New to RVing

GdognTimber · May 25, 2015

My husband and I have wanted to retire (he is 53 I am 49) for several years and take up RVing. After four years of my wanting an HD and Large RV. We finally hit the middle ground and purchased a Dodge Ram Laramie 3500 Turbo Diesel. We actually purchased the truck first. When my husband insisted that he didn't want to drive an HD (he paid his way through college as a summer oil field truck driver). I insisted that I wanted nothing smaller than a 3500. We got the 8 foot bed, gooseneck from the factory. It has taken us several months to find a rig, but we found one this weekend at long last that will serve our needs. We got a great price on it. Unfortunatly it was stored outside and was never covered so we have much graphic work ahead of us. (we all know the high quality of Keystone graphics **cough cough).

We figure it was a good "entry" point for us.

We purchased the BW Companion 5th wheel attachment that will attach to our ball from the factory in the bed.

No pictures will be available as we don't pick it up for a few more days.

Questions:

Kitchen: I have yet to see a post from anyone celiac. As most of the pre-made gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard and or costs triple the price. I make my own breads and flours (alternative flours tend to go bad fast, so I purchase the beans and grind the flour as needed in a coffee grinder). At least in our S & B. Anyone out there on the road celiac? If so, how do you manage on the road and cook your own foods with the massive amounts of required items to make a good artisian loaf of bread gluten free? I also like biscotti, pancheta, pretzels and many more, and each one requires their own and many, many ingredients. If you use the "all purpose" gluten free stuff, when it comes to bread, you don't get a loaf, you get a weapon.

Pets: What do you find the most valuable when traveling with multiple pets? Ours have never been tethered to cables and I don't think they will like it. One is my service dog. From watering to keeping ants out of kibble and or attracting rodents?

Wax: Because we will be stripping the graphics off (they are peeling and ugly as.. well.....) After the stripping and de adhesiving, we will need a good wax for the fiberglass, any suggestions?

5th wheel teflon plates: Are these worth it? What do you use on your 5th wheel connections?

Any advice for when we pick up our rig from the dealer?

I know, thats a great deal of information I am asking.......lawl..

Alie&Jim's Carrilite · May 25, 2015

Our daughter is Celiac, and I have a very bad intolerance to gluten. So far we haven't had any issues. Amazon carries a nice selection of basic ingredients that we have used. Most groceries are carrying the basic alternative flours, and Udi's breads.

Kirk W · May 25, 2015

Pets: What do you find the most valuable when traveling with multiple pets? Ours have never been tethered to cables and I don't think they will like it. One is my service dog. From watering to keeping ants out of kibble and or attracting rodents?

Most RV parks do not allow you to tie your pets outside so tying out may not be a major issue. Many folks use one of the portable dog pens that can be folded up and stored away to travel but you will generally need to be outside with them. While we don't have a service dog we do RV sometimes with our blind daughter who uses a guide-dog. If yours is even close to as well trained as her guide-dogs have been, that should be no significant problem. We have always kept our dog's food stored in the sealable plastic containers and have never had any ant problems from that issue, even though we have traveled with dogs most of the 35 years we have owned RVs and all of the 12 years fulltime. Since guide dogs are trained to only take water at controlled times, that is no problem either and for our pets, we just offer water when we drink. If we are leaving ours in the RV when gone, we use one of the self watering containers. The vast majority of RV campgrounds are pet friendly as well as service animal friendly. The only issue that I have ever been aware of with such animals in RVing was one that came up here where the service animal was "self trained" an had problems with agression toward other dogs and sometimes people.

Wax: Because we will be stripping the graphics off (they are peeling and ugly as.. well.....) After the stripping and de adhesiving, we will need a good wax for the fiberglass, any suggestions?

What I found to work best when we removed bad adhesive graphics from our RV was the product Gel Gloss.

LindaH · May 25, 2015

Kitchen: I have yet to see a post from anyone celiac. As most of the pre-made gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard and or costs triple the price. I make my own breads and flours (alternative flours tend to go bad fast, so I purchase the beans and grind the flour as needed in a coffee grinder). At least in our S & B. Anyone out there on the road celiac? If so, how do you manage on the road and cook your own foods with the massive amounts of required items to make a good artisian loaf of bread gluten free? I also like biscotti, pancheta, pretzels and many more, and each one requires their own and many, many ingredients. If you use the "all purpose" gluten free stuff, when it comes to bread, you don't get a loaf, you get a weapon.

Have you tried any of Bob's Red Mill non-gluten flours? While they do have an all purpose non-gluten flour, they have many others, too.

Pets: What do you find the most valuable when traveling with multiple pets? Ours have never been tethered to cables and I don't think they will like it. One is my service dog. From watering to keeping ants out of kibble and or attracting rodents?

We travel with two dogs, but we do not leave them tied out. They are either inside or we walk them on a leash. While we mostly boondock, many RV parks have rules against leaving your dogs tied out "unattended" (meaning you are not outside with them). Even if you are boondocking, you would not want to keep your dogs tied out unattended since there are coyotes (and, depending on where you are, other predators, as well) that would like nothing more than to make a tasty meal out of easy pickings. We never allow our dogs to run free unless they are in a secure, fenced area. For one thing, not only because of predators, if you let them run free, you won't be there to pick up after them (yes, we pick up after our dogs even when boondocking).

As for food and water, those are never kept outside. Our dogs are fed inside the rig and are not free-fed, so no food is ever left laying around to attract bugs or rodents. Our sacks of food are kept inside a rodent-proof container.

5th wheel teflon plates: Are these worth it? What do you use on your 5th wheel connections?

Absolutely! If you don't use a teflon plate, you'll have to use grease which is messy.

GdognTimber · May 26, 2015

I guess I should quantify "teathering the dogs"....

What I am meaning is that when BBQing outside, eating or sitting on the porch, I don't want to have a leash 24/7. So I wanted a way that I could do these activities without the 6' leash, but not having them free roam.

LindaH · May 26, 2015

You could use an X-pen. Check with the RV park first, though. There probably wouldn't be too much of a problem as long as you're outside with them.

GdognTimber · May 26, 2015

Our pets are our children now that our baby is 23. We would never leave them alone to play or put them in any harms way knowingly. So yes, they are with us 24/7 and on leashes when out and about, I have simply been trying to figure out a way when on our "deck" that they could be free during those times. Am considering a Dometic Patty O'room.