There is one good thing about visiting Los Angeles.
Aside from seeing La Familia, that is. OK two things … Oh, and the food. I guess that makes three things.
Anyway, access to the right tools makes working on your rig easy. And that can help you save a lot of money.
And believe me, El Jefe has all the right tools … and the shop, and the brain, which I picked to learn how to to pack the wheel bearings on our fifth wheel trailer.
When you’re camped out in the middle of a wild desolate landscape, without a cell signal and a silence so deafening that its roar squeezes your brain like a vise, it’s tempting to believe that you’ve fallen off the radar. You look around for miles and see nothing but desert landscape, imagining that there are no rules, laws or entities that have power over you.
Well, our Workamping savings are a thing of the past, and February gave us a current reality check of what our expenses look like when we just play tourist and go out looking for all of the cool music, food and entertainment we want to experience.
Our biggest expense last month: fuel. We went over our budgeted amount for the first time ever. This is mostly because we went 1600 miles out of our way (round trip) for a quick trip back to California to visit my family. More on our L.A. experience later.
Last week while camping at Lake Manatee State Park, just outside of Sarasota, Florida, we met Mike and Brandi, two thirty-something campground hosts at the park. Finally, we’d met another fulltiming couple close to our age! Meeting them was ironic; we had just left our farmer friends at White Rabbit Acres, only to run into this Ohio couple who had sold their farm last June, to hit the road indefinitely. Like Jim and I, Brandi and Mike are both living simply, and staying out of debt so that they can really enjoy life.
I couldn’t help but think that meeting these two was a sign that perhaps Jim and I should rethink this whole farming business idea we had. Here’s why:
When our freshwater fill spout started coughing up water when we filled the tank, there was no need to call a doctor. I knew I could handle this one. But I did wonder why it started happening all of the sudden.
While filling up our freshwater tank a few times, we noticed water backing up and burping out of the fill hose. Upon closer inspection – which any good RVer should always undertake in circumstances like this – I noticed the freshwater tank expanding with air whenever this happened.
Out of everything we have in storage, one of the biggest things I miss is our home gym. We had a lot of workout equipment, which actually got used for workouts and not as clothes hangers. We used to work out at least four mornings a week, running and lifting weights. So when we hit the road and all that went away, it was hard for me to observe any hard-earned muscle tone I had turn soft and pudgy. Now, even though we alternate between running and bicycling, without the gym equipment, gravity takes its toll, fast.
Ok, I admit it. During times of crisis, I completely freak out. The spaz button turns on, and I hyperventilate and run around, yelling out loud until I can get all the anger out, blame Jim, and then work on solving the problem. Jim, however, really pisses me off with his ability to remain calm during stressful events. To his credit, his method does work a little better. Don’t tell him I said that.
Take last week, for example, when I drove the truck straight into a muddy, grease filled ditch out by the side of Farmer Brian’s biodiesel garage.
El Jefe suggested that whenever dry-camping, we should turn off our water pump at night and when we leave the rig unattended for a long time. I didn’t like the idea of doing this because the water heater needs to remain pressurized or the element could burn out.
René noticed one day how the carpet by the wall next to Jerry’s bed was all wet. No, it didn’t smell like pee. So we immediately started looking for a leak.
The other side of the wall, inside the storage compartment with our freshwater tank, was also wet. So we thought the worst. But it could have also been coming from the bathtub since that was right above.
We confirmed there was no plumbing leak and were stumped as to how the carpet got wet, so we went into troubleshooting mode.
There is one good thing about visiting Los Angeles.
Entries (RSS)