Season 2 Episode 6910/11/21We tweaked a few things in the rig. We had a water leak whilst hooked up to city water. I thought there was a loose connection somewhere. Actually the line coming into the rig was kinked and the back pressure caused it. I took off the line straightened it out and viola fixed. Also, we installed curtains in the bedroom. Wow what a great upgrade. Heres a video showing the curtains https://youtu.be/D5Y5zNK4CzI We have stayed at almost 100 Boondockers Welcome locations for over 200 nights and 16 Harvest Hosts. Heres a link to discounts on those memberships https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/ So on October 1st 2021 we pulled out of our driveway and headed north west to another boondockers welcome location about a half hour outside of Syracuse New York. We pulled in our host met us helped us get set up and we engaged in nice conversations. While I was talking to her I heard a crash inside the RV I looked at our house and I said I think Trish just dropped the coffee pot. She did. So we had plans on heading to a local park to do some hiking but instead we decided to go buy a coffee pot at Walmart near Syracuse. Then we went to Green lakes State Park and did a phenomenal hike around their green lakes. And the reason we were up here was to do the Big East powersports show at the State fairgrounds in Syracuse. The show was focused on snowmobiles. Back in February we ordered a 2022 skidoo 2 up sled. And we have concerns of when it's going to be delivered because of Chip shortage. So we headed over we actually got to sit on the sled that we ordered. And this really wetted our appetite. While walking around the show we saw a guy selling Garmin GPS's with preloaded snowmobile maps of the Northeast. We talked to him about price and then we went and looked at the GPS we had selected on Amazon and also the maps of the Northeast that I've been waiting to purchase. Buying the GPS and maps through his company https://netrailgps.com/ was phenomenally priced.We were told by a Skidoo rep that the dealers have received a list of delivery dates on some sleds. So we contacted our dealer and he said we are on the list for a November delivery. We are hoping that the sled comes in complete with all chips gadgets lights everything.The next day we decided to walk around the city of Syracuse and in less than an hour we are ready to do something else. So we went over to Onondaga State Park in road or bike for about 10 MI on the shore of the lake. Very pretty. Everything came back to the rig I looked for my phone and I couldn't find it. Trish grabbed her phone and she saw a text from my daughter that a guy found my phone. So I reached out to the wonderful gentleman got his address and took a ride to his house. Apparently when we were loading the bike onto the car I laid the phone down and left it down and left it there. And also apparently cuz I backed out of the parking lot I ran over the phone and cracked it, thank goodness it's still functioning. Paul take a nice deep breath let It go just relax. That night we had dinner and rig the next morning we said goodbye to our host. Or driving over towards Troy New York when Trish found a winery along the way so we stopped in for a glass of wine.Afterwards we pulled into our campsite in Troy New York. I ran the hydraulic levelers but it would not level. I looked and only one Jack was down. I reset the keypad try to retract that one Jack would not go up the others would not go down. I knew I could manually override the system but wasn't exactly sure how so I googled it and found the video I then retracted the one Jack that was down. So at least we were not stuck in place. I then started checking wires and fuses but couldn't find anything wrong. I had Trish run the Jack's well I sat by the motor and I could hear a metallic click I reached out to lippert they emailed me things to check but by this time we were already on our way home. We pulled in to our driveway we unpacked and remember I am no electrician I did what I thought they wanted me to do to me it sounded like possibly the motor or the solenoid. I emailed them what I found and they said nope we don't think that's your problem they suggested other things that I check I quickly got out of my comfort zone. I reached out to George fry our local RV repair guy in Hudson Valley. We have another trip down through New Jersey in a week and a half from now at the jacks aren't working and we can't get it level we can't get the slides out safely. So hopefully George will be able to guide me into a simple and inexpensive fix. The motor runs around $1,200 ugh. While waiting on George who is swamped and crazy busy. I decided to call Lippert again. They patiently walked me through testing the solenoid and motor. Our issue was a bad motor. They suggested I replace the Solenoid when I replace the motor. They switched over to their parts dept and she suggested that I replace the sealed coupler when I replace motor. So we ran down the price of motor was just under $1100, is solenoid was $98 and the sealed coupler was $31. So all the parts are $1200 then in one of their emails they gave me a code for 10% off. Which was LCIcares. My next question to them was how bad is the shipping going to be for all this and she said well in order to use that discount you have to order the parts online but she reassured me that the shipping was not going to be much at all. I went online ordered all the parts took the 10% off the shipping came out to just over $5. They had all the items in stock and they would arrive at my door in 3 days. I'll tell you what I cannot believe the customer service I received at lippert. In fact the next day after I ordered the parts I called their tech support for the third time and I said I just ordered all these parts I just want to make sure it's the motor can you guide me through how to test the solenoid and the motor again and the gentleman said absolutely it took his time because I don't know one thing from another lol. We confirmed that it was a bad motor. While I was waiting for the parts to come in the mail I started taking apart the old leveling system.The only issue with the pump motor was the mounting bolts were different than what they described in their PDF and when I called they didn't know about these two additional mounting bolts I made a video about the issue and here's a link to the video https://youtu.be/yxLx0ZQKFzQ But the leveling system now works great. And off to our next adventure. 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 https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast 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!

Relax RV Podcast

RelaxRV S2 E69 leveling motor shot and Syracuse

Season 2 Episode 689/23/21New England 2021 2.0Over 7,000 downloads ! Awesome, I hope you are enjoying it.We left you after we visited Mt Washington, NHWe 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. A very nice host couple and also parked here are another nice couple who are F/T in a class B. That evening we all sat around a camp fire and had a nice conversation. We had very little signal there so it took a day to get the last episode uploaded. 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 front doors to the library are in the US so you go in and walk about 10 ft and there's a black line across the floor and that's Canada. There's no back door so there's no way to leave the building into Canada so you can walk around the canvas side of the building. 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 It seemed like it's a surreal little town being on the border like that. The only border we've ever been through is on the highway with the cars. Here's a link to our pictures of this town and library on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTaoTCdsJ1z/?utm_medium=copy_link So apparently there's a lake here and half of it is in Canada and if you cross the border you have to have a float plan you have to have your boat inspected before leaving the dock. There's a bike trail that starts in the US and continues up into Canada and you need a passport and anything else that you would normally need to get into Canada while riding the bike. And is also snowmobile trails up here where I understand they set up trails with border crossings and they check passports and all of that. Are snowmobile that we ordered in the beginning of this year will hopefully come in next month if not November and we may be looking at the Canadian border this winter with the snowmobile which we will pull with the either the RV or our Subaru.Within 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. This Trail was .8 MI to the top and again no switchbacks. At the top of these two mountains we also met a young lady who we had nice conversations with. We never exchanged names but if you're listening hey there. http://canaanvt.com/item/brousseau-mountain/ We then headed over to Jed's Maple store. Again our host suggested this place and again they were spot on. This place has so many different Maple infused items that we ended up having a nice conversation with the owner who by the way is not yet. And bought a bag full of their stuff. http://www.jedsmaple.com/ That evening hour host suggested eating at the East Side Restaurant, which we did. The food was reasonable and very good albeit the nachos with raw tuna is a little skimpy on the topping but nevertheless we would go back again if in the area. They had a lot of outdoor seating right on the lake. 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. So apparently there's two trails that take you to the top the South Trail is not a scenic but much more crowded much more popular cuz it's an easier trail. We chose the North Trail to the top and thankfully Vermont learned about switchbacks. This was 2 1/4 miles to the top but a 1200 FT elevation gain. Right near the top there is a viewpoint it's like a tenth of a mile off of the main trail and it was gorgeous looking over Lake Willoughby. It was a little too chilly to sit and relax there so we can continue to the top which gives you a southern view which was spansive but not as pretty. And that's where we sat and relaxed.Doing this hike with our appetites to return to Willoughby State Forest as there is a lot of mountains and hiking in the area. And again this is up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. LOL. Here are pics from our hike up Mt Pisgahhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTe2noZMS7w/?utm_medium=copy_link This area of Vermont doesn't get a lot of tourism but apparently in the winter the snowmobiles take over. We were asked by a few people not to tell anyone about this area because it's so quiet and peaceful so please don't tell your friends LOL.Next day we took a ride South for about 45 minutes. 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 weather up there was clearer so we did a nice little bike ride then got a couple of slices of pizza for dinner.The next day we packed up and dumped our tanks in Newport. The town has a free dump. We then drove South for about an hour and a half to Williston to another Boondockers Welcome location. We met our hosts got set up in a beautiful location nice and level next to a fire pit. And a really nice conversation with them. And we went for a two and a half mile hike on a local mountain.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 We then went to Charlotte Village Winery and bought a bottle of wine and had a nice conversation with the sommelier.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 City' central park. A beautiful barn ! And free to visit. Here are a few picshttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTmipC8MZb4/?utm_medium=copy_link From there we walked the Church St Market Place which was a couple of blocks of stores, mostly high end. And we ate at Leunig's Bistro. It was pricey but worth every penny ! It then poured rain, I rain and got the car and picked up Trish. We got back to the rig and found water coming in 2 of the frameless windows. I went up on the roof and saw a piece of seal from the slide was out about an inch. I slide it back and will glue it.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 to a park and grab the bike and rode on lakefront bike trail up to the causeway it was a total of 14 mi round trip. The right across the causeway was beautiful you really feel like you're out in the middle of Lake Champlain at the end of The causeway there is a ferry that takes you across an Open water area of about 200 yards to causeway on an island. The ferry only runs during the summer and on the shoulder season for a month on each end but only on weekends. So that's where the bike ride ended. Here's pics from the causeway https://www.instagram.com/p/CTpKn-bFCEq/?utm_medium=copy_link We had found this causeway Trail a couple years ago and we marked it on our Google maps and we are so glad we did. Here's a video of how we plan our trips:https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0 The next day we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and drove to the Lake Bomoseen KOA in VT. If you watched the video of our route planning you know KOAs are our last choice, but they were doing a promotion of BOGO this weekend. So we figured sure we'll take a free night lol. So we got to site and set up. We did laundry and such.The next day we went to Mt Moosalamoo and did a 5.5 mile beautiful hike. The next morning, we paddled on Lake Bomoseen for an hour or so. The campground had a launch so we took advantage of it. We then packed up and drove 1.5 hrs to Randolf, VT. to our next Boondockers Welcome location. We met our really welcoming hosts. They explained that Vermont has the 2nd lowest population of all the states, Wyoming has the lowest. We were very surprised by this. I had figured that Wyoming had the lowest population, there is only 1 area code for the whole state. We then plugged in to the 30amp and headed to Lucky Bugger winery which was 5 minutes away. We wanted to buy a bottle but the owner explained because if the type of license he had, we couldn't drink it there, very strange. So we enjoyed a glass of wine and their beautiful view. We then took a ride to the only floating bridge east of the Mississippi. It's located in Brookfield VT. Here are pics of it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTvX445sao2/?utm_medium=copy_link It was pretty cool. The next day we went to Woodstock Vermont. We walked around the expensive stores for a couple of hours but more so enjoying the architecture. We then walked some of the trails over at the Billings Rockefeller property and trails for 2 hours.We got back to our rig and we sat on our

Relax RV- S2- E68 New England 2.0

Season 2 Episode 67New England 2021 trip, part 1.0So 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/3fplK5SThe 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/3m5YVIHThis 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/3jEGytbWe 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 Castlehttps://www.instagram.com/p/CS4_-f3p-cd/?utm_medium=copy_linkWe 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.Once we hit Rhode Island we sure the damage from hurricane henry. A lot of trees down some road closures. We got to the campground which is Worden pond Campground and we were told we may not have electric I didn't know when they were going to get it reinstated from The Storm. We pulled into the site a half hour later the electric kicked on and stayed on the whole time. This is a really nice campground. Fabulous wifi and Lots of big old trees unfortunately some of them came down during the storm and Campground staff were very busy coming up trees getting limbs off of campers. We're really glad we didn't come here the day before. In the morning packed up started heading east towards Massachusetts and we wanted to stop along the way at The Cliff Walk. We got into Newport RI and called the visitor center to find out where we could park the rig. They explained that there's a beach parking area that can accommodate bigger rigs so we drove there and found out the lot was closed because the hurricane had washed a lot of sand into the lot. So we called them back and they gave us another location to park. On the way to that location we found Newport casino and we said well that's perfect Park. We pulled in and the casinos was out of business. But there were a couple of trucks parked in the lot so we pulled the rig in we unhooked and took the Jeep over to The Cliff Walk. Here's a link to photos of the walk. https://www.instagram.com/p/CS-WMMKsAM0/?utm_medium=copy_link This is a 3 and a half mile trail (one way) that follows the cliffs. Some of it was paved like a sidewalk and some of it was a big rocks like a jetty and there was a couple of tunnels that you had to walk through. We really enjoyed it however it was in the low 80s and the humidity made it feel like near 90. It was definitely a worthwhile experience. We got to the end and you could either reverse it they had a shuttle bus it would take you back to the beginning but instead we decided to walk the streets back for another three and a half miles through neighborhoods with mansions. It was beautiful. We then hopped in the cheap and back to the rig hooked up and drove over by Plymouth Massachusetts to pinewood campground. We chose a campground for this stay over because we wanted 30 amp for the air conditioning. Again a great campground. Spacious sites. And again fantastic wifi. A neighbor just told me her son was listening to this podcast. That was really nice to hear. So hi to ...... and thanks for listening.4 hour full day at this Campground we took a ride over to Plymouth. Here pics of Plymouth https://www.instagram.com/p/CTAy1yjpcdn/?utm_medium=copy_linkWe saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower 2. In 2019 we stopped at Mystic Seaport ( here's the episode https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relax-rv-podcast-episode-22-we-start-our-2019-northeast-trip/id1499279142?i=1000465761573) and we them restoring this ship. Here's an article about the move to Massachusettshttps://www.mysticseaport.org/events/mayflower-ii-departs/From there we walked around for a couple hours. And then went back to the campground and hung out and relaxed.The next day we headed out to Coastal Acres campground in Ptown MA also known as Provence Town. This campground only offers full hookups. Walking distance to downtown Ptown. So the next day we have done our tandem bike route over into p-town spent the day hitting shops and reminiscing. We rode back to the campground less than a 10-minute bike ride. Cook dinner on a grill quick showers cuz it's been disgustingly hot. Then heading back downtown to hopefully see a piano player at a bar called Tin Pan Alley. We were here two years ago in May it was rainy and freezing out and we found this place enjoyed conversation with a couple so we went back and again enjoyed fun music and conversation.The next day we walked over the causeway/jetty. It's 1.5 miles each way. We tried to do it on our last visit but Trish had her broken toe and her foot was in a boot so we didn't quite make it all the way across the jetty. https://www.vacationcapecod.com/blog/walking-across-the-provincetown-causewayAfter we did that we rode the tandem bike 3 miles to the visitor center via the dunes trail. Then another 4 miles back to the RV. We then walked to P-town for dinner and a show..... a drag queen show at The Crown and Anchor.https://onlyatthecrown.com/The next day we ride the tandem bike for 2 hours in the CCRT (cape cope rail trail). We then walked P-town for a couple hours. The next morning we packed up and drove to our friends Bev and Axel in NH. It was great spending time catching up on life. They were allowing us to camp on their property so we took them out to dinner. We then sat in their rig and continued the conversations over the next 2 days. Thanks Bev and Axel.We left them on Wednesday 9/1/21. We drove 3 hours to Riverside Campground in Lancaster, NH. This is a pretty campground and is a Good Sam location. The next day we drove over to Mount Washington we drove our Jeep up to the top. I'm sure you may have seen cars with bumper stickers saying this car climbed Mount Washington years ago I had hiked up to the top but I was 20 years younger than so this time driving Jeep to the top he also have a cog train that will take you up but the price is more than what we were willing to spend.For the 2 of us it was $53. Which was 1/3 the cost of the cog train. We spent 3 hours on My Washington. It was beautiful ! And cold. The temp was 20 degrees colder at the top and the wind chill dropped that temp another 10 degrees. A great way to spend some time. Here are pics on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTVteJpsTeK/?utm_medium=copy_linkThe next day we drove to ...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

Relax RV- S2- E67 New England 2021 1.0

Season 2 Episode 66 8/1/21 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 the finger lakes region. We weren't ready to leave this area yet.We found Sned Acres campground on line. This was a Thursday morning and where we were looking for a place for Thursday Friday and Saturday nights so we reached out to this Campground. http://www.snedacresny.com/They said they just had a cancellation and I had one side available for the weekend so we grabbed it. It's in the middle of the finger lakes and we had planned to stay at some Harvest host wineries in the area but we couldn't find any. Now it's not like us to be looking for a place to stay that evening but our plans changed and here we were looking. So we decided for the weekend we'll stay at the campground. And then Sunday night will start staying at some wineries. This gives us a few days to reserve a spot via Harvest hosts and it gets us away from the busy weekends at the wineries. Now as usual if you go to my website and click on the discounts page https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/ you will find information about Harvest Hosts there and there's also a discount code you can use there. The day we visited a section of finger lakes national Forest and then we stopped at a winery. Now this is July of 2021 and the wineries in the finger lakes are still feeling the effects of covid. Some of them require reservations for tastings. They'd still have empty tables between guests. And the one that we stopped at didn't have any place to sit down and have a glass of wine so we ended up buying a bottle going back to the campground and having a glass of wine there. The next day we wanted to do a hike so we went down to the finger lakes national Forest. We did a 7 mile hike which was beautiful. This trip is so different from all our other camping trips. We left home a week ago and every night has been spent within a 30 mi radius. It feels like we have been gone for 2 weeks, not just one. It feels good to slow down. That afternoon we found a winery 5 minutes from the campground, which had Jazz duo guitarists. Very peaceful listening to Jazz, with a glass of wine over looking Cayuga lake. Saturday we drove to Seneca Lake for a paddle. Unfortunately Cayuga lake has a blue green algae bloom. :( And Seneca Lake was too choppy so we up to Oak Island in Waterloo NY to paddle on the canal. The funny thing is we pulled into town and realized we had been here before. It turns out 3 years ago we stopped for a farmers market we've seen in Waterloo and then went for a short walk but it was too brutally hot to continue so we moved on. This year it was 82 and muggy but a really nice day for a short paddle. We then passed Miranda's Cheese Market and did a tasting . There was some really good cheese but not good enough for us to buy. We then headed down to She'll drink Point Winery on kyoga Lake. This is a harvest host location. We did not stay here however we found it intriguing cuz they have a dock on the lake that boaters can land and enjoy the wine. So we stopped in and bought a bottle what's that by the lake enjoyed it and headed back to the campground to cook dinner on the grill. After dinner Trish did her workout and I jumped in the pool for a little while. The next day we packed up and headed to Barrelhouse 6 Distillery which was a Harvest Host location. But to get there, we needed to go go up a narrow gravel and dirt road and so we pulled into a vacant lot and disconnected the jeep and took it up the road. We decided to not chance it. A wonderful guy named Paul came over and talked to us how steep and narrow that road was. He explained that if we drove on the left side of the road we should be able to make it. I asked, so what happens if someone comes down the hill and we are on the wrong side of the road. Paul agreed that it wasn't prudent. I asked if he knew the owner's if the vacant lot, he said he was the manager if it and invited us to park there for the night. Wow. This was to be our 1st night camping without hookups with this rig. And I started to get anxious. Flash back to Catskills 1st nite of Montana trip ...genny died.So now we were doing our 1st moochdocking and without hookups. Out to dinner at Switzerland Restaurant, fantastic food and a live band but we were sweating. 85 degrees during day with 75% humidity. Sweating in the shade. So we went back to rig, started genny and turned in AC.. ..the AC that had died rite b4 this trip. Talked with Paul some. Then drove to the north end of Keuka Lake. We threw the kayak into a canal and paddled out to the lake. We noticed the temp was cooling off. B4 bed shut off genny and AC. The nite was cool and we slept well. In AM we said out thank you to Paul. And decided to cancel our next 2 HH stays because of the temps. And headed home. 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/ Boondockers Welcome: Here’s a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.http://www.boondockerswelcome.com Harvest Hosts:Here’s a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you’ll save 15% off of their annual membership fee. http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv AND Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout!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 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. T

Relax RV- S2- E66 Finger Lakes NY Wine Time

Season 2 Episode 657/13/21We 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 PAhttps://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 Enchanted Garden https://www.lintons.com/ The next day we said goodbye to our hosts. We then drove South to Speedway Campground. OMG !! This was the worst Campground we have ever seen. We pulled in and the mud to get in prohibited the RV from driving into the campground. TRhere was no electric but he offered a generator, we then left and went to the KOA of Indianapolis. I took advantage of the splash pool and we did laundry. The next day we went into Indianapolis and parked near the city market. Trish found a canal path so we walked from the city market to the canal path. We stopped for a snack at an Italian cafe right on the canal. Here are some of our pics on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwGzuzMheE/?utm_medium=copy_link We then walked to The Garage which has various restaurants for dinner. https://www.garageindy.com/chapatibeta We packed up and we left the next morning for West Milton Ohio. We plugged our surge protector in and it would not turn on. so I contacted the company and they are sending me a free replacement, as it does have a lifetime warrenty. Heres a link to the Progressive Industries EMS PT30 amp EMS. https://amzn.to/3klhEzf We found a place that can shuttle our kayak. So we paddled for an hour or so on the Miami River in Ohio. After that we visited Charleston falls preserve and we're pleasantly surprised. Couple of waterfalls cave sheer Rock cliffs beautiful hiking paths.The next day we went to Aliquippa, Pa. another BDW location. We were here for 2 nights and visited Pittsburgh, Pa. the next day. 1st we went to Canton Ave which is the steepest street in the continental United States. It has a 37% grade. We drove up is with the jeep. We then went to Schenley Park. Who walked from one end of the park to the other which took almost a half hour. He then had lunch at a place in the park called The Porch https://www.dineattheporch.com/schenley/menu The next day we drove about 3 hours East and arrived at our passport of America Campground which is ye olde grist Mill Campground in burnt cabins Pennsylvania. Because of Passport America we got the campground for half price water and electric for $22 a night. We had installed a curtain separating the cab area and the coach area and this curtain helped keep the rig cooler so much. Here's a link to the video on the curtain https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0 The next day we took a ride over to Gowans Gap State park. Very nice. The next day onto the road again for a 3-hour ride to pick up Trish's grandson in New Jersey and headed over to Old cedar Campground in Monroeville New Jersey. We had stayed here about a month ago with Trish's grandson, this will be his 1st 2 night stay with us. The weather was hot ! So we got a lot of use out if their pool. It was a nice few days if fishing, swimming, playing chess and pool. A perfect way to end our 2 and half week trip. 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/ Boondockers Welcome: Here’s a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.http://www.boondockerswelcome.com Harvest Hosts:Here’s a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you’ll save 15% off of their annual membership fee. http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv AND Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout!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 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!

Relax RV- S2- E65 Its long but worth it

Season 2 Episode 64 6/8/21We 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 I don't know when the next podcast episode of be released probably after we get back from Indiana.So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know anyone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise?I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at RelaxRV.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2If 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-TAOr you can watch them on relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/Boondockers Welcome:Here’s a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.http://www.boondockerswelcome.com Harvest Hosts:Here’s a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you’ll save 15% off of their annual membership fee.http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv And Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout! I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ for your enjoyment and edification.I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872aMy podcast can be found athttps://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcastDisclosure: 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!

Relax RV- S2- E64- Camping with family and friends

Season 2 Episode 635/25/21So 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 scrambling around the rocks. And met a group of women from Michigan and had a nice conversation with them. We are still experiencing lingering symptoms of Covid and we get winded easily and I get periods of chills and fatigue. This virus is no fun. Tuesday we drove a bit over an hour to Pennsylvania and stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location. We visited the Greendance winery. They had beautiful grounds and good wine. But no covered outdoor seating. It was a cold day so walked the grounds for a bit. The next day we went to Ohiopyle State Park in Pa. If you are any sort of an outdoor activity lover this place is for you. Rafting, hiking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing. We hiked almost 5 hours and covered 8 miles past various waterfalls. Then had a ice cream in town. There are also some snowmobile trails so I'm sure we will be back in the winter. I installed and love the Jensen Car8000 radio. The HUGE screen is wonderful especially when used the rigs cameras.https://amzn.to/3fix83N Link to avensa mapshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Avenza So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know anyone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise?I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at www.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 atwww.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA Or you can watch them on www.relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/ I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRV Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ for your enjoyment and edification.www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a

Relax RV- S2- E63 - Covid hits us

Season 2 Episode 62 4/11/21WOW 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 downloads6 months -100 downloads1st year - 1000 downloads2nd year - 2000 downloads3rd year - 3754 downloadsFor a total of 5,754It'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 http://ctmotorcars.com/ . 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 years and recently found Avenza maps.Some free some nominal fees. You download the app then find an area you want to discover and download the map.This has introduced us to some wonderful hikes. And while hiking you can track exactly where you are on the trail map. You do not need Wi-Fi or data to use the map it uses the GPS in your phone. We love it ! We even found a map of NY City and Central Park for 0.99¢ usd.https://www.avenzamaps.com/mobile-maps?campaignid=10221828697&adgroupid=102940455500&adid=453328850375&gclid=CjwKCAjwxuuCBhATEiwAIIIz0XHDpBLDmJHeSH0fEowaCoAyFBlpgeFuGEhrKg47yQSlaAb9bsv1SRoCxpEQAvD_BwE On my website www.relaxrv.org click on Discounts to lower your stress.Discounts to:Mattress InsiderBoondockers WelcomeHarvest HostsEMS outdoor gear So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know anyone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise?I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at www.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 www.relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/ I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRV Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ for your enjoyment and edification. https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a

Relax RV- S2- E62 - Rig is Painted

Season 2 Episode 61 Released 2/5/21Grandpa ! 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 rigSo 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.

Relax RV- S2- E61 - Repainting the Motorhome

Season 2 Episode 60 1/8/21Episode 60!!Wow 60 episodes.This podcast had grown since I started it in March 2018.It's been downloaded well over 5000 times.So our rigs finish. The picture on this episode shows our rigs finish after the wash at Blue Beacon.Blue beacon said they did not cause this damage ...Geico said No to covering the damage...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 ChrisI have 3 free Stress Management recordings at RelaxRV Audio Recordings.I also made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube. Or you can go to relaxrv.org-Videos. I also took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRV Facebook page for your enjoyment and edification.

Relax RV- S2- E60 - Rigs finish being repaired

Season 2 Episode 59 Released 11/30/20So 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.the Slide blocked 2. Moved them to front.Replace another that was torn in half when Thor installed it We had been wondering why we didn't have heat in the bathroom. SMHWe 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.I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube. You can find links to the videos on the relax RV page on Facebook or by going to relaxrv.org click on the videos link or copy and paste this address into your browserhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA I also took some pictures and posted them on the relax RV Facebook page for your edification.And here's a link to the Relax RV facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/?view_public_for=2776237828117877

Relax RV - S 2-E 59 - We washed our rig and ugh

Season 2 Episode 58 11/13/20Picked up the rig and drove to a campground about an hr away. On the way, I noted the gas gauge was at less than a quarter tank and there was no water in the fresh water tank not a fresh water hose.The turn signal cameras and the radio weren't working. AND there was no heat coming from the dash.We spent the 1st day getting gas, buying a 7pin to 4pin adapter for the toad, fixing the cameras and radio which was checking all the 12v fuses and finally resetting the radio with a paperclip.Then we visited the Yankee Candle store in Deerfield Ma. Wow spent an hour. Then had dinner GiannaFig also in Deerfield. We walked around town a met a local guy and his wife and chit chatted for a good half hr. We went back to the campground and got the tow bar installed on the rig.The next day we headed home and worked on a bunch of small fixes. Lubricated the slide, awning, front sliding windows, basement and front door locks, and engine lid. It seemed like none of these things were maintained at all.We saw there was going to be a couple of nice days so we booked a site at Promised Land State Park in Pa. .The list of modifications and things to fix continues to grow, but alas it is an RV. So when we got home, I dug in and started doing modifications. The big one was ripping out the jack knife sofa and putting in a Rec Pro reclining loveseat. We changed the shower head to a higher pressure and low gpm. We also did the same for the bathroom faucet. The next thing i did was took out the living room TV and put in a fire TV. And then we ripped out the TV on the outside, painted the compartment, out in some wood and polypropylene padding, some glass holders and viola... we now have an outdoor bar lol !We have a gas grill connection on this rig. But the gas flow was minimal I made some modifications to the gas line and made a video explaining what I did and it's on YouTube on the relax RV page.But as the list of things to do to the rig grows, we saw that in a couple of days the weather was going to warm up a bit so we planned a day to take a break from the rig fixes and take a hike. I find that if I don't get a day to enjoy nature it affects my mood. Now taking a day off isn't easy for me. I also have to force myself to do it, but once I do my patience is higher, my sense of humor returns and I feel better about myself. We went to the Ashokan Reservoir and rode our bike for 9 miles then walked another 4 miles. This reservoir feeds NYC drinking water.The following day it took out the small ineffectual entrance step light that Thor had mounted and replaced with a motion detector brighter light.We put dimmer lights over the headboard of the bed for reading. Then I took the original Puck lights that were over the bed, which had not enough button on each light, and put them over the dinette in the living room. because Thor in their infinite wisdom put the on/off switch for those lights over in the kitchen.Installed the backup camera for the Garmin GPS that we use. We installed a privacy curtain behind the cockpit area so when you walk into the rig the curtain will be on the right providing a little bit more temperature control from the cab area and it really accentuates living area.The one of the first things we noticed with the rig is the ceiling light switch is on the side of the cabinet as you come in the door so you have to stand on either the edge of the stairwell or in the stairwell and try to reach this light switch which is one of five switches period so I picked up some wire and another switch and moved it down a good four feet so when you enter the rig the switch is right there.The next project was heated tanks. When we saw this rig advertised the brochures showed that the 2017-29.4 theories had heated tank pads and heated tanks. I looked and looked and I could not find any switches for the heating pads so I called Thor they ran my VIN number and told us this rig did not have any heated tanks at all. We were crushed. one of the things that we knew that we definitely wanted was heated tanks. We love to Winter camp. So I did some homework I found a set of three rec pro tank heating pads and it came with lighted switches so that when you turn the pads on the light on the switch lights up. I'm going to take some reflectix and secured to the bottom of the tanks covering the heated pads this way that heat will definitely radiate back up into the tanks.Next big project is I want to heat the water lines that run through the basement. Our last RV Thor 27.1 had heated tanks that were heated with vents coming from the furnace. so in order to have heated tanks you had to run your furnace which can get really expensive on a cold winter's night using all of that propane. Almost 3 years ago we went to old forge New York for a weekend and went down to -5° F. In those three nights we went through 26 gallons of propane. So what I am planning on doing is pull out the water lines that go from one side of the rig to the other side wrap them with heating tape put foam wrap around it and reinstall the water lines.This rig has a 1000 watt inverter that was put in when they made it. This inverter runs two outlets one is the outdoor refrigerator and the second one is the outlet by the passenger front seat in the dashboard. So I figured we will never be turning on the outdoor refrigerator in the winter so I ran an electric line from the outlet at the outdoor refrigerator which is wired to a 3 prong plug I then ran the line underneath the rig to the basement compartment where the plumbing lines are. At the end of the electric line I put in a outlet to plug in heating tape. Insulating the pipes is going to have to wait because drum roll please .....We had bought the rig on Oct 2nd and it took 6 weeks to get into DMV.So we are planning a short trip to parts unknown in the next week or 2. We also have an appointment at Ford to get our dashboard heat fixed. I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube. You can find links to the videos on the relax RV page on Facebook or by going to relaxrv.org click on the videos link.Or copy and paste this address into your browser https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TAAnd here's a link to the Relax RV facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/?view_public_for=277623782811787

Relax RV - S 2-E 58 - We got our new rig let the fun begin

You see we are now on season 2, this because we are now on RV #2. We decided to sell our rig and buy a newer one. The episodes numbers will continue the same sequence so this is episode 57, can you believe it??We placed our ad on RV trader and cost $250. It was sold in 1 month. I've always heard how much RVs depreciate. When we sold this one we got back our purchase price plus the cost for all of the solar and the cost for the two ceiling vent fans etc. I think the big thing is stay on top of the problems as they arise with the ring then when you're ready to sell you don't have a list of things to fix.Prior to selling it we got it detailed from National Detail Pros in Draper Utah, for almost $700. . They have contracts with local detailers and they sent a mobile guy to us here in New York. However there were a couple of issues with his service. He said he would be here for most of a day. It took him almost 2 days and he missed some areas. When I contacted the company they basically ignored my complaints. And not in a nice way. They also threatened to sue me for slander if I give any false reviews. Unreal !!!! So, I highly recommend you do not waste your money using this company.We had it on the market for a month. We had a few offers and deposits but then it seemed like they got nervous and backed out. Then we got a solid offer and sealed the deal. So now we are back to looking at newer rigs to buy. We found one at RCD RV Superstore in Sunbury, Ohio. We explained we wanted to see it and would be there in 2 days. They said it may be sold by then but if we put $1000 down they would hold it for us. So we did and drove over 8hrs to see it. Now, this was the 1st time I did a 8hr drive in one day in almost 20yrs. Yuck NOT for me but we know many folks and you may be one of them who love to drive long distances in a day.We arrived there Met George. Got the keys and .... saw a wet spot on the passenger side floor. Not a small one either. Carpet was soaked with water, from a leak. Then we tried to level it but the jacks wouldn't go down. Trish was outside and said there was Hydraulic fluid pouring out. And the slides wouldn’t operate.It's a real shame what dealers will try to sell. When we told them we didn't want to buy this rig he said but we're going to bring it in the shop tomorrow and fix everything.Imagine if somebody didn't know anything about RVs and was super eager to buy that one they would have jumped on band wagon and bought it.So we explained to George that we wanted our deposit back. We then went to look for other rigs in the area but didn't find any that matched what we're looking for. We headed back to New York and back to square one. We were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted and didn’t want in our next rig. It seems like every time we found a rig it got sold quickly.So we figured what we would do is find a bunch of RVs for sale in one area. Which meant we may have to fly down in Florida and look at a bunch. we were going to do this because there's a lot more RVs for sale in Florida than in Orange county New York LOL. We then went back on RV trader.com we found an RV that was a little bit above our highest price that we could go. But the floor plan matched exactly what we wanted. What we wanted was a living room with a sofa and a dinette and over the cab bed a self enclosed bathroom and a bedroom that was Private with a door not an accordion door and had enough wardrobe storage for our clothes. We found a rig up in Massachusetts. I sent the gentleman an email asking what would be the lowest price you could go period and his low price matched our upper end price exactly.We received our $1,000 deposit from the dealer in Ohio. And then we received confirmation from Bank of the West that are loan application was approved for the rig in Ohio. So we sent a $100 deposit for the rig in Massachusetts site unseen. This is all very new for us we don't like buying expensive this way. But these are weird times aren't they? 2 days later we drove up to Massachusetts we looked at the rig instantly fell in love with it. We were told to fax over 15 pages of information that Bank of the West requires along with a note stating that we lost the deal on the other rig in Ohio. Now of course we don't have a fax machine but my daughter and son-in-law do. so we gathered up the papers to fax to Bank of the West. It always seems like things happen all at once and sometimes I find myself in the need of talking to a stress Management consultant so it's easy for me I just start talking to myself.So I first figured out my priorities then addressed each one of them in order. Eventually I got to my daughter's I tried faxing the papers over the bank at the west. However after an hour and a half of trying more than 20 times. Trish texted me and said she's going to call Bank of the West. After a 45 mins on hold, she spoke to a woman he said oh you can just email those papers to us you know not to fax them.WELL Bank of the West has the best rates around for us for an RV loan BUT they are nothing but a pain in the neck to deal with. When we bought our last rig almost three years ago I ended up emailing two of the top people and Bank of the West to complain about the service. And it seems like we're dealing with that all over again.Finally we got everything to them and they said they would need to send an inspector over to look at the rig. Then they said they wont be doing that.We then got a text message from the seller saying he really wanted the rig gone quickly. He said when he bought it everything was done in one day and he doesn't understand the delay. He expressed concern of selling it quickly otherwise he may lose out on the warmer rving weather and miss opportunities to sell it. I then called the seller and explained we have the loan. It's going to take a little bit of time to get everything done with the bank , but the RV is considered sold and we do not want to miss out on this rig. We knew we were going to put down $8,000 on the rig so I told the seller mail him a bank check for our $8000 deposit and if need be I would drive it the 3 hours to him to hand it to him. He said we can overnight the check to him. We did, but he didnt check his mail until the following day. You know, in today's world it seems that instant gratification is definitely a thing. And meanwhile our rig was sold but was still sitting in the driveway because Bank of the West has not sent the release of lean to us. It took them 2 weeks for us to recieve it. Then the bank over nigted paperwork to us and the seller. We had ours back in the mail within 2 hrs. It took the seller 3 days to get his into the mail. I thought he was in a rush? Hmmm. But we figured we would deal with his headaches as opposed to flying to Florida (where there's a high count of corona cases), traveling all over the state and renting a car looking at rigs and then having to fly back down when a loan was approved to drive our rig back home from Florida. So we just deal with his headaches.A few days later our rig pulled out of the driveway for the last time. we sold it to a great couple from Pennsylvania and we wish them lots of happiness with it and safe travels. When they got home, we sent them a text to look in the storage bin - where we had left them a bottle of wine and a card wishing them joy. It was very bittersweet watching it pull away.. There's been a lot of memories in that RV and headaches too, but a lot of memories!!!! And we're looking forward to making new memories in our next rig. And a big part of our trips is ... the planning. Setting a destination and then a route.The Bank of the West sent the sellers a bank check (which took them another 2 days to get deposited in their bank). And the wont release the rig until the bank check clears. So, according to their website Bank of the West says they close on RV loans in 7 to 10 days it's now almost 3 weeks. So the delays with the seller and Bank of the West finally ended We picked up the New To Us rig. It's a Thor 2017 ACE 29.4. So until next time ....

Relax RV - S 2-E 57 - We sold our RV and---

So my back ache started in January. Turns out it's mainly arthritis with very minor bulging discs. So thinking back to when the pain had started and I think it was from being too inactive. We had started our 2019 southeast trip and it was cold, so we weren't very active and so I was sitting a lot more than I typically do. I do believe that's what caused the flare. I had been in PT for 6 weeks and it's feeling much better now.So we decided to hit the road for a little bit. We drove out to Pennsylvania and we stayed at Starr Hill winery which is part of harvest hosts. When we went in, there were no other customers. We did a free tasting. Bought a bottle of their wine. Their Wines were very good and not expensive at all. And then headed over to town to take a walk on the river. But the pouring rain came in and that ended that. We went back to the winery and we took a walk for about an hour through the back country roads. For a harvest host location this winery is very unique and had 50-amp hook-ups albeit they charge $10 a night for it but considering it was in the mid-to-upper 80s we figured we would splurge LOL. The Next day we had it over Mantua Ohio for a couple of nights at a BDW location. We met our hosts Pete and Karen and talked for awhile about life and travels. They offered us a 15amp extension cord which we accepted. Even though we have the solar and inverter if electricity is offered to us we always accept it, because you cant totally rely on bright sunny days. We then took a ride over to Barrel run crossing winery where we got a glass of wine delicious pizza and a cheese and meat board. we invited our hosts to join us, but they had other plans.The next day we took a ride to Punderson State Park. We kayaked for about an hour and we reminisced how difficult it used to be getting our tandem kayak up on the Jeep where were take a half hour to get it up or off which really stopped us from kayaking a lot when we first started traveling 2 years ago. After the kayaking we hiked some of their trails. we then packed up a sandwich and a glass of wine and we sat outside the Inn overlooking the lake and enjoyed our lunch then did more hiking and headed back to the rig.We find it interesting how varied the pandemic rules are in each area as we travel. Some restaurants have indoor sitting some don't. Some stores "encourage face masks" others don't.So with the limited available places to visit and increasing travel restrictions being put in place by New York State. We decided to head home and stay off the road for a while and see how all of this pans out.Then for the next few weeks we had stayed home too much and I started going stir crazy.You know .... Cabin Fever !It seemed that the more I sat around, the MORE I wanted to sit around. Inertia had settled in.A Sedentary lifestyle is that nice comfortable way of living that comes from doing nothing. Just sitting or lying on the sofa watching TV and not bothering with life that is happening outside.So once I recognize this, I made a conscious decision to be more active it took the kayak out paddling a couple of days. We went on a few hikes and being the temps for super high these hikes included waterfalls. We took out our tandem bicycle and we paddled through a couple of towns and made a nice day of it. And 3 or 4 times a week, we walk 3,4 or 5 miles a day.So now I feel better about myself and I am more eager to remain active.My advice, get active. Find a hobby that includes activity. Remain in contact (wither on the phone or in person -6 feet apart) with friends and loved ones.

Relax RV - Episode 56 - A trip to Pennsylvania and Ohio

We visited Trishs' daughter and grandson in south Jersey. Then visited with with a friend in PA. Then went up to the Finger Lakes NY for a few days. We installed a Easy Start in the roof air conditioner and can now run the A/C off of the inverter.

Relax RV - Episode 55 - A trip to south Jersey and then the Finger Lakes

Ever get stressed while on the road in a RV? Well this podcast focuses on Stress Management while RVing. I retired in June 2018 as a Nurse. I have been a Stress Management Consultant since 2003. Trish and I have been planning on RVing for about 3 years, At that time, our knowledge base on RVing was zero. For many years I had wanted to buy a pop-up camper after I retired, I took Trish to a RV show to show her my plans. Well ..... she looked at pop-ups and said she couldn't camp in that, it was too small for her. She then looked across the room, pointed at a Class A and said "but what are those over there?". I shook my head and when I saw the price tag, my whole body shook. And 3 years later Me and Trish bought a 29' 2015 Thor ACE - Class A and we tow a 2015 Jeep behind us. LET THE STRESS BEGIN !!!!!

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