5,000 Miles Later v. 2.0

Well, with another 5,000+ mile trip under my belt, I learned a few more things and confirmed a few more things. My original plan of boondocking around Ouray was put off due to road construction that had the road south of town closed too much of the time to make it a very workable plan. That being said, I really enjoyed the full hook-ups at a modest cost at Ridgway State Park. I stayed for a second time at Onemile Campground up Taylor Canyon from the small town of Almont, between Crested Butte and Gunnison.

Reference Material:

I am not going to go into detail about things covered in other posts, but for a point of reference, here are the other threads:

WiFi and Cell phone booster set up details: http://www.tab-rv.com/forum#/discussion/1359/when-you-cant-get-away-from-it-all/p1

Questions about setting up dual GC batteries: http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/1419/golf-cart-battery-set-up/p1

Battery set-up video: http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/1728/dual-golf-cart-battery-set-up-video/p1

 

What went well:

• Battery: Battery upgrade to dual GC batteries made the trip go much better. Not only did I have plenty of juice, I think it seemed to charge with more efficiency. I am still trying to gauge the efficiency, but I was able to run the fridge on battery while driving with seemingly little impact on the battery capacity. One night I had the fridge on propane, I ran the fan for a while and watched about 3 hours of TV (Walmart parking lot) and still was at 12.5v in the AM. I still used my AA battery starry lights and GZ Lighthouse 250 lantern in lieu of drawing power from the lights, but I might forgo the lantern in the future. Those starry lights do an excellent job of providing quality ambient light. I used my GZ Sherpa 50 to charge my phone using my Qi wireless charging stand and my GZ Yeti 150 to charge my Surface Pro 3. The 50 watt solar panel on my TV roof did a great job providing a small charge before I took off in the AM while traveling or when I stopped for lunch.

• Water/Waste Management: I spent 5 nights total (2 on the way out 3, on the way home) in Walmart parking lots. I also spent 6 nights at a state park. The I was able to get 6 nights out of the black tank and it never did fill up completely. I used the toilet at bed time, middle of the night, and first thing in the AM. I was fairly liberal with frequency during those times. Needless to say, I was pleased to get that much out of it before dumping. I also utilized free dump stations at the fairgrounds in Montrose, CO and at rest areas along the highway. I used my fresh water tank for showers and used a separate water jug to flush with and drank bottled water. I really do love the Happy Campers tank additive. I could really tell it had nicely dissolved the paper and waste when I dumped (clear elbow.) The 40 oz jar I got last year will last for quite a while.

• Fridge use: I alternated the fridge between on and off to conserve battery while driving, but I am not sure how much longer I will need to continue to do that with my new GC battery set up. I switched immediately to propane when stopped for a meal or overnighting at Walmart. The fridge blew out once on me at  Walmart during some strong winds. On propane, the food kept nice and cold. The frozen water bottles that I started out with are still frozen. Fridge success was a huge relief after a rougher start last summer. I used the fridge on propane several times when overnight parking or breaking for lunch in parking lots that were not perfectly level.  It seemed like the more frequently I used the fridge on propane, the faster it ignited for me.

• New axle tires: Not much to report. The extra height is nice. Removing the tire is awesome. I went through one dip in an intersection of a paved city road that would have scraped the tire before the changes I made.

• WiFi Antenna: I was able to use the Ubiquiti Nanostation in my car, powered by the GZ Yeti 150, to catch WiFi from a hotel in Montrose, in order to watch my nephew’s football team’s game on my Surface Pro 3 on the Watch ESPN app one week. It worked great. I didn’t really mess with it other than that on this trip.

• Cell Phone Booster: I have already posted a little bit on this, but one thing I did to boost my reception was to put the magenetic mount on a clip with a magnet and clip to the keder rail. It worked very well. I only use the booster in my T@b, so it could stay put. I also use one of these clips for my small TV antenna. I was able to pick up at least a few stations with the TV antenna at all of my Walmart stops. This helped me get local weather. An app only gives you so much detail. The local meteorologist, generally provides more detail.

• Weather: Speaking of meteorologist, hat’s off to the Colorado Daily Snow for helping me decide to stay put and extend my stay in Ridgway long enough to catch snow on the peaks. If I lived in Colorado, I would be following this weather blog. I don’t live in Colorado, and I follow it, anyway. 🙂 I did not need to winterize as temps where I camped stayed above freezing. I went to Colorado to beat the heat, but the heat mostly followed me.

• Towing mirrors: If you are not using them, get them now. The safety improvement is ‘uge! I use these, from Amazon.

• Overnighting at Walmart: I spent 5 nights overnighting at Walmart parking lots. I loved it. I generally pulled in between 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Twice it was during mad rain storms, so the refuge was welcome. I felt very safe and slept quite soundly. Pro tip: use Bing or Google maps streetside views to preview the area where you will stay and read the Yelp reviews. I pre-saved a number of sites along my route and those came in very handy.

• Gas Buddy App – I used the Gas Buddy app to find the cheapest gas in the area. It was a big help.

• Cortana – I used Cortana to remind to unplug the battery from the TV and to turn on/off propane. I also would use it remind me to pick up items I needed. (Ex: remind me to pick up allergy medicine the next time I am near any pharmacy.)

• Fastaway Chain Up: recommended by someone here (I forget who), this simple device is a great solution for those with long tow chains who have concerns about twisting the chains.

A couple of questions that came up:

Why did I find my CO2 monitor beeping sometimes after I had been driving for a while? Windows, doors, and fans were all shut and locked tight. My TV recently passed its emissions testing. Is it just road fumes? It did not happen last year, so this is somewhat perplexing.

Where do you get fresh refills of fresh water when on the road? Not a single gas station or rest station, outside of OH , seemed to have fresh water fills. I was able to fill at campgrounds and make do with that, but would like some ideas for future trips.

Two very minor issues:

The receptacle for the door prop latch on the door came unscrewed. I simply put the screws back into the holes. I will need to re-apply caulking, however.

The shade/bling on the passenger side continued to get off track/unstrung. It’s not like I am rough with these and the factory supposedly replaced it when I was in for warranty work last winter. I am going to have to call them for directions because it is still not right.

The Paha Que Visor XL & Wind

It does not hold up to the wind, no matter what Paha Que says. Period. That being said, I still love it.

Closing

I had the pleasure of lunching with a couple of fellow T@bbers in Gunnison as well as meeting the another couple of T@bbers  in Ridgway. Both were absolute delights and I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures! What was I (not) thinking??? I also saw a T@b cruising into Ouray on my way out of town one day (silver, yellow trim.) In addition, I am continually blown away with the very friendly and helpful people who reside in Colorado. The trip was completely awesome and I am thankful, again for safe passage

I was, once again, convinced that the T@b was the right purchase for me. I wheeled it around on my concrete pad site in Ridgway to give myself a mountain view and found it very easy to set up and tear down camp.

T@b on!