Two-week review: Propane

Propane 

•          Refilling one of the propane tanks today for the first time was a confusing process. Once the attendant realized his nozzle was defective, things went much better. We were surprised that filling one tank cost only $16 U.S.
•           Both propane tank valves need to be open for the automatic change-over regulator to function properly.
•           If the valve on the reserve tank is closed, the red/green indicator does not read correctly, showing half red and half green even if both tanks are full.
•           After having the propane tanks refilled, and opening only one tank valve, no propane was supplied to the camper until the second propane valve was opened.
•           For relighting the refrigerator with propane, Reace recommended lighting the stove first to prove to yourself that the propane has filled the line at least as far as the stove. The propane line then proceeds from the stove to the refrigerator.

Two-week review: Lights, Plumbing, Heating, Appliances

•           A couple of days ago, the ring around the dinette faucet base worked loose and gave us a dynamic blast of water from ceiling to closet mirror and beyond. Repair was simple reassembly and tightening. We’ll be checking it periodically from now on.
•           There are plenty of lights and they work great. We upgraded to the LED light package
•           The water pump doesn’t really like our method of stingy water use and turning the pump on and off all the time. It would prefer owners who use water freely and leave the pump turned on between water uses. It doesn’t like to deal with small bursts of water. We're changing our ways.
•           We deleted the range hood and added one light where the range hood normally goes. I especially like this light position because although there are lights at each end of the bed which are good for reading, I choose to use the extra light over the stove when I read at night and Great Husband is sleeping. It doesn’t shine in his face, and it is easy to reach around the wall by the stove and turn that extra light on and off without getting out of bed.
•           We like the location of the thermostat because you can adjust it without getting out of bed.
•           Oh, that Maxx fan! We love it! Open just one window in the area where you are sitting or sleeping for the most pleasing draw of fresh air.
•           We’ve been mostly boondocking and haven’t yet used the microwave which we had installed. Right now it is a great bread box!
•           The refrigerator is really easy to convert between electric and propane operation.
•           The kitchen faucet drips a small bit during travel, and so far I’ve just punched a hole through the side of a paper cup and slid that onto the top of the faucet to catch the little bit of water. 
•           Sometimes the water from our fresh water tank tastes of plastic, and sometimes it doesn’t. We haven’t figured out why.
•           We wish we had added a 12-volt receptacle inside the camper so we could use the computer longer when we don’t have shore power.
•           So far the limiting factor on boondocking seems to be water, either running out of water in the fresh-water tank or reaching full on one of the other tanks. Electricity and propane have not been constraints.

Two-week review: Bathroom

Bathroom

•          The bathroom/shower is great! It has a textured floor which makes it adequately non-slip for us, and we don’t think we’ll be needing any sort of floor mat in there. We wipe the entire bathroom out with a chamois after showering.
•          The six gallons in the hot water tank have been enough for our group of three adults to each shower, with enough warm water left for doing breakfast dishes ten hours later. We each stretch the hot water for showers by putting some hot water into the bathroom sink, having a sink bath, and then using the shower head for shampooing and rinsing. It works really well.
•           The toilet is a great comfort, especially in the middle of the night.
•           One time we didn't fill our water tank sufficiently, ran out of tank water for all purposes, including flushing, and we then learned how to flush the toilet by pouring water in the bowl from an orange juice jug filled with water. This episode also had us warming water on the kitchen stove and taking sink baths by pouring that water into the bathroom sink. It all felt quite luxurious compared to having no bathroom whatsoever. 
•       It would be nicer if the shower floor sloped to the drain.

Two-week review: Sleeping

Sleeping

•              The cushions at the table are pleasantly firm and comfortable to sit on. The cushions are nicely snug to each other when placed into bed use. Tall Son liked this snugness because he was used to sleeping on a table-converted-to-bed situation in which the cushions shifted apart during the night.
•              The real queen mattress, a recent improvement over the former foam mattress used by Escape, is very comfortable. We had a custom mattress cover made of Sunbrella fabric, and are using sleeping bags on top rather than bedding. After the sleeping bags are put into their stuff-sacks and stowed away during the day, the custom mattress cover gives the bed a very tidy appearance without having to make the bed.
•              We tie together the two sleeping bags in their stuff sacks, and they slide nicely under the bed end to end during the day, easy to pull back out together.
•              Tall Son is 6’-6” tall, and the dinette bed worked perfectly well for him. He slept at a diagonal to pick up a little extra length.
•              Tall Son likes sleeping with his head behind the bathroom wall since it gives him the feeling that he has his own private nook.
•              The space under the queen bed is nicely finished with vinyl flooring like the rest of camper. Most of the under-bed area is about 4” higher than the rest of the camper floor. Between the under-bed doors and the stepped-up area is a narrow floor zone, which we find perfect for storing the dinette posts during the night.

Two-week review: Cabinets, Storage, Table

Cabinets, Storage, Table

•          The cabinet door we added under the dinette seat right by the entrance door is extremely useful. Just reach in from outdoors and get your leveling wood, etc.
•           It is actually easier to do grocery shopping while living in the Escape than when living in a house! You get to skip the step where you load the groceries into the back of your car, drive home, and then carry them into the house. With the Escape, it’s straight from the grocery cart into the cabinets.
•           The two drawers at the right end of the kitchen are on the narrow side (8 ½” wide inside) and our existing silverware tray didn’t fit. We found a clear plastic tray with dividers in the bath accessory department at Target that fits nicely.
•           Storage is plentiful in the Escape 19. We did not buy the extra storage option that mounts on the tongue, and we don’t have any regrets.
•           Our sliding table drew oohs and ahs of surprise and admiration from the Casita-owners. The sliding feature gives good access to the seat on the bathroom side.
•           It helps to have two people to convert the table to a bed and vice-versa.
•           Before seeing the 19 in person, I wondered how hard it might be to get at the cabinets above the queen bed. Would I have to climb up on the bed to access them? Pleasingly, the cabinets on both side walls above that bed are reachable while standing on the floor, and the back cabinet can be reached by kneeling on the bed.
•           I thought the extra little flip-up counter by the sink would be unimportant, but it turns out to be very useful.
•           We tried just once to lift the mattress and access the underbed storage through the hinged plywood panel there, and found it awkward. We predict we won’t be using this access since we prefer using the other doors.
•           Regarding the outside access to the underbed storage, Great Husband finds the hatch big enough, but it’s a little difficult to get the door to latch properly. There’s a very handy little device to hold the door in the up position when you need it out of your way.
•           Although others have had shelves installed in their closet, we really like the closet as hanging space. We have needed winter coats and church clothes on this trip, and the closet has been great.
•      The storage areas are all spacious, and we haven't had any issues with stuff shiting around during travel, even though things are loosely stored.

Two-week review of the Escape 19: General Stuff

We’ve now been camping in our Escape 19 for two weeks. The 19 has met or exceeded all our expectations, and we are thrilled that we made this purchase now and didn't delay. There is so much to see out there and the Escape is a great way to do it!

General Stuff

•         We are favorably impressed with the build quality of the entire trailer.
•         We are very entertained by the screen door, and like how the screen fabric magically slides out of view to one side. There is no frame as such at the top or bottom of the screen door, but a neat little black guide at the bottom which runs through a track on the floor and goes away when the screen is retracted-- a very unconventional and clever design. We’ve learned to push or pull on the frame near the latch (not higher or lower) to keep the screen fabric moving evenly.
•         We are very happy with the insulation package and upgraded windows. The interior vinyl wall surface is pleasantly cushy, cleanable, and to our taste far superior to the carpeted walls we saw in a Casita.
•         We met some Casita owners and showed each other our respective trailers. The Casita owners were very proud to have lots of camper stuff and many modifications to their camper, and we were very proud to have no clutter and no plans for modifications.
•         We didn’t get to open our awning for nearly two weeks for various reasons, such as wind, snow, and tree-shaded sites. When we finally opened it up, the instruction booklet seemed to have been written for other awning models and in ridiculously complex sentences.  But we successfully opened and closed the awning once without difficulty and think it will be even simpler to use the more familiar it becomes to us.
•                       We call the area forward of the bathroom “the nook” and really like it. When one person is dressing, the other person can be in the nook, out of line of sight.
•         Rease and Tammy included some very helpful items with the camper—two sets of keys on lanyards (we wear our keys everywhere), a small LED flashlight (very useful, plus fits in your pocket), and a bottle of toilet chemical (also very useful). These are nice touches which are appreciated.

Las Vegas and Valley of Fire State Park

Wednesday we dropped Tall Son at the Las Vegas Airport for his flight back home and back to work. While he was making his way through security (probably), we towed the Escape down “The Strip,” if that is the proper term for that crazy street where live the Flamingo Hotel, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Bellagio, Paris, New York New York, and Caesar’s Palace. Frankly I thought the Escape 19 should be turning heads, but the tourists seemed somehow distracted by other sights. We are not Las Vegas types, but we just had to drive through this famous area once.

Great Husband is a car guy so he was delighted to discover the Carroll Shelby Museum while leaving Las Vegas on the east. Adjacent is the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where those with deep pockets can have a total of 15 laps for $1000, driving a Lamborghini, a Porsche, and a Ferrari.

The huge hit of the day, however, and an easy drive from Las Vegas, was Valley of Fire State Park, which is the most stunning state park ever. We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the red sandstone rock formations, like nothing we had ever seen before, but ten times more overwhelming were the incredible rocks and terrain in pink, orange, violet and gold on the 5.5 mile drive from the Visitor Center up to White Domes. At White Domes is a one-mile loop hike, absolutely jaw-dropping in its colors, forms, and other-worldliness. This is a place every human should get to see in his lifetime. 

  

During our time at White Domes, a video crew for “Shut Up and Drive” of the Speed Channel was out to shoot a segment. We were among a small crowd who waited at the high point of the road for the scream of the engine and the sudden appearance from below of the bright yellow Lexus LF-A, a brand new supercar available for about $350K. Rumor had it in the crowd that the Lexus was going 90 mph around the last turn, where the speed limit was posted at 15 mph.

We camped here at a campground named Atlatl Rock. It’s a beautiful place with 43 sites, some with utilities for an extra fee. Sites are not reservable, and there were few available when we arrived on a Wednesday afternoon in late April. We set up adjacent to a smallish Airstream, and enjoyed comparing the size and roundness to our Escape.

Today was our 31^st wedding anniversary. Valley of Fire State Park made this a most memorable day.

Wildflowers at Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire scenic drive

Lexus supercar

Stunning color on the hike at White Domes

Beehive rock formations