The RV Blues

You know how sometimes you get the blues, well LivelyRV has them now.

There are many challenges to living in an RV, especially when doing it fulltime, but one of the worst for me is figuring out all of the systems on the coach, to include the electrical.

The control panel on the RV is where you see what's going on with most of its components such as the electrical system, generator, holding tanks, and other items.

2011 Fleetwood Discovery 40G control panel.

The first time I was introduced to it was when we had our sixty second briefing on its use the day we took delivery of the RV from the dealership.

It can seem a little intimidating  but really it is not and once you get used to it, you will probably wish it had more gauges, indicators, and meters on it to give you better information for everything in your RV.

All of the gauges or meters are important, but probably the most important or used will be the ones for the holding tanks.  On our coach you push a button and it will show you the levels for the black tank, grey tank, fresh water tank, and LP gas tank.  

This way you know when you have to drain the holding tanks or fill the fresh water or LP gas tanks.  You can also tell when your black and grey holding tanks are full when they start backing up into the RV, but that method is not recommended.

Pressing switch to view the RV's tanks statuses.

 I'm not going to go into detail about anything here since this is not a technical blog, but knowing where everything is on your RV such as breakers and switches is a must.

Unfortunately this is easier said than done and the unknown far out weighs the known, for me anyway.

When we first picked up our RV it was July and about 90 degrees outside.  We stayed on the dealerships's RV lot so that we could try it out before we drove it home.

We hook it up and turn on the air conditioner, but there was no air.  I rechecked everything making sure it was hooked up properly, but no air.  It was a Friday night and the dealership was closed by the time we realized we had a problem.

I looked at the user's manual for the RV, but it was so generic, it was no help at all.  I called our salesman who came out at 10 PM to help us and he could not get the air to work either.  So we end up sleeping in the RV with the temperature close to 100 degrees inside.

Well long story short, the thermostat went bad and once it was replaced, we had air, which was the next day.

Thermostat on the control panel in our RV.

The following winter while we were staying in the RV I joked to Misty about how the first time we stayed in it overnight, we roasted and so now watch us freeze to death since this was the first time we were staying in it while it was cold.

Well you know sometimes you need to be carful what you say, because it just might happen and in our case it did.  The heaters would not stay on and we shivered all night in 28 degree temperatures.

The next day I got a service rep out to the RV and they figured out that the new thermostat, that was replaced last July, had not been programmed for heat, so the fix was simple, but at the time, I did not know what to do.

It also seems anytime we lose power, the circuit breaker box is not the source of the problem, but it is something like fluctuating power coming from the service line or the switch is not working properly that switches the power from the generator or shore power or the inverters.

So far, the breaker box is rarely the culprit when we lose power.

 So this morning when I woke up, we had no power and the house batteries were down to 10 volts, which is not good.  Even though I showed 220 volts coming in from the pole, it was not getting into the RV.  I checked all the breakers, fuses, resets, ground faults, and anything else I could find, but no luck.

I had to run our generator all day, but it still seemed our batteries where not charging until I started the engine and the only way I could get 110v to the outlets inside the RV was to turn on the inverter, which is not right.

So tomorrow a friend and I will embark on a fact finding misson to see if we can determine what the problem is with the power or lack of.  Wish us luck and say a prayer please.

I did get the power from the pole to be recognized once again and the batteries seem to be charging, but if we lose power again tonight, then not only will we feel blue, but will be blue from the cold.

Until next time, we hope God keeps your power on.

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...

Solar Sailing

My work has required me to come to the DC area for some on-site support, so for the next month or so we will be here.

Yesterday we decided to head towards the National Mall and get some geocaches in the DC area.  I found one named Solar Sailing that is a virtual cache which means there is no log to sign, just some questions to answer.

Solar Sailing cache located at the National Mall in DC.

This cache is based on a display that is in scale with our solar system.  It is pretty neat, especially when you see how close Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are to the Sun with the rest of the planets so much further away.

The starting place for our trip through our solar system.

 It was a nice day to be out walking around even though the temperature was a little nippy.  As long as you were moving and had some type of jacket on, it was enjoyable.

Courtney, Ethan, Ian, Tia, Avery, Chloe, and Don standing at the Sun.

 We wanted to tour some of the Smithsonians while we were at the National Mall today, but time got the best of us and my main thing was to get some DC caches, so the only one we actually went into was the National Air and Space Museum. 

Courtney, Ethan, Ian, Tia, Misty, Avery, and Chloe standing at the Sun.

The questions for the cache are below which helped us all learn some neat facts about the planets in our solar system while doing this cache.

#1 What state would you be in if you walked to the closest star using this solar system scale ? 
#2 The Golden Orb is what scale of the Sun's size ?

#3 The Earth's image was created using what ?

#4a What is in the foreground of the picture of Jupiter ?

#4b How many Earth?s would fit in the "Red Spot" Storm ?

#5a The image of Uranus was made from what data ?

#5b How tilted is Uranus ?

#6a What kind of image is used of Pluto ( The left Image )

#6b If you weighed 100lbs on Earth, How much would you weigh on Pluto ?

So with us at the ending point of the cache, we decided to walk back to the car, which was about a mile and a half away.

Ian, Ethan, Courtney, Tia, Misty, Avery and Chloe at the end of our solar system journey.

While walking back to the car and with it getting dark I noticed that a man was following us.  To check out my suspensions,  I paused at a corner on the street, for about five minutes and the individual walked down a path a little ways and then stopped like he was waiting on something.

Once we started to walk towards our car again, he walked back up onto the sidewalk and started to trail us again.  At this point there was no doubt that he was following us and since we were walking away from the populated area, Misty and I started to get really concerned.

I called 911 and reported the incident by telling them we were being followed and gave a description of the man.  I made sure he knew that I knew he was following us and that he saw me on the phone.

I guess he decided that it was not worth his risk and so he turned around and went the other direction.  We still had to walk close to a mile to get to the car, so I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure he was not still trailing us and also kept an eye of where we were in case I had to call the police back in a hurry.

Luckily we never saw him again and made it back to the car and home safe.  We have no idea why he was following us and are happy it did not become a bad situation.

I'm sure the Lord was watching out for us and kept us safe.

So needless to say, I do not think we will be going back to the National Mall for a while and when we do, make sure we leave while there is plenty of daylight to walk back to the vehicle.  We probably will not park so far away either.

Until next time may God keep you safe too!

Thanks!

Don, Misty, and kids...

Home Made Laundry Detergent

For this blog we wanted to share a simple way to make your own laundry detergent that is very easy to do and saves you a bunch of money.

If you Google "home made laundry detergent", you will find a bunch of recipes for both liquid and powdered detergent.  We prefer the powdered version, because it is easier to make and you make it in smaller batches.

The ingredients are simple:

1 bar of any castile soap, Ivory, or Fels-Naptha laundry soap.
1 cup of washing soda.
1 cup of Borax detergent booster.
Measuring cup.
Food processer or something to grind up and mix the ingredients.

That is all you need in the above quantity to make one batch of powdered laundry detergent.

Everything to make a batch of powdered laundry detergent.

Once you have all of your ingredients, proceed to cut up your bar of soap so that it will be easier to grind up in a food processor. 

You can grate it with a hand grater, but that is hard and takes too long for me.

Fels-Naptha soap cut into chunks ready to be ground up.

I then give it five or six bursts to chop up the soap into little particles.  At this point it is still way too corse to use yet.

Fels-Naptha soap after its first run through the food processor.

I add in a little bit of either the soda or Borax and then run it in the food processor some more until it is ground into much smaller particles.

Ground up Fels-Naptha soap with some Borax mixed in to help make it grind up better.

The below is all the finer our food processor will grind up the soap.  A bigger food processor would probably do a better job, but we have not had any problems with the soap in our washing machine and it seems to dissolve fine.

What your soap should look like after it is ground up.

 At this point, it is now ready to add in the remaining washing soda and Borax.  I do this all in the food processor in order to mix it all up so that it is evenly distributed.  

Borax and washing soda added into ground up soap.

 This is what you should have after mixing all of the ingredients together in the food processor.

Finished laundry detergent.

We then put it in a zip lock bag to store it until it is used.  We use 2 tablespoons to a load of laundry even though most of the recipes call for only 1 tablespoon.

The finished product.

Since we have started using it, we have noticed that our laundry looks and smells cleaner.  Of course, the bar soap you use will dictate what fragrance your laundry detergent has.

I have not done the math to see how much it costs us to make this, but the Fels-Naptha soap is around $.97 at Wal-Mart.  The Borax detergent booster is around $4.50 for a 76 oz box and the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is around $3.25 for a 55 oz box.

So to add it up for one batch the soap is $.97 cents with the Borax and washing soda both costing $.47 cents a cup for a grand total of $1.91 a batch which is about 3 cups of powdered washing detergent.

Using 2 tablespoons of the washing powder per load will get you around 48 loads with the cost being $.04 cents a load.  That is pretty cheap for a washing powder that does a great job.

Also I guess I just did the math.

If you are interested in the liquid version, here is a recipe for that off of The Thrifty Mama web site.

We also use white vinegar in place of fabric softener which also helps keep the washing machine clear of soap residues.

Well after making the last batch of washing detergent, we forgot to turn on the water while washing the food processor in the dishwasher and needless to say, it did not survive the high heat wash.

Food processer after being exposed to a high heat wash without water in the dishwasher.

Our tablespoon was melted too in the dishwasher disaster.  I will not say who forgot to turn the water on, but it was not me.

Melted tablespoon.

Speaking of disasters, our Yukon mirror was torn of when it was hit by a mailbox.  I will not say who hit the mailbox but it wasn't Misty.  I guess we both have something to tease each other about!

Anyway, we hope you try this for yourself and see whether it is as good as we think it is, but of course, this is at your own risk and we do not take any responsibility if it messes anything up.

Everything we have read on the internet says it is OK to use in High Efficiency washers and we have not noticed any harm to ours, but in case it would cause you problems, remember, you can not always believe everything you read on the internet.

With that, we will call this a blog and post another one, later on in the future.

God bless and hopefully you and everyone around you are kept safe and out of harms way.

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from LivelyRV!

Holiday greetings from Ian, Avery, Tia, Don, Chloe, Misty, Ethan, & Courtney who are LivelyRV.

 We pray that you are blessed this holiday season and if you are traveling, your drive is a safe and an uneventful one.

Top: Ethan, Don, Misty, & Ian.  Bottom: Avery, Courtney, Tia, & Chloe.

We also want to thank everyone that we have met this past year traveling America and consider ourselves blessed that we crossed paths with you.  

Even though many of the places we have visited have been great, making new friends is even greater.  We hope to see you all again in the near future.

We especially want to thank Araya Rieck aka Mink who took our Christmas picture for us this year.  While eating at a local restaurant, she was our waitress and while commenting on how well behaved our kids were, one thing led to another.

During our discussion we told her about our mobile lifestyle and she volunteered to take our pictures.  She is starting to build up clientele for her photo business and so wanted to take our pictures for her portfolio.  Once she gets her web site up and running, we will be sure to post the link on our blog.

May God bless you this holiday season!

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

A few weeks ago we decided to go Geocaching for an EarthCache in Topsail Hill Preserve State Park just a few miles away from where we were camping.

Dune Not Disturb at Topsail Hill Preserve EarthCache on our Geocaching App.

The first evening we went to the park around 4 PM and the park closes at sunset, so we did not have much time.  We also discovered that just to get to the trail head we wanted, it was a good two mile walk or bike ride.

The park did provide transportation to the boardwalk via trailers pulled by a truck to one of the trails. Then, we could walk to the trail head we wanted, but it was way too late for that this day.

Topsail Hill Preserve State Park trail map.

So we rode the tram down to the beach and hung out there the rest of the evening.

One neat item they had at the park was a sandcastle that was built during a Halloween event that was held at the park.  The artists used Elmer's glue in the sand so that it holds its shape and does not deteriorate from the elements.

Front view of sandcastle built this past Halloween.

Good detail on sandcastle.

I guess that the glue works pretty good since the structure was still in pretty good shape a good three weeks after it was built.

Rear view of sandcastle.

We then rode the tram down to the beach boardwalk and spent the rest of the evening there.   The beach was pretty busy for the time of year. 

Beach at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.

 While the kids played on the beach, with Misty watching them, I tried to get a picture of the Moon from overtop of a sand dune with some grass in the way.  

A good friend of mine posted on Facebook, not too long ago, that just because you own a camera, does not make you a photographer.  How true that is.

Don trying to get a picture of the Moon over the sand dune next to the boardwalk.

 Some people have the gift of a photographer's eye, but I am not one of them.  The picture below does not look anything like the scene viewed that day and using my iPhone did not make matters any better.  The Moon looked much closer with the naked eye.

Shot of the Moon through the grass.  The Moon is very small, but is really there.

The next day we loaded up all the bikes, which is an accomplishment within itself since we are talking six bikes and a Schwinn buggy, into the Yukon and headed out to the park.

Once we got there we unloaded everything, along with a backpack of water and the makings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and hit the road.  

While we were a good two miles into the trip, Ian's back tire went flat, so we ditched his bike by the side of the road and he had to squeeze into the Schwinn buggy with Avery and Chloe.
  

When we are faced with a difficult situation, we simply adjust and move on even though this meant that Misty was now pulling three little ones!  She is one tough cookie as she kept going until the last quarter mile and then I took over.  She said her legs had never felt so much relief when starting to peddle my bike.

Bike rack at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.

After we parked the bikes, we then had to walk the other two plus miles into Morris Lake and the trail where we had to get the information for our EarthCache.

An EarthCache does not have a treasure hidden like traditional Geocache, but instead takes you to a place where you learn something about the Earth.

For this one, we had to learn three reasons why sand dunes help us and take a picture of an example of dune erosion.  Below is a  picture of the reasons sand dunes help us.

Stay off the sand dunes so they can help us.

Another interesting fact about the lakes in the park were that there are only four locations in the world that have freshwater dune lakes like these.  I'm not sure where they are and was too lazy to research it, but may one day.  Feel free to research it for me, if you like.

There was some excitement added to our quest with the danger of alligators.  The kids were ready to turn back after seeing the warning sign, but after a little encouragement they continued on the journey.

Unfortunately or fortunately, we did not see any alligators which was a relief for Ethan, since I tasked him with the responsibility of using himself as bait so the rest of the family could escape in the event of an attack.  

His duties were clear, he was to keep its attention, using whatever methods possible, until the rest of us could get a safe distance away.  Then we would send help back for him, once we made our four plus mile trek back to the ranger station.  

No, I'm only kidding, I would have called the ranger station on my cell for them to come save him.  What do you take me for?

Alligator warning sign.

After we made it through Alligator Alley, we found our erosion subject and took a picture.  Our picture was to show the erosion around the roots of the bush behind us.

Erosion which has exposed the bush's roots.

The kids also had some fun playing in the sand while I searched for my picture spot.

Ethan's sand drawing.

Courtney carrying Chloe during our nature hike.

Tia drawing in the sand.

Tia's beautiful artwork in the sand. 

Misty enjoying herself on this fine November day.

Morris Lake made a nice backdrop for us to also take some family photos.

Ian, Courtney, Ethan, Avery, Don, Tia, and Chloe in front of Morris Lake.

Ian, Courtney, Ethan, Avery, Misty, Tia, and Chloe in front of Morris Lake.

All in all we had a very good day, even though we were tired by the time we made it back to the RV.  We had biked over four miles along with walking over four miles, so we had a pretty good workout.  All the kids said there legs felt like jello and we would have to agree!

The day was coming to an end with the Moon showing overhead.  So of course I had to take a picture.  I am a sucker for the Moon and just love to see it in the sky.

The Moon overhead.

So that was our Topsail Hill Preserve State Park trip and EarthCache.  Once again, if it was not for Geocaching, we would have probably never come to this park and enjoyed it.

Until the next blog, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

God bless and remember Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas, not just because it is another holiday.

Thanks!

Don, Misty, and Kids...

Destin Army Recreational Area

This month we decided to go south and warm up a bit after being in Indiana and West Virginia the past couple months.

The first place we stayed at was the Destin Army Recreational Area which is part of the Fort Benning Family and Moral, Recreation and Welfare Directorate.  It is located on the Choctawhatchee Bay which is just a short distance from the Gulf of Mexico.

The facility was top quality offering cabins, hotel rooms, and RV lots, along with other activities such as charter fishing.  We were really impressed with its upkeep and security.  

We have been planning on using military recreation facilities a lot more in our travels since they are usually much cheaper, but offer the same quality as private, higher priced resorts.

Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Ian, & Tia posing by the pool at the Destin Army Recreational Area.

As I mentioned earlier, we were really impressed by the quality of the resort.  Just looking at the pool gives you an idea of how nice the place was.

Pool at Destin Army Recreational Area.

We would have been very happy to stay here the entire time while in Destin, Florida, but already had reservations at another resort we were meeting friends at.  

The splash park, which was just added in 2011, was top notch and very well maintained.  

On another note, when we first started to explore the resort, while walking a gentleman standing in the door opening of his room shouted down asking if all of the kids were ours.  We get that a lot.  We answered yes, and after he made over them a bit, we went on down to the pool and splash park.

Next thing you know he walks up to me with his hand cupped so that I was the only one who could see what was in it and asked me to take the kids out for ice cream for a Thanksgiving treat, on him.  When looking down at his hand, I was surprised to catch sight of a $50.00 bill.

I of course told him that was way too much, but he insisted that we take it and buy the kids a Thanksgiving treat for him.

So that evening we went to Longhorn Steakhouse, ate dinner and let the kids order whatever dessert they wanted off of the desert menu.

I thanked the gentleman when he first gave us the money, but did not have a chance to give him one of our cards so he could follow us on the blog.  The next day I did not see him around any longer and it looked like his room was vacated.  Whenever we think about that moment, we will always smile because of his kindness reflected upon our family.  

So if you are reading this and are the gentleman who gave the family of eight the $50.00 for ice cream while they were at the Destin Army Recreation Area, THANK YOU! 

The splash park at the Destin Army Recreation Area.

There was also a 300 foot fishing pier available to fish in the Choctawhatchee Bay or do some crabbing.  As you can tell by Misty's hair, there was a nice breeze coming off of the bay that evening.

Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Misty, Chloe, & Ian on the fishing pier.

 Although it was a little nippy, due to the wind, we were having a nice time walking around the resort.

Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Don, Chloe, & Ian on the fishing pier.

One of the first things the kids wanted to do was play on the beach, so the next day, we headed down to the boardwalk and let them get wet.

There were plenty of people swimming in the water, which was not too awful cold, but we decided not to let the kids this evening since neither Misty or I had on bathing suites and did not want to risk having to go in after one of them.  

Ethan, Ian, Courtney, Avery, & Tia playing on the beach.

We actually love the beach this time of the year, since it is not very crowded and the sand does not burn your feet.  The water can be a bit chilly to swim in, but it really is not that bad.

It is funny, because you can tell the northerners from the southerners very easy by the way we dress and things we do.  

I would be willing to bet money that everyone swimming or in swim suites were from a cold climate while anyone dressed up with a jacket or long sleeve shirts and pants, were from the south.

There is always the exception but for the most part, the above statement is true.

Chloe, Misty, Tia, Courtney, Ethan, Avery, & Ian having fun in the sun.

 As with all days, the sun started to set and the kids started to say they were hungry, so we called it a day and went to get something to eat.

The sun getting close to set over the Gulf of Mexico.

 There will be more on what we are doing in Destin in future blogs. Since I only update my blog every week or so, I do not have the time to tell you about everything we do.  I wish I could blog everyday on our activities, but just can not make time for that.

I try to pick something that we have done, which I think will be of the most interest to you.  It is funny as some blogs I feel should be very interesting do not get a lot of traffic, while others I may have just thrown together to get something out, have some of the highest numbers of views.  That is probably why I am not in the paper business or a journalist.

Until next time, God bless.

Thanks!
Don, Misty, & Kids...