The Nomadic Life

[bigbill]

My lovely wife and and I are in negotiations to purchase a three horse living quarters trailer to replace the travel trailer once we get to Wyoming. Many of our trips in the summer involve two trucks and trailers. A horse event is usually a full weekend so we bring the travel trailer. A living quarters with a slide works for us, and we travel with two horses, so the third stall will be my "bike shop." We'll only need one truck and our costs for weekend events will be greatly reduced. We could reduce to my 2020 F250 and our 2018 Ford Escape. Long term, I'd like to find a good used AWD sedan for a daily driver and grocery runs to Cody.

[bigbill]

I got my trailer back from the RV repair place yesterday with a new fresh water tank. I realized something yesterday that maybe many of you have already know, but with the water drains open, changing the angle of the trailer with the jack will help drain more water out of the system. The repair guy says they now leave the tongue high when they're done with work since the batteries are often weak after a week or so, and it's easier on the battery to lower the tongue to the ball than to raise it up. Hooking up my trailer left a big puddle of water in the lot. I'm all good to go for the winter.

[Too Tall]

I hear this alot. Folks realize that the repair place was not kind to their batteries.

I’ll be home just in time to winterize this trailer for the first time. It is not rocket science thank dog.

I’ve got a few winter projects for the new trailer such as creating a slide out shelf for the Ecoflow battery and a weatherproof cable pass thru for starlink. Also, I’m pretty done with 120v outlets located in the dumbest places.

[bigbill]

In another RV group, folks were discussing traveling with an RV in subfreezing temps. I never really gave it much thought other than to travel with empty tanks on a trailer. One person said he dumped his tanks every day on his Class A when traveling and used gallon jugs for water. I mentioned using the weather app to avoid freezing temps unless they're absolutely necessary to get from point to point. I look at the weather this time of year in the Southwest and for the most part, it's not freezing. Flagstaff is 7000+ feet but doesn't get that cold and the snow usually arrives in heavy dumps and is gone a few days later. Occasionally they'll get a blizzard, but it's usually forecasted many days in advance. In 2019, I drove through almost white-out conditions on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, but again, it was expected. I thought one of the basic principles of RVs is to travel away from the cold. When we get to Wyoming this summer, the trailer will be on the property and before winter, I'll drain and blow out all the tanks and maybe pump some cheap vodka through the fresh water lines just to be sure. I'm torn between leaving it plugged in and just letting it get really cold so critters don't try to get in.

[Too Tall]

I'm with you, just don't understand towing when there is snow and ice.

Some trailers have furnace vents that warm tanks. Airstream trailers do have that feature however there are things which will freeze. Despite that kooks do camp in winter weather with tanks full. No thanks.