lappir

Have a great time. One day my work will bring me close enough to attend. Rod

Good question and good answers. I was going for the other type, but decided not today. Rod

Ketelsen RV was building a place west of Des Moines a few years ago on I 80. There are several RV Dealers in DSM, Altoona and Ankeny. Have not had work done personally at any though. Rod

I was so disappointed with my youngest child's drivers education in the late 1990's. It was in South Florida where there are multiple merge areas, multilane roads and lots of distracted drivers all over. Her required time in the car was registered in minutes, don't remember the exact numbers, but her behind the wheel time was 1/3 of that since there were two other students in the car at the same time. They didn't go very far away from the school, since they had to be back in an hour and the school was on the western edge of the metropolis. Thankfully I had spent a summer in Iowa teaching her how to handle motorized vehicles. It started with a Riding lawn mower and backing up to hook up to a wagon or something else. Then it was mowing the large lawn and keeping straight lines. We progressed to a 1970's Jeep Pickup with a manual transmission and headed out on the country roads I grew up driving. We put lots of miles on the gravel, the hills, the mud and then started on the highway to town and finally running around town a bit. She is now comfortable driving a manual transmission unlike many of her friends. We also spent a lot of time in locations around where she lived in South Florida after returning for the school year. One time we were out in the "Acreage" and it seemed like she was going in circles. I let it go for a while before asking 'Do you know where you are and where are you wanting to go'. Her response was "Home", and the lesson began in earnest. I hadn't planned it, but it came at the perfect time. It was starting to get dark, she was in an unfamiliar place and it was time to use her Iowa skills to find her way home. When we first started out in Iowa, I said pick a direction, I don't care which way it is, but make sure you can find your way back to your starting spot we will be in the truck for an hour and I don't want to just go in a circle for an hour, we have to do multiple turns and several miles. We found landmarks and such that would get her home. I told her she could not get me lost in the area. In South Florida it was a different animal. I had gotten lost one day looking for a home to purchase, in the "Acreage". I was on my motorcycle with a low fuel tank. Thankfully what my Grandfather had taught me when I was very young in Iowa kicked in. He was the one that started me driving when I was about 10 and in the large pasture with no roads. Long story short we got home and she is now the best navigator I have ever seen. She also used to fall asleep on all of our long road trips and just the other day I asked about a recent trip with her roommate and who drove, and how her road nap was. She remarked I don't nap much in the car now. It's sort of rude to the driver. Proud Dad moment right there. I know this was long, but it's not the responsibility for the schools to teach our children, it's ours. The schools responsibility is to act as the impartial testing center where all the families hard work really pays off. I wish I had realized that a long time ago. Think about it. Rod

If you are not in a hurry, then run the right lane and get over if needed, but if you can't it's up to the entering vehicle to increase their speed to get in front of you or for them to stop on the ramp if they cannot merge in. I HATE to see people Slam on their brakes to allow a very slow moving vehicle to get in front of them merging in. If you don't know how to merge you have no business on that type of highway. JMHO. Rod

I would second the motion to avoid I 80 as much as possible, especially east of Des Moines, Iowa. I haven't traveled through Chicago in a long time, but if my trips south through St. Louis are any thing like Chicago I'd rather drive 300 miles out of the way to avoid, even taking two lane roads. Since you are not pulling a trailer you should be fine keeping the time frame you had with your previous vehicles. Remember you can go 1000 miles or more before having to stop for fuel. Bathroom breaks usually come before the need for fuel, but if you get fuel and bathrooms at the same times you can put a lot of miles on your tires. Good luck with the trip. Have fun. Rod

You have to have more than one person to utilize the rope. I have seen them in action and they are remarkable. If I continue to do dumb things I may invest in a large winch to mount to the truck. Find a good anchor spot, use a snatch block or two and it takes just a little time. The anchor spot is the hardest usually. Rod

My truck was doing the same thing if starboard is the left. My front tire had sunk into the ground and the rears on the same side were in a bit of a hole to start with and as soon as I tried to pull out it dug in deeper, but wouldn't move forward. I should have known better, but the ground seemed so Rocky everywhere else. The jacks on my trailer will sometimes sink in the first few days on a site and I have cut some long boards to put under them to spread out the weight. Most of the time that keeps things level, but have had to adjust even a few weeks after parking at some locations. Good luck with getting level. Rod

Dirtyboots, It's not even a year old. I commented on things a few years old when I first started here. The story is far from over. I have new video of Tuna with her new Harness on. Some day I hope to post video evidence of actually walking with her on a leash. She has done very well with putting the harness on and removing it. I wanted something for our first move next Friday. Don't want to restrict her to a carrier in the truck, but also don't want her to jump out at the first rest stop or Truck stop. That and not trying to crawl up under the dash or under my feet while driving. It will just be me and the cat in the cab. It would have been nice to have an extra set of hands for the first trip, but then the day wen it's just the two of us would come sooner or later. Rod

Thanks for the link Rick, I might just have to invest in them. If I had a locker rear end I could have driven out, but no. Last time I had a similar issue I was running steer tires on the rear and the grass was wet. I did put a couple scrap pieces of E track under but apparently they were not long enough. I'll be more careful in the parking spots in the future too. Rod

True, I had a 70's era Chevy dually with the 292 6 cylinder and a tow sling wrecker. It would pull a lot and the motor would lug down but never die. Had to reinforce the uprights after pulling myself out of a ditch on a snowy Iowa afternoon. The guy though just holding the brakes would work but still slid toward me instead of winching me out. They had these handy hydraulic legs with feet that they pushed into the rock roadway and that's what it took. Sure easier than the wheel chocks I had with the anchor chain attached. At least he did use a snatch block. Rod

In preparation to move today I started the truck and recharged the A/C. It might be cooler in North Dakota and I won't need it, but most likely my trip from Oklahoma to Iowa I'll need the cooling. No, that's not what cost the $105. Neither is the flat tire I had on the motorcycle when I left work last night. But I couldn't fix it today either. My pancake compressor doesn't have enough oomph to get the bead to set. I had the problem yesterday, but I was at a "Tire Shop" and they loaned me a valve core remover and it blew right up. No such luck for me today. I'm thinking since I went ahead and loaded the bike last night ( Chance of severe thunderstorms and hail), maybe I will just leave it loaded and drive my Jeep. I haven't updated the signature info, but I traded off the Subaru Crosstrek for a Jeep Wrangler Soft top two door. I saw one on a lot in town and on a whim I decided to look at it and take it for a test drive. I was amazed at how quiet the drive was and my biggest problem with the Subaru was the Collision avoidance preventing an easy load into the garage a real pain. The Jeep has none. I didn't by the one locally, It had been modified with new bumpers, fenders, big tires and a lot of stuff that I didn't want. I did find one on a trip to Tulsa and purchased it a month ago, but then on my 3rd day of having possession. I couldn't get the drivers seat to return to a position where I could actually drive it. The seat stayed forward and wouldn't release to a normal driving position. The next week I took it back to the dealership, had a Brand New Rubicon for a month while they fixed my Sport and I guess maybe I should drive it a bit. Now for what I did and wish I hadn't. I normally park my truck right in front of my trailer. I back in so I'm as short as possible and with most sites I'm ok. I probably would have been at this site too, but I had plenty of room to slide my truck over next to the building and was parking my car in front of the trailer. It worked out pretty well until today. I noticed my left side was a bit lower than the right and noticed my front left tire was sunk in a bit. The rear left were also in a bit of a hole. I had noticed it when I parked, but didn't think it would be and issue. Well it was. The thunderstorms didn't produce any wind or hail where I am, but there was plenty of rain. I'm not saying I would have been able to extricate myself it I had tried before the rain last night, but maybe I should have moved as soon as I noticed the truck seemed to be sinking. I hopefully will next time, if there is one. The tow truck was a Dodge 3500. When I called I said to the dispatcher not to send a C-30 or an F-350 and they didn't, but I thought they would send a bit larger tow truck and I mentioned it to the three people who crawled out of the cab. The drive said not to worry and he was right. He wanted $100, but I didn't have that much cash in my wallet. I offered him the $45 I had and said I could put the rest on the card, or could meet him at the ATM. He chose the ATM. Thankfully the ATM was only giving out 10's because when I handed him the $50 he didn't offer my $5 back, doubt he would have given me change if I had given him $60 when the ATM usually spits out $20's. One more week of work before the trip to the next location in Grand Forks, ND. Rod

I had a "Basement Air" installed in my new custom built trailer in 2013. Coleman Mach. Never worked very well for cooling and most certainly not for providing any warmth. You can only turn the temperature up 2 degrees at a time and you have to have a furnace linked to it for really cold areas. Replaced it with a Mini Split system the puts the prior one to shame in every way. Part of my issue could have been installation and working on it to attempt a repair was very costly and ineffective. I would stay away from one. Rod

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Sorry I forgot to mention I have the Pandora Plus which is commercial free with unlimited skips. I may not be able to choose a song, (Usually don't remember the name/title anyway), but I can block artists and choose favorite songs. (Once you do, you hear it a LOT though, so stopped hitting the "Heart" or "Thumbs Up). What I'm wanting is to not have to skip the first 10 or so songs when I choose "Shuffle". I get tired of skipping and just give up. Rod

Good morning all, Not sure if this the place for this, but I will start it here. I'm not an audiophile or a musician, but I like to listen to music. I don't remember when, but many years ago I subscribed to "Sirius" when they had a portable device that would "record" 50 hours of music so you didn't have to have an external antenna, but could listen to commercial free music. I did that for several years until I realized all the portable devices seemed to last only a month beyond their warranty period I would have to buy a replacement. I found "Slacker" music for a monthly fee. I was happy. I could listen to music anywhere my phone had a connection either through the cell system or a WIFI connection. Then they raised the prices. Pandora was next and so far has stayed within my budget the unfortunate part is no matter how I try to vary my play lists, I always seem to listen to the same music all the time. Not too long ago I found "Discovery" as one of the playlist options. It says "listen to artists that are not typically on this station". I guess that means it's pulling artists off my other stations and putting it on this one. While I don't remember song names very well. I will say the first 10 songs that start to play when I hit "Shuffle" mode are always the same. Apparently Shuffle doesn't really mean "Mix them Up" like I think when playing cards. Now after you have read all this, does anyone have a fix? How do you get more variety? Thanks much in advance. Rod

I'm just a couple weeks from moving and my plants won't be making the trip with me. Other than using some of them as "Microgreens" the rest will go to a compost pile not worth trying to save. I'll try and post photos and attach. I'm thinking the bagged garden soil and potting soil I purchased is the reason. When I opened the bags they both looked like the same stuff and not what I expected. It seemed like a not quite ready compost pile (or Mulch) was mixed with some sand and maybe some clay. Nothing like the black fine well composted offering I was expecting. I almost didn't waste the seeds, but decided "This must be what it's like in Oklahoma." Won't do that again. Growing up in Iowa with the black gold and then the next real garden was in South Florida with a good portion of the "Muck" I think it's called in my garden spot it was easy to grow anything, as long as you pulled out the weeds that would grow much faster. I will be landing in North Dakota the middle of June. May try it again, have heard they have long days during the summer. Will find a farmers market first though and find out what grows during their summers. Rod

I have recently taken on a new feline. She was at the park when I pulled in, looked like a kitten so I asked about it. The park manager said it recently just showed up. I have posted about it on a couple of the other sections. I previously had a couple cats in the sticks and bricks but since I started living full time in my home on wheels I had resisted getting replacements. My Daughter was adopted by an feline a few years ago and I was the "Winter Break" caregiver while she was at FSU undergrad. (Her Mother say's she is allergic to Cat's). I always missed her cat once she picked him up after the break and allowed this one to adopt me. My litter box is in the toy hauler garage and isn't an issue with odor at all. I do keep only a small amount of litter in place and do the sift cleaning at least once a day and add just a little litter as needed. It's seems so much easier than when I used to put in the whole container of litter and then have to sift through it all. One minute vs nearly 5 minutes. The big test will be the beginning of next month when I will be moving 400 miles stopping for a week and then another 700 miles for the summer location. My hope is she will be find in my truck on the road and not try and find a place to hide the whole time. Today she got her first experience with a leash harness. It only took 4 times to get it sized correctly and put on. Haven't actually attached the leash yet, but will sometime this weekend. She liked playing with the leash handle and it distracted her from having the harness on, at least today. I'm hoping for similar responses this evening. Rod

I know it's not your question, but I would convert to a Induction cooktop, especially in Florida. You will have much less heat to deal with that is wasted and causes cooling issues with your A/C, especially if you cook very much. I put in a Residential LP cook top in my home on wheels but use the countertop induction plates so much I built a cover to put over the Residential cooktop and haven't used it in 3 years. I am looking for a Induction cooktop, but want to change my inverter and batteries before making the change so I can be sure to have the abilities to use it almost all the time either in an RV park or on the road. Rod

This winter in SW Oklahoma I found a place for $12 tank fills, then the Texas Freeze came and the price was almost $20. Sort of expected the same recently in NE OK, but was surprised when they said $14. What prices are you paying? Rod ps I bought my tanks and have not "Exchanged" them at any site. If they won't fill my tanks I move on to the next place. rl

Glad I forgot to look for it. It's been cool here in NE Oklahoma so the fans are not yet getting much action. I did use the one with the motorcycle polish on it for a couple hours. Will try to do the same in the same place with the other one. Plan to set them side by side. One blowing east and the other west or North/South as the case may be. Rod

At one time there were three of us who carried vehicles in a garage behind the sleeper of the truck. Now there are only two that I know still do. Rick Jennings has a box that will fit his Jeep and Steve Dixon has a box that fit's his Smart. I had a 14 1/2 foot box that I could load a Mini Cooper in and then an Isuzu Vehicross. Have since down sized the box to a 7 footer with side doors and only put the motorcycle, bicycle and a few other things inside. The car goes in the trailer now. Jay (can't remember his last name) had a box for his Ford Focus hatchback with a sliding hitch and ramps built that attached to the door. I had photos of all at one time, but no more it seems. Rod

Thanks. Was at the store, but forgot to look for "Endust". Have some fabric softener sheets so will try that as the second tester. Rod

Haven't seen your rig since you finished it back then. If I remember correctly there were a few interesting things you did to it. Will it be posted for sale on the Forum or will you list it on another site? Good luck with the sale and your new adventure. Rod