2023 RV/Camping Thread

[Randy M]

Brady, the dog, and I driving home earlier from a weekend of baseball out west near PK lake, pulling the travel trailer. There’s a section of SH254 that has several “S” curves where it goes from flat pasture land, and winds up into some rocky hills. It gets 2 lanes wide each way, and it’s pretty rough with wavy type bumps. Been through there thousands of times in my life, pulling a boat or trailer as often as not, and it always seems like those curves get sharper and the “waves” worse. Today, coming east is the downhill way and the worst curve is a left hander. Coming into it there was no traffic around going my way, and I had just manually dropped my truck into 5th gear with the exhaust brake on, and slowed to an easy speed. I was in the left lane to give myself the right one as some margin for error in case of a blown tire etc. All of a sudden there was a semi truck hauling a tanker (oil/saltwater) trailer oncoming and he was all over the center stripe, the truck cab was leaning way over toward us, and I could see the sidewall of the front tire was rolling over due to his speed and turning way sharper to his right than he should have to. In 1/2 second I went from not being able to see his trailer behind his cab, to looking at the side of it as it whipped out from behind him and I just knew it was gone roll over into our lane at any moment, I could hear his trailer tires howling with my windows up. I dove into the right lane a lot harder than you’d ever want to with a trailer, then had to yank it back left because the road curved left. I knew the tail whip from my trailer was coming and it pulled hard on the back of the truck making my tires howl, but I was able to gather it up using all of the right lane and narrow shoulder. It whipped so hard that the bi-fold stairs under the back door folded completely out. I felt like all the blood left my body, I got cold, nauseous, light headed, and scared out of my mind. The rest of the hour + drive was an almost unbearable sense of dread, or doom, or something weird. All I wanted to do was back that trailer in the driveway and get the hell out of that truck. If I’ve ever been more scared, I don’t remember it. I don’t know how close we came to making contact, or even where that truck ended up, but if any one of a half dozen factors changed even a little bit…it could have been curtains for us. I’m nauseous right now thinking about it.

Hug your families, and say your prayers every day, gentlemen.


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Whoa, that'll make your hackles stand up. Glad you were able to maneuver through it all. People don't understand when I tell them pulling a camper is one of the most mentally draining things you can do.

[Dale Moser]

Whoa, that'll make your hackles stand up. Glad you were able to maneuver through it all. People don't understand when I tell them pulling a camper is one of the most mentally draining things you can do.

I broke my own rule and pulled it up 35 from Austin weekend before last, and it felt like 400 miles before I got to Hillsboro. That stretch of 35 from Hillsboro to Austin is full of the worst drivers on the planet… I swear I’ll never do it again.


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[DaveC]

What TPMS do you guys recommend, and ones to stay away from? What's the best bang for the $?

Good question for the trailer tire monitors.

Tonight’s stay is
Mountain Range rv park in Lander Wyoming. Just a lay over on the way to the next stop.
Full hook ups, $55 ish a night. Plenty clean, looks new.
Funny part is all spots are “pull through “ but that includes you pulling through their grass to park your trailer- at their direction.
Anywho-



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[DaveC]

We made it back from New Braunfels yesterday evening. We visited San Marcos, ate at The Saltlick, looked around Caney Lake, and visited Pedernales Falls State Park. It was a great first trip with the new camper! The only mishaps were: I had to get a rear inside tire patched on the dually (picked up a screw), I overflowed my half bath toilet on the 3rd flush a little (thank God it was mostly clean and maybe a couple gallons on the floor), and the dealer didn't line up my hot/cold water to our stackable washer/dryer and momma Wasn't happy (I got them open yesterday when we got back).

Looks like a great first trip [emoji1303]


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[Tbuddyandroby]

Good question for the trailer tire monitors.

Tonight’s stay is
Mountain Range rv park in Lander Wyoming. Just a lay over on the way to the next stop.
Full hook ups, $55 ish a night. Plenty clean, looks new.
Funny part is all spots are “pull through “ but that includes you pulling through their grass to park your trailer- at their direction.
Anywho-



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Thanks Dave, and it looks like you're hitting All of our "To Go Places..." Thanks for tyhe updates!

I'm leaning towards the Tiremonitor I10. I like the TST, too, but the installation with the Tiremonitor looks easier along with the smaller display screen that takes up less of your dash.

Also, in my earlier post regarding the water flow gpm counter- It works great. I used it to flush my black water tanks, and ASSUMED both were ~30 gallons based on some Youtube research. My bath and a half was Not ( 25 gallons maybe?)... and my wife let me know (along with the rest of the campsite at 7am ) just as my monitor hit 30 gallons. Thankfully it was only a couple-few gallons and the 3rd flush. I reached out to Forrest RFiver for the exact gallons for my Specific rig, asnd they diverted me to their web site, which Generically talks about plumbing- etc. I asked for details, but have yet to hear back from them.

[MAP]

That place in the grand tetons charges $112 a night to stay in your own camper?....geeze going off that map, they make close to $11,000 every 24 hrs to let people park.

[DaveC]

2023 RV/Camping Thread

That place in the grand tetons charges $112 a night to stay in your own camper?....geeze going off that map, they make close to $11,000 every 24 hrs to let people park.

No doubt. My better half did the reservations [emoji51][emoji1303] to her credit there aren’t many parks open this early in the season. So the pickings are slim. One of our next stops was canceled due to snow so we had to pivot.

That park was full too. A buncha Nice rigs , including one F-650 pulling a toy hauler with a sweet Razor as the toy.
It was an active bear area where we were warned They would police the campsites at night and take your coolers and barbecue pits to a holding area If you left them out and leave you a nice note telling her we could pick them up the next day.


On another sad note-
Chock up a full tackle box that left my rig as someone’s roadside find [emoji2357]


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[Bill M]

I have been using a TST system since we bought. It has been a great tire monitoring system.

[wytex]

DaveC if you have time take the drive over the Snowy Range, Highway 130 , on your trip back.
It should be open this weekend, they have plowed the road over the top and lots of snow to see if you want more, lol.

I also might have a fishing spot for you near Laramie on a small stream for brown trout and brookies if you want to fish a day or so near Laramie, private property.

Good beer in Laramie at The Library if you're so inclined.

Smoke is bad on our side of the state right now, East side. Should clear out today, perhaps, they say.
Safe travels !!!

[DaveC]

DaveC if you have time take the drive over the Snowy Range, Highway 130 , on your trip back.
It should be open this weekend, they have plowed the road over the top and lots of snow to see if you want more, lol.

I also might have a fishing spot for you near Laramie on a small stream for brown trout and brookies if you want to fish a day or so near Laramie, private property.

Good beer in Laramie at The Library if you're so inclined.

Smoke is bad on our side of the state right now, East side. Should clear out today, perhaps, they say.
Safe travels !!!

We are headed to Estes Park KOA today. I see highway 130 on the map. If it is open, we will take it.


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[TMC50]

Some of the best times you’ll have are booking a random place with friends, and just see what’s out there! Enjoy!


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Oh no doubt. I did it growing up just had to convince the ol lady. We are going monday to get it and I believe we have some places booked already with the closest being 3 miles from my house (gives me a place to hydrate while the kids are at the water park)

[wytex]

We are headed to Estes Park KOA today. I see highway 130 on the map. If it is open, we will take it.


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Shoot, don't think it's open yet today.

Nice free hot spring soaking pool in Saratoga, Wy. Nice spot for a food and fuel break.
Good food in town and nice drive South into Colorado to Walden.

[BlessedVeteran0305]

What do you rv lifers do for wifi if there is non available?

[Bill M]

What do you rv lifers do for wifi if there is non available?

This is my standard answer on Facebook RV groups.

Understand that the hot spots whether a separate LTE, dedicated phone, or personal phone will depend on locale. We have ATT phones and tried the Verizon Jetpack. Garner, Verizon is dead, and also through much of that part of the state. Bought a Weboost and it helps if there is a cell signal and used our phones for a while. My wife is still working so occasionally has to when we camp. We got Starlink RV (now mobility I believe). It isn't cheap and the initial investment isn't either. We can pause and not be charged if not going camping. We use T Mobile home internet at home but never tried it on the road. Unfortunately, there isn't a one-covers-all solution for wifi. Good luck.

[DaveC]

2023 RV/Camping Thread

Shoot, don't think it's open yet today.

Nice free hot spring soaking pool in Saratoga, Wy. Nice spot for a food and fuel break.
Good food in town and nice drive South into Colorado to Walden.

It was closed.
Oh well, thanks for the advice and offer[emoji1303]

Next two nights are at Rocky Mountain national park /Estes Park KOA .
I’m not sure what engineer figures out how many RV spots to put on one small chunk of land but whoever plotted this KOA needs a bonus. He, she, it maximized the use of this land.
Due to being the last spot open, and the state park canceling our reservations we got the joy of spending $120 a night for a spot with a nice side deck w/ table and chairs and an elevated deck with a propane fireplace, which we ate dinner next to. (How’s that for a run on sentence lol.)





Once again, we were warned if we left the cooler in the bed of the truck, the bears would attack it whether there was food in it or not so the coolers got to come into the trailer to keep us company.
(Yes its lived in [emoji51])




One item of note. The elk here at the Rocky Mountain national park are sprouting main beams, with some branching out while the elk we just left at Yellowstone and Grand Tetons we’re barely clumps of mass not sprouting out yet. Just found it interesting is all.







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