Heated RV Water Hose, Build or Buy

As our time here in Florida quickly comes to an end. I'm trying to prepare us for the trip north to North Carolina. I'm mostly concerned with traveling from Atlanta to Cherokee. Not completely sure what to expect I'm trying to plan for the worst case scenario.

Will we be able to find a campground? If we can will the water spigot freeze or be frozen already. I'm not calling ahead because I'm not sure how far we'll go each day. But the preparations continue to boondock if needed.

I've checked out the generator, its good to go, I've got extra fuel for it. Filling the fresh water tank I'll do just before we leave. I'm looking at getting a couple of batteries and an inverter to run my Cpap machine if boondocking has to happen.

I've already made us a heated water hose just because I've looked at the weather trend for March in Cherokee. It calls for freezing temps for the entire month. Below are the steps I took to build it. The first one I've made so don't know if this is correct or not, all I can say is it works.

 

First I ordered a heat tape from amazon priced at $41.32.

Next I gathered all the materials I would need. 

This included a 25 foot water hose

5 5 foot pipe insulation tubes

1 roll of high heat electric tape

1 roll of aluminum foil

1 roll of duct tape

1 Frost King pipe heat cable

Total cost of these materials $16.13 from Home Depot.

I next wrapped the hose with the alum. foil and taped it about every 18" just to help hold the foil in place

After that I attached the heat tape to the hose again with the electric tape.

Now comes putting the whole thing inside the insulation tubes. Once that's done I sealed along the seam with the duct tape and also taped each joint.

Here's the finished project. I made this for a total of $57.45 in about one hour. Or you can buy one from amazon for $146.00.

         

Keep your fingers crossed for us. Maybe we won't need the hose after all, but I'm not counting on that.

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.

New Year Update

It seems like its been a long time since I last blogged. I guess with Christmas, New Years and staying busy here at the Boy Scout camp it just feels that way. We just completed the Brooksville Raid Civil War Reenactment here at camp. What a job that was. No numbers on how many people came but I'll say this, Saturday was packed. Sunday not so much due to a big chance of rain that never happened and heavy winds. 

 There were over one thousand reenactors here and they put on quite a show. The Scouts Sertoma Club did a fantastic job again this year putting on this annual event.

Here at Sandhill Scout Reservation there's an abundance of wildlife around. Some of the critters I've seen here are Sand Cranes, Turtles, Swamp Hawks, Woodpeckers, Wild Turkeys, and Coyotes.

Another reason I've been busy is repairing all the water leaks and broken pipes we keep finding here. At least with the sandy soil the digging has been easy. Its pretty quiet here during the week, its on the weekends that scouts come camping. Main things to do is checking the latrines making sure all the important papers are there, water is on, and swept out.

The main reason we came here was to be close to the kids and grandkids for a few months, two of the kids came for the raid and brought all the grandkids. We got to go to church with them all Christmas Eve and spent Christmas day with all of them again.

Just a quick plug, I've read a lot of RV forums about reviews on the Nuwave cooktop. Barb and I decided to get one. It works great, heats up faster than any other electric cooktop, holds the heat you set it to. You can put your hand on the top and not get burned, its warm but not cool like the infomercial says, no big deal. Of course you can only cook one pot or pan at a time so you need to use another cooktop for any side dish. We have a small 2 burner electric cooker for that, might as well save your propane for when you need it. I highly recommend getting one, we use ours every day, unless Barb breaks out the crock pot which happens a lot.

Another major task that we got to put to bed was getting our health insurance concerns taken care of. Thanks Florida Blue. We can now travel and be covered without breaking the bank. And speaking of travel next month we get back on the road and head north stopping near Atlanta, Georgia so Barb can visit with her mom and brother before heading on to Cherokee North Carolina where we start workamping March 1^st.

This past week we went to the Florida RV Super Show at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. All kinds of RV's to see but nothing we would trade our 5^th. Wheel for. At least not in our price range. I did see a few Class A's I could live with but sorry to say I'm not one of the 3 powerball winners. That's about all we've been up to, so until next time.  

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.

RV'ing Domicile and Obamacare

Here we go

changing our domicile again

We began our full time RV lifestyle this past February leaving Georgia and heading straight to Texas to begin our first workamping job. One of the first things we had to deal with was changing our legal residence to Texas. That included changing our address to the Escapee's address in Livingston, new drivers license (which created all kinds of problems because the DMV doesn't understand RV'ing full time) and sense I still had my original SS card which states in tiny print across the bottom Not to be used for identification, I had to apply for a new card and wait two weeks to get it., state inspections for our truck and 5^th wheel (I guess the state really needed that extra $7.00). Which wasn't to bad, the bad part was having to hitch up and take our rig to be weighted and driving it through town to the inspection station. Next came registering our F-250 and 5^th. Wheel so we could get new license plates and don't forget switching vehicle insurance. Which of course all cost time and money. But Wait, There's more.

Obamacare, AKA  Affordable Health Care. We got lucky coming out the gate, we signed up with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and because we weren't going anywhere for eight months we signed up for an HMO. Which meant going to a local Dr. and not straying outside our network area. The plus side was all our maintenance prescriptions were 100% covered.

And now the rest of the story

We're currently in Florida visiting family and taking some time off before heading to North Carolina for our next gig. I went to get my prescription filled the other day and found out in addition to seeing a doctor you must be in network to fill a prescription. My fault, I guess I didn't read the really fine print. So my $10.00 meds just cost me $64.00 although BCBS will reimburse me 50% after filling out some forms and waiting who knows how long to get my money back.

We found out no insurance company in Texas is writing any policy for 2016 with coverage outside of Texas. Remember I said we are going to N. Carolina in March. So the search has begun. I think we have found something that will work for us. The upside is its an EPO so we can get meds and see a doctor in network in N. Carolina. The downside is its Florida Blue which means we are moving our legal residence back to Florida. So the hassle begins again, Oh and the price is double what we were paying. But at least we can travel again.

Here's hoping we can locate all the documents we need to complete this quickly and easily.

UPDATE                                                                                      Well, a couple of weeks have past since I wrote the above words.  I can now say we are FLORIDIANS again. Drivers license have been obtained, titles transferred, plates for the truck and 5th. wheel just need to be put on the vehicles. And since we were former Florida residents we saved $225.00.  Even Maggie got all her shots updated and rabies shot also. 

We're still trying to figure out our health insurance, The above EPO policy we found out will not work for us in North Carolina so we went with a BCBS policy here in Florida until we can change our address once we get to N. Carolina. We're keeping our fingers crossed. 

Until next time.

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.

986 Miles

Well we made it, actually we made it here five days ago. But with visiting mom and setting up our site and getting to know the campground its now almost a week later. We left Waller, Texas on Sunday November 1^st.and stopped at Pioneer Acadian Village Campground and RV Park Breaux Bridge,Louisiana. The second night we made it to Pelican Palms RV Park Milton,Florida. You can read my reviews of these two campgrounds at http://www.rvparkreviews.com.

By the time we would usually stop on Tuesday evening we found ourselves only about 80 miles from mom's house. So we kept going, of course sleeping on a regular bed will do that to a person. Wednesday by noon we were heading south on I-75 again with another 85 or so miles to get to our final destination. That destination was going to be home for the next 3 ½ months. And there it was a small brown sign signaling that we had made it to Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville, Florida.

1200 acres of natural Florida woods as our backyard. Yes it is nice, and quiet. There are ten 30 amp and water hookups under some trees and about 24 parking spots with 110 electric and water in the parking lot. The reason for all these sites is that each January Hernando Historical Museum Association and the North Pinellas County Scout Sertoma Club sponsors an reenactment of The Brooksville Raid, the event is one of the largest Civil War reenactments held in Florida.

One nice thing we found when we got here is that the Hernando and Pasco County Sheriff's Departments use the shooting sports range almost daily. What's not to like about feeling safe. Other than that we are the only ones here during the week except for the ranger of course that lives on site.

Unlike the campground we left in Texas where the nearest shopping of any kind was 30 miles away, here all we have to do is drive a couple of miles east or west out the gate and you can find anything you could want. In other words, if you can't find it here; than you don't need it. Its not that we are in the middle of suburbia, well I guess we are. But let me say this. The camp was here when state road 50 was just a little more than a paved road. Today its 6 lanes of traffic.

We are set up behind the administration building at the only 50 amp site on the property. We're pretty much in the center of camp and you can't hear any road noise at all. In closing here's the view from our steps. Not to shabby if you ask me.

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.

Getting our Fix

Well we have completed our commitment at Lonestar Jellystone in Waller, Texas as of Saturday Oct. 31st. and are making our way to get our grand kid fix for a few months.  I won't make this a review of Yogi Bear's Jellystone just yet.  Make no mistake I DO  have some things I want to say about our experience while we were there the last eight months.  But this is not the time to do that.

I will say as we finished up our first workamping gig, this is a great lifestyle. Yes we both worked forty hours every week we were there but that was our choice.  Nobody made us do it.  We had a goal to make as much money as we could.  See I'm not retired yet so I still need to make a living. Don't get we wrong, workamping should never be done as a career. You'll never get rich. But under the right circumstances you can be comfortable.  

As far as our grand kid fix, we're spending the next few months volunteering at a Boy Scout camp to cover our campsite fees.  That way we can spend some time with all our girls and the rest of the family.  We also plan on going to the big RV show in Tampa.

Then on our way to the next workamping gig in The Smokey Mountains we'll stop in Atlanta so Barb can see her family.  That's right we are headed to Yogi in the Smokies for another eight months.  It just don't get no better than life in the Smokey Mtns.

T.T.F.N.

Safe Travels And I Hope To See You Down The Road

Six months on the road and learning every day

Living and Learning

I can't believe we've been fulltime RV'ers for six months now. Seems like just yesterday we were making plans and trying to get rid of an entire house of stuff. We're still learning every day sometimes the hard way, sometimes by other workampers.

So here's my list of a few things Barb and I have learned in a short time. In no particular order.

#1 Southeast Texas in the summer is brutal. Get prepared. We've lived in Florida and

Georgia and believe me Nothing and I mean Nothing compares to Texas heat.

#2 Don't be cheap or think one A/C is going to be enough, Its Not. Don't believe me, see #1 above. When we ordered our 5^th. Wheel it came with one 15,000 btu a/c in the

living/kitchen/dining area and a 14inch ceiling exhaust fan in the bedroom. We broke

down in July and for about $1000.00 we had a 13,500 btu a/c installed in the

bedroom. SO much better.

#3 One refrigerator is not enough. If you're going to be fulltime RV'ers one refrigerator

is not going to cut it, unless you want to spend all your time shopping. We got rid of one of the recliners and bought a 10 cu. ft. house frig. Now we shop every two

weeks. And enjoy a lot more of our off time.

#4 Reflectix is a must have. Reflectix is bubble wrap between foil. I was amazed at the insulation value it added to our 5^th wheel. We cut it to fit most of our windows, only downside it does make the rv darker. At least I'm cool.

#5 Its true you do need a good supply of things to keep your rig going. Right up there at the top is an extra black hose. Not sure what a black hose is, goggle it. Its a must have. They can spring a leak at any time and its never at the best time.

#6 Storage space, or the lack of it. Seems there is never enough storage space especially in the kitchen. We solved that problem by getting an island cabinet with 2

doors and 2 drawers. Just shop around and always have your dimensions with you.

#7 Good outdoor chairs. Sometimes you get to relax and there's no better way than in a

zero gravity chair. We got ours at Cabala’s but their available just about anywhere

now. Just be careful you can and will fall asleep.

#8 200/2pm. I learned this before we took off but didn't heed this advice our first day,

Big mistake. Plan on driving only 200 miles or stop by 2pm. Driving long distance's

and long days make for a tough time. Driving 200 miles is plenty for any driver or

stopping by 2pm gives you time to set up your rig, have a nice dinner and relax before

hitting the road the next day refreshed.

So there you have it, just a few things we've learned since becoming fulltime workampers. Here's to the next six months wherever it might take us.

Safe Travels And I Hope To See You Down The Road

I've Paid My Money, So I'm Entitled

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I'm a workamper and currently working at a destination park. I'm not afraid of work, actually I enjoy it. So here's my question. Does anybody have any common courtesy or any sense of decency anymore. I can truly understand why children act the way they do. The parents don't or won't discipline them when they act wrong or do wrong. Why? Because the parents don't act any differently then the children.

I think I know some of the problem. Its somewhat expensive to stay here so people take the attitude “I've paid my money so we can do whatever we want to do”. Case in point, helping out at the pool 3 women came floating by on their tubes all with assorted beverages in their hands. Passing no less then 3 signs stating no beverages allowed within 4 ft. of the pool. When asked, politely I might add they needed to get rid of their drinks #1 threw hers in the trash, #2 tossed hers up on the deck for people to walk around and drain on the deck, and lastly Lady #3 wanted to argue and went looking for somebody higher up to complain to. The whole time she was arguing she was standing right next to the pool and continuing to drink. Seeing that the higher up wouldn't budge she finally threw it in the trash, I think she drank it all anyway. She went to sunbathe with the other two.

Or how about the RV'er that pack up to leave and thinks the fire pit is the trash can, although some will at least bag the trash and just leave it sitting there for us to throw away. Its not like they pass by the dumpster as they leave. How will the kids ever learn right from wrong when parents won't teach any manners.

I had to pack up the 5^th wheel and leave the park to have some work done today. People parked next to us had their golf cart and child's tricycle parked in front of my 5^th wheel. At 9:30 I had to get the park manager to move the cart so I could hook up and leave. Why? They were still sleeping, except their 3 year old who came out to watch us and to let us know to be quiet because her parents were still asleep. What's wrong with people?

I really don't know what to say, other than. This seems to be one of the reasons this country is going to hell. It's the Entitled Age. I've paid my money so get out of my way. You can clean up after I leave. Like I said I'm not afraid to work but come on people clean up after yourselves and teach your kids some manners.