Three Things We Do Each Year to Keep Us On the Road, RV Living and Travel
LePage Park, Oregon
Ruff Road Review
We left the lush coast of Oregon and headed east. Thus began our slow trek towards Florida. However, we had one more stay in Oregon, not the lush rainforest environment we’d enjoyed the past couple of weeks, but the high desert environment that has its own majestic beauty. We found a peaceful stay at LePage Park, an Army Corps of Engineers park, right off of I84.
How to Get to LePage Park- From the Oregon Coast
First, the route to get there from the coastal area was beautiful! We left the coast and drove towards Portland then on to I84 which runs along the Columbia River Gorge. Here’s where I wished I could wing it, because this is an interesting area to explore. We filed this away for future trips.
Heads up: This route can have some strong wind gusts but we did fine even though it was windy that day already.
LePage Park is right off of I84 on exit 114. The exit dumps you right into the park. That’s the only place you can go. When you leave the park, you follow the ramp to rejoin I84. Even though the park is right next to an interstate, the road noise was not bad. You might hear the rumbling from vehicles crossing the bridge or a train now and then from the tracks on the other side. None of this bothered us during our stay.
Campsites
The park is located on the John Day River which flows into the Columbia River on the other side of the bridge. There are only 22 electric and water sites with only one of those being first come, first serve. That spot was claimed for several days when we arrived. No worries, though, we had reservations. In addition, there are 20 primitive treed tent sites set on a lush grassy area. These filled up on the weekend, but the area was wide open during the week.
Things to Do
LePage Park offers a boat ramp, play ground, fishing, swimming area, and provides enough space to walk your dogs. We saw big horn sheep, a mink, and an eagle while there.
Phone Service
Heads Up: Verizon service did not work there. We could sometimes call out but the calls would drop without warning. If you head ten minutes back to the west, you’ll find a McDonalds in a Pilot with good wifi. Pilot offers wifi, as well. That’s where we headed when we needed wifi.
We Recommend this Park
All in all, we had a great stay at LePage Park. It’s a quiet, little peaceful park along I84 in Oregon. Next stop, Hood Park in Washington.
About Us
We are two happy retirees living full time in our RV, Ruff Road, with our two dogs. Our travels have taken us across the USA. We’ve only just begun to see this great country. We share campground reviews, a look at places that we’ve visited, tips and lessons learned along the way.
Here is our story.
https://ruffroadrvlife.com/about-us/
Resources
Follow the journey! You can also follow us on our You Tube Channel, Facebook, or Instagram.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHRpIFHJItKn3X_7DKY77Mw
https://www.facebook.com/Ruff-Road-RV-Life-775489835979588/?view_public_for=775489835979588
https://www.instagram.com/ruff_road_rv_life/
“We like looking at freedom!”
Happy travels!
We Are on the Road- Living the Full-Time RV Life!
Our “Hit the Road” To Do list is done! Our “so long for nows” are said. Our parking place for the last 19 months is empty. We are mobile full-time RV life, finally!
We began our journey a little over two years ago when we made the decision to become full-time RVers when retired. We went RV shopping in December. We were just looking. We fell in love with Ruff Road and ended up purchasing our motorhome within one month. That was two years ago. I was still working. Gary had recently retired. This made it easy to bump my retirement date up! We’ve never looked back.
Fast forward to today, our dream of traveling across this beautiful country living in our RV full-time has become a reality. We are especially thankful for all of the RV full-timers who have shared their experiences and expertise. Had it not been for learning that this lifestyle is possible, we wouldn’t be here. Our hope is that we can inspire others, in addition to documenting our own journey of full-time RV life. Months ago, we stared out our large front RV windshield and said, “We like looking at freedom.” We are loving full-time RV life.
Follow along! We will share campground reviews, places we visit, and full-time RV life tips. Subscribe so you don’t miss a post. Leave a comment. Ask a question.
https://ruffroadrvlife.com/contact-us/
Check out our You Tube Channel, Ruff Road RV Life
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHRpIFHJItKn3X_7DKY77Mw
Purge and Reorganize
We shared how we recently went through Ruff Road evaluating our space, purging and reorganizing. https://ruffroadrvlife.com/together-again-and-one-year-purge-a-versary/
Follow the link below to our You Tube channel, Ruff Road RV Life, to hear what we did to purge and reorganize our RV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMJF0T7fsbU
Ruff Road RV Life -Episode 1 is Now on You Tube!
Ruff Road RV Life -Episode 1 is Now on You Tube!
Yes, we have uploaded our first “official” You Tube video. This one is short and just introduces us. You will see where we were living and our RV, Ruff Road. Check it out!
RV Life – Month 6
We have enjoyed our life in Ruff Road for six months now! Incredible. This month is special because it was one year ago that we took possession of Ruff Road. In that time, we’ve enjoyed several trips and finally moved in full time in July 2017.
So how has it been after six months of living in an RV and not in our sticks and bricks home?
In one word- GREAT! We don’t mind the space at all. Even though we haven’t officially hit the road yet, we enjoy short trips and even our weekly dump run. There is plenty to do in our county. Gary continues to be involved in our church music ministry and has been writing some great music. I have reunited with the Florida Trail Association in our area to hike and volunteer. Of course, having family close by is a bonus right now.
Do we miss our sticks and bricks home?
No, we do not miss our sticks and bricks home. My daughter and her family have done a beautiful job of decorating it and making it their own. We don’t even think of it as ours anymore, it’s theirs. We don’t miss the upkeep and the constant cleaning that went with a larger home or all the stuff that went with it. Truthfully, we only lived in our bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom anyway. As the children left home, the rest of the rooms were just there and prone to collect clutter.
How are RVs and stick/brick homes similar? Different?
I thought about what it was like before living in Ruff Road. Much of what we do in Ruff Road is similar to what we did in our house. Rearranging, decorating, purging, cleaning, and organizing took place in both homes, however in Ruff Road it is on a much smaller level which is nice! Rearranging and organizing seems to be the two that we have worked on the most as we continue to “squeeze” into our new space. Most recently, we removed the pedestal table from in front of the couch. We had contemplated this for some time but where would we eat or work? We finally had enough and bravely unbolted it from the floor. We put our long rug over the area in front of the couch and now use the top of one of the dog crates for our table. No problems! We talked about adding a hinged wooden table top for more flexibility but for now, this works!
The biggest difference between life in a house and life in an RV, is that everything in the RV is magnified due to the smaller space. For example, dirt gathers more easily in the small space of an RV vs the larger space a house offers. Things can accumulate more in a house but in an RV, the clutter becomes screamingly evident and you have to deal with it. In the house, if I wasn’t sure about tossing or donating something, I’d put it away in a closet to decide later. In the RV, space is limited so this is not an option. Even as I write this and everything is put away, we are aware that we have too much on board with us and we have a little RV purging to do. We have too many clothes. The dogs have too many toys. We have too many linens. So we’ll whittle these things down. Finally, we don’t have the anchor of a large yard to maintain. Anywhere is our yard. This was more freeing for me than I realized and there are no arguments from Gary about this. Here’s another bonus: We interact more in an RV. We like that. If we need our space, we have outside, one can go to the bedroom or to the coach area.
What has happened this month?
If you read our previous post, we sadly said good-bye to one of our ruffs, our 15 year old mini poodle Phoebe. We miss her and she will always be in our hearts.
We attended the Florida RV Super Show in Tampa, Florida. This event is huge featuring many vendors, seminars, RV types, models and manufacturers. You can view the bare chassis frames that are on display and learn how to maintain your generator. If you are exploring the RV lifestyle, attending an large RV show like this one provides the opportunity to see everything from pop-ups to large class A coaches and everything in between. Of course, if you are already RVing, you can see what’s new and how space is used in the different units. Also, I’m sure the dealers were looking to make a deal with new owners and with those willing to trade in their current RV. We spent most of our time looking at the vendor stations and attending seminars. We especially appreciated the seminar about maintaining your generator and diesel engine. We also attended a couple of seminars for RV newbies and full-timers which was helpful. If we were going to look at RVs as well, we would have needed a second day which was included in our ticket. Visitors with RVs could stay on the site with no hook-ups for a fee. Learn more about RVing in Florida by the group that sponsored this event, the Florida RV Trade Association at http://www.frvta.org.
What RV supplies did we purchase this month?
As trivial as it might sound, we were in the market for new pillows so we picked up two bamboo pillows at the Florida RV Supershow. They are super soft but can be used to prop up so you can read or work. Also, we found some stick on lights for a few of our dimly lit cabinets and bins. These were our two Florida RV Supershow purchases.
Other purchases were:
DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid): This is required for all diesel coaches to ensure that the exhaust from the engine is environmentally friendly.
Leveling Blocks: These are long overdue but we’ve only had one major problem not having them. Wood planks from a nearby dumpster provided the solution. In all other cases, we were able to maneuver the coach so all four tires were firmly on the ground.
Tank Tech Microbials: Gary says this is like RidX on steroids. This is the second month we have used this to minimize tank odor and ensure the right bugs are living in our tank to work on decomposition. All it takes is two ounces per dump. After using this product, we don’t have the pungent odor when our black tank is almost full and improves our tank’s health.
What’s next?
Watch for a link to be posted soon for our newly launched Ruff Road RV Life You Tube Channel.
Also, coming soon-
- What are our plans for 2018?
- Torreya State Park Review
Share to help grow our community and subscribe to be notified of new content. Comment to share your knowledge, ask questions, or recommend topics.
Ruff Road RV Life Resources
Our Ruff Road RV Life Resources Page has been updated. Check it out!
http://ruffroadrvlife.com/resources/
You will find a list of items that we purchased or brought from our house to outfit Ruff Road. Remember, I am an overthinker so all of these items have been researched and pondered before hitting BUY. We have reflected honestly about them and will update as we add new purchases. Of course, this list doesn’t reflect all of the items from our hobbies that we had on hand such as guitars, speakers, mini sewing machine, art supplies, backpacking gear, bicycling gear, kayaking gear…but we’ve made room for these and did not include them on our list.
Your list will look different based on your RV, your preferences and needs. Use this, or any list, as a guide. It might jog your memory regarding something you may have forgotten about or that you were not aware that you needed. We looked at multiple lists found on the internet and listened to countless vlogs to help us with our plan to set up Ruff Road. We then made our own list prioritizing items we would need to purchase first. We took it step by step, one bite at a time. Little by little, our RV turned into a home.
We hope you find these resources helpful. Share some of your helpful resources. Was there anything that you discovered you needed but didn’t have? Was there anything you purchased thinking that you needed it only to find out you didn’t afterall? Comment, subscribe and share. We are looking forward to building this community. Thank you to our subscribers.
RV Life – Month 5
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
This is our first holiday in Ruff Road. It was almost one year ago that this dream began. My Facebook timehop popped up with One Year Ago today…my friend and I were taking pictures of RVs at a local dealership. This time last year, we had no idea we would be “looking at freedom” everyday. So here are our tweaks, tips, and trials at Month 5, as well as some general observations.
General Observations:
- It’s cold even in Florida, but Ruff Road has stayed warm and cozy. Temps were chilly, but not freezing. Stay tuned for Month 6 reflection to see how we’ll do in much chillier weather. However, so far so good.
- When you retire, you don’t have to be the one to cook and host. We enjoyed going up to the big house and eating our Thanksgiving feast with my daughter and her family.
- This leads me to another observation. We love being with family. What a difference it makes when the cloud of a stressful job is not hanging over your head and you can enjoy your family mornings, middays or afternoons. This is something that was difficult for us to find time to do in our past life. We know not everyone reading this is retired. We were there. My advice that I tried to follow while I was working was to work towards a work/ home balance. It was an ongoing goal. Sometimes I was really good at it and sometimes work just took over. However, as long as you set it as a goal, your chance of success are higher than if you don’t.
-
- Christmas with the family in St. Augustine, Florida
- One more observation, a retirement bonus that I noticed. Christmas shopping and events were so freeing because I didn’t have the work load I did in past years. My budget was smaller-retirement budget-but we all still had a great Christmas and I loved looking at freedom this time of year.
Tips:
- Make a plan to balance work and home. Hang in there and know that the day will come when you can look at freedom everyday.
- Need space? Rethink it. Even though we feel like we have ample room here, the use of space needed to be improved. I was using the table for an office but that meant it was always cluttered with the computer and papers. We were also busy digitizing home videos (part of our downsizing process) and the video and second computer were always on our limited counter space along with copied and to copy VHS tapes. Clutter, everywhere! We also observed that the passenger chair, when turned around toward the living room served mostly as a catch all as you came through the door- ugh, more clutter. What was our solution? We have a very roomy cab area. There is a small table next to the passenger chair and the dashboard area is quite large. I already had office supplies and photography equipment stored there, so…naturally this became our office. We left the passenger chair turned forward and the space is quite roomy to work in. We were also able to gain some room by moving one of the dog crates to right behind the passenger chair giving a more closed off look to the space. We like it. Expect that tweaking space and rearranging will be the norm when you begin RV living.
- Protect your RV floors. We made a huge mistake when we moved in. We were leaving behind ceramic tile floors that seemed to be indestructible no matter what you pushed across them. Ruff Road has laminate tiles. We now know, they will scratch easily. When we moved in we took baskets, boxes, and crates of belongings to Ruff Road and, like an assembly line, shoved them in the door and pushed them inside to add more. All of this pushing of weighted items put fine scratches all over our floors. You can’t really tell unless you are on the floor so that’s the good news. Then I wondered, were they there all along? No, I think we did it. To further protect our floors, we stopped sliding things on them. The dog crates rest on rugs. In addition, we put felt on the bottom of our ottoman and free standing chair. Lesson learned.
Tips relating to dogs:
- Keep nails trimmed. We should know this but we let it slip. Our girls’ nails grow long and sharp if not trimmed. We wish we were part of the group of folks who know how to do this, but we aren’t- yet. Our dogs’ nail trimmings require a trip to the vet after a calming pill. They are overdue and our dash paid the price. We now have one little pinhole from an excited Terra who jumped up before she could be stopped.
- Set boundaries for pets. This should go without saying but…sometimes this doesn’t happen. Our girls are allowed in the driver and passenger chairs, the ottoman, or the floor. They are not allowed on the couch or the bed. They also know to “stay” when we are coming and going through the door. Consistency is the key. Make sure both pet parents are on the same page. If one allows a rule to be broken, pets become confused and, like children, will push their limits.
- Use Velcro to keep covers on furniture. When we purchased our RV, the coach seats were already starting to flake. We keep them covered with blankets and that works well. Our ottoman is looking a little worn as well so it is covered with a quilted piece of fabric. I used Velcro to attach the fabric to the ottoman. I plan to use Velcro to help keep blankets on the coach chairs. I’ll let you know how that works out. Until then, we will just rearrange them after the pups mess them up.
What are some trials we’ve had this month?
- Our onboard water tank filled up twice this month. The first time water was actually leaking out of the fill tank area. We thought we had the switch flipped over to city water, but it still happened twice. After draining the tank twice and rechecking, we haven’t had anymore issues. Maybe it wasn’t all the way over. It’s still a mystery.
- This is tragic! We purchased a Powilling Dehumidifier from Amazon to take care of excess moisture in the air. It rode on the built in side table next to the couch. We had no problem in all of our travels. However, on one fateful day, as we turned into our driveway, it took a tumble and fell to the floor never to work again. We recommend this unit. It has worked great for us.
We are just days away from our first full time RV Christmas. The tree is up. The lights are hung. We are warm and cozy and happy. Peace to everyone.
RV Life – Month 4
I moved out!
That’s right! I moved out of Ruff Road. We had scheduled some warranty work to be done at Tampa Lazy Days on November 4th. Our list of needed repairs were the leaking AC in the rain, refrigerator not cooling and freezing up, toilet ring would not keep water in the bowl even though we had used the lubricant, our antennae handle just fell off, possible air leak in the brakes, and our propane tank gauge did not work. So the girls, Phoebe, Terra, and Luna, and I moved out into the “big house” while Gary headed south to Tampa for our appointment. Lazy Days allowed him to stay in the RV at night. This should have been simple but we learned that the refrigeration tech only comes once a week on Tuesday. The scheduling department scheduled us for Wednesday so that delayed the refrigerator even being looked at for one week. All in all, Gary was gone November 1st – November 17th. While we loved the buying experience at Lazy Days, we didn’t love the service there. They did repair the items on our list and our warranty was effective in keeping these costs down. Some things that had to be fixed weren’t covered. It didn’t cover the roof reseal, AC gaskets, or the AC fan motor. It did cover all the other items so all in all, not bad.
Lesson learned
- Before you go to a repair shop, make sure your pantry is fully stocked. We intended to shop but ran out of time. Gary was stuck there without a car. There was a gas station nearby, Cracker Barrel, and Lazy Days restaurants. He wished he had food in the pantry.
- Plan on it taking longer than you expect. That seems to be the norm from what others have said. I’m sure there are exceptions and it depends on what needs to be fixed. I’ve also heard nightmare stories of it taking weeks or months to have repairs completed.
- Don’t expect buyer loyalty. We did and when Gary arrived, he was just another person. We emailed with no response. We did let the service manager know our concerns regarding the service. Of course, you never complain without a solution. Here are ours:
If the service volume is high, extend the service hours.
Have a plan for repairs.
Don’t allow outside vendors to dictate their work schedule.
Overnight parts
It wasn’t all bad.
Gary had electric, water, and dump access while there. Lazy Days is a beautiful RV Park and RV dealership. Gary walked the grounds and even did some RV shopping. He is loving those 5th wheels. I’m glad they finished the repairs or he might have traded Ruff Road for a 5th wheel! Another bonus is he attended several RV seminars while there and learned about RV tanks and electrical systems.
Happy Holidays are coming!
While he was away, my granddaughters and I decorated the “big house” for Christmas. We also had a sweet sixteen birthday party for my granddaughter. All of this was so much fun and I enjoyed not stressing about work and just enjoying this time with family.
Tips:
- Walmart battery operated lights are inexpensive and have a timer. This works great for RVs.
- Don’t leave your vents open if you don’t have a vent cover. It rained. It poured. It flooded. Good thing I had my camping towel to mop it up.
When are we EVER going to leave?
You may be wondering when and if we are ever going to “hit the road”. There have been a couple of hiccups that delayed us leaving. The major one is it took a long time to get rid of our stuff. Once October passed, neither one of us really wanted to venture north of where we are. We love the warmer weather, plus we wanted to be home for the holidays. We do have some trips planned for 2018. We are looking forward to venturing away for awhile. So stay tuned, it’s in the works.
Do you have any RV repair stories? Comment and share what you learned from the process.
RV Life- Month 3
We took a trip!
Ok, well we spent the night at Silver Springs State Park with the grandgirls. It wasn’t far to travel. Can you believe their 50 amp service didn’t work and we had to use 30 amp? Oh well. We are used to it. We stayed at Site #38. It is a very large, private site. We did this spur of the moment and got a site as a walk in. This park usually stays booked up. Sundays and Mondays are good days to find a site the ranger said. All of the sites here are large and somewhat private. You can see your fellow campers but the size of the sites adds to the privacy. You are guaranteed to see deer here either on the winding drive to the campground or on one of the many trails here. You can even walk to the Silver River which flows out of Silver Springs. Silver Springs has been the site of many movies including Tarzan. There are monkeys in the area around Silver Springs. They are cute to watch but don’t engage them. You can hike from the camping area to the main area of Silver Springs State Park. The attraction is now run by the state so it only costs $2.00 to visit per person. It is a beautiful, scenic park along the springs and river. You can launch your kayak from the kayak launch which costs $4.00 per vessel. Camping costs $24.00 per night, plus tax, plus $6.70 reservation fee. The park also has cabins you can rent and a Florida museum you can visit for $2.00 per person. Here is a link to learn more: https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Silver-Springs
Tip: Organization-
I mentioned this before but it’s so important. Have a routine. It’s ok to change it but if you have a plan, things won’t fall through the cracks. For example, we officially made Monday our dump day instead of waiting until we are praying to get to dump in time. Monday is also our laundry day.
We can’t get the RV out of the yard!
Our Monday dump day works great unless work is being done on your road. A sewage line was being installed in our neighbor’s yard and our long driveway had piles of dirt and deep ditches. It was an adventure trying to get out. Some days, we couldn’t get out at all. The longest we went between dumps was ten days. We were wringing our hands that week.
Welcome to Ruff Road RV Life.
Ruff Road RV Life was truly born this month. We had been planning and talking but downsizing consumed our time. This month we began filming for our You Tube channel and began developing this site.
RV Upgrades this month- Recommendations
Remember my backpacking gear problem? We installed heavy duty command hooks for my backpack, the pups’ backpack and my jackets. I need a lot of them because I am always freezing. We added command hooks by the door to hang our shoes. Finally, we added his and her command hooks to the bathroom door because the one that was there just wasn’t enough. We finally purchased a much needed new computer this month. It is my first Asus and so far I love it. We have an on board vacuum cleaner but I used the Rug Rat attachment this time and I recommend it to anyone who has dogs that shed.
Missed my October Hike
My goal was to knock off another section of the Appalachian Trail in October. It didn’t happen, there were just too many obligations and we could not get away. I was sad this didn’t happen. The mountains are so beautiful in October. I’ll see them again though. In fact, I will be completing the AT in 2018 heading out mid April. I am so excited to hike again. I do love the mountains!
Phoebe Update
Our girl is still not well. She is on antibiotics three times a day and has to take an appetite enhancer to eat. She seems better but is still sick. We are realizing that she most likely has a nose tumor. According to our vet, she has all of the symptoms and there is nothing that can be done. She is happy and comfortable. We will love our Phoebe girl until she joins our Pixie. Pixie left us quite suddenly last October. Pixie was a little, white, long haired terrier and only seven when she passed. I love dogs so much. I hate their limited lifespans.
Reflection -We are still not bored!
Well it has been three months and we are never bored. It is amazing how busy you stay when you are retired. I am the type of person who always needs to be doing something but I am finding it hard to find time for my recreational activities! Yes, we are still dealing with “stuff” which now means more EBAY and some Marketplace time. It does take time to clean items up, take pictures, and post. Still, it’s fun to see these things go to a new home and to be used again.
At this point, we have settled in to our new RV life. My favorite time of the day is in the morning. We sit in our cozy Ruff Road or even outside and sip our morning coffee. I didn’t even know this was in my future this time last year. We hadn’t even made our final retirement plans. Anything can happen. Believe it. Blessings.
