PTParaD TRs and Shenanigans

[Part-Time Paradise]

The April showers that bring May flowers showed up a month early I think.

We all slept in this morning. I cooked breakfast for everyone and the kids hit the pump track again. They made it about 30 minutes before the sore hands and buns from yesterday's ride wore them out.

Back at the campground the kids played at the playground while I packed up ahead of the line of storms marching across the country. DW made grilled cheese for lunch and we huddled in for the storm. The sky opened up around 1 and it's just been a steady drizzle since. The ground was already saturated. The campground is going to be a swimming pool before too long.


Not much exciting today. This is what we've watched all afternoon.


Wild Skip Bo games and YouTube excitement.

We're going to head into Columbia for dinner tonight to get out of the camper for awhile. Hopefully something more exciting to report tonight.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

We braved the rain and hit up Como (Columbia, Missouri nickname for the uninitiated) Smoke & Fire. It's a BBQ joint in a gas station. Gotta be good right?

We started with smoked chicken egg rolls. Pretty tasty, though the chef must've rolled the wonton wrappers with his eyes closed on a trampoline. DW went with loaded fries topped with pulled pork, DD went with loaded baked potato topped with pulled pork, DS 1/2 rack of ribs, and I went for the smoked and fried pork tenderloin sandwich. So I wouldn't get in trouble from Ed:

Don't mind my sloppy mustard work. My pork tenderloin manhole cover was excellent.

After rolling out of the booth we set out to find DW and the kids some windbreakers for potential rainy days this summer at WDW. We hit Bass Pro and Academy before my credit card cooled back to room temp. It didn't take too big of a hit, but we found some pants and shirts for me (since most of my wardrobe is cargo shorts and t shirts that are from the late 90s).

Obligatory, "dad can I sit in a piece of equipment that you won't buy until you hit the lottery" pic

Now we're back in the rig. We're moving in the morning to near STL to visit my mom and sister.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Woof. Long day. We got the rig stuffed into our site at Babler State Park. It looks like a busted can of biscuits, but I got it shoved in there. For some reason it's a good idea to put the site posts on the the side you are trying to back in and really close to the road and site drive.

We went to my sister's and tried to shove in every holiday we've missed since last year except Thanksgiving. The kids were a tornado and my mom got worn out.

Christmas morning and spring forward tomorrow! Rest up campers.

 

[Teamubr]

You're at Babler? You are almost in my neck of the woods. Enjoy! Hopefully the rain holds off for you.

j

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

You're at Babler? You are almost in my neck of the woods. Enjoy! Hopefully the rain holds off for you.

Yes closing in on your position. Too bad not enough time for linking up. We'll see you in July though.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Yesterday was bonkers. We got to my sisters in the morning and opened Christmas presents, decorated missed birthday cakes, toured my sister's new house, and the kids played with some of their presents. It was a nice visit to see my mom and sister's family for the first time in over a year, but it was also nice to get back to the rig in our own space and wind down. We were pooped.

Rain woke me up a little early this morning, but it's a nice peaceful drizzle. We're pulling out this morning, headed back home. Getting out of the site is going to be fun, I'll grab some pics before we hook up today. We did realize that the site post is so loose in the ground it can just be pulled up. So we have that in our toolkit if the trailer has to swing that way. A short trip with crummy weather, but we're still camping. I'll take it.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Well we got out no problem. I thought the truck was going to have to go way off the side of the road to make the turn out of the campsite, but physics prevailed and I got out of the site no problem. However, we were in a bit of a rush to get west of a huge line of storms that were forming up. So I forgot to grab pictures.

We got home just before the storms fired up tornadoes right along the interstate where we were driving an hour earlier. I hope the storms crap out soon and everyone in the path stays safe. Last check of the news, just some minor property damage east of KC.

We got home and unloaded the rig. While we were unloading Amazon Santa came by and dropped off more gifts:



The heart (Victron MultiPlus 3000 watt inverter) and the heart rate monitor (Victron BMV-712 battery monitor) for the new electrical upgrade. These two pieces of kit can get me moving and starting to work on the install. I'm still waiting for a few more assemblies, but I can start my 30-40 trips to Home Depot/Electrical supplier and start running wire, breaking knuckles, getting worried looks from DW, and other fun stuff with DIY projects. I'm stoked for what this is going to be in the end.

 

[jbrostek]

Other then the sheer expense, I been watching a few VLOGs where they have installed solar for boondocking. I think if I started it could be the inverter/charger and a couple batteries so we could do an overnight without the generator needed.

Excited to see what you come up with.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Other then the sheer expense, I been watching a few VLOGs where they have installed solar for boondocking. I think if I started it could be the inverter/charger and a couple batteries so we could do an overnight without the generator needed.

Excited to see what you come up with.

Thanks. You are hitting on the target. I'm building it so I can expand the system slowly (for my wallet's sake), but I'm starting with the inverter, a small battery bank, and some other gizmos (battery monitor, DC-DC charger, soft start for AC) so we can boondock, eat lunch in a parking lot in the heat of summer, or park in a driveway with only a 15 amp extension cord with minimal generator usage.

Eventually I want to increase battery bank size and add solar. However, the way we camp I think we could get by with just more batteries and little to no solar.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

My in-laws came to town and DW had some projects stacked up for us. We cleaned out a flower bed that was overgrown and worked up three garden plots. We also trimmed limbs and cut out all the little nasty saplings poking out of bigger trees. We have three new huge burn piles and we are pooped. This place is getting in shape though.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

I spent most of the day sitting in the RV basement scratching my head and making a plan. I did get the inverter hung. I wanted to put it behind the panels that cover up the water pump, plumbing, etc but there isn't nearly as much room in there as I thought. So I had to redo my plan and put the inverter in the basement so it gets some cooling and I'll have to put the batteries in the outside compartment (where the batteries are now) and put a heating pad on them since lithium batteries don't charge below freezing.


I measured for my wires out to the battery (ouch on the wallet. 4/0 wire is about $6 a foot). I'm going to flop around in the basement again tomorrow and start hanging and wiring up some things while I wait for the Amazon man with more parts.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Got a little more done and mounted the inverter charger remote panel and the battery monitor panel.




The Amazon and UPS man are going to break their backs in the next 48 hours. Hope to get a lot done before the weekend.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Came home today and found 7 Amazon boxes on the stoop. Big day of wiring tomorrow. Excited to crawl around in the RV basement tomorrow.

Also, I just looked at my planner for my June trip. I'm under the 90 day mark.

89 days and counting. ADR desires in hand. Ready to rock.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Our shirts for the trip are made and in the mail! Getting closer to our trip.

 

[friendofeeyore]

Love the shirts

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Just got back from a weekend camping for a swim meet in Topeka. We were camping with another family on the team and it was their first time out in their new rig. The campsite wasn't super exciting, just a good over night spot near the interstate and the pool:


The thing that was harrowing is that I had the electrical guts of the rig splayed out all over the place when I left on a work trip 2 weeks ago. I had most of the 120V side of the inverter done (including hard-wiring my EMS into the rig so it's one less thing to pull out during set up), but the 12V side was totally incomplete. I got back on Thursday night and the "honey do" list was massive. I was home for 20 minutes and changed into work clothes. I fixed my wife's Suburban (engine coolant sensor was on the outs), then I mowed as much as possible until it got dark. Then I washed all my clothes, packed the rig, and picked up my kid from swimming practice.

Thankfully I had Friday off and I spent all morning working on the 12V side. I had to make 10 or so 4/0 AWG wires, wire up + and - bus bars, and tidy up wires in the basement into split conduit so I wouldn't bash it with a bike or something. I'm not totally satisfied with the 12V yet:

All of the stock 12V wires (the smaller 2/0 AWG wires) are too long and just a mess. I'm still going to add a DC-DC charger (since I'm not going solar for now) and I'll organize the wires and such better. I also need to get a box for the batteries. I got all this pieced together in about 5 hours in a steady rain. DS got off the school bus and he helped me hook up and we made the 1 hr drive to Topeka.

I'm pleased with the set up. I was able to run everything I wanted to, including our fireplace, on the inverter. The microwave clock only needed to be set once the whole weekend. I'm still tweaking the programming on the inverter. It's been the most frustrating part so far, including getting out of bed at 3 am on SAT morning to reprogram the charge voltages because a sensor was beeping about 3 times an hour.

We got home SUN around lunch time. I unhooked the trailer and quickly made my way over to a friend's house and picked up another new toy:


I think my wife is more excited for the tractor than I am. She's the green thumb. I'm the labor. She has mucho plans for all the landscaping and yard that involve me. At least I'll have some horsepower instead of backpower now.

After running around and unloading the tractor, we circled around and unloaded the rig. We finally settled in for the evening around 730. Still a mountain of laundry and other post camping tasks left, but we're back.

I'm ready for the next trip already.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

3 days until my 60-day reservation window opens!

 

[jbrostek]

75 Days out for us. But we are building our list.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Current Status...

All ADRs made. Got all the times and places I wanted. On hold for a fishing excursion. I think I'm on the 30th loop of the hold audio.

I don't mind calling. I don't mind waiting. Could they at least tell me where I sit in the queue or have a call back feature like my doctor does (the computer takes your number and calls you back in the order calls were received or you can sit on hold with same results)?

EDIT: After being on hold 85 minutes and hearing Gilbert Gottfried sing "Friend like Iago" 20ish times I got through. Rough. Now off to work a bit bleary-eyed, but happy. While I was on hold, I also scored a Raglan Road ressie for our first night on property.

 

[jbrostek]

Saweet catch on the ADRs!!!

I have the alarm set to remind us to book ours.