Rover

We carry two 2000 watt generators in the back of our truck bed so we can pair them when we need to run the air conditioner.

Vicki

We spent most of the summer in Alaska and crossed back into the states around the end of July. Just in time for things to start going wrong with the RV and truck. Didn’t think we’d ever get out of Washington with all the repair appointments we had to schedule. As we are making our way east and south toward Indiana we continue to have to stop for irritating problems (bought new tires in Washington and the tire place cracked a rim resulting in a leak and the purchase of a new rim in South Dakota).  

We aren’t in a rush to get back, but would like to have a few dollars left when we get there 😁. We will be attending the Escapees Indiana chapter Rally in September so we do have to make it back by then. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Vicki and Mark 

We’ve been up here almost two months and are just about ready to head back toward the USA. Yesterday we visited McCarthy and the Kennecot Historical Mine. Today we made our way to Valdez and will be here for a few days. These are our last stops in Alaska unless we venture off the Cassiar Highway on the way back. However, most of those areas we have visited before on Alaska cruises. It’s been a great adventure!

Vicki

Our panels are 160W so 1920 watts of solar and we did have it professionally installed except at that time we had 8 Trojan T-105 6v batteries. Mark did the switch over to the Battle Born batteries about a year later. We actually do have small window air conditioner we can use on solar if it gets too warm and able to run it for several hours or overnight. I’ll have Mark look at the article and see if we are hooked up the most efficient way. Definitely want to protect that investment! Thanks.

Vicki

They all hook together in parallel then into the inverter to power everything in the 5W except the air conditioning and the fireplace. We have 12 solar panels on the roof. Rarely have to run the generator. Love our solar and Battle Born batteries! Have boondocked almost the entire summer in Alaska. 

Vicki

Sure wish they would have had this discount before we bought our 10 Battle Born batteries!! 🤨

We go overseas for 8-9 weeks every year. We find an outdoor storage yard so our solar can keep our fridge, WiFi and satellite system running. We record programs and watch them remotely from where we are in the Caribbean. We also leave our truck there and will take an Uber or Lyft to the airport. Cheaper than airport parking. We have also checked out using storage space in RV campgrounds but storage lots have been cheaper. For a one week trip we just left the RV at the current RV CG where we were with the park’s permission and payment of course. 

Vicki

We put Goodyear Endurance on our 5W over a year ago and have been happy with them.  No problems and they are wearing well.

Vicki

Ok thanks everyone. Guess we will just deal with whatever we can get.

Vicki

We’ve had our Trav’ler for 4 years and have had very little problems with it. But now it seems to work but just will not lock onto the satellites. Mark (DH) says we are just too far north but seems to me if you can see the satellites in the app using your phone, shouldn’t the dish on top of the RV be able to see them? I just can’t believe we have to go the entire summer while in Alaska and Canada without using the Dish.

Vicki

5 hours ago, Al F said:

Our Dish Network Trav'ler worked just fine as far north as the arctic circle, a few hundred miles north of Fairbanks.  North of there we didn't get to test it, hills in the way.  

I really wonder if the CONUS local channels have the same coverage as the rest of Dish Network channels, which work all the way into Alaska.  If so then, with the Trav'ler, you could have USA TV all through western Canada and Alaska.  

Al,

Did you have any problems with your Trav’ler? The last 2 days we have only been able to get 119 and we had no obstruction of any kind. App shows all 3 satellites visible. Wineguard had no suggestions for troubleshooting. 

Vicki

Zulu, that’s a nice website, thanks.

The Sacramento CONUS locals worked. We switched to them today.

 Thanks for the list Dutch.

Vicki

It worked for the New York one but we are in AB Canada and the east coast time is just not working out. Haven’t got to change to a west coast address yet because we are having Dish problems with our Travelr and couldn’t get locked on last night. Winegard pretty much blew us off this morning saying they won’t help us while we are in Canada or Alaska. So will start a different thread with problem to see if anyone has some ideas.

Thanks!!

Does anyone know of any Dish Network locals on a national feed (CONUS) from the west coast? I know about New York, Jacksonville and Ft. Wayne but I need something in a later time zone. I have checked the website that lists all the locals but I don’t know how to tell if they are CONUS or just spot beam. TIA for any help.

Vicki

We had a small vendor discount and got our Battle Born 100ah batteries for $925 each. We just had one of them we purchased 2 years ago repaired and shipped back to us free of charge by Battle Born. They were very responsive when we contacted them and emailed us the label to ship them the battery with them paying the shipping. They said they would fix or replace the battery and they did! Great service and warranty!

Vicki

20 hours ago, nscaler2 said:

Hate to tell you this, but surveys are a joke.  They are only put there to make you think that someone cares. 

I have gotten two personal responses to my comments on the surveys in the past, but have stopped responding to them anyway since we move so often. But it does show that someone is reading at least some of them.

Vicki

The taxes you are charged on your account each month are based on your billing address so may be higher if they have changed it to your current service location. Of course it’s not a lot, but if you’re on a retirement fixed income, every little bit adds up.

Vicki

We met up with dirtyboots (Donna) today for a nice lunch in Congress, AZ. It was great to meet another member of the 2016 class and put a face to the name! She also gave us some great ideas of things to see while we are in the area.

Vicki

We had a Class C that had the latch system on the belts on the sofa. I don’t remember for sure, but I don’t think the dining booth seatbelts had latches. A car seat wouldn’t fit well there anyway. We did use a car seat and had no problem securing it.

Vicki

3 hours ago, dirtyboots said:

And a Happy thanksgiving from Wickenburg, AZ.  65-68 degrees for the next week with a bit of wind today.

Hope everyone is settled in, warm and dry.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Where are you staying in Wickenburg? We may be heading that way next week. Enjoying a turkey dinner today at the Pair-A-Dice SKP Park in Pahrump. 

Vicki 

The leather (like?) material on our recliners in our 2015 Forest River is also peeling. But as all the mechanics still work and they are very comfortable, we decided to buy covers for them until something else comes up that would make us replace them. 

We got the covers from Amazon and they work really well. They have a non-slip backing that keeps them in place and are a soft almost velour type fabric. Figure it will give us a couple more years usage out of the recliners.

Vicki

We have a 2015 Ram 3500 DRW and wanted more capacity than 32 gallons but didn’t want to give up our toolbox and didn’t want a combo fuel/toolbox that would extend above the tonneau cover. So we just replaced the regular tank with a larger 55 gallon tank. It’s worked out pretty well even if it might not be as much fuel as an auxiliary tank would have provided. It usually covers the distance we prefer to travel in one day so we can generally fuel up without the RV.

Vicki

I have Apple phone and iPad, have an outdoor account, own my equipment and still can’t use the app. I’m not on pay as you go, but that’s not the reason they gave me. They said it’s because my equipment is a hopper 3 and that is marked as residential equipment and not usable in an RV so my account doesn’t qualify. Sounds like any excuse will do. I keep complaining in every survey about 2 to 3 times a week.

Vicki

Had a good time at the first timers social and got to meet Rav and his wife.