The Nomadic Life

[merlinmurph]

Lots of RV'ers use softstart devices on their a/c's to lower the initial power draw.

https://www.softstartrv.com

SPP

Ha, whaddayaknow, you learn something every day. Thanks.

[Too Tall]

Ha, whaddayaknow, you learn something every day. Thanks.

Two thumbs up, just to add to the accolades. I've got the same one and it's marvelous. I'm running a Honda EU2000i.

Didja know that installing one on your home AC will make your compressor last yrs. and yrs.? TRUE!!!

[bigbill]

Behold, the bigbill summer sanctuary. The shed was delivered late yesterday, and we moved the trailer around noon after I went for a ride. My truck not pictured.

[Too Tall]

Home sweet shed. Very good, you'll enjoy the peace.

[bigbill]

We got our water line today. We now have the trifecta on our RV spot; power, water, and septic. It's county water from an ancient artesian well. We leave for Yellowstone on Monday for a week. The following week we spend three nights in Shell, Wyoming, which is along Hwy 14 leading up to Burgess Junction. Fishing up there is all about staying moose-aware. My wife has an art show in Shell, so we bring the RV, and I get to ride up the Bighorns.

[Clyde]

IMG_2387(1) by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr

Just returned from 3 days at Croft St Park in Spartanburg area. Had x 2 15 mi mtb rides yesterday/today. Hot as balls. Thanks for A/C. Yummy food and good company, the missus. Nice little break from the local flora/fauna. Saw a couple turtles this am and more deer in one day than i've seen in SC in 5 years!

[Too Tall]

Good report Nomad Clyde. Looks like a peaceful place.

[bigbill]

We're in Gardiner, MT, for the week with daily trips into Yellowstone. It was just under 5 hours to drive here from central Wyoming via I-90 and Livingston. Going through the NP is no bueno because of all the construction and people. The road from Gardiner to Mammoth is the temporary road established after the flooding last year, and it would be a white-knuckle drive with a travel trailer.

Pictures, my travel trailer with no neighbors this morning from a rail trail on the west side of the Yellowstone River. Bike. Roosevelt Arch.

[Too Tall]

Great pics and report big man. That river looks fishy.

[bigbill]

Great pics and report big man. That river looks fishy.

We fished Soda Butte, Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, and nothing so far. We're looking at the Gardiner today. Tomorrow, we're having breakfast at the Roosevelt Lodge and hiking up to the third meadow on Slough Creek. We've got bells and bear spray. Yesterday, we saw three bears, all black. We saw a grizzly on Monday, but it was pretty far away.

[Too Tall]

We fished Soda Butte, Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, and nothing so far. We're looking at the Gardiner today. Tomorrow, we're having breakfast at the Roosevelt Lodge and hiking up to the third meadow on Slough Creek. We've got bells and bear spray. Yesterday, we saw three bears, all black. We saw a grizzly on Monday, but it was pretty far away.

Careful out there. You are too skinny to be a bear's first choice however hard times.....

[bigbill]

Today was our last day in Yellowstone. We'll head back to central Wyoming tomorrow morning. It is four and a half hours of driving, including a stop in Laurel, MT, to pick up some picture frames. We'll be "home for four nights before we head to Shell, WY, for three nights at an RV park. My wife and three other Wyoming artists are having a show at a gallery, and it's a great place for me to ride my bike. On Friday at Burgess Junction, we will spend a few hours fishing the Tongue River and avoiding moose.

The RV park in Gardiner has been good; most people are only here for a day or two. The water is good, and the pressure is just right (I use a reducer). Everything was low-key until yesterday when a guy showed up with a travel trailer and immediately put up a flagpole for his FJB flag. At least it makes my RV easy to find. The guy is a hoot; every shirt he's worn is some kind of take on the US flag. Wrap around sunglasses, shaved head, and longish beard. The kind of people I normally avoid.

[Too Tall]

Generally speaking when at campgrounds one avoids politics or religion and the third rail is diesel or gas truck?

I've been greeted with "you tow what that piece of ?" (I tow with a Tundra) My comeback is y'all having a nice day?

Fishing has got to be great Big man. Great report.

[bigbill]

For the diesel truck thing, I mostly see courtesy from diesel owners, driving or pulling their trailers at an idle until they're out of the park. This guy would start his truck and let it idle for 5-10 minutes before heading into the park with his family. Aftermarket exhaust and airbox really made it loud. It also smoked more than normal. My truck is all factory; it won't smoke no matter how hard I romp on the accelerator.

[ides1056]

I finished crossing the country last night at 10:15. Left Cummington, MA on Monday at 7 am. Yesterday was Bozeman to Yamhill, OR over Lolo Pass. I last visited 38 years ago. It lived up to my memory. But: they wanted $400 for a 10x10 room at a motel in Bozeman. I politely declined. A shower would have agreed with me after sleeping at truck stops for a couple nights, but spending money like there's a competition? No.The Rainbow Motel in Livingston was $11 a night back in the day and cheaper by the week.
Eastern Washington is mind-boggling, like science-fiction, the scale of everything so outsized. Fields of grain to the horizon; windmills by the thousands on the mountains; rivers that have sculpted the planet held back to run turbines. I saw harvesters working the hillsides: combines in formation billowing dust, with massive tractors on treads dragging hoppers on wheels, clouds of dust billowing. It was a scene out of Dune.
Crazy hot once over the mountains: 103 along the river. I saw three cyclists on Lolo Pass, one looking pretty haggard at the bottom of the west side, which is a way longer climb. A solo woman rode along the river and I gave her a big wave because it had to feel like a furnace.

The van never let me down. It's old and may yet cause trouble, but it just kept on going no matter what. How 105 horsepower makes it go is a wonder.

[Too Tall]

Jay for supreme Nomadic leader. Just an awesome report.

LOL when I'm desperate and towing the Airstream I'll pull off the interstate and look for a Church. They are never open when I get there but I'm sure to slip an envelope under the door with some green in it. Never had anyone say a word.

Truck stops and WalMarts scare the out of me.

[froze]

Generally speaking when at campgrounds one avoids politics or religion and the third rail is diesel or gas truck?

I've been greeted with "you tow what that piece of ?" (I tow with a Tundra) My comeback is y'all having a nice day?

Fishing has got to be great Big man. Great report.

I own a 2010 Tundra 5.7 myself, never had a mechanical failure. I decided to buy a Tundra when one day after I saw a camper with a Tundra, he was towing a large 5th wheel, he said it weighed over 14,000 pounds with all the stuff inside. I asked him that I thought the Tundra was only good for around 10,000 pounds, and he confirmed that was true, but he's been towing that trailer for 2 years all over the country without any problem, even up steep mountain roads. My trailer is only around 7,000 pounds loaded, and I can't even tell anything is behind me except the gas mileage drops pretty good.

I had an old 94 Ford F150 with a 302, the factory said it got 20 mpg on the hwy, nope, it never got more than 14, and Ford looked at it several times to try to figure out why it didn't get more, but later I found out they all got that sort of mileage; anyway while towing it would drop to 4 mpg!! And it was gutless, going up a steep grade was a painfully slow process. The Tundra gets 18 to 20 hwy, and 12 to 14 towing the trailer, with no problems taking on grades.

[Too Tall]

I own a 2010 Tundra 5.7 myself, never had a mechanical failure. I decided to buy a Tundra when one day after I saw a camper with a Tundra, he was towing a large 5th wheel, he said it weighed over 14,000 pounds with all the stuff inside. I asked him that I thought the Tundra was only good for around 10,000 pounds, and he confirmed that was true, but he's been towing that trailer for 2 years all over the country without any problem, even up steep mountain roads. My trailer is only around 7,000 pounds loaded, and I can't even tell anything is behind me except the gas mileage drops pretty good.

I had an old 94 Ford F150 with a 302, the factory said it got 20 mpg on the hwy, nope, it never got more than 14, and Ford looked at it several times to try to figure out why it didn't get more, but later I found out they all got that sort of mileage; anyway while towing it would drop to 4 mpg!! And it was gutless, going up a steep grade was a painfully slow process. The Tundra gets 18 to 20 hwy, and 12 to 14 towing the trailer, with no problems taking on grades.

Y'all havin' a nice day?

xxoo

[bigbill]

I had considered a half-ton with a factory towing package that beefed up the rear suspension and put lower gears in the rear end. I spoke with a few friends that had done that, and the universal answer was not to do it. The lower gears killed their mileage without a trailer and made the truck ride harshly unloaded. A diesel 3/4 ton made sense for me due to towing capacity and weight. My trailer is around 9800 pounds with empty tanks. Descending is less nerve-wracking with a big heavy truck with 4-wheel disc brakes and good engine braking. A big truck can be a hassle in parking lots and drive-throughs, but we get 22+ mpg on road trips without a trailer. With the big tank, I have to pee more often than I need fuel. We're a blended family, my wife drives a Chevy 2500, and I drive an F250. The good news is I'm getting my 2018 Ford Escape back around Thanksgiving, so we can run errands at 34+ mpg and keep the miles off our trucks.

[72gmc]

I had considered a half-ton with a factory towing package that beefed up the rear suspension and put lower gears in the rear end. I spoke with a few friends that had done that, and the universal answer was not to do it. The lower gears killed their mileage without a trailer and made the truck ride harshly unloaded.

The '76 GMC I drove in high school (yes I have a pattern) was modified this way. I bought it from my grandpa, and he towed the largest fifth wheel trailer he could with that truck. It rode stiffer than my dad's truck (same year and model) and ran high revs on the highway. On the plus side, the mileage didn't change when it was loaded down with gravel, but it was only 10mpg.