The Adventures, Travels & Tribulations of a Bonkers Blond Blogger. Traveling in an RV, with a cat. (Yes, I live on a chassis. It's possible I'm not well.)
After owning my first RV for about eight months, I have compiled a good list of things to look for when buying a used RV.
(For my non-RVing readers, feel free to skip this post.)
While the title says “Ten Things”, there are likely many more than ten things you should know before buying a used RV. Below, I’ve included about 15 things to check before buying a used RV or motorhome.
First, it was a LOT easier to get one than I thought. The folks at See Grins RV were great with helping me choose a motorhome, and with financing. But before you start to think this is a commercial, know that my mention of See Grins is unsolicited and not compensated. (In fact, they don’t even know I’m posting this.)
These tips, many from kind fellow RV owners, were immensely helpful to me when buying my first RV. Some I have come to discover on my own.
This post is a mish-mash of the highlights from the beginning of my new year, much of which seems like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
I’m not able to post as frequently as I’d like since I’m on the road in remote locations. My internet is spotty and electrical hookups aren’t always available. That’s what boondocking is like. And you all know how I feel about the boondocking.
Ladies and Gentlemen, next stop The Twilight Zone…
Caution: Reality Ahead (but it only *looks* like reality)
A house guest, I have one.
For a few weeks. Holy Shatner! I can’t believe it, either. This one seems to be a very good one. One who cleans up, and helps around the rig with BBQs and hooking up the new toad. We are heading toward Arizona for a couple weeks before my house guest returns to their home state. [The name of said house guest is withheld to protect their reputation (notice I didn't say 'to protect the innocent') because associating with me might, well, you know, not be good for someone's reputation. Besides, we're still trying to decide who is the Gypsy and who is the Tramp.] Don’t stop now! Continue reading Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. Allegedly.
Everyone has been asking, “How is the cat doing? Does she like the RV?”
It has belatedly occurred to me I should probably include Checkers, my RV co-pilot, in more of my posts.
To answer your question, she likes the RV just fine. As long as it’s not moving. When it’s stationary, she spends much of the day sleeping in the puddle of sunshine streaming through the windows on to the large dash.
A closeup of my co-pilot sleeping on the dash, what she does when she's not reading maps. Which is always.
Announcer’s voice: While we await the return of the Sacred Laptop with the Sacred Photos of naked men and Sacred Videos from Kernut’s trip, she’ll share a few tips on boondocking. Regular posts with photos will resume shortly. No posts about naked men will be missed. Ever.
Ten Lessons in Boondocking, or Ten Things I Learned Camping in Slab City
What is this? A “Ten Things Tuesday” post?
Yeah, yeah. I know. I haven’t done one of these in a while.
It’s probably not even Tuesday.
Whatever.
Boondocking: To stay in a recreational vehicle in a remote, often rural, location, without connections to water, power, or sewer services.
This Glamper (Glamper: a person, often female, who likes “glamorous camping”) learned a few things over the three weeks she spent boondocking at The Slabs, aka Slab City. (The place where the guy died when I was there.)
Mainly, that I like electrical power.
*sigh*
Lesson One:Power. Power is important. Don’t play that DVD when the clouds are coming in at night or you’ll drain your house batteries before your solar panel (as in singular, uno, one) is able to recharge them. Waiting for the sun to recharge your batteries takes a lot longer than you think. This means no power all morning, too.
It sucks to be totally out of power on a cold night and morning. Mittens and a beanie are my new best friends. Yeah, I look hot in the morning.
The song may say otherwise, but I assure you London Bridge is not falling down. I stood on it.
If it can hold me up, I’m sure it’s fine.
But back in the early 1960′s the bridge was falling down, unable to hold the increase in traffic over the previous 130 years.
The City of London decided to put the 130-year-old, busted-up bridge up for auction. The founder of Lake Havasu, Arizona, Robert P. McCulloch, won the bid with a cool $2,460,000 in 1968. He then spent another $7 million to bring the London Bridge to Lake Havasu – brick by brick. It took three years, and it was then reassembled over Lake Havasu.
I needed one for my RV, so I made one. Bumper sticker available at my Zombie Life Is Good Store for under $4. (click photo to go to store) http://zazzle.com/kernut*
The Great RV Roll-About Begins…
While continuing my efforts to pitch The Great RV Roll-About to anyone who might listen, I pumped the TV station’s film crew for info and tips. They said I should make some videos first, then pitch it to the TV station.
Oh.
Ok, I can do that. So with my usual brilliance of forethought and planning, I’m starting The Great RV Roll-About by traveling to the hot bed of funness known as St. George, Utah.
Yup, I really thought it through.
Since mere months ago I was on my way to Hell in a hand basket, I thought I’d finish the job by heading for the hottest part of the country on September 21. At the same time as the Senior Games start and every person over 50 with an RV is in town.
There I go again with the thinking and the planning.
Actually, this is the first major thing in my life that isn’t planned. Case in point: When I was in my late teens I decided I would get married at 27. No, I didn’t have a fiance or a boyfriend of any note. That was just “The Plan”.
Yeah. It never happened. Not only did it not happen by age 27, it hasn’t happened in the many years since.
As Patty Punker put it, this time “I’m flying without a net”.
My knuckles are still white and now my eyes have that thing where they think stationary objects are moving.
You know that thing that happens when you’ve been staring at a moving item (in my case the road, or that text crawl at the bottom of a tv screen) for a looooong time and then you stop staring at it and then the stationary objects around you suddenly look like they’re moving?
Yeah. I’ve got that.
And white knuckles.
Holy Dirty Diapers!
I know y’all think I’m brave, but I scared myself. Actually, the crappy condition of the LA freeways scared me. The roads (the 405, parts of the 101, and parts of the 5) were SO BAD I thought I had flat tires. Plural. Seriously. Don’t stop now! Continue reading My Knuckles Are Still White
It was touch and go for a while there. But two relatively minor sewer problems later, and one emergency trip to the vet, and I am officially on my way to San Diego.
Holy Crap, y’all. What was I thinking taking my (not so) skinny butt on the road in a big RV?
With a cat that hates to be in moving vehicles?
I’m sure this is just my usual panic-mode of coping with new situations, combined with the “RV newbie” fear. Right? (say ‘yes’) This will probably all be old hat after this first test run is over and I get back to northern California in about two and a half weeks.
Driving from northern California to BlogHer in southern California is actually a perfect opportunity for a test run. I’m sure I’ve packed way too much stuff, and in some cases not nearly enough (Food? Who needs food?).
But I have an outfit for most every occasion and that’s what’s important. Yes, and shoes. I plan to be at BlogHer in time for the Thursday night party in one of the aforementioned outfits. This RV? She’s got closet.
My motto is: There’s no sense in traveling if you can’t bring your cutest clothes.
‘Ten Things’?! What randomness is this? Wait, it must be Tuesday!
For your reading pleasure, I present an (increasingly) rare Ten Things Tuesday post…
My RV, with the slides out.
Believe it or not, in my first week here I’ve already learned Ten Things about living in an RV. Trust me when I say that while I did about eight months of research, there is still some “trial by fire” involved for this newbie in embarking on the full-time RV lifestyle.
1. If it’s not nailed down, it will move when you try to drive. Trust me on this one and nail it down. Whatever it is, just put a nail in it so it can’t move. How did I learn this? You know those little bottles of cooking extracts like vanilla, orange, mint, or almond? They fall and roll when in a moving vehicle. No, really, they do. Individually they smell intoxicating. Mixed together as a group? Not so good.
2. There are four, yes, FOUR possible power sources for all appliances: House batteries, generator, propane, city power/hookups. Generally, an appliance is able to use two of the four sources, but it also depends on the conditions at the time. As my memory is about as good as that of a goldfish (Once around the bowl and I’m saying ‘Oooh, that rock is new!’), I can’t be expected to remember which is which and when.
Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost.