Damani Fifth Wheel

Damani Fifth Wheel by Carriage

There are times when RVers 'dry camp' at rallies and other gatherings. It's typical in such instances to 'mark' your rig by means of a flag, kite, banner or other item that can be hung high off the rear ladder or a pole, as the majority of towables tend to be primarily . . . WHITE! And when everyone is parked in a large field it's easy to forget where your 'house on wheels' is at!

Lately, champagne, taupe and a soft dove grey have been appearing . . . and now, Carriage has introduced its unique, wholly-new Damani line . . . in a high-gloss RUST color as well as an attractive gray tone. This puppy needs no additions to locate it in a crowd. Everything about it is as different as it can get - though I have serious doubts that the loaded weight is under 12,000# as listed on the serial number label. (Sorry, Carriage, but I would be mighty uncomfortable pulling this with my 3/4 ton Dodge diesel pickup truck.)

Now, I can't say that this is high on my list of favorite external RV colors - but it was that very color that drew me like a mosquito to fresh meat to check out the inside. Honestly, I was expecting a rather basic interior . . sofa and table and chairs or dinette - maybe an easy chair or two - and possibly a desk and/or fireplace.

Did I ever have a wrong number! Visually, this floorplan is one of the most original I've seen. There are three equally different layouts - and I admit I prefer the bathroom and bedroom of the others which each have 2 slides. But the living room in this triple slide thoroughly intrigued me, featuring two large sofa-style seating areas.

It can easily seat about 10 people with room to spare. Personally, being as I'm constantly working on my computer and working with my photos and crafts, that dining table set-up would be ideal to spread all my paraphernalia about with room to spare. The two-burner stovetop and single, round kitchen sink weren't terribly user-friendly, but I was fascinated with the overall 'flow' of this unit.

The sofas, the kitchen, even the refrigerator placement, all follow along curves rather than flat surfaces. It definitely has an unusual feel about it. Even the bedroom builtins are more curved than straight and the bed itself has a 7 degree tip away from the wall which does make it easier to make up on the far side than most.

Definitely a unit worth checking out - but make up your own mind as to its' practicality for your own needs. Overall, I'll stick with my modest CrossRoads Cruiser 29CK. It's nowhere as opulent, but it still has features I rarely see on the highest-end units. It was definitely well-worth spending a leisurely hour checking it out.

Hot Water Tank Sediment

This is really embarrassing. We always filter our water from the outside. Being full-timers, we change it quite often as we do travel quite a bit. Many of you have the filters inside your coach or rig, often under the sink, and almost always a second one in the fridge if you have the luxury of a built-in ice maker. (I don't, but I did buy a portable one for Mike for Christmas two years ago which he loves.)

Even with the filter, hard water sediment will still build up. You can't camp in as many places as we do and not collect it. Every two months or so, when the shower water pressure slows down, I remove the shower head and hose and soak them in vinegar for about 15 minutes. I then blow air through one end, emptying the trapped water in a clear jar to see how much sediment is still present. I repeat the steps til I'm satisfied, rinse them out well with clear water and replace them.

(Note: In air conditioning weather I also wash out my filters at the same time - both ac and my vent filters. In sandy states, like Florida, they get filled quickly).

Fortunately, I'm working part time for Thousand Trails in Camping World. I am supposed to know where things are, and periodically wander through looking for ideas (a dangerous move, trust me!). Two weeks ago I spotted a gizmo for flushing out the hot water tank easily. The water at this campground is so hard, that my vinegar treatment and filter-changing were not effectively helping with the shower pressure. It was time to do something. Several times I saw other RVers purchasing the Tank Saver RV Water Heater Tank Flushing Tool, so I knew we weren't the only ones having issues.

The packaging says it takes about 10 minutes, twice a year to keep your tank running smoothly . . . but that doesn't apply if you haven't drained it in three years, since it left the factory!!!! It took several (embarrassing) flushes, but what a difference. And easy? I can do it alone easily. Atwood hot water tanks have no anodes, but even those that do will follow the same procedure. The directions are easy to follow.

You can be sure we won't let that happen again! Happy Camping, everyone.

Teaching This Old Gal New Tricks

Blogging is still new to me. When I first decided to try 'Smilebox' I was extremely hesitant, even to the point of cancelling it before exploring its potential. Fortunately the program persisted in teasing me enough to give it another look. Below is my first experimental slideshow. Hopefully you enjoy it. These images were randomly chosen from many I've taken along my travels. A couple will reappear in different posts later which I hope you will find beneficial.

Random Images

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Nugget's New Hat

As a Workamper, I wear many hats (just look at my resume card samples below and on the side). Ever eager to promote the company I'm working with, and constantly creating things from forms to promotional items and personal gifts, this adventure provided another opportunity.

Twice a week I generate leads for Thousand Trails at the Tampa-area Camping World (which already has most of my monies - it's a dangerous place for a full-time RVer!!!). On my third day, aware of all the dogs that were coming in the store, I called Mike and asked him to bring 'Nugget' over (lead images for this blog). Thar fellow is a magnet when it comes to getting attention. Mike got quite a chuckle when he saw guests and dogs alike coming over to check him out.

Before getting too carried away, I asked my boss to come over and approve my new 'helper'. She was a bit skeptical, thinking that Mike might be helping me, and the position only pays one person per shift.

Quietly I brought him up from behind the counter and started putting him through his paces. She responded to him immediately . . . then stared looking around, stunned, as people stopped in their tracks for a better look, then started gravitating our way. Nugget was hired!

Nugget isn't 'just' a dog - he's a hand puppet with the ability to be quite amazing.

There was one problem though - three out of five people want to BUY my buddy. It was time to get him 'dressed' for his part. With my boss's permission, I took digital images of our current promotion and edited them for iron-on transfers. I have a wonderfu, free, program - www.wildthings.com, that offers a good variety of customizable patterns. Using a beret pattern, I adjusted it to fit Nugget, then printed it out. Now he has a beret featuring the current promo on the top and the Thousand Trails logo on the wider-than-normal band.

As my great boss, Sue Rose says, "Life is Good".

Tampa RV Supershow

Views from New Mexico and Utah

The amazing show is over for 2008, but it was another great one. Unfortunately I was down with laryngitis earlier in the week, so was only able to attend on Saturday. (This show is so huge that you get a pass for a second day when you buy your ticket - and trust me, you do want to plan for two days.)

So much for hearing about the RV sales slowdown - don't tell that to the vendors there - they were hopping. I not only FINALLY made our reservations for the upcoming Good Sam's RV rally in Perry, Georgia in March - but received a $25 certificate towards fuel. OK - it may not pay for much, but on a limited income, some is better than nothing!

We've been drooling over Freightliner-type conversions for some time. I like the warranties on them and the way they handle. The Optima has been at the head of our list, but this year, Renegade came on as a close second. They don't have the frills and gussie doodads of Prevosts or other luxury brands, but for us, they're more livable and we'd never have to worry about overloading. But that's strictly pesonal preference - and they're still out of our league. My CrossRoads Cruiser fits us well and has held up beautifully for full-timing. What surprised us was how popular they are becoming. Normally there would be three or four at the Super Show - this year we looked at 10 - and didn't see them all. There were about 1,300 RVs total on the grounds for viewing.

My daughter and her husband have been looking at lightweight towables - fairly basic, but comfortable for a family of 4 and a dog in inclement weather (otherwise they are outside). T@B now has a unit slightly larger than their revised, popular teardrop (like the Betty Boop unit on the left). For their needs, there are units they would be happy with - ECO has one that is even better geared to their needs without going overboard on their wallets.

At the other end of the spectrum, we're seeing a huge surge in high-end class A's. The transition lot at Seffner's LazyDays is so busy that they're asking the people there to try to stay only one night as they transfer their belongings from the former units to their new ones. One such couple is staying at WigWam RV Park where we're at - waiting for their new unit to arrive. Lazy Days was putting them up at their beautiful Rally Park, but it has been full with reservations - and will be, through the end of the month. We aren't in a resort-type park - far from it - but new arrivals are sporting some gorgeous units for the few days they are staying.

Even the dry camping lots - at TA and Flying J truckstops as well as Camping World, are filled. The Super Show has not only drawn them in, but also LazyDays with their own show which will be ongoing this coming weekend at Rally Park. It's a fun time for looking and dreaming.

I sure wish RV salespeople would stop trying to sell heavy RVs to people that are beyond their true towing capacity. I went in a beautiful Alfa fifth wheel, to drool a bit (sometimes it's a bit embarrassing - and that unit definitely qualified!). The salesman was telling a customer that he definitely had the right pickup truck for it. I inadvertently blurted out, 'Sure, as long as it's bigger than a one-ton' - the salesman glared at me as the prospective customer confirmed that he indeed had a diesel one-ton. When I mentioned that as a former RV transporter the EMPTY weight on that one made me nervous - especially in the mountains, the salesman modified his comment to add that the one-ton would pull the behemoth just fine with certain modifications - omitting the detail that virtual ANY power-boost changes void a new pickup truck warranty.

I keep repeating myself like a broken record, but knowing your weights and combined loaded weights (GVWR) are critical. Overextending can create unpleasant nightmares down the road.

Happy Camping everyone

A new visual on I-4

There's a rather noisy brouhaha bubbling away just east of Tampa, Florida, along I-4, beside Bates RV. Intrigued by the Cadillacs resembling Stonehenge in Texas, Mr Bates, a long-standing Airstream dealer, created a similar 'sculpture', using several Airstream trailers placed vertically in a straight row. Florida has many unusual man-made sightings that are fun to seek out, and this one should be added to the list - as it may have a limited duration. Local newspapers and TV stations are having a field day with local residents complaining that it's an eyesore. For us RVers, it's rather a fun visual.

Happy traveling!

Oops!

This morning I opened my shades to see a fellow frantically working on his hitch. He had a 26' Laredo tag and was pulling it with a half ton pickup truck. The RV was light enough to be pulled by the truck, but my guess was that he didn't double-check his connections when he hooked up and his truck and trailer parted company when he made his first turn!

The owners of this motorhome also had a bad hair day with this mishap at a Flying J Travel Plaza near Tampa, Florida two years ago. The parking lot was packed and they had already hit two vehicles, when they tried to drive around them. Instead of pulling forward, they shifted into reverse, driving backwards over a berm and through an alligator fence by a canal. (Their undercarriage was a mess.)

We also had an unwitting surprise on our way to New Orleans to help out after Hurricane Katrina. A passing truck driver signalled that something was wrong with the back of our new fiver - when we stopped we found the fresh water tank laying on I-55, with precious water all over the interstate.

Of the three incidents, we were probably the most fortunate. We have a CrossRoads Cruiser, and the good folks at CrossRoads (in Topeka, Indiana), worked with us until our unit was properly fixed. They really went the extra mile on our behalf. I delivered hundreds of RVs in the 4 years I was a solo transporterand saw some factory horrors, but never lost a large water tank.

When I saw the RVer with the Laredo (another well-made brand that won't break your bank account), I realized he had omitted one cardinal rule of a safety check. When hooking up to leave, he didn't take the extra few minutes to check that the hitch and receiver were connected properly. We were always taught to crank the leg up higher than it started to be sure the ball didn't pop out. Apparently, this chap didn't do so. From the outside his unit appeared to be fairly new - but looking further it appeared it had just been well taken care of. Unfortunately he bent the post. Luckily there was a Camping World fairly close by where he could get it fixed. Hopefully he had good insurance.

The couple with the motorhome was another matter. Their unit was new - they were taking it home from the fantastic Tampa RV SuperShow. Again, I hope they had good insurance. It certainly wasn't an event they could laugh about any time soon.

Fortunately, such mishaps are rare in the RV life. But we do need to remember to go through all our checks when we hitch up and leave. Antennas are frequently left up (uh oh - I can put my hand up for one of those!); cords and hoses aren't always disconnected (embarrassing, but a good laugh later); we've all forgotten to put SOMETHING away inside and opened our doors later to some interesting results.

Many of us keep journals of our travels and share some of our interesting stories around leisurely campfires at night when our work is done for the day. We sometimes sound like fishermen with their stories about 'the one that got away'. We're a good breed of people.

Resume Cards for Workamping Resumes

Workampers enjoy a flexible lifestyle. Many of us are retired (or getting close but want to travel in a cost-effective manner). A few have positions with their summers off and this is an ideal way to travel the country and earn a bit of money to pay for expenses.

Quartzite, Arizona and Lakeland, Florida host job fairs and seminars in January through the great people at Workamper.com.

Another good source for being noticed is at RV shows. Many campgrounds and resorts have booths and most are eager to discuss possible positions to potential seasonal employees.

I create 'mini-resumes' highlighting our strengths which we leave with prospective employers. Even if we are asked to fill out a work application, we still give them a card to staple with the paperwork. When we get call-backs, the business cards always mentioned in a positive way. They like the 'mind-joggers' after talking to so many people throughout the shows.

Inevitably, employers request images of our rigs and ourselves. Here and on the left side are four of the cards I've created for us - two joint cards, and individual as there are times when we may work in different neighboring locations.

We belong to Passport America - a wonderful half-price campground service which promotes beautiful campgrounds throughout the country and who give us credit when our name is mentioned.

Likewise, Workamper.com also credits us when new members sign up and mention us. On this card I was able to add those elements along the side of the card without totally drowning it out.

These are also a fun, inexpensive way to trade addresses with the new friends we meet in our travels.

Most photo editing programs offer an assortment of business card templates. They are a great way to start creating your own. Clip art can also be utilized, but the personal cards, such as these seem to gain a more positive input. I create ours without templates as I enjoy creating my own.

There are many papers on the market for printing perforated cards, but occasionally they don't line up properly. If you have problems getting them within the perameters, consider setting them as a 10-up setting, then print them on high quality photograph stock and cut them out with a paper cutter. It's considerably cheaper, and they look professional. (All the warehouse clubs have great photo paper that's ideal for these.)

Remembering September 11, 2001

This past summer we worked at Timothy Lake Resort in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. On Sept 8 we took the ferry from New Jersey to Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty.

As I stood in the Registry Room at Ellis Island, I was emotionally hit by A disturbing mental image.

To my right, Lady Liberty stood tall & proud through the beautiful windows. Ourforefathers looked at her with renewed hope when they migrated to the U.S. all those years ago. That statue stood for hope, freedom and fresh starts. For many of them the trip leader been arduous and horrific, crammed into the tight steerage holds of trans-Atlantic ships. (New arrivals with enough money, not only sailed in comfortable cabins, but were also spared the dehumanizing experiences of Ellis Island.)

To my left, stood the New York City skyline, minus the World Trade Center. On that morning, September 11, 2001, we not only lost American citizens. some of whose parents, grandparents, & great-grandparents originally reached this beautiful New World via Ellis Island-but also visitors. Visitors from other countries. some of whom were brutally murdered by thoughtless mercenaries from their own country. Those deaths affected Mankind worldwide.

Returning home that nightI felt an intense need to create an image that the sights and absent buildings had evoked deep within me. This was one of three results. I 'ghosted' the Twin Towers to where they once stood, proud and tall . Our flag was borrowed from an image I took in Clewiston, Florida. the New York skyline was taken through one of the upper windows on Ellis Island, and Lady Liberty was captured on the ferry.