Baptism By Ice: Digging Out

Here in NY this winter has been unusually mild. It was 65 degrees on Christmas Day and we’ve yet to have any snow fall. As we look forward to our second trip just two months away, I can’t help but compare this year to last. It was a brutal winter. We seemed to have a snow storm every few days or so, and the subzero temperatures assured that the snow would stick around well into the spring. The RV was stored at my in-law’s house in Lexington, NY in the Catskill Mountains. It was very generous of them to let us stow it there and at the time it seemed ideal - until it came time for us to hit the road.

We were leaving on Wednesday, March 4^th and heading down to Florida for the month, but before we could do that we had to dig out the RV from her frozen slumber in the hills. Bill, I and my brother-in-law met at his upstate home the Sunday before we were scheduled to depart. The plan was to plow a path from the driveway to the RV, a distance of about half a football field. We‘d then move her to the front of the house for easy access. We expected it would take a few hours.

However, it proved to be more challenging than any of us expected. The first issue was plowing the path. The snow was a foot deep and partially frozen, and it took half the day to reach the RV. Once we did, we quickly realized that during the warmer weather the RV tires had sunk 6 inches into the ground which was now frozen around the wheels. Bill and his brother chopped at the frozen ground with crowbars, hammers and shovels. They had to smash the chocks which were firmly frozen into the ground.

I had a clear view of all of this through the sliding glass doors in the living room. I provided them what support I could, running tools and hot coffee to and from the house, making phone calls to find a storage spot for the RV a little further south and rescheduling campgrounds reservations; because we now knew we’d need more time at our stopovers. The weather report was predicting more snow all along the east coast over the next week, and we decided we had better not take any chances. All the while I wore a path into the living room carpet as I paced and watched, paced and watched; and worried.

After much work to release the wheels, Bill hitched the truck to the trailer and gave it a tug. She didn’t budge. They went back to chopping and digging. Bill tried again with no luck. There was more chopping and digging. On the third try she rocked forward a bit but failed to come free. It had been dark for hours by now, it got colder by the minute, and it was snowing again. Finally, my brother-in-law hitched his truck to the front of our truck - which was hitched to the trailer - and on the count of three they both floored it. Eleven hours after we began the process, the RV lurched forward and was at last liberated.

There was no celebratory cheering. We were too exhausted. There was, however, a great sense of relief. The thought that we would not get her out, that we would have to cancel our trip, crossed all our minds that day more times than I can count. Mind you, in the week prior my Dad was in the ER because of a severe blood sugar drop and my mother-in law had broken her hip. Mere days before, after a month long search, I had finally found an RN to help my parent’s manage their meds and my mother-in-law had successful hip surgery. So, we were already stressed and the possibility of canceling had already loomed.

The next day Bill cleaned the snow off the roof. Then, with a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, we towed her down the mountain to a gated, paved, regularly plowed, rented, Extra Space Storage RV parking space in New Paltz, NY. That parking spot was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

We thought we were out of the woods - pun intended - but turns out, not so much...

-Diane

  

Gifts of Christmas Past

Last year our Christmas was all about the RV. All our gifts consisted of practical things we could use in our travels and funny cute RV themed items. I’m not usually into kitsch, but this year was the exception. I loved it all. The cutest thing I got was the RV Salt & Pepper shakers Bill got for me. 

But the best was the miniature replica of our rig that I got for Bill. He said he wanted it as a learning tool. He thought that it could help him better understand the dynamics of towing and driving the RV, specifically making turns and backing up. However, I think maybe, he just wanted it because it was super cool. Either way, I think he liked it.

Whatever your wishes this year, we hope they all come true.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Diane and Bill

The Best Laid Plans

Even before we bought the truck or picked upped the RV, we knew our first trip would be a month in Florida visiting our family and friends. Planning our route, coordinating visits, and booking the campsites fell to me. Little did I know this would be an adventure all its own.

I did not have the Big Book of RV Campsites. I knew nothing about truck stops. I had no knowledge of apps or other RV resources. I had no idea that you had to book the March before to go south the following February. Eleven months, that’s the magic number. Seasoned snow-birders know it. We didn’t.  We actually thought four or five months was plenty of time to plan our first RV excursion. We were so naive.

The first step was to plan where to stop on the way down. Bill didn’t want to drive more than six hours a day. That makes me laugh now. Did I say we were naive? Boy, oh, boy, we were so clueless. I used Triple A’s TripTik Travel Planner to find campsites and approximate how far each location would be from the other. Based on this, I chose a site in Maryland and a site in South Carolina as our stopovers. I booked one night at each stop. As you will learn in future posts, due to many factors, assuming that one night each would be enough time was like wishing on rainbows and fairy wings.

We were visiting four places in Florida: Cape Canaveral, Jupiter, Dunedin and The Villages. I contacted the people we would be visiting and set up a schedule. We would stop in Cape Canaveral first then in Jupiter. Next we would head to Dunedin and up to The Villages. Going home, we would retrace our steps and again stay in South Carolina and Maryland.

Sounds grand, yes? We thought so, too - until I tried to find campsites and make reservations that matched our timeline. You see, we knew we couldn’t escape the entire NY winter, but we had our hearts set on missing at least part of it. That is why we bought our rig. I’m chuckling to myself as I remember the ensuing insanity. At least, I can laugh about it now. It was the beginning of what would be a series of challenges we would face on this trip.

Anyhow, I soon realized February was a no go. So, we rescheduled everything for March. After what felt like a million hours online and a trillion phone calls, I managed to piecemeal together a trip that looked surprisingly similar to the original, but in reverse: The Villages, Dunedin, Jupiter, and Cape Canaveral.

We learned a lot from this experience. We booked our upcoming trip much earlier. Thanks to the RVers we met along the way, we know that truck stops are an option. We know that the drive time is never going to be what the online map says. We have better resources and are much better prepared. Most importantly, while nothing ever goes as planned, we now realize that’s part of the adventure and we welcome it.

-Diane

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're thankful for many things.

The people we've met through our blog is one of them.

Thank you all for your support.

Happy Thanksgiving wherever you land.

Bill and Diane

Last Train to Trucksville

After we bought the RV, we needed to buy a truck to tow it. Bill did all the research and shopping around. I went with, but he was the one who did all the hard work. He’s good like that. As you know, we decided on a Ram 2500 with a 6.4 Hemi engine. What you don’t know is that, even though we live in Long Island, we bought the truck from a dealer in Kingston, NY. Kingston is a good 2 hours north by car. 

Danny Boy

Begnal Motors did not just offer the best deal, they also offered the most comprehensive customer service. They are still operating on old fashioned principles. I have always hated car buying. It’s a torturous, frustrating experience. Not this time. These guys are fantastic and remain so a year after our purchase. We still keep in touch with our salesman, Dan. https://www.facebook.com/Begnal.Motors.cpov

Because of the great distance, when it was time to pick up the truck, we planned on driving up in our Honda. Bill would drive the truck back while I drove the Honda. I am not the most experienced long distance driver and the trip back would have been a challenge. I would have done it, but I wouldn’t have liked it. But what choice did we have? Well, the guys at Begnal offered us another option. They suggested we take the train to Poughkeepsie, half an hour from Kingston, and they would arrange for someone to pick us up. Not only did this make things easier for us, but it made for an exciting adventure.

Grand Central Station

It was late November. The day started out clear and sunny, but chilly. We took the LIRR to Penn Station, rode one stop on the local subway to Grand Central Station, then boarded the Metro North. I had never been to Grand Central before. I have lived in the NYC area my entire life, but I’m a downtown girl. I’m comfortable there. When I’m uptown I feel like a tourist. After nearly two hours of the most stunning scenic views, we arrived in Poughkeepsie. It was bitterly cold and snowing. Jim was our ride to Kingston. He was a lovely man, and as we chatted, we learned he was retired and worked part time moving cars for Begnal.

We pulled into the dealer’s parking lot and our truck was parked right by front the door. The paperwork was quickly completed. Keys in hand, we climbed into our beautiful new pick-up for the first time. Dan took us through all the features and even set up our phones on Bluetooth. Then he offered to take us out to celebrate. We drove to a spot a few blocks away and the three of use toasted our new purchase. 

Brown Betty

We spent the night at my brother-in-law’s in Lexington. The next morning we drove our Brown Betty home. The heated seats kept my buns nice and toasty all the way.

-Diane

I Gotcha Covered?

The day we bought the RV we bought a cover for it - my idea.  The cover cost around $500.  A good investment to keep the RV clean and well protected when it wasn’t being used; well worth it to extend the life of our new second home.  It was a no-brainer.  In spite of that, for the better part of a year I found reasons not to put the cover on.  “We’ll be coming back in a month. No sense putting it on if we’re just going to take it off so soon.”  “It’s springtime. There won’t be any leaves falling on it.”  A couple of weeks ago I ran out of excuses.  It’s fall. The leaves are falling.  And we won’t be going back to the RV until March - time to suck it up.

Putting the cover on wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be – it was much worse.  This is not a little tarp.  It has to cover a pretty big vehicle.  I did a quick calculation and the cover measures around 1400 square feet!  Just laying it out on the ground was a pain in the butt.  It didn’t help that the instructions were pretty useless.  There were straps and rings and strings all over the place with hardly an explanation as to what connects to what.  The instructions did go into great detail about getting a line under the rig from one side to the other.  Check this out…

“Tie an end of the supplied rope onto one of the D-rings along the bottom hem.  Put a small rock into the provided toss bag, close the top and tie the free end of the rope to the bag D-ring.  Now toss the bag and rope under your 5^th wheel to the D-ring on the opposite side.  Take the rope off the bag and, allowing enough to make a knot, cut it off and tie it to the D-ring.  Repeat with the other D-rings.  To keep the rope ends from fraying you can carefully melt the ends with a match or lighter.”

 

Compare that with the instruction on how to get the cover to fit properly around the nose of the rig.  “Locate the hook and loop straps on the upper parts of the flaps that fold in under the nose of your 5^th wheel.  Adjust them to fit your cover to the exact length of the nose of your 5^th wheel.”  How do I locate the right parts?  Like I said, there were straps and rings and strings all over the place – especially on the nose.  And adjust them how?  How about a couple of pictures?

After a couple of hours I got the cover on.  I doubt seriously if it’s on right.  But the rig is covered.  Hopefully the cover will stay on until March.  Then I’ll have the unenviable task of taking it off and folding it up - should be fun.

-Bill

Truckin'

I have begun the daunting process of learning to drive our pick-up truck. I need to do this for several reasons. I may never tow the RV, but when we’re camping I can not leave all the local running around to Bill. It wouldn’t be fair. Especially because he does all of the long haul driving. Also, what if an emergency occurs? Using the truck when we’re home will definitely come in handy. But, most importantly, conquering my fear will bring me a great sense of accomplishment.

The truck stands 6’ 6” high, is 22’ long and weighs 10,000 lbs. I am 5' 1½”. I have no corresponding length, but I’m a person of great depth. My weight is nobody’s business. All you need to know is that it’s considerably less than the truck’s. I could not be more intimidated by the prospect of driving this beautiful beast.

I didn’t get my license until I was in my late 20’s and didn’t use it regularly until my early 30’s. My late start has left me feeling less than confident in my driving abilities. I make up for that with caution. I am afraid I will not be able to handle such a large vehicle. My biggest fear is that I’ll make a mistake and damage the truck in some way. So, I’m taking things nice and slow. 

For my first lesson Bill took me to a large empty parking lot and ran me through some drills. I did OK. Better than I expected. He gave me an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Next step - local street driving. I’ve assured my family and friends I will give them plenty of notice so they can plan to stay indoors during this phase.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

-Diane