Off on Road Trip 4.2

We are heading out this morning to the southwest desert.  We'll spend some time in Death Valley, and then head to Big Bend National Park for five weeks.  After that, it's back to the California deserts.

We had originally planned on a seven month trip and would have left in late August, but my shoulder surgery messed that up.  Instead, we took two smaller road trips, one to Lake Tahoe for Candice's race (4.0) , and another to the Okanagan and Colville National Forests in eastern Washington  (4.1). 

And we got to spend more time with family.

But this leg of our fourth road trip is the biggie.  We have the camper all ready, having spent a lot of time and thought on what we needed from it.  We have the house all ready--complete with seriously upgraded security systems.

This week we did our final shopping and packing.  A major issue for us is vegetables, since we eat so much of them.  We won't be in a place with a good grocery store for about three weeks, so we have to prepare for that.  Here are the vegetables that we have packed.  Look yummy don't they?

We also have packed almost 100 cans of food, 30 pounds of frozen meat, 40 gallons of water, 15 pounds of coffee, and enough wine and Diet Coke to last me for a long time.  And my weakness--plenty of low fat chips (low fat so I can eat more of them--I can't pretend that I get the low fat ones for any sensible reason).

It has been raining all week, and the prediction is for more rain and more rain.  We wonder what we would do with our time if we stayed around here in the winter.  Eat?  Go to a gym every day for 30 minutes and walk on the treadmills?  Not even birds to look out the window and enjoy (although to be fair, a couple of weeks ago we saw these two owls right outside our window).

But the beautiful tropical birds that congregate at our bird feeders by the dozens have left their Whidbey Island paradise and have flown south.

And it's time for us to also. 

The new backyard

We have just returned from Atlanta, visiting Sean, Emily, Soren, and Sebastian.  We had a great visit.

They have just purchased a new house..............and a new backyard.

The house is great, a 50s design in a terrific neighborhood.   It's in good shape, but there will be a lot of improvements that Sean and Emily will make when they have the time.  That seems to be a family tradition--buying a house and then over the years improving it.  I've always liked doing it this way because every couple of years you have something new to enjoy.

It has three or four bedrooms, three baths, a dining room, an eating area, and a large kitchen.

The best, though, is the sun porch:

The backyard is a child's paradise, especially for Soren and Sebastian.  There is room to play, room for a basketball court, room for croquet, or about anything else.

And, for Soren, a place to climb.

The boy is a tree climber.  In trees he reminds me of videos we have seen of Black bears, how they can bounce from limb to limb, letting go with one arm before having another one or a foot really secure on another branch.  Frankly, sometimes I can't even watch, but once you just adapt to the fact that this is a boy who is going to have some broken bones in his childhood, then you just let him go.

Can you see him in this photo?  Standing far out on a branch that is swaying back and forth.

 

On this particular tree he swings from branch to branch.  He's going to be a circus acrobat someday.  He's fearless, and good.

Camper upgrades

This summer we made several upgrades to our camper.

These upgrades have a common theme: to make us more independent and able to get to even more remote places to camp and hike.  They also make it so we can get away from generators and dogs, the Saruman and Sauron of camping. 

Front shock absorbers (officially called struts)

The first upgrade was front shock absorbers.  These used to be standard equipment for pickup campers.  But now only one company makes them (so you can imagine what they cost).  They aren't needed as much as they once were because the tie-downs that hold the camper on the pickup bed are much improved--these days they are a shock absorber themselves instead of just being a chain.

Another reason they are not seen very often is that the construction of pickup campers has improved.  Ours has an aluminum, not wood, frame, so the part of the camper that hangs over the pickup cab is sturdier than it used to be.

Finally, pickup campers have become a smaller part of the RV world.  Most people (by a huge margin) prefer the larger campers, fifth-wheels and mobile homes.  We, in contrast, purposefully purchased the smallest unit made for an 8-foot camper bed.  We wanted to be nimble and to be able to go to places other RVs couldn't go.

It's worked (see our previous post for some of the hidden places we went on our last trip).

These front shock absorbers work well.  They make it so that when you go over big bumps the camper doesn't jolt.  We can travel on rougher roads now without damaging the camper.

And we look so tough!

Interior latches

The latches on our cabinets were not heavy duty.  Sometimes on rough roads the drawers and doors would come open, spilling contents.  They were made for sitting in an RV park.  So we installed our own, heavy duty latches.  Now our cabinets can't come open regardless of the terrain.  Here I am installing them.  The new type of latch is at 11:00 above my head. 

New refrigerator

A better refrigerator.  The one we had stopped working, and despite many contacts with NorCold, it could not be fixed.  The repair shop replaced every part the NorCold company said to replace, and the problem wasn't a bit better. 

So, do we pour more money into it or go with the old saying of "Don't throw good money after bad?"  There is a reason old sayings have such staying power, so went with this one and purchased a Dometic refrigerator.  One advantage of the swap is that the new refrigerator is 20% larger, which gives us more time between grocery stops.  That makes a difference for us because sometimes we can go over a month without being close to any kinds of stores.  Saves on gasoline because we can sit longer in camping spots instead of driving. 

Refrigerator fan

This is an interesting upgrade.  RV refrigerators generate a lot of heat.  It is imperative that the heat rises up and out of the camper for the refrigerators to cool well.  We had a solar powered fan installed that draws the heat from behind the refrigerator and out the top vent.  It really seems to work (we also purchased wireless thermometers for the refrigerator and freezer so we can easily monitor the temperatures).   In a way this purchase uses the sun to help cool the refrigerator, saving a bit on propane costs.

When the fan is starting up we say the chain saw is working.  When there isn't much sunlight, it runs very slowly, so the slight imbalance in our camper causes this.  Then it gets going and is pretty quiet.  

Removal of TV antenna

It may be confusing to think of removing something as being an improvement.  But we found that we never used the TV hookup in our camper, and the antenna made us about 6 inches taller than we needed to be.  There were times when that made a difference.  Plus, it was only a matter of time before a branch knocked it off, and then we'd have to try to do a repair on our own.  Now the antenna is sitting in the garage, where it belongs.

The antenna that was removed can be seen behind Vicky in this photo.  It's also obvious from this photo why it needed to go.   We travel in tight spots at times. 

 New and better batteries

The batteries that were installed in our Lance camper lasted only two years.  You read that correctly.  We were having trouble holding a charge in them, so had them tested, and they were bad.  That shouldn't happen.  Over and over we hear a similar complaint from people in the know--batteries made in America are more expensive and better. 

We purchased two new ones, top of the line.  Five year warranty.

Another solar panel

If one solar panel works, two should work even better, right?  Actually, most of the time two panels aren't needed, as when we are in good sunlight one panel keeps the batteries charged (and there is a limit as to how much the batteries can be charged so past a certain point there is no gain).  But, now, when we are in mottled sunlight or on cloudy days, we should be able to keep our batteries in full charge.


 (You can see the two large solar panels, and then on the right, a very small one that runs the refrigerator fan. )

 

What we found with two years of using our first solar panel is that we quickly recouped its cost because we never had to go to RV parks to charge the batteries.  Instead of spending $25-50 a night on camping fees, we often spend nothing.  That adds up quickly.  So all of our improvements will not only make the trips more enjoyable, but will save us money in the not-so-very long run.  Best of all worlds!

Road trip 4.1: Okanagan and Colville National Forests, Little Pend Oreille Reserve, Washington

After getting home from Lake Tahoe I went into the hospital to have major surgery on my left shoulder.  I had this surgery six years ago on my right shoulder, and it made the shoulder better than it had been since I was in my mid-20s.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the recovery is a bear, with very limited use of the shoulder for several months.  

And a road trip isn't like a vacation in a 4-star Hotel.  You need both shoulders a lot. 

The MRI showed a tear in the rotator cuff.  When I awoke from the surgery, guess what?  No tear.  The MRI provided a false positive.  I had impingement syndrome that necessitated a minor surgery that would not require limiting my use of my shoulder.

Since we had already planned our schedule for a long rehabilitation, the results of the surgery meant that we had some free time.  We could sit around the house and relax, or we could HEAD TO THE HILLS!

(guess which we decided).

We went to the Okanagan and the Colville National Forests in Eastern Northern Washington.  At one of the campgrounds there we found out about the Little Pend Oreille Nature Reserve, and so went there for several days.  

We either stayed in "dispersed" sites (meaning boondocking, or dry camping), or in campgrounds that were almost empty.  Just right for us.  We like people, honest, it's just that we like them better when they are not where we are.

Our campsites:

 

 

 
We hiked a lot:

 

  (our camper is in the exact center of the above photo)

 Some of the places we try to go are pretty remote.  Narrow one-lane rocky roads that require 4-wheel drive and high clearance are not unusual.  We also sometimes are too tall for the roads.  In those instances, Vicky has to lift branches off of the top of the camper so I can drive under them.  That adds to the adventure.

Here she is standing on the bed through the top vent lifting branches off so I can drive under them:

To celebrate that I would have a usable shoulder, we bought a kayak!  We had done some kayaking in the Florida Keys, and found it to be a lot of fun.  After doing a lot of research, we realized we wanted an inflatable kayak.  However, we also discovered that to get an inflatable kayak that is more than a glorified floating inner tube, one has to shell out a few bucks.  But if there is anything more true than the adage that you get what you pay for, I don't know what it is.

The one we got is the heaviest of the inflatable kayaks.  It also has some inner skeletons that make it so it stays true when paddled.  We had planned on staying near lakes on this trip so we could try it out.  As (bad) luck would have it, though, the weather was not good enough most of the time.  We did, however, get to try it out once, and it is clearly a good purchase.  We will use it a lot in the future.

Christening the new boat with a glass of wine:

We had a blast on this installment of Roadtrip 4.  On the way home, we caught up with Owen and got to have breakfast with him.  It was great to see him.