Tips that might help. On the road for 5 months

Tricks for the TM and after 5 months on the road. It might help others. These are personal notes to us on the trip so we do not make same mistakes next year.

Leave the table up in front of the TV antenna and leave cable long enough antenna so it will reach over the table so I can put the television on the couch before I slide in the couch.

Microwave fits in the kitchen sink when we travel.

Keep the front slide greased, it get really difficult to push in when not greased.

Republicwireless hooked up to the computer with pda.net has really been great since we have not had wifi a lot of the places we were camping. I do not know of a cell phone any cheaper. Check it out.

Thousand Trails with zonecamping has been a deal. We always get two zones for the price of one.

Passport America works in finding campgrounds for a quick overnight. Be sure to read restrictions.

Check RVparkreviews so you have some idea about the park. We have overnighted in some real dumps.

Quartzite was fun. We stayed at Split Rail ($18 per night). Plan on being there during RV show in January.

Do not over pack, we brought too many clothes.

Bring your own laundry supplies, lot cheaper

Bathroom scale, watch your weight, eat at home.

A place for everything and every a place and everyone knows where to look.

We used the wardrobe to help separate living areas to give us some down time away from each other.

Walk, Walk, Walk, Need to get exercise.

Able to download books from Overdrive audio books through our library. I must have listen to 25 books. Also in the car when on the road.

Able to get some good books through kindle Amazon free.

Only time we carried extra water if we were staying at Walmart overnight. Otherwise no, do not want the extra weight.

Make sure the Tow Vehicle is big enough to pull the mountains. We were marginal and bought another TV.

Headphones are critical for sanity.

We had TV on front table and I also ran a TV in the bedroom so we could have two separate TV's going.

We use a Dish network 722 with two receiver inputs. We do not watch the same programs and it also let you download to the DVR,

Pickle ball is big at some of the Thousand Trails, but we play tennis. Get exercise if at all possible.

We play bridge and found a ACBL that we could play with.

We ran the refrigerator while traveling on propane.

Next year, we are going to take two batteries out of golf cart and bring them with an inverter which we all ready have.

We brought two generators, Not next year, Only one.

Buddy Heater worked great.

3 space heaters was necessary a few nights. One night was 14 degrees and we ran all heaters along with Buddy Heater.

Clothes for summer and winter. 80 degree days in Florida before we got home.

National Park pass is needed if your old enough.

Make certain you bring enough tools to make repairs.

We packed a lunch on high mile travel days. I try to stay away from fast food as much as possible.

Dogs, we bring a cage for each and put them in it when we left them which was not very much. Bring their medicine, heart worm,

Overnight, we did not put down the stabilizers.

Be able to set up quick and tear down quick. When we stayed 2 weeks at one campground, we would get everything out.

Coffee, We are big coffee drinkers, bring Stanley Thermos for car and we liked our old electric perk maker best. Be sure to bring stove top perker so you can put on gas burner in TM.

Ice cubes, we like ice and keep one tray to freeze overnight in freezer.

We keep cold water in the refrig to cool overnight. Old 1 ltr bottle.

Keep water in cooler in car when traveling.

We brought and used an electric blanket.

Crock pot.

Insightful observations. Thanks. One thought, don't know if you put any padding down in the sink under microwave, but it helps protect electronics from vibrations if they are cushioned unless they are permanently mounted of course.

Great idea about the microwave.

I also have been able to hook up with WDH even with couch slide out so we can get as much done as possible when we ready hit the road in morning. I just raise the front of the trailer with the electric hitch so it takes the pressure off the arms of the WDH so I can hook them up. Takes a bit of crawling under, but I have been able to get it done.

[daveinfl]

Just curious. Why two generators? Good advice.

[Redtail Cruiser]

Dave, I have the same twin Champion inverter generators that John has. They are rated at 2000watts each and with the parallel bridge between them you can run the roof AC unit with them. These units weigh about 40 to 45 pounds each and are easy to load into the TV. A single unit that has the output to run the AC unit weighs in at 85 to 110 lbs minimum.

[scrubjaysnest]

Get the inter-agency senior pass rather then the national park pass. Does the same thing but gets you into all federal CG's at half price for camping. Electric is usually extra. The inter-agency senior pass replaced the Golden age pass. Make sure you get the one that says camping half price on the back. Ours say senior pass and have red/yellow flowers on the front. For those 62 and older look very carefully at these passes because they don't all do the same thing. If both you and your spouse are 62 or older get one for each of you as it will let you get around the 14 to 21 day stay rule. About the only place it won't is an extremely busy CG such as some of the NPS. We have separate accounts on Recreation.gov for this.

Thanks about the get around the 14 day stay. I will sign up the wife.

[hjbourge]

Scrubjaysnest, I have one of the America the Beautiful senior passes with the flowers on the front. I had never read the back, mine does not cover camping. How do you get one that does? As we are well over 62 every little bit counts. Earlier I had wrote you about the 3 dollar or less camping, but I don't know what all the letters mean!