Memories, Good and Bad, of The Journey...

Hat tip to CJ over at CozyGirl for suggesting a Best of/Worst of regarding our land yacht voyage. We had actually written all of the notes during one day of travel--yes, something to keep the RV chauffeur awake. We felt it was appropriate at the end of the calendar year as many other media outlets begin their "Best Of/Worst of 2012" exposes. As is common with most relationships, we did not always agree, so we noted each others names when our opinions differed.

This post is also dedicated to Debbie over at Great Escapes From NJ who said she loves blogs with links--more links here than the Johnsonville sausage factory. Oh, and a big howdy to our current neighbors,  RoadmaptoNomad, who became full-time RVers just yesterday, how awesome is that.

I apologize in advance as to formatting---Blogger should rename itself to Booger--cause I get madder than snot when I use their app. Don't you love the message "An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again. Ignore warning"--I thought the reason for WARNINGS was so they were not to be ignored. I don't see Tylenol putting on their labels "Keep out of reach of children. Ignore warning". I was within a razor's edge of renaming the blog to FLIP THE BIRD VECTOR.

So, if you see uncentered photos, text spacing, etc. where they don't belong, it is not due to the over indulgence of egg nog as I prepared this post. In the "Edit" post, all looks reasonably well. However, when I go to "Preview", it looks like someone riding the short school bus got a hold of my laptop. Also, since most of our readers made it beyond Kindergarten, not every picture will have a photo.

Rant off. Temporarily.


OK, the winners and losers area..............

MEMORIES:

Top Two Most Memorable Days:

 A day in New York City (Teri)

Bucket List Checkoff-- Oshkosh Air Show with oldest son (Dave)

Top Two Most Scenic Memories:

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (Teri)

Grand Canyon, Arizona (Dave)

Best single day, big city experience:

Broadway--Rock of Ages-New York City (Teri)--the day my man card virginity was taken.

San Franciso city tour (Dave)

Best single day experience, smaller city:

 Cycling around Monterey Bay, CA

Prettiest single day drive:

Coastal South Carolina in the Fall

Prettiest sunrise:

Austin, TX.

Prettiest sunset:

Snake River/Twin Falls, ID in late May

or

Ogallala, NE amidst a storm brewing over a forest fire

Favorite non-Texas state:

South Carolina- Teri

Idaho- Dave

Worst day of the journey:

The crash 

RV PARKS:

Top 3 RV Parks:

Ocean Lakes Travel Park- Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Cherry Hill RV Park- Washington DC.--Easy commute to the city.

Turning Stone Casino/The Villages RV Park- Oneida, N.Y.--Beautiful, well-layed out, trash can at every sight.

Worst RV Parks:

Century RV Park, Ogden, UT--park was fine, but office staff couldn’t spell RV.

Timberlane Campground, Clarksboro, NJ --- too much attitude, charging weekly for electric and dozens of square bugs that we still find alive in our rig 3 months later. Funny enough, this is where popular RV Blogger Cheddar-Yeti is holed up for the Winter.

Skyline RV Resort, Darrien Center, NY—park wasn’t too bad, but loud mouth seasonals were disruptive.

Best boondocking experience:

Perrine Bridge, Snake River, Twin Falls, ID. watching base jump divers and sleeping for free!

Well, just like RV'ing, things don't always go according to plan...

 

Big City with Best Choice of RV Parks:

Myrtle Beach, SC

Big City with Worst Choice of RV Parks

San Francisco, Denver and D.C.—flip a coin.

Most Unique RV Park Visited:

Hiway Haven, Sutherlin, OR.—yeah,  drive-in movie screen included.

 

Most frustrating part:

Although not frequent, bad Wi-Fi--yeah,yeah, Verizon Mi-Fi blah,blah

oMost desired amenities:

Good Wi-Fi, Pull thru parking, walk-friendly 

Favorite song that depicted the journey:

"FREE" Zac Brown Band 

Favorite words:
No Regrets-- Dave
Enough (Contentment)-- Teri

Favorite two websites: 

RV.net -almost any question you need answered can be found here. Hat tip to my virtual mentor, Newman, who has dedicated his life to making sure I didn't electrocute myself.

rvparkreviews.com-- The Yelp-like source for RV'ers!

FOOD:

Top 2 Dining Experiences:

 

Indochine- Wilmington, N.C., our first stab at Thai food, awesome!

 

 Steamboat Bill's- Lake Charles, La.--Shrimp Pistolettes, the best!

Favorite Cheap Eats:

Waffle House - (Southeast USA)

Culver's - (Northeast USA)

Favorite Campground Treat:

 

 Snickers Ice Cream Bar

 

Least Favorite 2 Dining Experiences:

Cracker Barrel- Wilmington, NC. Spices must have been back-ordered while we were in town.

Ogallala, NE. Elevated the definition of “bland”.

Best Surprise Food:

 

Carolina BBQ--mustardy vinegary BBQ sauce= besty.

Most Frequent Meal Prepared In The Rig:

 Pierogies with our own bacon and onion topping

 

NUMBERS:

Most Expensive Budget Month:

November (Crash Month): $3,766 (insurance deductibles + 4 new tires)

Least Expensive Budget Month:

August (Month in Bristol, IN.): $1960.00

Total Miles Driven:

11, 166

Number of States Visited:

34

Number of Campgrounds Visited:

52

Longest single day drive:

447 miles, Williams, Az to Bakersfield, Ca.

Shortest single day drive:

Golden, Co. to Littleton, Co., 21 miles

Highest price per gallon of diesel:

$4.49. California. No surprise.

Lowest price per gallon of diesel.

$3.39 Texas, in April 2012. No surprise.

MPG Towing:

13

MPG without RV:

20

Best investment under $100:

 Table top grill.

Hottest day:

Ogallala,, NE-105, in June.

Coldest day:

Austin, TX- 27, in December. LOL.

Scariest weather moment:

Tornado warning, Bristol, IN. in August

There you go folks,  hours of work, organizing photos and arm wrestling Blogger is complete! And, if you don't like this blog post, I am hiring Christy over at He Said/She Said to write a formal response---I hear she does a stand up job!

To our 60+ followers and 42,000 who have stopped by since April, we say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM DAVE AND TERI AT FLIP FLOP VECTOR!

 

Closet-phobia

Closetphobia--fear of small closets.

RV closets for rigs in our size range should have a sign denoting "Not suitable for men over 165 pounds". My shirts hang so low their lower portions serve as carpet scrubbers.The depth is not much better-- if your shoulders are wider than a stick figure of Gomer Pyle, the coat also will not fit.

I knew we were facing this conundrum as we headed out to get a sports coat for potential job interviews down the road.Where does the RV'er hang a jacket with an XL (Extra Lard) size tag on it?  Well, lo and behold, it looks like we have a new purpose for extended cab pickups. Now if I can find a butler to run out to the truck to snag it when needed.

Day 254 of tin can camping continues.

Money Laundering

I don't have a pet peeve, I have a zoo of peeves, all be it of the first world variety. In our current campground, they have two nice, well-equipped coin operated laundry areas. But guess what they do not offer--- C O I N S!

Imagine going to the bank teller and being told "Sorry sir, we don't provide change". Or, getting all situated at the car wash only to discover they have no way to convert your greenbacks to silver. How about if the soda machine had an illuminated sign reading "does not provide change". Like mustard to a hot dog, coins are to a coin-operated laundry--no?

I understand security concerns with 24 hour laundry rooms and change machines. But could you not place them at the office where there is constant presence for at least 8 hours a day. If you don't want to mess with change machines, then could you not at least make rolls of quarters available to your office staff. I mean---really---what is happening to the coins that are being inserted into their dozen machines? Seems like availability is not an issue.

So when I inquired as to where I can get change to use their laundry services, guess where I was told to go--"sir, 1 mile north of here there are change machines at the laundromat and the car wash. If that doesn't work, a bank".  YA THINK??

Over and out.

Fixin' To Fix Something....

"Fixin to" is a favorite Texas euphemism for "preparing to"--we are fixin' to leave for the grocery store. In the RV lifestyle, seems like you are continually in a "fixin to fix something" mode.

We have had several lingering issues in need of repair, but for the most part, they were of the intermittent variety--the worst kind for diagnosing. We have had the temperature relief valve of the hot water heater leaking periodically, the furnace thermostat acting up and a leak into the basement from the shower basin. So, after my limited problem solving skills failed, yet again, it was time to test out our extended warranty provider and a local RV tech who worked with such companies.

So a call was placed to RV Specialist mobile repair service in Austin. Their best response time was two days which was not an issue since 2 of the 3 issues (not the shower leak) have been plaguing us periodically for months and the other is solved by a 50 foot walk to the awesome compartment style (our favorite) showers at the campground.

After 2 hours of problem solving, although I suspected it was a shower faucet leak, it appears it was weakening caulk around the lower wall of the floor pan as a peek into the faucet cabinet showed it completely dry. It takes 24 hours to set and I am not fully optimistic that was the issue, but we will go from there. The furnace thermostat issue, as luck would have it when repair folks arrive of any nature, could not be reproduced. The water heater valve leak was demonstrated, so it was replaced.

 

Total bill before warranty was $253.00 including $75 service call for just bringing their smile to our RV park. The tech confirmed, as other RV repair folks I have asked, XtraRide is one of the easier warranty providers to deal with. The end result: Xtraride covered the service call fee plus the water heater valve parts and labor, minus $50 deductible,  leaving us with a balance of $150. I figured they wouldn't cover caulking nor the "unable to duplicate" thermostat issue, so I would say we are satisfied with their coverage. 

Oh, and yes, I had gone over it with caulk before they arrived, but APPARENTLY acrylic caulk, which I knew was not entirely waterproof, but thought it would have some value,  is useless on showers and tubs.I am rapidly approaching putting the complete into complete idiot.

On somewhat of a related topic, we discussed in a prior post about Coach-Net, our roadside assistance program, which we had dealings with during our accident in Wilmington, NC. While there are only 2 major players in this provider category (the other being Good Sam's), we were pleased with our overall experience. They had a clause providing Trip Interruption benefits in the event, as an RV'er, we were involved in an accident and our rig was rendered inhabitable. They allowed for hotel ($400), rental car ($300) and meals ($400). I checked in with them on Friday and although the check has not been written, all of our paperwork has been received and the claim approved. We knew from the outset a 60 day waiting period was the norm and it has only been 30, so it is proceeding on course.

While we are on topic of repairs, for those that order online parts and comparison shop like Christie over at He Said She Said, give Tweetys a look. I have found them to be less expensive after pricing in item cost and shipping than both Amazon and Camping World.

There you go, a RARE, HELPFUL post on 2 of the hot button topics amongst RV'ers---warranties and roadside assistance providers, plus a tip on how to save a buck or two. It must be the giving season.

The journey is parked in Austin, TX as we celebrate 8 months of minimalist living in 2 days....