Archive for FAQs
August 7, 2006 at 7:47 pm · Filed under FAQs
A blog reader who shall remain only partially anonymous (Brad A) wrote me today to ask:
Do you use the Passport America discount on your trip? I’m just starting to check it out for our route, and it looks like it’ll pay for itself pretty quickly, like a the national parks pass. It’s one of those things that seems like such a good deal, it must be a trap- maybe they coax you into a box, and you wake up drugged and are forced to sew Nikes somewhere in the Phillipines.
We just started using Passport America in northern California, when Rich C dragged us to a place in Klamath that offered the PA discount. We bought a PA membership on the spot and the first two days discount paid for about half the cost of the membership.
What we’ve found is that those places that offer PA tend to be the ones at the edge of town or in the less-desirable spots. That doesn’t make them bad, but because of their locations we end up only using PA places once every few stops. I think at this point we have spent about 10 nights in PA camps and 7 or so of those were eligible for the discount rate. That easily paid for the membership, since most nights are discounted to about half the regular rate.
When we are looking for a place to stay, we go down this list:
1) National Parks
2) State Parks
3) Courtesy parking
4) Boondocking in remote area
5) County parks/ BLM camps/ Corp of Engr camps
6) Commercial campgrounds w/ PA discount or KOA discount
7) Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, Camping World, casinos, etc. (if staying only one night)
8) Gas stations, empty parking lots, etc.
9) Commercial campgrounds with no discount
10) Highway rest areas (extreme desperation)
Keep in mind that this list is oriented to our interest in natural areas, socializing, and cheap camping. We don’t feel the needs for full hookups unless we are going to be staying for longer than four days. Other people feel differently, so you may not agree with the order we use. Still, with this policy we have managed to keep our campground expenses generally under $300 per month.
Of course, the order of the list can change if weather is extremely hot (A/C needed) or we need to be in cell phone or Internet range. That’s why today we are at the KOA in Gunnison rather than at some very beautiful campsites a few miles west of town near the lake. Cell phones don’t work over there, and I have work to do this week.
I think PA is a good deal if you camp a lot. Keep in mind that not every place offers the discount every day. Some are restricted to 2 nights, or weekdays only, etc. It works best if you have flexibility in where you want to stay.
We keep the PA guidebook under the front seat with the atlas and the KOA book. I’m planning to add books on Corps of Engrs campgrounds and BLM campgrounds to the pile. Rich C swears by “Don Wright’s Guide to Free Campgrounds” as well.
If anyone has a guidebook that they recommend, post a comment here and share it with everyone!
April 18, 2006 at 9:47 am · Filed under FAQs
Hey, I just noticed we were featured in the Full Time RV’er newsletter this month. About 100 new people have started reading the blog as a result, so I wanted to say “Welcome!” and give you some pointers to information in this blog that may be helpful to you.
First off, if you are searching for something specific, try the “Search” box in the left column. We’ve talked about a lot of topics related to full-timing over the past seven months, so you’ll probably find the answers you want there. As of today, we have posted over 190 times.
Second, you should definitely read through all the Tips and Ideas entries.
Third, feel free to use the “Comments” link below every post to ask questions, or add your thoughts to anything we have said. Your comments are really helpful, not only to us, but to other readers of the blog. Let us know what you’d like us to talk about.
You might also want to browse the photo albums we’ve posted online. We have hundreds of photos for your enjoyment. They are organized by location, so if there’s a particular place you are interested in (especially western parks), check the Pictures link.
Finally, if you’d like to meet up and talk in person, check our Schedule page for the details. We plan to cover the entire USA coast-to-coast at least two more times this year, so eventually we’ll be somewhere near you!
March 1, 2006 at 8:28 am · Filed under FAQs
A reader of this blog writes:
“How do you protect your trailer from theft when you park it in places other than an RV park, i.e. Walmart, or a courtesy park? I often find myself wanting to unhitch our towing vehicle to drive around town, etc. I ordered a Guardian hitch lock, but still feel uncomfortable about leaving our 2005 28′ International CCD behind.”
That’s a good question. We’ve been lucky enough that most of the time we have been able to park in safe places, but of course that may not always be the case.
When we are outside a state park or RV park, we generally don’t unhitch. Definitely not at Wal-Mart — it’s considered bad etiquette since you are only supposed to stay one night, and certainly would be risky. You might also get a ticket that way. For overnight enroute stops we try to arrive around sunset and leave as early as possible.
Courtesy parking is usually safe, but again we don’t usually unhitch when we are in a friend’s driveway or on the street. If we need to unhitch, we look for a spot that is safe in the sense of having plenty of neighbors around, someone home to watch, or obstacles that would make it difficult to take the trailer. Blocking the trailer in with a car is enough to discourage thieves.
Here at NTAC, the entire complex is gated and the residents are very aware of who comes and goes. Everyone we have talked to has commented on how safe they feel here. So courtesy parking here is an example of one of the better security situations available.
Similarly, when we are in state or national parks, or attending rallies, we consider ourselves to be fairly secure. It’s a “safety in numbers” situation.
All of the trailer thefts I hear of are from unattended storage lots. This suggests that best thing you can do to protect your Airstream is to use it a lot! If you must store it off-site between trips, I would definitely look for a gated lot with security and use a good hitch lock (not just a regular padlock that can be easily cut off).
In addition to a hitch lock, consider a set of Rotochoks. These can be padlocked for a bit of additional protection. The trailer won’t move with these babies installed!
But having the whole trailer stolen is fairly rare. I think a more practical concern is the contents of your trailer. Most of us travel with a laptop computer or two, plus cameras and other items that would be attractive to a “smash & grab” type of thief.
I have seen many vintage trailers with obvious prybar marks on the door. It’s fairly stupid to try to open a vintage Airstream door with a prybar when there are far easier ways of doing it (which I won’t mention here), but then whoever said the average thief was smart? If you have a vintage trailer, get a deadbolt installed.
We take several precautions against break-ins. We have a deadbolt and we use it every time we leave the trailer. We also put desirable items in obscure places where they won’t be easily found. (Good luck finding my laptop if you break in!) I keep backups of my critical data on a separate hard drive, and I mail home DVD backups periodically. We close the curtains when we are gone. And we often get to know the people around us, so they will notice if someone else comes to mess with our trailer while we are gone.
See what Terry and Mike have done with their trailer? Those are custom vinyl letters, inexpensive and hard to remove. Similarly, our trailer is very distinguishable by its custom vinyl graphics. You might think about adding something to your trailer to make it easier to identify. Yes, such graphics can be removed with a hair dryer, a scraper, and about 30 minutes, but the mere fact of their existence might make a thief more likely to go elsewhere. I’m sure a thief wouldn’t want to be towing a “hot” trailer across town with an obvious personalization on it.
January 18, 2006 at 11:07 am · Filed under FAQs
Without a doubt the number one question I get from working people who want to travel by RV is, “How do you get online?”
The short answer is, “Any way I can.” Since we travel a lot, we can’t count on any one method of Internet access to work all the time. And since getting online is absolutely mandatory for me to do my job, we do what ever it takes to find the Internet, even if it means hitching up and moving onward. Sometimes that means a compromise between where we’d like to be and where we must be.
Normally, I use a cellular Internet system called “Internet in Motion” to get online. It’s basically a little black box that runs off the 12v system in the Airstream. With it, I can get online anywhere there is a cellular signal. This service costs $60 per month for unlimited use. The really nice thing about this system is that it can be left on even when in motion, so the Internet is always available. Eleanor gets online from the passenger seat while I’m towing, to look up information (weather radar, campgrounds, parks, etc). The downside, of course, is that if there’s no cellular signal, it can’t work.
Satellite is an excellent option for people who like to really roam to out-of-the-way places. It has the advantage of working anywhere you can see the southern sky, after about five minutes for the dish to orient itself. The equipment is more expensive– about $5000 installed. Monthly charges are about the same as cellular. The other thing to consider is that the satellite modems require AC power, which means you have to either be plugged in or have a big battery bank and inverter.
If we can’t get online with our IIM system, we run down the list of alternatives:
1) Is it really important to get online during our stay, or can we just pack the laptops and catch up later?
2) Is there a cyber cafe or other wireless hotspot nearby?
3) Can we borrow an office nearby with an Ethernet (wired) connection? Or, can we disconnect someone’s computer from their Internet connection for a few minutes?
4) Does our Verizon cell phone work? If so, we can connect a cable to it and get online that way.
5) Can we borrow a phone jack and dial in? (We rarely are reduced to this level, fortunately.)
The point is that it helps to have multiple ways to get online. There are no perfect, one-size-fits-all, guaranteed ways to get online. Sometimes you’ll just get skunked, as has happened to us many times. It can be frustrating that the best places to be are often the ones with no cell phone or Internet services, but we regard that as a sign that we should take a day off and go hiking!
If this sort of thing interests you, you should check out the new Digital RV Forum. It’s all about digital technology in RVs. The forum just launched on December 28 2005, and I’m one of the forum moderators. Post a question there if you have one!
January 17, 2006 at 9:20 am · Filed under FAQs
Joe, a reader of this blog, wrote to us today, asking: “How do you handle laundry? That has to be a bit of a pain…”
It’s not that bad. Every campground host knows where the local laundromat is. And when you’re staying near larger cities like when we were in Santa Cruz, there’s almost one every mile.
We pick a day to do errands. The first stop is the laundromat, where I take up three washing machines in a row (whites, lights, and darks). We head off to do a half-hour errand while the wash runs, come back, throw it in the dryer, run another errand, come back, fold and go! That way I don’t spend the entire day in the laundromat and I can do two weeks worth of laundry including sheets and towels. (When we were at the beach, I did laundry once a week.) It’s as simple as that.
January 16, 2006 at 8:02 am · Filed under FAQs
A reader of this weblog wrote in to say:
” I know your trip is about the experience, not technical issues, but it would be interesting to know routine maintenance needed for a new Airstream on a weekly and monthly basis and your checklist for setting up camp and leaving camp.”
Good questions. Actually we have remarkably little routine maintenance on the Airstream. Mostly we try to clean it periodically, inside and out. As I wrote in a previous blog entry, cleaning outside is either a matter of visiting a truck wash or borrowing a friend’s driveway. It seems to need cleaning monthly, and more often when we tow near the ocean or in cities. Inside, we use a little Dirt Devil handheld vacuum and a whisk broom, along with the sort of cleaning supplies you’d use in your house. The nice thing about a trailer is that it cleans up fast, so housework amounts to about 15 minutes.
Every time we dump the holding tanks we add a little enzyme chemical and water to the empty tank, to help keep them working properly. Sometimes we add a little Calgon water softener too, to help keep things from sticking to the insides of the tanks.
Every week I check the tire pressures, check the lug nuts for tightness, and look for damage under the trailer. I also need to start checking the battery fluid levels — haven’t done that yet.
About every two or three weeks I clean the pivot points in the Reese hitch and re-lubricate them. That takes about five minutes.
A basic tool kit in the rear compartment handles any minor repairs we need to do along the way. I carry a bag full of tools and supplies: screwdrivers, rivet gun, pliers, hitch grease, pressure gauge, various kinds of tape, glue, cordless drill & bits, and spare hardware (rivets, bulbs, screws, etc). Most of it hasn’t been needed — it’s just left over from when we were touring in a vintage trailer.
Pre-departure checklist is another matter. There are many details to attend to, so we have made up a two-page list. It took a few weeks to fine-tune this list (getting everything in order and dividing the work between two people). It includes things like turning off electronics, folding up the step, checking the propane, securing personal items, and closing roof vents. We’ll have an article on this subject in a future issue of Airstream Life magazine, with lots more detail.
Once you get the hang of your particular trailer or motorhome, and figure out where everything goes during travel, routine maintenance and packing are a breeze. It all becomes unchallenging, like refueling your car and refilling the wiper fluid. Overall, I think it’s easier than a house.
January 14, 2006 at 10:17 am · Filed under FAQs
Since we are in vacation mode through next Wednesday, I’ll take this opportunity to answer a few reader questions that come up frequently:
Airstream warranty. A reader of this blog wrote in to ask about the warranty, in light of our faucet problem back in November. The warranty is two years, bumper to bumper. We’ve had a few things fixed on the trailer and Airstream has always served us with a smile.
Tow vehicle. In November, I got a call from a Nissan dealer in North Carolina who said our photo from Wheeler Peak (Great Basin National Park) sold his customer on a Nissan Armada for his Airstream. For us, the Armada has proved to be a very good match to the 30-footer, using a properly adjusted Reese Strait-Line hitch and Prodigy brake control.
The truck has been reliable, with 10,700 miles logged since new at this point. Since we are towing a lot, we change oil every 3,000 miles. Be sure to follow the break-in instructions for towing very carefully regardless of which vehicle you buy. With the Nissan Armada or Titan, you need to log 500 miles not towing, then 500 miles towing below 45 MPH, before you hit the highway.
Email list. Down on the left column you’ll see a link that says “Enter your email and we’ll notify you of upcoming events.” Really what happens if you enter your email is that once in a while I’ll send you a note when something special is happening in the blog. For example, I’ll send you a short reminder when we get back on the road next week. It won’t add you to any spam lists.
Tell a friend! If you like this blog, the best thing you can do is tell a friend! We love sharing the experience with people and we’d love to help a few more people become travelers (or enjoy traveling more)!
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