Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey

We’ve just returned from our latest—and for many purposes—our last camping trip in the Aliner Scout. This is our farewell.

Eighteen months ago, we launched “Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey” with a grand vision of buying an electric truck, probably a Rivian, to two a trailer we’d equip with solar power. We still don’t have a truck, and the latest estimate for when one will arrive is still months in the future.

We didn’t let this stop us. We bought an Aliner Scout camper we could tow with our Chevy Bolt EV. We added solar panels and a 200 amp-hour, 2.5 kWh lithium battery, along with a top-of-the-line inverter/charger and charge controller. After months of research and education, we installed the panels, battery and all the rest ourselves.

Along the way, we shared our journey with you, including our many woes. We hope the challenges and problems we faced helped you or someone else to avoid some of the pain we experienced.

The pinnacle of our journey was a 1,000-mile trip we made towing our little RV with our little ev along the southeastern coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina and back. What a blast!

On that trip, we were able to go five out of seven days without plugging in the trailer, operating on solar and battery power. And plenty of people told us it couldn’t be done!

While we won’t be posting here any longer, you can follow Devin’s podcast and newsletter here.

We’ll genuinely miss you. We’ve loved building relationships in the real world, from random folks we’ve met at charging stations who share what they’ve learned from our videos to our podcast and YouTube friends who’ve invited us to be guests on their shows. We’ll miss you all.

Thank you for the kindness, support and patience you’ve shown us. We’ve learned a great deal from you!

Now, good luck on your solar electric trailer journey, whatever it may be to you!

P.S. The Aliner is now for sale.

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We are excited to report that our little Aliner Camper is back in business!

You may recall that a blowout left our rig out of the game. We were surprised by how long it took to get the little popup camper trailer back in service.

Here’s a recap of what has taken so long.

Step 1: Insurance

We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly State Farm received our claim and processed it, sending us an estimate of the cash required to cover the repair, net of our deductible. That entire process took only a week.

Step 2: Find Someone to Do the Repairs

It took about three weeks for us to find someone willing and able to do the repairs. One challenge for us was that there are no Aliner dealers in our area. Not only wasn’t there a dealer with a repair shop we could automatically call, few of the repair shops around were familiar with Aliners or interested in the sort of repair we needed.

Step 3: Find Parts

Of course, finding parts wasn’t our job, it fell to the team that agreed to do the repairs. Not having done much Aliner work, they didn’t have a good supply chain in place for those parts. It took about a month for them to get the parts ordered and then another month for the parts to arrive.

Step 4: Get Permission From the HOA

The next challenge, with parts in hand, was to schedule the work. We hadn’t fully appreciated when we found a team willing and able to do the work that they didn’t have a facility to do the repairs. Their plan was to use our driveway. Our HOA didn’t think that was a good plan, so we had to apply for a waiver of the rules. That application process pushed the repair out another month. The HOA was gracious and quickly approved the plan.

Step 5: Do the Repairs

Last week, in our driveway, the team did the repair. They did a great job cutting out about 10 percent of the floor of the trailer and replacing it. They sealed everything up good and tight. Critically, they took out all the solar power electrictronics and put it all back in. Not surprisingly, it looks like they did a better job than we had done as novices.

Next Step: Go Camping!

With our trailer repaired, we’re planning a little excursion for next weekend!

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We haven’t talked much about the Aptera we’ve pre-ordered, so we thought we’d use our newsletter, podcast and YouTube show this week to explain the seven reasons we pre-ordered one of these solar-powered EVs.

The Aptera is a solar-powered, three-wheeled vehicle enclosed like a car (so you’ll frequently catch us calling it a car) but regulated more like a motorcycle.

Reason #1: Extreme Efficiency

We expect the Aptera to be the most efficient vehicle on the road. With 10 miles per kWh of range, the little EV will be 2.5 times more efficient than our Bolt and five times more efficient than the Rivian electric pickup we’ve ordered.

Reason #2: George Jetson Style

Devin says the first thing that came to mind when he saw a photo of an Aptera was George Jetson’s flying car. It is that spacey!

We love that! We get that not everyone wants a car that attention-grabbing, but we do. We want to be talking to people about energy efficiency, solar power and Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey.

Even with our Chevy Bolt, we are frequently stopped by people curious about EVs. We can’t wait to drive the Aptera!

Reason #3: Solar Panels

The solar panels on the Aptera can provide up to 40 miles per day of driving! To get that, you’ll need to upgrade from the base model’s limited solar panel coverage to get the whole vehicle covered with solar.

With that upgrade, you could get 10,000 miles (theoretically even more) of free electricity from the sun every year! It is hard to imagine.

Reason #4: The Incredible Range

We’ve pre-ordered the 600-mile range version of the Aptera. The longest-range option will run 1,000 miles on a single charge! Production will begin, the company says, with the 400-mile range option and then move to the 250-mile battery.

The batteries in the Apteras don’t appear to be designed for super fast charging, but that may come. For now, the company promises 40 to 60 kW fast charging (about the same as our Bolt). Keep in mind, however, that given the vehicle’s efficiency, it will be charging 2.5 times faster than the Bolt in terms of miles per minute.

At this rate, the Aptera should be capable of adding 100 miles of range in ten minutes!

Reason #5: Affordability

The Aptera starts at an almost unbelievable price of just $25,900. The version we pre-ordered with all-wheel drive, the full solar package and 600 miles of range still comes in under $40k.

That is an excellent price for a car that doesn’t require charging for routine, around-town driving or even short road trips.

Reason #6: Speed

With the all-wheel drive package, the Aptera will have a 0-60 time of just 4 seconds. That’s fast.

We think of our Bolt as fast with its 7.2 second 0-60 speed. We can’t wait to put the hammer down in the little Aptera!

Reason #7: We’re Invested

Aptera is raising money via investment crowdfunding. We invested shortly after we pre-ordered the vehicle. Today, you can invest as little as $210 via the crowdfunding site Republic.

Let’s be clear about a couple of things here. We’re biased. Aptera can’t make our car until it raises more money. We want people to invest. We’re not financial advisors. Don’t invest because we did!

So, there you have the seven reasons we’re excited to have pre-ordered an Aptera!

Do you need a hook on the garage wall for your EV charging cable? This one might work.

If you’re interested in investing in companies that help address climate change, you may wish to learn more at SuperCrowd23. Subscribers get 50 percent off!

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Last week, we attended the Florida RV Supershow in Tampa for the second time. What a blast! We exhausted ourselves roaming the show occupying the entire Florida State Fairgrounds, climbing in and out of dozens of travel trailers.

We left with a list of 13 RVs we’d consider towing with our Rivian R1T when it arrives this summer. We want a trailer that is in that sweet spot for towing range (weight) and comfort (size). The smaller the trailer, the farther we can go. The bigger the trailer, the farther we want to go. Here’s more of our analysis.

We’ve narrowed the list down to eight models with floorplans and features we like.

Here’s our list, showing dry (unloaded) weight and length.

We anticipate that the fully loaded weight of the trailer will be about 2,000 pounds more than the dry weight. We’ll review them in this order, from lightest to heaviest.

Gulf Stream Vintage Cruiser 23RSS

Devin’s favorite is the smallest trailer that made the cut—not entirely for that reason. The Gulf Stream Vintage Cruiser 23RSS is styled inside and out with a retro feel that Devin loves. The bathroom divides the bedroom from the rest of the living space. It does lack a feature we both want—theater seating.

Venture Sonic 231VRL

Gail’s favorite, perhaps she’d call it a reluctant favorite, is the next up on the list in terms of weight. The floor plan does an even better job than the Vintage Cruiser of using the bathroom to divide the trailer into three private rooms, which is important when we need quiet for work or when we have house guests. Like the Vintage Cruiser, it lacks theater seating.

Forest River Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S

The Forest River Rockwood Mini Lite 2104S is the shortest trailer on the list. With a murphy bed and good-sized slide-out, the trailer feels roomier than we’d otherwise expect. The short trailer would be more maneuverable, too. There is a theater seating option that eliminates other beds for guests or when Gail makes Devin sleep on the sofa.

JayCo Jay Feather 21 MML

The JayCo trailer offers theater seating, a dinette and a sofa/murphy bed set up. Still relatively small among the trailers on our list, we see how this one could work for us. The open floor plan creates a sense of spaciousness but doesn’t provide anywhere to have privacy.

Keystone RV Passport SL 229RK

The distinctive feature about this floorplan is the bona fide wall and doors between the bedroom and the rest of the trailer. It has an option for theater seating that we love.

Cruiser RV Shadow Cruiser 228RKS

The Shadow Cruiser 228RKS is similar to the last trailer but lacks the wall and has a curtain for bedroom privacy. It does come standard with the theater seating we love.

Twilight RVs Twilight Signature TW2280

The Twilight RVs Twilight Signature is the only one in the size range we found with a king-size bed. That’s pretty compelling. It also has theater seating but privacy is limited to a curtain around the bedroom.

Grand Design Imagine XLS 23LDE

The heaviest and longest trailer on our list, it is the only one with two doors—one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. It features theater seating and maximum privacy with a big bathroom dividing the trailer.

We’re not sure which of these we’ll get. Almost certainly, we’ll find a fairly new but used model so we can use the savings to install the solar panels and battery storage we want.

You can help us decide. In the comments, please answer any of the following questions we have for you:

* Which is your favorite?

* Which would you pick for us?

* What else besides weight, length and theater seating should we consider?

* Does weight correlate with durability?

* Does weight correlate with insulation?

We’re excited to get your feedback before the Rivian arrives and we hit the road!

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Recently, we had an experience that will serve as a powerful object lesson for you. While traveling to southwestern Florida to help with recovery efforts following Hurricane Ian, a tire on our Aliner Scout blew out. We’ll not only share the surprisingly bad story but also some tips for avoiding this fate.

The Devastating Blowout

Devin made the trip alone to join a group of volunteers from our church helping people recover after the storm. About halfway, while passing through suburban Orlando, a passenger in a passing car signaled to Devin that something was wrong.

He pulled over to discover the driver’s side trailer had blown. There were few real challenges changing the tire and getting underway. Within an hour, Devin was back on the road.

He called Gail to report the problem noting, “It could have been much worse.”

Upon arriving in Port Charlotte where he “camped” in a church parking lot, he set up the trailer and discovered it was much worse.

It was a rainy day and there was water inside the trailer. The electrical system wouldn’t work at all to power anything. A quick investigation yielded the truth: The blowout did serious damage to the trailer, including large holes in the floor of the cabinet with almost all the electronics.

Everything inside the cabinet was wet; there was debris from the road and from the tire inside. It was a mess.

“I was despondent,” Devin said afterward.

The following day was dry. While Devin worked with the volunteers, the trailer sat in the warm sun drying out. That evening, Devin tried the electrical system and found it operational.

Looking back, Devin admits the first sign of trouble came an hour before the blowout. He picked up a vibration coming from the trailer that he correctly judged to be a problem with a tire. He stopped to check it out at a rest stop but couldn’t see a problem. Nervously, he proceeded—a choice he now regrets.

The trailer is currently out of service and awaiting repairs. It is difficult to get the necessary parts, like the replacement wheel well destroyed by the blowout. While insurance will cover some costs, new tires would have been much cheaper than our deductible.

How You Can Avoid the Same Fate

While there are no absolute guarantees you can avoid a blowout, there are three keys to avoiding one. Two are common knowledge but one we believe is important is rarely considered.

* Tire Pressure. Always check the air pressure in the tires before every trip. We are diligent about this and confident that this wasn’t a factor in our little disaster. Improper air pressure is, however, the leading cause of blowouts—especially under inflation, which increases stress on the tire causing failure at freeway speeds.

* Tread. When a tire is worn out from too many miles, easily seen in the tread, it is more vulnerable to blowing out. Our trailer is fairly old but had seen little use. The tread on the tires appeared virtually new. The tread itself was not the cause of our blowout.

* Age. Our tires weren’t worn out, but they were old. For nearly a decade, they lived outside holding a trailer. They didn’t have many miles, but they’d lived too long in service. We considered replacing them but put it off, another decision we regret.

So keep in mind these three simple tips:

* Always check the tire pressure.

* Check the tread wear before every trip.

* Replace the tires every 4 or 5 years even if treadwear doesn’t require it.

By following these simple steps you like (likely) avoid the sort of disaster we experienced.

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The Aliner Scout A-frame popup trailer roof features four springs, two on each side. The springs make lifting the roof easy. One of our springs broke. We replaced both springs on that side. This is how we did it.

With one spring broken, the Aliner folks recommend discontinuing the use of the RV.

This project scared us. Aliner recommends having it done by a professional. When opening the roof without the bungee cords attached, you can do catastrophic damage to the camper.

To prevent that, you’ll want to open the rig next to your garage or other structure that will block the wind or gravity from grabbing the roof and overextending the hinges.

Before you can do that, you have to disconnect the bungee cords. Do this simply by removing the caulk that hides the screws holding the bungee. Then remove the screws. Save them to reattach the cords.

Before opening the roof, we’d recommend taping the loose bungee cords to the top of the roof to keep them out of the way.

The springs are mounted in holes in the front and back walls of the trailer. The other end of the spring is inside a sleeve about five inches long mounted on the aluminum frame of the roof/ceiling.

To remove the springs, you just remove the sleeve and then pull the spring out of the hole. To remove the sleeve, which is attached with rivets, just drill out the rivets.

Pulling the springs out of their holes takes only a minute or two of tugging with some enthusiasm.

Getting the replacement springs in the hole takes a bit more time and finesse. We found a rubber mallet helpful. Before you remove the old ones, take a careful look at how they are seated so you can put the replacements in the same place.

Once the spring is in position, you can slip the sleeve back into place and use rivets to secure it just the way you found it. We fastened these rivets with this rivet gun.

With the springs installed, you now need to reattach the bungee cords. The key is to create some slack at the end of the cords so you have maximum flexibility and ease. I used a clamp like this one.

With the end of the bungee hanging slack, you can now easily use the same screws and caps to reattach the bungee cords in the same place they were originally attached. Be sure to squire plenty of caulk under the caps before tightening the screws. Don’t over-tighten! Then be sure to add more caulk over the screws and around the cap to ensure a good seal.

That’s it. It really is about as easy as that sounds. Below is the video we found from Rick at Going Nowhere Fast that is helpful. I’d only note that you can save some steps he needed simply by getting the right rivets. Again, these worked.

If you have tips or questions, please leave them in the comments. We love hearing from you.

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Shopping for gifts for RVers can be challenging. We’ve created an eclectic list of things that weight and power-conscious RVers—in other words, most RVers—will use and appreciate.

Everything we’re adding to the list we own and use and recommend based on our experience. A few links we’ll provide are to items like ours but not the same make and model.

By the way, we’re saving the best for last! Check out number 11.

We know you’re—that is, Santa is—busy, so we’ll get right to it.

* Katchy Indoor Insect Trap. This currently $35 item is nearly silent and uses low power. It attracts bugs with dim light, sucks them in with a fan and then traps them on sticky paper. It can operate off USB power; you could power it with your USB backup battery, even in a tent! We love that it works so well and draws so little energy out of our solar-powered battery.

* Kindle Fire. Devin’s been using his 7-inch Kindle Fire for nearly a decade. He loves having it on camping trips. Lightweight and drawing little power, he can use it for hours to read, surf the web, check Twitter, watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and so much more. The new 8-inch model has an HD screen, more storage and a faster processor, all for just $55 (at the moment).

* Small USB Desk Fan. This little guy is mostly about saving energy by avoiding the use of the air conditioner. There are times when it is just too hot to rely on a fan alone, but when temps are in the upper 70s at night, a little breeze can be just enough relief to save power and the noise of the air conditioner. You may want one of these $15 items for everyone in the RV to have their own!

* Electric Blanket. Based in Florida, we’re not doing any cold-weather camping. On cool evenings, we use electric blankets to stay warm rather than using a space heater. Blankets use much less power than a furnace of any sort and, in mild weather, can keep you comfy-cozy while sleeping. When you’re in the rig when it’s cold in the daytime, using it as a lap blanket can make the chill tolerable.

* Collapsible Storage Bins. We bought these bins because they fit perfectly into some of the cupboards in our trailer. We love them because they collapse into a tiny fraction of their volume for storing them when we’re not using them.

* National Park Annual Pass. We’re glad we qualify for the senior lifetime pass. For years before we did, we bought annual passes. They make great gifts. (The NPS doesn’t allow gifting for the senior pass.)

* 50 States, 5,000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to See, What to Do. This isn’t just a great reference book for planning trips but is readable, cover to cover! We’re excited to use it for planning our 2023 trips.

* VacLife Handheld Vacuum. We bought this to help us clean up the RV after working on it. We’ve loved it for that purpose, but also for use in the car and even in some spots in the house we can’t reach with a conventional vacuum. It is excellent for quick cleanups anywhere!

* Ozark-Trail Folding Wagon. You see folding wagons everywhere. Once we got one, we figured out why. They are unbeatable for hauling stuff. You'll want one if you ever need to transport anything while camping! (We found a much better deal at Walmart.)

* GOOLOO Foldable 100W Solar Panel. You know, we’re all about the solar panels. We’ve got 500 Watts of solar on our tiny RV. We love it. This portable solar panel is a great introduction to solar for folks who don’t have any. It pairs well with item number 11.

* Portable Power Jump Starter. We received our unit as a gift. We use it all the time. We use it on every single RV trip. It has saved our bacon a few times! We won’t camp without it. We couldn’t find our unit online, but we did find this Dewalt unit with all the same features.

Those are our gift ideas for 2022. If you have gift ideas, please share them in the comments. Let’s help each other find great gifts!

The holidays are rich with meaning and significance for all of us. Giving the perfect gift is a great way to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

You mean the world to us. We send our love. Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! Blessed Kwanza! We wish you a wonderful New Year’s celebration and a prosperous 2023.

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Hilde (81) and Jay (76) Meyer started camping in a tent 50 years ago but quickly migrated to an RV. Though they didn’t maintain a rig for all those years, last year, they acquired a new Sunseeker Class C motorhome by Forest River.

Their first trips allowed them to visit many of the lower 48 states, traveling from Florida through Texas to visit Utah’s five National Parks. Upon returning from that trip, they quickly tackled a trip to New England.

Since completing those incredible journies, they’ve stayed closer to home, but continue camping regularly.

Today, we’re excited to share their 16 RV pro tips for seniors:

Tips:

* Recognize your limitations. As we age, we need to acknowledge the limitations we face. For most seniors, this won’t prevent camping; it will require greater planning and preparation to enjoy the experience.

* Avoid dirt. By parking on cement pads in nicer RV parks or by placing a big mat outside your RV parked on a dirt or gravel surface, you can keep dirt out of the RV, reducing the time spent cleaning.

* Remember, camping is safe. Generally, people are on their best behavior in campgrounds. In well-chosen campgrounds, it is often safe to leave your gear outside unsupervised.

* Check out Recreation Plantation. Hilde and Jay have a favorite campground, Recreation Plantation, in Lady Lake, Florida. It is a 55+ RV resort offering day, week, month, and 6&6 contracts. The 6&6 contracts are for snowbirds who want to spend half the year in Florida and the other half somewhere else, presumably up north.

* Camp with people your age. In general, Hilde and Jay recommend finding 55+ campgrounds where all the guests are similarly situated. Many offer programming tuned to the interests of the silver-haired crowd.

* Use the towed car for storage. For those driving motor homes, you can use your towed car for storing gear, including outdoor gear that may never need to go inside the RV.

* Stay longer in each place and drive less. As we age, we need to adjust the balance between travel and rest, meaning we need to stay longer in each place we go. Unpack when you arrive, stay, and pack up. Jay jokes this is possible only after visiting Inspiration Point in Bryce Canyon National Park.

* Attach a screen to your RV canopy: Jay and Hilde found someone to make a custom screen for their RV to get protection from the sun. Other vendors sell wrap-around screens that create outdoor living spaces protected from bugs, like the one below.

* Get a griddle for outdoor cooking. A griddle can be a simpler way to cook outside than toting a large barbecue grill. They come in both gas and electric versions.

* Limit travel range. As we age, it is important to manage your travel in accordance with your health needs and related factors. Hilde and Jay now keep their travel within about 150 miles of home.

* Take your car with a tow dolly. If you tow a car, Jay and Hilde recommend using a tow dolly like the one displayed here. Most cars aren’t designed to be towed without one. It also has all the required lights, potentially simplifying the task of towing.

* Have someone guide you as you drive the car onto the tow dolly. To avoid a disaster, have a spouse or friend guide you as you drive the car onto the tow dolly.

* Get a trailer dolly for the tow dolly. Moving a 600-pound tow dolly around the garage or campsite can be tough the older we get. A trailer dolly like the one displayed below can help you move a trailer. We use one like this to easily move our 1,500-pound Aliner Scout around the garage.

* Develop a new sense of defensive driving. Driving an RV is different from driving a car. The weight, stopping distance, height, and turning radius are all different. Add to that, our slowing reflexes and the need to be extra cautious is clear. This highly-rated book offers a guide.

* Check your ability to do RV stairs. Motor home and travel trailer steps are often larger than the stairs in your home. Before you buy a rig, be sure you are comfortable with the steps. You may want to get a handrail or add a step on the ground for your rig to make access easier.

* Split duties in and out of the RV while cooking outdoors. To avoid repeated trips up and down the RV steps while grilling outside, one of you should stay inside the rig while the other cooks outside. This allows you to pass items up and down the stairs to one another without traipsing up and down every time.

Certainly, there is more to RV camping as seniors than this list, but if you’re human, you’ll find more of these ideas feel relevant the older you get. We’re grateful to Hilde and Jay for sharing their insights with us.

If you have additional tips for seniors, please be sure to add them in the comments!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com

Today, we want to express our deep gratitude and appreciation for you, our friends, family and followers who watch, listen and read our weekly message. We love sharing a message and are so grateful that so many of you tune in. Thank you!

We’re also grateful for all those who drive electric vehicles. Driving zero-emission vehicles contributes to better urban air quality. Given that we enjoy breathing and love so many others addicted to at as well, we appreciate those who drive EVs. Thank you!

We’re also grateful for innovators making exciting new electric vehicles and putting solar panels and other new tech on RVs. We are excited to get our new EVs over the next few years and can’t wait for January’s RV Supershow.

We’d love to hear from you! What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Our friends Jay and Hilda Meyer live just down the street from us. As members of the Orthodox Jewish community, they keep kosher strictly, even when camping in their RV. They shared insights with us about following their faith and observing the Sabbath.

Keeping Kosher

Most gentiles are familiar with kosher basics like avoiding pork, but may not appreciate all that keeping kosher requires.

For instance, food and its containers must be keep meat and dairy strictly separate. Plates, pots and silverware is used only for meat (including anything with meat) or only for dairy (including anything with dairy). Food that contains neither, including eggs, grains, fruits and vegetables, is neutral or “pareve.”

Hilda labels every drawer and cupboard in the RV with a D, M or P. All of the items are dedicated to use with only corresponding food.

“I have to do a lot of planning,” Hilde says. “I have recipes about that deep [holding her hands to suggest a foot-tall stack] on a single page where I bring with me so that I can cook whatever we need.”

“I'm lucky that I have a two-well sink so that I can use one for dairy, one for meat,” she adds. The strict separation means that dairy and meat are never served at the same meal. She can clean up from a meal using only the correct side of the sink.

“I have three burners so I can make whatever I need to here,” she says of her stove. She has color-coded handles on the implements she uses to cook. “Blue is dairy, green is pareve and the red is meat.”

Hilde and Jay have two toaster ovens. One for cooking meat dishes and one for dairy. “We're now all the time carrying dairy and meat, so we just switch them out,” Jay says. “The cab-over serves as a storage area for the bigger appliances.”

Hilde keeps the kitchen linens separate. “I have separate wash cloths, dishcloths dish towels. So, I wash my items, whatever is dirty, dry them and put them away right away so that I don't have to worry about mixing anything up.”

“For people to keep a kosher home, this, I think, is not as difficult as it sounds to the uninitiated because they're already living the experience,” Jay says. “All they're doing is transferring to a much smaller venue and learning to adjust and go without when necessary.”

Keeping kosher begins with buying kosher food. “There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kosher products on almost every grocery shelf,” Jay says. “You don't know it, but we know it because they carry little symbols that we look for.”

“Kosher meat is very expensive,” Jay says. “They're not found in a lot of supermarkets that are situated in an area where they don't have a Jewish population because the meats are more expensive and people, if they're not Jewish, they would just walk by when they see the prices.”

“We take whatever we can for frozen foods and we work down that inventory,” Jay says. They stock up when they “get to an area where we think there might be a kosher section in a supermarket.”

Sabbath Observance

Observing an orthodox Shabot, Shabbos or Sabbath may seem complicated to other folks, but habits, priorities and patterns allow Hilde and Jay to take it in stride.

“There are electric restrictions, electricity restrictions,” Jay says. “The restrictions make people think that we live in the dark. We don't live in the dark. The restriction is that you cannot initiate electricity, you can't flip a switch.”

“Liquids create a problem on the Sabbath,” he says. :If they're cold, we have rules where you really can't take a cold liquid and put it into a hot crockpot because that can be construed as cooking.”

The secret is to start cooking before the Sabbath. “If you put it in before the Sabbath starts and you let it sit overnight, that's fine,” Jay says. “We do this all the time.”

That guides what they eat on the Sabbath. “I don't use milk-based soup or cream-based soup because 36 hours is too long for that to sit,” Hilde says. “A lot of soups I can put in the crock pot.”

“In the summer, I make a lot of salads like macaroni salad or something like that,” she adds.

“We have a bread called challah,” Hilde says. “I make that usually once a month and we use three rolls and I make rolls because a whole loaf of bread is too much for the two of us.”

They keep the Sabbath and the rest of their religious observance even on the road in their Sunseeker motor home. “There's a lot of sanctification to bread and to wine, all of which we take with us,” Jay says.

“A lot of these units, ours included, have two motion sensors, a motion sensor on the step by the door and a motion sensor on the floor in the bathroom,” he says. “At night, it would activate that. We can't do that on the Sabbath.”

Jay has a solution. “To alleviate that problem, I just cover it with tinfoil and masking tape. Then it doesn't go on.”

Another strategy for Sabbath observance is their strategy for hot water. “We have a big urn,” Jay says. You always have plenty of hot water. So and that goes from before sunset, Friday till after sunset Saturday.”

“At the conclusion of the Sabbath, we have the evening service. It's called Havdalah,” he says. “It's a ceremony that lasts two, three, four minutes where we light candle. We say prayer. We have wine. We say a prayer and we have spices. We say a prayer. They all have significance.”

“When we're done with that, the Sabbath is over,” he concludes.

Mezuzah

“Mezuzah is a Hebrew word, translated into English means door post,” Jay says. “So, it says in the Bible that you should put this on your door post of your home.”

“Some people think it's a good luck charm,” he says. “It isn't a sign intended to be good luck. It's a reminder that we have a Jewish home. It's a reminder that we have a creator higher than us and that this is not our house; it's his. And we need to behave and act accordingly in our lives. So we put that on the door.”

The mezuzah contains a small scroll of animal parchment on which scripture has been handwritten.

After planning some long trips, Jay found vital guidance. “If you're going to live in this [RV] for more than 30 days, you are required to have a mezuzah on the door.”

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