance. Apparently, dogs are not only banned from the swim beach, but they are not allowed at the picnic area or playground. I suspect the reason that the park ranger drove up, walked up to us, asked us to leave, then left was due to the complaint of a lady watching her tween daughter/granddaughter play on the playground. I guess Cosmo barked when the tween squealed, "Look at the puppies!". I was gone at this time grabbing my spear gun and fins, but she scowled and left immediately after I showed up. I guess it could have been my manly chest hair that she didn't like, but who knows. At least the park ranger was very nice. I think he felt bad for kicking us out when Cosmo made no noise when he approached. He probably expected a different reaction from us since we were the only people at the park.

Anyways, the next attempt was at the beach by the primitive campsites. This was my favorite place to take the dogs until I found the secluded beach. Again, there were only small bream be found, not a sign of an edible sized fish. We did enjoy swimming again and getting some sun. It was surprisingly beautiful weather for October.

We decided to make it down to the prime location where I had seen larger fish before (public, no-pet beach). We let the dogs enjoy a nap in the truck which worked quite well. The weather was perfect for letting them hang out in the truck and the parking lot was empty. I jumped in the water and started the hunt. It was nearing sunset, which didn't help the visibility any. At 20 feet, the first bass I had seen yet appeared out of the green hue. I took the safety off and fired. I excitedly hauled in the line to find nothing! How did I miss? Who knows? I found that I was not very accurate at first, but my aim improved. The second bass I saw I shot and was a little disappointed in my spear placement. Though I only destroyed a little meat, it was not the best shot. It was the same for the second bass I speared that evening. Sorry, we forgot the Nikon and only had the camera phone...so no pictures from the first successful hunt. You'll just have to take my word that the fish tacos were great!

I had another successful trip to the same location. The fish were coming up to the 20-25 foot depth band to feed in the late afternoon. The thrill was the same and I can't wait to go again. I'm looking forward to hunting for Yellowfin off the east/gulf coast sometime in the future!

For spear fishing, I cannot describe how great it was. But, if you have ever snorkeled and hunted and fished, imagine doing all at the same time. The thrill of the hunt was always there even after getting a couple fish. The excitement of seeing the game, aiming, firing, and waiting for that silvery flash as the fish flexes when speared is indescribable. Though I hope I would never need to rely on spear fishing for survival, it was comforting to know I could do it. It was actually more physically intense and more exciting than any hunting and fishing I've done in the past. I also tried to use a Hawaiian sling, but unfortunately, the bands were too old and broke before I fired a shot. I have a much better sling in storage that I can't wait to use!

-Steve

Tent Camping

What Katie failed to mention is that we tent camped out of the car. She also failed to provide any pictures to back up her claims that Fall Creek Falls was beautiful.



The car was great. I had the idea that we would do it so we would have to carefully pack rather than throw everything in the truck and not use half of it. However, I'm not sure that the car thought it was a good idea. After driving around for an hour in the mountains, the 'transmission trouble' light came on and the speedometer quit working. No cell service and in the mountains was a great place for this to occur. We took it slow until we could find a WalMart and I checked fluid levels. No problems found, seemed to be electrical. We drove home and the next day the car fixed it's own problem. Guess it's not quite time to replace it :) Just in case, I have limited the car camping to a destination no more than about an hour away.



It's funny to hear the response to the statement, "we're going tent camping". The replies are usually "Why would you ever want to camp out of a tent? What did you get a trailer for?". We really enjoy camping no matter what we use for shelter. The reality is that it doesn't make sense to haul a 42' trailer into uncharted territory at midnight for a 2 night stay. We also truly enjoy 'roughing it'. Fall is a great time of the year for tents and as long as we don't need to abandon the dogs, there's no reason for a trailer. This weekend we're headed back to Arkansas. The destination is Bull Shoals/White River state park. It's a great location and I'm looking forward to it.



There are more photos on the facebook page. Happy camping!
-Steve

Camping in Fall Creek Falls, Tn

We just got back from a weekend of tent camping with our friends in Fall Creek Falls, Tn. It was an amazing park, and it showed, the place was packed! I figured we would be camping alone, since that was pretty much how it had been at other parks after Sept 1st. But not here, everyone seemed to be there for just the weekend, and trying to enjoy every minute.

We arrived very late on Friday night and the site was easy to find (good scouting by Nic and Danielle). We unpacked and got the tent set up...well Nic and Steve set it up, the girls chatted and took the kids to the bathroom. We proceeded to stay up even later talking and catching up, which made 7 am (possibly earlier) come really really early.

Since Saturday would pretty much be the only day we had to do anything, we tried to make the most of it. We spent the first of the morning chatting and eating. Later the kids got to go play on the amazingly nice playground that was close to our site. Steve and I squeezed in a short bike ride around the camp loops, well, I say it like we were riding together, it was more like Steve would go super fast in front of me and then eventually slow down or turn around and let me catch up (more on Steve's biking adventures later).

Later we went for a hike to see the falls. I'm not sure exactly how long we hiked, but I do know that I was amazed that the kids made it as far as they did without whining or throwing tantrums. I think they actually had a great time climbing the trails. We took some beautiful pictures but even they couldn't capture the beauty of this place. Enormous trees, hills, and valleys, all sorts of vegitation everywhere, and sheer cliffs at the end of the trails that absolutely made me sick to my stomach, but the view was unbelievable.

After our hike was over was when the 'real fun' began. Steve noticed that he had tiny little ticks (I'm talking the size of the eye of a needle, that tiny), and whisked one of the kids off to the shower, while I picked what I could off of the other until we could get to the shower. I hate ticks, HATE THEM. Even if I just hear them mentioned I start itching and get grossed out. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the shower before they bit me a million times, but the shower did seem to get rid of them (I hope), just left me with lots of itchy spots that Steve insists I should not scratch. The kids lucked out and don't seem to have many bites at all and as for the dogs, well I don't really know at this point, but they are going to get a thorough bath as soon as it gets warmer outside.

After everyone got cleaned up it was pretty much like every camping trip goes...fire, dinner, chatting, laughing, smores, and I think Danielle busted out some Koom Ba Ya at some point in the evening :)

Sunday was clean up day and once that was done we got to drive to the falls overlook for pictures and more terrifying heights. I just can't say it enough, this place was gorgeous!!! If you are scared of heights I would suggest you stop at a couple of the overlooks but be warned, there are no guard rails, there is nothing between you and a million foot plummet to the ground...except lots of sharp trees and rocks somewhere along the way. I am glad I went but also glad I did not go to the edge. It would have been really sad to get that far and then faint from the view and....well you know.

The best part of the trip wasn't the view or the amazing park, it was the chance to camp with friends and catch up on everything we have missed out on in the months we have been apart. Camping is fun, but that fun is magnified if you are in good company. Thanks Nic, Danielle, and Violet for a fabulous trip....we can't wait to do it again!

Oh, and about Steve's biking adventures....well he went on a little ride by himself Sunday morning after our huge breakfast. When he came back he had a silly grin on his face, a swollen, bleeding knee and an oozing arm. Apparently when you are on a bike trail and you think, I should turn around, looks like it's getting steeper, you should take your own advice and stop, turn around and get out of there before you fall over your handle bars and crash your body into some tree stumps and rocks :)
Luckily he's fine, no broken bones, just a bruised body and ego.

What a wonderful weekend to welcome fall!

Blue Angel Park

This goes back a few weeks, but I thought I would write a little about Blue Angel Park.

Blue Angel Recreational Area is a Navy recreational facility. It is located southwest of Pensacola on the beautiful Perdido Bay. Unfortunately, that means it is only open to active and retired military and DOD civilians.

The park is an old Naval Air Station, which means there is a lot of space and a lot of concrete. The campground is split into two sections, A and B or 'Anchor Cove' and 'Battleship Row'.

Anchor Cove is the cheaper of the campgrounds. It has 30-Amp hookups, and gravel/sandy pads. For the big rigs, it has a lot of low trees, sharp turns and plenty of mud when it rains. We took a tour through Anchor Cove, but spent most of our time at Battleship Row.

Battleship Row is the nicer of the two with full hook-ups and 50-amp service. We only used the clubhouse on Battleship row, but it was nice. It was cleaned daily and the washers and dryers actually worked, which is more than I can say for Midway Park at NAS Mid-South (Millington, TN). The campground was quiet even though it was about 75% full. The other campers were a wide variety from retired to full-timers. We camped near a Coastie that had been full-timing since 2008 and loved the park. He did say that the social life was lacking compared to his 2 year stay down in Key West.

Reservations are not accepted and they do have a monthly rate. There are 6 or so sites that face the water that have a 2 week limit and we found that there are two sites that though they do not have entries facing the water, are essentially the same spot without the limit. However, good luck getting into them in a big rig. We made it around the turns and got into one of the two sites, but the other one would be near impossible with our 42 footer. They are also the farthest sites from the clubhouse which means internet signal is poor. Internet is not free either, but has daily, weekly and monthly rates that are reasonable for the service. And yes, they make sure that you only use one computer at a time per account!

The campsites are in the trees at the edge of an old concrete loading area and plane storage area (giant concrete area). There is a boat ramp near and plenty of parking for a boat and trailer nearby. The water is probably around 100 yards from the campsites. There is a nice beach and a playground down the road.

Fishing was great! Plenty of shoreline that is accessible by foot. Having a Kayak would be even better and of course a 20' bay boat with hydraulic jack plate would be ideal. Good luck convincing your spouse to get one :) ! Down by Anchor Cove there is a fishing pier. This was the most successful area for us. We caught a nice trout that was delicious and I couldn't taste any oil either! ( The best bait used is the magic bait I discovered in Charleston that has yet to fail: Red 1/4 oz jig-head with an 'open night' Saltwater Assassin shad (curl tails are the best, but let me know if you can find them because I can't!). There is a place to rent boats, fill propane, and grab some bait as well as a workout facility.

There are several restaurants nearby that have great specials even if you have to eat with the 'older crowd'. I really don't mind that much, but I think sometimes they might mind depending on Steven's current screeching ability. Check out the Shrimp Basket on Perdido, you may be able to catch a good oyster or AYCE special.

Beaches are great on Perdido Key and the crowds are usually minimal. We were there during spring break before and had plenty of beach to ourselves since the spring breakers tend to head towards Pensacola Beach.

Overall, the park was great and I cannot wait to visit again or even better, get stationed down there!

-Steve

Man that's a lot of crap!!!

Well, since it's always fun to write about poop, I thought I would share my new discovery.

We have had little success with our black tank level sensors since the beginning, all the way back in June. I blame Katie! The real culprit of this problem could likely be traced back to the kink in the water line leading to the water pump rather than a specific individual. There was quite a bit of toddler potty usage with inadequate flushing water. Actually, I guess we are all to blame. I'll let Cosmo and Wanda off on this one since they don't potty indoors even though Wanda has been having difficulty making it to the bathroom lately.

Sidenote: Wanda is our 5.5 year old Weimaraner who has recently been diagnosed with incontinence. Who knew that was common in middle-aged bitches? (I promise that was the word the vet used.) Well, hopefully the medication will work, so far it's improved (i.e. less large wet spots every time she falls asleep to random small spots when sleeping). I'm hoping that the addition of an extra trip outside immediately before bed and when the first human adult wakes up (that would be me) will help out. So far...2 days with no leakage!

Back to the crap story. So, since June 26th, we've been taking full advantage of the facilities onboard. We have avoided the aft crapper because I did not yet have a y-adapter and all the hoses to hook up both holding tank drain lines to the sewer. That meant moving the hose every time we needed to 'dump' the deposits from the aft black tank. It also meant there was no grey water to rinse the hose after the black water travelled through it...yuck!

So, I decided it was time to get all the extra crap we needed to remove some of the crap from the sensors. Since there was a random sale on the Heavy Duty King Pin Stabilizer, we decided to take the Honda for a 2.5 hour drive to the nearest city that had not only a Camping World but an Academy, the greatest fast-tex-mex food Taco Bueno and even a YARN STORE! Oh boy (extra Oh for the yarn store). I had to stay in the car with the kids for the yarn portion because there were too many Lexus's, Audi's, and BMW's for me. I didn't want someone stealing my loot from the clearance rack at Academy out of the back of the Honda. Oh, and sorry, the stabilizer is no longer on sale, we picked it up for $99.99.

Side note: For those who don't understand the Honda part. MY car (Katie's is the F450), is a 95 Honda Accord that had probably 3,000 lbs of stuff stacked in and on top of it while in a trailer during our last move. It has 177,000 miles, was driven lacking about 2 gallons of coolant for who knows how long, and is covered with scratches from having 3,000 lbs of stuff stacked on top of it. It's great because apparently you can't kill it. I hope our luck continues. I guess you'll find out next week.

For the crap issue, at Camping World I picked up the y-adapter, some hoses, and a flexible tank wand. Believe it or not, we actually drove all the way to Little Rock because I couldn't decide which tank wand to get and I wanted to touch them before I bought one. That and there happened to be a Taco Bueno. Academy was an after thought while we enjoyed some Muchacos and Mucho Nachos! I also picked up a couple clear hose adapters. Why you ask? Well, what's more fun than flushing your excrement out of your holding tank? Flushing it out and watching it flow through a clear hose adapter of course!

So, today I finally decided it was time to flush the tank again. So, I hooked up the hose after draining the black tank and turned on the water. I was not surprised at the amount of stuff that flowed from the tank that I was now able to observe through my handy-dandy clear fitting. However, after 10 minutes of flushing, I was very surprised at the amount of stuff still flowing. I'm not sure how much crap was stuck in there, but it still isn't completely clean.

(Definition for Non-RVers: 'flush' means to hook up a hose to the flush connection and turn on the water in this case. Some RVs have a build in flush system that sprays the inside of the black tank in order to remove built up crap. It could also mean hook up a wand and spray the inside of the tank with the wand through the toilet. It is not to be confused with 'dump' which means to open the valve and let the contents of the tank flow with the aide of gravity to the nearest exit which is hopefully a sewer hose properly connected to a sewer or septic system.)

Enjoying numbers and statistics, I thought about how great it would be to find out the efficiency of the flush system and determine if I could find out how long it would take to clean out the tank. But, I figured Katie wouldn't volunteer to keep track of the number of objects that flowed through the sight window. After a good 45 minutes of flushing, I called it a night. And no, it's still not clean. However, we have gone from no electronic tank level indication from the level sensors to 2 out of 4 sensors working, so we're path to success!

By the way, I would highly recommend the clear hose adapter for anyone out there who would like to have indication that their actually getting their black tanks clean!

Another note, the best indication that the black tank is full is when the toilet bubbles when you flush. This is your indication that the water level in the tank is above the vent line in the tank. And that means it's time to dump!

- Steve

Water Pump Problems

Though we did not know it, we have had problems with the water pump since the beginning. We attributed poor flow when using the pump to a low quality pump. We had no experience with RVs, so had no expectations for the pump.

After reading several posts on the Heartland Owners forum, we decided that we indeed were not getting the flow from the pump that we should. Here are the details on troubleshooting the water pump problem.

Step one: Realize that a problem truly existed. This one took the longest amount of time. Though I had a hunch in July, it took us from purchasing at the end of June until August to truly identify that we had a problem due to lack of experience.

Step two: Verify correct connection of hoses from FW tank to the pump. I opened up the access and traced as much plumbing as I possibly could. Everything looked fine, no kinks, and it seemed that the connections were correct. I could only trace the FW tank suction line to the point where it disappeared to the unknown.

Step three: Re-verify there were no valves that I didn't catch the first time I was tracing. I also checked the pump strainer and ran the pump through the winterizing line to verify that the problem was not with the pump. Pump worked great through the winterizing line and the strainer was clean.

Step four: Trace line in the 'unknown'. I had good information from the Heartland Owners forum and was able to sneak a peak at the hose without going through a nightmare of disconnecting things to get access below. I unscrewed a few screws and snuck a peak at the hose to find a kinked hose. I was relieved that the blockage was not in the tank, but irritated that there was a problem. Here's a photo.



Now that I found the problem, I needed to correct it. Here's the fix:

Step one: Buy some parts! I picked up a few 1/2" couplings, a box of self-tapping sheet metal screws (one broke off when removing), and a bag of stainless steel hose clamps.

Step two: I removed the winterizing hose at the coupling near the winterizing valve and removed the hose connector. I used this as a replacement hose for the kinked portion.

Step three: Next I disconnected the coupling for the supply line at the winterizing valve and connected it to the replacement hose with a coupling.

Step four: I then pulled the replacement hose through with the old hose. I removed the coupling and clipped the kinked supply line to the winterizing hose clip to keep the end above the FW tank to defeat gravity from draining the tank. Take that gravity!

Step five: Here's where you could use an extra hand. I cut the supply line hose before the kink and had Katie plug the hose with her finger. Yes, you could find something else to plug it up, but why do that when you have a perfectly good assistant!

Step six: Splice the replacement hose to the cut with a coupling.

Step seven: Reconnect the supply hose to the supply side coupling of the winterizing valve. Cut out the kink and connect the hose connector and connect to the winterizing side coupling for the winterizing line.

Results: A pump that works better than shore supply with a regulator and a winterizing line that may be slightly shorter than before. It works great and it's nice to have water on the road.

Something else I did that helped was to add some hose insulation to the lines around the pump. One water line was rubbing against the pump which made it almost as loud as the generator. After insulation...much quieter!

-Steve

Back from the trip, details to come later

What a great trip! After over 2,500 miles of trailer towing, WalMart camping, friends, family, and bird killing; I find myself even more excited that my house has wheels. I also asked myself why I didn't think to move into a trailer earlier. As I remember it, I had the idea and it was immediately shot down along with my idea of living on a boat. I'm not going to point any fingers. You'll just have to guess who is always the idea killer.

We should have posted updates as we moved around, but Katie was lazy.

We started out heading down to Pensacola, Fl. I managed to turn 465 miles into about 510 miles thinking it would be faster than driving into Mobile on a tiny road. Well, that's a lesson learned that I won't make again. I think this was the most painful of all the driving segments and not just because I got a salad when I asked for a sandwich :)

After a lot of rain and a little sun, we headed to Texas. We split the trip up and camped out at WalMart for our first time. What a great time! We burned fuel at less than 1gph, which was surprising to me. It made me even more hopeful to get to spend a few years in Key West. We made it to our destination in Texas and spent a few days there.

After that, we headed back towards TN and stopped for a few days in AR at Greer's Ferry Lake. This was the first time we stayed on the lake and it was great.

Overall, we were on the road for 19 days, covered over 3,000 miles, shot some dove, caught a few fish and had a lot of great times with family, some old friends, and our dogs. I can't wait for the next trip!

We'll get more details of each location posted up soon. There are some pictures already up on our fb site for those interested. And for those who do not have a fb site, you need to get one!

- Steve

Rain Rain Rain...

Go figure...a week where we are 100 yards from Perdido Bay and the biggest obsticles to overcome are the lack of sunshine and the puddles on the way to the beach. It's fantastic!



Well, hopefully it will be short lived, and by that I mean today only. The great thing about all this rain is that it knocks out the satellite. So, not only do we get to stay inside all day building up energy, we get to do it without satellite half the day. Oh, that's not entirely true. Apparently, Nick East is on a transponder that is rainproof. That means we had the joy of watching iCarly and other crappy tween flicks all day. Hooray for rain.

On a good note, today was the day I got to spend a good bit of it working. Yes, I was on leave today, but I figured it would happen anyways. Let's just hope that work doesn't appear on a sunny day :)

Anyways, hopefully the next post will be something fantastic. Afterall, only 60% chance of rain tomorrow!

Second Satellite in Bedroom :)

For all those out there who are trying to hook up a satellite in the bedroom, I have some info to look at. The COAX diagram is posted on the forum, and was somewhat accurate. Well, maybe around 50% accurate.

I have had the satellite in the living area for a while now, you can read about hooking it up here. We finally set up satellite in the bedroom. We have a 2011 Cyclone 3950. There was backing for a tv mount in the entertainment area (verified prior to install by removing the 110V outlet to verify. We mounted it, and hooked up the satellite to the 'satellite' connection via coax. I then took the satellite signal finder to find the correct hookup outside. Amazingly enough, the satellite finder seems to be more useful for troubleshooting the Cyclone's Coax system than it is for finding satellite signals.

So, when the signal finder was hooked up to either the second satellite connection outside or the cable, there was no connection to the receiver. (The signal finder is powered by the receiver the same as the dish is powered by the receiver, so you can tell if you are connected to the receiver by hooking up the signal finder.) So, the next step was to pull the cable connection out of the entertainment area in the bedroom.

Amazingly enough, there was nothing connected to the 'satellite' connection. Great, another thing that isn't hooked up from the Cyclone factory. So, I looked back at the coax diagram from this forum. I have no idea how it makes sense to have the second 'satellite' connection in the docking station go to 'roof prep', but I figured there must be more to this than the diagram indicates. So, I started tracing coax lines. Here is what I found:

From back to front in the docking station:

The first satellite connection goes to the top coax connection in the living area entertainment station. Useful!

The second satellite connection goes to the other side of pass-through storage where you can hook up a tv to use outside. Sounds great if you spend a lot of time at NASCAR races and want to hook up the satellite. However, if you do spend a lot of time at NASCAR races and wanted to hook up a tv outside to a satellite receiver, you can run a line directly from the satellite to the receiver making it ABSOLUTELY USELESS to have a satellite connection from one side of pass-through storage to the other. Here's a better use...HOOK UP THE SECOND SATELLITE CONNECTION TO THE BEDROOM!!!

The cable connection goes to the bedroom where you will find 3 coax cables hooked up to the antenna amplifier. For me, it was in the TV1 position. Only useful if you are at a park with cable. Also useful because this is how I solved my problem.

To get the receiver hooked up in the bedroom, I removed the line from TV1 on the amplifier (cable in docking station) and simply hooked it up to the satellite connection on on below the antenna connection. Works great! Simply hook up the second line to the satellite dish and now I can watch True Blood while the kids watch Nick JR!

Hope this helps.

Timbren SES and Ford Trailer Sway Control

We just took our cargo trailer 800 miles. The 2011 SD Sway Control and the Timbrens were tested on this run.

Total weight for the trailer was 12.5 klbs and an extra 1klbs of stuff in the bed of the truck. I had a new 2.5 in hitch, but it was too tight of a fit. I was within the capacity of the 2" hitch so I used it. It was late and I had already installed the sway control balls on the 2.5 in hitch, so I left it off that night for the short drive back to the park. The next morning, I decided that I would install the sway control if it was needed. It was a long drive so I went a little faster than I prefer when towing. I went around 70-75 mph and the fuel economy reflected it. I was getting around 9mpg at 75mph, 9.7mpg at 70mph and 10.5mpg at 65mph.

Mileage wasn't the point to this update...First thing was the Timbren SES. It was great! I was impressed with how much smoother the bumps were with the springs installed. I thought there would be a slight improvement, but not this much. I can see how they can extend the life of the springs, hitch and trailer. I would definitely recommend them to anyone with a truck.

Second item was the Trailer Sway Control feature on the 2011 SD . I had hauled the cargo trailer empty (4,500 lbs) and noticed it didn't seem to sway as much as before. I figured it was due to having a dually (heavier truck = trailer has less influence on truck). However, I was surprised when towing the trailer with a load. I towed the trailer 1,000 miles with the 2005 F250 6.0l CC SB FX4, 4,000 miles with the 2008 F250 6.4l CC SB 4X4, and now 1,600 miles with the 2011 F450. The difference between the 05/08 and the 11 is night and day in regards to trailer sway. The trailer fully loaded was unwieldy with the prior models and sway control was a must. I got a second sway control system to tame it. This time, loaded with 8,000 lbs, no sway control was needed. I thought, "Man, I did an awesome job loading this trailer". Then I remembered the Sway Control could be turned off. Since I was on open highway with no traffic, I turned it off. Immediately there was a difference. Every turn, every passing truck caused significant sway. If the trailer had been swaying that much, I definitely would have pulled over and hooked up the sway bars. Turned it back on in the middle of sway from passing a truck and it immediately cut it out. It was amazing. Ford knocked one out of the park with what I consider to be the best feature since the Integrated Brake Controller with the new Sway Control! And, they added the factory 5th wheel prep on the same model!

New Truck Accessories!!!

I installed new equipment on the truck yesterday...ok, new toys perhaps. I put on rain deflectors and new Timbren springs.

The rain deflectors were more along the lines of toys. I had them on a previous truck and it was nice to be able to crack the window and not worry about rain entering. It also cuts down on the low frequency noise that occurs when you open a window at faster speeds. Photos of the vents are on facebook.

The second install was a Timbren Suspension Enhancement System. It is a set of rubber helper springs that will smooth out the ride when under load. I purchased from eTrailer even though there were a few places that were cheaper. We have had great service from eTrailer in the past and wanted to use them again. As advertised, etrailer honored their lowest price pledge.

The installation was simple. It seems like it took longer to get the cover off of the sticky tape on the rain deflectors than it took to install the springs. It took no more than an hour to install the springs. The instructions say to lift the truck so the axle hangs freely but that wasn't necessary. There should be about 1/2 inch clearance when installed and that was enough to get the springs in for mounting. One side was a little tighter and required a little wiggling, but I managed without lifting. I probably could have taken the hitch out of the bed along with the box of tools and gotten a tad more clearance. Probably also would have helped if I had parked on a level surface. The hardest part of the install was turning the wrench to get the nut off to remove the OEM bumper and then turning the wrench to get the nut on the Timbren springs. There is not much clearance which. The passenger side had enough clearance to get a ratchet on, but it was not very effective. I found myself wishing I had a set of magical ratchet-wrenches that Craftsman makes. Maybe some day I'll get some, but I managed with plain wrenches. It was also dark when I installed them which goes to show the ease in getting to the parts.

I chose the Timbren system for the low maintenance required. They simply replace the OEM bumper and that's it. At a minimmum, air systems require inflation tubing and adding air more frequently than never (the amount of times you have to add anything to the Timbren springs = never). For lower maintenance on the air systems you would have to add compressors and remote monitoring/adjusting systems. Overall, I'll take the easy option. It's also cheaper.

I have one photo of the springs here and there are a few more on facebook. I'm looking forward to getting back on the road in a few weeks and seeing how the new springs work out. I'll try to remember to update on how the ride changes under load.

-Steve

Packing never ends!

Uggghhh! That's how I feel and Katie is the one doing most of the work ;)

Packing is never easy. You move all the furniture out and it seems to go by very quickly. Then, you have all the crap that was in or on the furniture laying around. You must decide what to combine in the boxes and what to get rid of. We find ourselves getting rid of a lot of junk. It's amazing how much crap you accumulate over time. Even with moving frequently, we have still accumulated massive quantities of crap (no, not the same kind of crap from "the crappy day").

The good thing about this packing evolution is that we have plenty of time to go through EVERYTHING. And that's a lot of stuff to go through. We have taken a ton of stuff to give away or throw away...literally...a ton. Well, that's just an estimate based on the 250 lbs of clothing we just ditched this weekend. Where did that all come from? I don't even know. It was just old stuff that has accumulated over time. Anywhere from things that didn't fit to things that were too worn out even to be worn in the privacy of your own home.

What is even more amazing is that we haven't gotten rid of anything we wanted or use. I'm very curious for the next official move to see how much weight we have. I have built a few more pieces of furniture and we accumulated a few more heavy items. Right now, it seems that we've cut about 1/3 of our weight and that we'll actually be able to store everything in the cargo trailer. There are still a few things that I will keep close by. Things that we will use a little more regularly, so it's hard to tell exactly how much stuff we have until we get official weights next move.

It will definitely be a load off to get things packed. Hopefully, we'll get it done this week. Then we can take it home next weekend. And, we can get the front-end replacement and headache rack for the truck! The headache rack was given the go ahead after scratching and denting the top of the truck with some kayak's. But, look at the fish, it was worth it! (I also almost busted out the rear window with a wagon, but Katie doesn't know...shhhhhh!)

-Steve

Water Heater Woes...

As brand new RVers, we've been pretty irritated with several things. Most of all is the lack of quality of the owners manual. To say it is subpar would be generous. However, the biggest irritation was with the water heater.

I knew not to turn on the electric to the water heater without verifying water flow. I actually knew this before RVing. So, we picked up our new home and once we got to our main-stay campground, I verified water in the system and turned on the water heater.

I was pretty disappointed when there was no hot water after about 30 minutes, but I just chalked it up to a lack of familiarity of a 12 gal water heater (not sure why they don't install 16 gal, there's plenty of room). So, after a couple hours I thought it was working, but it turns out that was just due to the hot weather. So, for the night we used propane to have warm showers, actually, hot showers. The heater works very well.

The next day it dawned on me that there was another switch in the water heater panel. I turned it on and assumed I was just an idiot. I turned the gas off and the next morning there was plenty of hot water. For lunch, still hot water. When I got home from work my wife informed me that there was in fact, no hot water. I must say, the insulation on the heater works quite well to keep it hot for over half a day.

So, for the remainder of the week, we used propane. I assumed that some jackass had turned it on at the dealership and burned out the element. It's an easy fix and costs about $7 at Lowe's. But, given my engineering background, I wanted to find the problem first.

I got a operation manual from Surbaban with ease. They emailed it right to me and took less than a day. After verifying the interior switch truly had power to all connections, off to the outside panel I went. I first checked the suspected element. 10 ohms, right where it should be. Now, I was less optimistic. So, I turned everything back on and no power to the element. Ok...next suspect is the reset switch. No power!? Well, there's only one thing between the reset and the interior switch, another switch. I popped it off and checked...no power!?!?

At this point I was pretty pissed. I had forgotten about something else between the reset and the interior switch...wire. My first thought was that it was wired and someone put a screw through the wiring. Then I thought about it more. I figured some idiot just didn't hook it up. Well crap, how am I going to get to this problem. Of course there's not much information in the owners manual on how to access the water heater (or the pumps, or really how to operate anything, no schematics, nothing!) And, since we're full timing, taking it to a shop would be a major pain in the ass and leave us homeless.

I happened to notice a panel in the pass through storage. So, the next day was Saturday and I would give it a look in the morning since the heat here in Tennessee has been unbearable by 10:00am...actually it's unbearable all night. It's almost 10:00pm and it's still 94 with the heat index well above 100.

Next morning, I opened up the access panel and the first thing I saw...EXPOSED WIRES!!! It was marked with tape about 10 inches from the end. I immediately knew I found the problem. I hooked up the volt meter to the exposed end and had Katie turn on the circuit to verify. Sure enough, 120 VAC, that was the problem. I then saw the wires from the water heater, stripped and ready for hook up. If only someone had actually done that.






Fortunately, I spent a few years as an electrician and was able to properly correct the problem fairly quickly. I did have to drill a hole through a wall of the shore connection trunk to get access to the j-box screw. A handhole would be a great thing to put in order to access the heater j-box. There's plenty of room and I may put one in sometime in the future. The other option would have been to disconnect the gas, pull out the water heater, connect it, then reinstall. If I ever pull out the water heater, a 16 gal is going back in it's place. 16 gal only require an additional 1.5 inches and there's about 4 inches available.

Needless to say, I'm pretty disgusted with the QA at the Cyclone factory. Add to that window borders that were not secured to the wall and a couple trim pieces that were not attached. Neither are as dangerous as exposed wires floating around waiting to short out, but luckily, no one was hurt!

I say to the Cyclone factory, you better watch your work and should probably step up the QA. I hope I don't find more problems this serious.

Regardless, I still love this rig and would recommend a Cyclone to a friend. I would just tell them not to take ownership until the water heater was tested.

-Steve

An Arkansas Adventure

We just spent the weekend at JFK, an Army Corps of Engineers park near Heber Springs, AR. What a great time! We headed down Thursday afternoon and made it just in time to set up before dark. Thankfully, I did not take advice from a young woman that gave a great dissertation when we asked where Greers Ferry Dam was. After a long pause, there was much discussion of what sounded to be the slowest way to never make it to the dam. I felt like I was in a Bacardi and Cola commercial.

I was anxious to try out our 50-amp adapter and use both A/C’s. After backing in to the site, I was ready to give it a try. I pulled it out, plugged it in and with a click, the breakers were on. Well, one was on. Apparently the disclaimer “will not work with GFI receptacles” was quite accurate. I would like to see the wiring diagram for this contraption, but apparently you can’t use one leg of the adapter. There is a possibility that I have a bad adapter, but I’m going to wait to bad mouth the adapter too much until I get a chance to test it on a non-GFI circuit. Unfortunately, that has been the standard on circuits that have the potential to be exposed to the water for quite some time. With more and more campground renovations, it will be harder to find a place where it works.

So, with the temperature in the low 90’s at 8:00pm, I did the next best thing. I had started the generator prior to leaving to test it out and found that it didn’t power anything. I had already blocked the owner’s manual by retracting the slides and didn’t care to discover that the generator wasn’t hooked up like the water heater. So, with Katie’s reassurance, we hitched and hit the road.

I now found myself hoping that this was not another water heater incident. I fired up the generator and quickly found where the breakers were located. Now, if I could just figure out how to get the cover off. You won’t find this information in the Cummins Onan owner’s manual. I guess it’s more tribal knowledge that would be nice to get during a walkthrough, or even better…to be included in the manual. After searching with limited lighting, ok, no lighting; I finally got the courage to pull hard enough to break something or to get the cover off. It turned out that was just how you get it off. No fancy latches, just a good yank and it popped right off.

Hooray! The breakers are in the off position. I quickly switched them on and ran inside anticipating a blinking light on the microwave. Alas, the generator was connected. We ran both A/C’s for about 40 minutes and figured quiet hours were either at 9:00pm or 10:00pm and didn’t want to chance it.

Off to the greatest helper to campers…Wal Mart! I figured they would have a 30-50 amp adapter and I was more hopeful than Katie that it would work. We picked up a few other things and headed back. It was after 11:00pm when we returned. I hooked it up and crossed my fingers. It worked! $70 adapter – 0, $18 adapter – 1.

So, how much equipment on a 240Volt, 50 amp service (2x50 amp at 120 Volts) can you run with 120 V 30 amp supply? That is a question that we never answered. I know you can run the following: 1 – A/C, 1 – R/V reefer, 1 – 9 cu ft fridge, 1 – 12 cup coffee maker, a converter and a bunch of 12 Volt DC lighting and stereo and water pump, 1 – 32” LCD TV, and 1 – Blu Ray player. I don’t know how close we were to the limit, but I imagine we couldn’t add much more. We made sure we turned off the A/C when running the vacuum, just in case.

Other than that we had a great time. We spent some time swimming in the lake. We got plenty of laughs and waves when we went for a stroll in our tandem bike with the kids behind in the trailer. If I were to do it over again, we’d stay at the Dam Site to be closer to the lake. We decided that between May and October, the Dam Site would be best so we could take the kids and the dogs (and ourselves) to the lake regularly to swim and not need to drive. It also has 50 amp hookups. During the months where the water is too cold to swim, we’d stay at JFK to be close to the fishing. I also learned to not leave my scuba gear at home. We camped right next to a group that was seeking treasure at a nearby favorite cliff jumping area.

Of course, I can’t speak for Katie, the kids or dogs for the day I spent on the river catching a monster Rainbow Trout, but I think they had fun that day too. I know we can’t wait to go again.

All in all, it was great trip and I’m looking forward to going back. I highly recommend both the Dam Site and JFK parks.

- Steve

Would It Be Excessive....

....To have a second bike trailer? That is what Steve (jokingly) asked me yesterday while we were hauling our 100lbs of groceries back from the store. I wish that I had taken a picture of us, I'm certain we looked completely ridiculous. Let me paint a picture for your imaginations:

We were riding the sporty two seater bike with our new rack behind my seat, and we were pulling our kids in the bike trailer. We stuffed the dog food in the back of the trailer, with room for maybe two small bags on top of that, I crammed my extra large back pack full of 100 ct paper plates, 5 lb bag of potatoes, 3lb bag of apples, 1 pkg of pull ups, and a few odds and ends. The kids held some bread, chips, and other light smooshable things, and then we stuffed some bigger items under their feet. The bottled water had to be tied onto our bike rack and I wasn't sure it would make it all the way back without falling (but I should have had more faith in Steve's tieing skills). Then the last two small bags were hung on my handlebars, and off we went. I laughed the whole way back, imagining just how funny we must have looked to other people.

I'm glad we can ride our bikes to the store, even if it means having to find a way to get it all back to the trailer. It's good exercise and excellent family time. And, it's also fun to get all those crazy looks when we ride past people on the two seater (lovingly referred to as our SUV)....the world hasn't seen many two seaters I'm afraid. I'm hoping that by the time we move off the base we see someone else who was inspired by our family style bike rides and is also sporting the two seater bicycle, maybe even pulling a trailer.

So as for getting a second trailer....I don't think so, but perhaps a snazzy overhead storage container for the bike trailer like they put on cars (I'm picturing a homemade version for the bike trailer consisting of a gray tub from walmart held in place with a few bungies), and a nice new basket to hang on the front of the bike. Or I guess we could just buy less groceries........

-Katie

Where are the Satellites?!?!

We finally have satellite at the campground after what seemed to be months of the same DVDs and Blu-Ray. Among the most repetitive were Hercules and Tom & Jerry. There were a few lessons learned in setting it up.

We had all the equipment from the house but needed a stand for the dish. So we went to Camping World on a trip to visit family to grab a few things. We went with the Winegard Tripod Mount & Carry Bag (Item # 26276).

Upon our return, I purchased a 50’ length of rf cable and went to work. The first thing that was very helpful was the lack of information in the owner’s manual for the Cyclone. You’ll probably start to see that phrase used a lot. After running the cable and speculating which of the two satellite connections I should use, I turned the system on. Nothing magical and no signal either. I placed most of the blame on the lack of quality in the compass with the satellite stand. I also thought that the problem could be that I was connected to the wrong spot. Drenched in sweat due to the rediculous mid-south heat that seems to be here to stay, it was time to wait until the next day.

Fortunately, Heartland must have recognized that there was a large demand for more information than they provide in their owner’s manuals and posted the diagram for the cable/satellite system on their forum. So, I had originally guessed correctly and was now concerned that the connections may not have been made simliar to the water heater issue that I'll write about some day. There was still a possibility that my ‘eyeballing’ the other satellites in the park to align mine may not be the best method. There was also a tree line that could be causing the problem.

So, I tried three separate dishes with no luck. The problem couldn’t be with the dish. I even bought a little satellite signal detector which I thought would help, but it didn’t do much.

I randomly found a signal and decided to try to better tune it. The speakers in the garage and the set outdoors helped a lot in this. I was able to hone in on a signal from quite a distance while defeaning Katie with constant pinging for a signal. No matter where I went, I just couldn’t get more than 8 transponders out of 32 and that wasn’t cutting it. I tried positioning the dish everywhere that the 50' of cable would allow, even on top of the camper. That one got a funny look from a few campers across the road. I'm always glad to provide a laugh for someone. I bet they thought I was going to set my dish up there and leave it.

Just when I was about to give up, I tried one more time directly connecting the dish to the receiver. With the pinging piercing through Katie's head, I searched in the direction where I knew there were no satellites. BOOM! How is this possible? I had great signal and I’m the only one in the park pointing that direction. It didn’t matter, it worked. I moved the dish and set it up out of the way.

So, now we have officially supplemented our daily dose of Hercules and Tom & Jerry with a little bit of SpongeBob and Wonder Pets. It’s nice to occasionally sneak in some Discovery Channel and perhaps an episode of True Blood.

-Steve

The crappy day!

DISCLAIMER because Katie doesn’t want to be associated with my foul language: This entry contains the following language that may be deemed as inappropriate: shit, and shit tank. I apologize for those who would rather it be called black tank or holding tank, but after you’ve spent some time crawling around in shit tanks, looking for cracks, corrosion and inspecting work, you’ll understand why I call it a shit tank. And after reading this, you’ll probably be amazed that my language was not worse.

Well, after a couple weeks of traveling and finally coming back, it was time for the dreaded first shit tank draining evolution. Of course, the gloves were left at the other house, but doodie called and I was itching to experience something new.

I guess my facial expression said it all, because Katie said that she could tell things had gone to shit when I opened the door and said I needed help. Actually, I think my exact words were “I have shit all over my hand”.

Apparently, someone didn’t pay close attention during the walk through nor did he have the common sense to check a key element prior to starting use of the facilities. I now imagine that part of the winterizing process includes opening all the gate valves to the shit tanks because that’s the position I found them in. Of course, I didn’t check the valve position first. You’d think with my background involving many nuclear checklists I’d know better. But, I didn’t. I have a vivid memory of checking the valves at the dealership, and I know now that I didn’t check them, just noticed where the valves were.

So, as you are starting to understand, there were some open valves. Amazingly enough, the little twist-on caps for the sewer lines held back quite a load. After I easily removed the sewer hose from the box and hooked it up to the sewer connection at the site, I thought this would be a piece of cake. Then, I went for the part I was least concerned about, removing the cap on the sewer line. Much to my surprise a little bit (perhaps a little more than a ‘little bit’) of liquid came out. Even more surprising was the awful odor that appeared microseconds after the liquid surged over my hand.

I instantly had flashbacks to the days of crawling around in shit tanks on the boat looking for cracks wondering why someone with no experience inspecting shit tanks had the ultimate responsibility for inspecting and closing them out. I figure it was part of the indoctrination process. I quickly twisted the cap back in place and was grateful that I had taken it slow since it was my first time.

Did I mention I decided to do this at 11:00pm? That’s right, it was dark and I was exhausted. Sounds like fuel for a great critique. I just needed some jackass saying that he didn’t use the procedure. Oh yea, I didn’t. [Sorry that all you ‘non-Navy nukes’ don’t understand that reference. Just imagine doing something wrong and knowing why it was wrong and then discussing the root causes and reasons for something going wrong for a few hours and follow it up with some nice paperwork that gets routed and re-written multiple times. You really need to sit through one to get the full value of this reference.]

Defeated and wreaking shit tank water, I opened the door with my clean hand and told Katie I needed some help. Having no bucket onboard despite hearing recommendations to have one, we had a solution. Katie had the foresight to pick up a trash can that day. She didn’t realize that her impulsive decision would soon save the day.

I was able to get the valves shut and used the trash can to drain the sewage from the piping downstream. I dumped it into the sewer connection and sprayed down the crap on the ground. Thank goodness for the outdoor shower line! Having some experience with sewage leaking during my days on the boat, I also dumped the bleach water used to deodorize the trash on the crap puddle to combat the unsanitary condition.

Making matters a little crappier was the fact that we have two shit tanks with separate drain lines. Yes, shit tanks. There are also 2 grey water tanks off of the forward drain line. Even though I knew the business that had occurred and flushed into the aft tank, I figured that I would empty the drain line since my hands had been properly prepped from the forward tank. Wow, was I right. The aft shit tank was infinitely worse than the front. I think Katie vomited in her mouth a little, but you’d have to ask her. I was glad that I hadn’t discovered this ordeal with the aft tank since by this time I at least had a couple grocery sacks to protect my hand.

After draining the drain lines, I connected the sewer line to the forward drain connection and successfully drained the forward shit tank and grey water tanks. I left the aft for later. Today was later and it was still awful, but I was thankful that I decided to clear downstream portion of piping the other night. This time it was only the odor that was terrible and the liquid was gone. I was armed with gloves this time which restored some of my confidence.

In the end, I was glad that this occurred at night. It saved some embarrassment from passersby and gave Katie a great chance to perform at her favorite job…holding a flash light during the best circumstances ever. She never seems to figure out where to point it no matter how many times I require flash light assistance. I doubt that her constant gagging helped her to hold it steady. I was proud that she didn’t vomit. After seeing her weak shit-tank-odor gag reflex, I doubt that she would survive many duty days on the boat.

So, for those of you who may read this, I have made you a list of things to remember:
1. DO NOT put a load in a shit tank or any tank unless you check the drain valve position.
2. DO NOT attempt to drain shit tanks without gloves.
3. DO have a bucket onboard at all times because you never know when the shit will hit the fan.
4. DO be prepared for the crappiest scenario possible.

I hope you enjoyed my great experience. For the RV dealers out there who can’t believe that first timers get such a large rig, please remember to be thorough on the walk thru. And for those out there who asked if we had dealt with draining the tanks yet, I hope that my first experience didn’t let you down. ;) And to Katie, I hope you’re not too embarrassed that I posted this for all to see :)

-Steve

Home Sweet Home

Picture of the new truck, new rig, and new location!

The 2011 Ford F450 and the excitement leading up to it.

Update 2-12-2016: My opinions of this vehicle have changed over time. Mostly due to Ford and Ford's franchise dealership's lack of customer service. The truck ended up being a dud I suppose, and Ford made no effort at keeping a customer. If you read this, I would not recommend Ford based on the lack of customer service alone. Linked is one of the blog entries regarding this vehicle's problems...

It seems that customer service continues to go down the tubes in America along with graduation rates and SAT scores. Who ever thought it would be difficult to send a dealer build codes for a truck, get a price, order, and receive a vehicle.

The truck…the 2011 Ford F450.

Any of you out there that have bought a Lariat Crew Cab Super Duty, have probably noticed that Ford does not make very many without the front console. With the needs of our family, we need the extra seat up front which requires searching tirelessly for dealerships that have one on the lot, spending extra when a dealership brings one from another dealership, or custom ordering.

With the newness of the 2011 SDs, we chose to order the perfect truck (for us) so that we (I) would be happy with it (and so Katie could get the next vehicle purchase even though this was for her ;) ). After months of research and anticipation, the 2011’s were out.

Dobb’s Ford at Wolfchase in Bartlett, TN was the first dealership that I could find that had one. Conveniently, it happened to be right down the road from us. While visiting family in Texas for Easter, I searched dealerships from central Texas to Eastern Tennessee. I was shocked to find a 2011 F450, white, Lariat and almost perfect on the lot at Dobb’s. It was the only one found in all my searching. I was excited, but the sticker showed the bad news, a console in the front. Still, we were excited and called Dobb’s upon our arrival. Having had the great fun of purchasing most of our vehicles, I decided to save a few days on the end of my life and let Katie do all the negotiating with me in the background, anxiously waiting the day I could sign the dotted line and grab some keys.

The first phone call went something like this…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to know if you have a 2011 F450 on your lot.
2011 SDs aren’t out.
Well, there’s one in your online inventory.
No, they’re not out yet.
Have you checked?
No, they’re not out.
Well, can you check?
Yea, I’ll check and call you back.

No calls, but the next day we drove by the lot. There it was, big and beautiful, even with the console. Fortunately, someone was kind enough (or maybe dumb enough, see above comment) to leave the doors unlocked. Right away the improvements to the interior were noticed, specifically with storage. The old SDs had a useless metal contraption under the rear seat that not only took up valuable space under the seat, but was completely useless if you used your crew cab for passengers. This was gone and replaced by lockable and compartmentilizable (made that up) storage. I later found that there is more lockable storage with a 12V connection inside under the front center seat which is a huge improvement.

So, needless to say, Dobb’s was not doing well on earning our business. After we saw it, it was time to start negotiations. I hopped onto USAA’s car buying service for the first time and ‘built’ my F450. It was great, you get done and it tells you the price and three dealerships to choose from in the area based on zip code. Armed with this information, Katie called Dobb’s to get a quote…
Dobb’s Ford.
Yes, I’d like to get a quote for a F450 and I can fax the specs.
We have one on the lot that we can sell you.
It doesn’t have the stuff we need.
Like what?
The 5th wheel prep, a center seat and a spray in liner
Ok.

Later that day we got a quote. It wasn’t terrible, but was definitely higher than the USAA quote (that they didn’t know we had). So, we did the next step, we called Homer Skelton Ford in Millington and asked for a quote. That was a week after Easter and I still haven’t heard anything from them.

I also submitted my build to the third option on the USAA service, West Brothers Ford in Sullivan, MO. A couple days later, we had a call from Doug at West Brothers Ford. He told us that the USAA price is what we would get and we could order it.

Not wanting to drive all day to pick up a truck, we told Dobb’s that we had a better offer from somewhere else and we wanted to see what they could do. We told them we would rather stay local, but we were offered a lower price and a lifetime powertrain warranty. We just wanted a quote for the truck and the Ford extended diesel warranty. The result was not getting a different quote, but being harassed about the options we wanted…
Why do you want a factory bed liner, we can do that cheaper.
What is this 5th wheel prep, we can install aftermarket. I don’t understand what it does, it doesn’t make sense.
We can’t come down in price on the extended warranty, that’s an expensive warranty (meanwhile you can purchase one at a great price online, just google Ford extended diesel warranty).

So, after realizing that Homer Skelton would never call and that Dobb’s didn’t know what they were selling and what options were available and what they actually were, we decided West Brothers Ford was the answer. Though getting the exact build completed seemed to take a little longer than I would expect, we finally got the build with the price we were quoted incentives and all, and gave a deposit. 4-6 weeks and we were going to buy a new truck.

I immediately put my current truck on Auto Trader, and within 3 hours had a call from Lenz Auto. They wanted to buy my truck. We negotiated and my truck was sold. They sent someone to pick it up and the process was great. I’d sell them a truck any day and am considering purchasing an Excursion from them in the future.

So, we survived in the ’95 Honda Accord for about 6 weeks. Once the truck came in, we made the trip to MO. (This is the only caution I have for USAA car buying service, the service showed 226 miles, which turned out to be more like 300ish, but it was still worth the drive.) We arrived at West Brothers Ford, and with USAA’s dealer check, test drove, signed some papers, Doug took us to get a tank of Diesel, and we were on the road.

There was a small hiccup with purchasing insurance. Apparently, not many non-commercial drivers drive F450s, which with 2011 is just a F350 with a different differential. But as I expected, USAA came through and are still the BEST company I have EVER dealt with, I could say differently about UPS, but that’s another story. USAA offers nothing be great products and top notch customer service.

Overall I was very disappointed with the customer experience from the dealerships. I imagined I was a dream customer that showed up with not only the options, but the build codes to enter into the antiquated computer systems and a price that guaranteed a pretty good profit for a little amount of work. I still wish that I could purchase a vehicle like I can buy a computer. Dell’s website will let me customize a computer and show the ship date and price while I build it and change options. If only Ford did the same thing. West Brothers Ford combined with USAA’s car buying service are definitely a close second. I would highly recommend both of these to anyone looking for a new vehicle (and don’t forget to tell West Brother’s that you heard about them from me, contact me to find out more! Did I mention they will ship the vehicle to you?)

-Steve

Our Latest Adventure

We left home last Thursday and started our journey north east to Ohio to pick up our brand new trailer. We left ahead of time so that we would have a chance to look at some campgrounds along the way that would accomodate our new beast of a trailer. It was a long trip up there, but we had a good time along the way.


I was nervous the whole morning before we went to pick it up. I was afraid there would be just too much information to remember during the walk-thru and I did not want to get out of there without Steve knowing exactly how to work it all. Once we arrived I was more nervous that we would never get to leave. They were very busy that day and the initial walk-thru took about 5 minutes and I was more than worried about that. After chasing down different people to get everything taken care of, Steve finally got someone to give us all a proper walk-thru, and just as I imagined, there was SO much to know. Steve seemed to be absorbing it all and acted like it was easy peasy, I was completely lost in my excitement for our new toy and was not paying attention at all. After all of it was over, Steve backed up, hitched it like a pro, and we were off!


First stop, East Fork State Park in Ohio. It was a nice park. We had a nice secluded spot, which was nice because I'm always afraid the dogs or kids will bother other campers. When I reserved this spot I picked it because their website said it was long, had plenty of room for slideouts and had room for a large tent as well (which we used the night before we picked up the trailer). Well, this beast barely fit. We were as far back as possible and just barely fit in without sticking out into the road. I would go into detail about this first backing experience, but that seems like something Steve might want to post about....maybe he could title it, "The Million Point Turn", or something to that effect. All kidding aside he did a great job keeping his cool, I would have given up long before and settled for camping in the middle of the road. After sleeping for a little while (on an incredibly comfortable mattress, I might add) we got up, had breakfast, and were off to the next place.


Next stop was back to the Barren River State Park in Kentucky. I really enjoyed camping there. There were two families parked on either side of us that were very friendly. We enjoyed talking to them and the kids enjoyed playing with their kids. Steven made a fast friend with a little boy who loves cars as much as he does. Adelyn enjoyed the air conditioning and movies, and only came out briefly to play with Steven and his friend. Later, Steve took them both to the park to run themselves silly, and they did just that.


There was much more to see there, and I wish that we could have taken advantage of it, but there just wasn't enough time on this trip. Maybe we'll get to go back one day and see the caves and visit the Dinosaur Park.


We ended our trip by bringing the trailer to rest on base. Getting through the obstacles at the gate were a tad stressful, but we made it through without a scratch! If you saw the trailer and saw the obstacle you just wouldn't believe that we made it through. We parked her here in spot 18 and we haven't wanted to leave. We've made a few trips back and forth between the house and the trailer, but the majority of our time is spent in our new home. The kids love it, and Adelyn even cried when she thought we were going to stay in our house, the dogs don't care where they stay as long as we are close by and the a/c is cranked down low, and so far Steve and I have no complaints.

-Katie

It's Really Happening!

It hit me today as Steve and I were trying to plan what weekend we will be able to pick up the truck, trailer/camper, and our moving trailer, this is really going to happen! I mean we are talking about just a couple of weeks now. The truck should be done next week and the trailer is supposed to be ready just in time for Steve's birthday (which is not far at all).

We are trying our best to plan around his schedule for work, and also give ourselves enough time to pick up each item. We will only need one day for picking up the truck. However, both trailers will take quite a bit more time. When we pick up the camper/trailer we will be driving around 600 miles to get it. So the trip there will take around 10 hrs, that's one whole day driving. We will do the paperwork, let them show us how everything works, hook it up and probably find a place to stay over night that is not too far away, just in case we have any issues. Then the dreaded 10 hr drive home, that will be considerably slower because we will be pulling a heavy trailer. And last, our moving trailer. We will drive all the way to Buffalo Gap, to pick it up, spend some family time there, then head to Ponder and drop off a few items, and have more family time, then drive back to TN and figure out what the heck to do with two giant trailers, neither of which fit in our driveway.

So today I am supposed to be calling places where we could store our camper until we are ready to live in it full time. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten anyone to answer yet, and they don't have direct emails so I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for someone to call me back.
I am so excited just trying to think of where we want to go first....do we want to just wait until there is space on base and set up there? Do we want to try out the state park near here that we haven't seen yet? Do we want to venture into Arkansas where we already know it's beautiful? What to do, where to go? So many choices and I'm just too excited to choose!

I'm so happy that it's all happening. I think this will be a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to all the different places will be able to show the kids. There is something so special about camping together, and traveling together as a family. I loved it growing up and I think they will too.

-Katie

Stuff

One of the benefits to living in the military is that you get to find out just how much stuff you have. Every few years, when it's time to move, you get the pleasure of choosing from several options to move all of that stuff: the lazy method - let someone else do all the work, the convenient method - someone else moves all the stuff that you don't want to move, and the crazy method - you move everything. My thoughts on each method are at the end.



No matter which method you choose, you get to look at the paperwork (or pick up everything) and find out the weight of all your stuff. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over time. Since my first move in the Navy, I have increased my stuff by about 360%. That's amazing. Now, buying a boat (even a small one) will add quite a bit to your stuff, it will not triple your stuff.



So, what does having all that stuff have to do with our new adventure? Pretty easy, what do you do with all that stuff. My solution is to thin out all the junk we don't use, put some stuff that we will need (clothes, pans, COFFEE MAKER, etc.) in the trailer that we don't have yet, and store the rest. Since we've started our thinning and packing process, I again have that feeling of moving: 'Why do we have all this stuff?' One thing I've learned by being in the Navy is that you don't need much stuff to survive. However, having very little stuff on the submarine resulted in 'stuff buying' binges before and after patrols. We filtered through some of our junk on our last move, but seem to have accumulated more.



The good news is that we have plenty of time to filter through everything and put it in the correct place. We're not throwing away stuff, we're throwing away junk. We're not giving away stuff, well, we are, but it's stuff that we do not use. There are a couple exceptions, things that would be better used by, well, getting used rather than not getting used in storage where they will become outdated or break from not being used. But, 99% of the stuff that we are giving away is stuff we don't use and would probably be happier in a home where it would get used. The rest of our stuff we're hanging on to.



There are some drawbacks to storing stuff though. I will miss having the hobbies that I love at my fingertips. I will not be able to walk out in the garage and build something. I will have to stick with store-bought beer and will miss the fun of sanitizing everything and making big messes in the kitchen during racking evolutions. The good news, with my current job, I do not have the time to enjoy most of my hobbies anyway. However, trailer life will let me enjoy even more of my FAVORITE hobbies: my wife, my kids, and my dogs.



So, we will continue to go through our stuff and inevitably, we will have deemed something as junk that was indeed necessary; while we have something taking up precious space that never gets used. But, that's fine. Remember, we are not doing this because we have to. Amazingly enough, we're doing it because we want to. And, if we get tired of not having stuff, we'll just find a place to live where we can have all the stuff we want.

- Steve

My thoughts on the moving methods:
The lazy method = no work. There are three major flaws with this method. First, everything goes smoothly until you get to your final destination. Once there, by the time you get all your stuff delivered, you just tell the people to leave and you unpack everything because you don't know where you want to put it yet. Second, as long as you can drive to your destination, you ALWAYS move something with you, which means you don't get paid to move that stuff. Third, you're putting all of your belongings into the hands of people who get paid to load your stuff no matter how fast they load it. The result, broken stuff.

The convenient method. This is the best method for the average person. You move what you want or what you can fit in your car, trailer, or whatever you have with wheels that can carry stuff and the rest is moved by someone else. There are several pros and cons. You get paid to move some of your stuff. You can move your boat and get paid. You're already going to have some clothes, lap top and other things that you will move anyway, so you might as well fill out the paperwork and get paid. You can move the things that are valuable to you so they stay un-broken. The cons: you're not making as much money as you could, you still have broken stuff, and you still unpack everything without getting paid because someone else just wouldn't do it right.

My method of choice, the crazy method:
This one is not for the lazy. It's a lot of work and it takes a lot of time (if not planned well). You can still have broken stuff if you're not careful, but if done right, you make out well in the end. This method can be accomplished many ways, from renting a truck, paying for space in a semi and loading yourself, or having a big truck and an even bigger trailer and just moving it all. The results of a properly planned move: all your stuff is safe, you get paid for unpacking everything, you get paid for moving everything, and your pants fit a little better from all that leg work. Heck, even the government saves money because they will only pay 95% of what they would pay a private company. I have gotten this method down to an art and can complete a move quite quickly (especially with all that help prepping from someone else ;)) If you ever want to know all the details on how to do it, just ask.

New Chapter, a New Blog

As we begin our new journey in the trailerhood we will use this blog to chronicle our adventures, good and bad. We will use it to preserve our memories, keep friends and family updated, and encourage others to chase their dreams, no matter how crazy everyone thinks you are.

Soon this family of four (plus our two giant dogs) will move out of this semi-spaceous house with a huge yard and fence and into a 40 ft fifth wheel trailer with limited space, no yard, and no fence. Why you ask?? Well that's easy...how else do you justify buying a 40ft trailer? We have wanted one for years and through all of our research we gained one very helpful piece of advice, "Get exactly what you want, as big as you'll want, because you don't want to be stuck with one that is too small." So that's what we did! We found the type of trailer we wanted, then found the manufacturer that makes the nicest ones, and picked the biggest one they make, and wallllaaa, the Cyclone 3950!

We had other reasons too. We wanted to be closer to Steve's job, so that he would be able to come home for lunch and not have to rush. He'll be able to sleep in a few extra minutes, get home a few minutes earlier, all that good stuff. And, if he gets the transfer he wants then we will all follow along, living in the trailer until we find a place without having to rush into a purchase. Worst case scenario, he doesn't get the transfer, we pack up our stuff and move ourselves back to good ol' Texas, park the trailer somewhere scenic and begin a new journey as civilians!

Truly, the whole purpose is so we can stick together, no matter where we go, we'll all be right there together, and I couldn't think of a better group to be crammed into a trailer with.

-Katie