On to Illinois

Smoky's mom and much of his extended family lives in southern Illinois and just over the river in Missouri. We were lucky enough to find a small trailer park in a town near Smoky's mom where we could rent a spot by the month and thereby have a place for our little home on wheels whenever we needed to be close by.

Our great spot at our trailer park.

Tuesday afternoon, after a rather bumpy trip on the interstate between Paducah and Illinois, we arrived at our new lot. Bill, the trailer park's maintenance person, and Grace, his mom, greeted us and helped us get set up on our spot.

We had a great first visit with Smoky's mom in the afternoon, but because a really large storm was brewing, we headed to the grocery store and the local Walmart and then back home to prepare dinner.

The storm was everything predicted, with strong winds, heavy rain, and power outages. Fortunately, our electric power returned very quickly, but even as the evening nears midnight, it is still raining. Tomorrow promises to be a great day.

--Shann

Paducah Here We Come!

On Monday, July 19, we headed west on I-40, driving through Nashville and north to Clarksville, with Paducah, Kentucky, our first stop. We had a reservation at Duck Creek RV Park, where Smoky had wisely asked if they could give us a slot we could drive through rather than back into.

We arrived around 5:30 in the afternoon, with plenty of time to get set up before dinner. It was different this time, given that we couldn't run back home for whatever we forgot. All the planning Smoky put in paid off. We had all the parts and pieces needed. And we got to use my great bamboo clothes line!

Smoky outside our trailer at Duck Creek RV Park.

I learned some lessons regarding dinner prep: mainly, plan ahead and remove what you want to eat from the freezer before the last minute. The microwave doesn't work quite as efficiently as our larger one at home. But we did eat, eventually, and it tasted pretty darned good, especially the chocolate cake!

After dinner, I walked around the campground, which was almost full! The sun had gone down, but the temperature was still in the 90s with humidity just as high. This made us both really happy to have a trailer with air conditioning.

Before bed, we showered at Duck Creek's very nice clubhouse, figuring one last experience in a large shower was OK, given that the rest of our trip showers would be in our little trailer. Early Tuesday morning, the sun was bright and hot. "Welcome to the midwest," said Smoky.

--Shann

Heading Out of Town

Our first "real" trip in our trailer was planned for Sunday, July 17. We spent quite a number of days making more improvements and planning what we wanted to pack. Smoky created a multi-page checklist of everything we needed to remember to do before a trip. Checklists are good things at any age, but they are especially helpful at our age. [Now if we could just remember where that checklist is...]

Friday we plugged the unit in, turned the refrigerator on, and started making piles of items we wanted to carry with us. I finished the laundry and tried straightening the house. Saturday, we began the process of fitting everything into the trailer's storage spaces. By the end of the day, everything was ready. The refrigerator and freezer were stocked. We were ready to leave Sunday morning.

Smoky and I both tried to get to bed early on Saturday night so that we could leave Sunday morning. Keep in mind that "early to bed" for us means midnight, and "leaving Sunday morning" means anytime up to noon!

On Sunday, we finished the last minute packing, said goodbye to the cat, hitched the trailer to the truck, and headed down the driveway. Halfway down, we both exclaimed at the noise the trailer was making. Smoky said that it felt as though the trailer was pushing the truck down the road. At that point, we realized that the brake controller was not working at all. Rather than take a chance on this 500-mile journey with no brake controller, we turned the trailer around and returned home. Sigh.

Pathway Auto and RV, Knoxville.

It was quite a letdown to be so ready to leave only to have to turn back! I had even made the bed! There wasn't much we could do about the needed repair until Monday morning when Pathway Auto and RV was open.

I took a nap, always a good option when you aren't sure what to do. Monday Smoky called Pathway as soon as they opened and drove the truck over for repair. Fortunately, they realized what the problem was (the electrical ground wasn't adequate to support the load) and fixed it quickly. By noon on Monday we were on the road!

--Shann

Where do we go first?

Where are we?

It's our first trip in the new camper, and we choose a beautiful location. Our own driveway! Our Pathway Auto and RV friends recommended camping at home in the beginning, and I'm really happy we did. I can't tell you how many trips we both made back to the house to get just one more item or two that we needed.

Pasta with veggies (top); chocolate cake cooked
just fine in the convection oven.

Once we figured out all the steps required to get the propane cooktop to work, reheating leftovers for our first dinner went pretty well. The broccoli I steamed was a bit undercooked, but by day 2 our pasta and veggies dish turned out just fine. Our unit has a convection/microwave combination that I wanted to test. That first night, all we did was preheat the oven to see whether it actually reached the temperature indicated. Just as had been reported on the forums, the actual temperature and the indicator on the oven didn't match. At least I knew how much to adjust. Testing gave me confidence to plan a cake for day 2 in the trailer!

Sleeping that first night in the trailer was interesting. Not a lot of sleep was involved for me, but that's not unusual for new places. In addition to adjusting to a new bed, we also had the air conditioner running. No option there -- temperatures were high and the humidity even higher. By the end of the second night, the noise of the AC wasn't as noticeable and the bed slept much better!

I have to admit that I cleaned the little trailer and packed up the perishables with a bit of sadness on day 3. Our test run was complete. It looks like we will be able to live quite comfortably in our home on wheels!

--Shann

Preparation days

We somewhat foolishly thought we would have our trailer on the road just a day or two after we got her home. That couple of days turned into much longer. Once we looked over the inside and outside of the trailer in more detail, we found lots of little things we needed to do and even more "important" accessories we needed to buy.

Smoky was in charge of the outside (thank goodness), and I'm sure I won't remember all the things he did. Two really cool things were made with bamboo. The first item was a hook he added to a long bamboo pole so he could pull items from the middle of the pass-through storage out toward the door. Bamboo is light-weight, always a plus in a setup like ours, and it doesn't take up a lot of space.

The next item was a clothesline. Because condensation is an issue on the inside of a trailer, we knew we needed a way to hang towels to dry outside. Our back bumper wasn't being used for anything else, so Smoky bought some short tubular metal, open on both ends, that he painted black and clamped between the bumper and the trailer. When we need the clothesline, we drop a large bamboo pole into each holder. These large poles have a really cool loop system in two places, into which small bamboo poles can be inserted. Instant clothesline! I'll add a photo when we take one.

I'm amazed at how many power cords, adapters, hoses (both for fresh water and emptying and flushing black and grey water tanks), tools, buckets, etc., are needed to live on the road. Fortunately, our CampLight has a fair amount of outside storage space.

Inside, Smoky added aluminum tubing supports under the shelves in the floor-to-ceiling storage cabinet. This cabinet is great for storing food supplies, now that the shelves don't sag in the middle!

During the prep period, we read the LivinLite Owner's forum and other trailer forums, hoping not to make every new-owner mistake ourselves! There were a number of entries regarding the shower, most of which encouraged the purchase of a better shower head. That sounded like a great idea. We settled on an Oxygenics shower head that guaranteed more water pressure without using more water. It installed easily and actually delivered on its promises.

Another entry in the forum said you couldn't have too many Command hooks. The inside of our trailer is Azdel, a remarkable lightweight material that is not affected by water leaks. Using stick-on hooks was our only option. I used several in the kitchen area to hang up utensils that I need for cooking. Now that Smoky found some Command strips designed for wet areas, we are adding some in the bathroom for hanging hand towels and washcloths.

Once I decided which sheets, blankets, towels, shower curtain, placemats, napkins, dishes, glasses, cups, and cookware we needed and got everything moved into the trailer, we were almost ready for our trial run trip!

--Shann

Let's get acquainted!

Once we were back home, we were anxious to meet our new trailer. Dave at Pathway Auto and RV was eager for us to see it, too. In fact, he said he thought he was as excited about it as we were!

I was amazed at how many things have to be done to a trailer once it arrives at the seller's. We were again delighted with Pathway. They have a well-experienced maintenance staff, and they didn't mind at all that Smoky called every day with a new request. All during the time we were waiting for our CampLite to arrive, Smoky and Michael, the owner, or Dave were collaborating over one must-have item or another.

By the time we were ready to drive it off the lot, we had some terrific accessories (such as a backup camera on the trailer, a weight-distribution system on the hitch, a brake controller installed in the truck, an easy-to-reach drain in the fresh water tank, covers over the exhaust fans, and I'm sure lots more I'm forgetting).

Dave (left), Shann, and James (right) with our CampLite at
Parkway Auto and RV Center.

James, our maintenance specialist, had the patience of Job and kept smiling in spite of the ever increasing requests for things to do. He even took the time to pose with me and Dave beside our new tiny home on wheels.

Home at last!

On June 24, we signed the final papers and drove our CampLite off the lot. Smoky and I were a little anxious, but the trip home went smoothly. More importantly, we made it up our long, steep driveway with no problems. We had spent quite a few long, hot hours trimming bushes along the driveway to make sure nothing would cause damage to the top of the trailer. The last part of the trip was backing the trailer up an incline and into its garage. Even that went very well. Smoky managed the backing perfectly.

Next: outfitting the trailer so we can spend our first nights in it!

--Shann

Choosing a trailer

Once we decided that buying a travel trailer was a good idea, we began the process of finding one. I wanted something small, thinking that smaller meant easier to tow and maneuver.  Smoky, at 6 feet 2 inches, wanted one with enough head room that he could stand up in the shower. Picky, picky, picky...

We fell in love with the Oliver, a sweet fiberglass trailer made in Howenwald, Tennessee, but being in love wasn't quite enough when it came to the bathroom. Smoky's head hit the ceiling even without shoes.

We made the rounds of travel trailer sellers in our area but really didn't see anything we liked very much. Then Smoky found Pathway Auto and RV, a small dealer right on the line between Lenoir City and Knoxville. Pathway carried a line of trailers called Livin Lite, and Dave, our great sales person, told us how well constructed these units were. They had a 16 ft. CampLite unit on the lot, and it was impressive. Constructed with an all-aluminum frame, the trailer is ultra-light and easy to tow. Inside, the construction was far above any we had previously seen.

Smoky especially liked that he could stand up in the shower! When Dave showed us photos of a 21-foot model, Smoky had found his new love.

We placed an order for our trailer, hoping it would arrive in time to take it to Smoky's mom's in June. This has been a great year for trailer manufacturers -- with the price of gas lower, lots of folks are getting the bug to go trailering. Our trailer came off the assembly line in mid-May, but there it sat, lonely and sad, waiting for someone to bring it to Tennessee.

Our June trip to see Smoky's mom was made sans trailer, but it arrived while we were there! Dave sent us a message saying it was one great trailer, complete with dinette slide-out and color-coordinated with our trailer! Now we're talking!

--Shann

New phase to our excellent adventures!

It has been a while since I posted to this blog. After Scotland, it took us some time to recover <grin>, and then the holidays were here. By spring 2016, we decided that we needed (drumroll, please)... a travel trailer!

If that seems a little over the top, given our age, I find I must agree with you. But there are some pretty sound reasons for embarking on the trailer life.

1. We want to make more frequent trips to see Smoky's mom. 
2. We figure we can "save" some money. Every time we go, we pay a lot to stay in a motel. 
3. A trailer gives us a way to cook. In the past, we eat out almost every meal, and for two folks who rarely eat out, that gets a little old.
4. Having a trailer gives us a reason to plan some short trips in our local area and hopefully even some longer trips in the U.S.

You probably noticed that I used quotation marks around an important word in item 2. We had to use "funny math" to conclude we would save money on this adventure. As long as we don't include the cost of the trailer, number 2 works! We told our son it was part of his inheritance!

I left out the two most important reasons for purchasing a trailer: 

1. Smoky got more excited over this trailer than I've seen him in a long time. That is worth a lot.
2. Getting a trailer forced us to clean out our storage garage. And that, my friends, is priceless!

Stay tuned for a photo of the trailer and a little about how we purchased it.

--Shann