Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Backing up is SO WRONG

There is a bit of work to checking out all of the systems for the trailer. There is a 12 volt battery and propane so that we can do what is called dry camp. We run the electricity off the 12 volt, heat water,  cook and heat with propane. When dry camping there isn't enough power to use the A/C, microwave or electric percolator. We have a 30 gallon water tank and grey and black water storage systems so if we conserve, we can use the bathroom, shower and kitchen sink.  If a camp ground has facilities we hook up to a 30 amp circuit and to city water and sewage. Then we can use the A/C, microwave, percolator and hair dryer. From my experience of using the RoadTrek RV that I used to have, it is best to use the provided facilities when dry camping whenever possible and not fill up the tanks. At some point you have to get water, find a sewage dump and buy more propane. But the truck engine charges the trailer 12 volt so as long as we keep that charged we will be OK.
I got a 4g iPhone to use on the trip but there are a lot of remote areas and mountainous areas where there is no 4g coverage. Then we will have to look for free wifi or wifi at campgrounds.
There is a TV on board with an antenna but we aren't counting on that working very well. Some campsites have cable so we have that capability. Hopefully watching TV will be the last thing from our minds. Don't tell me who wins Dancing with the Stars!
To help with the budget we plan to park overnight at some Walmarts. Walmart publishes a list of their stores that do not allow parking but we have to ask each manager permission and park where they tell us. Yesterday we were playing with our leveling blocks in case the ground or campsite is not level. Should be interesting to back the trailer up onto leveling blocks.
I took the truck with trailer attached ( a combined total of 46 ft) for a spin around town. I only rubbed the back trailer tires twice on the curb!!!!!! We had to add extra mirrors to the existing ones in order to see around the 8 ft width of the trailer.  Backing up is so WRONG! It is so counter intuitive! You have to send the rear of the truck the opposite direction than you think! We have walkie talkies so that we can guide each other without shouting to the whole world that we are backing up. People tend to come out of the woodwork to watch people back up their rigs. And then they snicker, snicker, snicker. For some reason campsites love to make the trailer sites so that you have to back into them!
So from what I have read we are obliged to stay in the slow lane, let people pass and try not to get ourselves anywhere where we need to back up, with the exception of campsites. I will pay extra for a pull-through! The first few days are just interstate driving with Walmart stays so we should get the hang of driving the rig before we encounter more difficult conditions.  (She says with her eyes rolled skyward!) The rig is 10 ft 3 inches high, remember that 10 ft 3 inches! I intend to tape a sticker on the dash with that height just as a reminder!

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