How to start? Most of my healthcare has been in the US, and a large part of that provided by the US Air Force while I was active duty. I also got some non-US health care while stationed overseas, and again after starting my fulltime RVing career. I’ve seen doctors and dentists all over the country. You know what’s pretty much guaranteed? Waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

It’s gotten to the point where if I’m in a doctor’s waiting room for 30 minutes past my appointment time, I get up and walk out. Lately, I’ve expanded that to include the exam room. You know the trick. They call you in from the waiting room and show you into the exam room, where you continue to wait. There are way too many options out there for me to put up with that.

Now let’s talk about what put a big smile on my face this week. I had a dentist appointment to get another crown. I showed up early out of habit. At precisely the appointed time, I was called in from the waiting room. I was taken directly for my X-ray. As soon as the X-ray was completed I was in a chair where they started applying a local anesthetic. I don’t recall how long the entire process took but there was NEVER any waiting involved. It actually took awhile to realize what a unicorn of an appointment I just had.

And here’s the kicker. That dentist is in Mexico. Not only was my time treated as valuable but it also cost far less than comparable treatment in the US. I know there are many Americans (typically those who haven’t traveled) who think medical and dental care outside the US sucks. Because, well, they’re not American. These people are either blind or uninformed or both. So many US doctors and dentists were either born in a foreign country or went to med school in a foreign country. One more thing. I still get to file a claim with my US based dental insurance. I’ve done it before, and so has my wife. I’m sure they appreciate paying a percentage on a much lower amount.

You hear a lot these days about how the current generation just doesn’t have the work ethic of their parents or grandparents. I really don’t know if that’s true or not. I want to talk about business ethics, or lack thereof.

I’m getting ready to start a project on the RV that involves total replacement of a slideout floor. Instead of paying a dealer several thousand dollars to do it and live in a motel for a week, I decided (after much careful thought) to tackle the job by myself.

The slideout in question is 12 feet long by 4 feet deep so a single sheet of plywood isn’t going to hack it. Somebody very familiar with woodworking advised me to use baltic birch plywood, which is typically not available at big box hardware stores. I started off calling building supply stores near me. The first place I called wasn’t sure if they had that particular type of plywood but helpfully advised me that plywood comes in different thicknesses (1/2″, 3/4″, 1″). OOOOOkay. Scratch that place.

Next I called a place called Texas Wood Supply in Donna, TX. I was initially impressed with their helpfulness. They told me up front that they didn’t have any in stock but would call me back the next morning to confirm whether they could special order it. Much to my surprise, I got a call back in about 20 minutes. This time they told me they had a similar plywood in a smaller size to see if that would work. I reconfirmed that I was only looking for full size sheets of baltic birch. Then he had a few followup questions. He wanted to know how many sheets I needed and whether I would need to make continuiing orders. Out loud I told him that I needed 3 sheets for a one-time project. In my head, I was thinking I would never hear from them again since it wasn’t recurring business. He politely told me he’d call me the next morning with more info and we ended the call.

After waiting 2 days with no call back, I called another lumber yard several hours away in a large metropolitan area and got the info I needed. 6 days after talking to the local lumber yard, I wrote a 1 star Google review for them.

The very next morning I got a phone call from someone’s personal cell phone. It was the employee from the local lumber yard calling to apologize for not calling back. I told him his apology was worthless since it took a 1 star review to make it happen. I also think it was pretty crappy that the manager or owner was too cowardly to call. So, there’s my rant about business ethics today.

Instead of computer printers or shoes, I’m going to talk about clutches this time. No, not the lady’s purse thingy. The mechanical thing that you need for a manual transmission. For those of you unfamiliar with my rig and unable to read my mind, I’ve been towing since 2006 with a 2006 Dodge RAM 3500 with a manual transmission. That engine is bullet-proof but with 260k miles, I’ve had my fair share of other problems.

The factory clutch lasted much longer than it should have. One diesel mechanic in FL advised me that my flywheel was cracked but I was pretty sure he was wrong. A few years later a Dodge mechanic told me I needed a new clutch. I believed this one but thought I had more time to get it done. Well, that clutch failed on the interstate while I was towing to the sugar beet harvest. I already had an appointment for a transmission shop at my next destination so that just got moved up a few days. They replaced it with a brand name I’d never heard before but it was cheap.

Much sooner than I expected, I felt the need for another new clutch. This time I was in the Rio Grande Valley. I contacted an independent mechanic and dropped off the truck. Before work started he had texted me a picture of the new clutch and it looked very heavy duty. We left TX and headed northwest to Washington state where I started leaking transmission fluid. The Dodge dealer up there pinpointed the problem. I had also advised him of the recent work on the truck. After inspecting it thoroughly, he advised me that some of the parts had NOT been replaced. That was the beginning of a saga that took several months for me to get my money back. Anyway, with the leak fixed I was on my way again.

Within a month or two, the clutch that was never actually replaced failed. My choices for repair work were rather limited. There was a local NAPA mechanic who replaced it with a NAPA clutch. Again, not my first choice but expedient and cheap. When we left Washington we had a few mountains to drive through and I felt the clutch slipping on some of them.

Just last year, I took the truck to a Dodge dealer in South Dakota for a water pump replacement. They got me fixed up same day and the mechanic just mentioned in passing that my clutch was starting to fail. That is NOT what I wanted to hear. I couldn’t find anyone in the local area to install a new clutch before I left so I rolled the dice and kept driving. Tried to find someone in northwest Indiana but the shop I picked didn’t have a lift big enough for my truck. Tried again in FL and thought the quoted priced was too high.

I remembered that Dodge service advisor in Washington state had recommended a particular clutch to me and I looked for that online. Turned out it was a company in TX, our next destination, so I rolled the dice again. We made it to TX and I order the clutch kit. It was definitely more expensive than the last two clutches but you really do get what you pay for sometimes. Found a guy in San Antonio to do the install. He confirmed that my old clutch was very near failing. Boy am I happy with the new Valair dual mass flywheel clutch kit. It just feels solid and it really grabs. There have been numerous times I’ve left a stop sign or stop light and heard the tires squealing a little. I have high hopes that it will feel just as good while towing.

Just for reference, I’m writing this article in my late 60s.

Way back when I was a teenaged Airman First Class in the Air Force I underwent an eye exam as part of my annual physical. I already knew I was partially color blind but this time they wrote a prescription because my distance vision was just slightly sub-par. Within a week I was issued a pair of Air Force issue spectacles, fondly nicknamed ‘birth control glasses’. I tried them on once, didn’t notice any real difference in my vision and tossed them in a drawer, never to be worn again.

For the rest of my time in the service, they never tried to give me another pair. Whatever state I was stationed in, I passed the DMV vision test without problem. I also qualified on a few different firearms without the use of corrective lenses. After my service time, I started working in the computer field and that’s when my vision finally got bad enough to get my attention.

At first, it was just near vision that I could easily correct with readers from WalMart. I routinely kept a pair at my workstation but otherwise didn’t need them. After getting out of computers and into workamping I came to rely on them more. While working as a piler operator at the sugar beet harvest I needed to carry a pair with me just to read numbers off a machine operating time counter at the beginning and end of every shift. When working for Amazon, the readers came in very handy to read the fine print on my hand held scanner. At this point I still didn’t think my distance vision was too bad although I could tell it was getting a little worse.

During my last stint with Amazon I was a traditional employee instead of a CamperForce seasonal temp. I still only planned on working for about 3 months so during new hire orientation I signed up for the vision insurance. I found a local optometrist and almost walked out of the exam room in the first two minutes. My distance vision was much worse than I expected and seeing blurry letters was not comforting. I got my new prescription and found an eyeglass store covered by my insurance. I was pleasantly surprised that I could choose from any frames in the store and progressive lenses were covered for 2 pair. I got one clear pair and one pair of sunglasses – and almost immediately regretted it. Several people told me that it would take awhile to get used to the progressives. Well, I gave it a few months and never did like them, mostly because of the intermediate parts of the lenses.

By now, I was convinced that I needed to wear corrective lenses but I no longer had vision insurance so I started looking for stores with deals. I found one with a BOGO in effect and got two pair of lined bifocals, both clear, one with slightly more area for distance. I wore those for a few weeks and still had problems with my eyes drifting into the wrong area. Back to the store, hopefully for the final time. I still had my readers scattered around the RV so I opted for single vision (distance) glasses, clear and sunglasses. I’ve been much happier with those. I’ll hang onto the bifocals just in case I work at an Amazon warehouse in the future where I use a scanner.

There are many subjects that I’m fairly knowledgeable about, and a few that I have a great deal of knowledge about. There are also some subjects that I’m pretty clueless about. Like many others, my first stop for answers is usually the Internet, either Google or a Facebook post. While I’ve gotten some very good answers, there are also some stinkers lurking out there, often cleverly disguised as very authoritative. I’ll give a couple of recent examples I’ve seen.

First, there was a FB post about the dangers of RV travel with the propane on. The accompanying video, however, showed a burning RV parked among other RVs (probably on BLM land in AZ). I immediately disputed the premise of the post since it showed only stationary RVs. One lady actually tried a novel, but stupid, argument. None of the RVs had simply materialized in that spot so you should certainly blame travel. The guy who started the post responded and we traded comments. Along with my common sense and RV experience, I also included a link to a very authoritative article on RV propane systems. To his credit, he read the article and revised his position. He was also preparing a video on RV propane safety and asked permission to include my name in the video as a credit. No prob bro, but I didn’t write the article.

Another post was written by a FB group admin. She was warning people about travel in high wind conditions expected at the time on the east coast. Her sole piece of advice was to ‘tuck in behind a semi’. A few other people pointed out that was a very dangerous practice before I got involved. She merely edited her original post to state that she was NOT advocating tailgating. That wasn’t good enough for me. Reading through some of the other comments, there were other group members who thought she was an authoritative source simply because she was the group admin. I sent her a private message asking her to remove her comment since some people would see only that and take her terrible advice. She declined. So I posted a link (as a comment) to another source that discussed what to do as an RVer during windy conditions. None of their suggestions included tucking in behind a semi. Not surprisingly, she couldn’t let that go so we started trading comments publicly. She asked if I wanted to moderate the group since I apparently had the time. I responded that I really didn’t have the time but thought the topic of saving lives was important enough to make the time for this subject. I fully expected to be booted from the group but was very surprised that she actually removed her post.

I could go on with other examples but I think y’all get the point. Even well intentioned people on the Internet can be wrong, sometimes dead wrong. You need to do your own due diligence, apply some common sense and make up your own mind. Sometimes you should maybe even pay an expert in the field for a professional opinion.

Finally! That really turned out to be an epic project. After arriving in the RGV I had no desire to jump back in and there was really no rush. My first priority was tires. I still needed to replace 1 wheel and tire entirely, and needed to get a recalled tire replaced. Plus a few minor things like wheel bearing dust covers and center caps for the wheels that came off.

It’s a good thing that etrailer https://www.etrailer.com/ had an exact replacement wheel for my RV because the local dealer wanted about 3 times as much for it. So I ordered that and a new tire to go on the side of the RV that already had the wet bolt kit. Everything came in within about 10 days and I got the spare stowed in its rightful place under the trailer. While I was swapping tires I did notice that I’d used an incorrect bolt in one place and got that corrected without too much trouble.

While I was doing all this I was also trying to get my recalled tire replaced. According to the national distributor there was a nearby Midas shop that could take care of me. I visited in person and the manager made it sound like the tire would arrive in 2 days. I gave it 5 days before calling him back and got a wishy-washy explanation and a distinct hint that I should just wait for him to call me. Naturally I ignored that hint. After I had received the tire (same brand/size/model as the recall tire) that I purchased online I called him back, patiently let him give me the same line of BS, then told him I’d already ordered a tire for a different reason and there was no excuse for him not getting my recall replacement. He thanked me profusely for that additional information and swore he would call me back in 15 or 20 minutes. That was about 3 weeks ago.

During that time I contacted the national distributor again and explained my problem. They offered me the option to buy the tire on my own and get reimbursed (with certain documentation). I’m so glad I bought the recalled tire from Walmart online since I was able to get the receipt from their website. Anyway, getting that replacement tire was the catalyst to continue the wet bolt kit upgrade on the other side.

With both tires off, I was able to get the bolts in the equalizer replaced pretty quickly. I did NOT make the same mistake as the other side (removing existing brass bushings) and that made the job much easier. The remaining 2 bolts for the ends of the leaf spring were a bit more challenging but still doable since I had quick access to a vise. The new dust caps and center caps got added before putting the tires back on.

Color this project done, and on to the next one!

This will probably be my last hike here in Utah, at least for this year. It was close by, just a short drive from the RV. I might have walked or ridden a bike to the trailhead if I’d known about their pricing. It’s $10 per vehicle, up to 8 people but only $4 per person if you walk or ride in. AllTrails listed this one as moderate to strenuous. There’s several hundred feet of elevation changes. At the start of the trail that’s done via switchback trails. If you do the optional Sleeping Rainbow loop, those ups and downs are more straight forward. BTW, that loop had pieces of petrified wood scattered all over the place. Just out of curiosity, I picked a piece up and it was surprisingly heavy.

My planned departure from the RGV was delayed by several weeks due to getting Covid vaccinations. My age group became eligible and I was lucky enough to find a clinic that had cancellations. Figuring in the 2 week wait for the second dose, I eagerly got my first shot. The second dose at the same clinic was delayed but I was able to find an opening at a local WalMart and saved a few extra days by doing that. I’m happy to report that I suffered ZERO side effects from either shot.

Since my departure date was chiseled in Jello, I hadn’t made any reservations although I did have a short list of places to stay depending on how far I felt like driving each day. My first day drive was supposed to be a short one, just up to Ft. Sam Houston RV park in San Antonio. I assumed that at this time of year there would certainly be open sites for me. Just in case, I called 2 days prior and discovered they were booked solid. I would have to bypass a commissary trip and a stop at an old favorite Chinese buffet there. I found another small RV park less than 1 hour NW of San Antonio and headed out.

After my last 2 trips in the RV, I was very apprehensive about mechanical breakdowns. Maybe doubly so since I had personally replaced 2 leaf springs. I was absolutely relentless about checking my sideview mirrors for signs of trouble. Anytime another vehicle (especially 18 wheelers) passed me, I made sure to look at them to see if they were signaling something. As the trip progressed, I worried a little less but it was always lingering just below the surface.

Made it to my first stop in Comfort TX with plenty of daylight left and no problems. The park had a nice, pull through site for me and Dakota and I were able to relax for a few hours before settling in for the night. Naturally, I checked driving distances and options for the next day.

My primary plan involved getting to Littlefield TX for a (free) night at Waylon Jennings Free RV Park. This is a small, no-frills park but they had 30amp and water, and a nearby Sonic restaurant. According to the website, you can stay for 4 24 hour periods without paying anything, $20/night after that. They have donation/payment boxes in the park. Since it was such a good deal, I left a donation anyway. Again, I deliberately made it a short driving day so I had time to relax and eat before going to bed.

I planned to drive to the western side of New Mexico the next day. Depending on how I felt, I had 2 options on my list. But it’s nice to be flexible too. I spotted a billboard for a casino RV park that was in the general area so I called them just to be sure they were open. (One other casino park had closed completely due to Covid.) I was in luck. They were open and had plenty of open spots. All pull through and all full hook up. The only downside was their restaurant. It was still open for dine-in but they discontinued the buffet because of the pandemic. I’m not a gambler but I did walk from the RV park back to the travel center for some snacks. If you don’t like snakes, you might not want to use the shortcut.

The next morning I was rolling westward again, crossing into AZ. I was still relaxed driving, with no signs of anything getting ready to fall off. But a couple of things combined to make my heart drop a little. The first was the radio. There was a commercial on the radio that featured a car horn. Those should be banned, just like the songs that have police sirens in them. With all the other road noises I had to contend with I couldn’t be sure if it was a real horn or not. So I checked the sideview mirror and saw a Class B conversion van very slowly overtaking me on the left. Like they were studying something on my RV so they would know exactly what to signal as they pulled next to me. They finally came even with my window and weren’t even paying attention to me. The driver was intent on watching the road ahead and the passenger had her nose buried in her phone. Just one of those coincidences.

I made it to Flagstaff and left the interstate for secondary roads for the remainder of the trip. I rolled the dice on my next stop and did not make a reservation, figuring I’d be there early enough to snag an open spot. I arrived at Cameron Trading Post very early in the afternoon and had no problem getting a spot. If you’re traveling through the area and want to stay here, I would recommend reservations. It looked like quite a few people were using this park as a home base to visit local attractions, including the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a very pleasant experience dealing with the staff. It reminded me of how most businesses were reacting to the pandemic a year ago. They sanitized a pen before handing it to me to sign the credit card receipt. The park itself is rather small and does not have 50 amp. Some of the RVs were hanging out, either at the front or back of their sites and there were some interesting ruts left after rains. I pulled into a site that I thought would be perfect to get out of in the morning, until someone pulled in next to me and pulled pretty far forward. The next morning I opted to back out of my spot instead of trying that tight turn. During the afternoon, I ordered curbside pickup from their restaurant ( a very tasty chef’s salad), then wandered around a bit. They have a decorated underpass for pedestrians to use.

And on the other side of the highway is a suspension bridge that I couldn’t quite figure out until I walked right up to it. Apparently, its sole reason for being is to support a gas pipeline going over the wash.

This is the part of the trip that got more interesting. Although only a secondary road, route 89 had quite a bit of traffic. There were a lot of RVs even though it’s still early in the season. I had filled up the tank in Cameron but knew I wouldn’t make it to my final destination on that tank alone. I only saw 1 truck stop on this route using my Trucker Path app. I got lucky and spotted a Maverik fuel station in Page AZ that had an RV island. The rest of the trip was much slower than the previous 4 days. Like I said, there were lots of RVs on the road and lots of tourist destinations. While driving on UT-12 there was a warning sign about rock tunnels ahead with a clearance of 13’6″. Well, that got me worrying again. My RV specs say it’s 13’2″ tall but I’ve never measured it myself. And 4 inches just doesn’t seem like a huge safety buffer at 50mph. As I approached the first tunnel, I aimed for the center of the road where the clearance most likely exceeded what was listed on the sign. I also slowed down, rolled down my windows and held my breath, all in the hopes of hearing any damage to the first rooftop AC unit in time to stop and save the second AC unit. Made it through both tunnels without a scratch and pulled into Escalante about an hour later. I’ll be here for a month, putting in minimal hours for my site and hiking the local countryside as much as possible.

Some of you may have wondered how RVers do their laundry. It’s a valid question. For the recreational RVer with several kids getting dirty every day, they might be miles from the nearest laundromat. And what about the fulltime RVer?

As it turns out, either could use the laundry facilities at the campground or RV park where they’re staying. Most places have washers and dryers available at fair prices. Of course, they come with pros and cons, some justified and some not. Let’s start with the pro arguments. They’re very convenient. Many times, you don’t even have to drive to it. Just load up a laundry bag, grab your quarters and walk to it. Again, many also have soap/bleach/dryer sheet dispensers available. It gets you out of the RV for awhile and you generally have a table available to fold clothes, if you’re into that. Can you remember the last time you cleaned your personal washer and dryer? Probably not. The machines at campgrounds and RV parks are typically cleaned on a daily or weekly basis.

What about the cons? Well, especially at a campground that caters to kids, many people want to do laundry at the same time. You might have to come back to start your load. Or you might have to deal with one of the rude people who don’t stay with their laundry. They typically think their time is more valuable than everybody else so their laundry will sit in the machine for an hour or more after it’s finished. Feel free to remove those loads and just place them on a nearby table.

If you’re close to a town, even a small one, you can generally find a commercial laundromat. These are great if you have a lot of stuff to wash. They have multiple machines and sometimes even machines capable of handling multiple loads (for an increased price). This can be a real time-saver, especially for large families. And while you’re in town, you can always restock groceries when the laundry is finished.

And now we come to the part of the discussion that almost always generates lively debate – putting a washer and dryer inside your RV. Most of the larger RVs you see now are plumbed for laundry and you have a few options. Both of my 5th wheels were plumbed for washer and dryer but I never seriously entertained the thought using those areas for the intended purpose. Others absolutely must have their own washer/dryer with them when traveling. Some love the convenience. You can do laundry on your terms, without worrying about others or facility hours. Some also claim that they would never use a commercial facility because somebody else’s germs/dirt might still be in the machine. Whatever!

Regardless of the reason, once you’ve decided to have onboard laundry, you still have choices to make. I’ve seen some units that could accept a full sized washer and dryer, just like you see in a house or apartment. That would be great if you have lots of laundry at once (like with kids) but you would need to be camping with full hookups for that. A washing machine will fill up a gray tank rather quickly.

I’ve also seen units where the space was designed for a stackable washer/dryer. If you haven’t done any small apartment living, you may never have seen one of these units but they do a fine job, although the loads would be slightly smaller than a conventional washer/dryer.

And last (and certainly least in my opinion) are the all-in-one units. That’s right. Just one machine to wash and dry. I’ve never looked at these seriously since most comments I see online talk about the very small loads they can handle and the very long time it takes to complete just one load. That being said, I’ve finally figured out a situation where a unit like this would make sense to me. Drumroll please! A nudist park!! You still have clothes, towels and bedding to wash but there’s really no rush to do any of it and the loads would be very small to begin with. I just recently realized this since I’m staying at a nudist RV park and noticed how long it takes me to generate enough dirty clothes for a visit to the laundromat.

I was recently asked if I ever had time to sightsee since I also work. The answer is a qualified YES.

I have to mention here that since I’m not independently wealthy, fulltiming is NOT a constant vacation. There are periods of work and periods of relaxation. Even during the periods of relaxation, life just happens, especially maintenance on an RV.

I also generally abhor tourist traps. I consider them overpriced, overcrowded and overhyped. There are far too many things to see in this country without standing in long lines or paying exorbitant prices. I offer the following examples.

While hiking in the Black Hills, I missed a trail marker. I didn’t finish the planned hike that day but my detour did allow me to see a herd of bighorn sheep and a cloud-wreathed mountain peak.

While riding an exercise bike next to the Banana River in Florida, a dolphin swam right up to the sea wall. I quickly dismounted and slapped the wall. That dolphin made another pass and turned on his side to get a better look at me.

I’ve seen beautiful sunrises over snow covered fields from the cab of my sugar beet piler.

When I’m jogging or walking, it’s much easier to get close to deer.

Also, while walking I’ve seen bald eagles and swallowtail kites. Some of these have even been in developed areas.

I guess the point of this post is to say that worthwhile sights are all around us. They don’t require planning or tickets, just a willingness to get outside and keep your eyes open.