Preparation

Winterize

Huck

Once again my good buddy Eric lends a huge helping hand with winterizing the trailer.  Its mid October here in CO and the nights are getting chilly.  It won’t be long until we start dropping below the freezing mark.  So we gave the grey and black tanks a really good cleaning, drained the fresh water tank and drained the water lines.  We also pulled the plug on the water heater.  You’d think that draining the water lines would do the trick but we hooked the compressor up to the water inlet and, whoa nelly, there was still a LOT of water in the lines.  But after awhile we were just getting air out of all the fixtures.  I then poured a little antifreeze down each of the drains.  I think I’m going to order some Fresh Cab to deter mice from moving into our rolling castle.  I also saw a pretty clever mouse trap you can build with a 5 gallon bucket….maybe I’ll try that too.

I had really wished that we could get a trip under our belts, but its not going to happen.  There are so many benefits to getting some time in the trailer before rolling out long term….but we don’t want to do it the easy way!

The search for a TV

Huck

No, not a television….a tow vehicle.  However, it is a little funny that our 300 square foot home on wheels has 2….that’s right, TWO, a pair, of televisions and our sticks and bricks has only one.  The thought of the downsize we are making is sometimes daunting but then I remind myself….this RV has 2 bathrooms, 5 beds (and soon a guest bed), 2 kitchens and 2 TVs!  It’s a mansion….a veritable castle relative to the majority of the homes of the world’s population.

But that’s not what you came to read about!  Alright, tow vehicles.   Read more →

How to buy an RV

Huck

We had found a good deal on a 5th wheel that seemed to be just what we wanted. We drove 6 hours (RT) one day to check it out and make sure it was The One. We made an SMS-based deal with the sellers.  But we had no clue what the rest of the process looked like.  Steph and I have bought several different houses.  Like real estate this was a pretty big purchase and it will be our home….but it has wheels so its more like a vehicle….right?  Steph and I have bought several cars, always used, twice with salvage titles, and always with cash.  But almost none of that experience translated to buying this fifth wheel.  What to do? Read more →

The search for a tenement on wheels

Huck

I was a hard core tent camper.  And not those big honkin’ multi-room tents but the ultra light backpacking units.  I thought anyone who needed a trailer to pull their “tent” was a sissy.  Then we rented a popup camper and it was awesome!!  We started thinking about doing a long term trip and realized that we’d need something more substantial than a pop up.  And so it came to be…I’m now a sissy (but I still absolutely love the simplicity of backpacking).  With my pride swallowed we began the search for our tenement on wheels.

Read more →

Committed

Huck

Well we’ve said we’re going to do this big adventure, all our friends and family know, so now the process of figuring out what we need to do and how we’ll get it all done.

We need a 5th wheel. We need a truck.

We’ve started conversations with the kids’ current teachers and administrators. We know we are lucky that our kids love school, reading, writing, and math. We will get copies of the standards and especially try to keep the kids on track with Language Arts and Math since they tend to build on previous lessons.

We’ve started a list of what we want to see in each state.

We’ve started to-do lists – oh the to-do’s!! What to pack – have to be mindful of both space and weight constraints! What can we take to make it feel like home, without taking too much stuff? This will be interesting, stayed tuned!