Maiden Voyage: Day 3

Truck still blowing smoke but running fine.

GasBuddy app comes in handy.  Today, within a couple miles of one another, there was a .50 per gallon difference.

Coming into Vegas.  Not a bad drive, but not only does the truck need to work to pull us up the hills, poor truck has to work to slow us down on a couple of 6% grade declines.

Nothing, AZ …. population 2

So far, extremely nice people at the RV parks.  Although we have met very few people, the ones we have met have been super nice!

loving our ParkAdvisor and GasBuddy apps.


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Those are my notes for the third day.  And then...just like that...I quit taking notes.  Hmmm.  Well, from here on out, I will have to depend on my memory.  (eek!)   Y'all,   my brain is old.  My memory not so good, but try I will.

But for now, let's finish the third day.....
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The truck has been blowing a bit of smoke.  Again, something Mark is not thrilled with, but all in all, not a big deal either.  He'll look into that.  Poor little truck has been working so hard on all these hills, both going up and coming down, but it has been running smoothly.

We passed a place with a sign that said, "Nothing, AZ.  Population 2"  Had there been a place to pull the RV over safely, you would be seeing a picture.  There wasn't. You aren't. We loved it though, and it definitely caught our attention.

We have fallen into a system upon arriving at the parks.  Mark hooks up the electrical.  Mark lowers the jacks.  Mark sets up the water and sewer hoses.  Lisa turns on the electricity.  Lisa turns on the A/C and anything else inside that needs turning on.  Lisa puts out the slides.  We walk around to make sure we haven't forgotten anything.  Grab a couple chairs and a few beers and watch the sun set while discussing our day.

Vegas was the only place we unhooked the truck.  I helped Mark level the trailer.

A gentleman happened to pass by and watched us for a moment.  He remarked how nice it was that I was helping Mark, because he said all too often the wife simply sits while the husband does it all.  We informed him that I did like helping out, and I did like knowing how to do it all …. even if we tended to each fall into our own "job".

In Vegas we also stayed in a much larger RV park than the other two nights, so it was fun to take a stroll and see all the different homes, trailers and trucks.

Because of the wind, I asked Mark if we should put up our lawn chairs before we went in.  Not even thinking of the wind, he asked if I was afraid someone would steal our chairs.  I laughed.  No.  No, we are probably the poorest ones out here.  Ain't nobody worried about our lawn chairs.  hahahahaha

Some people do go all out with the RV decorations.  Lights under their bus.  Yard decorations strewn about.  Maybe we'll get to that point one day.  We'll see.....

Glad we decided to test our hose....

with the gray water.

Maiden Voyage:  Day 2

The other day, Mark noticed a couple pin holes in the sewer hose. When we went to empty the tanks, the hose leaked more than expected.  We will get a new hose TODAY!!

625 miles is an accomplishment.   Because of the time change, we managed, but neither of us wants to do that on a regular basis.

When it comes to "setting up camp", everything is easier the 2nd time around.

Holiday weekend. Didn't even think of that.  The holiday never even entered our brains.

Another little handy app we came to depend on:  Park Advisor
Being not exactly certain how far one will travel each day, this is a great app to show all the RV and camping parks in the area.  After that it is easy to find availability and rates.

Desert Cypress RV park was to be closed today and tomorrow for the holiday, but when we called, the woman (we did not get her name) said she would meet us up there and let us park for the night.  She certainly did not have to do that, and we certainly appreciated her kindness.

I was not feeling well this morning.  At all.  Vertigo acting up.  I decided I probably  needed to stay much more hydrated. I succeeded in drinking a LOT more water which also meant a LOT more bathroom breaks.

A LOT of driving.  All things considered it was a good day, but we really REALLY prefer not to spend that much time driving.

Lisa says it's a full moon, but her husband insists on correcting her.  According to said husband "It's not quite round..."  Lisa reluctantly agrees.

My pictures are out of order.  My bad.

Because we are now officially old....

We have an RV.  A 5th Wheel.

Maiden Voyage:  Day 1

My husband researches everything.  Ever. Y.  Thing.
Which I appreciate and which I enjoy, because I do not.  I live by the seat of my pants.  My mom told me years ago, "God takes care of the stupid.", and that has been my life's motto ever sense.  But not my husband.  He researches.  He reads.  He asks questions.  He delves into things.  We make a great team with him doing all the work and me reaping the benefits.

However, one can research to their heart's content, but some things still need to be learned in the real world.

So Mark did his research.  He watched his YouTube Videos.  He talked with other RVers.
And we set out on our first journey.

Our destination:  Jacob's high school graduation in Las Vegas.

(*side note:  We were on a time table, which neither of us came to like.  We thought we had given ourselves time, and we did manage, but it would have been nicer to have more days.  We HAD to get to Vegas in time for the graduation, but we also wanted to have a day or two with Jacob.  On the return trip, we HAD to get home because James was having his first birthday party, and Mark had to be in New Orleans for work.)

Most RVers will tell you that 350 miles a day is about perfect; maybe 400.  To make our trip work, we had to put in 500-600.  That makes for a LONG day of driving, and not a lot of time for simple enjoyment.  We averaged 60-65mph.  Maybe closer to 60 as we did a LOT of climbing.  We also stopped pretty much every 1 1/2 - 2 hours for bathroom breaks.  I won't mention who was causing all the bathroom breaks, but someone drinks way too much diet coke when confined inside a vehicle for extended amounts of time.

We (obviously) also needed gas breaks.  Mark has plans to put a larger gas tank onto the truck, but we have not gotten that far as of yet.  We love our little Gas Buddy app.  Truck stops can be easier to get into and out of, but oftentimes their gas is more expensive.  A few times we found grocery stores to have the cheapest prices.  Sometimes, depending on where we stopped, it could be a tight squeeze for the 5th wheel.  More than once Lisa hopped out of the truck and stood in the open gas aisle while Mark pulled the RV around, so that someone with a small, little car wouldn't push into "our" space.  Once I noticed Mark making the turn to pull the entire contraption up to the pump.  I looked back and saw the RV clear another pump by (and I am not kidding) about 3" or 4".  I (think I) gasped out loud.  Mark heard me and said, "That's not even the closest I have cleared them by."  What????  I quickly learned not to even watch him do his thing.

A few things we learned on this first day:
that we need to engage the "tow haul" after each stop.  (We got much better at that.)
to check the RV batteries, because they did not hold the charge as we were driving.
Also, while the truck performed pretty good, Mark was not getting the gas mileage he was expecting, so he definitely wants to check into that further.

We decided this really is a nice way to travel.  The fact that we were being passed up by almost everyone on the road was not even an issue. (The rare occasion when we passed another vehicle, we wondered what their problem was!  ha!)  We were together.  We were enjoying the drive.  We can see how people get pulled into this way of life.

On the drive I read.  ("Why the Jews?") We did a few crossword puzzles together.  (Lisa read the clues to Mark.  Don't worry, he was not reading and driving.)  We listened to the same CDs over and over and over until we finally decided maybe we could change them out.  (Texas Road Songs, y'all!)  And sometimes, we drove in absolute silence simply enjoying the scenery and being together.

When we stopped for the night in Van Horn, we appreciated being able to sit out, drink a cold beer and watch the sun set.  Just the two of us...…