We’re heading out this weekend for a week of vacation.  Should be a good trip.  We’ll be hitting an RV place in Buellton, then up to San Francisco, over to Sacramento, then working our way home with one stop on the way.  Should be a good run for us, with 8 nights in the RV, and visiting a couple different types of locations.

We’ve also got the RV launch and work schedules lined up.  It is now set for us to head out full-time, the first week of November.  We’ll make our way to Nashville for a week or so and a work stop, up to Indiana to stay at my sisters and see the family for Thanksgiving, down to Georgia for a couple weeks of work, then back to Southern California.

Instead of being all over the place, in Florida, east coast, etc, we’ll be staying closer to Southern California for a while.  Staying close to Megan as she’s going to college is one of the desires that has come to the surface now that the reality of life is setting in.  This will work out well with my work, as the western region is more of a focus now anyway.

One other note, it seems some posts from before are not showing up on the main window.  Not sure why, but will keep my eye on it.

Things are moving forward.  Diane and I have had some discussions about timing of our departure, and then the schedule for the first few months.  It looks like Indiana for Novemberish time frame, back to CA for December/January, and then ??? for January/February.  We’d talked about Florida, but might just spend some time getting there and hang in AZ, NM, and TX for a couple months as we move across.

The RV is coming along, and fixes/updates are progressing as time permits.  After a couple orders and some searching, it looks like we have the right replacement parts for one of the drawers, and have already fixed a few other odds and ends that required parts from Winnebago.

Our latest challenge is in the area most dreaded by when people first start looking at how an RV or Camper work.  This is with regards to the waste holding tanks.  There are two, one gray, and one black.  The gray gets the water from sink and shower drains, and the black tank gets everything from the toilet.  While I have watched a few videos on how to manage and drain the tanks, it seems that what I have watched so far does not cover everything.  We need something to “flush” the tanks.  The gray is not that bad, as it does not really see any solid wastes.  The black however, is a different story.  I’ve found a few options now, and they are fairly inexpensive, $50 or less.  I need to get over to the RV, crawl under it, and see what we have.  Could be someone has installed some things already, or that I need to pick some up and get them in.  Either way, we’ll be making a big improvement on the situation soon enough.

In other news, our last trip was a last minute plan to head out for Memorial Day weekend.  This trip was our first to a KOA.  We found an open spot in Banning, CA, and stayed from about mid-day Saturday to mid-day Monday.  The location was nice, and the campground (or Kampground as they call it in KOA world) was a nice mix of long term and short term residents.  There was everything from tents to the big 40 foot rigs.  The only issue we saw was that the weather was cold and windy on Sunday, but that just allowed us to head over to Palm Springs, where it was warmer with no wind, and hang out for a while.  A good time was had by all.

The next trip scheduled is not till August.  I’m hoping we can find some more time between now and then to just get more time in the rig, but we’ll see.  The work schedule and all the activities the girls have planned could prevent any trials in June or July.  The August trip will be for a week+, so that should be fun.  Cruise up to San Francisco, Sacramento, and a few places in between.

That’s it for now.  More to follow in a couple weeks.

May the Fourth be with you.

This weekend we’ll be at our next RV adventure.  This time, Diane and I will be in the RV at a camping area adjacent to the Girl Scout “Scout Out” here in Orange County.  Unlike last weekends RV Resort, this one will be a BIT more primitive, with no hookups or amenities, unless you count the nearby pit toilet and surrounding nature an amenity.  Should be a great time to see how we fair at “boon-docking”, as they call it.

Oh, and I’ve added a twitter feed connector, so all the people (all 32 of them) that follow me on twitter will now get an update from me when we post or edit entries or pages.  Good times.  Will need to register as a use to post comments, so we can keep the hack spammers away.  :/

Diane, Molly, and I spent the weekend at “The Springs at Borrego RV Park“. We had a “fun” trip out, as the GPS took us on a route that included signs saying vehicles longer than 40′ were not allowed.  With the 35′ of the RV, plus Diane’s car on the back, we greatly exceeded that length.  But, we made it.  I know I need to pay a lot more attention to the maps ahead of time, and not rely on directions from GPS and the RV resort itself.

We got everything setup quickly.  Molly and I had spent some time in the pool, which was a perfect temperature.   The wind was something else out there, and we had to pull in the awning shortly after setting it out, and put away all the chairs.  We started working on dinner shortly after, but I had forgotten the charcoal so a few things needed adjusting.  Fortunately we had everything needed to cook our chicken, potatoes, and corn in the RV.  We all watched some TV and then headed to bed.  The wind woke all of us up at one time or another, as it rocked the RV.  Given our proximity to the San Andres fault, we could have been having earthquakes and it would have felt the same as the wind.

On Saturday we went to the Anza Borrego State Park visitor center, walked around the exhibits, and took a stroll on their hiking trails.  We saw the biggest lizard I’ve ever seen in the wild.  I’ll get some of Diane’s pictures and add to this later.  The rest of the weekend saw Molly spend some more time at the pool, and she and I went on a couple bike rides.  There was some family movie watching, as we all enjoyed another viewing of “RV”.  We also had dinner at a community event at the RV Resort, where they had some bands playing and a taco bar.  Molly also colored her eggs so that they could be hidden later by the Easter Bunny. We had boiled them at home before the trip.  They have some new, very low-mess kits that have you put the eggs into little plastic bags and then inject the paint/glitter into the bag.  It worked pretty well and she was done in no time, and the now tie-dye kinda looking eggs were ready to go!

Sunday, we got up and found the Easter Bunny had hidden the eggs, and left Molly some nice goodies in her basket.  Molly took no time at all to find the eggs.  It seems the Easter Bunny can manage his job just fine in an RV!  We had some breakfast, watched some TV, and started working on preps to leave and head home.  Molly and Diane headed to the pool, and I worked on getting the rig prepped for leaving.  Once everyone was ready, we headed to the office/entrance area.  There we hooked up the car, checked out with the office, and found a geocache that had been stationed there near the entry area.

Instead of going back the way we came, we decided to head over to Salton Sea.  Diane and I had visited a few months ago, and we decided that since going that way would keep us on better roads, we’d also stop by and show the sea to Molly.  We grabbed some lunch in the RV, and then headed out to the visitor center and beach area at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area.  Molly wasn’t too keen on the dead fish on the shore, which were far fewer in number than when Diane and I had last been.  Once everyone had seen (and smelled) enough, we headed out.  Stopped for gas and some Del Taco for Molly, then on our way.

The wind was a constant for the whole trip, but we were now headed into it, and right through the area of the 10 where they have the wind turbines.  Well, before we even got to the 10, the rocking and such caused one of the kitchen cabinet drawers to loose it’s locking mechanism.  Then, the top part of the drivers side mirror came loose, and very quickly blew away.  Fortunately, there’s a lower convex mirror that could be adjust for some good visibility, and I had the back and left side camera’s as additional viewing options.  It was a bit nerve racking at first, and some white knuckle moments, but we made it home safe and sound.

It was a great first weekend out.  Now, just need to get the mirror fixed, as we have another camping event this weekend at a local state park where Molly is camping with the Girl Scouts.  We’ll be going from the flat, well maintained, full-hookup conditions of an RV resort, to a no hookup, dirt, state park.  Should be good times. 🙂 …

In the RV world, they call them Toads or Dinghy’s, but it’s basically the car/truck/jeep you pull behind your RV. You could use a trailer, or a tow dolly, or “flat” tow, where all four wheels of the towed vehicle are on the ground. Flat towing is the best from the stand point of reducing weight behind the RV, and for easy of disconnect when needed. But, you need to make sure the vehicle you tow can be flat towed.

Originally, we were going to tow the FJ. This would require not only the tow bar, base plate, wiring, and brakes, but also a drive shaft disconnect as the FJ is not able to be flat towed without the disconnect. Also, I took the FJ to a scale. With all the modifications and such, it came in very close to the 5000 lbs capacity of our RV. I wasn’t comfortable maxing out my towing abilities given that we are likely to be bringing more stuff in the RV than the typical vacationer.

So, we gave Diane’s car to a friend, and used a pre-approved vehicle loan from the credit union to buy a used 2007  Honda CRV.  This car has the ability to be flat towed, has a great reputation, enough room for us to be comfortable, and the weight is less around 3500 lbs.  Diane loves the car, as it came with heated seats, probably her favorite add-on of all time.  All the vehicles are 2007 now.  Still undecided on what to do with the FJ.  We’ll likely keep it at first, just need to find a home for it either here in California, or possibly at my sisters in Indiana.  Might also sell it too, just not sure yet.

Well, the inspiration for this post today is that the CRV is over getting a base plate, lighting, and brakes installed today at the El Toro RV center in Irvine.  This should be finished later today or early tomorrow, and then the RV goes over for part of the braking system install, and some final fitting up to be done.  Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, we’ll be ready to take our “Toad” with us to The Springs at Borrego RV Resort in a couple weeks, and then wherever else we venture too beyond then.  Keeps getting closer!

Just to add some specifics… We have a Demco Baseplate, Demco Dominator Tow Bar, and the Unified Tow Brake System from US Gear. So far, I’ve just used/driven with it from the service center to the storage center, so the upcoming trip should be a learning experience!

It’s been almost 3 weeks now since we bought the RV. We’re still working with the financing guy, and waiting to hear when we can pick it up and get our orientation. This financing “thing” was way different than when we bought any other car, and even different than when we bought the house. It is pretty cool though, just takes time.
Got a storage spot for it up in Lake Forest off of Bake. Should be a good place to keep it, and to work on it for small projects at times too.

Plans are already made. We have THREE camping reservations booked right now. First one is at an RV resort down in San Diego in just two weeks. We won’t have the “dinghy” setup by then, but should at least have the basics like dishes and toiletries. 🙂

I have a trip to Las Vegas next week, so we’re hoping to get into the RV before Sunday. Tata for now.