Tell Me Something Good!

[Cchapin100]

We are getting ready for our first long 2 month trip. Having read through threads on bike racks and bad bumpers, food in fridges, run-ins with trees, blowouts, and on and on my head is spinning. This forum is FANTASTIC for helps, solutions, DIYs, been-there-learn-from-me, etc. AND thanks to the forum! AND all the tips, especially in such a timely manner. You all are the BEST!

But—- I find myself getting stressed out about the trip. So: tell me something good—Times you took off and all was well, you found a great park, you met some nice people, you ran down the road and nothing bad happened. It will make this last week getting ready feel less like stress and more like YAY!

Thanks everyone, this is a great site.

2018 Solitude
Headed out to 6 Western States and 2 months of hopefully wonderful travel!

[JCZhome]

We've been full time for two years and have literally been ocean to ocean twice (and half way back across again) without anything really eventful happening.

Well, until today. Do not leave your Little Giant ladder set up and up under the awning arm after lubing the awning arms......then go inside for awhile and when you see the wind has kicked up, forget that your ladder is under the arm and start reeling your awnings in. When I heard a "pop" (it was a rivet tearing loose in the awning arm). That one awning arm is $508 from Carefree of Colorado (in Denver) shipped to Grand Junction, Colo. I ordered it direct to illiminate the dealership mark up.

A pricey lesson of negligence just greatful it wasn't something more serious.

The up side......we've been all over the nation and made some good friends and some really great friends. We've been some very nice places for periods of time long enough to really check things out in the area at leisure. We've had some really great times and those good times far out weigh any bad times.

We've traveled all over the west extensively for decades (before we went full time). If you've got any questions, just post it up here......a lot of owners here from the west.

[tubastew]

We took our KZ sportster from Baton Rouge to Fairbanks, AK in 2014. We had our shares of woes, $8.00/gal diesel, and some long days. But with that said, my ‘what’s around the next cuveitis’ made it all worth while. The scenery was actually better than what you see on travel videos. Blue lakes, tall trees, glaciers, animals. We took our time. It took three months. We saw Rocky Mountain NP, Yellowstone, Glacier NP, Banff, the Ice Road Parkway, the Alcan, left a sign in the signpost city. Took the gold wing out and rode north of the Arctic Circle. Visited gold mining ghost towns, caught salmon in Valdez, smoked them on a spruce campfire. Visited Stewart-Hyde, saw a porcupine ( first one to have ever seen), came down through Washington, saw the Bowing museum, drove through the redwoods, visited Yosemite, sequoia NP, Death Valley NP. Stopped by the UFO museum in Roswell, and spent a few days with the grandkids. This was our no hurry-no worry trip.

Have fun, prepare for what you can, figure out the rest. Make memories now for you don’t know what tomorrow brings.

[chemist308]

Full time for a year while doing contract work. Became really good friends with park neighbors in Memphis. Grilled out together often while I was there. Matter of fact we just played Call of Duty online together and hung out in Teamspeak earlier tonight. Sure issue like new rig problems occur. Looking back they were just the minor inconveniences I had to work around. The good times were what actually mattered.

Don’t forget your tools—both ones for your vehicle and house. They can help keep those minor inconveniences minor. More importantly don’t forget your grill. Many a friends get introduced through the smell of bbq

[WhittleBurner]

Just go and have fun ! Take along your sense of humor and patients. Those 2 things will go a long way IF anything did happen. We have gone plenty of miles with no parts falling off, breaking etc. The more you dwell on the potential bad that will likely never happen the less you'll enjoy all the good and beauty that is surrounding you.
OH and always look up before backing up under that tree!

[DougW9876]

We have been on a few local trips, we went from western NY to AZ and back and we went from NY to Iowa and back. We had 1 problem on the road, the handle fell off the rear black tank pull. Other problems we had were minor inconveniences at the worst, a Maxxfan that would start and stop at random times on it’s own, a cracked electrical outlet, and the slid out lockout valve did not work right.

We have met great people along the way, visited with friends old and new, seen some wonderful parts of the country, and were able to spend the winter in a warmer climate, not much more a person could ask for.

[cfowler55]

I used to get a little stressed the morning we were leaving. After hook up and 15 minutes on the road it just melted away. I guess it was “new to fifth wheel towing anxietyitis “. Now it’s all good. We’re on day three of an 18 day trip and life is good. If your Solitude turns out like ours only a tad of maintenance needed to keep things running smoothly.
As far as something good. White Florida beaches , Colorado mountains , Arkansas rivers and streams. Slow down and enjoy.
Charlie

[KirbyRVA]

Well we don't travel now in our Solitude...it just sits in one spot. However, we traveled all over the US in our motorhomes. We traveled from our home in VA to the West coast four times and saw a lot in between.

While there were mostly minor issues (stuff that I could fix myself) we only had one issue that put us out of the coach and in a hotel for three nights. It was a fuel delivery issue with a Cummins ISL. My recommendation is to do good pre trip maintenance on your truck and trailer. Have some good road service (we had Coachnet) to ease your mind. Then, just hit the road, relax and enjoy the drive and the view. You will meet some wonderful folks along the way and see some wonderful scenery. I always believed the saying 'to see what man has made, go east. To see what God has made, go west.' There is some breath-taking stuff to see after you cross the great plains.

Wishing you many, many happy miles.

[TNFSolitude]

If your travels permit try to make it to the national rally in Goshen, IN later in August. You'll make about 1000 new friends and can get as many stories on why and how we enjoy camping. We bought our Solitude in 2013, a year before we retired. We're now on our 3rd set of tires. This is our cottage on wheels.

[tubastew]

Ditto to the pre trip maintenance. Your owners manuals are your best friends in the maintenance arena.