If you've been following us, you know that we just got back from a cross-country Airstream trip to California from Toronto.
On this trip we learned a few things I thought I'd share.
*PUSH THE WATER FOR THE DOGS!-our dogs are new to traveling so they don't drink whenever they have a chance....they are used to having water always there and drinking when they're thirsty. I trained a "Drink" command so we can use it when we stop. If this sounds strange to you, you can read how on my Canine Health Basics Blog.
.....also for the comfort of the dogs, we taped this dryer vent to our air conditioning vent to direct the cold air to the back of our Jeep. One downside of using a small tow vehicle is that there are no rear vents and one downside of having black labs is they NEED cool air! More importantly, this fix allows US the comfort of not having to wear snowmobile suits up front 'cause they are a bitch to get off at a truck stop...OR a pit stop.
OBviously, we already had those shade thingies in the side and rear windows and ...........WE WOULD NEVER LEAVE THEM IN THE CAR! in the sun unless it's winter or late fall. (And even then, I need to be able to see them.
(I have no photos for this post, so here's another cute one of our dog, Johnny trying to get closer to the Air Conditioning by squeezing through the two front seats. :-)
*We LOVE our new 12 volt FAN...(and for the same, but opposite reason, will love a 12 volt space heater, no doubt, when on the road in winter.) We bought the fan at the Airstream Center in the first week of our journey while at Alumapalooza even though it wasn't very hot yet in Ohio and it was fairly expensive (I thought I might shop for a cheaper one) but when we got caught in the 5 hour traffic jam in the desert in Nevada, without shore power, it was worth twice it's weight in Gold Bars! same goes for a space heater I'm sure, if you ran out of propane! Or to save propane for cooking and refrigerator and use battery/solar power for ambient temps.
* KOA- I know, I'm getting the impression it's not cool among the full-time set to use KOA's but we joined their VKR club (Value Kard Rewards) and it has paid for it's yearly membership price with the 10% discount we get when we stay there and we do, because we know, that although there may not be exceptional natural oohs and ahs, there will be a dog run, clean showers and friendly staff and usually a pool and a hot tub. (many times a bottle of red wine as well!) Sometimes you just feel like knowing that.
On this trip we found out the card also accumulates points which gave us a further DEEP Discount. We paid only 12 bux for all the above on a water/electric site! (PS the Yosemite KOA has some pretty spectacular natural views)
*Join Flying J/Pilot truckstops, it's free, they have points for membership too and we get half price for a waste water dump event.....5 bux!!! As well they give members a couple cents per gallon savings on gas. No brainer.
*We loves LOVES Truck Stops-We love their showers, clean, usually great water pressure, excellent customer service and they don't mind that we share, so well worth the $10 for the two of us. We bring in our "roaming" shower bag and use our own towels which to me seems ethical since we are sharing.
*National Truck Stop Directory really IS the trucker's friend AND the Heirs'Dreamer's friend too! We camped 1 out of three nights and stayed at Truck Stops the other two when crossing the country. We found that we (and the dogs really need to hang out, swim, do laundry and usually have a campfire every three days. On campground driving day, we'd get off the road early too and treat ourselves in several small ways to be sure we were following the Aluminum Rule and "enjoying the ride".
* There's an app for that! I just downloaded Allstays Camp and RV to our IPad. I haven't used it yet but it claims to store a bunch of info on your device that you can access without Internet which would have come in handy in the Sequoias, Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks and for sure will be worth the 5.99 I paid for it.
* Stupid Facebook For IPad App: Need it because you can't share a photo from the Safari regular version, but you can't include a description and you can't comment on it; you have to go back to Safari and re-open FB after closing it out on the Ipad version. You can only post one photo in an album unto it's self at a time and you can't share. DOH, Facebook, get with it, we are on generation 3 of IPad with another rumored on the way already. 'Kay, so that was more a whine than a learn, but WTH, it burns my assetts....and I know, I know, it's bad form to complain about something that's FREE, but still. whiiiiiiinnnnnne.
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