First long trip with the TM - Page 5

**inghamm** · 11-01-2016, 02:33 PM

Our travel day from St. George to California was not very much fun when we got to Las Vegas. I normally use Co-Pilot on my phone as my nav device. It was showing bad traffic in the middle of Las Vegas. When we got into Las Vegas on I- 15, we saw a sign saying I-15 was closed, use alternate routes. That was the extent of their help, dumping us into a poor part of town with no detour signs or nothing. Unfortunately Co-Pilot was not aware, so it kept trying to send us back to the freeway. Traffic was horrible. After over an hour we found ourselves in a residential area. DW asked how the gas was. We were on empty – cruising range 0. So I pulled off the road and did a gas station search. We made it before the gas ran out. This is the first car in a while that doesn’t have some kind of beep or warning when the gas is getting low. Co-Pilot got us back on I-15 on the first available on ramp. We finally got to our lunch destination on the SW side of Las Vegas about 2 hours behind schedule. Then we fought a head wind all the way to our RV spot – Oak Hills RV in California. Not a bad place to stay if you like being 50 yards from 8 lanes of freeway. It was laundry day and the laundry was cheap. Glad it was a one night stand.

Gwenne & Len · 11-01-2016, 07:43 PM

What a horrible day!! nightmare. So, are you on your way home to Washington? You have had a wonderful trip so far......

**inghamm** · 11-02-2016, 10:51 AM

We stayed 4 nights at Newport Beach at the Newport Dunes resort. We picked that spot because it was close to our friends at Laguna Woods and Disney Land. It was a nice resort (very expensive) with one fatal flaw – the sewer receptacle was part of the electric/water/light thingy. So the sewer hose had to go uphill and then it was diagonal as well. So we had our first sewer blowout the first time I went to dump. When I called the office to come help with clean-up they said that they get that a lot. Duh. So I went and bought one of those sewer hose support things and also had DW put her foot on the hose end to hold it in when I pulled the lever. It was still a pain at the end trying to get everything out of the sewer hose.
We spent a couple of days visiting with our friends and a day at Disneyland. We also got some bike rides in, including around the upper Newport Bay regional park.

**Bill** · 11-02-2016, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inghamm

... and also had DW put her foot on the hose end to hold it in when I pulled the lever

Not meaning to hijack the thread - I am truly enjoying keeping up with your travels - but here is a quick and easy solution to "holding down the sewer hose". Though the thread topic is different, you can see a picture here

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...pictureid=1276

Get two empty half-liter bottled-water bottles, the common ones that everyone drinks from. Take off the caps and punch a hole in both caps. Pass a piece of cord (like Venetian blind cord or a shoelace) through both holes, and tie a knot inside both caps. You should end up with an inch or two of cord between the caps. Now fill both bottles about halfway with sand or small rocks, and screw on the caps. Voila, an easily-stored, easily-used, hose end weight. Now you don't have to depend on finding a random rock to hold your hose fitting down. As shown in the picture, I store mine in the rear bumper compartment in the center of the coiled-up electrical cord, where it is easily accessible as I am setting up.

Bill

**inghamm** · 11-02-2016, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Not meaning to hijack the thread - I am truly enjoying keeping up with your travels - but here is a quick and easy solution to "holding down the sewer hose". Though the thread topic is different, you can see a picture here

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...pictureid=1276

Get two empty half-liter bottled-water bottles, the common ones that everyone drinks from. Take off the caps and punch a hole in both caps. Pass a piece of cord (like Venetian blind cord or a shoelace) through both holes, and tie a knot inside both caps. You should end up with an inch or two of cord between the caps. Now fill both bottles about halfway with sand or small rocks, and screw on the caps. Voila, an easily-stored, easily-used, hose end weight. Now you don't have to depend on finding a random rock to hold your hose fitting down. As shown in the picture, I store mine in the rear bumper compartment in the center of the coiled-up electrical cord, where it is easily accessible as I am setting up.

Bill

That's a great idea. It might have even worked at that particular RV resort. It would certainly do the trick at any normal site. Often there is a rock available, but not always, and this seems more dependable than a rock.

gonzo628 · 11-02-2016, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inghamm

We stayed 4 nights at Newport Beach at the Newport Dunes resort. We picked that spot because it was close to our friends at Laguna Woods and Disney Land. It was a nice resort (very expensive) with one fatal flaw – the sewer receptacle was part of the electric/water/light thingy. So the sewer hose had to go uphill and then it was diagonal as well. So we had our first sewer blowout the first time I went to dump. When I called the office to come help with clean-up they said that they get that a lot. Duh. So I went and bought one of those sewer hose support things and also had DW put her foot on the hose end to hold it in when I pulled the lever. It was still a pain at the end trying to get everything out of the sewer hose.
We spent a couple of days visiting with our friends and a day at Disneyland. We also got some bike rides in, including around the upper Newport Bay regional park.

I don't have these sewer hose troubles...I have the rhino flex hose with attachments... There is an attachment that screws into the campground dump hole (not sure of the technical term).on that, I screw a right-angle into to that fitting (well, more like a quarter turn). from there, a long flex (accordian style hose) goes to the camper. That hose ends in a quarter-turn fitting that attaches to the black/grey water drain). The hoses are secure and don't move (pop out, leak, etc)... I also have the sidewinder (hose support)...both were inexpensive / worthwhile investments...When the hose is disconnected, there are covers that twist into place to quasi-seal the hose...

**inghamm** · 11-03-2016, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonzo628

I don't have these sewer hose troubles...I have the rhino flex hose with attachments... There is an attachment that screws into the campground dump hole (not sure of the technical term).on that, I screw a right-angle into to that fitting (well, more like a quarter turn). from there, a long flex (accordian style hose) goes to the camper. That hose ends in a quarter-turn fitting that attaches to the black/grey water drain). The hoses are secure and don't move (pop out, leak, etc)... I also have the sidewinder (hose support)...both were inexpensive / worthwhile investments...When the hose is disconnected, there are covers that twist into place to quasi-seal the hose...

OK this is funny (sort of). I have this:
https://www.amazon.com/Camco-39761-R...ds=Camco+39761

If this is the what you are talking about, I am not using it to it's full abilities.

Shane826 · 11-03-2016, 10:26 AM

I have that exact same hose from Amazon. And it definitely does. It screw into the "dump hole"... Also I can't seem to get the cap on the end with the 90 degree adapter.

gonzo628 · 11-03-2016, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inghamm

OK this is funny (sort of). I have this:
https://www.amazon.com/Camco-39761-R...ds=Camco+39761

If this is the what you are talking about, I am not using it to it's full abilities.

that is exactly it.

**inghamm** · 11-03-2016, 08:31 PM

Carpentaria State Beach and Santa Barbara
This was going to be our first boon-docking in the TM. We filled the fresh water tank at Newport Beach –hose into the tank and using the new deck plate to see when we were half full. (we have a 40 gallon tank) I took 3 cooler-shock ice packs out of the freezer and put them in the fridge part. The plan was to travel with nothing on to save battery. We had started the morning with the fridge down to 32 degrees.
Our campsite at Carpentaria would have been great for an RV to head in camp. It was basically two parking places adjacent to each other with the tables on the outside. We had the space on the right, so if we backed in the table was on the other side. We tried to pull in forward but that didn’t work, so we had to back in. We got as far as we could from the RV in the next spot.
The fridge was at an acceptable temp, and we turned on the propane. I used the deck plate to look at our water and I could see a few plastic shavings from my installation and a few other things floating in the water. Decided not to use that for drinking. I had charged ahead of time a portable battery that we had used during tent camping to charge our phones etc. Like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...F9NJG66CHW37CQ
We also had our Coleman LED lantern and another LED lantern for light in the trailer, so we were trying to save battery.
We had a few tiny ants along the ledge in the bathroom which we figured came from Newport Beach.
We headed into Santa Barbara. DW had read that Stearn’s Wharf was good, so we went there. It was OK but certainly not living up the hype.
The morning of the second day we took our bikes and rode along the waterfront of Santa Barbara. That was fun. Honestly, one of the main reasons I put Santa Barbara on the itinerary was the first time we were there we had hamburgers at “The Habit”, so we ate lunch at one of the chain restaurants south of town the first day and then travelled up to the original one north of town after our bike ride. DW was liking the original Char burger and I like the BBQ Bacon.
After lunch we went to the botanical gardens and hiked around there for a while. That was nice.
When we got back to the TM we discovered we had an ant invasion. We had gone from a few to hundreds. I drove out to the hardware store in town to get some ant spray and traps, but they had closed (new winter hours) Got back just in time to miss the sunset. We rode our bikes around the campsite and discovered that probably the reason we couldn’t reserve a site with hookups was that they are mostly very small (and tightly packed together) and I may have put in 40 feet for a space size. Got back and decided to try the Grocery store for anti-ant stuff. Got some spray and some ant bait. Sprayed the pathways inside and out. I tried to find where they were coming up from. I didn’t see any on the tire on that side but sprayed it anyway. The next morning as we were packing up I saw some on the “lego” base for the stabilizing jack, so I sprayed it and the jack.

We still had plenty of water left, so I took a shower in the TM with the propane heating the water. We also had plenty of battery left, so we turned the fridge on battery before we left on the next leg of the journey.