The Nomadic Life

[merlinmurph]

Northfield VT in Oct? Must be Norwich.
Jackpot. Bring a gravel bike.

I'm going to admit to a small, uh, inconsistency when divulging the length of our trailer.

Our trailer model is a 294RK, meaning the box itself is around ~30', so I called it a 30' trailer. Well, the actual length is ~34', but a lot of campgrounds tend to have a dividing point at 30'. These sites are for <=30', and these other sites (usually crappier) are for >30'. After we learned that, we just said we were 30' because it gave us more options and we mostly got away with it. There was one time at Mt Tremblant where we were in the way a little bit. Oh well. So, we're 30', dammit, and I've been able to back into some places they said couldn't be done. It may have taken awhile and been a bit of work, but we got there.

We still want to get a smaller trailer.

[Too Tall]

I'm here to report the 2019 26' Airstream is SOLD SOLD SOLD. Long live the 2018 28' Airstream International.
Maaaan that's a weight off my shoulders.

Word to the wise, if you are buyer this is a great time for you. The rest of us no so much.

[rwsaunders]

We head back to AZ on the 15th. I had the oil changed in my truck yesterday, filled up the DEF at the pump, and on Monday, I'm getting the 100K mile service (F/R differentials, transfer case, and transmission) performed. I'm not that far off from new brakes as well. On the way from WY to AZ, the only steep decline is the descent to the San Juan River near Monument Valley and that's mostly engine braking.

It's been a good summer and normally we would be here into September, but my wife is teaching ceramics and pottery at the community college and classes start on the 20th. I am finishing up my directed readings for my military history masters thesis and it's easier to travel from AZ to Pittsburgh for research at the Heinz History Center in early September, and to Northfield, VT, in October to give a speech at a history symposium.

Bill…you need to hit me up if you’re coming to the ‘Burgh. Tack the Carnegie Museum of Natural of History, the Carnegie Library and the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum onto your trip…I’ll post links later.

[rwsaunders]

See links for museums and oh yeah, we have a submarine docked on the Ohio River at the Carnegie Science Center…right up your alley.

https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/about/

https://carnegiemuseums.org/

https://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/

https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/ex...equin-gateway/

[robin3mj]

I'm here to report the 2019 26' Airstream is SOLD SOLD SOLD. Long live the 2018 28' Airstream International.
Maaaan that's a weight off my shoulders.

Word to the wise, if you are buyer this is a great time for you. The rest of us no so much.

Congrats, and on to the next thing?
I was actually thinking of your listing today, while driving home from the Outer Banks and passing the Airstream location just above Richmond.

[bigbill]

Bill…you need to hit me up if you’re coming to the ‘Burgh. Tack the Carnegie Museum of Natural of History, the Carnegie Library and the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum onto your trip…I’ll post links later.

I think by day, I'll be a hermit in the archives at Heinz. They have my shopping list of items I want to see. I'm finishing up my military history masters thesis on the colonial frontier in western PA and the proclamation of 1763 as a root cause for the Revolutionary War. The world has enough master's theses on the Civil War.

[Too Tall]

Congrats, and on to the next thing?
I was actually thinking of your listing today, while driving home from the Outer Banks and passing the Airstream location just above Richmond.

Thanks. The next thing is here already. We picked up a 2018 28' International. It is a big change in layout that much better suits us. It will take me a few yrs. to make all the changes that matter most to me. Some are entirely vanity, others good practice. The 2018 is the last of the years where you can order old school (everything) in the more fancy models. Blah blah blah. Pretty Darn Stoked.

[bigbill]

Our next big thing will be a smaller thing. When we return to AZ in two weeks, we will start the process of getting our AZ house ready to sell. I think the recession fears will bring down interest rates to get us a better price and make financing a house in Wyoming with a decent rate possible. Once we are relocated, there is no reason to have a 33' trailer. I am thinking about a shorter fifth wheel with a small toy compartment for bikes. In the Wyoming winters, we can make shorter trips out of the cold. We also want a trailer with a king size bed since we are both over 6'.

[rwsaunders]

I think by day, I'll be a hermit in the archives at Heinz. They have my shopping list of items I want to see. I'm finishing up my military history masters thesis on the colonial frontier in western PA and the proclamation of 1763 as a root cause for the Revolutionary War. The world has enough master's theses on the Civil War.

They might send you down the street to Fort Pitt, which was Fort Duquesne for the French from 1754-58...

https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/visit/fort-pitt/

https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/b...ds-expedition/

Fort Duquesne, built at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which forms the Ohio River, was considered strategically important for controlling the Ohio Country, both for settlement and for trade. The English merchant William Trent had established a highly successful trading post at the forks as early as the 1740s, to do business with a number of nearby Native American villages. Both the French and the British were keen to gain advantage in the area. As the area was within the drainage basin of the Mississippi River, the French had claimed it as theirs. They controlled New France (Quebec), the Illinois Country along the Mississippi, and La Louisiane, the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

In the early 1750s, the French began construction of a line of forts, starting with Fort Presque Isle on Lake Erie in present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, followed by Fort Le Boeuf, about 15 miles south in present-day Waterford, Pennsylvania, and Fort Machault, on the Allegheny River in Venango County in present-day Franklin, Pennsylvania. Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony, thought these forts threatened extensive claims to the land area by Virginians (including himself) of the Ohio Company. In late autumn 1753, Dinwiddie dispatched a young Virginia militia officer named George Washington to the area to deliver a letter to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, asking them to leave. Washington was also to assess French strength and intentions. After reaching Fort Le Boeuf in December, Washington was politely rebuffed by the French.

[bigbill]

They might send you down the street to Fort Pitt, which was Fort Duquesne for the French from 1754-58...

https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/visit/fort-pitt/

https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/b...ds-expedition/

Fort Duquesne, built at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which forms the Ohio River, was considered strategically important for controlling the Ohio Country, both for settlement and for trade. The English merchant William Trent had established a highly successful trading post at the forks as early as the 1740s, to do business with a number of nearby Native American villages. Both the French and the British were keen to gain advantage in the area. As the area was within the drainage basin of the Mississippi River, the French had claimed it as theirs. They controlled New France (Quebec), the Illinois Country along the Mississippi, and La Louisiane, the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

In the early 1750s, the French began construction of a line of forts, starting with Fort Presque Isle on Lake Erie in present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, followed by Fort Le Boeuf, about 15 miles south in present-day Waterford, Pennsylvania, and Fort Machault, on the Allegheny River in Venango County in present-day Franklin, Pennsylvania. Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony, thought these forts threatened extensive claims to the land area by Virginians (including himself) of the Ohio Company. In late autumn 1753, Dinwiddie dispatched a young Virginia militia officer named George Washington to the area to deliver a letter to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, asking them to leave. Washington was also to assess French strength and intentions. After reaching Fort Le Boeuf in December, Washington was politely rebuffed by the French.

My grant is for information warfare so my focus is on the Paxton Boys and the Pamphlet War that carried into the nineteenth century and our history books. In the past four decades, the history has been revised but my thesis is on the root cause of the misinformation that created "the Indians" as one homogeneous group and ended any possibility of coexistence between whites and Indians. It was used to justify moving tribes west of the Mississippi River including the Cherokee and Trail of Tears instigated by Andrew Jackson despite the Marshall Court saying it was unconstitutional. Thomas Jefferson was an early proponent of moving the tribes. When we permanently move to Wyoming next spring, I'll turn my focus back to the Crow, who I find fascinating. The recent fires in eastern Wyoming came close to burning historic Fort Laramie, which was the location of the treaties of 1851 and 1868, which created Reservations and then shrank them dramatically. The Crow started with 38 million acres, reduced to 8 million, and then relocated to 3 million, then had one million taken away for settlers, and now have just about 2 million acres of grassy plain with little irrigation, and desperately poor tribal members. The Custer National Battlefield is on the Reservation, but federally operated. The big tourist place next to the battlefield is not Indian-owned.

[bigbill]

In six days, we head back to AZ. My wife has teaching obligations at the CC and my location is not important as long as I have internet access to submit papers. We haven't used the generator this summer so on Saturday, I'm going to use it for an hour to run the travel trailer with the A/C running. It's a 4Kw generator, plenty of capacity. The gas tank has half a bottle of Seafoam, so I should get a clean carburetor out of the run. My new wheels arrived from Peter C. so I plan on using the compressor to seat the tires and will check the trailer tire pressures while I have the compressor out. On the way home, my gravel bike will ride on the Kuat mounted on the back of the trailer and the Open will ride inside the trailer. The back of my truck will be full of hay bales we're hauling home, that will be fun to clean out.

Our trip home will be two full days of driving. We'll drive 9.5 hours from here to Moab on Thursday, stopping south of town where we can plug in and have pens for the horses. The stop also has water, so my plan is to fill the black tank on Friday morning before the hour drive to Monticello, where the Maverick Travel Center has a deluxe RV dump with flush water to get the tank as clean as possible. The Maverick also has nice pull through lanes with diesel. From there, we have six hours of driving left including Monument Valley and Flagstaff. Topping off in Flag easily gets me home via Seligman and old Rt 66. My wife will stay on I-40 to deliver the horse to the barn where they're boarded east of Kingman. I get the better deal by avoiding the worst part of I-40. I should be able to back the travel trailer into the side yard with plenty of daylight.

[AngryScientist]

From a couple months ago now, but worthy of a post here I suppose. Livin the micro life. At least one more trip north planned before the season is over.

[Too Tall]

Looking good micro-life :)

[bigbill]

We successfully migrated from Wyoming to AZ, arriving this afternoon. We stayed in Moab last night at the Spanish Trail Arena so we could board the horses overnight. No septic, but power and water. My FIL was traveling with us in my wife's truck and they rolled out before 6am with the horse trailer to try and beat the heat. I packed up the trailer and left about 45 minutes after them. We stayed connected to the truck so it wasn't that bad. I drove to Monticello, UT, to dump and flush tanks at the Maverick Travel Center and to fuel up. I didn't stop again until Flagstaff to fuel up. My wife can only do 200 miles on a tank, while I can do 380 with my larger tank. I averaged 12 mpg for the trip.

I go through Monument Valley on the way home and I'm blown away by the people who stand on the road at Forrest Gump Point to do selfies. Tour busses stop there. The speed limit is 45 mph through that section but I slow down less than 30 because tourists will dart out like squirrels not understanding that 17K pounds of truck and trailer cannot stop on a dime. The other obstacle today were all the Cruise America Class C rentals. I got behind four of them traveling together at 45 in a 65. The worst part is how slow they were going on downhills. Engine braking in 5th (ten speed) is the sweet spot at 3,000 rpm for 60 mph, requiring no brake pedal. These guys were going 50, so I had to frequently brake. On the interstates, I-80 is 75 mph but I do 70 in the right lane. I-70 is 75 in CO, but 80 in UT. I still do 70 in the right lane. The 80 mph speed limit is ridiculous, only a few vehicles are doing the speed limit, most are still around 75. UT also has the bonus of triple trailer big rigs.

[PaMtbRider]

Well, we made it to Colorado Springs. 1600+ miles in 3 days was not fun. I was only getting a few hours sleep each night due to some meds I was on. Hopefully that is all behind us. The first 2 days I was averaging between 9.5 and 10 mpg. The 3rd day in Kansas saw that drop to 8 mpg. Cruise control was set to 75 and the truck handled it fine.

We are staying at Cheyenne Mountain campground, home to NORAD space defense. We hear reville and taps every morning and evening from Ft. Carson. We will be here till Saturday when we leave for Mesa Verde.

[bigbill]

Well, we made it to Colorado Springs. 1600+ miles in 3 days was not fun. I was only getting a few hours sleep each night due to some meds I was on. Hopefully that is all behind us. The first 2 days I was averaging between 9.5 and 10 mpg. The 3rd day in Kansas saw that drop to 8 mpg. Cruise control was set to 75 and the truck handled it fine.

We are staying at Cheyenne Mountain campground, home to NORAD space defense. We hear reville and taps every morning and evening from Ft. Carson. We will be here till Saturday when we leave for Mesa Verde.

When we travel between Wyoming and AZ, our long day is Worland, WY, to Moab, UT, about 600 miles. I can't imagine doing that distance for three days in a row. One day, we'll detour around Monument Valley to see Four Corners and Mesa Verde.

[SlowPokePete]

Our trip down here to Assateague Island is about 400 miles.

By the time we pick up the trailer from storage and transfer stuff in, etc, it's about a nine hour day to arrival.

That's about my max.

SPP

[Too Tall]

Way to go Dan-o. Get some rest!!!

Pete, you dog. Enjoy.

[bigbill]

My travel trailer is getting a new fresh water tank later this month. It leaked and I used JB Water Weld to get the leak to a dribble while in Wyoming. I have a warranty which should cover all this. A new 81 gallon tank is around $500 and I'd imagine at least that much in labor. I also cut away the black corrugated material to get to the leak and I'll need all that replaced as well. I used 8" wide tape to cover the holes to get home and protect everything else.

My next chore is to learn how to adjust the slides so they are completely flush when they're in. Right now, the door side slide has a gap. I also plan on replacing the plastic wheel flares that have warped. They're not expensive.

In other news, my wife's Chevy 2500 was getting random check engine lights and maintenance warnings saying the DPF was clogged. She was losing power a few times on the way home from Wyoming. The truck has 270,000 miles and the local diesel guys that we trust says it needs a new turbo and DPF. The particulate filter is the most expensive part but an OEM Garrett turbo isn't far behind. It will be around $10K in repairs and compression checks show the motor is still good. We thought about getting another used truck, but we know the history of this one, so we're throwing money at it. The shop is also servicing the front and rear differentials, with the rear getting the cover removed and the housing wiped out, and the transmission is getting a cover off, new filter service. My F-250 is doing great, I had the transmission, transfer case, and differentials serviced.

After we move to Wyoming next spring, we will downsize our travel trailer and get a fifth wheel, 30' or less. Too many times I've been unable to get a spot in an RV camp because our trailer is 33", especially out west. Since we won't be living in it for months, I want a small toy hauler for my bikes and my wife's art stuff.

[Too Tall]

Good report Big man.
I've been fixing niggling things on the new trailer and beginning the long slog to figure out how the he!! I'll fit the tools and support crap I'll need for our Canadian Rockies adventure next yr.
NFS is going to the great white North.