Dealing with hot temperatures

Living in an RV full time is not quite the same as living in a house / apartment, or mobile home. These motorhomes are not insulated as much or as well.

We've noticed that since it's been around 30 - 34C (89 - 93F) lately, it's difficult to keep the RV cool inside. The A/C is running non-stop all day (set at 77F in the day; and 72F at night for easy sleeping). We decided to hang sheets around the front windshield (inside) in order to keep the sun's rays out. There are curtains that came with the RV, but they can only keep so much out.

We've looked at getting professional custom made windshield covers (http://www.rvtoystore.com/sunguardorder.html), but that's not in the budget for now.

I'm guessing it will be the same when October & November rolls around - we'll have to keep the heat on most of the day before we head out to Florida.

Updates at Braemar Valley Park

Well, we've been at Braemar Valley Park for over 2 months now, and time to update 'life in the RV'.

Just goes to show, if you wait long enough, you'll get things for dirt cheap, or even 'free'.

Someone in the park gave us this clothes dryer as they no longer wanted / needed it.

Same goes for a BBQ - we hummed and hawed about getting one (charcoal vs gas). It happens that I won one last Saturday night in a draw where you buy tickets and put them in a basket for a chance to win that prize. It's charcoal, and we don't mind one darned bit.

Observations

Driving back from Fort Lauderdale to Ontario has given me the opportunity to make a couple of observations about RV'ing:

In a car, you'd almost never pay attention to the height of these underpasses, but with an RV, makes you wonder. There has never been a close call that I can tell.

The height of the RV is just over 12' (air conditioning unit - black box seen here).

Cross winds make a big difference in how you control an RV - when you have trees on both sides of the highway, the winds are calmer (unless you're getting a head wind, of course).

When you have open an open field like this, expect stronger cross winds to affect how you steer the RV. Because you're so tall, it can cause a bit of rocking, or at least compensation on the steering.

Our RV has an 80 gallon (302 Litre) gas tank; we can travel non-stop for almost 600 miles (960 kms). When you have a toilet aboard, non-stop means non-stop.

In order to conserve fuel, we try to use the cruise control as much as possible; however, when going downhill (as long as it isn't too steep), cancel the cruise control because the engine will try to slow you down and downshifts, making a loud screaming noise. Save the energy and coast downhill.

It never ends......

There are a few motorhomes parked here that have so many accessories added on, and we found a great website that sells all these products - even "rooms" that you can ad. Check this out. Wish we could win the lottery right now and just buy all these things (toys). Our 'wish list' is getting longer each day.

http://www.shadepro.net/product/RV_Screen_Rooms/villa.html

System Overload

Along with the appliances that came with the RV (fridge, freezer, gas stove, micro / convection oven, we also brought our other kitchen appliances that we couldn't do without (rice maker, convection / toaster oven). We debated on selling the convection oven, but are currently using it for toasting as well as a convection oven for dinners. We bring it outside so it won't create extra heat inside the RV. We have rice on an almost daily basis, so it goes outside as well. It wasn't long before it tripped a breaker. Finding the fuse box was quite a challenge The directions from the manual are vague at best as to where to find the fuse boxes.

Ok - so we can't plug 2 kitchen appliances outside, so one goes out and one stays in. That works for a short while until it trips another circuit breaker. This time it was the power bar that we used outside.

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, it happens again. There are 2 outlets outside the RV in one of the storage areas; one is attached to the Xantrax power supply, and the other is on its own. The power bar had been plugged into the power supply outlet and it had tripped. So now the power bar is plugged into the other outlet. No more circuit breaker trip outs.

This is one of those things that they don't teach you - you learn as you go.

Items to buy in the near future

We've made a list of things that we (eventually) need / want to buy for the RV:

BBQ (so that we don't heat up the inside of the RV on those warm days)
Hot Spot (sort of like a router for the computer so that we can have our own internet wherever we go, can be shared amongst our 3 devices, even while on the road; this works through a cellphone carrier's signal)
Clothes dryer - you remember these, right?

Awning screen & straps - the morning sun can be quite strong and heats up the RV quickly. With this installed, it would help deflect some of that sunlight.

Beach chairs that you can carry as a pack sack

Scooter - an alternative to bicycles

Since we're on a tight budget, these items will not be bought for some time as they can be expensive.

You know you're retired when........

You know you're retired when you sit and wait through the wash and dry cycle  of laundry.

Friday March 8th 2013 - we finally made it after all!!!!

Friday March 8th - On the road by 7am; we cut across I-10 to Jacksonville, then I-95 southbound to Fort Lauderdale. We finally feel warmth from the sun while we drive. As we pull onto the exit ramp to Oakland Park Blvd, I roll the window down and hear a rattling noise from the back wheel.

There is a missing nut from the rim that fell off at some point in our travels. This is not the same rim that was on the tire with the impaled bolt.
We arrive at the camp resort by 1pm and start putting our stuff on the cement pad so that we can decide if things are going inside or outside the RV.

This was taken after the boxes were emptied out.

Thursday March 7th 2013

Thursday March 7th - On the road all day, trying to make arrangements to have the heater fixed, but no luck as we don't want to delay our arrival at our Florida site.
The route we had chosen is I69; I65 to Montgomery AL, then diagonally to I75 (Tifton, GA). This last stretch of road was a mistake as the roads are narrow and single lanes for most of the way to GA.
We try to make it half way into Florida, but it's late at night, getting very tired and have to pull over at an unknown exit. There's an empty lot where there are already 3 rigs parked for the night.

Wednesday March 6th 2013

Wednesday March 6th - we leave very early in the morning as the cold keeps us from sleeping in. The highways are still snow-packed and/or icy. We witness several accidents - more delays we hadn't anticipated.
We decide to camp out at a KOA in Bowling Green KY in order to get (electric) hookup and proper heat instead of relying on the propane and generator. A KOA employee notices that one of our tires is low. We dispatch a tire repair guy who removes the tire and produces a large bolt that had pierced the tire.

This tire is not repairable and will need to be replaced at a cost of $500.00 USD - and it's only 2 days into our travels.