We woke up to 42 degrees so I turned on the generator and then the fireplace. The Experiment is still under way.
I first had to wrap my mind around the Journal entry. Finally I decided that I had to just put the whole sordid ordeal from the day before out there in hopes that it would remind others to always take every safety precaution that I so carelessly ignored.
It was probably my most serious entry to date, but I had to convey that there is nothing to be taken lightly about what happened and could have happened. It seems to have struck a chord as it has been the most "commented on" entry since we started. Thanks so much for letting us know it was worth putting it out there - it definitely helped me move on.
Today, with every mistake from yesterday seared into my brain forever, I was pretty much back on track. So we can allow a bit of humor back in if that's all right with you. :)
Well, as much humor as I can muster out of going to the dentist, getting an estimate on the truck's damage, and meeting with our financial planner. That's not exactly a recipe that leads to a lot of skipping around and giggling. :)
So we went to my dentist for teeth cleanings. It was Linda's first time, so she had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. As I have mentioned before, we are self-insuring our dental visits so there are no insurance forms to fill out.
Having never been a flosser until we went on the road, I couldn't wait for my most hated question: "Are you flossing every day?" Of course that question was always followed by "Only floss the ones you want to keep." Those dentists - they're a riot. :)
But today, my answer was "Yes I am!" - so take that. You see, when you are self-insuring and you don't know exactly when or how often you will get to the dentist, suddenly the need to take better care arises to prevent a big budget busting dental thing down the road. :)
We paid using our Health Savings Account Visa. We highly recommend health savings accounts (HSAs) for those that don't have Medicare and want to keep their private insurance premiums down. For more information, check out our Health Savings Account Discussion page.
Since I went first at the dentist, I took the time, while waiting for Linda, to make phone calls. "Just bring the truck in for an estimate this afternoon? Perfect." "So I can just bring the truck in any day for an oil change and service? That's easy enough." "Hi Stephanie, when can we meet to pick up our latest batch of mail? Great." "So our appointment with our broker is confirmed for 3:30 this afternoon? Good deal." "Can I get an estimate on moving my folks from their farm to their new house? Gotcha."
I was in "Get 'R' Dun" mode. :) It was happening already. Our biggest fear in coming back to Louisville, was that we would lose that wonderful flow of our new lifestyle. It would be great to visit with family and friends, but we would miss the "pace of life" and our "RV family" we have become so accustomed to and dearly love.
As I have written before Home is our RV, but "home" is also Louisville, where we grew up and thrived for so many years. But being here is different now - everyone has gotten on with their lives and daily routines of which, in most cases, we are no longer a part.
That's okay. It's just weird - appointments and schedules and isolation from our RVing community. We are supposed to be here right now with our parents and taking care of some things, so we understand the trade-offs and are okay with it. Like I said, it's just weird.
We drove back to the farm and unloaded the truck bed. Because of the damage, our bed cover would not snap all the way around and lost it's effectiveness. So we decided to put everything inside until all was repaired.
We sent in a check for my 25 year high school reunion in July and made an appointment with our tax accountant for next week. Monday through Saturday of next week, one or both of us has some scheduled appointment or event to attend. The good news is that we are not rushing around trying to earn a million dollars AND squeezing in appointments and events. :)
We picked up our mail as Stephanie was walking out the door to pick up her daughter at school. Then we headed over to Star Ford where we bought our truck for an estimate on fixing the damage.
Gulp. "Worst case scenario will be about $2,600." Ouch! That's not in the budget. :) "Hey buddy, what's the best case scenario?" "Less than $2,600." Well allrighty then. We'll have to call our friends at Miller Insurance for some advice.
We moved on to talk with our financial advisor/planner/brokers at Merrill Lynch. We use the team of Laura Clark & Shaun Chelf here in Louisville.
Being a skeptic of investment brokers in general and having had ones that we were not thrilled with, I will have to say that these two people have been a blessing in our lives, and we have the utmost faith in their recommendations. Laura was telling us that they have never lost a client they have brought in. They may have declined to work with a potential client because it was not a good match, but they have never lost one. We can understand why - they are fabulous.
They have clients all over the country, so if you are in need of someone you can trust or your current broker is just not getting it done, let me know and we can put you in touch with Laura & Shaun. Typically, they work with folks that have at least $100,000 or more to invest, but they will talk with anyone with as little as $5,000.
Also, in Question 14 on our Frequently Asked Questions page, we gush about our Beyond Banking checking account through Merrill Lynch. We found out today that anyone can get a Beyond Banking account by having only $5,000 invested with Merrill.
Anyway, Laura & Shaun do a great job of setting expectations up front. They don't claim to know what the stock market is going to do and they don't go gunning for the home run. We are considered "aggressive" investors, but they make sure we are diversified and that the volatility of our accounts is minimized.
So if you are looking for 15 - 20 percent returns every year, these are not the folks. But if you are looking for consistent results that average 8 - 10 percent over time (or consistent but lower results for those less tolerant of risk), I'll provide their contact information.
Unfortunately, Shaun couldn't join us today, but we had a great session with Laura who went over our portfolio and explained a great new program for our IRA investments. I won't get into it here, but it is pretty sweet. Afterwards, Laura took us to dinner - our professional moocher status is still intact :). We thanked her for everything and headed home.
Linda finally got her hummingbird feeders up and we had visitors very quickly. Around 7:00 we turned on the generator, checked emails, and fell asleep in our recliners. It was about 10:00 when Linda woke up and about 10:45 for me.
We turned off the generator.
I am very pleased with our generator performance and we are approaching 19 hours on a single 40 pound propane tank. Without using the air conditioner, it is looking like we will be able to boondock for a week at a time easily with little conservation (in water use). By being very conservative, we can probably go a couple of weeks if we ever work our way up to that. Our fresh water tank holds plenty at 100 gallons, and now we know we can go for quite awhile on propane.
The thing we need to do is to add a "house" battery and probably an inverter. We only have one battery, and we really need at least two to do any serious boondocking. Which leads me to more Life On Wheels tidbits.
Life On Wheels Tidbits
The importance of house batteries in your RV was made abundantly clear to us. According to our instructor "Every system in your RV depends on battery power. If you have heard that your RV will do fine when plugged in to the shoreline, even if the batteries are bad or have been removed, you have been ill advised."
I still am uncomfortable with how it all works and our RV set-up does not make it easy to learn. This is why we will probably go ahead and attend the pre-conference at LOW in Iowa. At the pre-conference, you get an actual walk-through of all the systems in your particular RV.
What we do know is that the battery life is shortened by allowing them to discharge too deeply. So that is a potential issue since the battery is so important in the overall workings of the rig. They can be recharged through the use of 1) Converters (majority of RVs), 2) Inverters with built in chargers, 3) Alternator in your motorhome or tow vehicle as you drive, and 4) Solar panels.
Now I'm clearly not an expert, but here is how I understand the basics. A Converter is basically a battery charger. It takes shore power and generator power and converts that Alternating Current (A/C) into Direct Current (D/C) to charge the batteries.
An Inverter does the opposite. It converts the battery D/C current into A/C current like that in a house. So, if you are not hooked up to shore power and we don't use a generator, the Inverter converts the battery power to run appliances that require A/C current. Inverters can run most equipment without using a generator, but not refrigerators, air conditioners, water heaters, and microwaves. Well they can run those things, but it puts too much of a load on the batteries.
Of course there are lights and a few other items that run directly on the battery D/C current and do not require an Inverter. Many RVs do not have Inverters at all, and not all Inverters have battery chargers. Yeah, I know just enough to know that I need to learn a lot more. :)
So if you, like me, thought that the battery only came into play when there was no shore power or generator power, think again. I figured that the shore power and alternator would just continually recharge the battery and I didn't need to worry about it at all.
Two things regarding electrical systems and I will finish off this entry: 1) If you buy no other accessory for your RV, spend the $300 - $600 to get a Hi-Low voltage protector that will make sure your campground electric is properly wired and will shut your system down when it detects harmful hi or low voltage which can devastate your electrical system and equipment/appliances.
You can get one that is hardwired into your rig or one that plugs in at the pedestal. Concerns about theft lead many to have one installed rather than go with the plug-'n'-play. Surge Guard & Progressive were the brands mentioned.
2) Run your generator at least monthly according to the generator's service manual. Our instructor recommended 2 consecutive hours a month under a high load (Air conditioner, electric heater, etc.) Our manual says at least one hour a month under a moderate load, so check your manual. If you don't do this, your generator won't work when you need it, and it likely will not be covered under warranty.
Now keep in mind that I can't tell you everything we learned at Life On Wheels and even if I could, I wouldn't because there is just no substitute for being there and going through the process with others. But I will continue to throw tidbits out there that were helpful to us.
After turning off the generator, we went straight to bed for more reading. Even after our 3 hour early evening naps, we were asleep in no time. :)
Tomorrow, we have absolutely nothing scheduled, so maybe we can just sit back and enjoy. On one hand it feels like we never left Louisville, and on the other hand, we feel like complete strangers - very weird indeed. :)
Howie,
Our experiences on the boat were simular. We had two 220 amp Gel Batteries for our house bank which allowed us to spend three days anchored in some cove running our 12 volt refrig, lights, and fans before we had to run our engine for about four hours to recharge them. These gels lasted us for almost ten years of cruising before they wore out and we can't recommend spending the extra bucks for gels enough. No maintenence for them at all.
Posted by: Mike Ostlund | Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 04:22 PM
Howard,
Hello! I am a fellow Louisville 5th wheeler who has greatly enjoyed your blog since it's inception. I have not added to your e-mail load previously because I didn't think I had anything valuable to add.
However, you got my attention with the trailer drop! Wife and I did the same our 1st yr Rving-
fortunately with minimal physical damage, considerable
ego damage.
The reason I am wiritng now is to warn you about Star
Ford of Oxmoor. They have an unsatisfactory rating with the Louisville BBB, and we are in the middle of trying to get them to stand behind a repair part that failed after only 4188 miles! Their "discounted"
charge for this repair was 37% higher than the regular charge at Tri-County Ford in Oldham County. It seems Star Ford and Oxmoor Toyota have the same ownership and are the only major dealerships in Louisville that are not BBB members. I thought you might like a "heads up" so you didn't have to dust off your legal skills to deal with them.
Best wishes and Good Luck!
Posted by: Bob | Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 05:41 PM
Howard,
The LOW tidbits are great! How funny that you mentioned the importance of purchasing a surge protector. We bought a 50amp Surge Guard this morning and we only paid half price. WoooHooo! We learned some important info from this entry today. Thanks so much.
Posted by: Billie Wadsworth | Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 07:18 PM
As a step to greater energy independence I would suggest that you put in a battery monitor (like a LINK 1000 or a Trimetric 2020) as a first step. That way you always know the status of your bank, and will not discharge it too deep. A good design goal for discharge depth is 25-30%, IMO. Of course, you can go lower, but the lower and more often you discharge the shorter your battery life. More battereies are destroyed by lack of watering and extra deep discharges than any other way. More commentary on phasing in an alternative energy system is on our website http://jmayer6.tripod.com
Wish you were closer, I would help you install an inverter/charger and some batteries.
Posted by: Jack Mayer | Sunday, May 21, 2006 at 08:33 PM