How We Plan our Travels

Dubravka Romano asked do we have a plan for travel or do we wake up every morning and say “where shall we go today?”

Currently, a little bit of both. We have been touring for less than a month, so how we make our plans is still in flux. We do have targets, for example we want to be in Moab for the Moab Folk Festival from November 5 to November 8, will be in Austin for Christmas, and need to find some time to return to Houston to repair Deb’s BoBo. With a goal in place, we start to fill in. Major considerations are (a) a location we can reach in a day, generally no more than 300 miles away and (b) can we find a park with an open spot. As we are heading west to Moab, our next stops will be in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Once we are in Albuquerque we will pick our next stops. Not sure if we will travel through Colorado along the eastern or western Rockies. We do try to make reservations at least a day in advance - learned that traveling through Europe

A few things we have picked up over the past three weeks.

• Do not plan to go out at the end of a travel day. Driving 15 tons is physically tiring. After setting up the camper, all you want to do is veg.
• Two nights is too short a period for a stop if you want to visit a location. After a travel day, there is generally a need to do some kind of general maintenance like clean the trailer or wash clothes.
• Mondays are excellent travel days. Many museums or other sites of interest are not open on Monday. Also interstate traffic is less busy than on the weekend.
• We have taken heed to the RVers adage given to us by Gus Sterneman and Kevin Hedgecock – “Out by 10, in by 4.”

On the Road - Finally

Yesterday, Deb and I finally hit the road. Is it permanent – no! We have to return to Houston later in October or November to repair the window and siding as well as the warranty work for items that were broken when we picked up the trailer.

A slight digression. It amazes me how slow the supply chain is in the RV industry. It often takes 3 to 6 weeks for parts to be found and delivered, then another two weeks before the repair shop can fit you in.

Before we could take off, we had to take the RV to DeMontrond one more time to fix the washer. We had taken the trailer in three times previously because the washer shook so bad it felt like a 6.0 earthquake.

We first found the issue while at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Deb decided to wash clothes. The washer’s shaking was so bad that the dryer began falling off. I wasn’t in the trailer at the time. Deb spent the next 30 minutes holding the dryer in place until the washer finished. When I returned I found Deb crying wondering if we had made a grave mistake. I tried to console her, but I am not very good at that. The support she received from friends after she posted something on Facebook about second guessing the decision helped more than anything else.

Tuesday, a Whirlpool repair person visited the trailer, and in less than 5 minutes identified the problem. The service people at DeMontrond had left the shipping bolts in the back of the washer, which caused the washer to be imbalanced and was tearing the washer’s back panel. Called DeMontrond and had the Whirlpool person talk to the service person at DeMontrond, scheduled an appointment the next day.

BTW, if you are wondering why we keep taking the trailer to DeMontrond, we bought the trailer from them, the installed the washer, and they are the only shop in Houston licensed to perform warranty repairs for DRV.

Wednesday, we packed up the trailer, checked out of the RV park, and dropped off the fifth wheel at DeMontrond. Since the repairs were expected to take 4 hours, we needed something to do. Took the Boys to PetSmart to be bathed and groomed, went to breakfast, and then hung out at the Barnes and Noble in the Woodlands Mall for a couple of hours. Picked up Pancho and Lefty around 1, returned to DeMontrond and waited in the lobby. Picked up the trailer around 2:30. Repair people swore the washer was finally fixed. Didn’t have time to run a load. (Note: we tried a load later, it appears to finally be repaired. Yea!)

Deb decided she was ready to try driving the trailer again, so she took the wheel. Plugged in our destination into Waze, and off we went.

Our first destination is Rainbow’s End, an RV park in Livingston, Texas operated by Escapees. Escapees is one of many clubs that offer discounted camping and other support services for full time RVers. We are members. We chose Rainbow’s End as our first stop not because it is the home base (i.e. Mecca) for Escapees, but because it offers a program called SmartWeigh. According to its website, SmartWeigh provides a much more accurate and detailed weighing of recreational vehicles than if you go to a standard weigh station. It is one of Escapees’ many educational programs. Considering the limited information given to the RV buyers by dealers, any information about using an RV is valuable.

Livingston is about 75 miles northeast of Houston. It is on the southeastern edge of the Big Thicket. For those of you either not from Texas or who are unaware, the Big Thicket is a heavily forested area in east Texas. It is part of the Piney Woods, one of the largest contiguous forests in the United States.

Most of the drive to Livingston was uneventful. Basically, get on US 59/I-69 and go. There was one hiccup. We missed the exit for the road to Rainbow’s End. A quick search on Waze identified two routes. One involved a U-turn on US 59 back to FM 1988, the other a drive down Windham Ranch Road. Deb was worried about performing a U-turn, so we took Windham Ranch Road. What Waze failed to tell us was that Windham Road started out as a paved road but soon became a one lane gravel road for 2 miles. 

I could tell Deb was nervous, but she did well. Two times we met up with an oncoming vehicle. The first was a Jeep. The driver pulled over as far to his side of the road as he could, and we crept by without a problem. The second vehicle was more challenging, as it was another fifth wheel. Fortunately, we met at a straight stretch of the road. Because it was so tight, no one could get out of the tow vehicles to observe and direct. Passing each other was like a very slow hippopotamus mating dance. We would creep up a few feet, the other trailer would move forward a few feet, then repeat. After about 5 minutes, the dance was complete and we were able to move on.

After that, no other problems, well except a GFCI breaker blew and we can’t find the switch. Wouldn’t be an issue except the dishwasher is on that circuit. With a little luck, that will be resolved today.

We have set up camp and will be around Livingston, Texas for two days. No real plans other than to sweep and vacuum the trailer. Yes, that is part of Living the Dream, keeping your RV clean. If you have any suggestions of things to do while in Livingston, let us know. 

L² out.