Our planned trip has finally started. Thanks for friends helping us with our plans and watching our house, we can finally leave on our search for America.
We left today, after battening the hatches, updating the smoke detectors, and getting the house ready for winter. NH to White River Junction, VT, and on to Williamstown, MA. Our mindset was to stop wherever and whatever picqued our interest.
So, on day 1 we stopped in Plymouth, VT, to visit President Coolidge’s families Cheese Factory.
Coolidge Family Cheese Factory
Wonderful family history, and still making great cheese. Easily gets my 5-star approval.
And then on to Weston, VT to see the Vermont Country Store.
Vermont Country Store – Weston, VT
Admittedly my expectations were high, since I had experienced a REAL country store in Moultonboro years ago when I met my wife, which had a real Concord Coach on display, and a big pickle barrel in front of all the unique candies you can imagine as a kid, and all the gadgets unique to country living. Tough to beat.
Yes, I was really disappointed. But what do you expect? With everything made in China now, and few local products on show, and the tour buses streaming in. I am sure the tourists enjoyed walking through the various nicknacks and ending up in the fudge room . But for me, it was a barely a 2-star presentation.
Then, we took a detour to see the longest wooden bridge in VT.
Scott Bridge in Townsend, VT
The Scott Bridge was built in 1870. Exceptional. 5 stars. Get out of your car or RV and walk the length. Amazing!
Once you get an RV, you want to start exploring. But you also need to have a plan for general maintenance and occasional repairs. This includes knowing what you might run into with getting your state inspection done in as timely fashion.
Rig size, Scheduling, and Herd Mentality
When we purchased our used Entegra Odyssey, it came with a temporary plate – just like any other vehicle. I called to set up a state inspection, and discovered it wasn’t necessarily an easy process.
Even though the RV is a class C, it is rather big for most service garages. Ours is about 12.5 ft tall. As I found out by calling a local shop, standard shop doors cannot accommodate that size. The shop owner referred me to a couple of shops that might be able to do it. Two were RV businesses. Whereas normal scheduling for a car or truck might take you a couple of weeks to get in, both places couldn’t fit us in because of the season. It was August and, of course, everybody (yes, herd mentaility) who has owned a rig knows you’ve got to line up early for winterization.
Be Prepared to Do the Repair Yourself
The State inspection for RVs isn’t cheap. It’s about twice the price of a car inspection. And heavens if there is a problem where service labor and parts are required.
In our case, everything passed the inspection except 3 out of the 5 LED marker lights were burned out (I thought LEDs were supposed to last forever). The estimate was that it would take 2 weeks to get the light bulbs at $7 a pop plus shipping. They could schedule out about 3 weeks, with the labor expected to be a couple of hours at a hefty $175/hr. And that was if they didn’t run into any problems.
The price and schedule seemed a bit out there from what I was expecting. Who knew, maybe it was because of the shortage of available workers. In any case, I figured it was only a few light bulbs. How hard was it going to be to fix those? I’d already done that on my cars.
Well, it turned out that these bulbs were LEDs and not covered by your local auto parts store. Not to be deterred, I called the manufacturer of the RV and got the part number. Better yet, they gave me the type and manufacturer of the part and their part number. I called the manufacturer (Jupiter Lighting Group) and could get the bulbs for $3 per pop, plus shipping within a couple days. According to them, it was a simple job to pop out the old bulbs and connect the new ones. Sounded good to me, so I ordered the parts.
A few days later, I was on top of the rig, trying to pry out the bulbs. I had to pry them out with a small pry bar and a screwdriver because the RV manufacturer had injected some sort of putty in the mounting holes, which was solid as a rock. Apparently, nobody in manufacturing thought of who would have to change out these bulbs later down the line.
But I was relentless. Finally, using a pair of surgicle hemostats (yes, they come in handy) I was able to tweeze out the wire without it breaking to remove the bad bulb, connect a new one, and make sure it worked. After finishing all three, I went back to the shop and finally got the official State Inspection sticker. Yeah!
BTW, look for more blogs about general maintenance. I know there will be more repairs on the horizon.
When you are learning something new, it can be beneficial to use a checklist that provides the key steps to successfully accomplish the task. There are numerous examples of checklists already available online for RVing. For example, you might find “15 Tips on How to Setup Your RV” from RVLifeStyle.com useful. Or, how about “The Ultimate RV Camping Checklists for 2022” from Crazyoutdoormama.com?
Why not design your own? Keep it simple, short to the point. For each task you need to do, create a checklist and post it where you can see and use it every day. Then, update it as you learn how to do all this important stuff for keeping your trip exciting and enjoyable, and, of course most importantly, less stressful!
Although there is a lot of information out there about traveling with pets, I’ve found there’s still some information that is missing or hard to find. For example, I know there are some timeshares that allow pets. Expanding on that list is hard.
How about you? What roadblocks are you running into as you plan your travels?
Tell us. We will research them and report back to you..
If you want a travel grill that is sized-right for a few travelers, here’s a grill worth looking into.
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.
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!
