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By Katrina Kane, on December 12th, 2006 My first winter in my trailer. Oh what friends don’t tell you!
Everybody made a big deal out of telling me how to keep the water hose from freezing. You change to a hard plastic hose called an “ebony hose” which you purchase at an RV store. Then you tape a heat tape along it’s length and around the faucet to the ground. I was told to get 5 feet longer than what is needed. I ended up using 2 feet longer which is quite adequate. Over that you use rubber insulation tubing which is self sealing. Black rubber is better than the gray foam I was told. Duck tape here and there at junctions. Use the rubber aluminum wrap on the RV connector and angle adapter as well as lots on the faucet pipe. More duck tape to hold that in place. Connect to standard 110v outlet which usually requires a short extension cord. Tip: buy the heat tape and insulation at your local hardware store where it is cheaper.
That part worked very well even when the temperature here dropped to 4 degrees one night with the wind chill. I had cold water in the bathroom where it comes in for the sink and toilet.
I did add a little water to my water tank which is under the bed and I have the bed propped up just enough to let warm air under there. I left the bathroom door and other cupboard doors open to circulate the warm air. Yes, it was quite warm enough in the trailer with the propane furnace and an electric heater. I have twin propane tanks with an automatic switchover and the park has propane. The tanks are actually lasting longer than expected. 🙂 My little cart for laundry that folds up to briefcase size works quite well for hauling tanks too. 🙂 🙂
Nobody said a thing about the waste tanks and of course I chose a trailer where they are fully exposed to the temperatures. Both of mine froze and were 1/2-3/4 full at the time. The gate valves froze shut as well. Ah a typical newbie mistake. RV stores and places like your local Walmart sell pink RV antifreeze for those tanks which you are supposed to throw down the tanks during cold weather. I was later told to add 1 gallon to each tank. It took some heat tape that we taped up against the bottom of the tanks, a hair dryer on the valves, and my trusty heating pad (without the cloth cover) taped up against the tank and pipe connection of one tank along with warmer temperatures to thaw the tanks out and dump them. No visible damage so far.
Continue reading The Frozen North
By Katrina Kane, on November 10th, 2006 I love that line from the movie “Doc Hollywood”. It fits me. I’ve been in Idaho for several months at home but now I’m back to my trailer in Pasco and getting ready to travel again. Of course, just returning to my trailer this week has been an adventure.
There was no way to work around the rain storms in Idaho. I had to leave during one. Loading up my truck to leave left me completely soaked. I looked like a drowned rat by the time I finally hit the road. Undaunted though, I tossed the wet coat in the back and cranked up the heater.
It rained for over 100 miles out through Spokane, WA. Just outside Spokane, I heard a loud clunk on the passenger side of the truck. It was too rainy and dark to see what happened until the rain finally stopped. I had lost the mirror on the passenger side of the truck. The assembly was still there but the mirror glass had taken flight. Sigh.
A few hours later, the cat and I arrived in Pasco,WA. I opened the door of my much-missed trailer and my nostrils filled with the wonderful scent and my eyes beheld a wonderfully clean home. Mother always made us clean the house before we went away on a trip. I totally understand why now.
Due to more rain, it took a couple days before I could move the trailer to a spot with better wifi signal for my work. With winter coming on, there is much more spot choice now though the park is still pretty full of full-timers. First I ran to the nearest auto parts store to replace my high-flying mirror. It seemed like a good idea to actually be able to see what I was doing. Of course the new generic mirror is not at quite the correct angle to be parallel to the ground like the old mirror was but I can live with it.
Then I disconnected everything and jacked up the front of the trailer with the electric jack to hitch up. I do have to brag here that I got the truck positioned in 1.5 shots. I hit the button on the electric hitch jack to lower the trailer onto the hitch and… nothing. Dead. It had worked only minutes earlier but now was dead. Thinking the batteries had died again, I reconnected to electric and tried again. Nothing. AAARGH! Fine, I grabbed the bar to lower it manually. Because the bar fits into the top, it hits my tanks so you have to constantly reposition it. You can’t just do one smooth move. Rackas frackas. I decided to peek at the jack fuse inside the battery box. The fuse was fine but the dang fuse holder was melted and broken. Sheesh! OK, here I cheated and did what you aren’t supposed to do. I held the pieces together to operate the jack and get hitched up. A little smoke and it was done.
Continue reading “Back To The Road, Ben Stone”
By Katrina Kane, on November 2nd, 2006 3 friends and I share a memory that will last us all a lifetime and of course it occurred while we were out camping together. Last week we repeated and renewed it to a smaller degree at a friend’s house.
It is very difficult for women to go camping together. Children and husbands tend to keep us anchored to the home either by their will or ours. I have noticed that men don’t seem to have this problem at all though of course there are exceptions. We managed to get 4 women together with one van and one trailer for a weekend at Round Lake, ID a few years ago. Round Lake is a state park with excellent swimming on a small no-boaters lake and an easy hiking trail around the lake that goes through 4 different types of flora and fauna to make it quite interesting.
We ate, we floated together on rafts in the middle of the lake and talked, we raced, we hiked, we ate, and we played games. It was one of the best camping trips I have ever been on despite getting sick with a migraine during it.
One night, we were in the trailer playing Uno and Outburst. We played for hours and got pretty into it with lots of killer Uno tactics, ganging up on each other, etc. At one point, all the cards just suddenly started falling the right way for lots of competition and blitzing. We got a little loud… OK we were very loud! Suddenly, there was a banging on the door of the trailer. Outside, a park ranger identified himself and said, “Do you know we can hear you all the way down to the green bathroom?!” Quiet down!” That let loose a raft of schoolgirl giggles and jokes about the brown bathroom which I’m sure the unknown ranger did not appreciate. But how could he have known that he was barking at librarians! LOL. Yes, my friends are librarians, normally accustomed to shushing others. We did apologize, closed the trailer windows, and tried to behave the rest of the night. Those darn librarians will get you in trouble every time so be careful.
Since then, it has become a standard joke to tease each other with and be teased with by our friends and families. Moments like that cannot be replaced. They are priceless.
Oh, and if you were wondering, no rangers or police came knocking at the house this time.
By Katrina Kane, on October 17th, 2006 First, get the potato jokes and ideas out of the way. Southern Idaho does have farming but you will find Boise to be quite the modern city and Moscow is a college town. North Idaho, where I have a house and one of my sons lives, is gold, silver, and other mining all the way. It has a long history of mining with all the rowdiness, pockets of wealth, violence, and growth that goes with it. Of course, much of that is in the past now. But, there is nothing boring about Idaho.
Then there are the mountains, valleys, canyons, lakes, rivers, and tons of trees that make it such a beautiful place to camp for a weekend or a lifetime. The skiing, fishing, hiking, biking, boating, camping, snowmobiling, hunting, etc. cannot be beat. It is world-class and draws people from all over the U.S. Many a famous movie star has a “place” in Idaho or nearby Montana.
Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID is noted for it’s skiing, biking, gondola ride to the top, and summer concerts with big-name stars of music, both past and present. I saw Kenny Chesney play up there myself.
Continue reading The Attraction of Idaho
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