Broken Things

I have again been remiss in posting.  I get distracted on other things then forget to write a page.

It has been almost 2 years since the hubby and I left Minnesota to live the full-time RV life.  When we first started we had big plans of traveling and we did a bit but not as much as we originally thought we would do before needing to stop and work.  We have been in Alabama getting my mother's house ready to sell and doing a lot of renovating on said house.  My mother is selling her house so she can hit the road in an RV and do the traveling she has been wanting to do for years.  It wasn’t until my husband and I were available to help with her house that her dream could move forward.  Renovating has taken much longer than any of us had planned so hubby had to get a job locally. Well he has 2 jobs part time jobs now, getting a full-time job has been elusive in this job market. Here are is a sampling of the finished rooms and her house is now on the market.
 
                    
          

 
Last week one of our neighbors was mowing another neighbors yard and the mower threw a rock which hit our dinning room window.  Scared the crap out of me as I was sitting at the table typing and heard it hit the window.  Also scared the dog who came shooting out from under the table.  I thought that an AC adapter had popped and was looking for a smoldering adapter.  Then I heard crackling and looked up at the window behind the partially closed blind.  The rock did not come through and the window did exactly what it was designed to do which is stay together.  It did start coming apart slowly as the days have gone by.

The above picture is two days after the hit, I didn’t think to take a picture right away.  We put cardboard up temporarily to keep the pieces of glass from falling into the coach.  It did light rain one day then the following two days were heavy wind with the cold front coming in. The cardboard kept both rain and wind at bay for the most part but we know it wouldn’t make it three weeks.

The following pictures are of my husband taking the window out and replacing with a wood panel now that the insurance adjuster has contacted us.  Surprisingly our neighbor's home owners insurance is covering the replacement.


              
              
           

With the temperature dropping and the long wait for a new window we should do better with the wood.  It has been a week since the accident and will take at least 3 more weeks to get a new window shipped to us.  RV windows are considered specialty windows and apparently only one place in California makes them.

The rock incident occurred on a Thursday. The following Monday we heard that a friend of ours had passed the day before, he had a heart attack while taking a nap.  We were totally floored as he was only 48 years old.  We had met Hoyt and his wife Mary in Gillette, WY during the 2012 Heartland Owners club rally.  There was a girls horse riding competition in a small section of the CAM-PLEX and John and I walked up and sat in the bleachers.  Hoyt and Mary came up to watch just a few minutes later and we chatted and hit if off right away.  We last saw them at the 2013 Heartland Rally in Goshen, IN.  We should have done a better job of keeping in touch as you never know when someone will be gone.  He was the type of guy that made friends easy and you enjoyed being around him.  Hoyt will truly be missed by us and by a lot other of people.  Rest in peace my friend.

Trying to be Frugal

Living in an RV lends itself to being quite adaptable to all types of people.  Some people like to live ‘high on the hog’ so to say and have plenty of money to support that kind of lifestyle while at the other end some live as frugal as they can.  John and I tend to be on the more frugal side.  We still eat out probably once a week or every other week but I cook at home 98% of the time. 

We rarely go to movies as they are way too expensive now and just opt for renting from Redbox instead.  With movies hitting the DVDs shortly after ending at the theaters the wait isn’t that bad.  Besides making popcorn at home with our Whirley Pop beats paying out $20 for popcorn and a drink at the theater.  I also look for free Redbox codes to save even more money on movies.  Redbox does send codes via email every few weeks but it ends up being a rent 1 get the other for $1 off deal that doesn’t work for us if we only want to see 1 movie on a given night.  We use to stream Netflix on our Wii but our internet service was changed from unlimited to 20 gigabyte a month so streaming is no longer a viable option.
 
I came across a website while perusing the internet called Dealflicks, it offers discounted movie tickets of up to 60% off tickets and concessions.  Sign up is free and just search by zip code for a participating theater near you.  If your theater hasn’t signed up with Dealflicks you can favorite the theater and get your friends to do the same.  It helps Dealflicks to get the theater signed up faster and you (plus your friends) will get a $5 coupon towards tickets.  Who doesn’t like coupons?

Since May when our internet service changed, I have to watch our internet usage closely throughout the month as we have used our allotment in less than 30 days a few times.  Once we hit the magic number they want us to pay out another $90 for another 20 gig which by the way does not roll over into the following month.  Rather than paying more we end up going without internet for 2-4 days at the end of the month.  I’m hoping to find an alternative in the near future but I don’t see anything better right now.  I did find a web page listing all the mobile plan providers which saves me hours of searching.  Other than lot rent and food our internet is our biggest monthly expense right now.

Even our phone service is cheaper than our internet.  John is on AT&T pay as you go plan.  He just adds on $25 at a time as needed.  We were sharing the phone but when he started working again we realized we both needed a phone.  I did get a smart phone but rarely use the data feature, in fact I keep it turned off until I need to use it, the data portion not the phone.  I did not go with AT&T instead I went with PagePlus as they are a no contract company and have plenty of plans to choose from.  I use their $12 monthly plan which is 250 minutes talk, 250 text and 10 MB of data.  As I said I really don’t use data on my phone right now.  I can easily set it up to auto refill and change plans as my needs change.  They also offer pay as you go so you can add minutes as you need them.  They use the Verizon network by the way so their nationwide coverage is pretty good. 

Other ways we reduce expenses is turning our Satellite service on and off as needed. Dish makes that easy, there is no contract to worry about and they don’t hassle us when we move.  We bought a Tailgater when we first started traveling with our 5’er, because a number of places we stayed either didn’t have cable or didn’t have much reception over our HD TV antenna.  Our current location has pretty decent antenna reception of the major networks so we only turn our satellite service on now just to watch one show on HBO.  We would be willing to turn in on more often if they would offer an al-a-carte option so we wouldn’t be paying for channels we don’t want or watch.

So that just leaves food and clothing where I can save money the best I can.  I use a lot of coupons both from newspaper inserts and printing from online sources. I try to match coupons with sales whenever possible.  I am not an extreme couponer by any means, when I buy a product I don’t clear the shelf I live in an RV where would I put it?  My favorite coupons are $1 off meat coupons as current meat prices are crazy.  I buy fresh loaves of bread from Walmart for $1.  Yeah it’s French and Italian but it is better than paying more than $2 for whole wheat or whole grain breads, of which they are now saying aren’t good for you either.  The ‘in’ thing now is ancient grains.  I wish there were coupons to save money on fresh vegetables and fruits.  I’d go vegetarian if the vegetables were any cheaper than the meat.  I hate inflation. 

About a week ago I found a really good buy on a product I use a lot which is over the counter allergy medication.  There is an American company named PL Developments that has been in business since 1988.  I was really surprised I hadn’t found their products before now.  They sell generic pharmaceuticals such as allergy, analgesics, cold/flu, digestive, etc. at a very low cost.  How low you may ask?  Quite low, I picked up a 14 day supply of 24 hour allergy (generic Zyrtec) pills, low dose aspirin, generic Aleve and generic Tylenol for .88 each at Walmart. 

I shop primarily at Walmart now since they began their ‘Savings catcher’ which compares their prices of items you purchase to local competitors and credit you back the difference.  I am letting my savings accumulate before I put it on a gift card.  I know there are a lot of Walmart haters out there but I do what I need to do to get the most for our money and there is a Walmart in almost every town which helps us a lot while traveling.   Besides Walmart I also use Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores.  You would be surprised what all you can get for dollar at Dollar Tree.

Change Can Be Good

As any RV full-timer would probably tell you making changes to make the RV your own feels pretty good.  John and I have a list of changes we want to do but just haven’t found either the where-with-all or time to get them all done yet.  A year after we had purchased our 5’er we got rid of the 2 recliners that came with it and replaced them with 2 Euro style recliners.  We didn’t like the original recliners as they were not comfortable and wouldn’t let you fully recline without physically holding the position. Plus they were very heavy and too difficult for me to move.  Our Euro style recliners are a huge improvement, reclining easily, more comfortable and lighter in weight. 

                    

A few months ago we finally removed the couch that came with the coach. Moving it left a big empty spot and a much roomier feel to the living area. The empty spot was very quickly filled with the scratching post and dog kennel.  We do have plans to get or make a cat tree that would keep 2 cats happy and span over the dog kennel.



With middle age comes change such as the need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night or very early morning depending on how you see time.  Our 5’er has a side bath, meaning the bathroom is it’s own room to 1 side of the coach which leaves a tiny hall to the bedroom.  In order to open the bathroom door you must stand on the upper step of the 2 stairs going to the front of the coach.  From the bedroom you must step past the bathroom and down onto the top step then turn around to open the door.  Plus returning to the bedroom requires again stepping down onto the top step,  then turn around, close the bathroom door then continue into the bedroom.  This dance to open and close the bathroom door on a step in the dark means you must wake up more than you want to or chance falling down the stairs.  So today John made a change to address this problem which we had been recently discussing.  He flipped the door around so that now it opens from the bedroom instead of from the stairs.  It only took him thirty minutes to make the change.  I have used the bathroom a couple of times since he changed the way the door opens.  Now even though I must step into the bedroom doorway to open and close the bathroom door it is a big improvement over standing on the stairs.




Birds!  Yesterday afternoon I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden a humongous flock of birds came flying into the park.  Luckily my camera was sitting on the kitchen table so  I took a number of pictures and woke up the cats to watch them.  The flock  came in together but left in smaller groups.

             
             

Some were in need of a bath.  This is the best close-up I could get without going outside and possibly scaring them away.  I think they are black birds does anyone recognize them?  Shiny black bodies with a reddish brown head.

             

Even the local sparrows were wondering what was going on.  The last picture is Punkin watching the excitement. 

             

We’re cooking now!

Cooking in an RV is slightly different than in a sticks and bricks kitchen.  RVs have a smaller refrigerator, microwave and a propane 3 burner stove with an oven.  I was fortunate that my 5’er has a lot of counter space as a lot of them do not.  The appliances that come with an RV aren’t too bad, a microwave is always useful and some are even microwave/convection combos.  The 3 burner stove is also quite useful and I love to cook on gas stoves versus electric, so much more control over temperature.  However though I have tried a number of times the gas oven seems to be unworkable.  The temperature swings are just too great, even with unglazed tiles on the bottom (though above the flame) there is a 100 degree fluctuation.  With the gas oven issue I have had to come up with other ways to bake and I have a few different small appliances to help me do just that.

The first one is a Roaster Oven, it bakes fairly decent but the sides and top get too hot to touch and it takes longer time to bake.  When we use it we put it outside on a heat resistant table then we don’t have to worry of accidentally brushing the side when passing by and getting burned.  Use potholders to open and close the top and be careful of escaping steam.

The second item is a 12” clam style pizza maker by Sensio Bella.  We bought it at Walmart but they don’t sell it anymore.  In fact I can’t find it for sale anywhere, even Amazon has it out of stock with no know date for restock.  Like the Roaster Oven this pizza maker also gets hot on the outside, we use the plastic handle to open it and are cautious of escaping steam.  I have really liked this little cooker, it does pizza, biscuits, frozen egg rolls, Jamacan pasties (we love these), hot pockets, etc.  There is no timer on it but it heats up fast and can bake a pizza in 10-12 minutes.

The third item is a NuWave Oven.  My mother bought this for me as a birthday present.  I was a tad reluctant at first but I really like what it can do.  It can bake food from the frozen state though you do need to add a bit more time but it is still faster than a regular oven, and doesn’t heat up the inside of the coach.  It bakes very well for meat and even french fries, you can see the fat dripping off to the bottom of the pan.  The NuWave Oven cooks from the top down so everything I have cooked so far needs to be turn over including biscuits.  One of the things I really like about it is how well it bakes meatloaf.  I like to free form meatloaf on a piece of foil instead of using a loaf pan because it drains the fat off with just a few small holes poked into the foil, in a loaf pan the fat just sits there.

The fourth item is a flat electric griddle.  It really doesn’t get used much except to make pancakes or french Toast because I don't like grease splattering all over that comes with doing burgers, bacon or sausage on a griddle.  The griddle can cook more than 1 pancake or french toast at a time versus a pan on the stove and it opens up the pan to cook bacon or sausage using a splatter screen.  We inherited our griddle from John’s mother so it is more than a few years old. The griddle I listed below has good reviews and is a reasonable price in my opinion.

The fifth item isn’t really an appliance, it is a pan.  In fact it is a Whirly Pop popcorn pan.  John really loves this pan, so much so that we have a smaller campfire version to use over an actual fire.  We make popcorn once or twice a week and buying a container of popcorn kernels is cheaper and better for you than buying microwave popcorn.  We season the popcorn as we wish so we are always happy with what we have.

We are picky about the type of popcorn we use.  We have found that the yellow corn is much more harsh on our digestive tracts so we buy only white popcorn which doesn't cause us any problems.  We use Snappy white popcorn and cook it using coconut oil.  It comes out fluffy with no or very few unpopped kernels left.


                                                                  

Our other appliances are a coffee maker, toaster, food processor and a couple of blenders.  Our biggest appliance is our KitchenAid Stand mixer.  I couldn't give it up so it came with us, I may not use it a lot but it does get used.  It stays out on the counter even when we travel.  John set up a couple small hooks and a strap to make sure it doesn't go "walking" off the counter and on to the floor which did happen once.

I have listed all these items in my little store besides linking them on this page,  including the campfire popcorn popper (in the Outside the Rig category) which I did not link here.  A quick link to my store is the bigger picture of a ducky on the right side above.

As Ducky As It Gets Advertising

You may have noticed a few banners on my blog pages and pictures and/or text links on products.   My husband works full time outside the home but I can not, so to help with our budget I am doing affiliate advertising on my blog.  I don’t go crazy on ads and tend to advertise products we use or have used ourselves.  I've even created a small Amazon.com store to make looking for some products easier.  There are a few things under miscellaneous that I don't own but thought they were either cute or useful. If you like the items you see please consider purchasing through my store. I get a small "finders fee" for driving business to Amazon it isn't a lot but it is better than nothing at all.

Click the duck picture to enter my store and thanks for visiting!

Pets and RVs

Can you travel with your pets?  You bet!  A lot of RV’ers do travel with pets!  Dogs, Cats, Iguana?  Doesn’t really matter what type of pet it is as long as you can easily move it between your TV (Tow Vehicle) and your RV.  A fish aquarium might be a tad difficult since the RV bounces around when towing and the water would most likely splash out.  Speaking of bouncing around, it is best not to leave pets in the RV while in motion unless you have a Motorhome.  For a trailer it is like a moving earthquake inside which is why you must move things off counters and protect breakables before setting off on your next adventure.

We have 2 cats and a dog.  Our 2 cats have been traveling with us for the 2 years we have been full-timing.  Our dog is new, we just got her a couple months ago so she hasn’t been on any trips yet.  We have put her in the truck so she gets used to riding in it but she seems to prefer the van, I guess being that high up and moving is a bit unnerving to her.  One of our cats does just fine traveling, Kato has been traveling with us since he was a kitten and he is almost 6 years old now.  The other one does fine too with the exception that he will throw up in the truck if we feed him before we pull out.  We are not sure how the dog will do on a long drive, so far she has only been in the van or truck for drives under 30 minutes.

Do you need to modify your RV for your pets?  Yes and no.  It mostly depends on your pet type and the layout of your RV.  For instance, with cats we have to have a litter box and a place to put it.  For us the best place is in the closet that has our washer hookups, it is a louvered bi-door in which we can leave 1 side open for their access plus keeps it out of direct site.  Cats like to get up high once in a while so if you can accommodate that it would keep them happy.  We have a set of cabinets against one wall that is about 18” from the ceiling, both cats can jump up there and sometimes one or the other will take a nap up there.  It is Punkin’s favorite spot when we go to bed.

                                   

In the two pictures above on the left is our cabinets with the gap, Kato (our black kitty) is already up there.  Punkin (the orange kitty) is only 6 months old in this picture and he wanted to be up there with Kato.  It took a couple of tries but he did make it up there which took us by surprise as we thought he was too little to jump that high.

A couple of months ago we got rid of our couch as we didn’t like it and it took up too much room.  Since we really don’t have overnight visitors often we didn’t see the point in keeping it especially since we could just pick up an air bed if we really needed the extra bed.  Now that the couch is gone we have an open area to put the dog kennel and cat scratching post.  At some point in the future John will build a cat tree that incorporates the dog kennel.

               

Note the requisite boxes in the picture above.  If there is a box our cats will be in it, a box is the best cat trap in the world.  And just so no one thinks we have an imaginary dog, here is a picture of her too.  I call her my Mini-Lab as she is a Lab mix breed and a bit on the small side at 30 lbs.



We got Alley from the Montgomery Humane Society.  If you are looking for a pet I highly recommend going to shelters, there are a lot of pets needing a good home.  If we had the space and could afford it I would have more pets.

Kato came to us via a neighbor's sister whose Siamese had a litter and soon as they were weaned she was trying to get rid of them.  Kato was the only black kitty in the litter.

Punkin choose us, he was a little community kitty that kept wanting to play with the kids in the area.  He would follow pretty much anyone and he decided he wanted to stay with us. He was 5 months old when he made that decision and he is 2 years old now.  This is his favorite pose, he likes to throw himself on the floor in front of you as you are walking forcing you to step over him, Mr. Drama King.

Why you need good tires

Tires can make or break an RV.  It is important to keep the tires inflated to the recommended pressure and check for wear and bulges before heading out on a trip.  When driving be careful to not run over things that could potentially damage the tires, that includes running over or rubbing on curbs. Also watch your speed, trailer tires are not rated to go over 65 mph  in fact most are only rated to 55 mph.  Last week we saw a trailer come in to the RV dealer we live behind that had blown one of their tires.  Here are a few pictures of the tire and the damage it did to the trailer.





When John took these pictures he checked for the manufacturer and the date on the tires.  He noted the tires were 6 years old and were Goodyear Marathon tires which are notorious for tread separation and catastrophic blow outs.  The tires were the original tires that came with the trailer.  So keep an eye on your tires and buy new ones every 5 years, you paid a lot for your RV don't put cheap tires on it!  Sure you have insurance but don't forget the deductible is paid first.  There are people that will buy used tires for things such as farm/ranch trucks and trailers which could help offset the price of new tires.

Where did we buy a truck?

 

Online where else?  We had our choices of 5’ers down to a couple and both were the same size and weight so we were looking for a used 1 ton, crew cab, dually.  That particular style of pickup isn’t exactly popular in the north and we couldn’t find any at local dealers.  The advent of the internet has been great in connecting people from all over the world and all over the US of A.  It did take us some time a month or two to find a truck that would fit our criteria on Ebay and be affordable. 

Buying a large and expensive item over the internet was different than buying at a local dealer.  Once we agreed on the truck we needed to get it checked for any issues.  As the truck was located in Houston, TX we had to find a way to inspect it.  With more and more vehicles being sold over the internet a need for inspections cropped up and so did businesses to fill that need.  One such company is Alliance Inspection Management, LLC.  It is always a good idea to have a used vehicle checked before you sign on the dotted line.

The inspection came back with a good report, we liked the truck and it’s unique bumpers so we bought it.  After that it was just putting down a deposit, arranging to get a cashier’s check from our bank and then traveling to get our new truck!  John flew down, did the finishing paperwork and drove the truck home.

We are looking at trucks now for my mother as she is also getting a 5’er to do some exploring herself.

Making the RV Our Own

After talking to my cousin I realized I should probably post a picture of our 5’er since not everyone we know has seen it.  So here it is!

Everyone makes changes with their RV’s to make it more their own.  We have made a few updates to the 5’er since owning it and we have a list of projects yet to do.  Here is a list of the changes we have actually completed.  You will notice these are functionality changes with the exception of the light switches which were aesthetic only.  The interior design changes will begin some time in the future.
Adding a 2 filter water filtration system plus input/output pressure gauges and an adjustable water pressure regulator.

Changing light switches to better match the décor. The switch on the right is the color used by the manufacturer.  The other 2 switches are the brown ones we bought and installed which look much better.

    

Adding Hatchlift Kits on both basement doors. 

 

Replaced the kitchen faucet, we had to the faucet had stopped working.  Once John opened it up he found little calcium rocks inside.  We think it was from our time in Landfall, MN.

    

Added cut off valves to our hot and cold water lines in the kitchen.  Now we don’t have to shut the water off to the whole trailer just to work on the kitchen faucet.

Replaced the standard pin with a MO/Ryde pin to help reduce chucking while driving down the road.

Slide corner and pin box foam protectors.  Run into either the pin or corners and it will be painful.  With these foam protectors it has reduced head and shoulder injuries.

     

Clear elbow and valve gate for the dump hose.

LED marker lights, LED lighting inside.  LED lighting has no heat output so you can touch a light without getting burned.  It is expensive though so we buy a few here and there as we can afford.  This is the light over our dining table.

Moved the Fantastic fan from bedroom to bathroom.  Linoleum on bed platform to help with making the bed.  The bed platform is just particle board and linens tend to snag on it.

 

Dark tinted bedroom windows then covered them up more with Solar window covering and a Blackout Curtain.

       

Additional gas tank and auto fuel switch on the truck.  The switch allows for filling the main tank from the spare tank while moving down the road.  Works pretty slick too you just need to keep on eye on the gas gauge and not accidentally overfill it.