A few months ago, I realized that the valve on one of my 20 lb propane cylinders would only turn fractionally. Of course, I discovered this shortly after I filled it. I started checking into valve replacements and soon realized that it would be more cost effective to just get a new cylinder. While exploring different options, I reconnected the cylinder in the RV. Surprise!! It opened just enough for gas to flow so I could at least get use of the existing propane.

When the cylinder finally ran out of propane, I headed down to the nearest L&M Fleet Supply store for a new cylinder. As luck would have it, they were right next door to a Tractor Supply that could purge and fill the tank. And that’s where the unexpected lesson took place.

I’ve been a certified propane dispenser for a few years, with actual training from the state of FL, so I was familiar with the purging requirement for new cylinders. Well, things have changed over the last few years and this cylinder had a sticker on it that said it had already been vacuum purged. Great! One less thing to do. The guy from TSC hooked up the hose and started pumping propane. At any other time, I would have insisted that he open the spit valve for safety reasons but since this was a brand new cylinder I let him proceed. Lo and behold, the OPD (overfill protection device) on this brand new cylinder did NOT work. He put over 5 gallons of liquid propane in that cylinder before shutting off the pump himself. Under normal circumstances, the OPD would have cut off around 4.8 gallons (max). So in this instance, bypassing normal safety procedures alerted me to a faulty OPD on a brand new cylinder. The propane guy bled off excess propane and I made arrangements with L&M Fleet Supply to replace the cylinder. When I got the replacement I was sure to ask the guy to leave the spit valve closed to check the OPD.

I’ve been thinking about this post for awhile and decided to actually write after seeing some YouTube videos. Those videos involved travel trailers being towed down the highway and swaying so much that they eventually caused major accidents. In each case, the TT would have been a total loss for insurance purposes.

Many people think RVing is a happy go lucky, carefree way to see the country whether it’s for a vacation or as a way of life. Whoa! Not so fast. I’m just going to discuss the traveling part of RVing, not the actual camping part of it. And of course, my perspective is that of someone towing a large 5th wheel RV with a one ton pickup truck.

I’ve been doing this now for about 15 years and had my share of problems while driving. What I hadn’t considered until just recently is how lucky I’ve been. I’ve always maintained emergency roadside assistance and, while it can be problematic in some situations, it has certainly saved my bacon on many occasions.

One of the more common, but still dreaded, problems we face as RVers are flat tires or blowouts. My first flat tire on the 5er happened on a secondary road in central Florida. There was nothing dramatic about it. I felt and heard nothing so I have no idea if it was an actual blowout or if it started as a flat and progressed to the tire shredding. I only knew it happened because I was watching my side view mirrors and noticed small black debris kicking out behind the RV. I found a safe place to pull over and walked around the RV. I found a tire that was more gone than there. What was left was wrapped around the axle. I placed my call to roadside assistance and gave my location and problem. While waiting for the mobile mechanic, I got the spare ready and made some minor repairs where the tire had beat up the RV wheel well. Assistance arrived within 45 minutes, cut the old tire off the axle with a hacksaw and mounted the spare. All things considered, fairly painless.

I’ve heard first person accounts of far more chilling incidents of wheels coming totally detached from the axle and rolling down the highway alongside the tow vehicle. How would you like to see that in your mirror? And then there’s the people who experience blowouts on the front axle of a motorhome or tow vehicle. Those are trickier because you need to immediately do something that’s counterintuitive. Your brain is probably screaming at you to hit the brakes as the vehicle veers to one side or the other. The proper way to handle this situation is to accelerate just enough to keep the vehicle going in a straight line, then start gradual braking to get off the road.

I’m not a mechanic so I never even thought about this next problem, until it happened to me 3 different times. I’m talking about broken axle hangars. They’re welded to the frames of towed RVs and keep the axles in the correct position. Again, although the break downs were inconvenient and cost money I could have put to more fun uses, I was very lucky each time (2 different 5th wheels). The first 2 times, I discovered the problem at interstate exits where I could get fast assistance. The first time I noticed lots of blue smoke in the mirror as I was exiting the interstate. I stopped on the exit ramp to investigate. About all I knew for certain was that 2 tires were rubbing together. There was a large truck stop at this exit so I slowly pulled into their lot and parked. There was a trailer and tire shop just across the street. I spent the night in the RV in that truck stop and walked across the street first thing the next morning. They sent a truck to align the axles enough to drive it across the street, welded the axle hangar and put a new tire on. I was on my way within a few hours. The other 2 incidents were fairly similar. It’s like I was surrounded by 4 leaf clovers.

How about clutch problems on the truck? Inconvenient? You bet. Lucky? Also true. One time my clutch stopped working as I was coming down a stretch of interstate called Dead Man’s Pass. There was a rest area at the bottom that I was able to get safely into. Another call to roadside assistance. They found a mobile mechanic who came to the rest area and had me back on the road within a couple of hours. The second time was definitely more involved. I had to get my truck and RV towed to the nearest big city. I already had campground reservations and the roadside assistance covered that tow 100%. The truck cost me a little extra since I wanted a different transmission shop to do the work instead of the closest one. Once again, my travel plans were only delayed a couple of hours. The transmission shop was within bicycle distance of my campground (where I was going to be for at least 6 weeks anyway) and a new clutch was installed within a week.

I could go on with a few more personal examples but I think you get the drift. As I said, I’ve been very lucky, or at least I think so. Others may not be so lucky. I see internet posts all the time from younger people who still need to work for a living but they want to ‘live the RV lifestyle before they’re too old to enjoy it’. These are usually the same people who have to start a Go Fund Me page when they encounter problems, or stand on an interstate exit ramp with a ‘God bless’ sign, or beg relatives for help getting a new set of tires. Folks, I’m not making any of this up. I’ve seen evidence of each of these situations.

I guess the moral of this post is: RVing is NOT all rainbows and unicorns.

I thought my trip from SD to KY was a helluva trip. This trip said ‘hold my beer’. I was able to leave Campbellsville a day earlier than planned and got to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville AL without any problems at all. It was a good idea that I looked closely at Google maps routing before I left KY. It would have had me on a very narrow, winding back road, just like it did on the way in. I avoided that stretch and the associated white knuckles that accompanied it. I had to call Redstone from a rest area to make sure they could take me a day early and all was good. I didn’t even have to stop for diesel. One tank lasted the entire way. Maybe there’s something to short driving days after all.

So, the plan was to stay at Redstone Arsenal until the day after Christmas. Usually I prefer driving on major holidays because of lighter traffic. This time, the memory of my last trip was still very fresh. I really didn’t want to break down on Christmas day, or New Year’s for that matter and take forever to get help. I spent a few days in Huntsville relaxing and even managed to visit a Chinese buffet that I’d been to before. Pulled out on the morning of the 26th and made it about 15 miles down I-565. A car pulled up next to me and started motioning towards the back of the RV and also pointing to his nose. I immediately started checking mirrors and slowing down. I was able to stop in a safe place at the next exit to figure out what was wrong. That spring hanger weld that cracked in Arkansas? Yep, it cracked again in Alabama. Maybe I just need to stay out of states that start with A. I started making phone calls looking for a mobile welder. After several fruitless hours, I broke down and called my roadside assistance. They couldn’t find a mobile welder but offered to find a tow truck that would put the 5th wheel on a flatbed. Well, they failed at that also. I was getting ready to spend the night on the interstate when a local deputy checked on me. After I explained the situation, he called a local towing company. They were able to respond about an hour later with a mobile welder. He was very concerned about the propane line next to the hangar so he made a very temporary repair and suggested a local welder for a more permanent fix.

I was able to spend that night in an RV park with electric and water so that was great. The next day, Sunday, I called the welder to get on his radar before he opened on Monday. He actually came to the park on Sunday to look at the RV. I wasn’t able to find another buffet in that town but I did top off the tank with some very cheap diesel. Monday morning I was at his shop at 0700. Besides the spring hanger, he found worn bushings and recommended replacing leaf springs at the first opportunity. I pulled out of his shop with plans to reach Duson LA that night.

As it turned out, I got tired faster than anticipated and only made it as far as Hammond LA. I’d called ahead and they gave me directions to their ‘overnight’ row and said to pick any open spot. I got there after dark and at first it didn’t look like any of the spots had electric. I had to get out of the truck to find very small outlets at the back of the sites. Found one with 50 amp and had to go around the loop again to get to it. Well, I suppose I could’ve backed up about 100 yards but I really didn’t feel like doing that in the dark after another long day. The next morning, I woke up to peacocks wandering around my site. After paying in the office I hit the road again – and made it about 2 hours down the road.

I pulled off to fill up again at a truck stop. While I was looking down the line of the RV, I noticed one of the tires looked low. OK, no biggie. I’m in a truck stop with a big empty parking lot. Plenty of room to safely put the spare on. Then I looked at the other side and noticed the tires rubbing against each other again. I finished filling up and pulled slowly into the parking area. The other side (same side with the broken spring hanger) had a broken leaf spring this time. Oh well, it was still fairly early in the day and there was a trailer repair shop less than 2 miles away. I could limp there without a problem. Unfortunately, they were all booked up and couldn’t help me other than providing a phone number for a mobile tech. The mobile tech was very busy. He managed to get to me just after 4 PM to get measurements on the leaf springs so he could get parts from the trailer shop before they closed. He had another job to finish before he got back to me so I filled the time by walking to the DQ across the street for a blizzard and changing the flat tire. That was the first time I saw a rock embedded deep enough to lose air. The mobile tech returned and replaced both leaf springs on that side and I was able to find another RV park to spend the night just 5 miles down the road in an easy pull thru spot. Early the next morning, I was first in line at a local tire shop getting a new tire.

Back on the road again for Texas. By this time I was hyper sensitive to any problems with the rig. I cringed a little every time a truck passed me, just waiting for them to signal another problem. Sure enough, after leaving the interstate for a state highway, a trucker signaled me to look at the back of the RV. One of the nice things about Texas is that they have ample shoulders on their highways so I immediately pulled over. I walked towards the back of the RV like a pedatory animal, eyes looking for anything out of the ordinary and nose sniffing for burning rubber. None of the tires were rubbing or low on air. I crawled under and didn’t see anything broken. I searched for another few minutes and couldn’t find anything wrong so I hopped back in the truck and continued driving. A few miles down the road, I remembered that I’d just changed a tire recently but didn’t use the torque wrench on the lug nuts or check tightness after 50 miles. I pulled off at the next truck stop and got the 1/2 inch ratchet out. Sure enough, some of the lug nuts weren’t as tight as they should’ve been. Maybe the trucker spotted a slight shimmy on that wheel. On to my next scheduled stop, a place to lay up until after New Year’s day. It was a nice enough park, lots of live oaks. They escorted me to my site, avoiding the low hanging branches on the way. I had hoped to get the leaf springs on the other side replaced at a local shop while I was here but they were either closed or couldn’t get the parts for several days. My biggest problem at this park was a split sewer hose which was easily repaired and fire ants that were displaced by heavy rains.

I left that park very slowly and carefully to make sure I didn’t hit any limbs and made it to my final destination without any further problems. My assigned site for the next few months was a 90 degree back in spot, which shouldn’t have been a problem except the permanent residents around that site had ‘stuff’ that came right to the edge of the road. Due to that ‘stuff’ I couldn’t make it from the good side. Had to go around the block to come at it from the other direction. Oops. Couldn’t make the last turn because of previously mentioned ‘stuff’ too close to the road. Had to back out of that turn to the next intersection, go around the original direction, but back down the street from there. I was very fortunate to have a 5th wheel neighbor assisting with spotting and suggestions. Without much further ado, I got into the spot, auto-leveled and started relaxing. The weather was great for setup.

We left the farm on Labor Day morning. It was 15 miles before we got to the first paved road. I was pleasantly surprised at the good conditions of the back roads and lack of Covid checkpoints going past the Rosebud reservation. Got to Grand Island NE in plenty of time to find an empty site in the country park. We spent a very relaxing 2 days there and even found a Chinese buffet in town that was open.

On to our next stop in Peculiar MO. That was a nice park, also a 2 day stay. On the drive there, I noticed some errors on my brake controller for an open short, resulting in no trailer brakes. I looked at a few different things and found a broken wire at the rear driver side brake. Checked with a local auto parts store and an RV dealer and neither carried the connector used by the factory, so I just used a wire nut to reconnect the 3 wires. Jean sat in the driver’s seat and tested the brakes and everything looked good. Right up until we drove out. The first time I applied the brakes it showed the short again. At various points of that day’s drive, I got intermittent results from the brakes and definitely wanted to get a technician to look at it.

Fortunately, our next stop, in Alma AR, was a campground attached to an RV service center (Crabtree Service Center). The campground part was less than impressive but the service center was able to look at the rig bright and early the next morning. During the course of troubleshooting, the tech tried to activate the breakaway switch. It was extremely difficult to pull out but when it finally came out the 2 wires coming out of it started smoking. Then the wires in the junction box started smoking. So, the next order of business was to replace the breakaway switch and do some rewiring in the junction box. After taking care of that, the tech moved under the RV to check the wiring at the axles. He noted my repair, then happened to catch a glint of more bare copper. After fixing that part of the wiring, we were on our way again, heading for Crater of Diamonds State Park.

For about 25 miles. 2 truckers beeped at us and signaled to pull over. I really wasn’t sure about the first one but after the second I pulled onto the shoulder just before an exit. Walked around the RV and smelled burning rubber on the curb side. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the rear axle had broken a weld and moved just enough for those 2 tires to make contact. They had both lost tread (which I imagine the truckers saw). A few more miles at highway speed and they might have both blown out at the same time. While I was crawling around under the RV, Jean was checking her phone and found a Love’s truck stop at the very exit we stopped at. I slowly limped off the interstate and around the back of the Love’s. It was NOT one of the larger ones with their own mechanics but there was a local truck repair shop (https://exit-37-truck-services.business.site/)just behind them. We pulled next to the building and the owner said he could probably get somebody on it within the hour. He was true to his word and had a welder underneath the RV (after I turned off the propane and purged the line). 2 new tires later and we were back on the road. We didn’t make it as far as planned and stopped at a former KOA in Morrilton AR. If you have any other choices, do NOT stop there.

The next morning we drove to an RV park just south of Little Rock. I wanted to stay close to the city because I needed a new toilet seal set and they had a Camping World. We drove in, armed with a Thetford part number, but Camping World couldn’t find it in their computer system. I knew something was wrong because I’d seen it online. I called another RV service center from their parking lot and provided the make and model of the toilet to see if they had the seals. The response was that they probably had it but I should bring in the old one for them to find it. Thanks, but no thanks. I went back into Camping World with their item number on my phone. They could find that. Back to the campground for a quick toilet repair. Turned out it wasn’t the exact part I needed but was close enough for government work.

The following morning, we’re getting ready to leave, bringing in slides and heard some terrible noises while bringing in the large living room slide. Lucky for us it came all the way in. On the drive to Crater of Diamonds, I decided that we would NOT try to use that slide until we figured out what the problem was. We got to the state park (very nice campground) and quickly discovered the problem with the slide. A corner bracket for the cables had lost the heads for most of the bolts holding it to the wall. Needless to say, we didn’t use that slide at the park. We did, however, try our hands at diamond mining. To be truthful, the park should probably not allow mining by tourists during the pandemic. They would not rent any equipment, or even show the videos on how to do it properly. There were a number of people who do this as a part time job or hobby. They showed up equipped with their own shovels, buckets and screens. Buying all that for ourselves for one day would’ve been a terrible waste of money. We did buy 1 screen downtown and used 1 of our own buckets and a claw hammer. The odds of finding a decent diamond are right up there with winning the lottery. The trails were enjoyable and they even had WiFi in the campground.

On to our next leg, a campground in Yuma TN (https://www.pcrvpark.com/) that also provided repair services. We arrived about 2 in the afternoon. The owner (who does the repairs) was available right away and the bracket was reattached before 5 PM. Oh! While he was inspecting the damage, he found a wasp nest in the upper corner of the slide, which would explain the number of wasps I’ve seen inside over the last few weeks. This place was also very nice. We wanted to stay another night but they were booked solid, only able to offer us an overflow site next to the maintenance shed.

Our final leg was a relatively short drive to Campbellsville KY for my Amazon Camperforce gig. This leg featured absolutely zero mechanical problems but Google took us on some country backroads that were barely able to accommodate us, especially when passing a semi in the opposite direction. Our site was ready when we arrived and big enough to put the deck out. Now it’s just a matter of making some money to pay for the repairs and sock some away for the coming months.

Maybe the title for this one should have been “Lack of travel”. Jean and I were discussing our future travel plans yesterday and decided to try extending here in Gulfport since Ft. Sam Houston RV park (our next planned stop) has a strict 30 day limit. Turned out to be a very good decision. Last night I checked out the closure list again on http://militarycampgrounds.us

Ft. Sam was now showing up on the list of closures. I checked the post website to verify and it was confirmed there. I guess they’ve been very busy and reduced their hours since I didn’t get a call cancelling my reservation.

Current Navy policy says no new reservations until May 11 but current campers can extend until May 11 so that’s what we did this morning. Who knows what will happen between now and then? We may be better off heading north in early May but we’ll see what the commercial RV park situation looks like as we get closer. Until then, we’re safe and sound on the Gulf Coast – just bored like many other folks.

We’re definitely in uncharted waters now folks. When I first heard about the coronavirus it was restricted to a small area in China. Quite frankly, I didn’t see it as much of a threat to my health or way of life. Then it started spreading around the globe. The first cases in the US were reported. The medical experts were given more air time and talking about how bad it already was and how much worse it could get.

At that time, we’d already settled in a military RV park in Mississippi. As the pandemic progressed our life started changing. The governor closed the casinos so Jean couldn’t gamble anymore. People were inexplicably stockpiling toilet paper and paper towels. Still, we were OK. We still went to the movies on senior discount day. Sometimes we were the only ones in the theater. The local ice cream shop was still open so we had the occasional treat.

Then it ramped up another notch. I haven’t checked the movie theater but all the restaurants terminated their dine in option. You could still get stuff for takeout or delivery. The commissary on base started rationing everything to combat the hoarding. They also said only military ID card holders could shop, so Jean now has to wait in the truck 🙁

Ramp up another notch. All across the Navy, RV parks were cancelling future reservations. This also happened at some Air Force and Army installations but it seemed to be more selective. State and national park campgrounds were closing. PA decided to close all of its rest areas. Some governors directed the closing of non-essential businesses. Unfortunately, they decided that RV parks and campgrounds were non-essential. That made absolutely no sense to me since motels and hotels were considered essential. The camping lobbies quickly went into action and appealed that decision in 4 states. For full-timers and traveling workers, these places are essential. For others, it’s a way to get out of congested cities and practice an excellent type of social distancing.

If we didn’t already have other plans (financially booked), we would probably stay put while things shake out. So far, I’ve checked with our overnight, enroute park and our destination park. Both are still open for business. With any luck they’ll stay that way until we get to San Antonio in a few days. What comes next is anyone’s guess. Our current plans are to stay there for 1 month but if there are more lockdowns we could be there longer.