Indie On the Road

Category: Equipment

Reviews of equipment we use on our trips.

  • When You and Your Dog Need a Ride

    Stranded with no Car – What’s a Dog to Do?

    We are on the road travelling, and needed repair work done on our RV in Barkersfield, CA. So, a few questions come to mind: where do we stay in the meantime and how do we get to and from, particularly with our go bags and our dog?

    We located several nearby hotels that were pet friendly. However, several had sketchy ratings and almost all charged $50 per nite for the dog. I figured that price was a bit much. Fortunately we found the Vagabond Inn, which had raving reviews and a more reasonable dog rate.

    For getting to the hotel, there was no problem. CampingWorld had a staff member drive us to the hotel which only a 1 1/2 away. That was nice. We got their and spent the night.

    The next day, we were told the repairs were going to be completed and we could check out. We inquired about a ride back but had to wait a few hours. I thought I would check to what other options there are if we did not have friendly transportation by CampingWorld. Here is what we discovered:

    • Walking – Although the distance between CampiingWorld and the hotel was a little over a mile, there was a ton of traffic and the road noise would scare our dog.
    • Uber – only service animals can be transported
    • Taxi – Jesse (owner) answered our call to Azteca Taxi Cab in Bakersfield. He adds a pet fee based on size: $10 for up to 12 pounds and $15 for over 12 lb. Seems reasonable to me!

    As this situation turned out, our friend Tiffiany at the hotel offerred to let us stay in our room after the check out time to wait for our ride from our friends at CampingWorld in a few hours. Nice! It that hadn’t happened we would certainly would have set up a transport with Jesse!

    Thank heavens there are options and friendly and undertanding service people!

    Dog Friendly
    Dog Friendly

  • RV Levelers Not Working

    Our rig’s levelers stopped working the other day. Fortunately we discovered this when trying to level verses trying to retract.

    RV Levelers
    RV Levelers

    I crawled under our RV and discovered a wire hanging down in front of the rear tires. The inside control panel showed no power.
    We had driven on some rough roads duting the previous few days, which could have caused the issue. Looking on youtube, I discovered other people had issues with the ground wire connector for the leveler control component (mounted on the middle of the chassis with the fill reservoir in front of the rear tires). The common cause was corrosion. That’s what I figured this was.

    So I disconnected the house battery, and crawled under to find the connections. Sure enough, one end of the cable was still bolted to the chassis with the other end dangling with a broken o-connector on it. So I had to hunt for the original connection with the other half of the o-ring.I found a – (neg) pole on the side of the leveler component and carefully loosened the bolts to reveal the other half o ring. By the way, make sure you have a spray can of a rust lubricant. It can be difficult to loosen rusted bolts under the rig. I had a can of PB Blaster, which worked great the rusty bolts I encountered.

    Broken ground cable

    The cable looked like a battery cable – it was 4-gauge 24” with o-ring comnectors at both ends. I called one of the auto parts stores and that turned out to be be the best source – already made up and about $10. An easy cost-effective bolt-on solution. Yeah O’Reilly Auto Parts of Yucca Valley, CA!

  • Monument Grill

    If you want a travel grill that is sized-right for a few travelers, here’s a grill worth looking into.

    Monument Grill
    Monument Grill

    Highlights include:

    • Competitively priced
    • Easy to order
    • Great documentation and all the parts
    • Easy to assemble
    • Sized for easy storage
    • Setup is simple – place it on a table and connect the gas
    • Excellent customer service

    We considered several grills, such as Weber and Camp Chef, but decided to go with this Monument.

    Delivery and Installation

    We purchased the grill and a separate bag to store it on Amazon.com. The grill was well packaged with all components and easy-to-follow instructions.

    Monument Grill with components
    Components and instructions packed inside grill body.

    Assembly was easy. Simply, follow the few instructions.

    Testing

    When you’re ready to test or use the grill, connect the cable to your propane tank.

    The grill has automatic start from the control knobs, but you can also use a match holding tool that is attached to the drill botton to manually light the grill if necessary.

    I pressed and turned one of the burner controls until the it lit. Amazing blue flame, barely coiuld see after light, but you could feel the heat.

    Easy to disconnect and the grill will be easy to clean when I start using it.

    Storage

    As I mentioned earlier, we purchased a canvas bag with a zipper to store the closed grill. everything fits neatly in a storage compartment on the RV.

    A Few Additional Tips

    This grill throws off some heat. You don’t want to place it on a vinyl-topped table. Metal is better like the neat fold-up table we purchased.

    If you plan on connecting your grill to a stand-alone propane tank, you’re fine. It includes a hose, regulator, and connector to attach to a standard 20 lb. propane tank. However, if you planned like us to connect the appliance to the external, low-pressure propane port on our RV, you won’t be eating tonight. The standard hose won’t work.

    Upon that discovery when I was testing everything for our travels, I called Monument Grill Customer Support and asked what I needed. The customer service rep said, “I get this call about every other week.” So obviously, a common conumdrum for us consumers.

    He was not only pleasant, but he was prepared. Within seconds, he messaged me a couple links to the instructions, fittings, and hose components I would need. And all with Amazon links! Now in few days, I can quickly install the components and will be ready to do some grilling!