Dennis and Melissa

We have just decided that we will be returning home (for the first time since MDIV was born) immediately after the rally in AL. That means we will be making a dash from Lake Guntersville to Tampa in May. Dash = 3-4 days 😀 Any suggestions on itineraries or nice places to stop along the way?

I appears to me the water pressure at the sink and shower heads does not match anything like the pressure coming from the city water inlet. Moreover, it appears to fluctuate continually. Maybe I have air in the line? Any thoughts?

Very kind. Our kids laughed for hours watching that. 🤣 We are already registered for the rally. Site D5.

I fell asleep last night trying to analyze this using my "simple machines" physics from 50 years ago. 🙂 I think that goes like this.... Instead of an Ollie, we have a sled with 4 wheels that spin and roll frictionlessly across a plane. If that plane is inclined, the sled will always roll down hill. To keep it from rolling, put chocks (another inclined plane going the other way) on the downhill side of the wheels. If held motionless, there will be force on those chocks equal to the force pushing the sled down the hill (sine of the angle of incline IIRC??? , doesn't really matter). It's clear from this picture, the bigger the incline, the bigger the chock needed. (IOW, a little chock will just get run over before creating enough back pressure.) It's also clear that, if you put a big enough chock on the downhill side, and drag the cart "up" it, eventually the cart will "roll backwards" when released. So, how do you know when you are in the sweet spot? How do you know if you let go of the cart, it won't roll? How do you know if you have 0 tension on the hitch? Honestly, I don't have an answer for this. Unless there is some way to actually measure pressure at the ball. It leads me to conclude that I have been getting really lucky, and that I don't live on a frictionless plane. So far, friction has made my guesses "good enough". Henceforward, I'm vowing to chock all 4 tires, front and back, before unhitching. I'm even considering the advice to leave the chains on.

always

What stopped it from going even farther? I'm not trying to be snarky. Whatever stopped it might expose what was "missing" when you decoupled.

LOL. For sure. The handholding was very much appreciated. We are still very seriously considering changing our truck. (Either airbag suspension or Andersen. Not both.) But that won't be until at least next year. Now I'm off to wander around my next National Park: Shenandoah for 10 days. And that's the whole reason I bought this thing. So the plan is working!

Since we are a NH team, we tried this. And it seemed to work. Our next stop is 10 days on full hookups, during which I'll also try closing the drain for most of the day. We'll see which is better for us. Thanks, all. P.S. Another Andersen success today. That's three in a row. So, I'm gonna stop mentioning it unless I fail again. And that's a very welcome silence y'all will be hearing. 😀

We are on full hookups for a couple of days. Is there a way to keep the grey tank drain open without leaving the garage door open?

Found the orange handles AND decoded the dance steps 🤣 TYVM. Works perfectly.

Another good Andersen day. Took two tries. I'm calling that a win. In other news: 1) After yesterday's spectacular hike on the cliff trail, I drove 10 miles through Del Water Gap with my tailgate down. But NOTHING fell out. This is the first plus from our dramatic overpacking. Things are so crammed in there I don't even need the tailgate! 😏 2) We got a drawer stuck. I was able to slide a ladle in, push down on the offending dish, and get it to open. But this is the second time I wish I knew how to remove the drawers. Now that we have wifi, I'll go take a peek in Oliver U. 3) 4 days in Worthington State Park with no hookups, we used half our fresh water, half our grey tank (of course), maybe 1/3 a tank of propane, and left with 50% charge in our batteries (it was cloudy almost the whole time). That confirms my suspicion that fresh water is what will limit anything we do that approaches boondocking. (And I was using the campground shower. DW, refused cuz it was stinky.) And I now know that our major electric draws (beside the AC) are: jacks, microwave, hair drier, water pump. TV, radio, fridge and lights are almost nothing by comparison.

We got the Anderson to work first Try this time. 30 seconds. No sweat. :-)

I think we have good news. Having poured some scented grey tank cleaner in, 24 hours later we have a mild laundry-soap-scented odor in the same place. So, one way or the other, I'm pretty convinced we are getting a whiff of our grey tank. Thanks for everyone's attention and hand holding. Much appreciated. 😀

The first.

I'm hoping this is the case. And I just noticed you are from Lutz. We are in New Tampa. 🙂

yes. And when we came home tonight, i could smell it from in front of the trailer, too So, I'm back to thinking that's the most likely culprit. But the drains smell like nothing, so not sure how it could affect inside??? Be that as it may, we are doing the "clean the grey" tank stuff tomorrow.

Hmmm... Not sure what to do then. I'm gonna turn off the tanks for a bit. See if it goes away. And I'll double check the detector.

TY. That's what I first suspected. But I would expect the smell to be stronger at the drain if that were the case. And that's not true.

I need some advice.... We have a (mild?) smell at the entrance, only at the entrance, just as you step inside. No smell in the bathroom. Nothing in the closet. Nothing at any of the drains to the grey tank. Nothing in the fridge. It's almost as if it comes from the ceiling??? If I had to guess, I would say it smelled like natural gas (specifically the mercaptans they add to it). But, I'm assuming, if we really did have a propane leak, the alarm would have gone off (or we would be dead by now). The obvious suspect was the NH toilet. But it doesn't smell at all the same. Any thoughts?

Another first today: the dreaded emptying of the NH "compost". Truth be told, I've had much worse experiences changing baby diapers. But don't tell my wife 🙂 Yesterday we made all the reservations for our trip to the rally in AL. Starting in RI. Stopping in: Delaware Water Gap (4 days), Gettysburg NP (3), Shenandoah NP (11), New River Gorge NP (12), Mammoth Cave NP (4). Now to go buy a grease gun and figure out what a zerk is, and how many of them I have.....

By the way, after eight nights in subfreezing temperatures, we finally depleted the first propane tank. Very impressed. And I now know how the regulator works. I also know that you can Google the Truma error codes and get a wonderful description of what’s going on. I could not have asked for better automation.

My Anderson issues aren’t really Anderson issues. With the hitch attached the truck and trailer have driven quite nicely. My issue is more the airbags on my ram. They raise and lower the hitch during hook up and release. Not only is that a bit scary, but it means it’s never the same. Or at least I don’t yet know how to make it the same every time. Ultimately that has meant that I manually tension the chains after hook up. and I am not a trained technician. I think in the long run, I will either become a trained technician or get a truck without airbags. We will see. Thanks everyone for all the handholding.

Ram 1500 Laramie, 5.7L 8 cyl hemi, 4wd, max tow, air shocks, 6’4” box, crew cab

And now, for a match weightier question. Literally. We have towed about 2000 miles now. 500 at 50 miles an hour. Because the owners manual on the truck said so. Most of the rest on interstates at 60 miles an hour because we are trying to be wise and stay in our comfort zone Most of this felt just like driving a car. Some exceptions: wider turns, slower, acceleration, etc. Perfectly wonderful. I even discovered that I can see all the Ollie's tires in my rearview mirrors. I am a pretty happy camper. We hardly noticed any additional swaying from passing tracks or windy highways. But I’m not comfortable with the Anderson hook up. I’d really like to know if I really need it. How stupid would it be for me to disable it for the next 500 miles? FWIW I’m already at the stage where I manually loosen and tighten the chains. And I have no expertise whatsoever. Just guessing.

I have a 2 inch thermometer clipped to my backpack. For years, I have checked it before getting out of my sleeping bag. Apparently, I’m not as sophisticated as y’all. LOL. TYVM