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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: CHIGGERS!!!!
Growing up in SW Iowa, our SOP after playing outside all day was a bath with some baking soda added to the water. Don't know if the baking soda helped the soap & water or not but after we started using it, we rarely itched. It was important to take that bath ASAP. Too long a delay and it didn't work as well. Baking soda is a useful substance.
...or, try 2cups of Epsom salts dissolved into a tub full of water.
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stevenicol
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07/24/11 10:31am |
Truck Campers
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RE: I have bats!!
- it dawns on me: are bat droppings hazardous to my dogs. So far, they don't seem interested in them...
...we have a poop-eating German Shephard. On occaision, we've garnered loafty vet bills, and a miserable, sick dog. Chicken manure was her biggest gobble-fest, which she vomited; however, all the nasty microscopic bugs required medication. We're learning.
In our case, so long as we supplement her diet with microbiotics, she has little interest in turd eating.
More importantly, since you care for your dogs, you know when they get sick; if we're concerned about our critters eatin' stuff that's gonna upset their stomachs (bat guano) we watch for signs of GI distress: vomit and/or diarrhea.
Enjoy those bats!
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stevenicol
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07/22/11 12:42pm |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Inverter questions
...for what it's worth, we never let our 150 aH lead-acid battery drop below 50%; it was mentioned to show that what we have is more than a cheapo power inverter, which we can trust to power phone chargers, cooking devices, etc.
Thanks for the great feedback discussion!
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stevenicol
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07/22/11 12:15pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Inverter questions
Some of the new technology inverters "go to sleep" and use truly tiny amounts of power in that "standby mode".
...our's is a sinusoidal wave inverter, that sounds an alarm when battery power drops below 10 volts, then shuts-down.
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 11:09am |
Technology Corner
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RE: What to do with fresh water system b/t trips?
...because we have a truck camper, all of our fresh water tanks are small; however, we drain and refill before every trip. I reckon it's a habit I learnt years ago when I worked on a fire engine for the US Forest Service: we would drain and refill our freshwater canteens once a week. We treat the freshwater tanks on our camper with a freshwater flush and refill before every trip; besides, why risk it? Giardia really sucks!
Fresh water is a nutritional necessity; if I'm gonna drink it, it has to be clean.
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 10:24am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: help me decide...........
...hopefully, my father-in-law will chime in here and give detail as to why they are going from a trailer back to a fifth-wheel; but, from what we know, some, if not most of it, has to do with safety, and control.
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 10:21am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Inverter questions
...so, an inverter is what I have? Aside from semantics, what did I miss out on here? What's the difference?
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 10:10am |
Technology Corner
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RE: How far did you drive to buy your TC?
...traveled from tax-free Oregon to California to get an ideal used diesel.
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 10:01am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Inverter questions
...thanks Jim; you answered perfectly.
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 09:58am |
Technology Corner
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Inverter questions
...is this accurate:
a 150 watt 12vDC-120vAC (converter) will use 62.5% less battery power than a 400 watt converter.
for example:
a device uses 120 watts peak power; if this device operated for 30 minutes using a 400 watt converter, it would take 16.7 amps from our battery bank:
W/V=amps; 400/12=33.2 x1/2 = 16.7
...using a 150 watt converter, it would use 6.25:
150/12=12.5x1/2 = 6.25
Will the lower wattage converter allow our devices to use less power?
Thanks!
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stevenicol
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07/21/11 09:49am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Getting towed with a TC on.
The problem with loading a camper on an equipment trailer is that the jacks are usually not as wide as the trailer. Even if you have dually swing out brackets up front, the rears are still narrower than most flat bed trailers. Or are you talking about loading the whole truck & camper on the trailer?
We recently had to have our truck and camper towed; the reason that it could not have been put on a flatbed was vertical clearance. Towing with the drive shaft disconnected is easy, safe, and effective.
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stevenicol
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07/19/11 01:07pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Inconsiderate neighbors
...too bad there isn't instant Karma: eh?
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stevenicol
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07/16/11 11:17am |
Tent Camping
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RE: Ipad II or Samsung - Galaxy Tab 10.1
...we love our iPads! Yes, there are limitations like with everything else that comes from Apple, but nothing on the "PC" side (e.g., Samsung) can do as much, as secure, and as easy to get serviced as any of our Mac products have during our years of travel.
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stevenicol
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07/12/11 12:47pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Cast Iron Cooking
I wash the inside of my iron pots all the time - with soap too. Then onto the stove, on high, to completely dry. Then I smear Crisco into the hot pot, let set and wipe off excess when cooled.
Iris
...we used to do this too; soap-free is just more appealing regarding the whole essence of campin'.
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stevenicol
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07/09/11 11:17am |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Cast Iron Cooking
...we only cook with cast iron when we camp; reading everyone's jive about seasoning cast iron is a joke; your best bet is to ask a chef; I betcha you have chef friends.
For what it's worth, our chef friend recommends generously coating a new cast iron cooking device (skillet or dutch oven) with our favorite oil (could be bacon grease, could be olive oil; doesn't matter), heat it until it smokes, cool it, wipe it clean, cook with it, never use soap to clean: only water and elbow grease.
Give it time and it will season naturally; however, sometimes sticky stuff removes seasoning; there is a way to repair this: according to our chef friend, this is how to do it: put a lot of oil in the cast iron pan, heat it over medium-high heat; grind a fresh egg, shell and all with a big spoon or a spatula into the unseasoned section until it's cooked dry; this will repair it. I know, it had to use it once.
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stevenicol
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07/08/11 04:23pm |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: PLEASE DOUSE YOUR CAMPFIRES
...yet another reason for leave-no-trace camping: by leaving no trace, I take everything that would show that a person was there previously; this means taking ash and burnt logs. These have to be fully extinguished before I can take them away.
Please take away more human signs then you leave; encourage others to do the same.
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stevenicol
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07/06/11 02:40pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Re: Honeywell 2000i Propane Conversion
...yet to determine fuel consumption as we are still using a 5 gallon propane tank, which has yet to go empty. On our past trip, we ran it for another 8 1/2 hours. At this point, it's far easier to start; it usually starts with two to three pulls on the starter.
So far, so good, and it's gettin' better.
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stevenicol
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07/05/11 11:19am |
Tech Issues
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Blackberry Dump Cake: Dutch Oven Arithmetic
...Okay, so we got some great Dutch oven recipes; thing is, most of these recipes call for a 12-inch Dutch oven; this is fine, so long as we only have one thing we want to make; however, this isn't usually the case.
Along with our 12-inch Dutch oven, we have a 10-inch; so, recipes have to be reduced proportionately so that they work. One that's easy to reduce is a dump cake.
Using C. Dub's recipe for Dump Cake, this is what we did to make it work in a 10-inch Dutch Oven:
2 2/3 cups Blackberries
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake mix
1 2/3 cups of soda pop such as 7UP.
18-22 briquets on top
4-6 on bottom
Enjoy!
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stevenicol
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06/20/11 08:32am |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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Good Sam: dispatch issue?
...this past weekend we got a bonus day of camping because the water pump on our 2002 Dodge 2500, 235CTD quit working. As expected, helpers came out of the woodwork; however, our best solution was to have the truck and camper towed to a Dodge dealer in Newport, Oregon.
We contacted Good Sam as soon as we had our camper set-up in our campsite at Beachside State Park. Good Sam was provided with our location, a cell phone number so we could be contacted, and we informed them of our situation: vehicle type (RV); problem; location, including campsite number; what time to pick-up the vehicle; and where to tow it.
The Good Sam representative on the telephone was courteous and professional, and s/he had all the information necessary so that a tow truck could come and take us away; we arranged a pick-up time (7 a.m., Monday) and we were told that we would receive a telephone call an hour before the scheduled arrival to assure that we still needed assistance: 6 a.m., no phone call; 7 a.m., we call Good Sam; the phone rep. tells us the name of the service provider, and that we would receive a phone call when he is on the way. We again provided Good Sam with a cell phone number where they could reach us; we received no call.
Around 9 a.m., the two truck shows up. The driver was informed that the vehicle was broken down by the entrance of the park, that it was a passenger vehicle, not an RV; therefore, the wrong tow truck was dispatched; this presented yet another problem. The driver suggested taking the camper off and then transporting the vehicle without the camper: not an option. So the driver cancelled and returned.
So, we called Good Sam again, and the phone lady told us that they would provide a different tow vehicle, and that they would call us when the truck was on it's way: she verified the phone number where to contact us.
We received no call.
The tow truck driver, same guy as before, was the high quality fella you'd expect from a Good Sam jobber, so he came back with a tow truck to haul our truck camper where it would get repaired.
All in all, everything worked out; however, the miscommunication was awful. Regarding all the missed phone calls? When we returned home yesterday afternoon, there were 12 messages on our answering machine, all from Good Sam; despite being provided with a contact phone number, and verifying the number, Good Sam failed.
Has this happened to anybody else: Good Sam and inept communication?
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stevenicol
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06/14/11 12:59pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Dry Ice
Perhaps use some dry ice to do the pre cooling (it should not matter if it is not level). Get it cold, load it with frozen goods, close it tight and enjoy the trip.
...this is the exact idea I was thinkin'; sometimes it's necessary to get verification for my good ideas just in case they're actually crazy, foolish and stupid.
Thanks!
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stevenicol
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06/06/11 02:43pm |
Tech Issues
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