On The Road!

After years, I'm officially on the road! The fate of THIS blog is still up in the air, but just in case anyone is actually still reading it..

You can click the image to go to the video, or go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugubGTKsZ3Y

Update

A quick update is in order, I suppose.

I plan to change this blog eventually, I think. Or possibly get rid of it until I'm ready to actively update it.

BUT, for now. I've been "living in" the motorhome since April. I sleep out there every night and my cats are out there too. But I'm still just at my parents so I use the shower and whatnot in the house.

For Memorial Day I went up north to hang out with an ex-coworker of mine and met a bunch of people up there. It was a good time and a good trip for the motorhome!

Shortly after that I headed back up to that general area and hung out in the national forest for 2 weeks before heading back home for birthdays and whatnot. I've been at home since.

While here, I replaced all the brakes on the motorhome and that's partly why I haven't driven it since. I'm just nervous about it, since I had to deal with bearings and taking entire hubs off and whatnot. The rear brakes were too tight originally. I've backed them off now, even though it was a pain to do it.. I hope I didn't wreck anything inside during that. I haven't driven it since I backed the rear brakes off.

I need to take it for a drive soon and make sure the brakes and everything are good because I'm heading back up to the same area with the same people on Labor Day, but I won't be able to stay as long because I have to be back on Saturday for a family event.

I've got new rear tires and new 16" rims to put on the rear so I can get rid of the odd 16.5" size. I just did that yesterday so they're not on the motorhome yet. Looking for some tires to put on the front of the van so that I can use the tires on there right now on the front of the motorhome. My current plan is to junk out the van when the time comes.


I'm planning on finally setting sail after Labor Day.  At long last! Things are finally lining up in a way that I feel comfortable about. My only plans as of right now are to hit Elkhart, IN to see the RV museum, and then Mammoth Caves National Park. Just kind of a general direction. I'm only thinking 25-30 miles a day. So it'll be a leisurely journey, but I don't consider this a vacation. It's a way of life. Slower travel means making the money stretch.

There's an update for now. I'm excited for after Labor Day. I don't have a specific day or anything. And now I'm waiting for a new vanity license plate to come in "2-3 weeks", which still should be before Labor Day. Adventures to come!

First Short RV Trip!

First trip went great. Things not in the video include using the toilet for the first time, dumping my tanks for the first time, showering every day in the rv. 

Showering was a little weird because my water started to smell like garlic. I didn't get a rash or anything, but still kind of creeps me out. I'm going to put some bleach in the freshwater tank soon and try to sanitize it before the next trip. 

I came back for Mother's Day and the township is having another spring clean up this week so I can get rid of some more stuff for free.

Radio Silence

All has been quiet around these parts, but the world still moves forward.

YouTube videos have been non-existent, as they will continue to be until after I'm actually on the road.

Everything from the trailer was moved into the motorhome and made it a mess. I've been slowly dealing with that, but the massive clutter really caused me to drag my feet.  Most of it has now been shoved into corners of the RV to be dealt with later on down the road. I'm going to start moving the 'every day' things from my room in there soon. So things are getting close.

I guess I never mentioned it here, but the p-trap for the shower drain had a massive crack in it. Don't know if I just never noticed until recently. I've never really used the shower yet. Fixing that ended up being a hell of a project. Tracking down the right parts, trying to find parts for a sub-par fix.. and then in the end just doing it more-or-less "right". All through the holidays too so the RV shops kept being closed. I couldn't find the black ABS pipe anywhere but the RV shops.

As far as I know I fixed the problem, but I haven't tried running any liquid through it yet. I also noticed the pipe that goes from the grey water tank to the dump valve has a hair line crack. I'm not going to fix it before I leave. Hopefully it won't leak too quickly. It's too cold for the pipe cement now anyway.


My attention has also been on the entry door lock. It was fickle and only worked when it wanted to. I took it apart, lubed things up, and tried to fix it. In the process of trying to lock it from the outside, the lock cylinder broke off completely. I replaced it with a "RV Designer" (trimark) T507. I needed to use a Dremel to cut away some of the door frame (and door) to accommodate the dead bolt. The T505 model doesn't have a dead bolt, and would have been easier, but I kind of wanted one. It was dark and rainy so I still need to make a few minor adjustments on this but the door closes and locks just as it is, which is more than I could say for the old Bargman L300 lock that used to be on there.

Another fun thing I did a while back that I never mentioned. I haven't had a rearview mirror since I bought the thing. I never really cared. But I've had this mirror from my first car (66 Falcon) rolling around for a while so I decided to put it in the RV. I like it.

Tongue in cheek.. I'm thinking a week or two I'm going to be taking off. Meaning YouTube would be resuming in two or three. My videos are going to be running a delay purposefully.