So, we bought a 30+ year old RV Camper truck, a Citation model (boxy, matchstick construction) and we went to tour every part of our province, with the cats, for three years .
When people get close enough to read my sign,
'IF YOU CAN READ THIS, IT'S GOING TO GET A LOT SLOWER"
/2
You aren't driving it when a yearly REGISTRATION comes in. doesn't matter what part of a year, how often it's used,.
Unlike cars, with 2 year registration, RVs are yearly. $150, Insurance $1500 (incl. CAA/AAA roadside assistance). We had one $500 shop repair on the road, & one $200 estimate of work that needed doing.
Out of just over $10k, we got back $2500 on resale. But we had a lot of fun & adventure out of that investment. Didn't need a loan either. #Cats loved it #RVLife
He’s home. That’s the last one. My stuff is no longer distributed all over the country, and I think I can finally say we’re fully transitioned out of #rvlife. What a crazy weekend.
Judging by the conditions of the roads, and the various posts I’m seeing in Vermont, I think we made the right choice. The camper was a little buried this morning though 😅. We’re making good headway.
We’ve opted to stay in the hotel for another night. The sleet is rough, and I’m really…really tired from yesterday. Slow and steady wins the race, after all.
Well that didn’t go as planned lol. Turns out the blizzard that’s hitting Vermont this weekend decided to come a little early, so we had to scramble to get the camper packed today after making the drive from Ohio, then drive the rig to Albany through snow. We’ll finish this tomorrow, just glad to be parked away from the bulk of the snow.
Picking up Charlie from Vermont this weekend. Reeeeeeally not looking forward to this drive. But once this is done, we’ll finally have everything consolidated.
I can't stop listening to this album. There's something about the 1800's era Americana theme, combined with...just really catchy melodies. I've actually listened to it so much that it's caused me to watch documentaries about "Ohio Fever" and "The Year Without a Summer".
Funny, since we just came back to Ohio after our 4 years on the road. Maybe we had Ohio Fever, too.
With the help of a truck driver, we got Leela delivered to our hometown in Ohio, from Texas. For those of you keeping score, that's 2 campers down. Now we just have to get Charlie back from Vermont this summer, and we'll be all-set. PS: Leela is SO DIRTY. WOW.
When it’s really windy like this I still feel my stomach drop every time the wind gusts. Low key anxiety from when I lived in a camper, because I’d always worry that I left the awning out 😅.
Driving through the arid regions of South Australia and stopped overnight.
Thunderstorm with a LOT of rain.
The creek that wasn't there about 1Km ahead of us, suddenly was. It went for from dry dust to impassable in about an hour—a salutary warning to those who camp in creekbeds—and is still rising 2 hours later. Flowing too fast across the road to drive through and the water is over the bridge railings so too deep anyway.
Lots of trucks and cars turning around.
Guess we'll be here for a little while 🤷♂️ Time to put the kettle on ☕
We had a second vehicle fire complete with small explosions within 500 meters of our campground.
I have to say a couple of things about it:
If you decide to run your generator in the back of your pickup truck, don't store your propane bottles and fuel containers right next to it while filling the tank while it's still running.
Don't spill any fuel while doing something so stupid.
Have several extinguishers at hand for when something goes wrong.
Camp close to a fire station.
Of course they were camped in an area that proclaims that "They are proud assholes who will vote for Putins Puppet no matter what!" so there is that.
We lived full-time in an RV for about 1,300 days, and tonight is the last night I will spend in one as a full-timer for the foreseeable future. The blow is softened knowing that I have a king size mattress waiting for me at the house 😆.
All joking aside I'm so, SO excited to be moving back to town. I love RV life, but we're pretty tired, and have no wanderlust left in the tank right now.
This is my first time winterizing a camper, and oh my god this should not be this difficult. Turns out Leela doesn’t have an easy bypass system so I have to go get a hose to connect directly to the pump. Real PITA.
"When we began, Alex worked remotely for a different company, I was taking care of a baby that wasn't even crawling yet, Bennett finishing preschool and prepping for kindergarten, and the world was reeling from the Global Pandemic. Our world was very different on all scales."
Kate says A LOT in this post reflecting on our upcoming shift back into sticks and bricks.
Well, what do you know about Power Converters & Chargers? @Offroadrj
Here's where I am: I have:
A 30 year old Power Converter, 115VAC to 12VDC
And 5 amp charger in one. 4 wires out, 2 to provide lights, furnace, fans, fridge, etc.. Up to 40Amp
The charger tops up the house batteries (in the belly of the motorhome.
To test each, you are inside, outside, multiple wires to test, each feeding 12v or 110v somewhere, you have to isolate to test each.
No schematics, or manual, learning as I go
I just encountered a LOCKED COMPUTER UNTIL YOU CALL US virus pages, while searching for a part . This would not be a good time to freeze up my PC. Luckily, this method was tried before and I just CTRL-ALT-DEL my way to the task manager and shut down the Browser. I ran full virus scan, nothing detected, and I'm still running. That's a good thing.
#StoryTime
After difficulties traveling with cats, we opted to buy an old RV Camper a few years back. #RVLife
We don't have any wealth, so this wouldn't be new, we couldn't guarantee a loan for a new one anyway.
So we buy this 30 year old beast, well used, partially working, meaning, it drove, and many of the house features worked. But we didn't use them all. Just needed the Camper, and we decided to go on an adventure around #NovaScotia, visiting all those places people miss. #Travel
It's also expensive to own an RV. They get registered yearly, safety checked, insured, and you drive them for a two week vacation. Not very practical or affordable. It roughly cost me $1000 to park it in my driveway, so it has to be used, or get rid of it and the expense.
Then a new thing happened. I got a new grandson, 22 years after the last one. No one was expecting that, we had another family by then, 3 cats! And we were again, restricted in travel because of cats.
The old RV was not mechanically sound. It had been torn apart to fix a water pump and it was leaking again, but it needed checking once per day, and it didn't restrict us. Because were were staying in Nova Scotia.
Now that we have a reason to need one again we bought another old RV Camper, same vintage but lesser miles. The house needed lots of work, but it is roadworthy, so we got it. And as we test it for a big trip, every day is an adventure.
Rebuilding floors, fixing faults #RVLife
Almost anything RV named is expensive, New sewer hose, $50, and it cracked on first use.
New Battery, $300, have to replace the propane alarm, haven't ordered it yet $170, and all the things before a trip, new oil (20 liters) and filter, I've spent $5000 more since buying it, to get it ready and on the road. And it might never happen at this rate. I had another important part failure yesterday..
The house batteries are supposed to charge when the power is plugged in. They don't
If it was as simple as buying a replacement, no sweat.. We'll find a way to pay for it. But, where do you find 30 year old parts, and the schematic to put it in? I've been trying to source original parts for two days, and now looking at newer replacement parts if I can find a schematic to address the wiring connections for a 40 AMP Converter TNC400D , made by a Canadian company out of Winnipeg that hasn't been in business for decades.. Hmm. Another adventure
And since the house battery went dead because of this, it's been a long time without reaching full charge, methinks it may have damage or be getting old. Also not good.
Big battery, about $400-500 depending on type
Try pulling that out to test it? They weigh more than I do!
Anyone have experience with #Motorhome repairs & this type of change?
I hate working in the cold. I have to do this work, so it's going to be every day in the RV until this gets sorted. You'll hear updated curses in between #LOL
For comparison:
We did look at rentals once. I bought my first used RV cheaper than a 2-week rental.
But the cats would destroy it, so we couldn't go new or rental, just used, bought on a shoestring and kept going for the sake of the kids. #FURKIDS
So, in summary, can't afford the city home, property taxes are higher than my first mortgage, can't live in the cheaper home, due to city gerrymandering, and somehow we squeak a new portable residence into the mix.. We're insane!
Might need it to live in someday, rather than those tents in town.
Anyway. that's my adventure story today, up to this point. We've done Nova Scotia, now we need to be able to go outside the country in it. Risky Business