July 07, 2011
As some of you may have read in our earlier blogs, we have our share of misadventures. Our Garmin hasn‘t always been point on. Typically, the 265WT was been used to give us ETA, distance to a point and help us find a location with the POI feature. The Garmin has also been very useful when we want to get off the main road yet continue in the general direction of our destination. Most of the time we know where we are going. But when we decide to get off the main route, the Garmin allows us to stay on course.
Now that summer is here, we have seen more threads discussing various gps . Many full-timers in larger rigs (coaches and behemoth 5ers) are using the 465T, the commercial trucker version. This unit is programmable with your height, length and weight to allow the 465 to keep you out of precarious situations.
Now Rand McNally, the renowned cartographers, have lent their expertise to a system designed specifically for the RV crowd. No one has any real experience with the RMVD as it has only recently been released in the last month or so. As we move closer to our full-time date of 2013, we will be looking at what other options will be available. The Garmin 265WT has been a great asset and has helped us out of more situations than it created---we still remember that detour it took us on in southern Virginia on roads few people have ever traveled--but we are more confident in our blue road travels with the Garmin.
Tim and Mary
On the road to Wisconsin
21st century American Nomads
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Shipshewana, Indiana
July 06, 2011
Started off a cool day with a hint of rain. By 10:00 A.M. it was full sun and getting hot. Mary and I headed to the Shipshewana Flea market on SR 5. If you have been, then you know what we were in for. If by chance you have yet to see Shipshewana’s Flea market, well maybe you aren’t missing too much.
Yesterday we had dinner at the Auction Restaurant located in front of the flea market / auction house. After talking with some other folks, they all had arrived at the same consensus as we had--It’s a great place for breakfast, but they do not do a good dinner. Mary had the haystack, which was described as an Amish type taco salad without the shell but nacho chips crunched over the top--resembling a haystack. I went with the grilled chicken salad.
The haystack was lukewarm and lacking the haystack look. It was smothered in too much Velveeta cheese and turned out to be just a bed of wet white rice, covered in hamburger, topped off with a ¼ pound of cheese. Just a runny mess.
My salad was salad. But it too was lukewarm, not really chilled. Which lead me to believe it was fresh and not stored in the fridge for 4 hours. But even the bleu cheese dressing was room temperature.
Not a dinner place, we might be willing to try breakfast should we return to this part of America.
Back to today’s adventures. We arrived at the flea market around 8:30 A.M. which is way early. This is also the cooler part of the day. The flea market covers almost 10 acres and it is a lot of walking to get around to all the sellers.
Before we left, we walked through the auction building. Here at 9:00 A.M. 5 or 6 different auctioneers start selling various antique and Amish goods--ALL AT THE SAME TIME. You can get in early about 7:00 A.M. to peruse the items and stake out the areas you are interested in bidding on. It helps if there are more than one in your party and you can call on cell phones to confirm any purchases or current bids for items.
We stopped at a roadside bakery on the way out of Shipshewana. Two young girls were selling cookies, pies, breads, and cakes. We purchased an apricot and raspberry single serving pies. They were “day old” and were 50% off the original price of $3.00. Needless to say the raspberry barely survived once we were in the Dodge. Our next stop is Elkhart to see a few surplus RV sales outlets.
Elkhart is about 24 miles from Shipshewana out SR 120. We were going to see Surplus RV Factory Sales on Bristol Street. We are looking for a sofa / recliner to replace the current sofa sleeper. We also would like very much to dump the blue sofa for a neutral or tan colored sofa.
There is a lot of stuff at the two outlets. But the majority of prices are higher than Camping World. No deals here. They had some nice sofas, but starting at $800 isn’t our idea of surplus outlet pricing.
We were told the best outlets were in Branson and Sturgis, just across the state line in Michigan. Maybe next time we visit we will make it a point to see the outlets in Michigan.
We leave tomorrow for a 7 hour drive to the Wisconsin Dells. We will also be looking for two 4-inch U-bolts that are approximately 10 inches in length to mount the PVC pipe, that is being used to house our sewer line, on the 4-inch square rear bumper.
Tim and Mary
On the road to Wisconsin.
Started off a cool day with a hint of rain. By 10:00 A.M. it was full sun and getting hot. Mary and I headed to the Shipshewana Flea market on SR 5. If you have been, then you know what we were in for. If by chance you have yet to see Shipshewana’s Flea market, well maybe you aren’t missing too much.
Yesterday we had dinner at the Auction Restaurant located in front of the flea market / auction house. After talking with some other folks, they all had arrived at the same consensus as we had--It’s a great place for breakfast, but they do not do a good dinner. Mary had the haystack, which was described as an Amish type taco salad without the shell but nacho chips crunched over the top--resembling a haystack. I went with the grilled chicken salad.
The haystack was lukewarm and lacking the haystack look. It was smothered in too much Velveeta cheese and turned out to be just a bed of wet white rice, covered in hamburger, topped off with a ¼ pound of cheese. Just a runny mess.
My salad was salad. But it too was lukewarm, not really chilled. Which lead me to believe it was fresh and not stored in the fridge for 4 hours. But even the bleu cheese dressing was room temperature.
Not a dinner place, we might be willing to try breakfast should we return to this part of America.
Back to today’s adventures. We arrived at the flea market around 8:30 A.M. which is way early. This is also the cooler part of the day. The flea market covers almost 10 acres and it is a lot of walking to get around to all the sellers.
Before we left, we walked through the auction building. Here at 9:00 A.M. 5 or 6 different auctioneers start selling various antique and Amish goods--ALL AT THE SAME TIME. You can get in early about 7:00 A.M. to peruse the items and stake out the areas you are interested in bidding on. It helps if there are more than one in your party and you can call on cell phones to confirm any purchases or current bids for items.
We stopped at a roadside bakery on the way out of Shipshewana. Two young girls were selling cookies, pies, breads, and cakes. We purchased an apricot and raspberry single serving pies. They were “day old” and were 50% off the original price of $3.00. Needless to say the raspberry barely survived once we were in the Dodge. Our next stop is Elkhart to see a few surplus RV sales outlets.
Elkhart is about 24 miles from Shipshewana out SR 120. We were going to see Surplus RV Factory Sales on Bristol Street. We are looking for a sofa / recliner to replace the current sofa sleeper. We also would like very much to dump the blue sofa for a neutral or tan colored sofa.
There is a lot of stuff at the two outlets. But the majority of prices are higher than Camping World. No deals here. They had some nice sofas, but starting at $800 isn’t our idea of surplus outlet pricing.
We were told the best outlets were in Branson and Sturgis, just across the state line in Michigan. Maybe next time we visit we will make it a point to see the outlets in Michigan.
We leave tomorrow for a 7 hour drive to the Wisconsin Dells. We will also be looking for two 4-inch U-bolts that are approximately 10 inches in length to mount the PVC pipe, that is being used to house our sewer line, on the 4-inch square rear bumper.
Tim and Mary
On the road to Wisconsin.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Baby steps
July 05, 2011
Everyday we are in the Coachmen, we are thinking what needs to be done to live in it full-time 24/7. It would be difficult to just take a unit, load it up and pronounce ourselves full-timers waving our banner as we head down the blue roads.
As we have blogged in previous posts, I have been “camping” in some form since I was 5 years old. I lived on the road for 4 months with everything I owned bungeed to my Schwinn with 21 gears including a hyper granny gear that was somewhere around 10:1. Every time I pedaled one full revolution, the wheels turned 10 inches. I worked for almost 18 months to get the Schwinn, the equipment and myself ready for those 4 months 6,000 miles. Now Mary and I are going through the same process preparing the Coachmen for 24/7 living.
Mary was able to sit down and write out a checklist of what has to be done each time we break camp and pack up. We should have that up on our WEBSITE soon. We picked up some nifty Velcro &trade to strap the cabinets shut and keep them from binding in the slide. We have a 4-inch PVC pipe to store the sewer hose in while traveling. We have also realized we will need a 50 amp extension cord for those places we are just a bit too far from the power supply.
We left Brighton this morning around 9:30 A.M. Our first stop was a Sunoco station at exit 37A on US 23. It advertised diesel so we thought it could accommodate our truck and 5er---NOT. The diesel pump was at one side of the islands, the side we had to turn a tight right from the road to get into. Then immediately turn back to the left like an “S” turn. Getting out, we had everyone’s attention as the Dodge passenger side was up over the curb to keep the 5er from taking out the support beam. The 5er roadside was up over the pump island. Between the truck rocking and the 5er bouncing, destruction seemed imminent. But it all came out unscathed and we set off for our next stop.
We pulled into Cabela’s in Dundee, Michigan around 11:00 A.M. It had been a week since we dumped the tanks, and Cabela’s offered free use of their dump station. This is the first time I had been to this side of Cabela’s. They have a nice small lake with geese and small docks (not sure what they are used for as I believe there is NO swimming).
There is also a log cabin (the doors are locked) that adds to that home in the mountains feelings.
They also have dog kennels with a roof so your hounds or other dogs can rest outside while you shop.
After a snack and some water for the hounds, we headed out the back roads towards Adrian, Michigan.
Tim and Mary Johnson
Shipshewana Indiana
Everyday we are in the Coachmen, we are thinking what needs to be done to live in it full-time 24/7. It would be difficult to just take a unit, load it up and pronounce ourselves full-timers waving our banner as we head down the blue roads.
As we have blogged in previous posts, I have been “camping” in some form since I was 5 years old. I lived on the road for 4 months with everything I owned bungeed to my Schwinn with 21 gears including a hyper granny gear that was somewhere around 10:1. Every time I pedaled one full revolution, the wheels turned 10 inches. I worked for almost 18 months to get the Schwinn, the equipment and myself ready for those 4 months 6,000 miles. Now Mary and I are going through the same process preparing the Coachmen for 24/7 living.
Mary was able to sit down and write out a checklist of what has to be done each time we break camp and pack up. We should have that up on our WEBSITE soon. We picked up some nifty Velcro &trade to strap the cabinets shut and keep them from binding in the slide. We have a 4-inch PVC pipe to store the sewer hose in while traveling. We have also realized we will need a 50 amp extension cord for those places we are just a bit too far from the power supply.
We left Brighton this morning around 9:30 A.M. Our first stop was a Sunoco station at exit 37A on US 23. It advertised diesel so we thought it could accommodate our truck and 5er---NOT. The diesel pump was at one side of the islands, the side we had to turn a tight right from the road to get into. Then immediately turn back to the left like an “S” turn. Getting out, we had everyone’s attention as the Dodge passenger side was up over the curb to keep the 5er from taking out the support beam. The 5er roadside was up over the pump island. Between the truck rocking and the 5er bouncing, destruction seemed imminent. But it all came out unscathed and we set off for our next stop.
We pulled into Cabela’s in Dundee, Michigan around 11:00 A.M. It had been a week since we dumped the tanks, and Cabela’s offered free use of their dump station. This is the first time I had been to this side of Cabela’s. They have a nice small lake with geese and small docks (not sure what they are used for as I believe there is NO swimming).
There is also a log cabin (the doors are locked) that adds to that home in the mountains feelings.
They also have dog kennels with a roof so your hounds or other dogs can rest outside while you shop.
After a snack and some water for the hounds, we headed out the back roads towards Adrian, Michigan.
Tim and Mary Johnson
Shipshewana Indiana
Monday, July 4, 2011
One less fix
Wrapping up and packing for the trip to Indiana. Looking at the Michigan Road map, we will head out on US 12 to M 66 South to Sturgis before pulling into Shipshewana North.
But first we have to run back to the big box store for plumber's putty to reseat the sink. The putty has dried and with the bumps and bounces, the sink is leaking enough to keep the floor damp--especially when the stop is in place and we are using the sink to wash dishes.
Tim and Mary
On the road to Indiana
But first we have to run back to the big box store for plumber's putty to reseat the sink. The putty has dried and with the bumps and bounces, the sink is leaking enough to keep the floor damp--especially when the stop is in place and we are using the sink to wash dishes.
Tim and Mary
On the road to Indiana
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Scheduled maintenance
July 03, 2011
After the initial 800 miles of traveling, checking and repairing that which breaks while in motion, there is always the everyday maintenance that still needs to be done.
We will have to wait until Tuesday to get the replacement coverings for the holding tanks. We want to use a lightweight metal or aluminum in place of the ¼ inch under lament that was used from the factory. If it needs to be replaced we might as well use the most durable material available to us.
We also got down under the kitchen sink and noticed the wallpaper in the lower corner looked like it was getting wet. There was some water on the floor. Last week Mary saw some water on the tile along the cabinet base. We thought the dogs’ water might have tipped. When we found more water under the cabinet we realized it had to be coming from outside.
Since it hadn’t rained for 2 days, it was a mystery as to where the water was coming from. I walked to the curbside rear of the 5er and saw that water from the A/C unit was raining down the side and draining out against the edge of the unit. We had to wait for morning when the A/C would have been off long enough to let the side dry.
Today we did an over all inspection of the seams and seals. Grabbing a tube of latex caulk, we started sealing the corners. Though there are no other signs of water damage, we decided to do caulk all the windows as well. With the caulk dry and secure tomorrow, we will give the Coachmen a wash and wax before heading to Shipshewana on Tuesday.
Tim and Mary Johnson
On the road to Indiana Tuesday.
After the initial 800 miles of traveling, checking and repairing that which breaks while in motion, there is always the everyday maintenance that still needs to be done.
We will have to wait until Tuesday to get the replacement coverings for the holding tanks. We want to use a lightweight metal or aluminum in place of the ¼ inch under lament that was used from the factory. If it needs to be replaced we might as well use the most durable material available to us.
We also got down under the kitchen sink and noticed the wallpaper in the lower corner looked like it was getting wet. There was some water on the floor. Last week Mary saw some water on the tile along the cabinet base. We thought the dogs’ water might have tipped. When we found more water under the cabinet we realized it had to be coming from outside.
Since it hadn’t rained for 2 days, it was a mystery as to where the water was coming from. I walked to the curbside rear of the 5er and saw that water from the A/C unit was raining down the side and draining out against the edge of the unit. We had to wait for morning when the A/C would have been off long enough to let the side dry.
Today we did an over all inspection of the seams and seals. Grabbing a tube of latex caulk, we started sealing the corners. Though there are no other signs of water damage, we decided to do caulk all the windows as well. With the caulk dry and secure tomorrow, we will give the Coachmen a wash and wax before heading to Shipshewana on Tuesday.
Tim and Mary Johnson
On the road to Indiana Tuesday.
Friday, July 1, 2011
It's been 2 weeks
We have installed the laminate edge on the slide and will have the corner molding installed over the laminate / tile tomorrow.
I will be glad to get on the road come Tuesday. A few days to relax and do no remodeling or chores. To be travelers / tourists will be nice.
I will be glad to get on the road come Tuesday. A few days to relax and do no remodeling or chores. To be travelers / tourists will be nice.
Adding personal touches
June 30, 2011
We have tiled the desktop. We also replaced the lights in the slide. The PO had two different lights, which almost worked when the divider was in place, but with it opened up into one space we felt the lights had to match.
The big box home retailer had just two or three that were flush enough to the ceiling with a pull chain. We picked one that had the jelly-jar look, but a cream colored base. We picked up a can or rattle paint in a hammered bronze finish. With the new paint, the lights have an industrial look.
We picked up molding for the front edge of the desk. We stained it walnut and applied one coat of urethane. It too will be installed tomorrow. On the back wall around the desk area we have installed 12 x 12 inch cork squares. We will add ¼ inch black elastic to hold photographs and other papers.
We have tiled the desktop. We also replaced the lights in the slide. The PO had two different lights, which almost worked when the divider was in place, but with it opened up into one space we felt the lights had to match.
The big box home retailer had just two or three that were flush enough to the ceiling with a pull chain. We picked one that had the jelly-jar look, but a cream colored base. We picked up a can or rattle paint in a hammered bronze finish. With the new paint, the lights have an industrial look.
We picked up molding for the front edge of the desk. We stained it walnut and applied one coat of urethane. It too will be installed tomorrow. On the back wall around the desk area we have installed 12 x 12 inch cork squares. We will add ¼ inch black elastic to hold photographs and other papers.
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