April 7th
We got up early and went on our way, determined to make it to Bradenton/Sarasota FL before we stopped. We pulled into Encore RV Park at about 10:30 pm and hooked up. Nice enough place but when we went to go online we found out that they not only use Tengo Internet but you pay for it which would be about $9 a day for each of us to go online. So we just went to bed and in the morning left. April 7th was Thoms BDay too, I was upset that he did not get to do anything but drive but he was ok with it since we made it our first stop with family.April 8th
Got up at about 9 am and immediatly unhooked and went to pay as we left the park. Just can not stay where there is no free internet right now. We went over to the Eagles club on old 301 and saw my dad whom we have not seen in about 7 yrs when we left FL. We spent some time with him and then decided to park over at Sun N Fun Resort and Campground for 2 nights. It's about $50 a night but they do have free wi-fi at the sites. They do reset it so you have to relog in over hr but since we are not going to be spending that much time on it we will take the little free over paying. Just checking games resources right now, lol.
We have the 4Runner on the trailer first and then the bike but we have decided to reverse that so that it's easier to take either one off the trailer. As Thom was working on getting a wheel chock on the front of the trailer to make it more stable holding the bike we got a call from our friends - Troll and Michelle. Needless to say we finished the part we were on and went over to see them. After talking at their house we went up to The Roo until they closed and then went back to their place. We finally left there and came back to the MH at about 3 am. We will spend another 1 1/2 days or so here and see as many friends as possible then we will be headed north.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
April 6th
We spent the night outside at a friends house and got up about 7:30am. Had coffee and breakfast with Toni, Tom and Brant. Had a last chat with them and then took off about 10 am or so. Stayed driving all day this time.
We did stop for some diesel at found it for $3.85 gal. We got 77.74 gals and it came out to 9.36 mpg this time. There was some driving thru towns and stuff with stop and go with lights so thats why the lowered milage. We think that the gage is off by alot cause at needing the 77 gals it says we have between 1/4 and 1/2 tank. We will have to check into that but thats not high on the list cause at that we still go over 700 miles before getting fuel. Besides we found it at $3.85, we would have gotten it at that price at a half tank, lol.
We made a decision that even if we would not make it all the 1100 miles down to Bradenton that we would at least make Florida before we stopped and well shortly after we hit the border we stopped at Pelican Palms RV Park. It's ok. We stopped at about 2 or 3 am so we had to find a spot and the 'map' was not marked about what was were so the spot we picked just had 30 amp service. The water spigot itself leaks - alot. Thom will be going up here shortly to pay and let them know.
EDIT - they gave us a discount on the price since we could not use the water.
We are just going to make coffee, oatmeal for breakfast, checking some game stuff and then getting back on the road. We will be down in Bradenton tonight.
We did stop for some diesel at found it for $3.85 gal. We got 77.74 gals and it came out to 9.36 mpg this time. There was some driving thru towns and stuff with stop and go with lights so thats why the lowered milage. We think that the gage is off by alot cause at needing the 77 gals it says we have between 1/4 and 1/2 tank. We will have to check into that but thats not high on the list cause at that we still go over 700 miles before getting fuel. Besides we found it at $3.85, we would have gotten it at that price at a half tank, lol.
We made a decision that even if we would not make it all the 1100 miles down to Bradenton that we would at least make Florida before we stopped and well shortly after we hit the border we stopped at Pelican Palms RV Park. It's ok. We stopped at about 2 or 3 am so we had to find a spot and the 'map' was not marked about what was were so the spot we picked just had 30 amp service. The water spigot itself leaks - alot. Thom will be going up here shortly to pay and let them know.
EDIT - they gave us a discount on the price since we could not use the water.
We are just going to make coffee, oatmeal for breakfast, checking some game stuff and then getting back on the road. We will be down in Bradenton tonight.
Friday, April 6, 2012
April 5
Sorta short day driving yesterday.
We went from Junction, TX to Taylor, TX to see some friends on the way to the rest of the trip. Of course with seeing people you always end up spending more time and that's fine, lol. We stayed for dinner and then had a TX PD Fest on the porch last night. Relaxed and had fun with Toni, Tom, Thom, Brant and me. Small party as they go but we still had fun catching up and enjoying time with everyone.
We are now (again) playing Travian. Oh well, just one account with Thom and I on it so that should be ok, lol.
Going to be taking off fairly compared to all the other days.
We went from Junction, TX to Taylor, TX to see some friends on the way to the rest of the trip. Of course with seeing people you always end up spending more time and that's fine, lol. We stayed for dinner and then had a TX PD Fest on the porch last night. Relaxed and had fun with Toni, Tom, Thom, Brant and me. Small party as they go but we still had fun catching up and enjoying time with everyone.
We are now (again) playing Travian. Oh well, just one account with Thom and I on it so that should be ok, lol.
Going to be taking off fairly compared to all the other days.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
April 4th
April 4 – We stopped off the night of the 3rd over at Ft Stockton, TX at Hilltop RV Park. The price when we stopped was $25 for the night. The sites were big and long enough to handle our rather long rig. The sites were very clean and well maintained. The wi-fi was free when we stopped and worked fairly decently. Some parks charge for using the wi-fi so if they do or don't while we are on the road I will post it so that if any stop by you know what you might expect.
Oh FYI to anyone traveling thru Texas - Most if not all their rest stops have FREE wi-fi. Yes I said FREE. Depending on how many are trying to connect it's not bad for speed.
So far we have been in and/or thru:
California
Arizona
New Mexico (which we went thru a border stop section that had everyone stopping)
Texas
Still to hit (might change depending on things):
Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virgina, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan
After Michigan we will be headed back to California. Thom has taken a new job out there. Not sure when we might be out to the east coast again so we will see as many family and friends as we can in the time we have before we have to be back in Cali.
Oh FYI to anyone traveling thru Texas - Most if not all their rest stops have FREE wi-fi. Yes I said FREE. Depending on how many are trying to connect it's not bad for speed.
The morning started nice enough. We got on the road at about 10:30 am on our way to Austin to see some friends. About 25 miles from Ft Stockton on I-10E Thom was on the phone with his sister when the call got lost and he looked in the mirror and noticed one of the trailer tires start to come apart. Immediately we pulled over and changed out to the spare, which was the wrong size by the way. So on the phone we got to see where we might get a replacement. Someone happened along to let us know that the closest was back the way we came and not forward. Appearently if we had been on I-20 we would have had lots of truck stops to choose from but not the section of I-10 that we were on. Thats the way it goes sometimes, lol. So we called several places and found that most places did not carry tires like the Walmart there. Which I spent 10 mins on ignore before they told me that they don't carry tires. We finally did find a place that had them thou. So we got not only that one tire but the other 3 replaced on it just in case. Because if one goes then who knows when the others may go. At the same time we also replaced the 2 outside on the rear of the RV. Trust me they were needing to be replaced we just had to wait for a few days. Now we are back on the road and it is after 4 pm.
Ok we filled up yesterday and the miles on the RV were 97,321. We just filled up in Ozona, TX at $3.99 a gallon for diesel. The tank is supposed to be a 200 gallon tank and it only needed 64.01 gal to fill it up. The miles then were 97,969. That means that with a fully loaded RV and pulling a trailer with a 4Runner and fully dressed bike we are getting 10.123418 mpg. Wow is all we both can say. We did not think it was going to be that, we thought maybe 6 or 8 mpg but we will take 10. For those that want to know how fast we are going with this rig set up well we are going an avg speed of 62 or so.
We have stopped for the night at about 8 pm. We hooked up at Junction North Llano River RV Park. They used to be a KOA and are now a Good Sam park. They do have a rather large, clean area for a playground for kids with some stuff. There is a pool and a net for things like volleyball too. There is a liquor store right next door that is open Monday - Saturday until 9 pm. Sites are wide and long for even a rig like ours that is about 65 ft total.So far we have been in and/or thru:
California
Arizona
New Mexico (which we went thru a border stop section that had everyone stopping)
Texas
Still to hit (might change depending on things):
Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virgina, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan
After Michigan we will be headed back to California. Thom has taken a new job out there. Not sure when we might be out to the east coast again so we will see as many family and friends as we can in the time we have before we have to be back in Cali.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Our first few days of the LONG trip
Well, we started our trip a little later than what we wanted but thats what happens sometimes, lol.
We spent the night of March 31 at the storage lot. We had to clean the apartment finish packing and loading up and it took a little longer than we had anticipated. Then April 1st we finished loading the 4Runner and the bike on the 20ft Big Tex trailer. We had to leave the smaller trailer that we had towed the bike on when we had gone out to California months ago, storing it at the same lot. Drove about 300 miles the first day. We stopped at Desert Gold RV Resort in Salome, AZ. It is about $33 a night with no discounts but we did use the AAA discount for about $28 total. This place is a definate resort. It has a spa that is open 24 hrs a day along with game rooms, crafts, bingo nights, etc. If we had more time to spend we would have spent a few days there but alas nope the road and trip is calling.
April 2 – We fried eggs on our stove (thanks Thom for fixing it!!) for the first time. Then we got started back on the road about 11:30 am and stopped a few places along the way like Cycle Gear in Touson, AZ for something for the bike. Not a good idea to take a 40 ft MH and a 20 ft trailer into downtown Touson, lol. We made it back out and on the road without too many problems thou so thats a good thing. We then stopped at about 9 pm at the border of AZ and NM at the visitors center. Logged onto their free wi-fi and took care of our plants in the Wizard101 game, lol, then hit the hay by 9:30 pm.
April 3 - At some point there was a refidgerator truck that stopped in and of course had the cooling units going so at about 6 am we got up and started our generator and made coffee. Did some waking up then drove over to the Love's truck stop and got breakfast and added air to the tires. Just passed into TX and stopped at that visitor center at about 11 am. Got on their free wi-fi and took care of the plants again, lol. Did a geocache while there. We are going to try to find at least one in every state that we pass thru. Www.geocaching.com is the site for that. Something to do just about anywhere, they have caches all over the world. There is even a cache on the space station :).
The connections have not been that strong most places, going in and out so have not had time to write this up and upload so I am writing it on the way and will upload when I get the chance. I have taken pics and video and will upload all that when I can.
PS - for those that are wondering about our list of places to visit. We are planning on seeing everyone that we can in lots of states LOL - Jeff P we should see you in about 3 or 4 days.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
3 days till we take off
Well it is now just 3 days till we take off. Lots done and of course still lots to do. Lets see if I can put what we have done in just a short list, lol.
1 - Replaced just one air bellows ($100)
2 - Replaced backup camara and monitor (about $220)
3 - Added a brake controler (about $130)
4 - Got a 20ft Big Tex trailer to tow the 4Runner, bike and smaller trailer (yes used but still alot of money but since it has double brakes and lots of features you really should have if you are doing cross country towing it was worth it)
5 - Packing up the apartment and unpacking and putting things away in the MH
Doing the camara, monitor and the brake controler wiring took about 7 hours total. The longest was figuring out where to run the wires from the front to the back. You don't want them just hanging down under the MH and then you also don't want them too near the hottest part of the engine so better to spend a few hrs figuring that out BEFORE you start running the wires. Thom had to go under the MH several times to get it right. No we did not take pictures as we were running around trying to get it done, and done as right as possible, before the rain came in the next morning.
Last week when we were doing some little stuff and started the MH. The drivers side air bellows decided to really let us know it was leaking - ALOT. So ..... it was either deal with the leak and alarm which is not good to do or replace. Luckily we found not only a direct replacement for it but it was on sale and no shipping cost. Some of the air bellows things are anywhere from $30 to you name it so you need to make sure you get the correct one for your MH. That job took Thom about 1 1/2 hrs and part of that was to make sure that things were tightened and reattached correctly. We are taking off on a long trip and want to make sure we don't have to refix what should have been done right the first time.
Now there are those that are asking where we are going on the trip and while family does have an idea I will let you know that we are going from California to Michigan by way of Florida in about 3 weeks. We are stopping off at a few places to see family and friends along the way and as soon as we figure out the timing of things we will let the next set know when we will be there :)
Lots of packing still left to do but it will get done since we will be leaving here either Friday night or Saturday morning. It depends all on how long they keep Thom at work on Friday. There will be more posts coming up when we start on the trip in a few days. I will also be posting more pictures and videos of where and what we do on this venture. Thom will also work on doing more of the lights and we will do a video of it and I will post that. We do have a few more to do so that will taken care of in the next few weeks. We will also keep track of the money things for various reasons in case someone else can use the info.
1 - Replaced just one air bellows ($100)
2 - Replaced backup camara and monitor (about $220)
3 - Added a brake controler (about $130)
4 - Got a 20ft Big Tex trailer to tow the 4Runner, bike and smaller trailer (yes used but still alot of money but since it has double brakes and lots of features you really should have if you are doing cross country towing it was worth it)
5 - Packing up the apartment and unpacking and putting things away in the MH
Doing the camara, monitor and the brake controler wiring took about 7 hours total. The longest was figuring out where to run the wires from the front to the back. You don't want them just hanging down under the MH and then you also don't want them too near the hottest part of the engine so better to spend a few hrs figuring that out BEFORE you start running the wires. Thom had to go under the MH several times to get it right. No we did not take pictures as we were running around trying to get it done, and done as right as possible, before the rain came in the next morning.
Last week when we were doing some little stuff and started the MH. The drivers side air bellows decided to really let us know it was leaking - ALOT. So ..... it was either deal with the leak and alarm which is not good to do or replace. Luckily we found not only a direct replacement for it but it was on sale and no shipping cost. Some of the air bellows things are anywhere from $30 to you name it so you need to make sure you get the correct one for your MH. That job took Thom about 1 1/2 hrs and part of that was to make sure that things were tightened and reattached correctly. We are taking off on a long trip and want to make sure we don't have to refix what should have been done right the first time.
Now there are those that are asking where we are going on the trip and while family does have an idea I will let you know that we are going from California to Michigan by way of Florida in about 3 weeks. We are stopping off at a few places to see family and friends along the way and as soon as we figure out the timing of things we will let the next set know when we will be there :)
Lots of packing still left to do but it will get done since we will be leaving here either Friday night or Saturday morning. It depends all on how long they keep Thom at work on Friday. There will be more posts coming up when we start on the trip in a few days. I will also be posting more pictures and videos of where and what we do on this venture. Thom will also work on doing more of the lights and we will do a video of it and I will post that. We do have a few more to do so that will taken care of in the next few weeks. We will also keep track of the money things for various reasons in case someone else can use the info.
Monday, March 12, 2012
3 weeks till we leave here and getting ready
Well it is now just 3 weeks till we leave here. We will be taking a massive 4500 mile trip to get back home. We will be picking up his mom and dad and getting them back home at the same time. We will also see lots of family and friends on the way. I will post more when we are on the way since while we know we are leaving in about 3 weeks we still don't have a definative date for leaving and our route yet.Thom's dad is now out of the nursing home and has a home health care nurse that comes every so often. It seems the drug interaction that happened right after the surgery causing him to see things is going away. The doc says he still can't travel for a few more weeks so we will pick them up and his dad will travel with Thom in the MH while his mom and I drive their truck back.
We were going to do lots of little things on the MH Saturday but he got called into work and by the time he got done with that we only had about 2 hrs to work on it. Thom did get the stove top working thou!! We had already replaced the propane regulator and a few other things. If you don't know anything about working with electricity and/or propane then you would NOT want to do what he did. He took apart the stove top and replaced some little things and cleaned and blew out the other things on the inside of the stove top. It is original to the MH so it is 18 yrs old and no longer under warenty so it was either spend some time on it or just replace it. We did not relish spending several hundred on something if it could be fixed.
We also had one piece of trim come off the bedroom door so we sanded it to get the old glue off and to make it a little rough so the wood glue would put it back together. We are currently in the desert so it is very dry and not a surprise that it came off, lol.
We do have the heater fixed and now we just need to get it back installed but since we are headed into spring and summer it is not a priority right now. More of a priority is getting a new back-up camara and monitor. Thom could fix the one that is there but the amount of parts it needs would be about the same amount money as a new one so a new one it is.
Thom went looking for something online and stumbled on an online game - Wizard101. He played for a few hours and then I started an account and started playing. Then told Justin and Joshua (ages 24 & 26) about it. They both started accounts. We have always played games in the house (ie computer, dice, board, card). Joshua's wife, Erin, has never really been a gamer but has been trying to find at least one game that she could play with Joshua. Since she's never really gamed most of them have too many keys to push. But Wizard101 we have come to realize that even thou it set up for kids with parental controls and stuff we could all 5 play together. There is a free part to the game that does take 4 to 6 hrs to get thru before you would have to pay to go any further. We all have now ended up getting a membership so that we have access to pretty much everything, lol.
Wanted to list a song that I really like and I am surprised it's not played more often - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gTV1iDukhs
We were going to do lots of little things on the MH Saturday but he got called into work and by the time he got done with that we only had about 2 hrs to work on it. Thom did get the stove top working thou!! We had already replaced the propane regulator and a few other things. If you don't know anything about working with electricity and/or propane then you would NOT want to do what he did. He took apart the stove top and replaced some little things and cleaned and blew out the other things on the inside of the stove top. It is original to the MH so it is 18 yrs old and no longer under warenty so it was either spend some time on it or just replace it. We did not relish spending several hundred on something if it could be fixed.
We also had one piece of trim come off the bedroom door so we sanded it to get the old glue off and to make it a little rough so the wood glue would put it back together. We are currently in the desert so it is very dry and not a surprise that it came off, lol.
We do have the heater fixed and now we just need to get it back installed but since we are headed into spring and summer it is not a priority right now. More of a priority is getting a new back-up camara and monitor. Thom could fix the one that is there but the amount of parts it needs would be about the same amount money as a new one so a new one it is.
Thom went looking for something online and stumbled on an online game - Wizard101. He played for a few hours and then I started an account and started playing. Then told Justin and Joshua (ages 24 & 26) about it. They both started accounts. We have always played games in the house (ie computer, dice, board, card). Joshua's wife, Erin, has never really been a gamer but has been trying to find at least one game that she could play with Joshua. Since she's never really gamed most of them have too many keys to push. But Wizard101 we have come to realize that even thou it set up for kids with parental controls and stuff we could all 5 play together. There is a free part to the game that does take 4 to 6 hrs to get thru before you would have to pay to go any further. We all have now ended up getting a membership so that we have access to pretty much everything, lol.
Wanted to list a song that I really like and I am surprised it's not played more often - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gTV1iDukhs
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