May 26, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Having Guests at the Seasonal Site

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks since we got back from the rally. I have worked out-of-town both weeks and the weekend in between we finished getting our house ready to sell. We definitely did NOT want to miss the Memorial Day weekend house hunting traffic, so we scheduled two open houses; one on Saturday, and one on Sunday. The downside was no camper time while we got it ready for that. Lee snuck out a couple of times and setup some basics and he put the new reclining love seat in and removed the original couch, but there was still lots of work waiting us when we hit the campsite Friday night. The first day and a half was spent squaring things away and it was weird unpacking for a seasonal stay versus moving around all the time. When you’re on the go everything is placed for ease of packing up and making sure it’s secure. When you’re stationary you can put anything you want wherever you want, which is nice, but totally different from the rally arrangement. While I situated things Lee worked on the support box under the couch. In the pictures below you can see we bought a love seat with zero clearance so each side can tilt back and out. It’s SUPER comfortable but does look pretty weird in that small a space. That being said I don’t regret the purchase at all and until we can get to Amish country and buy a custom couch I am super happy. I started down the path of thinking where would guests sit…how it looked etc, but as Lee quickly mentioned guests will mainly be outside and “Do you want to be comfortable or not?” The man had a point and once I sat in it I was sold…slightly weird looking or not. One last note Lee built a box for below the couch because the new one sticks out a little farther than the old one, so it needed something to rest on. The box didn’t look very good until he removed the padding and leather from the old couch and used it to upholster the new base. It looks great. The man is a genius!! (It’s true. I am a genius. – Lee)

Here’s the wooden box he built

Finished box on the bottom

My daughter Kay curled on the couch

That was the other thing..my daughter who is 18 gave up her Friday night and came out to visit us right after work. It was so fun, we had hot dogs and marshmallows and she kept us entertained all night with weird facts from an app her phone has. She’s a good girl and it was sweet she came to hang out. The lack of wifi was a bit of a bummer for her though.

One of my other favorite things was I got my rock collection sorted out. I like rocks and have collected neat ones in all my travels. I really thought I was going to have to give up my rock collection…partly for weight and partly because vision of rocks flying around the camper was giving me nightmares. Lee and my in-laws all threw themselves behind solving my rock problem though (so sweet) and helped me find these very nice plastic containers at The Container Store. I will be able to strap these in when we move and I now have three different rock carriers with plenty of space for more to come!! I don’t know about you, but it’s the little things in life that give me true joy…so thanks to Lee, DeDe and especially Denny for helping me make this happen. (If you’ve never been there, I highly recommend The Container Store. It’s my personal mecca. The have anything you need for putting anything into anything. They even have little boxes you can put littler boxes into. – Lee)

My rock collection…left to right Gold…Black…Red

Finally on Saturday Lee hung my Audrey Hepburn picture (which I fretted would not work and make the room smaller and turned out to be perfect) and covered the cabinet mirrors with Artscape Window Film. I really hated the fact that the cabinets across from the bed had mirrors for a variety of reasons…not the least of which is that I am not that crazy at looking at myself all the time. (I am not nearly as happy as she is about it. Who doesn’t want a wall of mirrors facing the bed??? Bow chicka bow bow, baby. – Lee) So I did some research and found a window cling at Home Depot. We weren’t sure what it would look like on a mirror since it’s made to go on a window, but Lee, ever practical, said buy one roll and if it doesn’t work you’re only out $22. Not only did it work…it completely surpassed my expectations…LOVE LOVE LOVE it. And, again, the room does not look smaller which was a concern. So here’s my updated bedroom thanks to my great handy-man hubby. (The Artscape window film is really easy to work with, and looks great on windows, and apparently, mirrors, although the more colorful and detailed patterns probably wouldn’t look as good on a mirror as a simple etched or frosted glass look. All you do is rough-cut it to fit, spray the glass with water that has just a few drops of liquid soap in it, and then position it and squeegee it until there are no air bubbles or water left. There’s no adhesive, it just works based on the laws of fluid mechanics. Or magic. Then you use a very sharp razor knife to trim the edge, and sit back and enjoy the adulation and kisses from whoever you did it for. Hanging a picture is even easier and hardly ever requires squeegeeing anything, so the work-to-kisses ratio is more in your favor. – Lee)

My Audrey Hepburn picture

Before and after with mirrors

Lee at work

Finished product looks so much better

Sunday night we had our friends Georgia and Jim over. They had not seen the campsite yet and we were happy to be ready to share it. I went with hot dogs and chips but I did make my Mom’s amazing potato salad. Usually I’m lazy and buy a vastly inferior product at the grocery store, but making a small batch for just the four of us was super easy and it lasts well in the fridge. I have the recipe at the bottom if you want to try it out. It’s truly yummy delicious. I also have been looking for years for that hot dogs that mimic those of my childhood memories and I finally found them. Jordan’s Ball Game Treats are very inexpensive and taste just like the hot dogs I ate when I was a kid. I am sure they are terrible for you…but I’ll take a good ole basic hot dog over one of those fancy ones any day. (Fancy hot dogs??? What the hell are fancy hot dogs? I don’t think she knows what hot dogs are made of. – Lee)

Oh I also keep forgetting to mention Lee put up a bird feeder on the window that Dede and Denny gave us and a hummingbird feeder. We have had friends in both along our travels and since they are right outside my desk window I can sit and watch without scaring them away. I included the hummingbird feeder mixture in the recipe section because it’s easy to make but I keep forgetting the ratio.

Bird feeder and hummingbird feeder outside my desk window

Georgia and Jim (two of our best friends) came over and we had a great time. Their son worked for Lee and he is the son we never had. He chose the same career field as Lee and is doing very well in it so we had a very enjoyable night talking about our kids, our plans for the future, and of course showing off our new camper 🙂 It was also cool that despite having intermittent rain all weekend it was perfectly dry all night. Thanks so much Georgia and Jim for helping us kick off our seasonal summer!! Look forward to many more nights by the fire.

Speaking of the campsite here are the pictures of the campsite and our friends Georgia and Jim.

Campsite at night

Kay and Lee hanging out by the fire

Big rock on our site

Very well wooded love that...we have neighbors but can barely see them through the tress

Very well wooded site.. love that…we have neighbors but can barely see them through the tress

Connie’s Best Ever Potato Salad

6-8 medium sized Idaho potatoes
4 boiled eggs (separate yolks and whites)
2 cups mayonnaise
2 Tbsp yellow mustard Plochman’s mild yellow recommended
3 chopped green onions (thinly sliced including greens)
1 pack Good Seasons Italian Dressing

1. Peel potatoes and cut into 4-5 pieces

2. Boil covered until you can easily cut through with a butter knife but remove before mushy. Rinse with cool water

3. Boil eggs and allow both eggs and potatoes to cool

4. Use a fork to mix egg yolks, mayo, mustard, and good seasons

5. Mix potatoes, green onions, and egg whites

6. Mix dressing into potato mixture gently stirring.

7. Refrigerate until served (best if made the night before)

Connie’s Best Ever Potato Salad

Hummingbird Feeder Solution

1 part sugar (must be the real deal)
4 parts water

Stir well prior to filling up the feeder

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April 30, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Meeting People from the Internet

It’s a funny thing to meet people who you have only gotten to know on the internet and something neither Lee or I have ever done before. I will say it has been an awesome experience, but you have to leave what you think you know about a person from what they right and get to really know them as n the flesh people. Some folks are exactly the same as you pictured them and others are different…not bad just different. We spent last night and today meeting so many people who I have been talking to in the forums and it has been really wonderful. Usually in every couple there is a one person who posts and another who gets told to read certain posts lol. In our little group it’s been mostly women doing the posting but the guys that do post are extremely knowledgeable and active. One of my favorites is Red and he and his wife got to come when they took the spot of a last-minute cancellation. Red and Pam have been camping for years, but just started full-timing when they both retired. Lee and I just immediately felt so comfortable with both of them. They are very kind and helpful but are careful to say they don’t know everything….I think they do but appreciate the humbleness 🙂 One quick story to tell you what kind of people they are…we had told ourselves the very first thing we would buy was a surge protector…because we had heard horror stories about folks who didn’t have one and lost their entire electrical systems in a storm. Did we buy a surge protector first…nope..why because they are very expensive and there were more fun things to buy. So we get to the campground and the mother of all storms is coming in…tornado warning, flood warning, and heavy thunderstorms. It’s 7pm when we realized we had a serious problem and decided we would have to unplug everything all night…not the greatest prospect. Red leaned over to Lee and quietly whispered “I have an extra one you can borrow.” He didn’t make a big deal about it…as a matter of fact he went out of his way to say it quietly and then took Lee and gave him a rundown of what he recommended us buying and why. Long story short the next morning we drove to camping world and bought exactly what Red told us to buy…and yes it was extremely expensive (around $800 with the Good Sam discount) but replacing the electrical system can run $2500. You have those moments in life when God/universe puts the right person in front of you at just the right time…and I really believe this was one of those moments. Ok so this is what Lee bought…one is a surge protector and the other is a voltage regulator. The surge protector stops the electrical system from getting fried and the voltage regulator “boosts” the power you are getting from campsites with low voltage. It’s really cool how it does it. It takes in juice and holds it and then adds to it so you always have the correct amount of power. Power drops can hurt your TV and computer and this stops that from happening. Think tape delay when watching a live television event 🙂

We also met several other couples who are our age and who just bought new 5th wheels or Class A’s. I had been communicating with many of the wives online because we all were asking similar questions and going through the same things at the same time. We totally bonded over the RV-Dream forum topics and meeting in person solidified that. Some of my favorites so far are Kelly and Bill (screen name Jersey Girl),Jo and Ben (Jo and Ben) Cori and Greg (bylandandsea), Linda and Scott (Liberty Linda), Jo and Craig (Mary Sunshine), and Debbie and Steve (Debbie M). In addition to folks I “knew” we have met several other been doing this a long time… couples such as Greg and Sue and Neil and Connie. Plus when you meet people you get to see the insides of their rigs which is awesome for great ideas on how to maximize storage space. Pam had put tension rods up high in her shower to hang towels on and we LOVED that idea and have already copied it in ours. thanks Pam!!!

After spending the day meeting people on our own we finally registered for the actual educational rally. The introduction was fantastic and Linda had everyone organized and having fun in no time. Howard and Linda (RV-Dreams) have been traveling the country for the last 9 years and they host and teach at these rally’s. Linda had everyone stand up in different categories…do you own a Class A, Do you own a Fifth Wheel, who came the farthest etc…which not only got everyone involved but allowed people in the group to see who they might want to talk to. Many people haven’t bought an RV yet and are staying in a cabin or nearby hotel and Linda made a point to ask those of us who had RV’s to invite folks back during lunch to see our rigs. She did a VERY good job getting people loosened up and then we all played a game where one representative at every table was a jockey in the Kentucky derby. I have run a couple large training seminars and the logistics are crazy…Linda was awesome at corralling 150 head strong people in a fun way with a very personal touch.

Howard and Linda

Kentucky Derby Game

We headed back to our site around 9 thinking it was time for a good nights sleep and then Bill and Kelly came by walking their dog and we all sat and talked until 11pm 🙂 We are usually in bed really early so for us that was a late night and we had such a wonderful conversation it was hard to go to bed. Can’t wait for tomorrow when the classes start…yes I know I am a geek but can’t wait to post more lessons learned 🙂

Lessons Learned

No seriously buy the surge protector first
Invest in a voltage regulator
Go to a Rally you meet the nicest people
Meeting people from the internet can be really cool (yes I know we are late to this party but better late than never!!)

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April 28, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Parking at In-Laws

We got up early on Saturday and headed to Columbus to spend the night with my in-laws. Lee and I are originally from Columbus, OH and Lee hadn’t seen his Mom and Step-Dad in a while so he was very excited to stop along the way…plus we wanted to see what it would be like to park the Fiver in front of someone’s house on a residential street. It worked OK, although it was a bit of an inconvenience for the neighbors and I wouldn’t want to do it for more than one night. My in-laws are extremely energetic people who are “semi-retired”. I say semi-retired because they took their passion for landscaping and flowers and now work in a greenhouse. It was a big sale day for flowers but they left early and met us at their house. It was so great showing off the RV and they really really liked it. Plus being the super generous people that they are they kept finding stuff in their house they knew would work well and they loaded us up with stuff. I told Lee we were supposed to be getting rid of stuff not getting more but DeDe and Denny always have the coolest stuff and they were very careful to only give us things that had two purposes. I love that they remembered the rule that everything had to have two purposes to go in the camper and it was fun receiving some neat treasures. My favorites were three connected collapsible bowls (Update: Love the concept but turns out I never needed them. Still have them in a box in the basement but haven’t used them one time) and two solar-powered Chinese lantern lights. Lee loved the battery charger set and the collapsible hose.

Unfolded Bowls

Folded Bowls

They are absolutely the best in-laws ever and I am not just saying that because they both read my blog 🙂 They read my blog because they are truly interested in our lives. One of the first questions DeDe asked was where had we put the magnets. She remembered that I collected magnets from the campgrounds we went to and saw there was no metal in the camper to hang them on. Lee showed her the custom piece of metal he had cut and placed inside one of the cabinets and it meant the world to me that not only did she remember I collected magnets, but worried about where I would store them. How sweet is that.

For my magnets

Also we had been wanting to go to Lee’s mecca…The Container Store, and they were very patient following us around for over an hour as we bought lots of little containers for stuff. Lee was very restrained considering how much he loves boxes and it was only $226 but hey, you only setup your new RV once!!

Sunday Morning we left their house and headed to Louisville, KY. I am an avid RV-Dreams reader and early in his travels, Howard had a custom truck bed cover made in Louisville, KY. Lee wanted one just like it and since Louisville is only 4 hours south of Columbus had made arrangements with the same person to do one for us. It was going to take around 6 hours to do, but we had really thought it would be important to extend our storage area to the truck and keep our wood dry so it was worth a side trip. Lee called James when we were about an hour away and asked where we should drop the trailer since he would need the truck unencumbered and he recommended a Cracker Barrel about two miles from his house. Many Cracker Barrels have extra-large parking spaces for Semi’s and RV’s but this one did no,t so we were a bit stymied. I saw a Pilot station nearby and thought we should find out if they would less us park there for six hours. As a side note we absolutely LOVE Flying J’s and it is definitely solidified as our stop of choice to get gas…the ones with RV lanes are totally amazing and by far the easiest in/out we have found. That being said they are not very scenic places to stop and have lunch, so we have started using rest areas for lunch and just gas up at the Flyng J’s. Sometimes you get really lucky at rest area…check out this picture of the view we had during our lunch today…right outside our camper window…amazing.

The Pilot station was very happy to let us drop the trailer. There was no fee of any kind and they thanked Lee for coming in to notify them. That being said it was super crowded and I wasn’t thrilled about spending 6 hours in a busy truck stop. Luckily James came to the Truck stop to meet us and saw within about 5 minutes the truck cover would not work. Our hitch was too big and there wasn’t enough area to pool water?? I didn’t really get it, but Lee did and I realized we could push through and get to Riverside Plantation by 5:30. Wow, that was awesome! I called the campground and our spot was open and they extended our reservation one night…fantastic!!

The rest of the drive was largely uneventful. The new truck handled Jellico Mountain very well and this really neat thing happened when we stopped at a rest area. There was an older gentleman check the torque on his trailer lug nuts, and Lee struck up a conversation because we had read you were supposed to be very careful about the torque on a new camper. The man came right over and checked ours (finding only one slightly loose) and as we exchanged pleasantries we realized he was from the same small town I grew up in and lived there until the 8th grade. I asked him if he knew my father and not only did he know my dad, they played little league baseball together and my grandfather coached him. It truly is a very small world! I called my dad from the top of the mountain and asked if he remembered and him, and he did. This is why I love camping…not only are people incredibly nice but there are all these little surprises.

We made it to River Plantation...passing lots of touristy stuff along the way which was fun to look at since it had been largely interstate views up until that point. Site 401 is “the best” in the campground according to staff and we felt really lucky to get it the extra day. We did have a lot of trouble backing in (Lee’s first time backing up the fiver) and even more trouble leveling, but at one point I looked up and a nice older gentleman was standing there. It was Red from the RV -Dreams forum and he was quick to say he didn’t wanted to interrupt us but Howard and Linda were having a campfire at 7. It was so sweet that he walked down to tell us and I gave him a huge hug…Red is one of the active forum posters and he has owned 12 RV’s in his life but this is his first 5th wheel. He told us later he has trouble backing in as well…what a sweetheart. We ate a quick dinner and then walked down to meet the group. There was a huge circle of people and all of a sudden I felt intimidated.

You have to understand I have been talking to these folks for months online and I have read every word Howard has written but being there in person was a bit overwhelming. As soon as we walked up though I heard a squeal and Kelly…who I had talked to several times jumped up and immediately gave me a big hug. Then Howard and Linda stopped what they were doing and came over and introduced themselves. It must be weird for them, meeting people who know so much about them, but don’t really know them, but it felt like meeting old friends. I did get a chance to tell Howard how much I loved his journal and how it inspired me to do this blog and he was very very nice about it. I felt a little star struck at first…in the RV world they are mini celebrities…but they are just regular people like us…regular people with thousands of followers 🙂 But hey, I just hit 350 followers so you never know!!

We had a great time meeting so many people I had talked to online and more are coming tomorrow…I am already having a terrific time and we haven’t even really started yet. I haven’t felt this giddy in years…maybe that’s why I woke up at 2am and am writing this post…way to excited to sleep. More tomorrow and thanks for reading I think I am going to try to get some more sleep…big day tomorrow.

Lessons Learned

Visit your in laws they probably have cool stuff in their garage 🙂
Rest areas are way better to have lunch at than truck stops
There are some incredibly knowledgeable guys on the internet…don’t be afraid to ask in the forums
RV-Dreams is the friendliest forum I know of
The Container Store is amazing

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March 29, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Buying a 5th Wheel

I know it’s been a long quiet stretch, but things have been happening. Back in December we finally got our new truck…Ford F350 4X2 (which we special ordered) and immediately after we special ordered our Open Range. It was a long cold winter, but finally the Open Range came and today was PDI day!!! That’s pre-delivery inspection …which I didn’t know either before I did this lol. We did a ton of research on the internet and read waaaay to many horror stories, so Lee and I were both pretty keyed up for the event expecting the worst. Well I was more than pleasantly surprised …it went beautifully. Not only was it the first nice weather day in forever…the sune as actually shining…the RV was all setup and ready for inspection when we got to the dealer, Flagg RV in Uxbridge, Mass

Our service tech’s name was Paul and he was an older gentleman with a VERY thick Massachusetts accent. At first Lee and I thought..oh here we go…but Paul was fantastic. Based on advice we had read, I video taped the entire walk through and after a couple of our questions showed we had done our homework, he slowed down and really explained things. My favorite thing about Paul was if he didn’t have the answer, he flat-out said he didn’t know and then would find someone to give us the answer. Huge credibility points with me. The only downside was when the salesperson came back…asked how it was going, and when I said it was great…he actually said “I told you so.” Seriously who teaches these people…geez. Other than that moment, the walk through was great though and we had electric, started the generator, turned on everything thing in the camper including heat, AC’s, and the TV’s…which looked fantastic running off the antenna. I would have never thought the picture would be that good. At one point I was standing in the kitchen and turned around and it felt like home!!! What a tremendous feeling.

The only thing we were not able to test was the water but it was clear water had been run through it and it was re-winterized as the shower had some wet in it still. Lee goes back Weds morning to get the hitch installed in the truck and they will be walking him through hitching/unhitching, leveling etc. I felt completely comfortable and we had an excellent walk though of the warranty we purchased from the finance guy David. That was actually one of the most pleasant financing experiences I have ever had. We talked in detail about the warranty (which we had researched ahead of time) and ended up getting platinum coverage, plus unlimited towing, RV tech travel coverage (so they can come to you), and a $100 deductible for $2300. I had asked to extend to the longest time possible and got 7 years instead of 5 for a minimal up charge…it’s well worth it to ask. I maxed out on warranties for the new truck as well…normally I don’t get warranties but in this case we thought it would be well worth the piece of mind.

So we are now the proud owners of a new truck and RV ……so enough talking already here’s the pictures 🙂

RigTrace

Bathroom…had fits over weather to get a colored bowl or a glass bowl went with colored because essentially I am lazy !!!

Lee’s chair..oh yes even in the camper there will be no fighting over this chair 🙂

We intentionally had them take out the right side couch and are building a computer desk in this slot…cost us an extra $230 to take it out but well worth it because we got carpeting that way on the floor underneath which is usually not carpeted

Very excited about my wooden blinds…they cost $400 more but I hate regular blinds because they always get bent. The valances gotta go though they look terrible

Drawers are full length deep (not all are) and the counter covers the double sink underneath. The fancy faucet has a pop off sprayer too which is very cool

Really big microwave and oven…was excited that you don’t have to light the burners with a lighter , but you do have to light the pilot underneath

Love love love my kitchen…nicest one I have ever had

Washer dryer combo…the only weird thing was they didn’t have Splendide but a Pinnacle instead…after asking they said it actually costs them more and is comparable…Splendide’s weren’t available until May

This was the biggest thing…we downgraded from a King to a Queen bed and I am SOOO happy with it. Not only does it open the room up they also went ahead and put in the little side shelves which we thought we would have to build ourselves. Super cool. the mattress is not so great at first glance…but we knew that would probably require an upgrade at some point

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Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Search Amazon Here
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can 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.