Tag: newbie mistakes

Posted in: Broken/Damanged Things, Newbie Tips, Sightseeing

Advice If You Are Moving Your RV From Arizona To New Mexico

Written by tepetravels

This post is a little out of sync, but I wanted to put it out there.

If you are traveling from the Tucson, Arizona area to Carlsbad, New Mexico, you may go through Texas! Geography is a crazy thing.

We drove through El Paso on our way. If you have a larger RV/Trailer, especially a diesel, stop to get fuel right by/in El Paso! There is literally nothing for over 100 miles (no bathrooms, no diesel) once you drive out of town. There were maybe a few small gas stations, but no diesel and nothing we would fit into. Please make sure to fill your tank completely full and also fill a back-up container of fuel.

After passing the salt flats, we stopped at a picnic area to put our emergency 8 gallon diesel container into the truck. I am so glad we kept that filled. I don’t think we would have made it into Carlsbad without it. There were several fuel stations that had diesel, but most of them are tight for larger rigs. We filled up, but not after I cracked the outdoor electric cover on the RV by not clearing the last ballard.

We did see a really neat informational sign at the picnic area though, so you never know what you will find when you stop!

Posted in: Bike Rack, Broken/Damanged Things, Newbie Mistakes

Let’s Not Move On A Wednesday Again

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Let’s Not Move On A Wednesday Again

Moving day! The boys and I got a lot of the RV ready to move while Ben worked. When he was done we finished packing up and got on the road. We were still going to be in Colorado and it was going to be a pretty short drive to our next campground (just 1 1/2 hours).

There was a lot of construction on our way down. The RV park only had a back-in spot when we booked and I had called down a few days before to see if they had any pull-throughs available. They said they would see what they could do.

Unfortunately, our site was a back in. The plus was it was a little shaded! It’s been pretty warm and dry so far in Colorado (getting to 90 most days), so the shade was really nice. We had just enough room to put up Ben’s tent.

That was where the decent day ended.

The new bike rack made the turning tighter. I didn’t notice right away because I was paying attention to the RV back up camera and truck side view mirrors. I knew when to stop when it was just the RV and the truck, but hadn’t accounted for the bikes. I thought (stupidly) that they wouldn’t be in the way. The bolts on Will’s bikes tires ended up scratching the paint on the truck and the truck cap. It also made the rear wheel of Will’s bike now rub against the frame. There is no visible big bend in the wheel. We’re going to see if anyone can fix it, but it is the back wheel with the gears.

We have some extra paint for the truck, if I can find where we packed it, so I can help fix the truck and the cap.

Now the next part is not so easy to fix, nor do I have any idea of how it happened.

The rear passenger stabilizer arm bent. We didn’t have it down yet. We had leveled before putting the stabilizers down. I really can’t think of what we could have done to have caused this.

On the plus side, it’s nothing that is integral to the moving of the RV. (I don’t think.)

It was just not a good day and very stressful. Tempers were high and there was some arguing. Having loud neighbors up until long after quiet hours probably didn’t help anyone’s mood.

Co & Propane Gas Detector

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Co & Propane Gas Detector

Did you know that you can set off your CO/Propane detector by using Lysol? Me either!

Well, now I know. We had bought the kids new blankets and I sprayed them so they could use them that night (it’s been chilly). Suddenly the alarm started blaring. I had no idea that spraying the Lysol would set it off.

I did some reading online and supposedly Febreze, passing gas right next to it, the RV batteries getting warm and emitting odor/gas, bug sprays, sunscreen/spray, hair spray, even some cooking sprays can all set it off.

We even spilled a little bit of an alcoholic drink near it, and it went off as well! It is starting to remind me of the smoke detector in the kitchen of the house. Anytime the oven got over 375 degrees F, it went off.

It certainly has been an experience learning the idiosyncrasies of our RV. Although, to be fair, it hasn’t been too bad so far. Just a little ear splitting at times. 🙂

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