My American Sightseeing Blog
Day One and Two – Ohio to Missouri
May 2022
We spent two weeks with the RV sitting in the yard moving stuff out of the house and into the motorhome. As the house emptied and the RV filled up it began to feel like home. An empty house is not a home no matter how long you have lived in it. A few personal touches, pictures on the wall, cupboards filled with our stuff, sleeping in the bed with our own pillows, and we were home in the RV.
The first thing we figured out is that the parking break must be on to take out and bring in the slide on the motorhome. We also had to figure out how to get the car on the tow dolly.
Set the parking break before putting out or taking in the slide.
Living in the RV requires us to pull the car behind us on a tow dolly. The whole reason for living in an RV fulltime is to see the country. The RV won’t make it down the kind of roads I want to drive on so a car is a must. It was our first time loading the car up and lesson learned – cars with low front spoilers are harder to load and the metal stops on the dolly will chew up the spoiler if you don’t load it right. Naturally, we did not load the car right the first time. Within the first five miles of home we were dragging a chain. We had to pull over and fix it. By the time we got to our first rest stop, a tire strap had come off one of the tires. No wonder we were swaying back and forth so bad!
Always make sure the tow chains are hooked, and if they are, make sure they stay hooked.
The first night we drove south on Highway 127 and made it to I-70 West. We stopped at the Indiana Welcome Rest Area and realized the tow strap had come off. By the time we fixed it, it was 11:30 pm so we decided to sleep right there in the rest area parking lot. There were other motorhomes sleeping too. Neither one of us could remember how to start the generator, because it worked before. What were we forgetting? We were too exhausted and just went to bed anyway.
I woke Rich up at 6am because I was freezing. I also sleep with a CPAP machine, and without electricity, I didn’t sleep much. Rich started the RV to turn on the heat and decided to try the generator one more time – it started! Oh, yeah, the vehicle must be running to start the generator, then you can shut off the RV. Generators are loud. Maybe a newer one is a little quieter, but the decibels on this thing surprised me.
Always adjust your side mirrors before taking off and getting on the Interstate.
It is not an easy task to pull back out into 80-mile-per-hour traffic after pulling over to fix them.
When we left Ohio gasoline was $3.64 per gallon. Why are we only getting 6 miles per gallon? Rich’s comment was, “Julie, you kept too much stuff. We are going to have to get rid of even more.”
Talking on the phone with our youngest son, he asked if we were hauling a full tank of water. Of course we filled the water tank, why? Needless to say, after dumping the tank of water on the side of the road, boy did the RV drive much better. Now we were getting closer to 12 miles per gallon like we were supposed to. It steered a lot better too.
We made it to Missouri on our second day and pulled up in front of Alan’s house. Rich! Look out for that big tree limb! Too late. It broke the antenna off the roof. We didn’t want to watch local tv anyway.
It was a long first few days, but we are living the dream.
See you tomorrow.
Next post is titled Having a Plan.
AMERICAN SIGHTSEEING BLOG – Living Fulltime in an RV
America is Beautiful
The RV
Just the Basics
Day One and Two – Ohio to Missouri
Having a Plan?
The Olympic Peninsula & Olympic National Park – State of Washington
Olympic National Park – Day 2
Port of Allyn – Allyn Waterfront Park
Rich and I have done a lot of traveling in our lives. I wish I would have always written about each adventure, but sometimes life just gets too busy. We began full time RVing in April 2022, but I didn’t start writing about it regularly until December 2022. That’s when I started blogging regularly on Medium. Following is a list of the travel articles I have written on Medium.
You are allowed to read three articles per month for free. Or for $4.99 per month you can become a member of Medium through my referral link and read unlimited articles by all the writers on Medium. Membership also gives you the right to like an article by clapping and leaving comments.
December 26, 2022 – Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins
December 26, 2022 – The Chassahowitzka Salt Marsh Trails in Florida
December 29, 2022 – Visiting Manatee Springs State Park in Florida
December 29, 2022 – Must See Fort Fanning Historical Park
December 29, 2022 – Visiting Fanning Springs State Park in Florida
January 4, 2023 – Visiting the USS Lexington WWII Aircraft Carrier
January 4, 2023 – Collecting Shells at Indian Point Park and Pier
January 6, 2023 – Visiting Padre Island National Seashore
January 6, 2023 – Visiting Mustang Island State Park
January 6, 2023 – Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture
January 7, 2023 – Visiting the Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine
January 8, 2023 – South to Palo Alto Battlefield
January 8, 2023 – Drifts on South Padre Island
January 8, 2023 – Visiting Port Isabel Lighthouse
January 9, 2023 – We Went Parking Today!
January 11, 2023 – The Last Land Battle of the Civil War
January 11, 2023 – What is STARBASE?
January 11, 2023 – I Think We Drove Too Far South
January 13, 2023 – Exploring the Not So Famous Beaches of Central Florida
January 13, 2023 – Another Tragic End to a Beautiful Life
January 14, 2023 – The Hans & Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge
January 15, 2023 – The Killer Bee Capital of the World
January 16, 2023 – Visiting the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Nature Park
January 18, 2023 – A Trek to La Sal del Rey
January 18, 2023 – The Wildlife of Kings
January 18, 2023 – A Memorial Garden
January 19, 2023 – The Chachalaca Trail
January 19, 2023 – Visiting Port Mansfield, Texas
January 20, 2023 – Living on Baffin Bay
January 22, 2023 – The Largest Rattlesnake in the World
January 22, 2023 – The Ruins of Casa Blanca
January 27, 2023 – Abandoned and Left to Rot
January 27, 2023 – Estero Llano Grande State Park
January 28, 2023 – Crossing the Border
January 31, 2023 – A Testy Traveling Day
February 1, 2023 – We Found Judge Roy Bean’s Grave
February 2, 2023 – Traveling Day #2
February 3, 2023 – Amistad National Recreation Area in Del Rio, Texas
February 3, 2023 – Seminole Canyon Texas State Historic Park
February 3, 2023- Black Gap Wildlife Management Area
February 3, 2023 – The Pink Brinkley Mansion
February 4, 2023 – Who Was Nina Seawell Hannold
February 4, 2023 – The Fossil Discovery Exhibit at Big Bend National Park
February 4, 2023 – Panther Junction Visitor Center
February 4, 2023 – A Big Dark Sky at Big Bend
February 6, 2023 – Hiking the Trail to the Famous Healing Hot Springs of Big Bend
February 7, 2023 – The Ghost Towns of Big Bend
February 7, 2023 – Fort Leaton State Historic Site
February 7, 2023 – Visiting the Contrabando Movie Set Site
February 8, 2023 – The Many Terrains of Big Bend National Park
February 8, 2023 – Driving the Texas Mountain Trail
February 11, 2023 – Exploring Five Types of Mountains
February 12, 2023 – Visiting Niagara Falls State Park
February 13, 2023 – Visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty
February 14, 2023 – New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
February 15, 2023 – Welcome to Alpine, Texas
February 15, 2023 – Visiting the Historic Town of Fort Stockton, Texas
February 16, 2023 – Hiking 3 Short Trails
February 16, 2023 – Abandoned Automobiles at Big Bend
February 17, 2023 – Visiting Fort Pulaski National Monument and Cockspur Island Lighthouse
February 17, 2023 – Visiting the Gateway Arch National Park
February 19, 2023 – Living on the Lake of the Ozarks
February 21, 2023 – Trekking Up the Stairs of Watkins Glen State Park
February 23, 2023 – A Day at Fort Davis and Davis Mountain State Park
February 28, 2023 – Seeing Some of the World’s Largest Things
March 1, 2023 – What a Dirty, Ugly, Trashy Road
March 4, 2023 – Touring the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park
March 5, 2023 – Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area
March 5, 2023 – Carlsbad Caverns National Park
March 7, 2023 – Exploring the Caverns of Carlsbad
March 8, 2023 – Abandoned Apache Canyon Trading Post
March 8, 2023 – Rattlesnake Springs
March 10, 2023 – Guadalupe Mountains National Park
March 10, 2023 – Visiting the Bataan Recreation Area & Veterans Memorial Park
March 11, 2023 – Getting Lost in the Backcountry Desert of the Guadalupe Mountains
March 14, 2023 – The Largest Piistachio in the World
March 14, 2023 – Visiting White Sands National Park
March 17, 2023 – Top 10 Places to See When Visiting Carlsbad, New Mexico
March 21, 2023 – Driving the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway
March 21, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 1
March 22, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 2
March 25, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 3
March 27, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 4
March 27, 2023 – The Tallest Waterfall in Oklahoma
March 27, 2023 – A Cement Igloo & a Magnetic Hill
March 28, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 5
March 29, 2023 – Washington to Ohio – Travel Diary Day 6 and 7 and Home
March 29, 2023 – Chickasaw National Recreation Area Day 1
March 29, 2023 – Chickasaw National Recreation Area Day 2
April 1, 2023 – Home Sweet Home
April 7, 2023 – Exploring Van Wert, Ohio
This blog is a work in progress as we travel across the United States in our RV, so stay tuned and come back often. I may not have the time to write about every single place we visit, but I will try. Be sure to refresh the page regularly so the new updates come through.