Star Dreamer

We haven't used the orings on our sensors for quite some time now. So far no issues.

We have a water bed at home and always had a hard time sleeping in the standard RV mattresses that came in our trailers. When we had our new trailer built, we had them put in an outlet under the bed frame and installed a sleep number bed after we got the trailer home. So far it has been comfortable and is easily adjustable. We went with a regular home style sleep number and not an RV one. Dave

Does anyone know if the prices include taxes or does that vary by state?

They make surface mounted pockets for table posts that you can mount to the floor. It is the same one that mounts to the underside of the table if you don't want to cut a hole in the floor. https://parts.unitedrv.com/products/round-recessed-mnt-base?variant=34725552385&currency=USD&_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=Cj0KCQjwncT1BRDhARIsAOQF9LnH9El32RTNBYXvFQSm-sTngmEHspjKkTn-UKkqkQ4qpG4OXVrOu2kaAiLCEALw_wcB

We had plans to do some traveling in March which luckily we cancelled as the wife had foot surgery just before all this stuff hit in South Carolina. We had a Rally planned in April which was cancelled but our oldest son got a new job and has to move from Wisconsin to Indiana so we did a couple of trips to help him out. First one was in our SUV and we managed to get hotel rooms when needed, rest stops were all open, fuel was no issue (we used our disposable gloves that we use for the RV dump) and had some hand sanitizer. Food was an issue finding places open but we managed by using a lot of drive thrus. Not many others out so it was easy to social distance. The second trip, we took the RV trailer, parked it in western TN at a campground for a few days, then used the HDT like a mini motor home to help him move some items. Same issues as above. At that time they were not recommending a mask to be worn. We spent a few days in Central TN at the rally campground to recover from the stress and achy muscles of helping the son move. Very few campers and again it was easy to social distance. Our May & June plans for camping have been cancelled because the campgrounds are closed, so we changed our plans and will be heading to Indiana and Wisconsin again to help our son and celebrate Mothers Day and Fathers Day with the inlaws. We do not expect anything will have changed but masks are not available around us, the disposable gloves we use are getting low in our supply and none are available around us. We did mange to find some hand sanitizer so we have restocked our traveling containers of those. Luckily the truck will only need a couple of fuel stops since it has over a 1000 mile fuel range on a tankful so my glove supply should hold out for these trips. We have the refrigerator in the trailer stocked and do not expect to have to go to the grocery store for much if anything. My feeling is we can social distance in our rig just as easy as we can at home. July events have been cancelled so we are just keeping our fingers crossed that things get better and we can still continue with our originally scheduled fall plans. Dave

We have passed a Tiny Home community of about 10 or so homes in Southern Indiana and have seen some Tiny Homes on land in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota. It may be hard to find them but there are places that will allow them or basically do not have any restrictions. Some areas will allow you to build a Pole barn with a section for living quarters and a place to park your RV at inside but you will be out in the country usually. Another option might be an RV port community like Blue Heron Resort in Alabama or some of the RV homes near Crossville, Tennessee or in Florida (but these sometimes have minimum square footage which can be quite large). You may be best to get a Tow Vehicle that is capable of pulling whatever trailer you might need now or in the future. We went the HDT route about 8 years ago even though we could have used a dually for our trailer at that time but the cost of the HDT was quite a bit cheaper than the dually. We have now retired and just had a custom trailer built that would have tasked a newer dually so we are glad we went the HDT route. There are many work camping options out there assuming you like to camp. Also many volunteering options that might be of interest if you will have the flexibility to travel around. Good luck in your search and let us know how it all works out for you. Dave

Must be an issue with your browser. I can see them in my original post and in your quoted one. I can send them by email or via facebook if you want to see them.

I have that same leak in our Freightliner Century, I will have to check that visor mount out! Thanks Glen

These were the HDT's at Deer Run this week. Ours: Ed and Teresa: Don and Debra:

We are here at Deer Run now, come on out and stop by!

Al, I am working with my son on this 1965 Chevy Van project that has been chopped 5". We has an LS motor running in it now and he wants to Turbocharge it after we get all the bugs worked out of it. We are still working on the cooling system but it's driveable under its own power and stops (we put 4 wheel disc brakes on it) and this picture was from when he had the exhaust installed.

Florida, I understand has closed their border. They were directing all non Florida Vehicles into a weigh station and letting commercial trucks bypass the station. If you tried to bypass it, you were pulled over by waiting LEO's and escorted into the station. It was on the news here in South Carolina.

We are still planning to be but may have to break away for a few days to help our son move. Dave

A couple of winter tips. If the windows are not double pane, use the plastic wrap you can put on house windows to help some. Using a foam board insert would be better but it also blocks the light. Use an insulating vent pillow for any roof vents you have. If may get condensation on the walls, keep stuff away from them. If there is no insulation below the floor, add insulating board to the underside and skirt it like mentioned previously. Put rugs down on any non carpeted floor areas. Use an electric blanket to help warm the bed up prior to going to bed. Make sure you have winterized the water system, and if you should have to use the toilet in an emergency, keep some of the RV antifreeze in a jug next to the toilet to flush with. We kept a 5 gallon jug of regular water in the trailer for stuff like coffee and drinking. If you use a space heater, get a good one and also have a plan to escape the trailer if it should catch on fire, they go up quick. Get a larger propane tank delivered and use it instead of the typical 20# tanks as you will go through a lot, or have at least two spares. Be sure you have a large enough house outlet and circuit to plug into including a good cord especially if using electric heaters. Dave

I guess we can say we have been somewhat lucky. I retired on Dec 15th and so far have been glad I have not had to work to keep money coming in. The wife had some foot surgery done a little over two weeks ago that was planned so we have not been getting out much anyway except for me to do the shopping which so far has been OK. We even got Toilet Paper and Paper Towels today! We did have to cancel a car show in Myrtle beach due to the wife's surgery but again it was lucky because they had to cancel the show due to the virus at the last minute. We are also lucky that the wife got her surgery in when she did as now most non essential surgeries are being canceled. We originally had plans to go to Hawaii at this time and we postponed them to next year due to her surgery. With all the issues with traveling and the virus again we were lucky. We are still planning on going to Deer Run RV resort in April even though the ECR Rally is cancelled unless the government tells us otherwise. We will just stay at least 6' away from everyone!

We are still planning on going to Deer Run (ECR location) in April and will check with the resort when it gets closer, I am hoping campgrounds won't be affected but ones with restaurant or bars on site may have them closed. It may also be hard to do site seeing if the places you want to hit are closed. The bigger issue will be where to make potty stops as we are hearing that some states are closing rest areas. Of course we will have the trailer and can use our own facilities if we can find a safe place to pull off. Our next trip will be in May which will be to Wisconsin and Missouri so hopefully things will be better then. The trip for June will include Canada and that is the one spot I think may be cancelled if they close the borders. Dave

I don't recall the exact amount but it was just a little more than their standard DRV one, which is on their website, because it was a one off, plus we paid for installing it. The old one was pretty lightweight, but the new one was much heavier and glad we let them install it.

We had RVH Lifestyles make us a custom pin box rated at 32k as our bolt pattern did not match the DRV ones they normally make. I took accurate measurements, pictures and did an AutoCad drawing for them but your best bet would be to stop by there and let them do the measurements if you need something custom made. Their website has the dimensions of the DRV pin box if it helps.

Doesn't sound like you will be alone!

We are still planning on going, we will just have to go back to the ECR roots and make it a social event without the seminars!

I agree with Big5er and others with same comments. We drove our truck bobtail from Texas to MN with a side trip to Indiana. It already had "Private RV" stickers on the side and we have left them on. In the eight years of us using the HDT with or without or trailer, we have never stopped at weigh station and have never had anyone come out after us. Most of the time they are closed, other times they have no chase vehicles in their lot and I guess the rest of the time they do not want to be bothered with us. Just have all your paperwork handy as be sure your license allows you to drive it as an RV or private truck, just in case.

Yes, we use a camera. The landing jacks on most 5th wheel campers will not take a lot of abuse plus no need to shake up everything in the trailer. Plus since you have to unhook and then level the trailer, there is no guarantee that you have the trailer at the right height again to hook up. Originally for many years we just used a magnetic mount Swift Hitch camera that I got at an auction for cheap. Now with our new trailer, I installed a 5 camera system (only using 4 of the cameras at the moment) and one of those it the hitch camera and we have a fairly large screen now too.

Carl, Do you know if anyone will be doing the smart weighing at the rally this year? We would like to try to get the new trailer weighed for individual tire loads. Dave

Check Deep Space Lighting for the best in HDT headlights. https://deepspacelighting.com/

Thanks Carl, you added some steps to the passenger side of your HDT didn't you? What number steps did you get and do you remember who you got them from? Dave