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Posts Tagged ‘RV’

Mystery of the Chirping Bird

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , on August 4, 2023| 1 Comment »

The Mother Ship

Puttering around the rv I kept hearing a bird chirping close by. When I bent over to get something out of the storage compartment the chirping got louder. Could the bird be in the storage compartment? I shuffled things around but no bird.

We have an insect trap which plugs into the rv next to the storage compartment. I needed the extension cord so I bent down to unplug the trap and the chirping got even louder! Maybe it wasn’t a bird, perhaps it was an insect? I know there is a frog that sounds like a cat so why not an insect that sounds like a bird? I put my ear near the trap. The chirp would be strong then fade. I unhooked the trap and dumped the insects. Hooked the trap back up and still heard the chirping. I was stumped.

Insect trap that really works

Could it be under the rv? I bent lower to look underneath, the chirping got louder but still no bird. I opened up the rest of the storage compartments. Still no bird. I went on about my business of cleaning out the black and grey tanks. Sometimes the bird noise would get softer, sometimes louder, sometimes it seemed to be coming from the tree above us, other times from the woods behind us but most of the time it seemed to be coming from the rv itself. Maybe the sound was coming from the tv inside the rv? I went inside, the television was off. I still heard the bird but a little more muffled. The cats were just laying around nonplussed so definitely not inside. I went back to finish up the outside chores.

Time to fill up the tires. I plugged in the air pump and the chirping got louder. I stood up the chirping faded. I started to hook the inflator to the tire and the chirping got really loud. Could the bird be on the tires? Nope no sign of a bird anywhere. It was then I heard a hissing sound along with the bird sound. The hissing got louder! Now what? These were brand new tires! Could it be the inflator? Nope everything was kosher. I bent down again to check the stems on the tires and the noise got louder. Panic over the tires was creeping over me. We had to leave in two days and not only did we have a bird issue but something was spewing air like there was no tomorrow. Now what?

We have a tire pressure monitoring system that works off our phone. After I filled the tires I reached into my pocket to check the tire app to make sure the tires were not losing air. As I removed the phone from my pocket both the hissing noise and the bird chirp got much louder and much clearer.

Our ring app was open on the phone, the ring video camera is on our front deck at home 608 miles away along with a chirping bird and a huge hissing rain storm.

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Oh Black Water Keep on Flowin’

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2022| 6 Comments »

In the RV world, (and perhaps other worlds as well) we talk about waste holding tanks in terms of Grey tanks which holds water from the sinks, shower and washing machines. We also have the dreaded black tanks which hold the waste from the toilet. There is a sewer hose, often called the, ‘Stinky Slinky’ you hook up from an outlet on the rv to the dump station in the campground. There is a valve you need to open so the stuff in the holding tanks can flow down the sewer hose and into the dump station.

And now you know everything you need to know to follow the following story.

Before we even purchased the RV I read a ton of articles about black water screw ups. All written under the guise of helping the newbie avoid the same fate. I laughed, I cried, I shivered in fear and disgust. In the end I came away with a wealth of knowledge and a vow not to make those same mistakes. I am proud to say that after four years I have not made any of those mistakes. Instead I created my own.

Knowing you are only supposed to dump your black tanks when they are full we didn’t even bother to hook up the stinky slinky at our first two sites. Talk about a good reason to procrastinate!

After several successful sewer encounters I found myself getting a little cocky because the only ‘issues’ we were having was positioning the rv correctly. We have two black tanks and positioning the rv so we could connect both tanks to the dump station proved to be tricky. I’m always able to reach one with the slinky but the other is almost always just out of reach. But we always figured it out.

Eventually, as promised by many blogs, the fateful day came. Once again I could easily reach one black tank but not the other. I just needed another half an inch if even that. I really didn’t want to get out another 10 feet of sewer line for half an inch. They are called slinky’s because the accordion out. Certainly I could make up a half an inch!

I always start from the dump station and work towards the rv. First the fitting to the sewer, then a ‘Y’ connector and then the slinky’s to the Y connector then the other end of the slinky’s to their respective tanks. First side wasn’t a problem. The second tank I stretched the sewer hose really tight and was able to snap it into place. Success! We had not dumped at the previous site so I knew we needed to dump the tanks and while I was bent down at the outlet anyway I went ahead and pulled the valve to let the poop fly. Feeling quite pleased I looked down along the sewer line to the dump station and much to my horror the other end of the slinky was no longer attached to the Y connector! Luckily there was no four foot poop geyser as one blogger promised, nor was there a quickly forming lake Pooperior. There was however, a small poop pond beginning to form. I slammed the valve closed and made a heroic 10 foot leap grabbing the free end of the stinky slinky and held it high in the air stopping the flow of poop. I’m here to tell you it didn’t smell great. And I realized that the ‘pond’ was going to grow a little as I still had to re-attach the end of the hose. I took a breath, (not a deep one) assumed the Super Man pose and slammed the end of the hose to the Y connection spilling only a little more poop. Now what do I do? I looked around, we were the last RV in the row, nobody was around, nobody saw. The proper thing to do was inform the campground who would asses the situation, I have heard that they can charge you if they have to clean it up, or call a company to clean it up. I decided it wasn’t that bad, I didn’t see any lumps, sometimes having Crohn’s disease has its benefits, (some of you will understand). I disposed the rubber gloves and put on new ones. I hooked up our extra garden hose and started to flood the area. It only took a few moments for the gravel to go from brown to clear. Again I looked around, there were no cries of dissent, no fits of laugher, not a face peeking out of another RV. I started to relax even the smell was fading quickly. The whole incident was coming to a close without anyone the wiser. I stood there water hose in hand, I was satisfied I got through this unscathed when I heard my wife’s voice coming through the open window, “Did we have a toxic spill?”

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RV Security…Please

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , on July 23, 2022| 2 Comments »

A big topic on RV message boards is security. We have been in campgrounds all across the USA and have never encountered a problem. But if you read the message boards and FB groups for RV’s it would seem theft is rampant. A little deeper research shows that most cases of theft in the RV world happens when an RV is in storage at a storage facility. But I get the security conscious people, especially when one has been a victim of theft.

I could not help but notice the security measures of one fifth wheel camper that was in a site next to ours. They had a hitch lock on their RV just in case a thief would break in unhook the water, sewer, power and bring in the slides, pull in with a truck and steal the entire unit. A heck of a lot of work when there are plenty of easier targets than a fifth wheel.

But this guy was pretty serious he also used a dog chain to lock his surge protector to the power post. But the two E-bikes were simply leaning against the rv, the expensive Blackstone griddle with extra propane tanks were sitting outside on his picnic table. And lets not forget the high end satellite dish sitting on the tripod in front of his rv all unsecured.

The whole scene reminded me a friend in elementary school. He locked his bike to the bike rack but was so paranoid he wound the lock through the wheels, the frame, the chain, around a peddle and back around the wheels. When all was said and done he had done a great job in locking the bike to itself but neglected to actually lock the bike to the rack.

All of which brings us to a topic that is near and dear to all our hearts. Gun control! Okay this post has little to do with guns and more about the mentality of people. You see whenever the question pops up, “What does everyone do about theft at your campsite?” There is always some fool(s) who respond, “I carry a .38 which will stop anyone from stealing my stuff”.

Really? Do you really think carrying a gun is going to keep people from stealing your surge protector? Do you not think the would be thief is not going to drive around for awhile and figure out if you are at your campsite? Do you really think the theft is going to occur while you are at your site? Your precious gun is going to prove itself to be useless as such a theft occurs. Even if you are there. Are you really going to shoot somebody because they are trying to steal your $50.00 propane tank?

Guns are not the problem folks. Lack of common sense is the problem.

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Learned on the Road

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , on June 14, 2021| 5 Comments »

We have been enjoying roaming the country in our 42’ fifth wheel for two seasons and heading into our third. Our Maiden Voyage in The Mothership was August of 2019, which was a month after we retired. We took three months and traveled from Pennsylvania to Southern California. In 2020 we planed to be on the road for 6 months but, you know, Covid. So we had a late start and did another 3 months. This year we plan on 5 months and we started Tuesday June 2 2021.

A few happy lesson’s I’ve learned or are reminded of while motoring across the country in THE MOTHERSHIP.

1. Life is full of twists and turns. Sometimes you don’t know its happening until you are floundering around up to your neck in the brown stuff. Figure it out, deal with it and move along.

2. Mistakes happen. Some are painful, some are costly, some are both. At the end of the day they are accidents. Learn the lesson dump the guilt and keep on moving.

3. Life is both the journey and the destination. Don’t get so caught up in one you forget the other.

4. Laugh. It is okay to be upset, frustrated, angry even scared. But when you look at it in the rear view mirror. Laugh.

5. There are times when hitting the brakes gets you into more trouble, know when to tap.

6. Some roads are less traveled for a good reason and you do not have to take them.

7. The United States is really absolutely stunning.

8. Most of us want the same things out of life, we just find our own roads. Be tolerant of those traveling a different road.

9. Don’t be a know it all, it gets old fast.

11. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or offer to help others. There is a debate in the RV world about offering to help others without first being asked. For some reason straight out offering to help somebody is taken to be offensive. I don’t see how being polite and decent to fellow living creature can be taken as offensive.

12. Find the balance between butting into someone else’s business and being helpful.

13. Don’t overthink everything, it is not always complicated.

14. When things go south ask yourself, “but did it kill you?” If the answer is no you are okay, breathe. If it did well then you are checking out the dead center of town.

15. Just Breathe, laugh and hold your partners hand….take your time….well all the other crap I told you above.

16. Yup…..breathe or you will pass out get in a fiery crash and die (again with the death) so yeah…..breathe.

17. Okay done for now, I think I see someone who needs help!

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RV Fridgeagedon

Posted in Lifes Observations, tagged , , , , , , on May 8, 2021| 3 Comments »

While on the road with our fifth wheel we noticed water on the shelves and vegetable bins of our fridge. Along the back wall there is this trough like thing with some rubber tubing attached. The other end of the tubing goes through the back of the fridge to only God knows where. A closer inspection revealed that the tubing was not really attached to the aforementioned trough like thing. Finally an easy fix, just reconnect the two. I needed a little more room to maneuver, easy enough, just have to remove the shelves. Guess what? Nothing is easy! Shelves in the fridge are screwed down. Fortunately we own a screwdriver.

Much to my horror the tube was too short to properly connect to the thingy! Yanking on the tube was a scary prospect because I didn’t know where the other end hooked up. I certainly wasn’t going to pull the fridge out, if the shelves are screwed in imagine how the fridge must be attached to the wall. I was not about to find out. Nor did I want to mop out the fridge every day or worse have it start to leak outside the fridge. Water and rv’s don’t go well together. Ever so gently I started pulling on the tube. I was able to gain another inch before I met any resistance. I secured the hose to the thingy and put the shelf back in. Monitored it closely for the next few days and the problem seemed to be resolved. Go Me!

But the water came back. We didn’t need to build an Ark but it was definitely back. The hose was still affixed to the thingy but the thingy was full of water to the point of overflowing. Obviously the tube was blocked, I tried squeezing the tube but that did nothing. Faced with the end of my knowledge of all things fridge I did the only thing left. Google.

Google, in all its web hive wisdom told me the tube was blocked. Google told me to go outside the rv and remove the panel behind the fridge and check the end of the tube. Sounded like a plan. There, amongst a bunch of wires and something that looks suspiciously like a motor was a tube that looked exactly like the one in the fridge, it traveled up the wall and vanished. I surmised that what I was looking at was the other end of the tube. There was a black plug wedged into the opening of the tube. Using my knife I carefully worked the plug out of the tube. What I did not do was step out of the way and in seconds the tube was peeing fridge water all over me. Still holding the black plug I went back and checked inside the thingy and now it was empty of water. The question now, ‘why is there a plug in the end of the tube?’ It was obviously there for a reason but the tube could not do its job with a plug in one of its ends. I asked Google. I found two articles on the plug at the end of the tube in an rv fridge. Both said to keep the plug in place. The first reason made sense, it kept ants out. The second reason said it regulated the temperature. I do not have any faith in the second reason but I was not about to take any chances. Nobody is going to blame me for climate change because I failed to replace the dreaded tube plug. With great regret I put the plug back in the tube but didn’t jam it in, just a nice loose fit, perhaps the water is supposed to ooze around the plug?

A few days later the thingy in the fridge was overflowing. I ran around the rv, took off the panel looked at the motor, wires and took the plug out of the end of the tube (standing away from it this time because sometimes I learn) and fridge water came peeing out of the tube. I figured that this wasn’t right, but wasn’t the end of the world and every few days I’ll just pull the little plug.

While it wasn’t a difficult task it did get annoying after a few weeks. So I went back to google and all the Googlemyster could suggest was that the drain tube was plugged. Arrrgh! Of course it is plugged there is a plug in the end of it that I’m not supposed to remove because it may alter the temperature. My lovely wife suggested I ask about it on an RV web site we belong too.

Must have been 1am when I started to pose my question on the web site. When all of the sudden it hit me. Maybe there was supposed to be a hole in the plug itself! Could it be that simple? I jumped up tripped over the dogs, which woke my wife, I explained that I had to go investigate the plug. By the glow of my flashlight I opened the panel that housed the motor and wires and removed the plug and brought it inside the rv and began my investigation. The plug looked solid but there was also a slight recess inside it. I took a tooth pick, and this folks, is the most amazing part of the story, the part that we have all been waiting for, the part that inspired me to write this long winded story about a drain tube in a fridge. (Drum Roll) Not only did we have toothpicks, I actually knew where they were!

And you know what? With that toothpick I found a little piece of fridge debris inside the plug that was blocking the tiniest of holes. A hole just large enough to let water seep though. We have not had water in the thingy since.

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