For “tRaVersing Thursday”, or RV Day:
Using a Thermal Blanket and More Cold Weather RVing Tips
“I worked in an environment that was 17 degrees below zero and 60 mile an hour winds at times. I did something that made that winter a breeze.
I got a roll of sidewalk insulation cover from a local builders supply. It is four feet wide and 50 feet long, for the one I used. It has five layers of bubble wrap and two tarps attached together. One tarp is silver and the other is black. Turn the black one out to absorb heat from the sun, and the silver side in to reflect your RV heat back in. (http://www.barrett-inc.com/thebarrier.php) I placed it around the bottom of the motor home up to the three foot level, and cut access flaps out where I had places I needed to access. It had a one-foot fold that outward from the motor home, where I laid anything heavy I could find. In my work that means chains and rocks. When the snow came, it was kept out from under the motorhome. If you place an extension on your exhaust so that it penetrates the thermal lining, you can start your engine on occasion and make the under coach temps rise quickly in case you start getting a frozen tank. The underside was kept just above freezing by a small electric fan heater. I never froze up.
Note, don't forget if you are in a class C to cover your engine compartment and hood to protect your engine from the extreme temps, and to keep blowing wind from packing snow in places where you will never get it out of when it is time to roll out.
One more modification that is cheap. Place small 500-watt electric heaters in your storage areas and in the basement for those who have them. This will keep the cold from freezing all your supplies, and make it less likely that you will get a frozen water line that might burst when it thaws and spew water all over your RV, or worse, run all night flooding your floor and making a huge ice problem under your RV, not to mention the water bill. The heat tape on the hose is a good idea inside of split insulation and a flexible outer hose, or pool noodles. Don't forget to insulate well right where your water hooks up on your RV. It really is not that much of a big deal.
Now for the severe winter, stuck in one place, there is one more thing you can do. I have the silver sided bubble wrap that you can get at your local home supply outlet and I have made a cover for the outside and inside of all unnecessary windows, and the roof. It is taped on with the silver colored metallic tape and peals away easily in the spring. You loose a tremendous amount of heat through the un-insulated windows and the roof vents. Once in place, put a dark colored tarp over the roof to protect the insulation bubble wrap and pick up extra heat from the sun.
Batten everything down well and you will have a happy and warm winter.” by: Anonymous
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Women RVers:
Retired nurse loves her extended time RVing
”Julianne Crane reports on Laura Taub, who is "sold on her new-found life on the road." in her 26-foot Born Free class C motor home. Taub says, "My parents did full-time RVing for 28 years and I saw the joy it brought them and knew I too would love that lifestyle." Read her story.”
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Do you know how much it costs to go full-time RVing?
“Unfortunately there isn’t one answer. Costs fluctuate wildly depending on a person’s spending habits, tastes and choice of RV.
To prepare your finances for full-time RVing, here are some tips to help you get on a worry-free road to freedom.”
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Quartzsite Survival Guide Basics for RV Snowbirds
“Quartzsite winter camping is an experience that every RVer needs to do at least once. Have you done it? If so, what did you think?
This is our second time here, and we’ve learned a few tips from the pros since arriving.
If you haven’t been to this sprawling mecca of rubber roofs, fiberglass and windblown desert rats, here are a few suggestions to make your stay more enjoyable:” More at: http://www.liveworkdream.com/2013/01/19/quartzsite-survival-guide-basics-for-rv-snowbirds/
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Information, history, photos and links to numerous web sites regarding Quartzsite, Arizona.
With only two off ramps on I-10 and just over 3000 permanent residents, Quartzsite, AZ becomes the third largest city, in population, in the state of Arizona during the RV Show. The POW WOW, plus several other rock & mineral shows and flea markets, has made Quartzsite a "MUST-SEE" destination for a million+ people, annually, for the last 4+ decades! More at: http://www.quartzsitervshow.com/local-quartzsite-information
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Quartzsite,AZ, America’s Largest Parking Lot.
“It’s Nowhere, Arizona—until November. Then more than a million devotees of RVs roll in from all over for swap meets, socializing, and the sunset-painted sky.
By mid-January, the mechanical car counter at the Interstate 10 exit is ticking off 26,000 vehicles a day. Within weeks 175,000 RVs cram inches apart into 79 trailer parks, onto front yards, and spill out seven miles on either side of town. Every year more than a million people reset their internal navigation and drive from Everywhere, North America, to this western Arizona dot on the map. Get the whole story in the pages of National Geographic magazine.
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Hospital for Quartzsite, AZ, makes "nations worst" list
“Each year, tens of thousands -- maybe even hundreds of thousands of RV snowbirds -- head to Quartzsite, Arizona. If you plan to be one of them, by all means stay healthy and avoid an accident. A new report lists the 25 worst hospitals in the USA, based on performance of medical error, medication mismanagement, infection rates and patient injuries. Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe, Calif., the closest hospital to Quartzsite, ranks third worst. Read more.”
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Working on the road. Resources. Part One
Workamping at a Hot Springs Resort
“Finding ways to make money while full-time RVing may seem mysterious at first, but thankfully there are many free and subscription-based resources that provide road trippers with everything needed to make money while traveling. These work-from-the-road groups feature job listings and enthusiastic members who are willing to share their experiences while working at certain jobs. Read more.”
Work on the Road Resources, Part II
Workamper Jim installs new roof.
“If you're looking to work on the RV road, the Internet is blossoming with networking groups that can help you find that perfect job.
Whether you want a short-term workamping arrangement or a year-long commitment as a property caretaker, there's a group to help you get that interview. Here are some workamping resources that I've personally investigated and participate in:” More at: http://rvwork.rvtravel.com/2012/12/work-on-road-resources-part-ii.html
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Use black-colored tire covers in the summer?
Really? Use black-colored tire covers in the summer? You're kidding, right?
Nope, not kidding. But using black colored tire covers in the hot summer was what Russ De Maris suggested in a recent article. One reader took exception: "I can't agree with using anything black to cover the tires. Black absorbs sunlight and the extra heat is not what you want on the tires. Light transmission has nothing to do with the color of the material but the material itself." But Russ stands his ground. In this post, he tells why black is best, and he quotes authorities on the subject who agree. Read his article.
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Random RV Thought
”Carry candles with you in your RV and car. In a winter-time emergency even the tiny bit of heat they produce can be a life-saver if stranded in the middle of nowhere.”
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On This Day:
Winston Churchill dies, Jan 24, 1965:
“Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, dies in London at the age of 90.
Born at Blenheim Palace in 1874, Churchill joined the British Fourth Hussars upon his father's death in 1895. During the next five years, he enjoyed an illustrious military career, serving in India, the Sudan, and South Africa, and distinguishing himself several times in battle. In 1899, he resigned his commission to concentrate on his literary and political career and in 1900 was elected to Parliament as a Conservative MP from Oldham. In 1904, he joined the Liberals, serving in a number of important posts before being appointed Britain's first lord of the admiralty in 1911, where he worked to bring the British navy to a readiness for the war that he foresaw.
In 1915, in the second year of World War I, Churchill was held responsible for the disastrous Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns, and he was excluded from the war coalition government. He resigned and volunteered to command an infantry battalion in France. However, in 1917, he returned to politics as a cabinet member in the Liberal government of Lloyd George. From 1919 to 1921, he was secretary of state for war and in 1924 returned to the Conservative Party, where two years later he played a leading role in the defeat of the General Strike of 1926. Out of office from 1929 to 1939, Churchill issued unheeded warnings of the threat of Nazi and Japanese aggression.
After the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Churchill was called back to his post as first lord of the admiralty and eight months later replaced the ineffectual Neville Chamberlain as prime minister of a new coalition government. In the first year of his administration, Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany, but Churchill promised his country and the world that the British people would "never surrender." He rallied the British people to a resolute resistance and expertly orchestrated Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin into an alliance that crushed the Axis.
In July 1945, 10 weeks after Germany's defeat, his Conservative government suffered a defeat against Clement Attlee's Labour Party, and Churchill resigned as prime minister. He became leader of the opposition and in 1951 was again elected prime minister. Two years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his six-volume historical study of World War II and for his political speeches; he was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955, he retired as prime minister but remained in Parliament until 1964, the year before his death.”
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Yesterday:
Misty and I went to pick up Jay, and had our walk down there. Back here, we loaded the van with the paper recycling, and off we went to the next town. But, once the Aerostar van got up on the freeway, it was obvious that there was still something wrong with it. Jim had told me to put some Lucas Injection Cleaner in it, and drive it the 25 miles up to Huntsville (TX) and back at 70 mph, to blow the carbon out of it. Part of my van’s problems are caused by it belonging to ‘a little old lady who just goes shopping and to church’ in it! It never gets out on a road trip. We put the cleaner in the gas, but didn’t go to Huntsville. We bought the important things on our lists in Conroe, and even stopped at a couple of thrift shops.
On the phone, I made an appointment to take the van to Pete’s in Conroe, as my late husband and I have had great faith in him as a mechanic since the 80’s. Pete is now grey-haired, but still runs his shop very efficiently. It is called M & P Wheel Alignment Co., but he does everything including brakes and AC service there. Pete drove it around and when he came back, they put the computer on my van, free of charge, and discovered just what Jim had said, that it is missing on 3 cylinders. But the computer doesn’t say why.
Now it has an appointment go back to Pete’s for further diagnosis on Monday.
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