RV life

Winter Camping: 1 Week in the Trailer (Feels like 2 in the Cabin)

Published on February 27, 2012 by Katya in the category RV life | 1 Comment

Back on the road

We recently had to vacate the cabin for a week to accommodate some pre scheduled guests. We have known for 4 months but that didn’t make the moving any easier. We started moving things in about a week ahead of time but due to the cold temperatures, there were many things we didn’t want out there yet. Mostly electronics and craft supplies, which is honestly more than half our possessions. The weekend before we were to leave, Ross started to work on taking off the enormous trailer cover to find a thick layer of ice covering nearly the entire roof. After hours of slowly chipping away at it, without damaging the roof or cover, he was able to remove it and attempt to melt the remaining chunks.Ice on the Trailer cover

We left the following  Tuesday afternoon and headed just a mile up the road to Tiger Run RV Resort where we stayed before moving into the cabin. Since my recent neck injury skiing, taking loads and loads of things to the trailer caught up with me quick and with the trailer already being not such a comfortable place, I wasn’t looking forward to being in it at first, but we ended up with a spot right next to the rec building where there was a pool, 2 hot tubs and endless hot showers.

By the time we setup a bit, heat was on and Susa was comfortably laying in the sun, I remembered how much I like the trailer and all it’s faults, breezes and lack of space. During the day, even when it didn’t get over 20, as long as it was sunny, the gas heat almost never came on. Our little Dr. Heater space heater did all the work of maintaining the room during the day. As soon as the sun stopped hitting the west side of the trailer, the gas was on much of the night (until we ran out that is, which happened twice). Trying to find a comfortable place to sit and work was once again a challenge since the options are a springy couch, our dark and claustrophobic bedroom or our table seats which have cheap foam cushions, I decided to try another option and make the table into a bed (because it does that). We’d never bothered before because I usually have my monitor on the table but we weren’t setting all that up this weekend and I needed more options. With pillows for back and neck support and my lap table, it turned out to be a pretty great place to work. Thanks to an awesome blanket from Ross’s mom Isabel, it looked like a luxury day bed.Luxury in the trailerSusa was super happy to lay in the sun all day, which I swear made the bed and the side of my leg at least 90 degrees.

a happy kitty.

We only made it to the hot tub once, using the pool first while we waited for people to leave. The rec building was much busier than in the fall. Many of the chalet/cabin owners and their families were there for the winter, skiing or whatever other reason they paid $300,000 for a “double wide trailer sized house” that is 3 feet away from the next “house” – seems silly aside from the all day access to the rec building and gym, great for distracting kids I imagine.

We worked all week as usual and nothing much happened, but our weekend was full of the usual excitement, goings on meant for their own blog. The weather was agreeable the entire time we were at Tiger Run, aside from a little fresh snow, lucky for us because the wind storm that was to come would have been unbearable in the trailer…

Trailer Mouse: A House is a House

Published on August 3, 2011 by Katya in the category RV life | Leave a comment

About a month or two ago we heard some nibbling under the stove area. We had said on facebook that we thought it was a mouse, then decided it must have been a carpenter bee and didn’t think much more about it. Months go by and… it was a mouse. Hearing the chewing again in the stove, I opened it up to see a large fat mouse fearlessly snacking on burnt veggies that had fallen in the stove. So shocked that he just sat there eating while I watched, Susa took the opportunity to grab him and take off towards the back room. I caught her and yelled “Drop it!!”, which she did. My vague plan was then to grab it before it ran away again, but I didn’t really want to get bit. Before we could get some paper towel to grab him with, he was in the back room and down the side of the back cabinets, which as we found, is just another passage way into the long area behind the wall he has been living in (almost the length of the trailer). We weren’t sure about his condition after Susa got him but since she’s never caught or even seen a mouse before, I assumed from past cat experience that she hadn’t really chomped down. I put out some nuts the next day to see if he/she was still around, had died or left the trailer. I put down 18 peanuts (halved/salted) thinking I could just count them if he took one, and hours later, all of them were gone. So either that one mouse made several trips in short time, or he has friends. I spend the evening cleaning up inside all the cabinets and spraying lysol on everything, making sure that no mouse urine or dropping remained in the places I could access (which was most aside from under/behind the stove) and especially making sure there was no more crumbs in the stove. I had vaguely been looking for droppings before, especially when my skittles bag was mysteriously thrashed in a kitchen drawer but saw nothing at the time but suddenly I could see them everywhere…it was.. gross.

I have had horrible allergies for a few months now, particularly my eyes, unable to wear by contacts and sometimes unable to go outside without sunglasses (which makes it hard when I can’t wear contacts with them aka, I can’t see anything).This isn’t normal for my allergies which are usually just a runny nose and the last time we were sick was about 3 weeks longer than it should have been. I’m starting to suspect that what has been causing all this trouble is the mouse/mice urine – a smell we may have overlooked with a cat box, old farty dog and indoor toilet (not saying it stinks in here but there are some moments..). As much as I love mice and rats, I think id rather be healthy than share my living space with them. In a cage I can clean up after them but in the house, they are just filling my breathing air with foulness.

Our mouse has friends.

Ross went out this morning during a random burst of rain to cover my motorcycle and saw a small mouse on the mat outside. He described it as very small, not like the one I had seen in the stove, but odd that it was just out there hanging out. When we went to work outside later in the morning like he always does, the same mouse came right up to his foot before scurrying back under the trailer. Over the next hour he saw it a few more times, standing under the stove area where the mice likely got into the trailer in the first place, looking confused as though it was trying to find a way back in. I wen’t out to look for it once and came back in, minutes later it was back hiding under one of the gas tanks we keep under the trailer. I got down on my stomach and looked carefully under the tank, expecting no luck of course. It wasn’t the mouse I had seen and Susa had traumatized, but a one or two week old baby mouse who could barely walk with coordination let alone run away. He must have fallen out or been thrown out of the trailer due to the new regulations and lack of crumbs in the trailer. (The hope was that they would leave the way they came, not starve, so we’re getting a live trap this week sometime.) If we didn’t know about our mouse problems already, it would have been even stranger to see a baby mouse wandering around under the trailer but as it is, it seemed perfectly reasonable.

I easily caught him and Ross ran inside to find a container for him. It wasn’t that we wanted him back in the trailer, he is just way too young to live outside on his own just yet. Me and Ross are both previous rat/mouse owners and can’t really see just kicking him to the curb unprepared. He’s barely weened and already thin.. just too sad. So… temporary pet it is – till he can run from danger at least. At least it’s not like raising baby squirrels, which is a long drawn out process and huge pain. I think in a week or so he’ll be ready to go. We are calling him Trevor.

I’ll take mice over Roaches any day. If we’re lucky, the mice have been eating the roaches because we haven’t seen any all summer (last summer there were plenty) so that will be one negative of getting rid of the mice, in will come the roaches.

Trevor the mouse

Trevor the mouse

Trevor the mouse

No pictures please, trying to sleep here…

p.s. We are not typically wildlife kidnappers but this guy is kind of our fault in a way…In a “we were a seemingly good place to setup and start a family for a couple of field mice” way.

Everglades, Week One, Awesome.

Published on November 7, 2010 by Katya in the category electrical, National Park, out and about, RV life, survival, travel | 1 Comment

After staying on the west coast of Florida for over a month, we were happy to finally find a place in the Everglades that allowed RVs. Long Pine Keys campground is the first campground in the Everglades one of only 2 that accept RV’s. The other campsites are only accessible by canoe, which makes them even more awesome, but sadly out of our reach. As you can imagine, Long Pine Key is a forest of really tall pine trees, mostly bald, which become excellent bird perches when dead and have provided me with plenty of awesome bird photos ( vultures, hawks and crows being my favorites).

There is no electricity or water here, but with Ross’s electric setup, and new improvements, there is hardly a difference. We use a gallon of gasoline a day for the generator which, most of the time, we can barely hear, even though it’s directly below our seats while we work. Water we have to collect daily in a 6 gallon tank, of which we use about one a day, and getting rid of the water, we do every other day with our tote tank, which we tow with the truck to a dump station. We use the public bathroom that is about 30 yards away most of the time, showers are the only water usage issue we have but its worth dealing with to stay here.

Besides TV, which we never have any good channels of anyway, we don’t miss out on anything. We have internet, can watch movies, use our laptops, use all the lights and of course the fridge and stove are propane. I could do this forever and not mind it really. During the day it can get pretty hot still of course, and theres not enough power for AC. It usually in the mid 80s so we have the windows open all day and a fan in the door, but about 3pm it becomes too warm inside and we all move our work to the tent outside (the size of a bedroom with a 6 foot roof).

We have basically been alone in the park since we got here last Sunday morning with just a few tents showing up here and there. This weekend though we were a bit bombarded with huge families who talked and yelled half the night and/or blasted their stereos, counter productive to camping I thought but in general, whatever, didn’t keep me awake.

We finally got to take a look around the everglades this weekend, and Friday night had been cold and the day started out really cool, so we felt we could leave the animals for a few hours with a fan in the window.  Our goal being Flamingo, the farthest south point in the Everglades and I think mainland Florida, and on the way we stopped at every turnoff we could find. Most of them were also occupied by tourists and people from nearby in blue mustangs (and other soft top mustangs), we went on a couple 1/2 mile hikes, one really amazing one through a Mahogany Hammock (a Hammock is a small forest in the swamp basically). The landscape in the Hammock changed so completely it was like going from desert to jungle in 5 steps. There were vines and old growth, strangler figs, woodpeckers, giant mahoganies, termites, ferns and everything you would expect to see in some kind of a rain forest. Outside of the Hammocks were miles of grassland looking marshes, most of which were actually part of a huge 8 mile wide, super shallow, river, scattered in some areas of the park were bald cypress and other parts, palm trees, or like the area we are in, long pines. Randomly throughout, there are deeper rivers, lakes and ponds filled with alligators. In the most southern areas, you might even find American Crocodiles and – if your in the water, dolphins and manatees. The whole Everglades is just a phenomenal example of varying ecosystems in one area.

There were canoe rentals at a couple points but without knowing before hand, we weren’t really prepared (maybe next weekend), as both of our canoe trips have been about 4 hours each. When we finally made it to Flamingo, we saw the campsites there, fairly open and busy but still pretty cool. The visitor center was abandoned though not in too terrible shape, having closed after Katrina damage. By the time we got there we were starving, half expecting a restaurant or store but finding a small marina shop, with a pretty terrible selection of snacks and sandwiches for fishermen. We bought enough to get us home, walked around a bit and headed back to camp.

We stopped off at the end of a dirt road we saw on the way, partially flooded and gladly tourist free. It lead to a small pond that kept a couple alligators, one at least 8 feet, and as we later found out, a Water Moccasin, which as the time we did not know the identity of.. and poked with a stick because we thought it was dead. It was just shedding and busy, and probably cold, so we got lucky he was feeling nice that day.

We weren’t sure about staying here without electricity at first since a week would be our longest since last year at Slab City, but since it’s so incredibly easy and only improving, we’re staying another week. We would like to stay at Flamingo but not sure about internet, so we may just head there next Friday night and stay through Sunday night, heading to Shark Valley after that!

Cue photos:

Bald Cypress, Everglades

Bald Cypress, Everglades

Swampy Plants

Swampy Plants

Seed Pods

Seed Pods

Mahogany Hammock

Mahogany Hammock

Fern in the Mahogany Hammock

Fern in the Mahogany Hammock

Post Hurricane Scrub Land

Post Hurricane Scrub Land

Water Moccasin

Water Moccasin

Birds at Flamingo

Birds at Flamingo

Water birds at our secret dirt road

Water birds at our secret dirt road

Hike to the elusive Peavine Falls

Published on September 1, 2010 by Katya in the category RV life | Leave a comment

During the last few days in Oak Mountain Park, we wanted to hike at least one more of the many trails throughout the park. Of all the trails, mostly named by colors, Peavine falls seemed like the thing to see before we left. We both took an extended lunch break on a hot afternoon, taking water and bug spray and depending only on our iPhone’s google map to get us to the right roads. We had no idea how far the drive or hike would be and ended up on a long windey, narrow 25mph drive up and down mountains till we reached several viewpoints, a couple trails and finally the Peavine Falls trail.  It was surprising how narrow the road was, especially with the dually truck. considering how popular the falls seemed on trail sites and review sites. There was rarely enough room for anyone to pass eachother and some of the viewpoints would almost need a 4×4 to get in and out of. The 2 times we saw other cars, either they or we were off the road or there was conveniently room at that moment. Contrary to the roads conditions, when we got to Peavine falls, the parking lot was large enough to accommodate 10 motorhomes and 30 cars – and was completely empty  - so naturally we parked in the only place we probably weren’t supposed to, almost, but not completely blocking the visitor info sign and trail entrance.

At first the trail seemed “family friendly”, really wide and well kept. The entrance for the trail said it was only a half a mile so we thought it would all be… kind of lame really (especially since some sites said “take the kids!”). We did see just about the most aggressive spider ever along the way, one who had a giant web draped across a bush and hid in a web tunnel at one end. When we saw the web, the spider was franticly trying to figure out how to catch a bee who was hovering above him, almost taunting him with his juicy bee-ness. I’d never seen a spider who hunted proactively, rather just waiting for something to get stuck in its web. I managed to screw up any photo of the spider trying to get the bee, but did manage to get a couple shots of him before he zipped back into his tunnel. When I tried to get a shot of him in his tunnel, he ran towards me with the same jolt he did the bee, so I ran backwards (without falling on my ass) and let him be. He was probably about 3 inches across, also the largest spider I’ve seen in North America (outside of the petstore I worked in).

Oak Mountain Park Trail to Peavine Falls
Spider at Oak Mountain State Park

After we got past the spider of quick, 8 legged doom, the trail seemed a little less family friendly. It split into 2 options, lower falls or upper, both connecting to an even longer trail, one of the color ones, that could have you end up miles away if you so pleased. We decided on the lower falls trail, thinking we would get a much better view of the falls and maybe even get our feet wet. We also choose it because the sign said “steep and rocky, dangerous trail” and we imagined it was the way people did not take their kids (apparently people actually do). I was wearing adidas, because I have nothing else, but Ross had his nice new hiking boots. It was a little muddy from previous rain so while I tried not to trip and slide down the cliffy, rocky trail on my ass, Ross skipped and bound with ease past me, kicking mud in my eyes and laughing (not really but I do need some hiking shoes). On the hike down I think we pretty much just followed whatever seemed trail-like, generally staying on track and eventually, where one bend met another, we heard what seemed like roaring rapids. We were eager to see a waterfall that would put Oregon’s to shame. When we finally reached the bottom we were confused and doubtful as we saw only an almost completely dry creek bed with nothing but small flea like creatures running in hordes across the oversized rocks. There was a cliff face with the smallest little trickle of water coming down it, and that, was Peavine falls. We apparently missed its “peak” by showing up mid summer. It was so small, I didn’t bother taking a photo, not even to show how small it was. The roaring rapids had been wind in the deciduous trees around us.

The hike back up the hill basically kicked my ass since I practically have smokers lungs, but we managed not to slip or tumble down the rocky hillside and once we got back to the “family friendly” trail, we finished the last of our water and drove the long drive back down the mountain. Just before the Peavine Falls parking lot, some lucky person (and a little unlucky because of the long 25mph drive into town), possibly a ranger, had a great cabin and bit of land.

Although we didn’t get to see any waterfalls (having just come from Portland, it’s not like we hadn’t seen several before), we considered it a success that we got in one last hike before leaving. The first park we saw fire bugs at and were serenaded late at night by an army of frogs at the nearby lake. Oak Mountain State Park was our first taste of the south outside of New Orleans.

more interesting than the "falls"

Goodbye Brougham

Published on August 12, 2010 by Katya in the category RV life | Leave a comment

So we sold the Brougham, well rather traded. It was a sad day but much less so knowing it was going to a good home. Many people looked at it, a couple older men who wanted to live in it in their yards while they worked on their houses, a couple who wanted it for a mobile kitchen but found no way to get a full size fridge inside. One girl had been living in a warehouse with some people and decided to try in an RV in her friend’s yard instead – but she didn’t even care if it ran and didn’t have much money. After that, a few kids showed up wanting to use it for their band’s tour bus, none of them knew anything about cars mechanically so it probably wouldn’t have worked out very well since he did still need some work before he’s really treated hard again.

When I got an email from Rus, the new owner, I was actually excited about the Brougham’s future for a change. He offered a trade straight up for a 700cc motorcycle which unfortunately I was too short to ride. He just so happened to have a smaller motorcycle, a 1981 cm200T Honda Twinstar. Much more my size, physical and engine wise. The bike was worth a bit less than the Brougham, so he made up for it by sending a list of other things we could have to make up the difference. We ended up choosing an awesome Les Paul guitar (which Rus threw in a free Epiphone amp). My new bike also came with a helmet, harley gas tank (I could get fabbed on if I waned) and some nice leather saddle bags. I’ve yet to ride it more than a few hundred yards sadly so far, partly because I have no license. but now that we are out of city limits, It needs a new battery and I want some new tires before I go on a longer trip. I’m also still getting to know the clutch, though figuring it out quickly. Me and Ross have had debates over whether or not I should be down-shifting all the way to 1st but 2nd sputters out several yards from when I actually want to stop the bike, and neutral would just stop too soon – I’ll get it.

We bought a ramp (into the back of the truck) and after a couple interesting loads, I think we’re getting the hang of it. Its really steep but since the bike is only 300lbs and there’s 2 of us. As long as I can get a good run, it wont fall over and crush me. We also figured out how to strap the bike in pretty quickly, stiff enough to where you shake the truck if you try to move the bike but only half shocks down to allow the bike cushion. If you wonder how we figure all this crap out, forums and youtube for everything, even for the brougham. There’s so many things we wouldn’t have known if now for other people posting about it online somewhere. When you really don’t have anyone to ask, or want a consensus, that the way to go.

Bike in truck

Rus was a good match for the Brougham because he both known about cars and fixing them and actually plans to use it – and in its natural environment, colder weather. The heater on that thing will keep anyone toasty, including people who just fell in frozen lakes if needed. For some places, when we were plugged in, we often just used a space heater and blankets, especially when we were sleeping – saved on propane and kept Chena from accidentally burning herself on the vents.

Of course, as always seems to happen when you buy a new car, he got home fine, 2 hours away in Mississippi, and on his next little jaunt, the alternator went out. We did get it used, as explained in a previous blog – it was a whole big  ”stuck on Tonopah” ordeal, but we never had any problems with it so didn’t replace it for a newer one.  Other than that it seems he has had many of the same problems we did when we got the Brougham, figuring out the electrical system and fixing mechanical quirks. We mostly did the big priority things like shocks, rebuilding the carburetor, new started etc and he got stuck with the little things we didn’t get to yet, like fixing the parking break (yeah it seems like a priority but somehow hadn’t been haha), and patching up a rusty hole in the floor.

With the Brougham gone, we were finally able to plan our escape from New Orleans. After we bought a ramp for the motorcycle, we finished up our work week and tried to make a run for it Friday night. An attempt which took over 4 hours of packing and preparing (we did live there quite a while) – just to end up with us having to stay another night. We had the truck all hooked up, animals in the car enjoying the A/C and just as Ross came back from the bathroom and we were about to leave, the trailer lights stopped working. Another 2 hours, with the neighbors help, was spent trying to troubleshoot the problem. I sat in the car with the animals looking up wiring diagrams and fuse box configurations while Ross and the neighbour  tested all the connections between truck and trailer. The neighbour even pulled over his truck and hooked it up, which worked fine. We basically concluded that it must be a fuse or something on the truck side, and accepted out defeat. It was after 11pm and all the Walmart in town close at 11. The only other thing open would be a Walgreens,  gas stations and bars. no fuses till morning. We hooked up the electricity, put the slide-out back out and headed off to a Denny’s for a garden burger before bed. Both of us exhausted and Denny’s being the first meal of the day for us both, we actually got to bed before 3am and rose at 7:30 the next morning to walk over to the parts store and get our fuse.

The drive was good and towing turned out to be surprisingly easy and comfortable with our nice new hitch. We had been worried about taking wrong turns or getting out of tight places but Ross was able to do everything just fine. After about 200 miles we stopped and got tires for the trailer, an ordeal that took about 3 hours of our day looking for a place that could get us in. We bought the tires at Firestone and took them to a mobile mechanic (Took them TO a MOBILE mechanic hah). He seemed a little pissed off, maybe about the heat (which was making me sick and the animals drowsy in the car) and after he changed the tires on one side of the trailer, he would let the hydraulic jack drop the trailer like a ton of bricks with no regard for the things inside of it. Its no wonder half my shit was on the ground when we finally got to a park. He may have also been annoyed that I took his photo but he dropped the first side before I had even gotten my camera out. Oh well, nothing broke.

Tires for the trailer

The remaining drive to our semi planned destination kept us driving into the night. There were several parks along the way but this one was far from New Orleans and recommended by the neighbour who had helped us with the trailer lights. We kind of skipped over Mississippi, but we do have to come back this way, and did hang out in Gulf Port a couple times – so we didn’t completely miss out. We got into Oak Mountain Park around 10pm and had an interesting experience of trying to park the trailer in a spot for the first time.. in the dark. We are now about 4 feet too far to the left, giving us a less space out front than intended but a pretty good try given the circumstances.

Next blog will be photos from the park and more about how great this place is!

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