Relax RV Podcast

Over 7,000 downloads ! Awesome, I hope you are enjoying it.
We left you after we visited Mt Washington, NH
We drove 2.5 hrs to Newport Center, VT. Which is in the North East Kingdom. Yep. We are at a Boondockers Welcome location for 4 nights.
The next day we went to Derby Line, VT. What an interesting place ! This town borders canada. There's yellow ribbon crossing over the street at the border border patrol was sitting in their car just watching and protecting. There's also a library and Opera House which is half in Canada and half in the us. The books on the American side were in English while most of the books on the canadian side were in French. We were talking to a volunteer and the librarian assistant and had a wonderful lengthy conversation about the borderline and etc. Heres a link to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House https://maps.app.goo.gl/GrJkJfrUR3sezMuf6 Here's a link to our pictures of this town and library on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaoTCdsJ1z/?utm_medium=copy_link
We wanted to get a little active so we hiked up Avril mountain it was only about a mile to the top but apparently Vermont does not believe in switchbacks. So it was straight up about 600 ft in elevation. But the view up there was definitely worth it. We met a woman at the top we shared some of our wine with her. We had a nice conversation about rving and it sounded like we waited her appetite for wanderlust. Hi Terry if you're listening. She is suggested us hiking up Brousseau Mtn. Which we did.
http://canaanvt.com/item/brousseau-mountain/
We then headed over to Jed's Maple store. http://www.jedsmaple.com/
That evening we ate at at the East Side Restaurant, https://www.eastsiderestaurant.net/
The next day we took a ride down to Willoughby State Forest and Lake willoughby. For many many years I've been wanting to hike up Mount Pisgah. And today we did., Here are pics from our hike up Mt Pisgahhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTe2noZMS7w/?utm_medium=copy_link
We wanted to visit the Cabot cheese factory and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Cabot was closed and Ben and Jerry's were not doing tours. Then the rain came in and we had 3 hours to kill before meeting our friends from our home town for dinner, so unfortunately we canceled our dinner plans and headed back up north.
The next day we went to Philo Mt. and hiked to the top. The trail was new and in my opinion it was a tab over developed. Lots of stone steps and very wide. Great views of Lake Champlain. Then we hiked down on the Devil's Seat Trail which was more like a hiking trail. Pics of Mt Philo https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkeFfuFvZs/?utm_medium=copy_link
From there we visited Shelburne Farm. An interesting place. They gave no history of the farm, which was owned by the Vanderbilt's and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who helped design NY Citys central park. A beautiful barn ! And free to visit. Here are a few pics https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmipC8MZb4/?utm_medium=copy_link

The next day we went to Mud Pond Country park. We expected to do 2.5 miles of walking but the map wasn't clear so we ended up doing almost 5 miles But it was nice.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5dChCjcMhX6kMaEo8.
We drove...

S2 E67
9/2021 New England 2021 1.0
So I installed the Maxx Air Fan 7500k in our bedroom. This RV had a fan but it didn't have a remote and it would only exhaust. We had installed and loved the 7500k in our previous rig. It's nice to have a remote fan in the bedroom. And it has a thermostat setting. https://amzn.to/3fplK5S
The install wasn't bad to do.
So, the next project was ... solar ! I had installed solar in our last rig. Now this system is up and running. We have 800 watts on the roof, a 60 amp mppt charge controller and a 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter. We love solar and having an inverter. With the solar and the inverter it freezes us up to camp and more remote locations like national forests. Some places don't offer any amenities and they limit generator use so this system works great for us. I'll post a video on it soon.
After that was done we cleaned and restocked the rig and finally hit the road on 8/20/21 for our Northeast 2.0 trip. Our 1st stop was at Boondockers Welcome location near Lyme CT. This had a reminded me of a book I had read a while back about the theory of the origin of Lyme Disease by Michael C. Carroll. Here's a link to that book.
https://amzn.to/3m5YVIH
This drive was just under 3 hours from home which was perfect for us. On the way we stopped for gas. I was surprised when the pump shut earlier than expected so I restarted it and shut off. We had been getting 8 mpg when we bought the rig. I just rechecked it, we are getting 10mpg ! A 25% increase and again all because of the 5 Star tuner. This is a phenomenal product. It has helped the rigs transmission, which is why we had bought it. I had heard it will help with gas mileage but .... wow !! We love it even more now. Here is a link to the tuner.
https://amzn.to/3jEGytb
We set up and our boondock are welcome host site. And via a recommendation from a host we drove over to Salmon River Park. We hike for about 5 miles. Then headed back to the rig cook dinner on the grill and headed over to Arrigoni Winery.
The next day we visited Gillette Castle in East Haddan, CT. Wow ! Our friends told us about this place many years ago and we had to saved on our Google maps to visit. We did the self-guided tour of the castle which took about a half hour. Then we worked the grounds for another hour and a half or so. What a great State Park. Here's a link to pics of the Castle
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS4_-f3p-cd/?utm_medium=copy_link
We then met our friends Maureen and Jim who originally told us about Gillette Castle, for dinner. We ate at La Vita in Haddan CT. and had an excellent meal and visit.
We then headed back to the rig. Hurricane Henri is expected in this area starting tomorrow morning so we hooked up the Jeep and got everything set to leave first thing in the morning. Our goal is to make it to Wordens Pond Campground in Wakefield, RI the next morning. Well we woke up early got on the road started calling the campground to make sure they were open and a half hour after being on the road they finally answered the phone and said they were open but they were encouraging everybody to leave and the roads to get to the campground we're closed by the state Rhode Island. So returned around I started heading west on 84 and we pulled up our Harvest host app and we found a harvest hose location near Waterbury Connecticut. To gravel parking lot and while they had no amenities they also had no trees to crush the RV with. So we contacted the host pulled in and set up. Rained on and off all day. The sore that the weather for tomorrow in Rhode Island wasn't going to be too bad so in the morning we hooked up and started driving east.

Toilet started to smell. Previous rig I put in a roof vent which worked great https://amzn.to/2WA1ZC4 This rig didn't have any smell then all of a sudden it did. And then toilet wouldn't hold water in bowl. We cleaned the toilet seal and then applied petroleum jelly to seal and that did it, yay.
-A.C. had problems. Thought it was the thermostat but it turned out to be the AC control box. I 1st accessed from roof then a friend said it's much easier to do it from in the rig. I replaced the control unit and all is cool again. https://amzn.to/3xGbrla How I deal with stressors as they pile up. Here's an example: We had gotten home from our last trip and the lever that switches from tub to shower in our stone and mortor house wasn't working and I didn't know how to fix it. So I started googling it. Then Trish said the house refrigerator felt warm and the freezer had ice in it. So I again started googling. And I also had a list of things to do on the rig, like the toilet the AC and other stuff. I started to feel overwhelmed. So I took a few deep breaths to help me relax and focus.
I then prioritized problems and tackled them one at a time in priority order. And by the time we were ready to hit the road, the shower, the refrigerator, the rigs toilet and AC all worked and the list of fixes and installs in the rig were done.
So we headed out Sunday 7/18/21 to the finger lakes. We stayed near Watkins Glen the 1st night. We spent the day exploring water falls. And walking town. The next day we headed into Watkins Glen State Park for 3 nights. We tried to get a site here a few times over the past few years and we finally scored them. The 1st day we hiked the gorge, beautiful ! And with all the rain we had over the past few weeks, it didn't disappoint. We think this was the best gorge trail we've ever hiked. We did over 1600 stairs over 4 miles of hiking. Our previous favorite was Robert Treman State Park and this rivalled it, so we will go back there in a couple days to compare the 2 parks. But the next day we went to Ithaca. We had visited it last year but because of Covid only half of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail was open. This year the half We had previously done was closed for repairs and the portion we didn't get to do was open. It was pretty but considering Robert Tremaine State Park and Watkins Glen State Park while it was what it was.
Afterwards we went to buttermilk Falls which we had visited last year with covet and 90° weather also. This time with all the rain that's been pouring in this area the gorge was raging. We hiked up the gorge trail so we got the view of the waterfall on the way up with the aid of about 400 stairs. Then walk down the Ridge Trail through the wood s. That was a perfect way to do it on a hot day it was 85 when we did it this year. After that we went to Castel Grisch Winery. Enjoy the nice glass of wine in the air conditioning and bought a couple of bottles to go. We had stated this winery previously with our motorhome through Harvest Hosts.
Then went back to the campground through some shrimp on the grill. And then walked a couple loops in the campground.
The next day we wanted to revisit Robert Tremaine State Park and the temps were going to be in the upper 70s as opposed to 95 3 years ago when we last visited that park. So it's funny how we remember things one way but when we've revisited that place it's not like we remembered it. Perhaps it's because of all the other wonderful new places we've seen in the past 3 years and the fact that Robert Tremaine three years ago was the first Gorge hike we had ever done. But either way it didn't hold up to Watkins Glen. Now don't get me wrong Robert Treman is a fantastic State Park and we will hopefully return at some point in the future.
So the next day we packed up and we headed off to a campground in...

We installed a 5 Star tuner. These tuners plug into your computer port on the engine under the dashboard and they set the engine settings to ones that are more economical and powerful. I looked into them and was surprised at the price. So I did some homework. I found this video of a company testing them and was very impressed. https://youtu.be/z9N5M2WhIiI So we took a Gamble we ordered our tuner. This is a phenomenal product. We love it. Here is a link to the tuner.
https://amzn.to/3jEGytb

I believe there is a disproportionate amount of high school bullies on RVing social media groups. It's such a shame.

On June 21st we left for a trip to Indiana. We have fallen in love with Goshen and Shipshewana. In spite of being near Thor, smh.
We've been there a few times, but always for Thor issues, but never for fun. And we haven't been to southern Indiana before so that's the reason for this trip.

We drove 3 hours to Fantasy Island Campground in Sunbury PA
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pG75MDBbyqDRXqJYA . which is a Passport America location so we got it for $22.50/night, now that's stress management.
Sunbury, eh. But we found a BYOB pool hall, so that's where we spent the evening.the next day we drove three and a half hours to cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania. Which is another passport America location. This one was $20 per night with electric and water. If you send me an email I can email you back a discount code the next time Passport America offers one, which they periodically.
So where we are is in between Cooks Forest State Park in siskawana state forest. The North end of Susquehanna State Forest we knew there was snowmobiling up there and we didn't realize how close we are to “up there”. We then drove to Fremont Ohio. We stayed at a boondock Welcome location that we had stayed previously. Today is my birthday and my 3 yr anniversary of being retired, yay ! After dinner we went to Chateau Tebeau a winery we had visited 2.5yrs ago. We saw 2 fantastic musicians playing. The next day we packed up and drove to Goshen Indiana. When we got into Indiana we went to Shipshewana and stocked up on meats and other foods. This was the purpose of this trip. We love the prices and quality of meats found at Yoder's https://yodersmeatandcheese.com/ Our next stop was at our BoonDockersWelcome host located in Goshen Indiana. We met Rick and Amy and got setup. They offered 30 amp electric which we gladly accepted being it was in the 90s.
On the way there, we went past a bunch of RV manufacturers and saw thousands of new RVs in their parking lots. We mentioned this to our host Rick and he explained those are rigs that have been built but are waiting for certain items to be installed like air conditioners or Windows. A lot of the items are on backorder so the rigs are just sitting there and this is what's creating the backlog of deliveries at RV dealers.
The next day we took a ride to Bontragers. This is a great RV surplus parts store that is super inexpensive. https://bontragers.com/
That evening we went to dinner at Goshen Brewery in Goshen Indiana
https://goshenbrewing.com/
with our hosts. The next day we did some walking in Middlebury IN. We found a small park with a walking path following a stream which gave us us a nice break from the 90 degree temp. We then passed a furniture store which had a coffee sign, so we went in and had a fantastic lunch. https://m.facebook.com/TheLegendaryGrind/ We then visited Linton's...

We did our 1st ever campground stay with friends. We stayed at J&D campground near Knoebels amusement park. Next to us was Scott and Amy, next to them Mike and Shelley. And on the other side of the campground was Scott's parent Jack and Jan in their seasonal site. It was a cold and rainy weekend. While setting up we were fighting with the rig (2017 Thor 29.4) trying to get it level. Out came the level and viola the rigs LCI leveling system was way off with the Zero Point Level calibration. I went into the Thor owners portal, pulled up our rigs VIN number and saw 7 manuals for the leveling system in it. None of the were for our leveling system. I googled our key pad, then how to zero point level it and 3 minutes later, the rig was level and the leveling system agreed with us. We wonder how long it was inaccurately calibrated. Yay.
That evening with sat with our friends in their Prevost and caught up with one another. The next day me and Trish revisited Centralia pa. This is an abandoned town that was evacuated years ago due to an underground fire. Pretty wild. Then we visited Shamokin, Pa. We went back to the campground and played bingo for the 1st time in 40 yrs. Then we did a fire with our friends.
The next day we found live music and fantastic food at Lost Mine(d) in Shamokin.

Monday of Memorial Day we packed up and headed to Prince William Forest in VA. according to Google maps was 3 hours and 45 minutes away. With Washington DC traffic on Memorial Day it was closer to 5 hours. As always try to limit our driving to 4 hours a day and if we run into days like that it's no big deal.
We stayed at Prince Edward Forest campground in Dumfries Virginia. We have stayed here before. It's convenient to visit Trish's son. We checked in had a low-key evening. The next day we headed over to the forest, and hiked 12 miles. Felt really good to do an actual hike which was way overdue. It's a beautiful Park lots of easy hiking trails following streams and waterfalls.
The next day Trish had lunch with her son and then the 2 of us headed into Old Town Virginia to do shopping.
Thursday we headed north to Dove Valley Winery in Rising Sun, MD.

We arrived at Dove Valley Winery. We did a wine tasting and then we bought a bottle of wine. They are part of harvest hosts. So it was nice to sleep on their property in the rig. The heavy thunderstorm rolled through in the evening so it was nice to just sit and enjoy a glass of wine. Next morning we were planning on going to stay at a boondockers welcome near Trish's daughter and grandson. But that particular host did not offer electric for the rig and the temps were going to be in the 90s old day and in the upper 70s at night. So we had contacted the boondock are welcome host and explained our situation and they were very understanding. You then went online and found a campground called Old Cedar Campground in Monroeville NJ. We reserved Friday night and Saturday night with full hookups for about $55 a night with tax. They had a pond for fishing and beautiful new very clean swimming pool nine holes of miniature golf and a walking path that took you to a nearby winery. So, brought his fishing pole and we had a great time with him. Sunday we drove home and on the way stopped and visited and had lunch with Trish's dad. We got home Sunday evening a bunch of stuff I had ordered from Amazon was waiting for us. We emptied the perishables dirty clothes and such. Plug the RV in to trickle charge the house batteries. And locked it up.

We have a couple of short trips plan this summer. Our next trip will be out to Indiana. Then we're going up to finger lakes to stay at a campground with our friends Mike and Scott for a night. And then we have three nights booked in Watkins Glen State Park.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises?...

So we got the rig home and I never thought to open up the awning but I did two days after we got home and it would bang on the way out.
And Does not close all the way.
Grabbed a ladder and saw 2 loose screws on the roller.
I then climbed into roof and saw they did not calk above the front door.
And when then installed the gutters they didn't screw the screws all the way down nor did they caulk the screws.
So I called Connecticut Motor Cars and spoke to Brian the Service Manager.
I told him about the three problems. He said they always test the awning and it had worked fine. And the screws for the gutters had probably loosened while driving the rig.
We drove up to the shop. Left rig for 4 hours. When we came back the awning was fine and all of the screws were tight. He told me I was not allowed of the roof of my rig while on their property. He said would you have wanted be in the shop and checked every screw on the gutter as they put them in? I said yes if I had known it wasn't going to be done right. he said we're all human and nobody's perfect.

I explained to him that I have to spending tens of thousands of dollars that I'm very disappointed about the level of service at his company.
I highly suggest you do not use Connecticut Motor Cars and coaches for service unless you don't care about the quality of the work being done.
As the old adage goes, if you want something done right do it yourself.

Then 2 weeks later, just before heading out on a 2 week trip to West Virginia, Covid hit. Both me and Trish tested positive after having symptoms.
Now I know there's a lot of people who don't believe in the masks nor covid and we are on the fence about all of it but we have almost a dozen people that we know personally that have died from covid. You need to do what makes you feel most comfortable and less stressed.

So our trip was postponed. We followed the self quarantine order. We re-planned our route and left in early May. We drove 3 hours to Armstrong Valley winery in Halifax Pa. They are a Harvest Host. We did tastings of their wines and talked with the host for over an hour. We bought a bottle of their Pinot Grigio and some Lavender Mustard. They offered free 30 and 50 amp service.

The next day we drove just under 4 hours (which is the max I like to drive in the rig) to Blackwater State park in WV. We set up and went for a 5 mile hike to a fabulous view. We had no signal in the campground so we drove to the lodge and downloaded movies on Hulu and Netflix.

The next day we did a 4 mile hike in the rain to an underwhelming Balanced Rock. We then went back to the Lodge to stream Trish's sons graduation at the Metro PD.

We were wet and cold (it was 40 degrees out). So we went back to the rig. Changed, warmed up and made dinner.
That night there was live music at a great place called the Purple Fiddle in Thomas WV.

Saturday it was snowy, sleeting, then bright sun all day long. Chilly 44 degrees. Did a 8 mile hike. Then dinner at the rig. We weren't every impressed with Blackwater State Park. Short hiking trails, bad hiking map. But a pretty water fall. Not overly impressed with Blackwater SP.

Sunday, off to a boondocks welcome location in Albright WV. But the location was too sketchy for us to drive to so we went to Coopers Rock State Forest and camped there instead. On the way there we saw a sign for the smallest church in the 48 states. So we parked and walked over. Considering it's the smallest church I was surprised that it was as big as it was.

We arrived at Coopers Rock State Forest WV. We did a couple small trails in the rain. On Monday we did a total of 8 miles hiking. This was a beautiful park. It reminded us of Nelson Ledges Park in Ohio. We walked along cliffs with fantastic views and then hiked at the base of the cliffs. We did some...

WOW this podcast is 3 years old. 1st episode was released on 3/9/2018. 62 episodes !! When I was getting ready to retire I wanted to continue to help people. And this podcast had allowed me to do that.
The podcast had come a long way in 3 years. Here's a summary of the number of downloads this podcast had....
1st month - 8 downloads
6 months -100 downloads
1st year - 1000 downloads
2nd year - 2000 downloads
3rd year - 3754 downloads
For a total of 5,754
It's amazing. My 1st episode took over 3 days to produce. My learning curve started with how the mic worked. Then how to load into the software on the computer, editing it, uploading to the host site and my website. And then as time went on, the process sped up but I was still hand writing notes which could take an hour or 2 for each episode. Now I used a voice recorder for my notes and from the time I finish recording an episode it takes about 15 minutes to get it published.

And my website has grown too. It's had over 2,000 visitors from countries like china, canada, france, ireland, philippines, UK, india, vietnam, hungary, japan, germany, mexico, netherlands, EU, italy, australia, thailand, ukraine and singapore.and another 11 countries that had 1 visitor from each.

I wonder if anyone listening has listened to every episode ?

-ordered cabinet door in Oct 2020 . Emailed many times sometimes without a response. Finally the last day in Feb it is ready. Not sure if Covid, Thor or Camping world is reason for the 4 month wait time. But I do know there was a lack of contact from camping world


Rv in Connecticut Motor Car and Coaches. Stripped, painted, and stickers applied. We are having them install gutters for us.
We picked up the rig on 4/8/2021 And the repairs were covered by GEICO https://www.geico.com/
Here's a link to the photos on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=277623782811787&set=a.921581291749363
Our friends Bev and Axel said that he brings his motor coach to Blue Beacon and he knows other RVs that bring their rigs there to get washed and they've never had an issue very strange.

So being we won't be traveling for at least another month or so with the weather and the rig still at the shop. Over the past few months we've been out hiking and snowshoeing. We've noticed during our travels. Some hiking trails are marked great. And Some terrible. And for someone who is new to an area it can be very frustrating trying to find the correct hiking trail. We really appreciate when people take care in marking a trail. I was talking to a volunteer who was marking a trail in Harriman State Park in NY. He said he likes to do what he calls a confirmation marker ... so after the trail takes a turn he likes to place a marker that confirms to the hiker which trail they are on. If you aren't sure what I mean by the term "trail markers" or are unsure what they mean here's a helpful guide I found for ya: https://www.greenbelly.co/pages/how-to-read-hiking-trail-signs-markers-blazes

Speaking of hiking and exploring the National Park Service has a new app which includes all 420+ parks monuments seashores etc. Great free app where you can save parks you have visited, download park maps and info. We were amazed to see how many parks we have been to. I'm not sure about apple but here is the android app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.nps.mobileapp

Also for hiking, there us a wonderful way to lower your stress. I have been hiking for many many...

S2 E61 Repainting the Motorhomes finish
2/2021
Grandpa ! My grandson Maverik was born at 11:17pm on 1/8/21 . He was 7lbs 5.5oz And 20.5"
What a joy.

When you're fixing your RV and something overwhelms you try to break it down into attainable tasks. like I did with my solar.
But if it seems like it is way too much, let someone else do it like I did with the water heater in our rig

So quick recap on RV finish- Blue Beacon washed the Rig and our finish was ruined. Geico (https://www.geico.com) agreed to cover the damages. We brought it to Connecticut Motorcar and Coaches (http://ctmotorcars.com/) on 1/4/21. They tried different compounds to no avail. Geico said go ahead with the repair. So Brian at Ct. Motor car stripped off the stickers on both sides and has begun the repainting. It's a good feeling that the damage that was done to the rig will be fixed. And it's perfect timing with the lack of winter travel.
Our rig is not yet winter ready. Heated tanks yes, not plumbing yet.

We are still waiting for the cabinet door from Camping World.

I have 3 free Stress Management recordings at RelaxRV Audio Recordings.

I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube. Or you can go to relaxrv.org-Videos.

I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRV Facebook page for your enjoyment and edification.one of the things I added to our list of things to add and do with the rig is to put fans blowing on the windows and maybe like Little heaters too blow on the windows. Then going through Facebook I saw her gentleman complaining that Thor put fans in a bad location for these windows. Somebody suggested picking up Rain-X anti fog spray. So I so I pick some up and when we get the rig back from Connecticut will give it a shot.

So being we won't be traveling for at least another month or two with the weather and the rig still at the shop we've been out hiking and now that the Hudson valley just recently got 20 in of snow we're going to do some snowshoeing. We've noticed drawer travels. Some hiking trails more great. Some terrible. And for someone who is new to that area and can be very frustrating trying to find the correct hiking trail.

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on
https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

There are discounts on my website to Boondockers Welcome , Harvest Hosts., Renogy Solar and Mattress Insider for all of your RV bedding needs
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at

This podcast has grown since I started it in March 2018.
It's been downloaded well over 5000 times.
So our rigs finish.
Blue beacon said not us ...
Geico said No...
Attorneys won't get on board, no water samples Etc.
So either I let it go or let it eat at me. I'm a Sebastian and we have a tough time letting things go. So my initial reaction is fight this everyday until I win. which will only lead to high blood pressure, increase pulse, tension, headaches, sleepless nights.
Better off recognizing that parts of the rig just aren't as shiny as it was.
We will never go back to Blue Beacon.
And at the end of the day we love our rig and it's going to take us to wonderful
places.
Stress is going to happen. Try to interrupt it having negative biological effects on our body.
Ah a nice deep breath.

And then Geico accepted our claim. Dropped the rig off in Connecticut in 1st week in January 2021.

I won't drone on about Covid restrictions .... you know them as well as I.
If you are traveling, be safe.
If you are staying at home, be safe. And we plan to be home 4 awhile BUT wish we were traveling more...also our rig is not yet winter ready. Heated tanks yes, not plumbing yet

-towel holders in bathroom
-ordered a cabinet door for under dinette
-firewood
-XC skiing High point nj. Hi Chris

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

S2 E59
11/30/20
We washed our rig and OH NO
So we finally got our rig registered. It had been sitting for weeks so the first thing we wanted to do was to make it look nice and pretty. We went to Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Montgomery New york.
We paid almost $50 by the time they were done it was dark out so we drove home.
Next day went out to look at the rig and WOW there were areas on the rigged where the gloss and shine has been stripped off it looked chalky and dull.We went back to Blue Beacon.Show the manager. He submitted it to corporate.
We decided we would hire an attorney to sue them. Our friend Scott suggested instead to go through the insurance for the damage repair.They sent an adjuster over to look at the rig and he said all that needed to be done was to Buff it back to a shineHe said the paint was faded. I explained to him that prior to the car wash the paint was not faded at all and looked great just dirty.
We got two estimates each one was just over $5,000. they said that the finish needed to be compounded. Then rewaxed.One of the shops that we took it to for an estimate said he wasn't sure that even that would work and in his estimate he wrote this is a preliminary attempt to fix it.But after a short period of time if the luster fades becomes chalky again then it will be revaluated at that time.We submitted the estimates to the insurance company.
We are now waiting to hear back from the insurance company.
Then took the rig to Ford for the dash heat issue.We picked up the rig from Ford. Ford said that the heating issue was not a Ford issue. They said to contact Thor . I called Thor and they said to call Pro Air. Jim at ProAir was very helpful he gave me wiring diagrams and explained different things to check. He said that it sounded like the motor switch was bad. When he gave me instructions on how to test it I'm no electrician.Went to Scott in Pa.
It wasn't that so according to Jim it was the head unit.So we cut the yellow wire and viola we have heat.
If we want cooling we will reconnect yellow wire.Well do that for now because it's a $350.00 part.

Then I moved slide lock for the front slide from the bottom rail to the top one. Much easier to put it in.

We found out our rig doesn't have heated tanks :( In the spring I will put heat tape on plumbing. But for now I Ran electric line from outdoor refrigerator Because that outlet can be powered by the inverter. Bought 3 12v heater pads for the tanks. never wired 12 volt circuit before. Figured I would use the fuse that was marked "tank heat pads"
But that wired for the macerator. The macerator fuse block wasn't wired to anything so that's the one I used.

Replaced reverse lights with LEDs to help with backing up.

The next bigger project was heat ducts. with the Slide in it blocked 2 heat vents. Moved them to front.
Replaced another that was torn in half when Thor installed it We had been wondering why we didn't have heat in the bathroom. SMH

We then wanted to take the rig for a run . went to Woodstock NY. Because until we get heated tanks or cold temps at night go up our camping will be very limited not only due to covid.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube: