While visiting friends who lived in nearby Port Charlotte, we decided to run down to the Punta Gorda harbor for sunset. Punta Gorda harbor had lots to see and do, lots of good places to eat, listen to live music, and just sit around for the evening as the sun set. It was a pleasant, relaxing evening. We even got to see some manta rays swimming close to shore!
The Beginning – Fifth Wheel Adventures
Rewind Friday. In an effort to try to get caught up from the beginning of our RV trip last year, here is some info about where we’ve been starting out. White Oak Creek Park, an Army Corps of Engineer (COE) run campground, is located just outside of Eufala, Al. I realize I’m not getting photos of the campground itself which is something I’ll need to change going forward.
The first set of images are photos taken from where we were parked looking back over the lake:
The second group of images is of downtown Eufala:
One of the things I keep finding on my travels is shops. Lots and lots of different shops. Here is an example of just another shop;
For those of you who are fans of the Lord of the Rings movies, I found where Sam Wise is:
An Interesting Problem To Have
OMG – I am so not (quite) ready for this.
I was working with my dealer and the factory for a delayed delivery. Signed the contract at the January 2020 Tampa RV show and was hoping to take delivery some time in August. I called the factory a couple of weeks ago to check on their backlog and they said they were working on late July deliveries at this time. So it’s time for my dealer to submit the order to the factory to get it started.
We made a slight change to add the 8k axels and upgraded brakes which is a factory option now and it was approved and submitted a few days ago. I just got word from my dealer last Friday that it’s going to be finished and ready for delivery on the 18th; OF THIS MONTH! I’ve been working on selling off a few more things so I can pay cash for it but now…OMG; what am I going to do?
Fortunately, the dealer said they can get it in, inspect it and then close it up and wait for me to finish getting ready. But I’m not sure I want to wait knowing it’s waiting for me to pick up. Argh…what an annoying dilemma. LOL
China
I think that it’s interesting that I I started setting this site up and experimenting with it a little. Not even advertising it yet, I’ve had nearly a dozen malicious login attempts from someone in China in only three days! Well, at least they know I’m here. However, I’m NOT going to let them in on the latest progress we’re making to track down the truth inside that country about the COVID-19 virus origins and their attempts to kill their own people to quiet the truth. Our efforts will continue…
Wow! Just learned about our brothers in the several intelligence services who have learned about the secret Chinese operatives, along with their “brothers” from other countries like Russia. They have been sowing fake news stories and fueling protests in our country about our COVID protection strategies. We’ve got your number and we’ll soon have your names. Your time in our country is coming to an end. And don’t worry; we’re keeping close tabs on your favorite political pansies as well. We know who they are.
First Truck Modification
One of the first things I did after I brought the truck home was to add ceramic window tint to all windows. Silly me, I didn’t even notice that the back seat windows and the rear windows were already tinted from the factory but they weren’t treated with the type of film that could cut UV and IR radiation from the sun.
Since we are planning on spending a lot of time in the truck traveling across the country, I wanted something to reduce the UV radiation streaming in and breaking down the materials and finishes inside the cab. Plus I also wanted something that could reduce the extreme heat load from the sun during those bright sunny days we’d be traveling. Enter the ceramic window tint film.
The specialized solar window tint film we chose allows crystal clear visibility with over 75% visible light transmittance, but blocks 99% of the sun’s harmful, damaging ultraviolet light rays. Solar window tint also provides over 90% heat reduction of the total solar heat energy that enters through your windshield, but without the traditional dark look of tinted glass.
It was rather pricy at about $600 getting tint all the way around, including the front windshield, but it has already provided noticeable head reduction just driving around locally. So far I couldn’t be happier! Now on to the next addition.
Why RVing
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One of the things I’ve been contemplating lately is moving into an RV. I say lately but it’s been in the back of my mind off and on for the last 2-3 years. There seems to have been a surge in interest in RV purchases and extended vacations as well.
My research on RVing led me to the many channels on Youtube including one that became one of my favorites – KYD, or Keep Your Daydream (actually I have several now). I ended up bing watching all of their videos from their first one and it took me several months to get caught up. I ended up becoming an insider. Watching their videos was a lesson (actually many lessons) on what to do and not do. It was also an inspiring lesson on what is possible as you create your on-the-road lifestyle.
Our research has us looking at getting a 5th-wheel (a subject for a follow-on blog post) and you already know from the first post that I’ve already picked up a diesel truck.
Because I enjoy wildlife photography, the plan is to try to hit all of the wildlife hotspots at the right time of their peak photography season as we travel across the country and into Canada and Alaska. Places like the Alligator Farm and the Venice Rookery in Florida, Bolsa Chica in California, Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, prarie dog farms and bison lands in South Dakota, and on and on. And while we’re on our way we will, of course, stop at all of the iconic local must see visitor hot spots and other little known sights to see.
I’m looking forward to getting started so I can experience all of these wonderful places our country and North America has to offer. And of course I plan to share all of that here with you through our writings and photos. Stay tuned for more…
Transition to RV Life
Welcome to the first post in my new RV adventures. It has been awhile since I’ve had a reason to update everyone (on a different blog) on our latest activities in our transition to full-time RV life. My first post about this centered around our proposed truck and the towing hitch I had picked out. That has changed.
I had decided I needed a RAM (I had chose to go with the RAM brand of trucks because of the reliable Alison engine) 3500 to have the payload capability needed to handle the pin weight of the trailer and everything else we needed to put into the truck. I was unable to get the salespeople at our local dealership interested in working with me (hey – I’m about to plunk down nearly $70k for a truck; you think I can get some help here??) so I kept looking online for a truck nearby that would be close to fitting my needs and wants.
I finally found one that looked like it might work but it had some options I was not interested in. For one, it was a long bed. I didn’t want a long bed; much harder to maneuver in towns and getting into and out of parking spaces. It didn’t have fixed running boards but retractable ones; retractable running boards do not go all the way back to near the back tire allowing you to step up and look into the bed like the fixed ones do. It has a sun roof, an option I wasn’t necessarily interested in. It has the newer and larger 400HP, 1,000 ft-lb torque diesel engine; it’s nice but not what I was looking for as I didn’t need the extra towing power. Plus that’s about a $12k option. But it did seem to have everything else.
It’s a Laramie Longhorn with nearly all other bells and whistles which is what I was looking for since we’ll be essentially living in and out of this truck for the foreseeable future. Leather interior, all fancy electronics with 12″ touch screen; auto-adjusting brights; 10 cameras for viewing all around the truck; front and back radar sensors for added safety and security; adaptive cruise control (wasn’t on my list of must haves but really, REALLY nice and I’d miss it if I don’t have it now!), and a few other niceties. Oh yes – it’s the Delmonico Red color scheme with the tan leather interior.
So where did I find this truck? At a dealer in Memphis. We were planning on driving up to Iowa to visit my wife’s father who’s in a nursing home there and Memphis is basically on our way so we stopped by and looked at it. It was a very nice truck and the sticker on the door told me the payload was 3907 lbs which was going to cover what we needed for the trailer we were looking at. However, I was almost ready to walk away because of all of those pricy options including the long bed which I really didn’t want. In full disclosure though, the dealer told me this truck was slightly damaged in a hail storm in Texas on its way to them and was repaired; so they have to sell it as a certified used car and not new. The damage was not visible and wouldn’t affect anything about the truck. And the used price they were offering me was nearly $15k UNDER list for this truck which was nearly $85k. So I would be paying nearly what I was planning to anyway for a lesser truck and this one only had 49 miles on it! (And I put half of those on doing a test drive with it!)
As you can see in the photos, we drove the truck off the lot and finished our trip to Iowa and back home here to Florida. Now all we need is our 5th wheel. More later about the upgrades we’re planning for and our thoughts on a different 5th wheel hitch.