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Old 02-10-2012, 11:22 AM   #1
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Cool Traveling solo

Traveling Solo!

How kewl… Don and I could get away for two weeks in the mountains of L.A. County (just an hour away from where we needed to go to pick up our China Visa’s required for our trip next month). The night before our departure, Doctor calls to inform Don that his uncle’s cancer returned and he needed to schedule an appointment for him asap. But, we needed to apply for that China visa. Don stayed home and so I took off with tt in tow and Breezi by my side.

-Day 1… Sooo, mind you, this is the first trip I have taken solo without the ‘double check’ buddy system of Don and me with our 2 ½ yr old tt! Not to mention, I have never done the satellite or sewer connection (deal was, I do the grandkid's diapers, and he gets the poop tube! LOL).
-'Cold like' cough starts on my three hour drive south.
-I get the ‘tight’ spot… glad Don and I became adept at watching for slide/awning/hookup considerations when parking! (see pics). I had room to pull out the slide, pull out the awning, and, hook up the electrical/water/sewer!

Day 2…. ‘Uncontrollable’ cough starts while on my way to China Consulate (Lovely!). Good news… got the visa’s for us.. bad news is I was so concerned/pre-occupied about stifling my (fricken) cough which kept me from paying attention to which of the 7 counters my non-chronological specific ‘ticket’ number ultimately assigned me to; so when I made it to the correct counter 10 minutes late trying to stifle the cough so they wouldn’t deny me because of health, I didn’t have our (grrr) passports… what the heck!!! I head back down to truck, and realize I stuck them in my back pocket while fingering through the paperwork. Head back up and handed all the forms and passports the kind lady behind the window. I’m told to return in three hours to see if denied, delayed to needing something additional, or otherwise pick up the visa’s for us. Guldarnit! *Literally* nine minutes too late back to the truck, I get a parking ticket (the window of time for street cleaning had begun). How the heck does someone forget they put TWO passports in their back pocket and waste precious minutes!?! D@m cough!

Best news! I had a great neighbor when I got back! I hooked the meter and everything up on the satellite as directed by Don… I just couldn’t get the slow beep…..beep…... beep…... to become a rapid beep-beep-beep. Haha, the neighbor was a real techy; all it took was just a little slower turning of the dish to hit the ‘magic spot’ . The funny thing, this poor old guy was one of these ‘older guys’ from 'that generation' who prides himself on those pathetic dumb wife jokes and was totally amazed that a ‘woman’ could pull into the site that I did without any help, and, be unhooked and ready to 'cook' in 20 minutes. Although I feel bad for these ignorant old guys, I still smiled while thinking… What a putz; but a nice putz! LOL (see pics below of my tight site)

Day 3… I hooked up the sewer hose. Wut?! That was a whole lot easier than getting a stinken China Visa! (LOL and it runs without leaking… yeah I know, now I have to disconnect before I really succeed)

Day 4-8… cough isn’t better and Dayquil is no longer working….errr, might not be a cold afterall! Lesson learned! Don’t wait til a weekend to find an ‘out of area urgent care’ with my insurance. I can’t carry on a conversation without coughing! Hard to breathe. Don still can’t join me… unexpected Alzheimer’s issues with his dad now.

Day 9…. Business day hours allowed me to finally get Urgent Care Center assigned so I could get diagnosed; Bronchitis with Pneumonia just starting out (left lung chest pains was a no-brainer). Although in public I coughed into my sweatshirt sleeve, I must’ve heard the words “oh, now that doesn’t sound good” about 50 times. It helps to cough into a sleeve and quickly utter “I’m sorry”. I don’t think anyone was ever mad or worried that I was trying to pass on a cold… too bad I didn’t figure that out myself a few days sooner (now who’s the putz?)

Day 10…. God Bless ‘real’ meds. (see pic below of my tt kitchen counter) I can actually breathe and now experience relief from most coughing!

Day 11… change of ‘going home’ plans. Feeling better, so I will disconnect sewer tube successfully (LOL) tonight and get the tt prepped for an early departure on Saturday morning. Hahaha the real test, can I unhook that tube without getting dirty? Ainta not gunna be no pics on that one!

Day 13-15… will head back north to enjoy camping with my three older grandkids and Don for a three day holiday weekend!

Solo camping? I loved it. Weird, I actually found it fun having conversations with Breezi in between coughs! Mind you, I’m actually one of these folks that doesn’t talk much, but without adult company, it was nice to have a pet around. The isolated walks along the dry riverbed with Breezi was fun when the weather was nice and I didn't have to worry about coughing near other people. Although I have Don to play "double check walk around" with each other when unhooking and now hooking up to depart, I am hypersensitive to the ‘check lists’ and plan to do my own double check of myself LOL.
Attached Thumbnails
email.slide tree.jpg   email.slide hookups.jpg   email.awning.jpg   email.riverside.jpg   email.Bronchitis.phemonia meds.jpg  

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Old 02-10-2012, 11:56 AM   #2
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Wow, that was a close fit up to that tree! Hurry home, the forum gang misses ya!
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Old 02-10-2012, 12:30 PM   #3
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Help! Tire Techies!!!

Just checked the psi on tt's tires. They are each about 42-44psi all the way around. Not sure what they were when I left home. The sidewall says 50psi max. Am I ok to take the 3 hour (150 mile) ride back home with that above or should I stop and top off to the max?
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Old 02-10-2012, 02:42 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by healthi View Post
Help! Tire Techies!!!

Just checked the psi on tt's tires. They are each about 42-44psi all the way around. Not sure what they were when I left home. The sidewall says 50psi max. Am I ok to take the 3 hour (150 mile) ride back home with that above or should I stop and top off to the max?
You're close enough to the max, you'll be OK. After a couple of miles the tires will 'warm up' and pressure will rise a few pounds. You're not unsafe by any means. Hope that puts your mind at ease.
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Old 02-10-2012, 03:37 PM   #5
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X2 on that tight squeeze, Healthi!
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Old 02-10-2012, 04:01 PM   #6
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Where`s the fire ring in that campsite?
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Old 02-11-2012, 01:04 PM   #7
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Happy to hear you are feeling better.
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Old 02-12-2012, 09:55 PM   #8
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Healthi you did a good job of parking the trailer. How is your dish mounted? From the pic it looks like it is mounted on the front of the trailer.
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Old 02-15-2012, 08:21 PM   #9
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Healthi you did a good job of parking the trailer. How is your dish mounted? From the pic it looks like it is mounted on the front of the trailer.
Thanks Clutch!

Don used hose hangers to 'permanently' connect the pvc pipe to the crank tube. We slide the dish down onto it once we get parked. We occasionally use the tri-pod when needed (southern sky issues etc).

We had a 'nay sayer' tell Don that his efforts would be futile because the dish will move out of alignment when people move around or walk in the tt. We haven't had that problem at all. The best test was on my solo trip. I did not drop down the stabilizers and there was indeed movement when I moved around. I didn't lose my signal at all

Let me know if you would like some close up pics and I can post them.
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Old 02-16-2012, 03:41 PM   #10
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I was able to get the plug back in when I hooked up to head back North toward home. Everything worked fine and the drive went well. When I made it to the next camp, I unhitched and camped the weekend with Don and grandkids. When hooking back up for last leg home, tt was not going to move! I told Don about the ooopsa I did, and so we played with the plug. The brakes released. Then, they locked up again. He pulled the plug out and the tip was melted!

Because he and the kids met me in the mini-van, we decided we would unhook the plug to the truck and he would drive behind me while comunicating my slowdowns/stops to him on walkie talkies. It was at least a 40 minute drive (flatland) to the nearest rv shop. But, nope, the wheels were locked up still. His option he said was to snip the wire to the breakaway, or disconnect the battery. He went with the battery option and that worked.

When we got to the rv shop, they just had the plug but not the little receptor that it fits into. He wasn't able to pull the receptor apart to see if it was damaged so decided we would just drive the 15 min more to get home. He will 'look' at it this weekend and see what needs to be done. It will be a learning experience for him as he hasn't dealt with that issue before.
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Old 02-16-2012, 08:32 PM   #11
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Wow, some times people luck out and nothing is damaged. Apparently it wasn't your lucky day. At least you got it home ok.
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Old 02-17-2012, 11:14 AM   #12
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dealer told me that once the breakaway has been activated it should be replaced.... Since they are cheap and easy to replace myself that is what I live by...
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Old 02-17-2012, 12:46 PM   #13
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Thanks Seann, I passed your information onto Don. He did already put the new plug into the old recepticle but we still have to hook up the tt and see if it moves. I think we should do that today so we will know for sure. After your post, I'm concerned now that we will still have another problem if we use the old recepticle. I'll call around and see if we can get a new recepticle here locally somewhere.
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Old 03-02-2012, 07:44 AM   #14
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A termite couldn't of gotten any closer to that tree!
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