RV Life – Month 2

It’s been 2 months!  Here are some wonderings, lessons learned, and tips.

We wondered:  Water drips through our AC in a heavy rain.  Why?  We have since had the gaskets redone and roof resealed.  No more problems.

We wondered:  Why do we have to defrost our residential fridge every seven to ten days?  The refrigerator would get warmer and warmer until this was done.  Update:  It has been fixed finally.  It never worked right but we had to use our current warranty to get it fixed.

We wondered:  What’s wrong with our poodle, Phoebe?  She’s struggling to breath out of her nose and has a nasal discharge.  She was diagnosed with pneumonia and on meds.  She is 15 years old and such a good old girl.  I hate to see her uncomfortable.

Lesson learned:  Shop around to dump.  We found a cheaper and nicer place to dump open 24 hours a day.  It’s the Petro Truck Stop!

Lesson learned:  Be careful what’s stored in the basements.  Moisture can get to the contents if you life in a humid, moist climate and they are not stored in proper containers.  My backpacking equipment became moldy down below so I rearranged and made room for it in the bedroom.  It works!

Tip:  We tried the GEO method for our black tank.  It helped.  What is the GEO method?  Just google GEO method for RVs and you will find a plethora of articles and You Tube how to videos.  It’s really simple.  You dump 1 cup of Calgon Water Softener and 1 cup of Dawn Dishwashing detergent down the toilet into your black tank after you dump.  You don’t need to do it every dump. It did keep the tank fresher and our sensors worked better.

Tip:  If you have an onboard washer and dryer, do small loads everyday.  They are small and don’t hold much.

Tip:  Buy a grass mat.  Less dirt comes in on little paws and feet.

Tip:  Command strips RULE!  Ruff Road feels so homey with pictures on the walls.

Dog Tip:  If you have a dog that pulls, front hook harnesses work the best.  I’ve also used the Gentle Leader Head Collar.  We also successfully used the Easy Walk Harness.  Both of these tend to cause chafing.  I sewed felt on the Easy Walk and that has helped.  We retired the Gentle Leaders in favor of the harnesses.  We recently ordered Ruffwear harnesses but they are a little big so less effective.  I called the company and they said they should work ok even though a little large.  The girls were still growing so I was hopeful they would fill them out.  They haven’t  The harnesses should have been sent back but we didn’t do it.  That, I suppose, is a lesson learned.

We survived:  Hurricane Irma came right through our area and we sustained no damage.  We were able to provide a place for our youngest son to stay since his home had no electricity.  See how we prepped for this storm in my previous post.

http://ruffroadrvlife.com/2017/12/28/hurricane-prep-and-finding-a-schedule/

Month 2- done.  We are moving on to Month 3!

Phoebe
Easy Walk Harnesses are great with young husky mix dogs.

RV Life – Month 1

Well it’s been one month and what have we learned?  We are newbies ourselves but we do have some newbie advice.

Have a well thought out plan to transition into your new home.

Take stock of your needs, not your wants.  For example, Gary wanted a full set of pots and pans, but we didn’t need a full set.  I may have wanted to take family photo albums, but I didn’t need to take family photo albums.

That being said, be ok with parting with your “stuff”.  Replace “stuff” with experiences.

Your wants and needs will change as you move from sticks and bricks to woods, water, and adventure.

Know your space.  Diagraming every storage area helped us to know our RV.

Ahas…

Use a camping towel to mop up a lot of water.  It will be dry the next day.  I picked up two more at the dollar store.  We had an issue with our residential refrigerator and had to manually defrost it every ten days.  This super absorbent, quick drying towel was a life saver making quick work of the puddles of water or any other messes we made.

The thing that is a big deal today will not be a big deal in seven days and it will be a lesser deal in 30 days, a year from now.

It’s ok to take a zero day.  A zero day in the hiking world is a day that no miles are hiked.  A zero day to do nothing.  It’s ok.  Just do it sparingly.

Amazed

Gary is amazed that I was able to get all of our “stuff” in here.

I am amazed at how comfortable I am living in an RV.  I love cooking on the gas stove, sleeping in our cozy bedroom, and even cleaning- it’s quick!

The Ruffs

We had to switch out our Pet Mate plastic dog crates we bought for the RV and use the house American Kennel Club wire crates.  Our girls were just getting too big for ones we bought for the RV even though they were large.  The wire crates have more room, more air circulation, and a lower profile.  We put them on rugs to protect the floor.  They have adapted well and it’s nice to have them right here with us.  Poodle Phoebe is ok as long as daddy is near.  She’s easy.

Problems to Solve

I have heard some say you need to get rid of your hobby items.  This may contradict my wants and needs advice but in my opinion we need hobbies.  I have waited years to retire so I can fully enjoy my hobbies.  Storage is an issue though.  In one month, I was struggling with this problem.  Gary is a musician so he has guitars and amplifiers.  We both love kayaking.  I love hiking, biking, art, photography, crafts, and want to start sewing again.  So you see my problem!  That’s a lot of equipment, supplies.  At one month, I’m still working on this one.

Downsizing was a nightmare, but worth it.

My advice-  Just get rid of it.  I ended up doing that with so many things anyway.  The yard sale helped me to see what both families had to get rid of but I would not do it again.  The work involved vs the return was not worth it.  Donate and get a tax deduction.  When it’s done though, it feels AMAZING!

What a difference one month makes!  We are loving looking at freedom, everyday .

Share your beginning experiences or any questions that you have about RV Life.  Comment and share below.

Phoebe
Command strips work great to make your RV a home.

 

 

Hello all who wander…or want to! The beginning…

 

Have you ever wondered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  We did so we set off on a retirement adventure in our RV, Ruff Road, and our three dogs.  This has been a journey already and we want to share our journey with you, just in case you ever wandered what’s around the bend, over the mountain, and through the trees…

Retirement

This all started as we were nearing retirement age.  Gary had recently retired and retirement was in sight for me.  Like so many others, we had worked long hours in demanding jobs for years while raising our children, being there for others when needed as much as our jobs would allow, and helping my mom and Gary’s aunt as they aged.  Like so many others, we had a large house and yard to maintain and of course, our animals- We’ve always had dogs, but sometimes we had fish, cats, and even chickens.  I am the wanderer and Gary is the fisherman so we had to squeeze in these recreational preferences as best we could over the years.  I’m overwhelmed just thinking about how busy our lives were for  so many years.  Also, we had several passings within our family and with each loss came the realization that life is precious and we should make the most it.   Gary was able to retire early in 2016.   I wanted to join him.  But what could we do?  I wasn’t quite retirement age yet. Fortunately, we had financially planned for retirement and with some number crunching and MUCH discussion, I decided to take the plunge.  My wish is that we had been more frugal and started REALLY planning much earlier.  Life happens.  Word to the wise:  Start now to plan for your future.

Tiny House Living, RV Living, Travel?

I knew I wanted to retire but we had no set plans on what we would do once we retired.  Our original retirement plans were all over the place:  stay in our house of 34+ years, buy property and build, buy a house in the mountains or on the river…But, what about what’s around the bend, over the mountain, through the trees?  Would we be happy looking at the same view for the …rest …of …our …lives?  In all of my researching for houses, cabins, property, I stumbled across tiny house living and that appealed to me.  I watched video after video of living in tiny houses or even on a houseboat.  The truth is, we had a large house and only really lived in a fraction of it.  Living in a smaller space was a doable possibility.  That still left the problem of where and how.  Then, in all of YOU TUBE’S wisdom, videos started popping up about RV living.  Hmmm…I was interested.  I wanted to learn more.  Could we afford it?  What were the pros and the cons?  Would Gary like this idea?  I listened to more RV living videos.  I shared the videos with Gary.  He liked it!  We both loved this idea of living and traveling in our own RV.  So the decision was made in December 2016 to just start looking for our RV.

Shopping for an RV…

We could just start looking, right?  We knew I had 6 months, one year, or heaven forbid, four years before I retired- no set retirement decisions had been made at this time.  So I set my preferences in my RV Trader App:   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DWS.rvtrader&hl=en

Gary and I started visiting RV dealerships in our area.  We educated ourselves on the different types of RVs and the pros and cons of each.  I really wanted a Class C RV which is the box type RV built on a truck chassis with an overhang over the cab, like a UHaul.  Then we fell in love with Fifth Wheels.  Fifth Wheels connect to a receiver in the back of a truck and are more roomy and maneuverable than a travel trailer.  Some even have kitchen islands and ceiling fans.  Class Bs, extended vans, raised roof vans, conversion vans, were just too small for the two of us and three dogs.  Class As, motor homes that are larger, rectangular units were ruled out thinking they were too expensive to even consider.  The more we looked, the more confused we became.  Each class of RV had something to love and something that we didn’t like.  Within a class we found the same like this but not that situation.  But it’s ok.  After all, we were just looking, doing our research- no hurry.

Then, one day during our looking blitz, we headed to see RVs at Tampa RV after talking to the owners at an RV show.  They were great people but we never made it to their lot.  On the way, we stopped off at Lazy Days in Tampa.  I’m pretty sure I heard an angel choir.  Gary says the same.  I had that feeling that “this is it!”.  How could that be?  After all, we were just looking.  We met with our salesman, Anthony, who created a list of units to view based on our criteria- cost, preferences, fuel type…  Now most RV lots will take you around in a golf cart but here you had to have a golf cart because the site is over one hundred acres!  The inventory was huge.  It is a great place to just look.

I love how we found Ruff Road!  We had just looked at a unit that we liked a lot, but I wouldn’t say loved.  Anthony had to move the cart further away to make room for other golf carts.  This caused us to have to walk past several RVs that were not on our list.  As we were walking, we both stopped at the same time.  One RV caught our eye.  The price was over our budget, but we asked to view it anyway.  We heard the angel choir the second time that day.  THIS unit had everything on our list.  We were able to negotiate a price that was more in our ballpark and that day we put a down payment on our Class A Fleetwood Excursion, Ruff Road.  There is no harm in looking, but beware of just looking.  You just might find the one that calls your name.  And so it began…

We were just walking to the golf cart…