Yeah, on a trip like that, I would carry a large number of spares for those little tires. Glad you got it when you did, its easier to change when its still holding air.

That's a cute ice maker, but I am not certain I could justify it for no more often than we camp with electric availability. Bagged ice is pretty cheap often times.

Also, I think its awesome that you take the family on these long distant camping trips. I would have loved to do that with my family, as I think it is a great bonding experience.

 

Last time we camped, I pulled off both tires from the passenger side and took them to the tire store, to have new valve stems put in. The tires were in good shape, but the valve stems were cracked bad.

 

July 4th weekend, I need to cut the end out of the new beauty cups and grease the hubs on the camper. I also need to take that opportunity to figure out if it needs new bearings at the same time.

 

Better to replace them when they are off now then replacing it when it fell off on the highway.

 

roof vent broke off-- just before big storm-- camper wet--- grrrr---- ordered new one-- anyone know that there is 2 sizes of those things-- got it all apart and wrong one---- boooooooooo.

 

We agreed that we will always have two spares for cross-country trips now, especially since the second tire fits without issue inside the camper. Our "quick" annual trip to SD though I think we'll just take one.

I agree that the ice maker has no place in replacing bagged ice. Our big selling point was having ice readily available for drinks, especially our hydration packs that we use during the national park hikes.

Thanks! It was for sure a "bonding" experience since we couldn't get more than a few yards away from each other for half a month straight, lol! It's a tradition I'm looking forward to keeping up

 

Memorial weekend I put new center caps on the camper, so I had to pull all of the wheels, clean as much grease off of them as I could get off of them and then install the new caps, then later in the weekend, I pulled two from one side off and had new valve stems put in, because, the valve stems were cracking bad, but the tires were still holding up well. July 4th weekend, I had to cut the end out of the caps to grease the hubs, due to I had not yet done that this year. I made a small list of things I need to repair (over the next couple of years if we keep this camper)

Refrigerator, works fine on electricity, not on propane, so I think its a reigniter, at least that is the part I am going to order after some testing.
Awning over dining room table/couch on slideout, just worn and needs replaced
The whole camper needs a good outdoor scrubbing, and polishing, but I don't want to take it to a high pressure washer, for fear of creating a new leak somewhere.

 

On the propane part of the refrigerator don't rule out a mud dabber or some other insect getting into the exhaust etc. and plugging things up. I had that issue with mine and all is fine after I cleaned it out.

 

Yeah, I did in fact have that, at one time, but then I had to light it with a torch, because the ignitor was weak and now it's not only weak, it makes no noise at all.

 

I got some nylon net that my mom had left from projects, and covered the back of the refrigerator vent cover, which has successfully kept the wasps out of it, other than the ones that built a nest between the net and the cover.

 

I bought a few (12) 4x4 rock lights for my camper and trailer--- Plan is to mount them so I can see all around the camper and trailer-- they were very cheap should be rugged and I had a coupon :-) I also bought some solder/heatshrink connectors Now I just need som 1 pair 16 guage wire in black and red- to finish the project---- I also got my vent/fan installed in the top of the camper-- I need the wire and connectors for that too.

 

Those are really neat and versatile lights, I should probably mount a couple on the rear bumper of the TJ for reverse lights. I'd put them on the camper, but the lighting at KOA campsites are usually decent and I think I'd anger a few neighbors in the process if I flipped them on, lol!

I got a new tire mounted to replace the old one that fell apart in Phoenix. M&M tire did the mounting for free, said that it was included when I bought the tire last summer so I'll keep going to them when the tires go out ($55 vs. Wal-mart's $90 w\rim)

Also packed the pop-up camper to use this weekend since a surprise trip popped up. Jamie took the day off so we could all go to our dentist cleaning in Minneapolis and for her to get a new driver's license in Salina, but since our campsite in Marion is closed the next two weekends for maintenance we decided to make a quick trip to Colorado Springs for the weekend. The KOA there looks to have an awesome water park and we can also do Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, etc. Jamie really enjoyed Colorado Springs 5 years ago and has been itching to go back so I jumped on the last spot they had.

I swear we're going to end up spending more time in that pop-up than in our house

 

If you do spray with a high pressure washer, be very careful. I sprayed a bit too close on ours and the decal started peeling off, and it was only a few years old at the time!

 

My daughter has used some stuff she got from home depot that you just spray on and wait for the rain to wash the crud off. I'm going to try it on my camper. I can't remember the name of it but will check and post it up. We also used those scrubbing sponges made by Mr. Klean a couple of years ago and they worked great. They are labor intensive, but we had 4 of us doing it and it took about an hour to get a bunch of black stains off of it. They worked great. One person would seem like it takes forever.

 

Wife wants a bigger camper, at least one with a bigger bedroom, which means I need a bigger truck. I am going to look at a Dodge 2500 crew cab tonight. I looked and looked for an F250, but there just aren't any on the market right now that I can afford. I don't know if I will move on it, just thinking out loud at this point. It would be nice to have a heavier truck, with lower miles. I am curious what the fuel mileage may be also on it. It a 3/4 ton so the gov doesn't make them list it. It's probably better than mine.. anything is better fuel mileage than mine.