Reynolds, IL - MD

Friday - A short travel day to Reynolds, IL. Thanks were dumped and the water tank filled. We are moochdocking in a driveway with a 15amp shore power connection. I have the Victron set to 14 amp max and I’m currently running the A/C using power assist. Solar is providing most of the extra current so even after several hours of running, the batteries are still at 100%. When the compressor shuts off, the fan stays on and the batteries get charged back up. We’ll try keeping the A/C running this evening. It has been windy all afternoon at 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph.

BTW, the worst roads we’ve run into so far are in Illinois. The road repairs run straight across the road and are every couple of feet. Lots of dodging potholes and poorly done repairs. There are a ton of loose screws in the RV right now. I need to pick up some glue and toothpicks. 

Saturday - We went to a farmers market just across the Iowa border. I picked up a few things that looked tasty and had a Cuban sandwich for lunch. Toasty, and delicious! We then hit up Costco, Walmart, and Target. But I still forgot glue and toothpicks. It is pleasantly cool today but still kind of windy. No A/C needed. A very relaxing day.

Sunday - After a cool night (44°F), it warmed up pretty quickly. We went to a mini-golf club place this afternoon as well as a couple of antique shops. 

The RV project was simply installing this handle on the screen door. There really wasn’t a great place to grab the screen door especially since it is mounted low. Low as in two steps down inside the RV. This makes it easy to close the screen door or keep it from getting caught by the wind.

 

Hannibal, MO - SP

Thursday - I was thinking of doing the morning test session outside but too many bugs. After the session was canceled, we drove into Hannibal, MO, to get some chores done and maybe pick up a few groceries.

This is the Mississippi River from downtown Hannibal. There is a small riverboat that does tours. We went into town for lunch right across the street from the Mark Twain Museum. I believe that Hannibal is his hometown. 

We wandered around town a little, but it is pretty warm and humid to walk too much. I'm just not used to the humidity.

We didn't go on the riverboat tour or spend time at the Mark Twain Museum. Maybe if we were planning to spend the entire day in Hannibal, we might have visited some of the touristy sites. We arrived back at the state park in time for me to participate in the afternoon test session.

Into Missouri - HH, SP

Tuesday - We left the campground around 9 and crossed into Arkansas around Fort Smith before heading north. Arkansas does not seem “traveler-friendly” as rest areas are almost nonexistent.   We finally stopped at a Bass Pro/Target parking lot for lunch and to pick up a couple of grocery items for tonight’s dinner. 

We are staying at the Missouri Route 66 Welcome Center. We found this location on Harvest Hosts. It is a huge test area with lots of truck/RV parking, so I suspect it may be a bit noisy. But that’s fine. We have open sky above us, so StarLink should work well. 

The picnic sites and the little visitor center are all Route 66-themed. It's a nice stop after 330 miles of mostly interstate driving. 

Tomorrow is a much shorter day at 188 miles to another state park. And we will be there for a couple of days. This is a very laid-back trip. Which I am very appreciative of, as I’m trying to recover from a cough. 

At 10pm, the batteries are at 87%, and we made dinner using the microwave and watched TV for several hours. StarLink is set to sleep at midnight. We’ll see what the batteries are tomorrow morning. 

Wednesday - A relatively short travel day at 190 miles, though it seemed longer. We had to disconnect the Jeep at the gas station as it was kind of cramped. That’s a real disadvantage for a gas RV. The diesel truck lanes are much roomier. Fortunately, it doesn’t take very long to disconnect and then worm my way out around all the parked cars. 

We are at a state park in northeast Missouri, and it is pretty nice. Concrete pad, and the full hookups are nice to have as it’s in the mid-80s (°F). Being able to run the A/C is nice. We are stopping here for a couple of days before heading to our destination in northwestern Illinois.

The batteries were at 73% this morning, and between the solar and the DC-DC charger, we were at 100% quickly. 

Canadian, OK - SP

Sunday - A short travel day from Ada, OK, to a state park near Canadian, OK. We stopped here to visit family, about an hour or so away. The campground is pretty empty. The water level of the lake is really high, with the picnic area completely flooded, but the campground is located on a ridge overlooking the lake. We met Bridget’s niece for dinner in Eufaula, a small town north of the state park. A decent Mexican restaurant with the best carnitas I’ve had in a long time. 

Monday - The state park is on a large lake. I'm not sure of the name of the lake. The water appears really brown due to the runoff from the recent rain. The water level is really high though the campground is located on a ridge overlooking the lake. This picture is taken from what I believe may be the camp host site, as the site is chained off from the road.

We head out tomorrow morning, heading into Missouri.

Ada, OK

Thursday - Today’s drive was only around 160 miles to visit friends outside of Ada, OK. I reset the Starlink obstruction "map" so the ping success is flaky. I signed up for the afternoon test session and will have to rely on AT&T through my phone. The drive up was uneventful, which is good. No wind and not hot at all. I think that we will be here for the next several days. 

This morning, I filled the water tank at the TT park, then after filling the gas tank, I weighed the RV plus Jeep at the Cat scale. The GVWR is 14500, so we are under by 1360. The front axle is by only 260 lbs and 1200 lbs at the rear axle. I think it’s interesting that the axle rating on the factory sticker is 100 lbs more than the GVWR on the same sticker. “Ford math”. 

I just wanted to make sure that we were under the max axle ratings. Plus, I now know that having the tires at 75 psi front and 80 psi rear, as listed on the door, is close enough. Maybe 75 psi all around would give a slightly better ride as the rear isn’t anywhere near max. The rear storage compartment is pretty empty, and I was thinking of having the e-bikes on a carrier. 

Friday - Went into Ada to pick up some groceries. Mostly veggies.

Clouds have been scattered most of the day, and the battery SoC was down to around 50% this morning. The solar charged them up to around 64% by late afternoon. I fired up the generator, and it was charging them for a few minutes, then the inverter disconnected the input. After a few minutes, it would reconnect and then disconnect. The inverter must not like something about the generator output. I am now plugged into a 20-amp outlet, and charging is working fine. 

I need to turn off StarLink and the ice maker at night when dry camping.

Saturday - With StarLink off for six hours and the ice machine off for ten hours, the SoC was at 84% this morning. I had the charger turned off last night as well, just to see what the SoC would be this morning. I suspect t

I joined in both test sessions today, though I relied on my phone instead of StarLink. The obstructions result in short outages every 5 to 10 minutes.

Another Road Trip

Tuesday - Today was spent getting the class C packed up. We will be slowly heading towards IL with multiple stops in TX, OK, and MO. Plus a few more places I don't remember hearing about. I finally found the sticker showing the cargo carrying capacity (CCC). With a full tank of gas, full tank of water, and empty holding tanks, we can carry 977kg or 2153lbs. That weight includes people, the new electrical system, solar panels, plus all of our stuff. I think I may stop at a CAT scale on this trip after filling up (including the water tank) just to see where we are at.

I participated in the afternoon test session since it was getting almost too hot/humid to do much outside. 

Wednesday - Today was a travel day and we covered around 340 miles for one night at a TT park west of Fort Worth. So much easier with the class C. We fit easily and all we needed 30amp and water. We will be boondocking for several days so I need to fill the water tank and empty the grey tank tomorrow morning. The replacement check valve is working as the water tank isn’t filling up when connected to city water. 

StarLink is working well with the antenna inside the class C in the over-cab area. This was a speedtest taken while traveling down the highway. Not too shabby. 

The obstruction map has quite a bit of red. But it’s still working fine. And the dish is sitting flat inside of a plastic box instead of being aimed north. 

More Mods & Fixes

Saturday - It was a nice, cool morning so a good opportunity to install the last solar panel on the class C. This is also a 210 watt panel from the class A. I opted to have the tilt mechanism towards the passenger roof edge. This way it tilts in the same direction as the other two panels. 

This is the location that I installed the small TV from the class A. The red and black wires are from the solar panels and I have some latch duct to cover them but haven’t installed it yet. The plastic mounting points on the back of the TV were cracked so they got coated with some marine epoxy. 

Sunday - The door lock on the class C and the class A looked similar but they turned out to be different. I was hoping to just swap them as the RVLock never worked properly on the class A. I think the door is slightly out of spec so the locking mechanism hangs up. The RVLock company was no help. 

I also needed to install a check valve at the output of the water pump. While connected to city water at South Padre, it filled up our water tank and was overflowing out of the fill port. Hopefully, this fixes that problem. I think that there is a check valve within the water pump. A quick check and water comes out of the faucets! One more project done. And, the water tank is located inside the RV under the bed. And it only fills half of the space.

As an experiment, I set up the StarLink dish in the cabover area of the class C. I also moved the mattress pads into the shed as we don’t need the sleeping space. The StarLink works okay through the ceiling but since I’m parked under a tree, the obstruction map has a lot of red in it. 

Monday - I installed a folding shelf next to the couch. I wanted a place to set my coffee cup in the morning. It’s aluminum, well made, and I used both VHB tape and screws to fasten it to the wall. It should be sturdy enough to hold Mickey…

I filled up the propane tank at Tractor Supply. The gauge indicated ⅜ and I added 7.3 gallons to fill to ¾ which suggests that it’s about a 16.5gal tank which will hold about 12.2gal usable. 

Since gasoline was relatively cheap at $2.42/gal at Walmart, I went ahead and topped up the tank. I believe we are heading out on Wednesday. First stop is a TT park so no need to leave with a full water tank.

Heading Back to TX

Wednesday - Not many posts the last couple of days. I arrived in Portland on Saturday evening and was met by my Turo host in the arrival lanes at the airport. My flight was early. The rental car was an older Fiat 500L. I was expecting a small car like the 2-door 500s but this was considerably larger. I drove to Corvallis on Sunday and ended up staying with my mom. She had fallen last week and had some injuries. She is doing much better after seeing the orthopedic doctor yesterday and getting a better knee brace. 

On Sunday, Brad and Brandy drove down to meet me for dinner. It is always great to see them both again. On Monday morning, I made a quick trip to Eugene to meet Sue, one of the other ham radio VEs doing the Zoom tests. It’s always great to meet the other VEs that you only know from Zoom. 

Right now, I’m at the airport starting my trip back to Texas. Through Seattle as that’s Alaska Airlines hub. Hopefully the flights are on time. 

Friday - Yesterday’s project was relocating the house battery plus adding one more. The class C now has 412ah of batteries and can accept the full charge from both shore power and solar without exceeding the specs. The batteries are on the other side of the RV and the cables had to be run under the floor. Currently, there isn’t anything else stored under the jackknife sofa but I’m thinking that covering the terminals may be a good idea. 

Today’s project was moving the small TV from the class A to the class C. The TV was rarely used. I installed it on an arm so it can be easily seen from the dinette or the couch. For the next trip, I plan on bringing the StarLink and the Roku box.