Tag Archives: Boondocking

2015/05/07 (R) Meshuggah Nuns

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We spent part of last night researching a new refrigerator for the bus.  Possibilities included models from 13.5 cubic feet to 17 cubic feet from various manufacturers.  We found one that was a close match to the dimensions of our current unit, but we are thinking about downsizing to create space for a slide out pantry.

One huge disappointment is that all of the SunFrost models, including their 16 cubic foot unit, are 34.5″ wide.  Our refrigerator cubby is only 33-3/4″ wide and there is no easy/practical way to modify it to make it wider.  Although very expensive, the SunFrost units are super insulated and use 1/5th the energy of comparable capacity energy efficient refrigerators.  They are also available with 12 VDC or 24 VDC compressors, thus avoiding the inefficiencies associated with using the inverter when boondocking.

I spent some time measuring the floor and wall surfaces in the bus that are currently tiled or carpeted but did not calculate the area.  I need to do a drawing and put together an Excel spreadsheet as the bus has a lot of odd shaped spaces.

We drove to ABC Supply Co. in New Hudson to pick up samples of Certainteed Landmark Pro shingles.  We had narrowed down the possibilities to three choices but needed to see them next to our brick, siding, and trim.

On the way home we stopped at Lynch Carpet in Howell to return the Armstrong tile samples and determine delivery time, which was 2-3 weeks worst case.  We did not get a quote since I did not have the square footage figured out yet, but Clint made a note of the tile and vinyl grout we like.

We left the house around 4:15 PM and drove across M-59 to Rochester.  The Rochester Mills Beer Company restaurant was in downtown, about five miles east of the Oakland University campus and the theatre.  It was after 5:30 PM when we got to the parking lot.  We did not expect Kate before 6:30 PM so we ordered a hummus appetizer plate and two beers.  The hummus platter featured three different flavored hummus that were very good.  Linda had a chocolate coffee tasting dark brew and I had a Framboise.  Framboise is a raspberry beer that originated in Holland and tastes more like raspberries than beer.  Perfect!

Kate left work at 5 PM.  The drive from that part of town to this part of town is one of the worst in the Detroit area, and that is a terrible time of day to do it, but that is what she did because she did not have a choice.  She stopped for flowers and a card but made it to the Rochester Mills Beer Company in time to enjoy a pizza and some beer.  We had a no cheese veggie pizza with a whole wheat crust that was pretty good.  Linda had a different but still dark beer for her second serving while Kate and I both had the Wit’s Belgian style beer with orange and coriander.  Although much more beer-like than the Framboise, it was agreeable.  Except for some “guest beers” everything at the Rochester Mills Beer Company is brewed by them.  It is very local, very fresh, and very good as far as beer goes.  They also feature Michigan wines, which we always appreciate seeing in a Michigan restaurant, but we were not having wine this evening.

We made it to the theatre with only a few minutes to spare.  Kate got the tickets from will call as they were under her cousin’s name.  We had great seats in row D just left of center.  Meadow Book is not a large theatre and sitting this close to the stage made for a very intimate experience.  The playbill was the musical “Meshuggah Nuns.”  We were not familiar with this musical but it was delightful.  The 5-member cast were all professionals, including Cindy Williams (Shirley from the Laverne and Shirley TV show) and Eddie Mekka (Carmine Ragusa from the same TV program).  They all gave excellent performances but Jeanne Tinker, who played Sister Amnesia, was our favorite.  When dressed in a habit one really has to act with their face and hers was very expressive.  She also had the “comic” part in the cast and was very funny.

The show ended at 10 PM after which we visited briefly with Kate’s cousin, Mikeala, who is part of the theatre crew working with costuming.  We chatted with Kate a while longer in the parking lot and did not get home until close to midnight.

 

2015/03/24-25 (T-W) RVillage WHQ Redux

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2015/03/24 (T) Return to Arizona City, AZ

[Note:  There are no photographs for this post.]

We targeted a late morning departure from Hickiwan Trails RV Park.  The normal checkout time is 11:00 AM but that had nothing to do with our target as we were paid through Tuesday evening and the park was empty enough that the manager did not care when we left.  The timing mostly had to do with the necessity of having some agreed target time when traveling with other RVers, not wanting to feel like we had to get up at the crack of dawn and get on the road, and not wanting to drive into the morning sun but wanting arrive at our destination by mid-afternoon.  There is a lot that goes into something as simple as answering the question “what time are we going to leave?” which was preceded by answering the apparently equally simple question “what day are going to leave?”

We only had 120 miles to travel so an 11 AM departure met all of our requirements.  We pulled out of our site about 10:45 AM and hooked up our car.  I tried to adjust the driver’s side rearview mirror and could not position it where I wanted it.  The mirror had loosened and moved on the support arm and needed to be repositioned.  Lou got out his small step ladder and I found a star bit for my screwdriver.  It took a bit of back and forth but I got the mirror repositioned and tightened so that the correct view was near the center of the motorized travel that I can control from the driver’s seat.  By the time we put everything away and were ready to pull out it was 11:20 AM.  11 AM was a target, not a hard and fast requirement.

It was a warm day and Lou decided that he wanted to keep his speed at 50 MPH because he was unsure of the spare tire he had installed on their trailer on Thursday.  That is slower than optimal for our bus, especially when the speed limit is higher than that.  He suggested that we travel at whatever speed was comfortable for us and they would meet up with us sometime later at our destination.  Once we cleaned Ajo we had a good run up AZ-85 at 55 MPH.  The road is posted 65 MPH but it is a 2-lane highway with very little shoulder, so 55 felt just fine.  Once we got on I-8 headed east the speed limit was 75 MPH.  I set the cruise control at 63 MPH and let it roll.  The bus likes that speed which has the engine turning ~1,800 RPM in the top gear of the transmission.

We did not need to stop for fuel or to rest so we rolled slowly through Arizona City to our destination and got ourselves parked at the RVillage headquarters.  Lou and Val stopped to eat lunch and take on fuel and finally arrived an hour or so behind us.  We circled our camp chairs, slumped into them, and said a collective “ahhhh.”  It was beautiful and peaceful here, as always, with warm sun and a cool breeze.  Linda captured a gorgeous sunset over the lake and mountains to the west on her cell phone.  It cooled off quickly after the sun set and soon enough we retreated to our rigs for the evening.

Curtis is a very gracious host and even though we are boondocking he lets us use his wireless Internet connection.  I wasted almost 4 GB of our 10 GB Verizon data plan last billing cycle trying to download a map update for our Rand McNally RVND 7710 GPS that failed after most of it had been downloaded.  The GPS is an excellent device but the download/update protocol is one of the most stupid I have ever encountered.  Why do I say that?  Read on.

Almost 1,000 files are involved in the update and even at that a few of them are gigantic.  The entire download of 4.4 GB has to succeed or everything is lost and you have to start over.  Even on a good Internet connection it takes one-to-two hours for the download so the chances of having it fail are definitely non-zero.  By 11 PM no one else was using the Internet and I was able to get everything downloaded in a little over an hour.  It took another 30 minutes to install the updates into the GPS, after which it indicated there were more updates available.  Thankfully those only took a few minutes to download and install and I managed to get to bed by 12:30 AM.

2015/03/25 (W) Chill’n at the Lake

In a switch from our normal routine Linda got up before me and made coffee while I slept in until 8 AM.  We have our customary ways of doing things, but they are not hard and fast rules.  We had toast and jam for breakfast with fresh grapefruit and coffee.  We opened up the windows and turned on the exhaust fans to keep the inside of the bus comfortable for the cats and then moved to the shaded table on the porch by the lake. I took my iPad and worked on drafts of posts for the last two weeks.

Linda made up a nice lunch platter for each of us and brought it to the table where Lou and Val eventually joined us with their mid-day meals.  Mid-afternoon Lou wanted to go find some tire stores and get prices for two new truck tires and two new trailer tires.  I was ready for a break so I went along.  That proved useful as I was able to use Google voice on my smartphone to research places and request navigation.  Linda uses this feature all the time, but I rarely do.  It’s pretty cool and I should probably use it more than I do.

Our first stop was the local SpeedCo truck tire and lube facility in Arizona City but they only sold 22″ and 24″ truck tires.  We stopped at the Love’s truck stop across the street where I found the 12 VDC cigarette lighter style plug I needed to wire up the TireTraker repeater we got from Darryl Lawrence at Escapade to try out.  We stopped at Discount Tire in Casa Grande next and that turned out to be the best quote Lou got.  We stopped at the Arizona City Post Office at 4:30 PM on our way back to camp so Lou could mail something.

The rest of the day and early evening was spent by the lake quietly using our technology.  Once the light faded and the temperature started to drop we returned to our rigs to have dinner.

 

2013_06_12 (Wed) A Long Travel Day And Wally World

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We ran the genset while we ate breakfast to bring the house batteries up to near full charge.  We were not in a hurry to leave as we did not want to get to our next destination too early.  We topped off the fuel tank and departed the Iowa 80 Truck Stop for Sioux Falls, SD around 10:00 AM CDT.  Most of our travel was in Iowa via I-80, I-680, and I-29, only crossing over into South Dakota towards the end of the drive.  We took exit 77 (41st street) east to the first major cross street and turned left (N) to the Wal-Mart.

Boondocking at Wally World

Boondocking at Wally World

We had called ahead to verify that it was OK to spend the night at this particular “Wal-Mart”, but we still checked in with the Customer Service desk when we arrived.  This was our second boondock and our first at a “Wally World” (as Wal-Marts are known among RVers).  Wal-Mart permits overnight parking (but not “camping”) as a matter of corporate policy, although this is sometimes superseded by local ordinances.  Companies like Wal-Mart that permit this use of their parking lots provide a great service to RVers who just need a place to park for the night while traveling along with convenient shopping if they need it.

The big RV clubs, including The Escapees RV Club, the Family Motor Coach Association, and The Good Sam Club (all of which we belong to), have all signed on to a good neighbor policy regarding boondocking on private property.  Among other things, it says: one night only, ask permission, and no “camping”.  This later point means many things, such as: don’t put your slides out, your awnings out, your leveling jacks down, get out your lawn chairs and grill out, or crank up the outside TV set.  We often see this policy violated, even when just driving by a Wal-Mart in our car, and it is very discouraging.  Widespread violation of this policy will ultimately cost all of us the ability to use this resource.  There is never a charge to stay, although you inevitably end up buying a few “things” that you need, and this stop was no exception.  This particular Wal-Mart was in a more suburban/commercial setting than we expected, but egress was OK, and it was a pleasant place to spend the night.  (Note:  Had we used Google Maps aerial view to check this store ahead of time, we would not have been surprised by its setting.)

The two days travel from Twelve Mile, IN to Sioux Falls, SD had been very windy and the bus cockpit had considerable wind noise, including a loud whistle by the entrance door.  Linda determined that the operable window was the biggest problem, so I bought several weather-stripping materials at Wal-Mart that might fix it, at least temporarily.