imadtchmn

double post sorry!

Another week has gone by and the TV is now running fine thanks to some good people at thetruckstop.us forum. Sure glad there are understanding people there and they are more than willing to help. If you have any issues with your TV diesel, go there for assistance. They are great at walking you through problems. I am almost finished with the TT. Still have to shampoo the carpet, replace some trim work and wipe everything down on the inside. I'll give it a good washing after the hurricane passes by. Not sure atm where it will hit, so don't want to have to wash it twice. Also found out the battery is not any good, so went and got another battery for it. More out of pocket expense, but I don't want to sell it without a good battery. It is also out of propane. dang! Oh well, might as well get some in one of the bottles and pick up some black spray paint for the rear bumper to cover up some scratches. Other than working, we are looking forward to taking some time off on Labor Day weekend. Have reservations made and fishing pole ready Take care and enjoy life to the fullest. 1842 days

Well $200.00 lighter in the pocketbook, but did find the parts to fix the TV. I'll be putting them on this weekend and hopefully have it running better than before. I'm also taking care of some things that could become issues and adding a little bit more horsepower to it. Really don't want to trade it in. I've gotten to know it inside and out and I really do like it. My son decided not to buy the TT so now I have to fix up some minor things and do a good detailing on it and get it ready to put up for sale. I'll be taking the proceeds from that and putting it into savings to add to our finances for a newer 5ver. Plan to do that in about 3-4 years. In the mean time, will be doing some mods to the current 5ver. Never too much fun. We will be going out on Labor Day Weekend for what may be our last outing of this year. Oh, we don't plan to move back into the stick and brick, but will be staying near there for a bit. If we don't like that, we can always move to another place thats close to work. You all have fun and take care. Be safe on the upcoming holidays. 1848 days

Well I guess it had to happen sometime. The TV went down on me. Fortunetely it was near home and not towing. I was reading in the diesel forums about issues with the 99 chevy diesels and I got hit before I could afford to do the changes I wanted to make. Guess I'll have to do them now. No choice. It will cost about $500.00 in parts, but when I get done, at least that will be some other things I won't have to worry about. Now if I can just find the parts I need. Some are so hard to find and they want an outrageous price. One part is an APPS which goes on the accelerator pedal. Didn't realize this diesel was an accelerate by wire. Looking at about $400.00 for that alone. The other is a modification I figured I would do while its down to keep from breaking down on the road and will also give me a bit more horsepower I don't have anyone near me that I know that could pull the 5ver back home if that happens. Well you all have fun while I get this thing back on the road again. Have to have it ready by Labor Day weekend. Reservations are waiting!

Well we just got back from a weekend trip to High Falls State Park, GA. Must admit, its a nice campground, however, the hill going in and out is steep. It put a lot of strain on the drive train of the TV. Used 1st gear all the way up and really began to wonder if I would make it. Felt better when 2nd gear kicked in. Whew!!! The camping area we had looked like it was an old hosting site and had a double parking area. Really a nice large area and kind of secluded from others. The central camping area had a green area between the campers where kids could play and bicycling was everywhere. Lots of kids playing and just enjoying themselves. One thing I did not like was that we could not get in the lake for swimming and were not allowed in the river. Really a shame that a few people had to sue the state due to stupidity and they were forced to make this regulation. There is, however, a public swimming pool located within the park that charges $5.00 per person to use. It is a nice sized pool and maintained very well. The owners are friendly and treat you like they have known you all their life. The grandkids and I hiked some of the trails and walked along the river. Took some beautiful pictures of the river and lake. The river was way down due to the lack of rain we have had this year. Really been a drought. We are somewhere around 13 inches short for this year. The falls just had a bit of water coming over them and did not have the spectacular showing of water that it normally has. We did some fishing on the lake, but luck was not on our side this time. No bites. I guess it has just been too warm for fish to be hungry. Even my lures could not get them to come out. Maybe next time will be better. Well that's it for now. Have fun and keep the dirty side down, bright side up.

Well it's been a while since I wrote in here. Had a lot of things happen over the past few weeks, some good some not so good. My son-in-law has been going to the hospital for some testing to see why he is throwing up blood but they still have not figured out why. That has us somewhat worried. The heat has been oppressive and has slowed us down a bit. On the bright side, I found the leak in our above ground pool and was able to fix it. Hurray, swimming at home is on again! We are still staying in our 5'ver and still loving it. This weekend we will be headed for High Falls State Park, Ga. This will be our first time there and hopefully will be all it states on their site. We will be taking the grandkids with us on this trip since it will probably be their last before school starts August 10th. We have fishing, swimming and hiking planned. Not sure how much we will be able to do, since this will be a 2 day camping affair. We'll do what we can and have fun doing it. We do have a family trip scheduled for Labor Day weekend but at this time, not sure who is all going. If no one else goes, we will still have fun with having a lake almost at our front door. Hmm, just remembered, I haven't updated my trip journal from the last trip yet. Must remember to do that when I get a chance. Have plenty of pictures to upload also. Let me hear from some of you. Gets lonely here at times. Besides, how are you going to be able to remember what you did when, if you don't write about it. It may help others to see what and how you are doing things to get ready for fulltiming and actually see how long that process may take. You all take care and have fun. Don't let the end of summer stop you from enjoying life and the outdoors.

Well here we are, halfway through 2011 and getting ready to go off RV'ing again. Where has the time gone? Seems the older you get, the faster the days go by. Not that I am complaining about it. I do want retirement to hurry up, just hope after retirement, time slows down some. This trip will be to Indian Springs State Park. Made reservations about 3 months or so ago to make sure we would have a spot. My DS will be taking his TT also, so it will be kind of a caravaan going up there. 2 RV's and 3 vehicles behind that. Hope no one is in a rush to get there. Found out from the campsite, that we will be able to check in early on Friday morning. We will leave the S&B about 9 am and will be there about 10 or 10:30 barring any issues on the trip. Maybe the buddy campsite will be open. If so, we claim it. Well hope everyone has a happy 4th of July weekend. Stay safe and keep things slow.

Well we took our first trip out this past weekend to a campground about 40 miles from the homestead. I need to weigh this thing, get a newer, lighter 5vr or get a bigger truck. Maybe all three. We did have a great weekend though and loved being right on the water. Its not a big campground and was quiet. The first night we had a really bad wind storm and being right on the lake, we got the brunt of it. Fortunetly, it was hitting the rear of the 5vr so rocking was not too bad. The kids and grandkids came up on Sunday and we enjoyed the day. Paid for a late checkout and had loads of fun. The grandkids swam, hunted for rocks and shells, and did a little fishing too. Amazing how much they can do in a day. I'll be adding more information about our days there in my journal listed in my signature below. Have full all and enjoy. Harley & Nancy Ludden - welcome to our class. To add to an addition to an entry, just click on the reply button and add your entry below the last closing quote </quote> Hope this helps.

Welcome OCC. Glad to have you with us. I agree, getting rid of things does take a long time. I had 2000 sq ft of stuff to get rid of and most of that went to my children. It took us about 1 1/2 years to clear out our things and still have a shed that's packed. Mostly tools and winter items. That will be staying put. DW's orders. We have a 35 footer with 2 slides and yes it takes some getting use to. We have been living in ours since February and it's not bad. We do plan to get a 3 slide 35 footer in the next few years though. Like the idea of the bedroom slide with the front closet. Just not enough space to hang clothes in this one, though everything else is good. Did take a trip this past weekend to Dames Ferry Campground and really enjoyed the time away from work. Peaceful and quiet. Loved being right on the lake, though a bad wind storm did hit us the first night and rocked us to sleep. Did find out that I'll have to get another TV. The dually I have just is not strong enough to pull this 5'er. Searching for a newer TV will be in the works for me prior to getting a newer 5'er. Oh how the money does go. Oh well, can't take it with me and I don't plan to stop fulltiming any time soon. Will be glad when retirement comes. Can't wait. Again, welcome to our class and remember, if you haven't used it in a year, you don't need it.

Well we had a bit of a setback. Seems the hot water heater in the stick and bricks sprung a leak, a big leak. Call the insurance company and at first they stated that this incident wasn't covered. I asked for her supervisor and spoke with him. Guess what, it is covered. I knew it was since I got a beefed up coverage that covers almost everything including full replacement cost. The company that does the drying out has had their blowers and dehumidifiers in there since last Thursday and maybe today we will be able to get back in there. The contractors should be coming sometime this week and the insurance agent that I am having to deal with has been updated by her supervisor. I am estimated about $3000 - $4000 in damages to floor, wall, carpet, and return line. The only thing the stated they would not pay for is the water heater. Well $750 is better than paying for it all. We are still going on our camping trip on the 17th. Not much would stop us doing that. Just have to get some time to relax and this seems like a good reason to do that. Take care everyone and enjoy the summertime. "Honey, you ready to go into the pool?"

Ahhh!!! The joys of Rving, well the thought of it anyways. The weekend of the 17th we will forego our 1st trip with the new to us 5th wheel. Now I'll get the chance to see how it tows with all our things in it. We're not going far just yet. Just a weekend getaway. The campground we are going to is owned by a local utility company and I stopped by there last weekend and took a look at the spot we had reserved. Love it! Its right on the lake with large trees providing plenty of shade throughout the day. Even has full hookups and not badly priced. Wish I would have found this spot sooner. This trip will be for the DW and myself only. No grandkids, no kids, just her and I. Seems most times we have everyone in the family coming to see us when we take off somewhere. This time, its just for some 'only us' time. Been working on the 5th wheel to make sure things are ready. Checked lights, seals, locks, etc. After we get back, it will be wheel bearing check and suspension workover. The 4th of July weekend, we will be traveling further, so I want to make sure all is ok. After the 4th, I'll be seeing about making more reservations to other campgrounds for many more weekend getaways. Don't want to sit too long in one place. Might get old doing that. Well hope those that read about this class enjoy what others and myself write. Sometimes I have things to say, other times I just ramble. Let's hear from others in the forums sometimes, how their trips are going, new places to see and adventures you are on. Kinda gets boring just writing to myself, but it does give a timeline of what I do and when. Happy RVing everyone.

Well we made 2 reservations, one for the 17th of June at Dames Ferry Campground, a utility held campground with full hookups. The DW likes that idea so she doesn't have to worry about how much water is going into the holding tanks. The other is for the 4th of July (yes I made it ) for Indian Springs State Park. Sure wish the state parks in Georgia would lower their rates a bit. $28 a night is high compared to the utilitys price of $18. Not only that, but you have to reserve a minimum of 3 nights on a holiday weekend. Oh well, at least we get to go somewhere. Found an exhaust leak on the truck at the exhaust manifold. Will have to fix that this weekend. Its going to consist of drilling out the old bolt, (broken) and putting in a new one. Hopefully the other bolts won't break when I try to take them out to fix the already broken one. Will be using plenty of wd40 on this one. The grandkids got back from their trip and they had a wonderful time. They are glad to be home, though. They visited the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island and the Smithsonian to name a couple. My oldest granddaughter enjoyed the Laying of the Wreath at the Veterans Memorial the best. Wonder where she got that from. Well that's about it for today. Hope everyone gets to go RVing more than last year. I know I'm ready. Jim and Pam, do you have that camper reserved for your tryout weekend yet?

Well, had some disappointing news. Everywhere I checked, they were full. No reservations for the upcoming Memorial weekend. I know, I should have looked into it much earlier, however I did learn a lesson and will make my reservations for the 4th of July now. We have decided to make reservations for the weekend after Memorial day and the DW and I will just have it a day shorter. We are in desperate need of some time away and this will be a perfect chance for us to do that. The place we selected is close to home so I don't need to take time off from work to get there. Finally got the black tank fully sealed. It was a messy job, but had to be done. Did a complete seal around the drain where it connects to the tank. Seems the factory drain was faulty, but it holds now and drains like it should. Glad thats over with. Still have plenty of work to do on it, but the other items can be done at my leisure. We want to do some mods and upgrades to this unit, so when we trade it in or sell it, we can get the most out of it. It serves our purpose for now and eventually we plan to get a 35 footer with 3 slides. The DW wants her front bedroom slide. More weight, more room. Oh well, As long as it doesn't go over 15,000 lbs, I'll be ok with it. If it does, the DW will have to get me a new truck. The grandkids leave for their trip to NYC and Washington DC tonight so its all out for packing and getting ready. It will be pretty quiet around here for the next week. (skinny dippin anyone?) It will give the DW and I some time to get caught up with each other. Well thats about it for me. How about the others here, what are you all doing to get ready? Have you made any travel plans?

Welcome Jim and Pam. Glad you decided to join our class. Yes, it is a small class, but it will grow as time gets closer to the 2016 year. It's still about 4 1/2 years off, so it's still prettty early. Sounds like you haven't done much camping in an RV. I am sure you will enjoy the get-away from the rat race we currently live in. If you love nature as much as I do, I am sure you will get the 'RV bug' as the rest of us have. Nothing beats getting up in the morning and stepping outside to view what nature has given us, along with no worries or schedules to attend to. As you take your week of vacation, enjoy the time, don't set any schedule to do anything in particular, and just wing it. I have found that to be the best way to enjoy time away from the stick and brick. I am sure you will enjoy the week away and will find that by the end of the week, you will be looking, even more, to the day you can do this fulltime. Even at work now, I find that I do not hurry to get things done and find that I get them done faster and more accurately. Weird, I know! Although I am actually fulltiming (live in my RV), I still work at my current job. I will be retiring Oct 8, 2016 and really looking forward to doing much traveling. I may even do some workamping at times, but I think that may come in after the first full year of traveling this great country of ours. Both the DW and I have friends scattered across the country. Some we haven't see in many years due to work scheduling. I am limited to taking 1 week at at time for vacations, so that does limit our traveling greatly. Again, welcome to the Graduating Class of 2016. Keep us informed of your RV vacation.

Well here we are again. Have another black tank leak. Crap!! (no pun intended) Well tomorrow morning, we will tackle it again. I think this one is coming from higher up. Have to get it fixed soon and permanently. We are going to the Dames Ferry Campground on the weekend of May 27th and don't want any complaints coming from anyone about the smell. We are really looking forward to the short get-a-way. It will be nice to just relax a weekend. Since I have a Dr appt on the May 27th, We'll be leaving out around noon time. It's just a short 45 minute drive from here, but seems a world away. Love getting away. Right now it looks like it may just be the DW and myself, but things around here change fast. We have decided that we will not redo the bathroom. Instead, we will trade this one in for the one we want when retirement gets closer. Its been a busy week at work, so work at home has been pretty much nil other than the normal cleaning and the normal living things. I hope to get the 5th wheel washed this weekend along with the DW's car and the TV. Maybe some wax if I have time to do it. Also have to get the pool in the yard finished. Got the last item we needed and have to get the bit of water that is in it due to the rains so we can level the bottom. Looks like a busy weekend ahead. Well on with the adventure. BTW, I have 1959 days to retirement and counting. Can't wait! Live with freedom, no matter where you are.

Thanks slo-poke, you and yours have a Happy Easter also. As far as the bathroom goes, the wife said no and after listening to her reasoning, I must admit, I agree with her thoughts. We have decided that in 3-4 years, we will trade in out Dutchmen and get another 5'er. The next one will have a bedroom slide and the bathroom as we want it. By the time we get ready for it, the ones we have been looking at will be down within our price range. Yup, cheap! In the mean time, this one will do quite well and we will keep fixing it up so we can get the best price possible. Small class?? It will grow. Its still very early for the class to start growing, and I have always been one to be a lot early than a minute late. Just one of those quirks I have. Wife hates it at times, especially when we head out and I wake her up at 5 am to get to the campsite by 2 pm. But that's me. Or maybe it's the fact of just getting away. Everyone have a safe Easter weekend, enjoy family, life, and freedom of the road.

I seen the devastation on the news and feel bad about all of it. We were right on the edge of the storm so, like you, we just seen the winds. Thanks for the compliment on the rigs. I like the 6.5 and with the turbo, it pulls fairly well. It's not speed demon, but when we go out with it, we are never in a hurry. It will maintain the speed on the hills around here and hopefully will do good on the mountains north of us and out west. We are still fixing up things on the fiver while living in it and as you can see in the signature pic, it still needs new fenders. For the price I paid on it, it serves us well. Still thinking about redoing the bathroom area, but have to convince the DW to invest that kind of money into it. I know I will never get that back out of it if we do make the changes. We are still kicking around the idea of keeping this fiver until I retire and getting a newer one then. Who knows what the future holds for us. Life is really going fast these days. Sure wish it would slow down sometimes and just go on auto-cruise for a while, but it doesn't seem to want to do that at the moment. We have gotten our clutter down to a small shed at my daughters home and in the fiver, so we are good to go on that. We started just over a year ago and are now at the point and weight that we can go to her home twice a year and just change out the summer/winter clothes. We are light enough that we could, if necessary, carry both summer and winter clothes with us. The shed, however, holds all my tools and toolboxes and I am afraid that I am unable to take all of those with me. Looking at over 2000 lbs of just tools. I will carry the necessary items with me however and will try to keep that under 100 lbs. Don't want to be in the middle of nowhere and not have the tools I need to fix what may be broke. It may be very possible that we will cross paths sometime in the future. I plan to do fulltiming for many years to come. Love the outdoors and nature. The DW and I are planning a bit of a getaway the middle of next month and then again on the 4th of July weekend. That reminds me, have to make the reservations. Its been nice hearing from you and be safe on the roads. Stop in anytime as it does get a bit lonely in the 2016 forum. I just remind myself that I have only 1968 days until retirement. Yes I'm on the countdown.

WOW... that's about all I have to say about this past weekend. Thursday night, my son, daughter-in-law and I headed for MO to drop his truck off. He is coming off the road from being an over the road driver. Left at midnight and made the turn around in 32 hours. 776 miles each way. After getting back here at 8 am on Friday, we find out that a storm was at our backsides, the one that killed 40+ people. Worked with my son on the yard on Saturday and Sunday and finally gave out on Sunday night. Work, that is what resting is for. Have fun and enjoy life.

Well the past two weekends have been busy with the grandkids and our children. My son is coming off the road (truck driver) and has purchased our old camper. This weekend will consist of driving to Springfield, MO to pick him up. Spending tonight and tomorrow night getting the dually ready for the trip. Not really looking forward to a hard 1700 miles in two days. Oh well, we do what we have to for our children. The black tank still has a slow leak so it's back to the drawing board. Found some stuff made especially for black tanks so going to give that a try before having to replace the tank. Really don't want to do that if at all possible, although that is really the right way to do it. All the other tanks are ok. Hopefully will be starting on the entertainment area remodel in the next few weeks. Hope to have it completed before we head out to High Falls State Park for the Fourth of July weekend. That will be a blast. Grandkids will love it, I'm sure. We are going to Stone Mountain on that Saturday afternoon to watch the fireworks and return back to High Falls that evening. Found some more campgrounds close by that I didn't know existed. Thank you internet. Well thats about it for now. Stay safe and enjoy each day.

Hmmmm, light a fire, perhaps? Lightening the load is extremely important. If you have something that you are having a hard time getting rid of, give it to your children with the knowledge that if you need to use it, you can. Works fine for us.

Well this past weekend was fun. Went to the grandkids baseball and softball games. Did manage to get hit on the head by a baseball from the field behind me while taking pictures of the grandkids. Man, did it hurt. No call of 'heads up' or anything. Felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat. Seen stars. The first responders there checked me out and after a few minutes, things returned to normal. Hope not to do any repeat of that again. Felt bad for the boy that hit that ball. Someone told me he just about quit baseball, and was quite upset he had hit me. Accidents happen, and sometimes in the strangest places. Getting ready now to rebuild the entertainment/fireplace area of our 5th wheel. Doing the measurements and seeing what will be needed to make it the way DW wants it. She doesn't like the gold trim around the fireplace, so I am going to see what I can do to change that to a wood frame. Gotta keep momma happy you know. Well that's it for now. Have fun and be safe in your travels, or trips to the ballpark.

Just talked with the DW, since Nancy was looking for a woman's point of view and she states the following. Houses are nice without a doubt, but it is much nicer not having to take all day cleaning and straightening up, the maintenance etc. It takes about 2 hours to fully clean and maintain the rv, leaving me much more time to enjoy the other things in life. As far as getting rid of things we've had forever, yes it was hard in the beginning, but once we truely got started, it got much easier. Do we regret what we have done? Not in the least. Was it easy to do? Bending nails with your hands is easier. Enjoy life and have fun. Take chances. You only live once.

Got the roof mostly taped with endurabond tape. I'll need to get another 25 foot roll and then all the seams will be taped. Next up is the elastimer coating. Whew, what a job its been so far. Did have to do some repair to the roof in the ladder area. Had a soft spot but got it fixed with extra support in that area. Made sure to seal it really well. Also, we have been having issues with the black tank draining. I finally got around to opening up the tank by taking out the drain valve and taking a look. OMG, concrete terror!!!! Seems that the tank was left dry for quite some time prior to us buying it. What a mess. I made a rod to break up the piles of "concrete" from below. Took about 3 hours to break it down small enough to be able to add water and drain it. Remember to always add about 5 gallons of water to your tank after draining. It will make your day much more pleasant. Finally about 8:00 Sunday night, I finished up. What a weekend it has been. Now back to work for some relaxation. Have fun everyone.

Well I found that I had a leak in my black water tank. Seems there was a crack around the flange near the valve. After reading from others on various forums on how to fix this and problems they had fixing them, I order some eternabond tape. I was going to order some to redo the roof seams anyways. I got it in yesterday and last night I proceeded to do my repair. This is amazing stuff. I now have a black tank that no longer leaks and when I tried to pull this tape off, its almost impossible. Looks like I have found a repair tape that does what it says it does. Looks like this weekend will be a good time to reseal the roof with the eternabond tape. Suppose to be in the 60's so not too hot or too cold. Over the next month or so, I will be putting on a few coats of elastimeric roofing since it looks like the roof has been poorly taken care of in the past. So far the repairs have been minor but I still have one wall on the lower half to fix in the bedroom. That will be a project for next month. Take care and make sure to enjoy each day fully.

Welcome SloPoke, and yes, 1600 sq ft does hold quite a bit. We went from 2200 sq ft and a large shed and it took us almost a year to downsize to be able to live fulltime in our RV. It takes a lot of determination to get rid of things that you have owned for years on end, but to that end, you realize they are just things. We are currently living in our RV and realizing it is much better. The DW stated yesterday that "when I buy an item, another item has to go". A very true statement if you want to watch the weight you're carrying, and weight is certainly an issue. Living in our RV, we also realized a large savings on our living expenses. In our stick and brick, our electric alone was running $350 or more a month, the RV less than $30.00. By doing what we did, we were able to pay off all our bills this month and it feels good to be debt free again. From the sounds of your nickname, you already are in the mode for relaxation. There is no hurry on getting anywhere. One thing I have learned, if you have to hurry, something will slow you down, be it a tire failure or traffic, so just take your time and you will get there. Well nice meeting you and I know you will look forward to getting your RV. Have fun in the forums and let us know how things are going with the downsizing and RV search. Any questions, feel free to ask.