No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. A few of you have wondered what happen to the blog. So here I am typing again. My wife and I are doing what we really love to do, and that is camping. We took a wonderful trip in our fifth wheel to the UP of Michigan. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has always felt like we are in a different world, or at least a different state. There is so much to see and do. And the folks are so friendly. The scenery is incredible, and we actually had nice sunny weather!

Camping in northern Michigan

Then we decided to go on a trip to the northern woods of Lower Michigan. We thought we would beat the color tour crowds and go a little early this year. So we latched on the fifth wheel and drove up to the Leelanau Peninsula. There never seems to be enough time to do everything you want to do. We wanted this trip to be relaxing, but at the same time do some site seeing, etc. We went on a wonderful wine tour, checked out two Indian Casinos, and actually had a great time at the Harvest Festival at Leelanau State Park.

The color here in Michigan is now changing, and fall is truly setting in. We have one more RV trip to go on before we pack it in and prepare for this winter. I did replace our antenna head unit on our fifth wheel. I will tell you more about that in the future and let you know if it was worth it.

Manual Jack

For some time now I have been getting  questions regarding rear stabilizer jacks for our travel trailers and fifth wheels. There are several types out there. The manual type jacks, where you crank them down. Electric power jacks,  you just push a button. And the heavy duty screw type or hydraulic jacks.

Hydraulic Jack

The heavy duty type, like you see on motor homes and may are available on high end fifth wheels can be used for leveling the coach. Some are even automatic. You still have to be cautious because you can twist the frame.

Electric Jack

The electric power jacks are good for stabilizing the coach. They are not design for leveling. You do have the convenience of pushing a button or buttons, and the jacks come down and stabilize the unit. They are generally stronger than some of the manual jacks out there. These type jacks run on a 12 volt power source.

The majority of the fifth wheels and travel trailer  have the manual type rear stabilizer jacks. These type jacks require you to manually crank down the pad for stabilization, not for leveling.  Before using the rear stabilizer jacks  make sure you pick as level a site as possible to park your unit. Most of the time the sites we love are never level. So to combat the problem we use planking under the tires on the low side of our fifth wheel. There are wheel ramps, Lynx Levelers, etc. out on the market if you do not like the idea of planking.

Here are some basic steps for parking your RV. Level your RV as much as possible by using planking, etc. under the low side of your unit if necessary before unhitching. Always use wheel chocks when parking your RV. Unhitch the trailer from your tow vehicle and level from front to rear with the front jacks. Lower the stabilizer-jack on the lowest side of the trailer first, checking for and “fine tuning” level conditions with the jack. Once the side-to-side balance of the RV is obtained, lower the jack on the opposite side to secure level position. When you are leaving and putting the jacks back into traveling position be sure to snug the jacks up tighly so they will not vibrate down while traveling.

Stick On Level

We also installed a stick on level to the side of our unit. I do not like to drill holes on the exterior walls unless absolutely necessary. The stick on works really well, and does a nice job of telling us when the RV is level from front to rear. You can also purchase and install a larger level for the front to determine if your unit is level side to side.

…..now comes the black tank. The most dreaded tank in the service department. I can smell it when I walk in the door to the dealership. I know instantly what the service department is working on. For starters, this tank has to do a lot of work. This tank, if used correctly must contain the odors, break down toilet tissue, and most of all break down the solids us humans leave from our behinds.

First thing, make sure the black holding tank valve is closed. Even when you are connected to a full hook-up campsite, this valve needs to be closed until you are ready to drain the tank. I strongly recommend that initially you put at least 3 to 4 gallons of water into this tank either by flushing the toilet or using a  jug or pail. Then pour in your waste chemical, liquid or tablet (both work very well).

RV drain valves

If you don’t add enough water or chemical to the tank as recommended, the solids will sink to the bottom of the tank. This will cause the solids to build up and not dissolve correctly.
Another reason to keep the black tank valve closed is to prevent it getting clogged up with tissue and solids. If the blockage is allowed to dry out, you will have a major problem which could lead to some serious service work, and could even require replacing the black tank itself. This is why it is so important to leave the black tank valve closed while in use!

Next, don’t drain the tank until it is at least 50% full. If you need to drain it before then, first fill it up to the half- full level. Doing this will cause the liquid to rush out of the tank quickly, bringing along the solids and tissue. This is why there is a large pipe line from the tank to the valve.
A great trick that will help maintain a cleaner sewer hose is to close your gray tank valve, and let this tank fill up as much as possible before you drain the black tank. Drain the black tank first, then close your black tank valve and open your gray tank valve. The soapy water will rinse the hose for you, making it less stinky and messy.

Be sure to use RV toilet paper! This type of tissue dissolves with the proper chemical, making it

Black tank nozzle hook-up

 much easier to drain the tank. If your RV has a built in black tank nozzle, be sure to have the black tank drain valve open before using it. I have heard about mishaps where the valve was left closed and the tank overflowed through the vent pipe on the roof or through the toilet. I sure would not want to be the one to clean up that mess!
Hope this helps, and eliminates some of the fear of the infamous black tank.

…..almost all RVs have them. Even some of the pop-up trailers out there will at least have a fresh water tank. Those of us that have all three can really take the advantage of camping with the convenience of home. When you are not camping at a full hook-up site, these tanks will become that much more important.

Fresh water fill

The fresh water tank is used, you got it, for fresh water. I always drain mine after a trip. The water can get quite nasty if left in the tank for over a period of time. Our parts store sells products that will freshen and deodorize this tank. You can add a tablespoon of bleach to a 40 gallon tank, and this will disinfect the tank. Don’t use more than that, otherwise the water will taste like bleach, and it is not good for your water pump and drain valve seals. Be sure the vent tube is not blocked while you are filling this tank. You don’t want the fresh water tank to collapse or rupture while filling. You do not have to use this tank when you are hooked up correctly at a full hook-up campsite.

The gray tank is for your waste water. This waste water usually comes from your sinks and

RV waste tank drain valves

showers. Our parts store sells products that will deodorize this tank. Just keep a eye on the level gage so your tank doesn’t overflow. You will need to drain this tank when full into the appropriate container or dump station. Some units have more than one gray tank which will allow you to go quite some time without dumping. You will need to hook-up your drain sewer hose to the outlet drain opening when you are at a full hook-up campsite.

I will discuss in my next blog the correct way to take care of the famous black tank!

TIRE AIR PRESSURE……

…is probably one of the easiest things to forget. I always stress to my customers when they are picking up their new or used RV the importance of checking  tire pressure. Sunlight alone does enough damage, but add under-inflated tires to the equation? That is definitely scary.

I have seen the damage done when tires blow out. Some folks get lucky, but when they don’t, damage can run in the thousands of dollars.  What a sad way to start or end a trip! Now granted, not all tire damage is done by incorrect tire inflation pressure. Road hazards, over loaded RVs and old tires are some of the other causes of blowouts.

If you are not sure what pressure to inflate your tires, check on the tire sidewalls. The manufacturer will have the recommended tire pressure there for the maximum load. Most units provide the recommended tire pressure and size on the exterior tag of the RV. Of course they are

Manufacturer Tire Tag

 assuming you will not overload your rig. You must take into account the average life span for a RV tire is five years (that is, if you keep them covered up and out of the sun). Severe weather checking or cracks in the sidewalls can also cause  a blow out or flat. In addition, you need to inspect your tires for any road hazard damage, don’t take chances! If you are not sure, get your tires inspected by a qualified tire center or store.

I am speaking from experience. I thought I could get six years out of my tires, buy was I so wrong! I didn’t have a blowout, but it was close. We were on our way up to the U.P. of Michigan, and a car that was passing us waved and pointed back towards our fifth wheel. I immediately pulled over, and I was sure glad I did. The driver side tire was smoking, almost ready to blow. I had to let it cool down even before I could take it off and replace it with our spare. We limped into a state park, and the next day was consumed by purchasing and installing a new set of tires. Definitely something I didn’t want to do on our already too short of a vacation trip!

RV tires

I recommend keeping your tires covered up and out of the sun when not traveling, and checking your tire pressure on your RV along with your tow vehicle before every trip. Some of the problems associated with RVs not pulling very well are contributed to incorrect tire pressure on the tow vehicle itself. If you are not sure how much your RV weighs after you loaded it up, take it over a truck scale, which are usually around ten bucks. You will probably be surprised how much your RV weighs loaded after it is up for a trip.

Unfortunately, I do not currently travel enough to wear the tread out on my RV tires, but you can bet I will purchase new ones at the five year mark. Unless of course, they are damaged before then. And every RVer should not be without a tire gauge. Safe travels!

I find it quite disturbing when I read more and more often that cities and townships are banning over night parking at commercial establishments. Not only are they taking away certain rights for the establishment that allows it, they are taking away my rights to.

I know there are a few out there that abuse the use of overnight parking, but there are a few of us out there that do not. My wife and I like to get a jump start on our trip when we go out to visit our daughter and son-inlaw who reside in Washington D.C. So early in the morning I will  latch onto RV and pull it to work. Now this lets us leave straight from work and get a jump start on our trip. So I will drive late into night and into the early morning. We tried to get into campground at 2 in the morning, but most are closed up. There are usually no sites available, or the gates are closed. So my choice is to stay at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot.

Cracker Barrel in Morgantown WV

 

We pay the establishment back by having breakfast or buying some supplies and give our thanks to the manager when possible. After that we take off early in the morning and go to our destination which is a campground. We have never abused the right. There is something about driving late at night which allows us to make great time. It has to do with less vehicles on the road, and less construction going on. It’s usually just the truckers and us on the road. I know they are trying to do the same thing and that is get to their destination quickly and with out incident.

Now if I knew that most of the campgrounds had quick pull thru parking spaces for us late night arrivers and early morning risers I would have no problem paying a small fee for the use of that site. No hook-ups would be fine since it is for such a short time frame. But I find this not to be the case, so I am pleading for these cities and townships to hear the other site of the story. And I would hope that the establishments would request for the abusers to leave after a one night stay. That I understand and have no problem with. I can also see why the campground owners get frustrated with the abusers staying at these establishments for long terms and losing their business to them. Maybe they don’t want those type of campers in their campgrounds anyways.

I just thought I would give my two cents worth for the other side of the story.

There always seems to be so much to do around our house that we never get a chance to relax. So my wife and I decided that one of the only ways to truly relax, is to force it. So we picked a two day weekend and decided to camp with our fifth wheel.
There is something about backing the fifth wheel in, setting up camp, then sitting in our outdoor recliner chairs that just seems to make all our problems go away. It does take a good day to finally relax and let my guard down and to really appreciate the fact that we are truly relaxing. If we would have stayed home, I know for a fact that we would have work on our honey to do list, which never seems to get smaller.

Camping with an RV

The weather never seems to matter to us. If its raining in the evening, we just stay inside and watch a good movie. If it’s nice, we have a cookout and chit chat around the campfire. We actually get some time to read a book, bike ride, or even go on a hike. I know that some of you do not call this camping, but it really is. It is just a different way of doing it. My wife and I use to back pack in our early years, so we know what roughing it is all about.

But the years do change you, from owning a house and having all the responsibilities that go along with it, to just life in general. And the more complicated your home life is, the last thing you want is a complicated camping experience. So RVing is definitely a great way to relax. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world! Just ask our dog! Believe me, she likes to relax and be comfortable too.

Just when I was ready to quit taking the bikes on our camping trips, I finally found one that I can say works great, and is easy to load up.

1 1/2" or 2" receiver

I had a bike receiver welded on to the frame of our RVsince I do not have a rear bumper on our fifth wheel. This allows me to use this type of bike rack either on my truck, or the RV. They do make adapters to switch from 1 1/2″ receiver, or a 2″. I prefer the 2″ receiver and bike rack, so I can switch between vehicles.

There are times when we like to take the bikes on a trail that may be quite some distance from the campground, such as the trail to the Washington Memorial to D.C. The campground is no where near this trail, and it was great riding our bikes on it. So I just removed the bike rack from the RV receiver, and placed it on our truck receiver and away we went. There is also a bolt that tightens down on the bike rack receiver tube, and this prevents the bike rack from wobbling down the road!

Securing front tire bracket

This bike rack is so easy to load. It only takes a few minutes, and the holding brackets never come in contact with the bike frames. No more towels, rags, etc. to protect the bike finishes. There is a bracket that clamps over the rear bike tire, and the front bracket clamps over the front bike tire. It is amazing how well and easy this works.

Saris CycleOn Bike Rack

The one I purchased is the Saris CycleOn Pro 2″ series. I know there are other makes out there that are hopefully as good, but I only need one and this came recommended to me by one of my customers. You can get more information on this bike rack at saris.com , or maybe one of your local bike shops carries this type of rack.

Happy cycling!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I have had plenty of frustrating times in the past with inadequate bike racks. Between damaging my RV and/or bikes, taking what seemed forever to load, secure, and protect, I think I have finally found one where I now do not dread the task of bike loading.
I almost got to the point of not taking our bikes anymore. A while back my wife purchased a new comfort hybrid bike that she loves, including the beautiful paint job on it. I was afraid of what I would hear if I didn’t protect her bike.

RV bumper bike rack

Now granted, a lot of it has to do with cost and what you can afford at the time, and the condition of your bikes.  When we had older bikes, I didn’t seem to mind the occasional bike scratch. So the simple bumper attached bike rack worked find with our previous RV’s that had a square tube bumper. It was still difficult to secure the bikes, and I definitely made sure that I only placed two bikes on this type of rack. I didn’t trust the bumper. We had friends that had their bikes dragging on the highway during one their travels because the bumper twisted. and just about came off! You need to check with the dealer or manufacturer to get the load rating on the bumper. You will be surprised at all the different answers I got.

They also make bike racks that attach to the RV ladder, if you have one. I am not fond of this type either. It seems to me that you would have to be Hercules if you have a heavy type bike since you have to lift and attach.  I was afraid that the ladder wouldn’t be able to handle the load during some of the rough roads that are out there. None of the RV manufacturers would give me an

RV ladder bike rack

answer on how much weight their ladders could hold. Now I know it must handle my weight going up and down, but I am not bouncing on the road. or on the ladder. And again, then becomes the dreaded problem of  placing the bikes so they wouldn’t get scratched.

If you have older bikes, then none of this matters. But in my case, my wife and I purchased nice bikes with beautiful paint jobs. Now granted, they are definitely not the most expensive bikes by far, but I would like them to look like new for at least as long as I can. I have used tube socks ( don’t know how many where lost during our travels ), towels, gloves etc. as to try to keep the bikes from rubbing against each other. Bikes can look good for many years if you don’t scratch the paint off of them, which then turns into ugly rust spots.

In my next post I will let you know what bike receiver and rack works good in my scenario.

From the outstanding views of Point Lookout State Park, to reading about the civil war history, our trip wouldn’t be complete unless we took the time to bike ride around the area. What an enjoyable way to explore the surrounding area. Of course we had to take our dog on a walk around the park too!

History at Point Lookout State Park

Taking Maggie on a walk

We left Point Lookout State Park and drove up to Greenbelt National Park in the Washington DC area. It was raining all day, and by the time we got to the park, most of the good campsites were taken, and what was left was flooded. So we drove to Cherry Hill Park Campground which wasn’t too far from the National Park. Cherry Hill Park has the conveniences of a bus station ( pickup and drop off ) that takes us to the subway system. This is definitely convenient! Driving the truck in DC traffic is never fun, and people are always in a hurry, and the traffic is horrible.

Most sites have full hookups. They are close together, and the freeway noise does get annoying after a while. But my wife kept reminding me that we don’t spend much time at the campsite anyways because of all the site seeing. It was great seeing our daughter and son in law, and since they live in DC they  help keep us up to date on whats new and happening. We even took the time to go to a Washington Nationals baseball game. What a beautiful stadium!

Washington Nationals Ball Park

It was an enjoyable trip overall, and the weather for the most part was really nice and warm. What a blessing since we had such rough and cold winter in Michigan. So we headed back to Michigan, and back to work I go at Modern RV Center.

Next week I will take time to discuss bike racks. I finally found one that works without damaging our bikes and doesn’t take hours to set-up!