LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE ROAD

    Frank and I left Long Island, NY in November of 2012 and have made multiple stops to visit family and National Parks during this initial 'adventure'.  Before we departed from New York we had installed one 95-watt solar panel and taken care of several maintenance items on our 1994 Fleetwood Tioga Montara. 

     Our stops along the way have lead to some good information on Alaska, camp hosting, sites to see, and boon docking tips. Its good to get some first hand information.  I had spent the past summer reading many articles on RV organization, how to manage water use while boon docking, what food and items you really need, and other RV survival tips. My only previous RV experience was a vacation where my family and I had rented an RV for a week-long trip to Possum Lake, TX.  The experience was mixed with good and funny memories, but the vote was not to travel by RV again.   So many years later here I am venturing into full-time RVing with Frank and we plan to see this beautiful country of ours for years to come.  

   We have definitely over packed because after six months on the road many items are still packed up and won't be coming along on the next trip.  Organizing and trying to improve upon our storage is definitely worthwhile, it saves time and space.  I made large size shoe pockets that go all the way around both sides of the bed, they work great and by using an inexpensive paint tarp and some grommets the total cost was probably about $10.  Frank added some wire shelves under the vanity counter in the bedroom and we use the space for clothes, hiking boots, his National Park hat collection, and extra storage.  The kitchen cabinets have been tweaked and re-tweaked, we have added wire shelves in most cabinets in order to add a 2nd tier for organizing food and dishware items.  One section was fitted with a 3-tier canned food holder, found at the Container Store, it works for cans, fruit cups, bottles and small boxes.  We use two plastic bins on each side of the overhead space above the driver & passenger seats;  one holds our sports and hiking equipment, and the other holds our books and maps.

     We kicked into gear immediately with the water conservation effort.  We collect water in the sink by keeping a plastic bin in it at all times to collect hand and dish washing water when we are without hookups (which will be most of the time) in many National Park and Forest campgrounds.  This water is emptied into an old pail we keep in the shower.  We also collect shower water in this pail when warming up the water at the start of our showers.  These conservation efforts help us stay put for a week before we have to drive the RV to a dump station to empty the grey water tank.  Our RV has a 30 gallon fresh water tank, a 35 gallon gray tank, and a 35 gallon black water holding tank.
 
     In order to avoid having to drive the RV to fill up our fresh water tank we purchased two standard 7-gallon blue water jugs from Walmart, and store them in the Jeep so we can fill up on our way back from sightseeing.  Frank purchased a 12-volt water pump from Northern Tools and added some PVC piping and quick-connect hose adapters from Home Depot so that we are able to pump water into the RV tank without any heavy lifting. 

     Food and meal preparation is an area that will be dependent on available RV space, personal choice, and how much effort you want to exert in order to make a meal.  My food cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer have become a lot more orderly as our traveling has progressed.  For our first two-week-long dry camping I took stock of what was on hand, developed possible meals, then created the shopping list.  We were going to make do with what we had on hand in order to see if we could estimate food needs wisely.  Well, we made it and had 5-6 meals left.  A few shopping changes have been made since our trip began; powdered sports drink instead of buying bottled, Tang instead of fresh or frozen orange juice, powdered low fat milk instead of fresh, instant coffee instead of our Keurig, fruit cups to supplement fresh fruit.  These are just a few items that come to mind.  We keep 1/2 gallon containers in our refrigerator door for milk, juice, water, tea, so we can make drink items as we need them.  If anyone told me I would be drinking powdered milk and instant coffee, and liking them, I would not have believed them but life on the road brings about change.

     We purchased a 12-volt crock pot for Christmas with hopes of using it to make hot meals during our boon docking.  After our first use it was apparent that we do not have enough power with the one solar panel and single 12-volt house battery to use the crock pot as planned.  So we now use the crock pot for making meals while we travel "on the road" or when at sites with power - it works great and dinner is ready by the time we arrive at our destination. Lesson learned!  Since starting our trip we have added a second battery and have a second solar panel waiting to be installed in New York.  We may even make some modifications in order to fit a third or fourth battery.

     We have experimented with the propane oven in the RV and have made fresh Italian and Irish breads, banana breads, cookies, and cupcakes.  In some cases we have had to shave off the well-done bottom of a cake or muffin, but practice is improving that issue.  We finally have the time to bake and cook so neither one of us lets the smaller space or lack of electricity keep us from a 'baking day' or 'Pasta Sunday'.  Sure we could just start up the generator and take the easy way but that just wouldn't be the same. 

   Latest lesson learned on the road was how to address a serious medical issue.  When I (Rene) had quit work last summer a very important task was to secure self-insured medical insurance coverage.  This was not a slam dunk even for a seemingly very healthy 50-year old woman, but looking back I'm thankful for the coverage I did manage to find before our trip began.  When I experienced a ruptured appendix we were forced to find medical care on the road, far from either of our homes.  After searching my insurance directory for participating clinics and hospitals I scheduled an appointment.  I was sent from clinic to the ER and then spent a week in the small hospital before returning weeks later for the laparoscopic surgery to conclude this chapter of our travel.  We heard from many locals in the town that they would suggest going elsewhere for care but we had confidence in the 'traveling surgeon' and the wonderful staff at the small Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, CA.  While others may have taken a different path in addressing a serious medical issue on the road we are pretty happy with our outcome. 

   Hopefully we will be returning to the road next Wednesday and while we won't be taking our Alaska Adventure this summer we are pretty sure that our new plans to venture through the Tetons, Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains on our way back towards home will still provide great memories and sites on our first of many 'Endless Adventures in the USA'. 

Regards,
Rene & Frank

PS: To view all of our travel photos use the link below to Frank's facebook page.

www.facebook.com/frank.posillico.351