Tips and Tricks

TIP #7: PRIVACY SCREEN

I set up my beach umbrella in their stands without opening them and secured my sunshade (usually hung from my awning to them with bungie cords.

TIP # 6: LEVELING STAIRS

The stair to my Airstream is too steep for my knees. So I bought a Spa Step from Amazon. The last site had a paved pad and an inch or so drop off to the ground. I could not get the steps to work. After I slept on it I discovered I could put wheel chocks upside down underneath the steps. Worked like a charm!

TIP # 5: ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION

I was overlooking the beautiful Pearsony Falls near Prospect, OR, and decided to go off trail I was curious to see what was down creek. Not only was my way off trail very steep, what I did not calculate was how the gravel made thing very slick. Needless to say, gravity works, and I flew down the path and rolled at the bottom. I thought I got off easy, then looked up and saw that there was no way I could climb back up. I thought myself very stupid. Since my knees did not like the impact of running down that slope, I walked around a little and found that as I paralleled the road, the ground rose to meet the road, and I easily got back on the road and limp slowly back to the truck. Both knees are worse for the adventure, and have limited my activity to straight and smooth paths.

TIP # 4: BEWARE OF SYNC NAVIGATION ROUTES

I was traveling from Arcata, CA to Mt. Shasta CA, and plugged in the address into Ford’s Sync Navigation system, and happily drove on 299 and then CA3 until I was directed to turn right onto a gravel unmaintained road. I am still a newbie, and there was no way I was pulling my trailer on a gravel road. I recalculated my route and continued on north on CA3 until I could head back south again on I-5. It was a long curvy mountain pass road, and I barely had enough gas to get to the next gas station. I was truly disappointed that the Sync navigation system did not allow me to “avoid unpaved roads”. I am going back to my Waze app, which does have that feature.

TIP # 3: DITCH THE DINETTE

I am living in a 19′ Airstream, and while I could get comfortable sitting in the dinette area to knit or read, I found getting in and out was annoying. So I decided to try out using that area as a lounge and added soft bins to store stuff. It is so much easier and more comfortable now.

TIP #2: TRUCK GO BAG

If you are a pulling a trailer, make sure to pack a bag of clothes of all warmths/coolness to leave in the tow vehicle. I was caught in the Hoh Rainforest in clothes typical of what to expect, but it turned out to be much warmer than usual. I really wanted to change into shorts and a sleeveless top for hiking. Also up on Hurricane Ridge it was much cooler than expected, so was glad I had the go bag to pull out a hat and scarf.

TIP #1: RV CHECK LIST

I am new to the RV life. I laminated a checklist of Arrival Tasks on one side and Departure tasks on the other. I kept putting it down and losing it. Finally I had the bright idea to punch a hole in the bottom of it and attached it to a lanyard to hang around my neck.