Archive - Aluminium Camper Forum

No, we have not done this to our Camplite, but I thought some of the techies here would find this to be intriguing. I follow an RVing blog, Outside Our Bubble. This is a married couple in a Class A who are full-time RVing. The latest post is about installing these electronic valves. When I saw this post, I thought, well now I have heard of everything!

www.outsideourbubble.com

You sleep better in your Camplite than you do at home

There was quite a bit of interest when there was a possible LL national rally planned. With all of the changes in ownership and management, it just wasn't posdible.

At our mini rally in the PNW, we really appreciated the LL representatives there. I also was happy to meet the LL dealer and listen to his perspective.

I was really sorry that I couldn't come to your LL rally this summer. How about planning for 2017? Do you want to return to Acadia National Park, or do you know of some other interesting spots?

CNN is reporting that 500,000,000 Yahoo accounts have been hacked and personal info is being sold on the Dark Web. I'll bet most of us came here from Yahoo.

We have just returned from our trip out west to the Livin Lite PNW Rally, and visiting our granddaughter, along with our son and his wife. Charliem is right - This is what retirement is supposed to be! We put an additional 5,000 miles on our trailer. We had such a great time!

The Rally was great, Ft. Stevens was a fantastic state park, and meeting our fellow Livin Liters was a blast! We enjoyed the drive out to the west so much, we are making plans to return to spend more time in the western states so we can explore. We had to keep moving west, as we had a deadline to make the rally. Still, we managed to enjoy several national parks and monuments, but we want more! I can rave about each state - Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, Idaho... Don't let anybody tell you that Montana is boring, as some people told us. No! No!

We made most of this trip without making reservations, something that I was a little worried about, but it worked out. We did stay at WalMarts several times, but it was all enjoyable. For the return trip, we averaged between 100 - 150 miles per day, so we could stop to enjoy attractions along the way. When we traveled with reservations, we had to drive right by stops that looked interesting, but we had to make the reservation at the campground.

We traveled I-90 on the way west, and came back via I-80. A problem developed, when we started to have trouble remembering just who we met at which campground, and which park had the great fountain, etc. For the return trip, I purchased a notebook and now I am journaling as we go. I just took a few minutes each morning to jot down where we stayed, the site number, and anything else we wanted to remember.

The passing scenery blew us away. We found interesting out-of-the-way spots to eat lunch, take a walk, or just sit and have a cup of coffee by a stream. Wow! Highlights of the trip include Custer State Park, The Badlands, wine tasting in Washington and Oregon, walking on the beach at Ft. Stevens with our dogs, driving the Oregon coast, Little Big Horn National Monument, and numerous city parks we visited.

Honorable mention goes to Grand Island, Nebraska where we found Dog Island inside a city park. Dog Island is a huge dog park surrounded by water with a hill in the middle, and your dogs can get lost (almost) in the trees. We hiked around Dog Island, the dogs splashed in the water, we ate lunch there, and just made a day of it. If you go to Grand Island and you don't have a dog, it would be worth it to borrow a dog to take to the park!

We had so many great adventures, I could go on and on. I kept a few statistics for the return trip when I started journaling. 2,500 miles in 21 days. We Wallydocked 8 nights. Total campground charges for the return trip were $400.48, averaging $19.08 per night.

Okay, here is what my husband told me I could say about what happened while we were staying in Three Forks, Montana. I have to report it this way, or he said that I could not tell on this board.

I broke the bathroom vent fan when I pushed the little black button to turn it on. The little black button was visible laying down inside the fan. Then, when I was trying to fix the fan, I broke it trying to remove it to get to the black button thingy. That is his story and he is sticking to it.

Then things got really weird. Not only is the bathroom vent fan not working now, but none of the other fans will turn on. The kitchen light and the outside light won't work, and the radio doesn't work. Actually, it was very nice to sleep last night without that stupid blue light.

My husband checked fuses and circuit breakers. Oh wait, I might have to say that I checked them. I will have to ask my husband to find out. Anyhow, they all seem fine.

Then he got some connective plastic things to join together some wires to see if that would restore power to all that stuff that isn't working. Or maybe I am supposed to say I did that. Again, I will check with my husband. You will have to wait to hear the final version. Anyhow, the plastic connectors didn't do the job.

We are going to the first Camping World we find. My husband wants me to take all of the little pieces in and lay them on the counter, while telling the people there that I broke it and would they fix it.

So that is how things stand right now. I wanted to warn everybody here just in case there is another Camplite wired like this one.

Quad Cities - Bettendorf and Davenport in Iowa; Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois. I know 5 cities, but Midwesterners can't count... There is also The World's Largest Truck Stop just a bit away on I-80 in Iowa and tiny Le Clare Iowa close by which was amazing.

We camped twice there last summer on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, once at Fishermans Corner which is a COE campground, and once at the county-owned RV park right next door to the COE campground. You camp right on the riverbank. Many campsites have a view of the dam there, so not only do you get to watch boats and barges go up and down the river, but also watch them make their way through the dam.

The COE campground takes reservations, and the campsites with the best river views fill up quickly. On both trips, there were plenty of spots available in the county RV park.

I recommend a week there, to include a weekend in the middle of that. People who can only stay for the weekend won't be left out. There are lots of things to do, besides watching the river.

So, which campground do we prefer? Hard to say. The county park has more sites with views of the river, but the COE has sites closer to the river. Both have electric and water, but no sewer. I was told the county did have a few FHU sites, but I can't confirm that. One caveat - COE showers have one on-off button for the water, and you can't control the temperature - the water is HOT.

So - anyone interested in Quad Cities?

We have been preparing our camper for our trip to the Pacific Northwest, so we can meet up with all of our fellow LLers and visit our granddaughter - also son and daughter-in-law.  We have eliminated everything that we can do without. I wanted to have the Camplite 21BHS as light as possible for crossing the Rockies.

We started at 4,500 lbs with empty water  tanks and no food, but everything else that is essential on board for an extended trip. We have eliminated 200 lbs so we now weigh 4,300 lbs.

So now I am wondering - how much do other Camplites weigh, and with what onboard?

Travel plaza on I-64 near Beckley, West Virginia. The exit is East of the Rt. 19 exit. There is a Tamarack craft center with a designated lot for RVs, so you don't have to be among the noisy trucks. Your first stay there, you might want to ask the fuel attendant for directions to the lot for RVs.

We enjoy staying there. It is amazingly quiet. We go down a flight of stairs to get to the building with the food court. We can chill with a Starbucks latte, or get some pasta from Sbarro... There are other options there, but this is what we do.

There is plenty of grass and trees for walking dogs. You can even put some chairs out in the evening and enjoy the fresh air. Oh, did I mention that security patrols during the night? And, of course, there is no charge to camp overnight!

Congratulations that the wait is over and you can start enjoying your camper! Waiting is terrible!

I imagine that with all of the camping experience on this board, that there must be some weird happenings, whether tents, trailers, or motorhomes are involved.

A weird thing happened at Lake City Campground in Lake City FL. 2 police cars, a fire engine, and an ambulance came to a campsite about 3 sites away from ours. The campers stood around, wondering what was going on. We didn't see any smoke.

A camper walked up to us to tell the story. He had been camping there for the past 9 months. This is the 2nd time 911 had been called on this couple. The 1st time, the man had been slapping the woman around outside the camper. This time, he beat her up inside the camper. She managed to run away to get someone to call 911, but the man grabbed her and shoved her back inside. She went to the hospital, and he went to jail. We only stayed one night there.

Well, not exactly right now. Zombie House Flippers is on FYI at 11:00 PM on Sunday nights. Our son worked on this show, which was shot in Florida, so we were able to spend some time with him on our winter trip. When the show is over, and it's time for the credits, slow it down or use the pause button, so you can read the credit for Assistant Camera. That's him! That's Evan Ewing! Best technician for putting cameras in interesting spots in order to capture just the precise angle to add extra interest to the shoot.

This is a beautiful January day we are having - 31°, sunny... It's just a shame it's not January!

So, my husband retired not quite a year ago, and we planned our first major trip with our RV to spend Christmas and winter in Florida. We left on December 18th, and we just got back.

We had a blast! We found beaches on the East Coast where we could take the dogs - in South Carolina, we found Edisto Beach and Hilton Head Island, in Florida we found Fernandina Beach. We enjoyed Christmas with our youngest son, something that we haven't done in 9 years! (Work schedules just haven't permitted this, for many reasons - not a problem this year)

We went next to Central Florida. My husband wanted - insisted - that we go to resorts with full hookups. So, we had reservations at lots of resorts, but I managed to sandwich in some county-run campgrounds here and there with limited facilities. We even Wally-docked one night. He still wants resorts with full hookups. Oh, well.

We were totally bored with Lake Okeechobee, because we don't have a boat and we don't fish. On that huge lake, there is only one spot where there is a nice lake view.

We are totally into enjoying life with our dogs, going to wineries and discovering restaurants that are either ethnic or quirky. We went to Roland Martin's highly recommended Tiki Hut on the shore of Okeechobee, where dogs are welcome. The drnks were watered down, the food was barely edible, but the atmosphere was great.

We also managed to get to the Gulf Coast. We found Nervous Nellie's restaurant in Ft. Myers, where dogs are allowed on the back deck. The drinks were great. The food was scrumptious. We watched a spectacular sunset on the water. People in the restaurant made a big fuss over the dogs, which my girls really enjoyed - water, treats, tummy rubs... We have to go back.

We found a quirky winery in Tarpon Springs, right on Tarpon Ave. Quirky doesn't begin to describe it. You just have to experience it - the owners, the art work, and the wine. Tarpon Springs Castle Winery has one of the best Pinot Noirs I have ever had.

The highlight of the trip, for me, was Big Cypress National Preserve. I wanted to see alligators. Every place we stayed, I asked people about where I could see an alligator. I am not talking about the farms where there are alligator shows. I wanted to see a real live wild alligator. I was disappointed until I got to Big Cypress. Lots of alligators. I even bonded with an alligator.

I was standing on a slight bridge formed by a culvert. Two men were fishing, and two alligators could be seen over by a cypress tree. The men indicated where an alligator was close by in the water. I walked over to where they indicated. Right below me was an alligator in the water, about 5 or 6 feet long. The alligator opened his eyes - I am assuming it was a he. Anyhow, he opened his eyes and looked at me and I was looking at him. We bonded.

To please my husband, we stayed at several RV resorts. It is interesting to see how different the culture is at each one. At Grand Lake RV Resort in Citra, FL, it seems people golf all day and play poker all night, neither of which appeal to us, although it is a very pretty resort. We found a different emphasis on entertainment and activities in each resort where we stayed.

It seems they all have sites with or without park models, or other variations on homes, that are for sale. We found one resort where we had the most fun, where they have sites for sale where you can park your RV right next to your home.

Guess what? We made an offer to buy, and it was accepted. We are moving to Florida, something I thought I would never do. I have always been rather dismissive of the RV resorts with golf carts buzzing around.

OMG! What have we done! Am I going to turn into one of those gray hairs who zip around in a golf cart with the dogs in the back? Oh, my. Now, we will be living in Florida for the winter, and then take our RV north for the summer. Butterflies in the stomach for me. Hubby is happy.

Poop fans, I have a question for you. We had a Rhino sewer hose. No holes in it at all, but it separated near the junction to our trailer. The hose separated at the black cuff where the orange thingy with the bayonet connection screwed in.

We were unable to get that black cuff back onto the hose. I suggested Gorilla Glue. Hubby nixed the idea, saying if it separated again, things could get ugly.

Does anybody here know if we could have fixed it, or if our purchase of a new one was inevitable?

My mother spent the last 30 years of her life in Florida. She told me that it never rains all day. The showers move past, and then she could enjoy life. Well, today it rained all day, after raining most of the night. We woke up this morning to find our camper surrounded by water. At the end of the day, the water is even deeper. My husband just asked me if our trailer could float!

This is your roving reporter, Leslie, signing in from Tampa Florida at what is billed as "The World's Largest RV Show". The big headline of the day is this: Livin Lite is NOT HERE!!! NO CAMPLITES ANYWHERE!!!

Your trusty reporter came prepared with her notebook so she could fill everybody in on the latest poop - er - I mean scoop. I guess I will look at some Class A's that I wanted to purchase when I won that $1.5 B lottery. I am sorry to report that didn't work out either.

Signing off from Tampa-
Leslie

Sometimes I feel I over-research stuff, but here goes...

Our original purpose for getting our first-ever RV was because we wanted to visit as many national parks and monuments as was possible, upon retirement. We determined that RVing was the best way to do this.

In 2017, we hope to visit the Grand Canyon, do the Tetons, as well as Yosemite and Yellowstone. So, the research has begun. I found a book, "Death in Yellowstone". I thought this book would help prepare us to enjoy a safe trip.

The advice about bears was very helpful. I am definitely going to buy bear spray. Yodeling lessons might be helpful too.

About the rest of the book, if I am not male and therefore don't stand up in a small fishing boat when I catch a fish, my chances of making it out alive increase. Also, no midnight strolls through the geysers and hot springs without a flashlight will increase my odds of survival. In fact, just being female and not getting drunk in Yellowstone greatly improve the odds.

So, if you want to know how to survive Yellowstone, then this might be the book for you.

Before we took delivery of our first-ever RV, our new Camplite 21-BHS, I watched a youtube video, which showed the "proper" way to flush the black tank. The expert said to close the black tank vent, fill the black tank using the flusher, and then empty the tank again. Repeat if necessary.

The black tank flusher on my Camplite says to flush with the vent open. This is printed on the outside of the Camplite. So, we flush for maybe a minute or two. It works pretty well, judging by the gauge reading inside our camper. After flushing, it shows 1/3 full.

At a campground in Georgia, a retired RV salesman told us that we should flush the black tank for at least 5 minutes with the vent open. So, what do you folks think is the best way to flush the black tanks?