Category Archives: Fulltiming

Travel update

Posted on by

I know that I said I would talk about electronics and our setup but I am going to push that back. I need to update our current path.

We were glad to get out of Visalia and back on the road. Our first stop was in Stockton at Flag City RV. It was still manageably cool. Redding was next for a week to visit with Roxie’s sister. That is when it started getting REALLY hot! We took a trip to Burney Falls to get away from some of the heat:

The overall plan was to get to the Tri-Cities in Washington to look at houses, properties, etc. Our next stop was in Grants Pass, OR. It was a bit cooler, 93°. We looked around the area and feel that it is a good candidate, but it is Oregon and trending toward being another California. We heard that the area we wanted to go was having an uptick in Covid cases. That, combined, with the weather not cooling down as we wanted and the only cool place we saw was the coast. That became the new plan.

We headed to the coast, Brookings OR. It was wonderful! So much cooler, highs in the high 70’s, breezes, some clouds every once in a while. We stayed a week at AtRiver’s Edge Park. It was right on the Chetco river and was very nice. A lot of restaurants were available for dine-in, if you wore a mask. I can play the game. Here is our spot:

We decided, since it is so much fun, we were going to stay on the Oregon coast. Next stop was Coos Bay. We stayed a relatively new RV park, Bay Point RV. Here is our rig there:

We investigated Coos Bay and some other local towns. The RV park is close to the inlet that feeds Coos Bay. We walked down there and saw this jellyfish?

In downtown Coos Bay, they have a mural celebrating Steve Prefontaine:

Heading north, the next stop was Lincoln City, OR. This turned out to be the first real touristy town that we found. It is pretty close to Salem and Portland so the town gets quite an influx from them. On the weekend, the main street (which is highway 101) was bumper-to-bumper. We stayed at the Logan Road RV Park, which is affiliated with the local Casino. The RV park was good for what we needed. It was a bit un-level and I needed a 3 ‘lego’ high platform under my wheels.

As we do in each location, we drive to some nearby towns and try some back roads. We drove down to Newport and back. One thing Oregon has is some interesting bridges. This is the one at Newport:

As we are heading up the coast, our friends are heading to Washington to look at some properties, like we are. We decided to head to Olympia WA and stay at the WA Land Yacht Harbor for Airstreams. This was not too far from our friends and we could meet them. However the drive there was a bit too far for comfort for a single day drive. I found 2 nights at the Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria to break up the drive.

Our spot
Some Elk resting and eating
Astoria column
View from the column hill

We made it to the Land Yacht harbor. After visiting with our friends and spending our week, we were possibly going to go toward Spokane and Idaho but it was getting hot there also! We spent another week in Olympia, because it was cheap. We decided to head back to the coast but the Washington one this time.

The next, and current, stop is Pacific Dunes Resort in Copalis Beach WA. This is not a resort at all. They are working on it but still have a ways to go. It is nice and cool here, which is what matters. This is another very popular spot for weekenders and it really showed! There are locations that let you drive on the beach here and we took advantage of that one day:

Next stop is north to the top of Washington. Yes, I will make sure to do the electronics post next.

Last projects before getting back on the road

Posted on by

With the quarantine restrictions being gradually lifted, we can plan on a time to leave! But there were a few more things to do, one of which I could only do with the trailer out on the street. The plan was to move the trailer to the street a day or two before we were to leave. We can sleep out there just as easily.

With the cabinet project, in the previous blog entry, I was given a location to put all my electronics. In my next blog entry, I will discuss the electronics that we use on the road for internet, satellite TV, and DVR capability. I was able to free up a cabinet above our chairs by moving all those electronics to the new location.

In the previous entry, I mentioned about the backup camera on the trailer. Here is a shot from the dash of the truck that shows it in operation:

I have used the backup camera numerous times already. I am very glad that I put it on. As a benefit, I will also get the tire pressures on my truck screen.

One of the things we had in our house, that I really miss in the trailer, is a remotely accessible thermostat, like a Nest. I thought I had issues with our Dometic thermostat a few months ago but it was a loose wire in the AC unit. It appears that MicroAir has a direct replacement thermostat for the Dometics and it does WiFi and Bluetooth! I got one and put it in. It is wonderful! Plus, since we have the cat with us, I can check the settings from wherever I am. I didn’t take a picture of ours but here it is:

MicroAir also makes ‘softstart’ Air Conditioner kit. I have been very interested in those for a while. The appeal is that not only does it start the compressor smoother but purportedly you can run the AC on a single Honda generator. I used to have two generators that put out 30amp in parallel but rarely did we use them, so I sold one.

We tried, once, to use our generator with just the microwave in Montana but it would not power it. I was confused. By figuring out the wattage needs of the microwave, using the old W=V*A formula, it should have worked. I have finally figured out the problem. It turns out to be the same reason we could not even use a 15amp connection in New York during courtesy parking.

It turns out that the battery charger/converter is a huge power hog when it starts up and for a bit thereafter. I now know to turn it off when we want to used the generator. We have the solar so it should work, and I DID put in a switch to turn it off a while back.

Now, armed with this knowledge, I am ready to try it out. But I have to install the kit. This is the one that worked the best on the street. Here are some shots of the AC with the shroud off:

Initially the install seems daunting and a bit dangerous (you are touching capacitors). However, you do it with the power off (110v) and just slowly follow the instructions and it is easy. The the AC did start up when I was done. That was nice. I will test the unit with our generator when we get on the road.

I didn’t film, or take pictures, of the install. Here are some other Airstreamers that have done it:

One extra minor tweak was an installation next to my side of the bed. It is a very powerful magnet that I screwed to the wall:

This part will be very useful. It is great at holding a heavy metal object that you might need quickly in the evening and don’t want to go hunting for it.

Next entry, electronics!