The real issue after a year

For a couple of days, I've been talking around the main question here: Do I keep the Beast and go do the kind of trips I'm learning I like?  Or do I spiff it up and sell it?

One major factor is cost: Not so much the direct cost of travel, but a continuous stream of fairly major repair and maintenance expenses.  It's a 1999 vehicle, after all.   The ones I now know about involve completing the rear axle/differential repairs, and repairing/replacing the air spring(s).  Yes, I can change my own oil, but that's not going to save a whole lot of money.    I once briefly had a boat, and the saying was true: boats are a hole in the water that you pour money into.  RV's, I think, are like that.

There's a long list of items on my Amazon RV wish list.  Some of them, like the solar-powered inflatable LED lantern, are things which took my fancy as I browsed or read about them on other blogs, and simply look like fun.  Others are more like tools than toys: a nozzle to clean out the holding tanks, for example. A hatchet for those nights when a campfire seems like a good idea and wood must be split.  A folding shovel for when "cat-scratch" sanitation is permissible.  And others are things which make living in a small box more pleasant and easy:  a cover for the stove top to give me more kitchen counter space.  And an item which still eludes me: a comfortable, lightweight chair for sitting and reading, inside or outside.

The Verizon hot spot works well, and Verizon has the best network for my purposes. Got that! But do I need a cell phone signal booster?    What about a satellite communicator for emergencies when I'm out of cell phone range?

You get the idea. If you're anything of a gadget freak, or enjoy good tools, then you'll really get it.   I can treat these as hobby expenses, which they are, and buy them as I can afford them.   No, it's the likelihood of major repairs and upgrades which concern me.   For example, do I spend $1000 to beef up my solar capacity?

As I list these out, it occurs to me that perhaps I'm not at the decision point I've imagined.  The major repairs I know about simply have to be done, keep it or sell it.  No decision involved. With the exception of really major upgrades, I can chip away at the little stuff without breaking the bank.  And it's fun, dammit, which is the point.

PS:  I think I'm done ruminating about the future.  Thanks for listening!

Looking ahead

As I said at the end of my last post, I've had the rig for a year (and a few days, actually: March 18th is the anniversary) and it's time for the general review.

A few semi-random thoughts:

I don't like commercial RV parks much.  My experience is that they're crowded and pretty ugly.  I do see the point in staying at one from time to time to dump holding tanks, fill up water,  and run off shore power if I need to charge batteries.   By comparison with most motels, they're cheap.  But I'll be looking for state parks and the like when boondocking isn't feasible.

If I'm just trying to get from here to there, any parking lot in a storm!  My two experiences on my trip to Albuquerque were fine: One truck stop, one restaurant lot.  Just a place to stay.  No biggie.

The days up at Site 73 were the best I've had yet with the Beast: big open views,  uncrowded to say the least (after I chased away the folks from Vashon Island.)  But there were some issues I need to pay attention to.  If the weather had closed in and the solar panel couldn't hack it, I'd have had to move or run the generator for a couple of hours to recharge. The 55-gallon gas tank was maybe 2/3 full, and the generator burns about 1/2 a gallon an hour, so that would have been an option.  I have a real hangup about using the generator, which I think comes from years ago as a tent camper, encountering an RV with a noisy smelly generator.  So I have to keep reminding myself it's there.

I'm really taken by the whole solar thing: quiet and very resource-friendly (e.g. PC).   I'm starting to look into what it might cost to put another solar panel and more batteries on... first cut is that a serious increment would cost on the order of $1K.  *Grimace*

I need to back up and remember what my original motive was for getting an RV:  getting out of Tucson summer heat.  I started reading a blog Called "Cheap RV Living," written by a guy named Bob Wells, who's something of a celebrity in the small world of full-time RV living or "van dwelling."  He spends summers, or parts of them, parked right outside of Flagstaff on A-1 Mountain Road.  I've been there.  He spends winters in southern AZ, seems to use places like Cottonwood and Prescott when it gets hot down here, and then moves up to Flagstaff later in the season.

The specific locations are less important than the concept.  Here's a guy living in places I know and like, pretty much for free, in the summer.  It's perfectly legal. ** And it's affordable!  The expensive part of RV travel is road time. The cost of getting to and from Flag is pretty small.  (About $160).

So do I want to live in an alpine meadow for a month, pretty much on my own?  I could ...

** Bob reminds me about the Forest Service' 14-day rule, which is energetically enforced in the Coconino National Forest: no "dispersed camping" for more than 14 days in any 30-day period. Hmmm.

Ajo summary

The trip to Ajo and Buenos Aires helped me focus on some issues.  Some of these are technical matters about what needs to be done to the Beast before I undertake more extended travel.  Near the top of that list is an issue I discovered as I was prepping the rig for the trip home: the drivers' side air spring isn't holding air.  That's not something I feel like I can deal with on my own, so it goes on the list for either Buck or Merrigan's.   Sigh.

The other items have a much more DIY cast:  There's a cheap little fitting that will let me refill the little 1-qt propane bottles which fuel my grill and the heater.  I can buy in "bulk" in the bigger bottle which is for the patio grill, and then decant into the smaller bottles, saving a ton of money and avoiding tossing out the metal and plastic they're made from.

I need a longer cord for the solar panel: Unless I park right, it can be hard to get it positioned in full sun all day.  This will involve getting some 10ga wire and some Powerpole connectors and fabricating a cable, but that's do-able.

The list goes on.  Those are near the top, and fortunately not all that pricey.

Part of the agenda for last weekend's trip was to see how the solar panel and the dual batteries worked in boondocking situations.  Well, in a word.  As long as I had a few hours of direct sunshine, the solar panel topped off the batteries just fine.  I had plenty of water: The tank was 1/3 full when I left, and there were several bottles of drinking water in the fridge.  Resource issue:  internet data.  I used a lot when there was a good signal.  Not a problem this month; it's comfortably within the minimum I'm paying for. But an extended trip, particularly with a lot of time boondocking, might require some planning.

This leads to a prior question:  What's the future look like for me and the RV?  I think that'll be a separate post.  What projects I undertake depend on whether the Beast is a semi-permanent member of the household, or not.  I got it about a year ago, and told myself that I'd re-evaluate the whole RV thing after a year.  That would be about now...

Jiggity jog

Back in Tucson.   Got in early afternoon, unloaded the Beast into the waiting Hyundai (yclept "Buttercup") and was in the house doing laundry soon thereafter.  Retrieved my dog from the neighbor friend who'd been looking after her, took a run to the grocery store, and here we are.

Reflections on the time away will follow, sometime.  Tomorrow at 8 the HVAC people show up for the annual checkup for the big box on the roof.

Leaving Site 73

Yesterday's high winds have abated; it was calm and clear and 33º F this morning.  It felt like real camping dreading slithering out of my nylon sleeping bag.  It did not feel like real camping turning on the furnace for a few minutes to take the chill off!  The interior temperature was 39º F, so I felt that was warranted.  I turned the furnace off after about 10 minutes: The catalytic heater is keeping it comfy, with no battery drain to run a fan.

Nor does it feel like real camping sitting here drinking coffee and attending to personal finance matters on the computer.

I'm headed home.  I won't try to summarize this trip experience just yet.  But here's some final images from Site 73. I trust that you've learned you can see these full size by clicking on them.

Yes, I know the horizon line shouldn't be in the center
of the image.  Rule of thirds, and all that.
I'm working on that.

I've been assiduously watering this tree for a couple of days.  The little guy on the red ball is, I have decided, the familiar of this place.  Emma would have had other ideas.  Dance on, little dude!

Neighbors?!

So there I was.  Reading and watching the clouds go by.  And then I heard a vehicle go by.  Not that usual out here.  So I looked up.  And people with a trailer were pulling in.  In my spot.  MY spot!  I'll spare you the dialog, but the "ranger" had suggested they check this spot out because if it rains they wouldn't get stuck.  I pointed out that there's almost a hundred designated campsites in this place, and surely some of them wouldn't pose a flood hazard.  And besides, there's no rain in the forecast for days.

They're a nice couple from Vashon Island in Washington State.  I went back in my rig to do the breakfast dishes (oh, all right, the dinner and breakfast dishes) and fume.  When I looked out they were gone.  And for all of about 10 minutes I felt guilty.  I'm over it now.  This wasn't my morning to put my own priorities on the back burner.  Not that guy, today.

Did I mention this spot has awesome 5-bar Verizon 4GLTE coverage.  I can see what I think is the  tower out across the valley.  Line of sight, baby!

Tuesday Morning at Buenos Aires

Cold last night, as expected.  It was in the low 40's inside when I woke up.  Turned on the catalytic heater and within about 30 minutes the air temperature was up to the low 60s.  Comfortable in jeans and a hoodie.  It felt warm immediately where I was sitting reading, because the radiant element was pointed right at me.  That's basically how radiant heat works: it heats up the objects it's pointed at, and those objects warm up the air.

Lesson:  When you're buttoned up tight because it's cold, and you boil water for coffee, the windows will fog up.  Lots.  I winder how far into the day it will be before I have a clear view.

Lesson:  Put outside stuff away overnight.  I had left the solar panels and my little entrance mat in place last night.  A few minutes ago I was reading/snoozing on the couch, and woke up to the sound of pitterpats of rain. The rug got a little soggy, as did the chair. Not bad once the sun comes out later this morning.  The solar panels themselves are weatherproof (as they'd have to be) but the controller is not.   It's tucked up under the panels, so it's sheltered from light weather, but I hauled it inside just to be sure.  Bother.

Lesson:  Be aware of where the sun will rise, and orient the rig to catch early sun.  I need a longer cable for the panels... that's high on my list of projects when I get back.

Lesson:  When it's nice and toasty inside, and you go out to take a picture, CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR!

I'm going to look through the pictures I've taken, and edit this post to add some.  They could use some tweaking, but you'll get the idea.

These are from yesterday afternoon shortly after I arrived:

And these are from this morning at about sunrise:

And now it's time for breakfast.