Author: Lee and Tracy

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The Dynamics of RV Dog Parks

For those of you who aren’t dog owners and never plan on being one, you might want to skip this post.  And for those of you who have been going to RV dog parks for years, you will probably think this post doesn’t come close to capturing the experience.  I like to write about new things though and going to a dog park is definitely more complicated than I ever imagined it would be.  First of all, if you are a person who stays in more rustic settings, dog parks aren’t a part of your RV life.  You get up, take the dog for a walk, and allow him/her to do their business in the most convenient spot.  The most important thing is to remember to bring your bag to clean up and you may occasionally meet other dogs while you are walking.

Meeting other dogs while walking requires its own bit of etiquette.  You might slow down and look at the person and maybe let your dogs sniff each other.  Because the dogs are generally leashed (it’s really not cool when one is and the other is not), you have some control over their behavior and how long the interaction is.  In general those encounters are fairly brief, with a few courteous words exchanged and then you are back to walking your dog and hopefully getting them to do their business.

One of the nice things about this approach is the dog can pick his/her spot.  If they prefer concrete, gravel, grass, bare spot, whatever…you can hopefully find a spot nearby that appeals to them.  Some dogs like to go in the same place that other dogs go, but some, like Jack, prefer a place where less dogs/animals have been.   This is clear from roadside rest areas that are full of dogs smells, because all he will do at this point is smell everything rather than remarking the territory.  Hopefully that changes as he gets a little older, because most places have areas that dogs seem to gravitate to.

Unfortunately in some RV resorts, all of that goes out the window. Yes, you can walk your dog on the pavement, but there are STRONG taboos against letting your dog pee/poop on someone else’s site.  They have dog parks for a reason and unless there are areas on the outer perimeter you can use, the expectation is your dog will be well enough trained to both make it to the park and do it’s business there.  Which I have no issue with in theory, but as with many things in life it’s not that simple.

First off, the dog parks have lots of smells, and since so many dogs use them getting Jack to even settle down enough to go has been a challenge.  How I envy those owners whose dogs go inside, ignore everything  and do their business, but for us right now that is not the case. Jack gets distracted by the smells (which are different every time we go because different dogs) and sounds.  If he hears car doors, people talking, people walking by etc he will get distracted and then need to start all over.  His routine is to sniff around, start to circle, and finally go.  If there are lots of distractions it can take him forever to finish that routine.

All of that is of course assuming the dog park is empty.  I would say at least 50% of the time it is, but the rest of the time there are other dogs which adds a whole new layer and really is what I wanted to talk about.  In this RV park there are two fenced sections to the dog park, so if one half is occupied you can go into the other.  Morning and evenings are the most crowded, which makes sense because that’s when most dogs go.  I don’t mind evenings as much, because I am awake and dressed, but mornings can be brutal.  He needs to go right away in the morning, so it’s pre-shower and in many cases coffee.  I am not at my most friendly, and am navigating a social interaction first thing in the morning.

And  it is an interaction.  First we have to walk there, and in this case it is not a short walk.  Once there we see which (if any) are open.  If there are big dogs in one side, it is a no-brainer for me as I always go to the other side.  So far Jack is not a fan of big dogs and just sits on the bench until they are gone.  Smaller dogs are a possibility, but again it depends.  So far he seems to prefer older dogs to younger ones, which is ironic because the older dogs never want to play with him.  They tolerate him and he runs around trying to get them to play, but the most we can hope for is a benevolent tolerance.  Puppies on the other hand who want to play he is skittish with and mature dogs in their prime he is downright scared of.  It’s kind of interesting really, because this is probably what it would be like in a pack, and his “puppiness” is in full force when other dogs are around.

None of these factors of course take into account whether or not the owners actually want their dogs with him.  I am negotiating with the people while the dogs are checking each other out.  We talk about our dogs ages and habits, and apologetically talk about their bad habits.  I am quick to say, Jack hasn’t been around many other dogs and the more experienced dog park attendees seem to get that.  But their dogs can be aggressive as well, especially when the dogs come in pairs, which is pretty common.  While Jack is getting all this sorted out, no way is he going to be vulnerable and pee.  He’s uncomfortable, I am uncomfortable, but it’s important that he has the experience.  Hopefully over time, being around strange dogs won’t be such a big deal but for right now at least it’s an event every time.  Thankfully, the owners usually realize it isn’t working and will take their dogs out as soon as they are done.

On rare occasions, Jack seems OK with the other dog and in those cases we will spend more time.  I always get excited for him to have both the social and exercise experience, but in these cases I have to make conversation with the other dog owner.  Just because dogs get along it doesn’t mean their owners have anything in common, and I have had some bizarre conversations while they play.  Because they are going out of their way to help my dog get more comfortable though, it’s important that I am social.  Again, not such a big deal in the evening, but morning Tracy in her sweatpants is generally not so friendly.  I make the effort though, because as I said the interactions with dogs where Jack is a little comfortable are definitely not the norm.

One thing I find interesting is the types of dogs he gravitates towards.  I was listening to an NPR podcast recently where they were trying to figure out if dogs could be racist.  Turns out that Yale University has a Canine Cognition Center, which has a bunch of different studies trying to figure out if dogs have preferences or prejudices.  Their studies are still in the early stages, but I think they will definitely find that dogs do.  Jack as I mentioned loves older dogs, which makes sense because Hobie (who is 10) made such a huge impression on him.  He treats most of them the same, wagging his tail, getting low, and trying to get them to play.  So far his puppy encounters are limited by two dogs, but in both cases he wanted to play with them, but was afraid.  The interactions were cautious and much different from how he treated the older dogs.  All encounters with grown dogs have not gone well, as I mentioned,  except when they are white and fluffy.  We met a Scotty the other day and he was all over him.  That really surprised me until I remembered the farm he grew up on had Cavachons and Scotties.  His behavior made perfect sense then.

 

 

This was the first pair of dogs we met. Jack immediately took the high ground and went on the bench.

The younger of the pair came to check Jack out but he wasn’t into it.

Finally the older of the two dogs came over and although Jack was initially cowering.

He finally gained enough courage to jump down and make friends.

It was a huge victory on a subsequent visit when he played chase.

He was still staying on the bench though with most dogs.  He stays close to the owners who have been very cool about it when they find out hes a puppy.

Finally we met Cody!! He is a 15 month old . He is an Alaskan Klee Kai and although his father was a full-sized Malamute, he will not be much bigger than Jack. His owner is a super nice guy and been very helpful giving me information about having a puppy in this area.  Being overheated and rattlesnake encounters are a real concern and he gave me good advice on both.

There was lots of sniffing going on and they always included any third dog who wandered in.

They love to run and REALLY fast. As you can see from the picture they are a blur.

As comfortable as he got with the smaller dogs Jack wanted nothing to do with the larger ones until he met Heidi who is a support dog for a deaf woman.

That dog was so amazingly gentle that even Laci Lou got down and sniffed a little.

 

This dog park has become a big part of my life as we are going 4-5 times a day. Every encounter is different although we are seeing Cody quite a bit.   Like I said, not sure it was interesting if you are not a dog owner, but it’s all new to me.  I have been a dog owner all of my life, but never been to dog parks.  We either had a yard or in the early days of my dog ownership, dog parks weren’t that common.   By the end of the week, Jack was much more comfortable with both big and small dogs.  There were still a few that he cowered, but mainly he anxiously awaited his trips to the dog parks and was always on the lookout for Cody in particular.  The fellow dog owners were also super helpful.  Every one of the small dog owners knew him by name and they would take extra time in the park to help socialize him.  This helped not only get used to dogs but also strangers as almost everyone wanted to on love on him.  The people who had rescued dogs, in particular, were sympathetic, because they had all gone through the process of socializing a dog on the road.  I still didn’t enjoy those early morning visits, but the benefit to him has been incalculable. I would absolutely recommend a visit to a larger RV resort with a dog park just for this purpose. It might have taken weeks or months to get to this point if we were only traveling in more remote locations.  Instead we both got a crash course in dog parks and came out the other side much better for the experience.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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First ATV Ride

We have an incredibly diverse group of friends that we started our RV journey with and I often wonder what keeps us so tightly knit.  We are all different ages, from different soci-economic backgrounds, have different political views, and are from all different parts of the country.  To be honest there are times when those differences can cause some friction, but never enough that our friendships don’t transcend.  I wonder though what is at the core that binds us.  We definitely have the shared experience of starting this lifestyle together, but I have something similar with people I graduated high school with and don’t feel nearly as close to most of them.  We all share a love of the outdoors and adventure.  That certainly is bonding, but again I have met tons of people in this lifestyle with similar interests that I don’t feel as close to.  What I realized this week is what really makes this group special is its generosity of spirit.

We look out for each, we care about each, and on a base level we trust each other.  Why I mention it now is this became crystal clear to me when Guy offered us his ATV for the day.  We haven’t seen Guy and Sue in over three years.  Sure we keep up on Facebook, and we get updates from our friends who have seen them, but we have not physically been in the same place.  But when we got together, it was like no time had passed and we picked up right where we left off.  Sue made us dinner and Guy took Lee for a buggy ride, insisting that he drive.  More than insisting actually when Lee was being a little too cautious on a big hill and Guy pushed him into taking it.

Those types of experiences we have come to expect with RV friends, but what happened next we weren’t expecting.  At the end of the ride, Guy handed Lee the keys and said he should take me for a ride the next evening while we were at dinner.  The trust and generosity inherent in that act was really special.  Even more so because the experience was exactly;y what we needed.  If you have been reading, you know Lee and I have been through a lot the last few weeks, and this time with just the two of us out in nature was extremely important. It helped us reconnect to each other and to the reason we live this lifestyle, which was especially important to me.  So thank you Guy for giving us this experience, and I know you were just being you but thanks anyways. Here’s the pictures.

The entrance to the ATV trails is right behind the RV park so no need to go on the road. You do need a permit though.

I was ready to go, but a little nervous.

The view right past the gate though was stunning and I knew it was going to be beautiful

I couldn’t get over how green it was. There was a lot of rain in February which led to this amazing greenery.

There were even a few places with standing water.

And the cows were certainly happy

One interesting thing about the grass was that in certain light it was all green and in other light it had this reddish tint.

There are no road signs of any kind on the trails, but thankfully Lee has an excellent sense of direction.

The little patches of flowers really stood out.

We arrived at our first destination which was to see some petroglyphs. this is also a common campsite for people who want to stay overnight.

The flowers climbing the hill were beautiful

And right around the corner were some petroglyphs.

Life finds a way.

Next we crossed some ranch gates so we could see some vistas.  The land is used by ranchers who share the trails with ATVers.  It’s important that the gates are closed behind you which means a lot of jumping in and out in some spaces.

all the gates were different

Some were just barbed wire

The only gate we found open the entire drive was close to this range rover who I am guessing didn’t get out to shut the gate behind them.

Beside the Range Rover we only saw one other ATV the entire trip.  We started around 4pm (happy hour for most people) which seemed a good time to go.  We did have to be very careful about the time though, because once it gets dark it is VERY difficult to find your way back.

Long stretches of road on the plateau, but I wouldn’t let Lee goes as fast as he wanted. Too bouncy!!

The sky went on forever.

There were also several beautiful rock formations that were part of the Superstition Mountains.  I could have taken pictures all day.

And of course the amazing Saguaro cacti.  There were some absolute monsters ones and so beautiful.  The Saguaron desert is by far my favorite, mainly because of those beautiful cacti.

You can see me in the picture to get a feeling for the scale. Amazing.

This was Lee’s favorite.

When we reached this campsite, we decided to turn back. I didn’t want to take any chance of getting caught in the dark.

Time for a selfie though. You can see we were both really happy.

It was good we did because we ended up on some parallel trails, but Lee used the cell tower to navigate (as advised by Guy) and we made it back in time.

Just getting dark as we were pulling up to the gate.

It was a wonderful trip, but I will say it was a bit like scuba diving for me.  I scuba dive because that’s how you get to see the fish and the coral, but am not a dive for the sake of diving person.  Lee on the other hand just loves to dive and feels the same way about the ATV.  He had a blast just driving it and the scenery was a bonus.  He kept it pretty tame for me though (and also because it was on loan) and I was able to take this short video.  Not too bad if I do say so myself, and gives you a good idea of what it is like if you have never been.  Definitely an experience everyone should have at least once!

 

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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Five Year Camper Anniversary…How it has Held Up

One of my big questions before embarking on this lifestyle was how well will the average RV hold up.  There are a few high-end brands that are specifically designed for the full-time lifestyle, but we like many other people bought a middle tier RV and have adapted it.  In five years we have put over 40,000 miles on the RV.   It’s definitely been road tested, although we have also spent long stretches just sitting in one place for our summer jobs.  To answer the question on how it has held up, I am going to show you the before and after pictures and talk through some of the issues  we have had.  I will also discuss the enhancements and you can find details on how Lee did them on our DIY Mods Inside and DIY Mods Outside Pages. I can still remember picking it up and how shiny and clean everything was.  Obviously the place is lived in, the pictures will show that, but cosmetically it has held up much better than I expected.

Let’s start in the bedroom, which has probably changed the least.  The RV came with basic bedding and absolutely horrible valances.  We removed the valances right away, with the vague idea Lee would build something custom and I would make something to cover them.  Neither of those things happen so the blind hardware has been bare this entire time.  Honestly it rarely bothers me and I personally am still a huge fan of the wooden blinds.  Yes they get dusty, but I have never been a person who cares that much about dust.  I will say that little shelf in the back does catch a ton of dust and really doesn’t serve any practical purpose.  The two side night stands are used every night though and I would never have an RV without them.

Then

Now

The wood on the night stand is a little scuffed up, but other than that pretty much the same.  Lee added a reading glasses holder on his side (with command strips) and above some hooks where he can put the IPad and stream a TV show at night.  We have a TV in the room, but we rarely use it.  Even though it is on an arm, the picture is really too far to see from the bed and I think I have probably used it less than ten times in five years.  The dresser area has held up VERY well and I am so happy Lee insisted on full depth drawers.  Many RV’s only have shallow drawers and we need all of this space.  Our travel quilt is one of our favorite things although we also have a lighter weight one for warmer weather and an electric blanket for when it gets really cold.

I have to have a fan, so we added this little fold up table and Lee put in an extra outlet and an extra 12 volt plug for the fan we use when boondocking.

This artwork came from our house and is very lightweight. It stays put well despite the bounciest of roads and has held up well.

These were mirrors originally and I hated looking at myself first thing in the morning so Lee put Artscape window film on and it has held up VERY well.  I still really like it.

One of my favorite mods is how he turned part of the closet into a laundry hamper with netting. The laundry hamper solution is a challenge in almost every RV and this really works for us.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted a washer/dryer combo and we are so glad that we have it.  We use the washer dryer all of the time and only go to a laundromat when boon docking or for our blankets etc.  Unfortunately the first unit we got with the rig never worked right and we needed to use our extended warranty right away.  We had technicians out twice before they finally received permission to replace the Pinnacle with a Splendide.  I will say we occasionally have issues with it when we are on unusual power.  It’s not just us, Greg and Cori have had similar issues, but mostly it works great and we feel lucky to have it.  Would never get an RV without one.

We have only had two problems related to the washing machine.  One is before traveling you have to store the laundry soap inside the machine.  One time I forgot and it fell off, cracked, and laundry detergent leaked into the floor.  It was impossible to get out, never evaporated, and ultimately contributed to having to get the floor replaced.  When we got the slide floor replaced they couldn’t quite match the carpet so it is slightly different now around the slide.  Our second issue is the mirrored doors to the closet are cracked.  These doors see a lot of use and have not held up well.  Unfortunately they are not that easy to replace so for now we are just living with it.

Original Pinnacle washing machine.

Replacement Splendide. If you look closely at the carpet in the bottom you can see it doesn’t match.

Crack in upper right portion of left closet door. That bugs me.

Of all of the rooms I would say the bathroom is the most beat up.  Not surprising because it sees a ton of use and also because I find it very hard to clean in there.  My claustrophobia is mostly a non-issue in the other rooms, but I tend not to spend a ton of time in there. The shower itself has some nicks at the base and the doors are pretty bad.  The glass is cloudy and in the corners it has mildew etc.  Lee and I have both tried to get it clean, but without completely taking off the doors at this point I don’t think it is possible.  Instead I took the route that many others have and added a shower curtain.  When company comes over I just pull the curtain closed so no one sees.

The one really good thing we did do was upgrade to a larger toilet.  I hated the small toilet that came with the RV and the larger porcelain one was a HUGE improvement.  This upgrade still make me really happy and I would never own another RV without having this changed. It’s that big of a difference.

Brand new shiny bathroom. People really like the bowl but honestly it’s kind of hard to clean. It gets splatters underneath.

Current. The soap scum and mildew drive some people crazy. I’ve learned to live with it because the amount of work it takes to stop it from happening is frankly not worth it to me.

Lee says the stains and nicks at the bottom will never come out. The whole piece would need to be replaced.

The front of the drawers get toothpaste etc on them. I wipe them down but back the next day. It’s just a really small space.

Old toilet which I hated.  Low to the ground and never felt “secure” on the plastic.

New toilet is taller and porcelain.  Feels more secure.  the only downside is a small amount of water goes in after every flush.  That’s great for keeping it from getting stained, but not so great when trying to conserve water while boon docking.  The only downside though and a minor one at that.

The other space that has probably taken the most beating is the kitchen.  I use our kitchen a lot and although the cabinets have held up extremely well, the stove area and floors are a bit of a mess. The trim around the refrigerator slide is loose and the floors are pretty scuffed.  When I clean them they will look good for a few hours but in general tons of dust, small rocks etc tend to accumulate. Essentially it still looks good from a distance but when you get close up you start to notice all the little nicks. I just try to not let it make me crazy.

One of the biggest problems we have had is over time the sink developed gaps between it and the counter top.  It was a significant enough problem that once Lee replaced the sink and another time tore it apart and resealed the whole thing.  I find this really annoying because it is a pretty basic structural defect.  It is well within Lee’s ability to fix though so ends up being an annoyance rather than an emergency.  One of the best things we did was replace our table with a standard dining room table and ultimately we replaced the chairs with standard cushioned chairs.  I use the table routinely for cooking or computer work and the chairs were super uncomfortable.  I just wish we hadn’t waited so long to get regular chairs, because the new ones are sooo much better than what we had before.

At this point you might be wondering why we just don’t have the warranty take care of it.  Turns out that getting warranty work done can be extremely painful.  Since we travel we can’t go back to the dealer and have to find a shop wherever we are.  It’s never quick, we always have to wait too long for parts, and the quality of work has been substandard on several occasions.  That being said I still 100% recommend getting an extended warranty.  There are some things Lee can’t fix himself and others that are just too expensive.  We spent $4,000 on our platinum extended warranty and so far have gotten $3500 worth of value from it.  Since it lasts until 2021 I have no doubt we will get our money’s worth.

 

Brand new kitchen

Current State.  If you look around the handles on the bottom cabinets (where the trash is) you can see the wear. The upper cabinets have held up much better.  That bright spot by the way is from the sun.

 

New view from living room.

Current view from living room. The new dining room tables and chairs don’t take up that much more space, but definitely better for what we need.

New microwave stove area.

Current Microwave area

The one major change we would like to make in this are is to replace the microwave with a convection.  If I would have had any idea on how neat they are I would definitely have insisted on one.  Then Lee want to put in a propane stove top and we can reclaim the oven space for storage.  Two big problems with the propane oven.  First it cooks unevenly so baking anything that requires precise temperatures is out of the question.  Second it really makes the rig hot.  This can be a benefit when we are in a chilly place, but requires running the AC when we are in warmer climates. Between a convection oven, Air Fryer, and Instant Pot we feel we will have all of our bases covered and we could use the oven space to store our Instant Pot and Air Fryer, which currently don’t have a permanent home.  Some people would remove the propane all together and go with induction plates, but we like having propane burners for boon docking.

The biggest changes from when we picked it up were definitely made in the living room. We are on our third couch in five years because of the unique setup of our slide. We purchased our current couch at Lambright in Amish country and although isn’t a perfect fit for the slide is closer to what we want.  We also removed all the valances in this room and once again just have the hardware.

The original couch which was super uncomfortable. It was great that it opened into an air bed but I couldn’t sit or lay on it easily.

We bought out second couch before we even went on the road but it was just a standard loves eat.  Once big problem was the back covered the windows which significantly reduced our airflow. It was comfy though. Our current couch breathes better and has slightly shorter backs.  It also has a center section that comes down allowing for more airflow.  Because it gets so hot up in that corner we have also added a small fan which helps. Unfortunately it still sticks out and Lee built a second base for it to rest on and this time built-in a shoe cubby which is nice.  The only downside is you still can’t put your feet on the floor which is awkward when guests come over.  I usually have it reclined so it doesn’t bother me.

As you can see in the next picture we intentionally had the second couch left out.  Lee knew he wanted to build a desk and that has been absolutely awesome.  He added a slide out keyboard mount later, which really improved the design and all the details on how he did it are on our DIY page.  One thing I loved when I initially bought the RV was the front window. I still like it but because it has a structured screen print on the front it is very difficult to clean.  Dust and bugs also hang out in that section and it’s hard to get back in there.

It really doesn’t matter much though because it turns out we keep the TV up most of the time.  We use it as a second computer screen or just have it up with a running slide show of our pictures.  It comes down when we travel of course but I am sure it is up 90% of the time we are stationary.  The only downsides to the TV is unfortunately it isn’t smart TV, which we would like to have AND in the process of putting it up and down the power plug often wiggles loose.  Lee usually deals with that, because you can’t see the plug you have to feel for it.  It happened while I was taking pictures for this blog though and I managed to do it myself.  It’s just a poor design and another reason we usually leave the TV up.

Brand New

Our desk area which I love. Only downside is does get a little hot in that corner sometimes.

The carpet has held up remarkably well considering how light it is. Replacing it would be a huge job because of the slides and desk.

I love the front for a place for special knick knacks but not so much for the dust.

And the window is always dirty. See that red streak in the corner. A big blood splat against the window and bled between the grill and the glass. I have tried everything to get rid of it, including hydrogen peroxide and a Qtip but it is stubbornly not leaving. I try not to think about it anymore, because without replacing the glass I am stuck with it.

Lee’s chair area hasn’t changed much at all.  The only difference is we added a table that Lee made from a piece of wood we got in the Redwoods.

New.

Current. The chair is original and held up very well.

Overall the inside is doing pretty good.  Our biggest problem has been repeated issues with our slide cables, which thankfully Lee can usually fix himself.  We knew when we bought the Open Range the slide system was unique, but Lee wanted something he could work on himself.  And to be honest I have not been easy on these front slides.  Still it is my biggest complaint about the interior of the rig and for me feels like a structural defect.

Speaking of structural defects it is time to talk about the outside.  Lee is working this week and unavailable to add to this post, so I will do the best I can hitting the highlights.  As you can see below everything was bright and shiny when we picked it up, but of course are a little more beat up now. the main cosmetic changes are that Lee removed the swirls from the windows, which I really appreciated because it opened the window up.  The logos on both the front and back windows are also getting a little faded but this seems to be a common problem with older RV’s.  We like the way it is fading though because of the light colors it really doesn’t look that bad.  We actually are very glad we have a light-colored RV.  It hides the dust better and the paint doesn’t show fades nearly as much.  The only thing we have added is our blog logo on the front and a quote on one of the slides.  They are getting a little frayed as well, but holding up ok.

 

Brand new and shiny

As you can see the horse in the front is fading away

Some of the logos are doing just fine though

The back is also starting to fade but again it doesn’t look that bad

The quote we added on the side.

The windows are so much better without the swoop through them.

It really looks pretty good.

So cosmetically we are fine but we have had our share of structural issues.  Pretty early on a truck in front of me lost its tread and it bounced up and hit our stairs and trim.  Eventually we had to replace the stairs because they were bent but we just left the trim piece.  Too expensive to fix.

We also upgraded the tires to G’s which I highly recommend. The tires it came with were awful. Would never have cheap tires again.

New Stairs.

We also have some dings on the side because I hit it with my chair. again minor issues.

The awning has done ok, although we have had a couple of close calls.  The underside gets stained, no easy way around that, and although I have cleaned it a couple of times it’s a rough job and not really worth it to me.  It’s also starting to rip a little in one corner which is concerning because they are not cheap to replace. We are super careful with our awning in bad weather because we know how easily they can get ruined.  Although we deliberately chose not to have slide toppers (and I don’t regret it for one second), I do wish we had an auto-retracting awning.  that seems like a nice feature although it is something else to break.

the underside of the awning.

The tear.

We do have stains on the sides of our slides because we don’t have slide toppers and the water runs down, but again would never have them.  We don’t have to put our slides in when the weather gets bad just worry about our awning which is quick to bring in.  Storms are sudden in the west.

One of the biggest structural issues we had from the beginning was with the front jacks.  We are not alone in this because they are often designed poorly.  One of ours bent early on and Lee fought with that thing for years.  Ultimately it failed and he could have been seriously hurt in the process, and he finally replaced them.  They work much better now and he added a remote control system so he can lower and raise them while he is in the truck.  This makes hitching MUCH easier for him and is one of Lee’s favorite mods.  We are not alone in having front jacks fail by the way. We have two close friends who have had the same thing happen.  Thankfully in all cases there was no people or rig damage, but this is not an area of the RV to take lightly.

They seem so slender for what they hold up.

Finally we come to the frame.  Ten days after our two-year Lippert manufacturers warranty expired we broke a shackle.  Since we could not travel until it was fixed we did call a repair technician and our extended warranty ultimately paid for it.  Lippert on the other hand refused to pay for it despite how close we were to being in warranty. The big takeaway from the repair was the difference in our existing shackles and the heavy-duty ones.  It truly was night and day and made us think more seriously about what we were resting on.  Ultimately we decided to get a Mor-Ryde heavy duty suspension system and again the difference in one came with the RV and the upgrade was stunning.  I am a layperson and it was easy for me to see.  Consequently  I would never full-time in an RV without a heavy-duty suspension system.  Although we did just fine for the first couple of year we have no idea what unnecessary stress we put on the rest of the rig.  That is why I would have it from the beginning.

The new shackle was on the left and the old was on the right. World’s of difference.

Old Axles

New axle. Again no contest.

Why I mention the unknown stress is that at the five year mark we may have a brake in our frame.  We are taking our rig to a welder on April first and we will know once they take a look at it.  Unfortunately to see the problem they need to take the skin off which is time consuming and expensive.  We have no idea what we are getting into until they see it and there is even a small chance the rig may need to be totaled.  As much as I love my RV, if it can’t be repaired I lose my home.  If the warranty company won’t pay for it, I lose my financial cushion. According to the contract it should be covered, but the welder says they will rarely pay.

This one repair could change everything, and personally I believe that if we had gotten a heavy duty suspension system sooner it may not have happened.  That being said, the regular frame should last more than five years.  Anyways, here is my happy face the day we took possession of our new home and five years later  I still mostly feel the same way!

 

 

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First Time at the Arizonian

After saying our goodbyes to Howard and Linda, we headed towards The Arizonian RV Park in Phoenix.  After meeting with the cardiologist, Lee was cleared to work for the whole week and as part of his deal was given a hotel room. That was definitely good for him, because he works 10-12 hour days when he does live events, but that left me with trying to figure out how to fill my time.  I really could have stayed anywhere and briefly considered Quartzsite or boondocking somewhere else to keep down the costs.  Ultimately I rejected those ideas, not because of not having services, but because I wasn’t crazy about being by myself in a boondocking setting.  Lots of solo’s do it, but I wasn’t comfortable.  Next I considered trying the Escapees Park, and might have gone that route, but I really wanted to be closer to the Phoenix area.  So I reached out to some friends to see who was still in the area and Sue reached out.

Guy and Sue are part of the original group of us who started in 2014 and several years ago we spent a couple of weeks with them in the Outer Banks.  Unfortunately our schedules hadn’t aligned and we hadn’t seen each other in three years.  I definitely knew I wanted to see them since we would be close by, but was delighted when she said their were spots opening up in their RV Park.  The Arizonian is an incredibly popular RV Resort because of its close proximity to some great RV trails.  Although it is totally booked in January and February folks were starting to pull out in late March and thankfully I was able to get it spot.

When we pulled in on Friday afternoon, Sue and Guy were waiting and immediately took possession of Jack.  It was nice not having to worry about him while we pulled in because it was a bit of an odd angle that Lee had to back into.  Thankfully we fit in just fine and the sites (which are double the width of many similar parks) was very nice.  We got setup and I took Jack down to the dog park to check it out.  This park has a really nice one, not only for its size but also because there are two back to back.  This gives you an option of which one to go in a nice feature when you have a small, skittish puppy like I do.  Once we were all settled in, we went over to Sue and Guys and got a tour of their toy hauler which we hadn’t seen before.  It was really nice and we admired their ATV.  Then Sue made us a delicious (and healthy) Mexican chicken salad and Guy took Lee for a ride in his ATV.  Lee had a blast on the ride and we really enjoyed catching up in person with both of them.

Sue introducing Jack to her dog Laci Lu

Jack was in heaven with Sue snuggles.

Sue was enjoying her puppy kisses.

The dog park was nice and big.

Jack did ok on our initial visit.  He definitely prefers the older, fuzzier dogs.

Sue’s delicious Mexican rice salad.

Guy and Lee checking out the ATV

Guy let Lee drive which was really exciting for Lee.

They both had a blast!!

The next morning I got up and went to check out the park.  At $310 a week (monthly rate is heavily discounted but we are only here 10 days), the park is not cheap, but it does have lots of nice amenities.

Big hall scheduled with a daily calendar of events.

Beautiful pool

Very nice billard room

Weight Room

And pickle-ball courts

I was surprised that the office was closed on a Saturday, but this park is run more like a retirement community than a standard RV Park. they do have to leave 10% of the spots open for travelers though to keep their Good Sam rating.

While I was walking around, Lee put together our new “to us” doggie fence.  Cori gave it to us because Hobie didn’t need it anymore and we decided to give it a try and see if Jack liked it.  One of the big benefits is we can leave the door open and Jack can come in and out at will.

At first Lee set it up like this, but smart Jack just went up the stairs and hopped over lol.

 

So Lee tried a different approach and eventually found a configuration where he couldn’t use the stairs as a getaway.

It’s worked out really well this week, so much so that I ordered another section.  When we are in Oregon, we both think it will be a nice way for him to be outside without needed to worry about him. It’s also very lightweight and collapses down into a relatively small space.  Lee is storing it under the container in the back of the pickup truck.

After setting up, Lee focused on getting ready for his show and it was really tough for him to pack.  When you carry everything you own with you, it is tough to separate things out.  We spent some more time with Guy and Sue and they were kind enough to loan us their ATV for a ride Sunday evening.  That was absolutely beautiful, and deserves its own post, but we both had a wonderful time.  Then Sunday morning I dropped him off at the hotel and said goodbye for the week.

I did have an moment of near panic when I was dropping him off and didn’t want to let him out of my sight.  Thankfully our good friend Brian was waiting for us and I gave him a big hug and told him he needed to take care of Lee.  God love him, he seriously promised he would, although I probably sounded like an idiot.  I haven’t felt that moment of panic in many years, and it was somewhat similar to dropping your child off for their first sleepover.  The strength of the emotion once again caught me by surprise and I found myself crying on the way back to the RV. My emotions are definitely still all over the place and I absolutely need some time to process everything that has happened.  In that respect this work trip and the separation is a blessing, although I am not sure how the week will go. The only other time I have been alone in the RV was back in 2016 and we will see how this compares.  This time I will have Jack though which should be a comfort.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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First Time at a Donkey Rescue

Volunteering is something we often talk about, but rarely have time for.  This unfortunately is very similar to our old life, but on occasion as we travel we have the opportunity to do something really special.  When Linda asked if I wanted to go the donkey rescue with her I happily agreed.  Linda has always loved donkeys, and initially visited this rescue back in 2008.  She decided to go back when they were in Benson for an extended period of time and soon found herself volunteering five days a week.  Today was her last day with the donkeys before they moved out of the park and we both knew it would be an emotional day.  I had been seeing pictures of her with the donkeys and Facebook and couldn’t wait to visit the Forever Home Donkey Rescue. 

The rescue is about 14 miles outside of Benson, AZ and is a very pretty drive.  The last part of the drive is on dirt roads and this sign lets you know that you are in the right place.

A couple of the donkeys are escape artists and can open the gates, so the sign is important.

Once we entered the gate I was struck by how beautiful the property was.  This was a retirement property for a couple who ultimately turned it into a donkey rescue.  An idea that builds from nowhere can end up looking haphazard, but their rescue looks as if the property was designed for it and is incredibly well-organized.  The shelters were absolutely beautiful, he property was clean, and I loved the landscaping.  They also have 20 acres of donkey roaming land, although the donkeys are obviously comfortable everywhere.

These sheds were really great.  Each one costs about $500 to build.

The surrounding land was beautiful and donkey friendly.

I loved her little patches of landscaping.

 

When we arrived just a few of the donkeys were let out, and the others were feeding.  Morning is the best time to visit, because the donkeys are fed individually in the morning and evening.  After they eat they are left to roam until they are called in for dinner with an old fashioned dinner bell.  They are fed individually because many are on special diets and it ensures that they all get enough to eat.  Their diet is closely monitored and with 29 donkeys on site, that in and of itself is no small feat.

Linda’s job has been to groom the donkeys and try to get them socialized.  Every donkey has its own unique story and since many of them were rescues, not surprisingly they can be skittish of people.  Some will never be adopted out, but many can be, and it is helpful if those donkeys in particular like being with people.  So Linda and her friend Suzanne came out every morning and spent a few hours grooming and talking to the donkeys.

Today Linda had myself and Jo (another newbie) and she walked us through her process.  We went to a stall and Linda walked in and showed us how to groom them.  She uses cookies (animal crackers) to treat their good behavior and most of them like being petted and brushed.  A few though would take the cookie, but didn’t want to be touched so we just talked to those in the hopes they would be less shy in the future.

 

Linda showing us how to groom.

I took a turn and it was really fun

The healthier they are the softer the coat.

So pretty and surprisingly very little smell.

Some of the donkeys have this cross on their backs which some people believe shows the favor of God.  A donkey carried  Mary to Bethlehem.

In between we washed each brush to make sure we didn’t pass anything from one animal to another.

As we took turns in the paddocks,  Linda told us the stories of each donkey.  Some were absolutely heartbreaking and on occasion I found myself getting emotional.  I have been around horses my entire life, but never donkeys and they are much sweeter than I was led to believe.  Each donkey has its own stall, with a placard that says his/her name and a little about them.  Once they were let out,  I did get super confused as to which donkey was which, but Linda knew them all by sight.

Penny was a wild donkey and even though she has been with them 14 years, she still will not let anyone touch her.

I tried. She would take a cookie , but definitely no petting.

Cisco was abused in his last home, but he is still so kind and loving. Broke my heart. He loves pets and treats.

Blackjack is the donkey who started it all. He’s an adorable fluff ball and super sweet.

This is one of the oldest donkeys . He has a cracked hoof and is really painful to walk, so when he is let out, he just lays on the ground in the sun.

The crack in the front middle doesn’t look like much but it is enough to almost cripple him.

So sad seeing him lay out in the sun, but I was amazed by how he blended in to that sand.

There are many different types of donkeys (who knew) and we got to see a couple of unique ones.

This is a mammoth donkey which are taller than Linda. This baby is only one year old and will continue to grow for the next five years. Had to be careful around him because he was all legs and big but still baby awkward.

And in comparison the miniatures, which I absolutely loved.

One of my favorites was called Pepsi. When he came in he was overweight (common problem with the miniatures) and until he lost the weight they called him Diet Pepsi, which cracked me up.

I also loved Casper who was the only mule in the refuge.  Mules are the offspring of male donkey and female horse and are sterile. He didn’t like being touched either but still loved his cookies.

Later I got some great pictures of Casper “in the wild”.

Normally each donkey is individually let out after he/she finished eating, but on the day we were there a couple showed up for an impromptu tour.  Because the rescue runs on donations, they provide tours.  As much as possible they try to accommodate drop-ins, but it can cause havoc with the schedule.  They prefer for the donkeys to not roam free when people are there, because as gentle as they are with people, they will kick each other on occasion and people can get in the way.

Suzanne giving a tour

Later in the day when they were let out, we saw this happen. So yes you need to be careful when they are all outside.

Speaking of Suzanne, she is relatively new to the full-time RVer lifestyle and she and Linda met at the RV park.  They became friends, started volunteering, and the owners asked her if she would  volunteer full-time.  Suzanne is blissfully happy and she and Linda have become wonderful friends.

Suzanne at the rainbow bridge.

One of my favorite places in the entire refuge is the graveyard.  Each donkey has its own headstone, with a little quote about their personality.  The graveyard is designed so the other donkeys can walk through it freely and there was something deeply moving about seeing that.

The rainbow bridge

Finally the tour was over and we were able to start letting out the donkeys.  It was past time when they are usually let out and they were restless.  There were a couple of slow eaters though, who stayed in until they were definitely finished with their food. That was a good thing, because as soon as we opened the door, the more aggressive ones were right there to eat the others scraps. On occasion, one of the donkey’s would wait outside for his friend to get finished.  Donkeys bond with one another and can have VERY strong reactions when separated. So the owners have to keep that in mind when housing the donkeys at night or even taking them to the vet.  One bonded pair always goes everywhere together or they can get very upset. As sweet as they are, they are also strong and you do not want an upset donkey on your hands.

Letting them out of the gate.

One donkey waiting for his buddy who is a slow eater.  He stood there patiently until he was done, which was really cute.

Donkeys were everyone once they were let out and each seemed to have a favorite spot.

Some days they even let them in the fenced area by the house for weed control.

This one parked himself by Linda’s car as if to say don’t leave.

Finally it was time to go and Linda went to say goodbye to Aquilla, her favorite donkey.  Aquilla is sway backed, old, and had been bitten by a blackjack rattlesnake at one point.  He was the sorriest looking donkey in the place, so of course Linda adored him.  They said their goodbyes, which really touched me.  Before I walked away to give them a few last moments together I took a short video of them saying goodbye.

 

If you are in the area, I highly recommend that you take some time and visit the donkey rescue. It is a great cause, they are great people, and the donkeys are amazing.   Try to call ahead though so they can be prepared to see you.  I am so grateful I got to have the experience, because it truly was very very special.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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Seeing H and L in Benson

When we were making our route to get to Phoenix we realized we would be going right past Howard and Linda who were staying in an RV Resort in Benson, AZ.  That opportunity was too good  to pass up, so we changed our route a liitle to stay in their park for two nights.  The timing was perfect, because they were leaving on Friday to go to Quartzsite for their boondocking rally. Once again we had a short travel day scheduled and since we lost an additional hour we could really take our time. We decided that we would stop at some of those old gas station/gift shops along the way.  You know the ones.  They have the signs posted for miles saying to stop at a historic trading post.  The main reason we wanted to stop is we were looking for a new cactus.  Lee has had a cactus on his antenna for over 20 years, and about three years ago (while in Tombstone) we replaced Cactus Jack with Cactus Joe.  Since we have only seen these in the southwest, and poor Joe was really beat up, we thought it was time to find a replacement.  We ended up having to stop a couple of places, but ultimately found a new one!

One of the many roadside gift shops

 

They have lots of cool stuff in them

 

See poor Joe’s arms are about to fall off.

Welcome Cactus Jess

Jack did well when we made the various stops, but likes to look out the window.  I got an idea to take his dog bed and put it on the center console which is more comfortable for him and us.  Lee didn’t mind when he was driving and actually could occasionally give a belly rub!

When he lays on my lap for long stretches it is uncomfortable. This is much better.

 

Lee likes it too!

 

And he can see better out the window when he sits up.

 

We also had a chance to stop at one of my favorite rest stops, Texas Canyon, when you cross into the Arizona border from New Mexico.  This whole area is really cool, because the landscape goes from flat and pretty dull to these amazing rock formations almost instantly.  It’s a pretty place to stop and although Jack still wouldn’t go to the bathroom, he did enjoy walking around a bit.

The only unpleasant part of the whole day was when we stopped for lunch.  I have been obsessively looking at the Calorie King app to try to find a healthy lunch place,  but all the fast food places seemed like a no-go.  Don’t get me wrong, we usually eat in the RV on travel days, but once in a while we do like to stop.  Since we often stop at Flying J’s and we had plenty of time I thought maybe we should give Denny’s a try.  I knew they would have nutritional info on the menu and thought maybe they would have some healthier choices.  It started off OK when I learned that you could now order Denny’s online for pickup (big time saver on a travel day) and we got a 15% discount with our AARP cards.  I also knew they had a Senior menu and thought the smaller portions would be a good choice.  Unfortunately the senior menu was pretty limited, and none of their low-calorie options were that appealing.  They did have a build-a-burger section with calorie counts for every single item you added to the burger, and Lee decided to go that route. He hasn’t had red meat since the heart attack, and it seemed a reasonable choice, until I saw the burger that came out.  It was huge, sloppy, and I winced as I saw him eat it.  I’m not super proud of that.  It’s not like one burger is going to cause another heart attack, but it was hard to watch.

The worst part was while he was eating the burger I decided to look up the sodium content.  The menu only had calories listed and obviously they don’t tell the complete story.  Long story short the burger was 100% of his daily sodium intake and once he realized that he said he would have made another menu choice.  It’s not super practical to look up sodium levels while in the restaurant though, and we both realized we should have researched in advance.  The entire experience frustrated me, not the least because what I ate.  The 55+ Tilapia meal with broccoli and red mashed potatoes with no gravy really wasn’t satisfying at all.  Plus at $10 not a bargain.  All in all not a great experience and made us both wish we had just eaten in the RV.  I’m not ready to give up though, I am going to keep researching.

The fish was flavorful but the rest was pretty bland.

 

The only decent thing out of this stop was we saw this carrier on the front of a truck exactly like ours. Kind of a cool idea.

After lunch it didn’t take long to arrive at the Butterfield RV Resort & Observatory and get settled in.  One of the coolest things about this park is it has its own small observatory and several years ago we watched the stars there and we all really enjoyed it. We had never stayed in the park itself though and weren’t quite sure what to expect.  This is one of those parks that have lots of seasonal folks and there are several permanent sites that people live in year round.  Our site was right across from Howard and Linda and initially was a bit difficult to get into.  There is always an audience when the sites are packed this tight and Lee hates when he has trouble backing in, in full view, but he totally rocked getting into the spot making it look a lot easier than it actually was.

Arrival at the park

 

Our site. I liked the mature trees at every site.

 

They were tight though and Lee was at a full 90 degree angle when he backed in.

 

Howard and Linda’s rig right across the street.

Our new “dog-friendly” routine when we arrive at a place is as soon as Lee is parked, I take the dog for a walk.  This park has by far the cleanest dog park I have ever seen and they were actually spraying it with a pet safe bleach compound while we were there.  I liked that because these parks get a little smelly and liked even more that they has tiny gravel rocks in it and kitty litter scooper to pick up the poop.

Jack getting used to it. It take a little time for him to settle in.

 

I had never seen this treating of a dog park before but I guess they do it every day. I’m a fan.

 

On our way back from the dog park we saw two streets full of permanent housing.

 

And a couple of them had really nice large sites.

Lee and I have talked about eventually moving into modular housing and after touring some of the newer models know we could definitely live in one.  The problem is where to put it.  If you own a piece of property, then you have the upkeep and possibly sense of isolation, but if you are in a community you generally lack personal space and there can be social problems with the wrong group of people.  This particular group of people seemed very nice, and Howard and Linda had become popular members in a short period of time, but sometimes there are cliques and can be downright unpleasant.  That’s one of the best parts of living in a home on wheels, just picking up and going, but I would love to be able to participate in activities in a good community.  Linda and Howard said they have been busy since the minute they got there and all of the activities sounded very fun.  We even saw one of the residents give Linda a bottle of wine on her last night to thank her for being such a great part of their community.  That seems really great to me.

From Left: Linda, Howard, and Lee

 

Cori gave us this puppy play place she doesn’t need anymore and it allows us to keep Jack outside but not worry about his lead getting tangled. I’m a big fan, not sure Jack is.

Speaking of Howard and Linda, they met up with us after we set up and we had a great time catching up with each other.  They got to meet Jack, who took an instant liking to both of them and abandoned me to hang out on their side of the picnic table.  Linda fixed a great dinner and their friends invited us to a campfire one night.  It was great being with them and catching up with each other.  We also kept a close eye on Jack because we didn’t want to have one of those barking dogs you hear in campgrounds.  By hanging out across the street, we could hear when he was barking and made it a point to ask our neighbors how he was doing.  We took lots of walks to the dog park and even met some other little dogs, which Jack is a little uncertain of. The cutest pup we met was a 9 month old toy Australian Shepherd, but Jack was such a chicken they didn’t really play.

We had garlic Parmesan chicken wings made in the Instant pot of course. Linda is the Instant pot queen! We talked about the benefits of Air Fryer versus Instant Pot and Linda said they have a new Ninja combination device that does both!! I think I talked her into getting it before they go to Alaska and trying it out so she can tell us all if it is worth it. Since they are in a small Class C a combination device would be a huge space saver.

 

Baked beans

 

And some amazing oriental slaw that we both loved. It’s Linda’s creation.

The best part was the box of Teddy Grahams she bought Lee to try for desert. She felt that what he was missing in his low cal deserts was some crunch and she was absolutely right!! He can eat 23 of these little guys for 110 calories and they are perfect to sprinkle on low fat pudding. Cookie problem solved. Thanks Linda!!

 

Jack was skittish around the puppy

 

Who was absolutely adorable. The owner said they always had Australian shepherds in their house and since they went full time wanted a small one. The puppy was nine months old and shouldn’t get bigger than this.

 

Finally they had a nose to nose meeting

It was a very nice couple of days and Lee even had a chance to wash the truck and RV.  The park requires a $15 permit to wash (and they monitor it closely), but it was nice to have that option.  Lee took it nice and slow and was pleased when he was able to finish with no physical issues.

 

I spent the day with Linda volunteering at a donkey rescue, which was such a great experience it deserves its own post.  We loved seeing them and being with them and we were sorry when we had to leave.  One more funny thing though before I end this post.  Jack has discovered that he can get on the dining room table.  Even if I leave the chairs squeezed in he can wriggle up.  Unfortunately one night he wriggled up, but could not get back down and was stuck up there for a while while we were out at the bonfire.  Coming home to this sight totally cracked me up.  Honestly it’s like having a two-year old again!

 

Oh one last last thing.  The RV park is near the railroad tracks and the train horn noises are loud.  We had both the AC and a fan on at night and on occasion it still woke me up.  It’s a shame because the train noise could be a deal breaker for some people and I wanted to be transparent about that.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

Jack’s First Road Trip

It feels like Jack has been with us for forever, but the reality is he has never made more than a few hours trip in the truck, between the Center For Mental Wellness and two gates, and has only stayed at one RV park for a few days between gates. He went from the farm he was born on to the Center For Mental Wellness (Cori and Greg’s), to a gate, to an RV park, to another gate, and back to the Center For Mental Wellness.  None of those trips were more than an hour or so. He’s never made a multi-day road trip and I was a little worried about him as we started out.  We knew getting him to pee as we traveled would be an issue from our day trips, so we stopped at a very nice picnic area to give it a try.  Unfortunately there were just too many things to smell in that area and we were unable to get him to go at any rest stops along our drive. He has yet to ever pee at any stop.

You can tell by his body language he was pretty tense.

 

The flowers in bloom were really pretty.

Next up was Jack’s first ever truck stop, and that was pretty interesting as well.  At first he didn’t understand where Lee went when he pumped gas.  We both got a kick out of watching Jack as Lee washed the windows though.  He was riveted by the wiper, his little head bobbing back and forth tracking the window squeegee like it was a tennis match. We didn’t even try to take him for a walk here, because we would have had to pull into a parking space and there weren’t good places.  We actually found that picnic areas (without restrooms) were the best, and although he did walk around he wouldn’t go in any of them.  Lee and I were stopping every 1-1/2 to 2 hours though for both bathroom and smoke breaks.  For the first time in our marriage, neither one of us is smoking in the truck,  and I found it much more difficult than I anticipated.  It was fine while Lee was driving, but when I took my turn I found it hard.  Lee did great though. and we both got through the day, although between worrying about the dog and not smoking it wasn’t my favorite travel day ever.

Jack watching Lee clean the windows. His head kept whipping back and forth.

Lee had intentionally scheduled a short travel day and we stopped at the Hilltop RV Park in Fort Stockton. There is a $20 a night Passport America in Fort Stockton, but we had stayed in it recently and were not fans.  For $10 more a night, we could stay at what looked like a nice RV park with a dog run.  I didn’t call ahead, which I should have, and when we pulled in we got the last spot.  The sites were all pull-through, very level, and very clean, which was a good start.

The owners had obviously tried to spruce the place up a bit.

 

The sites were nice.

 

Every site had a little patio and nice table.

Unfortunately, when you looked a little closer, things weren’t so great.  The very small dog park was full of poop and cigarette butts, so I had to take the dog along the edges of the park.  That wasn’t easy either because there was tons of poop there as well.  Finally I found a small spot with relatively nothing in it and he peed. He was super jumpy though, and every dog bark or car door would get him distracted. I could have lived with all of that, he is a dog after all, and hopefully will get used to it soon, but when I went inside and turned on the water it was brown.  Not lightly tinted either, but pretty dark.  Even after double filtering it with the Camco filter at the faucet and with my Brita pitcher inside, I still didn’t trust it to drink. Despite hearing stories about bad water in places we have been super lucky and never really experienced it much.  I think this is only the third time in four years this has happened.  Thankfully we always carry bottled water so I had enough to drink that night or I would have been really upset.  It was just the last thing I wanted to deal with at the end of a travel day and for $30 a night I don’t expect frills, but I do expect the basics.

The puppy place would have been fine if people cleaned up after themselves.

 

I walked the edges but every time he heard a noise he would get distracted and go on alert.  This was a dog barking.

 

Told you the water was brown.  The color was actually darker than this picture.

We called it a pretty early night after dinner and watching some TV and both got a good night’s sleep.  We didn’t even wake up through the dog throwing up, which we discovered the next morning.  Not to be too gross, but there wasn’t much left, and I hand washed that part of the quilt that was impacted.  It was my Glacier Huckleberry shirt so I am glad the stain came out!  Other than that he seemed fine, and actually was full of energy in the morning.  He did his business right away for Lee first thing in the morning, and then walked around the campground like he owned the place, so much so that he really didn’t want to get in the truck to head out again.  The second day he seemed to do much better and slept most of it in his doggy bed in a patch of sun in the truck.  He still wouldn’t pee when we stopped, and I worried less about taking as many breaks.

This would have been a great scenic spot if it wasn’t for all the trash.  Jack tries to eat everything, which makes it a pain to walk him.

Thing were going so well we even talked about taking scenic drive 375 around El Paso, but ultimately decided against it.  Howard and Linda have done it, and Kelly and Bill, but it has some narrow roads and steep grades and Lee just didn’t want to deal with it.  So we went straight through El Paso, which I know people complain about, but we have done several times and it’s never that bad.  Yes, there is always construction of some kind,but as long as you don’t hit rush hour it’s fine.

In no time at all, we hit Las Cruces, and our stop for the night.  The Coachlight Motor Inn and RV Resort offers Passport America, and is not usually someplace I would stay.  Options were limited because Lee felt Deming was too far, and it was either this or a $41 per night “high end” resort.  I hate spending that for just one night, so we decided to give it a try.  It’s curb appeal is terrible with a very old hotel in front, but the RV park itself was actually pretty decent.  Yes, there were lot of older motor homes, but the people were nice and the area was really clean.  Plus there was a very nice place with trees for Jack to pee, and for once he went right away. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit.  He was prancing around zooming here and there and really liked the shaded areas.

Not great from the road.

 

But the sites were fine for an overnight.

 

And this little area was really nice.

 

I’ve never seen an RV quite like this. Lee said it looked homemade from pieces and parts of a bunch of little trailers.

 

Told you he was strutting.

 

Glad to see his happy face!

Unfortunately, things weren’t going to stay good because as soon as I came back from our walk and I started doing the inside I started having problems.  First the computer was making a weird noise and when I tried to restart it I got a blue screen with lots of writing…never a good sign.  Then I started to put the couch slide out and heard a “pop”, again, not a good sign, and it turned out the outside cable for the slide had snapped.  Nothing I did, it just snapped from age and stress. Here’s the slide, half in and half out.


Lee came inside and I showed him what happened and then I just  got really angry.  I just walked out of the RV and sat in the truck for a while trying to sort through my emotions.  I was angry because even though I know this sort of thing happens, it is not something I would ever want to deal with on my own.  It brought back all my feelings from when he had his heart attack, but this time I didn’t have other stuff going on.  When I walked back inside to talk to him, he was in the process of cleaning out the computer.  It turned out it was just an auxiliary exhaust fan with a bearing that was going bad, and it booted up just fine. When he built that computer he definitely overbuilt it, because in addition to the fans for the power supply, the CPU and the video card, there are two fresh air intake fans, and two exhaust fans, so we can afford to lose one for a little while.

 

The slide was another story, but he contacted Danny who used to work for Open Range, and who fixed a slide for us last time, and also replaced our slide floor last spring. Lee had purchased two spares of the slide cable, and once he had chatted with Danny to make sure he was comfortable doing it he started to fix it. I’ll let him explain exactly what he did, but he was able to temporarily fix it.

(The cables terminate at brackets on the slides, one in each corner for both in and out, so 8 brackets in all. Here’s an example of what one looks like when it’s stressing and “getting ready to break”. You can see the crack in the termination and the cable starting to let go. This happens because the cables stretch over time and use and if they get too loose, the end can sort of get cockeyed instead of being straight and true. Then when you bring the slide in the tension is at an angle, and over time it just beats up the termination and eventually it fails. There is an improved bracket which dealers are supposed to treat like a recall, but of course we were never contacted about that. If you have cable slides, check these terminations from time to time, and make sure they are seated properly, and the tension is right, or have it adjusted by a tech. Or replace the brackets with the new style that helps prevent this condition. – Lee)

Of course, when the cable breaks…..



(This is what the cable looks like once it snaps. The good news is it is usually POSSIBLE to still run a slide in and out with just three cables, if you pull out the broken cable so it doesn’t get wrapped around the pulley. Just go slow and watch everything very carefully while running it in or out and STOP if you hear any unusual noise or see anything that looks wrong. The motor pulls the four corners in or out all at the same time, and unless another cable is seriously out of adjustment, it will work with three corners. If it starts to move at any angle it can bind up and get stuck and/or break the shear pin in the gear box, which is a MUCH more expensive and difficult fix. Ask me how I know. – Lee)

(And here’s what it looks like on the inside, where it comes through the wall, and wraps around the pulley. This is where it can get really ugly. The smaller strands can easily get wrapped around the small space between the pulley and the pulley housing, and can be very hard to remove. If you have a cable failure, STOP the motor IMMEDIATELY. That will almost guarantee you won’t have any wrapping. It’s MUCH easier to pull out the broken cable if it does’t wrap. Also, if the broken end is still accessible near the termination, it’s easier to trim away the loose strands to attach the new cable to “chase the old cable” back through the holes and pulleys. )

(This is what it looks like where the cables come together and bolt into the bracket for the chain. Each corner of the slide has a cable on the inside to pull it in, and a cable on the outside to pull it out. As you can see, each cable terminates in a threaded bolt that goes into the chain bracket, and allows for pretty fine adjustment on the tension. Each bracket also has adjustment where it bolts to the chain. )

(There are two of these trolley brackets on either side of the motor/gearbox, one for in and one for out. )

(So That’s eight cables total.  Total of 40 cables for all of the slides in our rig! (At $27 per repair kit, that’s over $1000 to replace them all!!!)  and at the motor there is a chain for each side, and it will either pull in or out depending on the direction the motor is turning. Everything is clearly labelled and color coded, and in the photo above just at the edge of the right frame there is a sticker with detailed instructions on how to adjust them.)

(Here’s the threaded trolley end of the broken cable, and the only thing I really don’t like about the repair kit is that in order to make one kit for all lengths, they’ve swapped out the threaded bolt for an eye bolt, which allows you to cut the cable, but it makes for a bulkier assembly and all of that stuff is pretty close together.)

(When you are opening and closing slides, those trolleys pass each other with just millimeters to spare. If the eye gets rotated so that it’s horizontal instead of vertical, it can catch on the other trolley, and that would immediately break the shear pin in the gear box. I travel with three of those shear pins, but swapping out the pin requires removing the upper fascia, loosening all of the cables, un-threading the chain from the sprockets, removing the gear box, then putting in the new pin, and putting everything back together. Several hours of work. And getting the tensions correct on all those cables can be a real bear. When the tension is correct, you can “pluck” them and they make a musical note, but I don’t know exactly which one. If you know it, though, you can use a tuning app on an iPhone to dial in the tension on each cable, which is pretty cool. But…I digress….)

Replacing a cable is actually pretty straightforward on this model. The repair kit comes with a cable that is long enough for any slide, an eye bolt to attach the cable to the chain system, a ferrule to secure the cable once it’s fed through the eye. There’s also a “finger trap” piece to attach the old cable to the new to help feed it through the pulleys (that’s the long black piece), a rubber keeper that’s supposed to prevent the termination from coming loose in the bracket (but doesn’t) and an adjustment nut where the eye bolt attaches to the chain bracket at the motor. 

(Unfortunately, when one breaks you often end up with the broken ends unraveling, and in every case where we’ve had one break, the cable gets wound up and tangled up at the pulley, so there’s no way to pull it back out towards the bracket to attach the “finger trap”. 

So I just pulled it out completely, and then removed the side fascia from interior slide wall so I could get to the pulley. Our slide fascia is held on the slide wall with screws, and the screw heads are covered by a small piece of trim molding which is just stapled on. Here’s one of the fascia pieces on the other slide, and you can see the trim pieces on the vertical fascia. Only the square piece with the star and the inside trim piece needs to come off. The star corner is also held in place with staples. )


And here’s the actual slide with the fascia removed. As you can see, by removing it I get that six inches or so of space between the slide and the cabinetry to work in. Without that this would be impossible. 

(Once I had access to the pulley and the hole in the wall, and had pulled out the old cable, I went outside. Outside, it’s just a matter of pushing the new cable through the hole in the wall and onto the pulley, then coming inside and pulling it a few inches farther and threading it up through the pulley and pulley bracket. If you look closely at the picture, just to the right of the cable, you can see the empty pulley. The cable you can see is the lower “OUT” cable, and the empty pulley is for the lower “IN” cable on that side of the slide. So I had to push the new cable in through the hole from the outside, and it came out through that small opening at the bottom of the housing next to the other cable. By pulling four or so inches of cable past the housing I was able to then push it back though the opening and up, and pull it tight.)


(Once you have it through the pulleys and up to the chain mechanism, you remove the old cable bolt, and put in the eye bolt. Then you crimp the ferrule and cut off the excess cable. A little bit of tightening and adjustment (think turnbuckles) to make sure the pull is balanced on all four corners, and you’re done.

I had a couple of “backup” repair kits, mainly because they don’t take up a lot of room, and when you need one, they’re not always a stock item, and can be a pain to get. It’s better to just have a spare or two. However, I do NOT have a set of bolt cutters for the cable, or a ferrule crimp, which is what is needed to clamp the cable loop around the eye bolt, which you can see in this picture. I was trying to decide if I could just muscle and cajole the ferrule closed, and worrying what might happen if it failed, and looking through some miscellaneous hardware when I came across the solution. Back in December when I bought a bunch of pieces parts to make a dog run, I got some nylon coated cable and in case I needed to shorten it and make a new end loop, I bought a set of screw-down wire rope clamps. So, I was able to use those to temporarily secure the eye bolt until I can get a ferrule crimper to do the job properly.)

(Those worked just fine, and I was able to connect the new cable and eye bolt to the bracket, and run the slide in and out with no problem.

Here’s the finished repair at the chain connection. I used a little tape to hold the loop in place while I tightened down the cable clamps so it wouldn’t slide around. I probably could have used just one clamp, but since they’re not quite as solid as a ferrule I decided to use both. Better safe than sorry. )

(I left the excess cable, because it’s REALLY hard to cut it without bolt cutters, and I left the fascia off so I won’t have to remove it when I finish up the job in a few days in Phoenix. 

(UPDATE 3/24/19: Finally, here’s my recommendation for anyone with cable drive slides: From time to time, inspect ALL of the cables and terminations. When all of the slides are OUT, walk around the outside of your rig and take a good close at where the cable goes into the bracket, same thing with the inside terminations when the slides are IN. Look at that termination and:  A) make the rubber stopper is in place to keep the termination from sliding to the side and popping out. B) check to see if the termination is properly seated in the hole. If it’s at an angle, try to wiggle it loose and seat it properly. C) See if the cables are tensioned. The cables on the OUTSIDE of the rig are the ones that pull the slide IN, so when they slides are OUT there should be just a tiny bit of slack on the cables. If you push down on the cable in the middle between the bracket and the sidewall, it should only deflect about an inch or less. Any more than that and they are probably too loose. If you aren’t completely comfortable adjusting the tension, pay someone to do it. The cables/terminations/brackets on the INSIDE of the rig are the ones that pull the slide OUT, check them too. D) Check the terminations to see if they are splitting or cracking, or if the cables are deforming or fraying anywhere. And E) keep a few sets of the repair kits in your rig, even if you aren’t going to do the work yourself, it’s a lot faster to get it repaired if you can call a tech and tell him you already have the kit!)

Back to Tracy….)

So I calmed down, realizing that I wasn’t doing it alone.  I’m still not crazy about how fragile these things are, but what are you going to do?  It’s part of the cost of living in a home on wheels, and I can either complain about it or accept it.  If things break and he can fix them…then I accept it.

One last thing.  I finally had a moment to go through my emails and blog comments and the support of this community is beyond anything I have ever experienced.  Someone reached out and offered us a place to stay while our rig was being worked on in Phoenix. Another person reached out and said they work in the insurance industry and could help navigate the medical bills when they start rolling in. A third researched RV dealerships and gave me information on car dealers in the Arizona area for some work we need to have done on the truck. I am literally crying while typing this.  I am not a person who asks for help much, and to receive such an outpouring of love and support is humbling.  Thank you all, it means more to me than I can say.

(Also, I wanted to thank everyone for all the kind comments, and generous thoughts about my heart attack and recovery. It’s genuinely nice to know there’s so much warmth and caring out there. -Lee) 

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

 

 

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What Else Has Been Going On – No Medical Stuff, I Promise!

The last two weeks we have been lucky enough to spend lots of time with Cori and Greg, and they have been the perfect friends.  They understand we need a lot of space right now because of the diet/nicotine withdrawal crankiness, but are also around if we want to hang out.  Plus Hobie has been great for Jack to have company although Jack is becoming quite the teenage punk.  Hobie loses patience with Jack’s shenanigans, and occasionally puts the smack-down on him, which is actually pretty funny to see.

I bought them this rope toy. Jack is faster but Hobie outweighs him!

Jack has also learned how to climb up on the back of couches (Aunt Cori taught him) and now he spends lots of time looking out our windows.  It doesn’t bother me, but I will say I am glad I decided to go with the cloth couch rather than the ultra leather because I am not sure how well that would have held up.

He learned this new trick at Aunt Cori’s!! I worry about him puncturing her leather. I tried to trim his toenails but it only went OK.

I was also able to go to Cori’s Dad’s 80th birthday party which was really fun.  Lee didn’t feel up to it, but it was good for me to get out and I really like Don who I have seen several times over the last few years. He is in a really nice independent living facility and we all really liked it.  The food was terrific and there are lots of activities which keep him busy.  About a week later, the four of us went up and had dinner with him and Lee really liked it.  The nice thing about eating there is portions are very reasonable and all of the food is reasonably good for you.  Plus the catfish was Dee-licious!

 

 

More mundane life still goes on, despite whatever else is happening, and of course that was the same for us.  In the midst of everything,  I was able to finish our taxes and was thrilled that we this year we should actually get around $1700 back.  Partly that was the new tax laws, but mainly it was that we found a new tax preparer who specializes in gate guards.  She pointed us to some deductions we were leaving on the table, which definitely helped.

What else?  Well, I also remembered Kyrston’s monthly baby present and this time I got a deer blankie. Reasonably priced and super cute.  Speaking of that I wanted to personally thank whoever bought their RV hitch through our site.  That purchase earned us $41, which was amazing.  Next month I will be able to get her a Woodland Friends wall decal for the nursery and some super cute rattle socks!  These are small things, but she loves getting the little presents and it was a really bright spot in a stressful time.

 

Speaking of money, Lee went and got the 100,000 mile Truck Service and finally our pre-paid maintenance package was expired.  It cost $300 for an oil change and coolant flush, but it really needed to be done.  Going forward, Lee is going to be doing those maintenance items himself, but before he started he wanted to make sure it had a professional checkout.  They did discover a tiny leak in the transmission, but this is still covered under our extgended warranty.  Unfortunately they couldn’t fit us in so I will need to take care of this when we are in Phoenix.  They also told us we needed tires, but we were aware of that.  Our plan was to cover the cost of both truck and trailer tires with our work this summer in Portland.  It’s unfortunate they all need replaced at the same time, but what can we do??  Definitely need them replaced prior to heading east in October.

Finally I need to mention a problem with our RV that I have held off talking about.  For a while, Lee has felt there might be a break in a weld in the front of our RV, and we were finally able to confirm that.  Our plan is to go get it worked on as soon as Lee’s work is finished in Phoenix because we have an entire month free, just in case it takes that long. The good news is after much research Lee found a welding shop that he feels comfortable with.  The bad news is they said they have problems getting extended warranty companies to pay for their work and we cannot stay in it while they work on it.  That means we will need to pay for a hotel or other option along with the repair possibly.  There is even a very small chance the entire rig will need to be totaled.  Obviously none of this was great news on top of everything else, but for once in my life I am not going to borrow trouble.  Whatever happens, happens and we will just deal with it.

 

In some respects, it is the perfect storm of events, but this is not an uncommon theme in my life.  Even before we went on the road, issues tended to pile up.  Remember when I quit my job and lost our truck engine all in the same week?  At this point, I am feeling pretty zen about everything because here’s the thing:  Lee’s alive.  If he wasn’t I would be dealing with all of this by myself.  That would be a true disaster.  As long as we are together, we will face whatever comes and figure it out.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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Lifestyle Changes – Work and Exercise

Once again we want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support.  We have received tons of emails, links, and lots of great advice, all given in a kind and constructive manner. We are really grateful for this community of people and I am going to pass some of it along in this post in the hopes it can help others.  If this is a topic you are interested I also absolutely recommend going back and reading the comments on the last couple of posts.  There are some great tips in there.  I’m going to start with where I left off though.

Work

We had two jobs lined up when Lee had his heart attack and the incident put both of those in jeopardy.  The first is a job working a live event at the end of March, and is a significant amount of money.  When Lee talked to the cardiologist about the job, the first question was “How physically demanding is it?”  The answer, unfortunately, is it depends.  They are long days and the work is part physically demanding and part not.  Our kids in particular felt strongly that Lee should not take the job, but since he will make enough to cover most of our March expenses it’s not that easy.  I completely left the decision up to Lee and ultimately he called and talked to the person he would be working for.  Lee has a long standing relationship with the company and they were very understanding about the situation.  They said that they wouldn’t ask anything more of him than he felt he could do and because they know his work ethic they had no problem at all saying that.  The cardiologist said he just needed to pay attention to what his body was telling him, so based on those two conversations Lee has decided to give it a try.  

One important note here is that if the heart attack had been more serious Lee would have received cardiac rehab. Basically they reintroduce people to activity under controlled conditions and if that would have been required we would have needed to stay in the area.  Thankfully because minimal damage was done, that isn’t necessary, BUT Lee has to self-monitor how he is feeling and if he has chest tightness/pains for more than 10 minutes needs to go the ER immediately.

Our second job is our third season in the Mt. Hood National Forest outside of Portland, Oregon, and again we have an established relationship with those folks.  We received texts from both of our bosses checking to make sure Lee was OK, and it was incredibly nice that they reached out.  We know they would never ask Lee to do more than he was physically capable of, but this year we do have to take a company physical.  Its a standard every other year requirement and is done by third party providers.  The physical is pretty basic.  Lift 40 pounds, touch your toes, listen to chest, stuff like that, but it’s possible there are triggers in the questions set that might set off red flags.  Unfortunately there is no way of knowing prior to taking the physical and we plan on scheduling it immediately after Lee’s work in Phoenix. If for some reason they won’t hire him, we will find a job where physicals are not required.  I honestly don’t expect that to happen, but understand that because it is a large company it is out of our supervisor’s hands.

That will get us through the summer and then we will see where we are financially.  I expect the medical bills to start rolling in soon and once that all shakes out, we will have a better understanding of what we will need to do work-wise going forward.

Exercise 

I wanted to start taking evening walks as soon as we got back from the cardiologist, but Lee had other ideas. Because we kind of threw everything into Greg’s truck when I packed up he knew he had to repack everything.  He wanted to ease into it and really pay attention to how he was feeling, so every day he is doing a little more.  Task based activity is still activity, and I am following Lee’s lead.  We both agree though we would like to incorporate regular walks into our routine at some point and we will see how that goes in the following weeks. Perfect world we would start moving right away, but with everything else we are handling I am OK on holding off on this a bit.

Updates 

Which leads me to updates.  We are starting day 6 of Chantix, and it is going OK.  I am having a few headaches and waking up several times in the middle of the night but still feel rested in the morning.  Lee is feeling tired, but having no other side effects from any of the medicine and we don’t know if that’s from the heart, quitting smoking, or less food.  Hard to separate things out when its all happening at once.  The full dose of Chantix starts on Day 7 and we are waiting to see how we feel at that point to cut cigarettes back more.  Lee is at 11-13 a day, down from 40, and I am at 13 and we are both willing to push through if we have to.  Best case though the full dose makes it relatively painless and we are waiting to see.

The diet, for me at least, has been way more stressful.  I sent Lee to the grocery store alone and he spent a couple of hours checking out products he might want to try.  I had done some research and sent him with a list and here are a few of the things he thought might work for him. Keep in mind our stance on the new diet is improving on what we used to eat, which is a pretty low bar.  Still every substitution is a step in the right direction and a good starting point for us.  Lee has lost 10 pounds since the heart attack and I have lost 4.5 so we must be doing something right.  The most important thing for us is to keep the weight off so we are doing this slow but steady.

Lee loves cookies and spent a ton of time looking for a substitute. Ultimately he decided to try these.  Added bonus, figs increase good cholesterol.

 

Albacore tuna is another good cholesterol enhancer, Not sure if the canned version will help as much but we will see. It has no fat, which is a good thing.

 

He also loves ranch so decided to give this Greek yogurt version a try at Cori’s recommendation.

 

Again at Cori’s recommendation no sweetener added ketchup. It tastes the same to me and I am picky about my ketchup.

 

He grabbed multiple bottles of Mrs’ Dash’s no salt seasoning. Lee never wants to feel like he is being “punished” through food, so seasoning is super important.

 

Some recipes just call for butter so decided to give this a try. Had some on my toast today and it’s pretty darn close.

 

Lee is switching from white rice (which is mostly sugar) to brown. This is one substitute I am not willing to make because I really don’t like brown rice.

 

I am willing to try the carb balance tortillas though.

 

We always ate iceburg lettuce, but are trying Romaine for sandwiches and salads.

 

I found several dessert recipes that have pumpkin puree as a natural sweetener instead of sugar and oils. Going to give this a try and see how it works.

 

We both crave something sweet at the end of the evening and the unsweetened applesauce is relatively inexpensive and seems to do the trick.

 

When that’s not enough though we have sugar free pudding cups. Only 70 calories!

Like I said, our approach is to eat a little less, try substitutes where it makes sense, and make sure we have something low in sugar and fat for those sweet cravings.  We are also not comparing ourselves to anyone else but instead comparing ourselves to what we ate formerly.  It’s much easier to feel successful when you look at how you used to eat versus what you are eating now.  Of course we could always do better, but if that is what we focus on we probably won’t.  One good example is Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.  Lee looked for a low-cal example but nothing appealed.  And we know Sweet Baby Rays is definitely not good for you.  But it’s also yummy delicious.  He thinks if he uses it sparingly it will be OK and I am fine with that. There are other places to cut back that are less unpleasant.  If we need to get more hard core in the future we will certainly do that, but for right now we are focusing on what is easy (or at least easier).

 

While I’m on the topic, I wanted to pass along some things friends and readers have sent to me via email.   I promise this blog isn’t going to turn into all health all the time, but since people seem interested, I want to keep sharing.  First off Kelly passed along that she is taking Krill to increase good cholesterol.  It’s a more powerful form of fish oil and they buy theirs at Costco.

 

Several people reached out to warn me that coconut oil might actually increase bad cholesterol so at the last minute I pulled it from the shopping list.  There is definitely conflicting info out there and at this point I am sticking with general consensus.  I did hear quite a bit from my friend Deb, who used to own an Olive Oil business, about the benefits of olive oil.  She sent me an article Coconut Oil versus Olive Oil, which was written by a cardiologist to back up her thoughts.

A reader Wendy,  reached out to me and recommended A Hackers Diet. The PDF is a free download and there is a database and excel spreadsheets for all you data junkies out there.  I’m not sure I want to track to this level at this point, but I know some people would love it.  she also wrote something really sweet and funny that I wanted to share with you. she made me laugh.

“I’ve always told everyone that a budget is way worse than a diet. Sticking to a budget and sticking to a diet are not the same. If you can master a budget, spending less than what you make, you have super powers. Now a diet – that is totally different. You can be at work and they say “treats in the break room!” Everyone swarms for free food. I never hear “20 dollar bills in the break room!” You can always get free food, but they don’t give away free money.”

I also got a really nice long email from Ed, who is a long time reader.  He said, ” We found that it was tough to go “cold turkey” and to quickly reduce our intake of meat (including processed meats).  Our American taste buds were trained to love the taste and mouth satisfaction from meat and sodium.  We found that to help us to reduce meats in our diets, we did it gradually through changing the relative proportions of the food on our plates over time.  So, for example, where carbs and meat might have been 1/2 or more of our plate at a meal, we started decreasing this in increments, in favor of vegetables.  After about 9 months, we were able to change our daily meals to 90-95% non-meat.  We do eat fish, but try to limit seafood (shrimp, crab, lobster – as these are high in cholesterol).  During our trips to the grocery stores we rarely come home with any meat.” 

He also said, “Over time, we learned to significantly reduce the amount of processed foods in our diets.  Someone told us that when you shop at a grocery store, it is better to spend more time shopping in the outside perimeter of a grocery store, as opposed to the inside aisles!   Prior to RVing, when we were working in our corporate careers, we often purchased and ate a lot of processed foods, because it was quick and easy.  As we adopted this new (to us) style of eating, we learned to read ingredient lists on all of the canned or bottled ingredients we use (including some spices which can be high in sodium).   We also now make our own sauces – for example spicy tomato sauce made with grape tomatoes, spices, wine, garlic, and nuts instead of buying pasta sauces from a jar or can.   Also, we often make salad dressings using hummus, roasted garlic, citrus, spices and vinegar, in place of cream based dressings. “

This made a ton of sense to me and seems to be a balanced approach.  In other countries, meat is not the star in most meals and with some minor modifications I think we could do the same thing.  Neither one of us feels ready to give up meat completely BUT we can certainly adjust the proportion and still get enough to eat.  I also was intriqued by the idea of making our own dressing and sauces so I could control the sodium levels. Maybe I can find a good BBQ sauce substitute this way.  Thanks for taking the time to write the email Ed, it was much appreciated, and I did tell Lee that you miss his chiming in.

And again thanks to everyone who has reached out.  The most meaningful have been the people who said what happened to Lee has encouraged them to make some changes in their own lives. I would never wish this to happen to anyone, but if one person gets something out of it, then on some level it served it’s purpose.  Certainly it has given us the motivation we need to change our lives.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.
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Making Lifestyle Changes – Quitting Smoking and Going on a Diet

Before I begin, we wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out in some way.  The love and support we have received has been amazing, and to a person everyone has been kind and supportive, which we truly appreciate.  Along with kind thoughts, many people have provided resources to help, which are great, and as I work through this post I am going to pass them along.  Lastly, I am humbled by how many people took the time to say how well they thought I did.  In the moment all I could see was what I could have done better, but those comments have gone a long way towards allowing me to give myself a break.  It wasn’t expected, but it was much appreciated.

As I mentioned briefly in my last post, there has been a bunch of concurrent changes.  Thankfully we have a safe and calm place to handle it, and we are being kind to each other.  As I walk through those changes, please keep in mind they happened concurrently, but for clarity’s sake I am going to tackle them one at a time.

Quitting Smoking 

This of course was a no-brainer and in some respects the most straightforward thing we need to do.  Not that it’s easy by any means, but it’s binary.  You either smoke or you don’t, versus diet changes, which are a little squishier.  Lee decided he wanted to try Chantix and I was able to get us started the day after he left the hospital.  The way it works is you gradually increase your dose over 7 days until you are at full strength.  For us, at least, it quiets the mental anguish that goes along with stopping smoking.  My best explanation is there is a screaming two year old in my head when I try and quit, and these pills make her rants much less effective.  There are all kind of side effects of course, the most common being very vivid dreams.  We have both had those, but since they are dreams and not nightmares, we both agree it is a small price to pay.  Even if they were nightmares, two months versus the rest of your life,I can live with the trade-off.  I have also been getting some headaches, but I think those are from the nicotine withdrawal.  We have both cut our intake in half while we are waiting for the 7th day.

At this point there are three different approaches.  You can quit all at once, quit sometime in the first month, or gradually quit over a three month period.  Lee wants to try the cold turkey on the 7th day, but I have stressed to him that any of the three is fine with me.  He has already gone from around 40 cigarettes to 11 a day and it is more important to me that this is a lasting cure than a short term fix.  When we went to the cardiologist today,  he stressed that it was the number one thing Lee needed to do, but also offered alternatives such as vaping, or nicotine gum.  This surprised both of us because we thought any level of nicotine was bad, but the cardiologist said that any improvement was better than none. Either way, Lee would rather just quit all together.  He thinks if he vapes he would go back to cigarettes eventually. I am not sure which method I want, but am going to follow the pill’s lead.  What I mean by that, is once the pill is active in my system I will naturally trickle down and only push hard if I have to. The tricky part will be keeping my smoking away from Lee.  We realize that we reinforce each others bad behavior and are disconnecting from each other (ie: not smoking at the same times or around each other).

In a perfect world we would both be one of those people who can turn it off like a light switch.  We know ourselves though, and without rationalizing we are selecting a path that we think will be successful long-term. It’s worth noting that we both thought we would smoke less with the full timing lifestyle, but we have both actually smoked more.  Working outside of an office environment allows for more frequent smoking and that has hurt rather than helped us.  No excuse, but we fully intended to have quit by now when we became full timers.  The one plus side of this life is we have much less stress.  Many people have to make serious changes in their lives to deal with that after a heart attack, but luckily that is much less of an issue for us.  Lee feels strongly it will be much easier for him to quit, without a ton of stress in his life.

One last thing.  A couple of people mentioned books that they found helpful in breaking habits and I wanted to mention them here.

Dieting

I am way more stressed about this than the smoking.  I have been lucky enough in my life to never really diet and although I need to lose 20 pounds feel pretty healthy.  Lee needs to lose about 40 and struggles with food more than I do.  The last thing we want is for him to feel like he is “being punished” and Cori has been super helpful in that respect.  Because she has been eating healthy for over a year, she has tried many of the products and shared what she likes and doesn’t like.  She also has cooked a few meals for him which have proven he can eat well and still be health conscious.  We know fish for instance will be something we eat more of in the future and Greg taught Lee how to grill fish one night, which is something we never do.

 

My frustration stems from the fact that I am having to re-look at everyone of my recipes and my ingredients.  To give you an idea of the scope of the problem, I have been saving recipes for the last 4 years and went through and had to pitch 90% of them.  It is going to take me time to build up a new list of workable recipes and Cori has again been helpful there. She loaned me the hard copy of Hungry Girl Official Survival Guide that has some great suggestions on products for substitution.  Let me give you an example.  Lee loves sour cream.  Should we buy low-fat? What brand? Should we switch to yogurt?  There are tons of options out there, but rather than spend a ton of money trying things I would rather get some recommendations.

She also gave me several websites with recipes that she thought were good and numerous other people have sent me those as well.  If you diet you are probably aware of them but I am going to share them here.

  • This Old Gal – Specializes in recipes for Instant Pots and Air Fryers, both popular cooking methods for RVers. We now own both and the Air Fryer is awesome.
  • Mudhustler – Lots of low calorie sweet recipes. You can have something a little sweet every day you just need to be moderate about what you choose.
  • McDougall diet – Plant based diet that can have startling results.  Probably too extreme for Lee at this point but good to know about.
  • Drizzle Me Skinny – Good Sweet recipes and weight watchers friendly.  At this point we are not going to get on a specific program, but I don’t rule that out for the future.
  • Skinny Taste –  Healthy recipes made with real food.
  • Forks over Knives Video – Available on YouTube or Amazon for $2.99.
  • The China Study – by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D is written about the largest nutritional study ever conducted.  Lee is all about the data and loves facts and figures so I thought this would be particularly helpful for him.  Thanks for recommending it Nancy!

There have been other suggestions but these are a few to get us started.  I spent hours one day looking through recipes and writing them down, so this is definitely not going to happen overnight.  In the interim, we have been watching what we eat in particular the sodium intake.  Many diet foods are super high in sodium, so that is something to watch out for.  Lowering fat and sodium simultaneously is pretty tough but I think we are doing an OK job.

The Air Fryer has been really helpful here, and the best thing so far was the chicken wings. Cori thawed them, patted them dry, and using silicone tongs rolled them in potato starch.  She cooked them for about 20 minutes and then tossed them in a variety of sauces.  They were absolutely fantastic, and had a nice crunch. We also tried pizza on a cauliflower crust.  I was concerned about the sodium levels and not that crazy about the crust so Cori put together a kit for Lee to try and make personal pizzas.

They tasted as good as they looked

 

HEB thin pizza crust; half fat free mozzarella and half 2% mixed, organic pizza sauce, and turkey pepperoni. She puts the crust in a frying pan and crisps.  Flips it over and dressed the pizza.  Put it in microwave for 25 seconds to melt cheese, then put it back in pan and crisp other side.  DEE-Licious.

 

I even got into the act and made a little desert.  It’s called an upside down chocolate cream pie and only has 137 calories. 2 TBL Cool Whip lite on bottom of plate.  1 Low fat pudding cup spread out.  4 honey graham crackers crumbled and put on top.  It did taste a little like chocolate pie.

Not pretty but pretty good!

Eating Out

We don’t eat out much, but when we do we tend to treat ourselves and the last thing we worry about is calories or sodium.  As much as I would love to say no more eating out for a while I knew that wasn’t realistic.  After the cardiologist appointment, I suggested stopping at Souper Salad, but Lee really doesn’t like that restaurant.  He countered with Chipotle and I agreed, although I started to feel stressed out.  It took me a while to figure out what was bothering me, but the desire to protect him (and tell him what to do) was really strong. Thankfully we both recognized the situation was highly charged, although we didn’t know exactly why, and took a minute.  Lee ordered a Barbacoa bowl with brown rice, beans, lettuce, and pico.  He left off the sour cream and cheese. He also had a bottle of water instead of his mandatory eating out Coke, which was great.  I had my usual soft tacos but had two instead of three and we didn’t get chips or guacamole.

As we were eating I realized it didn’t bother me if he fully knew the nutritional choice he was making, but the thought he could make a really bad choice and not be aware of it really bothered me.  For all we knew there was 1,000+ grams of salt in that bowl, which was his choice but needed to be made consciously.  He understood that and I said I wanted to spend some time researching standard “eat out” meals and get a handle on their nutritional value.  I knew it probably wouldn’t be pretty, but again since we don’t eat out a ton it should be OK.

He got double meat which I didn’t realize at first

I should mention here that Lee’s cholesterol levels (at the time of the heart attack) weren’t that awful.  That really mattered to me because two years prior his results were in range and last year during our physicals we blew off getting bloodwork because we would have needed to make a second trip back to Portland.  The idea that we could have known from those test results last summer there was a problem really bothered me and I was glad that the results weren’t horrible because I would have had trouble living with that.  Here are the results.

  • His total cholesterol was 149; well below the 200 that is borderline.
  • His Triglycerides were 81; well below the 150 that is borderline.
  • His LDL was 101; which is near optimal although a little high.
  • The big problem was his HDL which was 32.  This is the good cholesterol that prevents against heart disease and anything less than 40 is high risk.  Greater than 60 is low risk and with his other factors where we need to be.

According to MedicalNewtoday.com there are nine main ways to improve your HDL. We weren’t doing any of these things, but we certainly could have started last summer if we had known.  I understand that wouldn’t necessarily have stopped the heart attack, but it certainly couldn’t have hurt.

  1. Consume olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil may be more healthful than processed olive oils. (Yep. I was about 50% on this already)
  2. Follow a low-carb or ketogenic diet. I’ll be honest, cutting out carbs at this moment might be one thing too many.  Right now we are focused on eliminating oils.
  3. Exercise regularly.
  4. Add coconut oil to your diet. I took a look at this and think we should try to add it to coffee.  Apparently a couple of tablespoons a day makes a huge difference.
  5. Stop smoking.
  6. Lose weight.
  7. Choose purple produce:  Here are some I think we can make work: blueberries, figs, purple potatoes, red cabbage, purple cauliflower, purple asparagus
  8. Eat fatty fish often. This one is unfortunate because we really don’t like fatty fish. Instead we are eating North Atlantic Cod and Mahi Mahi.  I know it’s not as good, but it’s fish at least!

After the Chipotle experience I went looking for information online about what we had eaten.  I could of course go to every single restaurant individually, but luckily stumbled across a website called Calorie King, which has a database of many restaurants.  Obviously this information can’t possible be completely up to the minute, but it is certainly close enough to make good choices. It turns out Lee’s bowl was roughly 500 mg of sodium, which is high, but not the 1,000 I was worried it would be.  I am really excited about the database though, even more so because they have an app!!  Fantastic!!

All of that being said, it’s important that Lee owns his own health problems.  I am his friend and wife and want to be here to help and for support, but I am not going to start dictating his life choices to him.  No disrespect to anyone who has that kind of marriage, but it simply wouldn’t work for us. Not to say I won’t ever give him a look or make a comment ever again, but I need to keep those moments to a minimum and stay on my side of the line.  Just like with the smoking, he needs to try, but he needs time and space to find his own way.  It would be hypocritical for me to act any other way.  The situation could easily have been reversed and if he tried to “lay down the law” with me, that definitely would not have gone well.

Lots more to talk about regarding exercise, work, and travel, but I am going to stop here.  We need to take frequent breaks, because this is a lot to process and we want to get it right.  The response has been phenomenal though, so I want to keep pushing through.  If the experience can help anyone, it is totally worth it.  Thanks for listening, and thanks again for all the fantastic support.

Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog. You can help by doing any or all the following:

  • Make purchases via our Amazon website links.  There is no additional cost to you, and a portion of the proceeds help support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here.
  • Purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full time RVers.
  • Purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.