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We’ve been on the move for a few days now. First we visited Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, then we went to Ashburn, GA, then Atlanta to see the Vintage Computer Festival 2.0 (not that SO had any interest in that) and now we’re at Walmart again. I had visions of getting the travel cam running and this and that but I never did. See I’m driving a brand new to me 42’ motorhome and it’s a beast and I decided at the last minute, you know what. Let’s just focus on the task at hand. So far there have been no real problems with the motorhome - which surprises me a little. I have gone over 2 curbs sadly. Hopefully no damage was done as I hit it fairly squarely and slowly. Knock on wood I guess. I haven’t smashed into anything yet either but there have been a few close calls as I’m starting to get more experience with 10 additional feet in length. The experience of driving this thing is like night and day compared to the Winnebago. I can use just the chassis A/C in temperatures up to about 90F and we’re all perfectly comfortable. The alternator is an externally excited alternator meaning it’s properly charging the battery banks at the right voltage as we drive. The coach has impressive performance - riding up all but the steepest of hills in 6th gear without even downshifting. The ride is silent. No tire noise, no engine noise, nothing. It’s just crazy. I have come to love the Allison joystick transmission retarder. I at first thought it was good mostly for mountain descents and stuff like that but it actually is incredibly useful just starting and stopping in traffic. I’ve gotten a lot better at dealing with the air brakes and can drive a lot more smoothly now. So far we’ve gone about 650 miles and used less than half a tank so fuel consumption isn’t too bad (when you consider we’re running the generator and the aquahot on diesel a lot due to the walmart nights. This means the big engine is getting somewhere around 7+mpg on average. Not great but admirable for such a heavy rig.
Once in a Lifetime Shot
Regarding the subject of the post, I’m just not sure how other people do it. In my role at least, there is a lot to do in a day. Each day we travel I have to find the next place. Whether I am one or two days ahead is irrelevant I still need to keep up and keep planning ahead. I need to figure out which Walmart’s and campgrounds we’re staying at, etc. This can take up to an hour a day. It sounds insane to some of the freer people driving around tiny RV’s but we have to find a campground that can take a 42’, has good entry/exits, figure out ahead of time via google maps what streets routes and turns we can take so that we don’t hop curbs (not that I didn’t fail at that once) or worse have to disconnect our toad in the middle of traffic to back up…. yes it’s happened in the Winnebago. After that I have work which is infuriating without real internet. We didn’t start up the millenicom because we’re not going to need it for more than a couple weeks this time out. Instead I am winging it, tethering my phone which does NOT want to be tethered or scrounging wifi when I can find it (thank you Lowes and scruffy436). That’s another subject, btw. Scanning, aiming and connecting to wifi can take half an hour with an external directional antenna. Then I drive, hook and unhook the toad. I wash the bugs off the front of the rv. I manage our energy, energy consumption, fuel, rest stops, etc. Perhaps I don’t lean on SO enough but frankly she handles the lion’s share of child tasks and that is an enormous job all by itself.
So when there is too much to do blogging, and especially live blogging with the camera go on the back burner. But I’ll get there ;) I also didn’t think about that I like to use my phone for google maps directions which doesn’t exactly work simultaneously with the webcam app. Hmm.. Time to solve another issue.
Last modified: 21 October, 2014
Created: 4 May, 2014