4-week Trip, Part 1

We've just returned from a 4-week trip with the Escape, September and October, 2012, having covered a total distance of 3900 miles. Part 1 of the trip took us from Omaha to Fort Gordon, Georgia for the birth of our new granddaughter. 

We made a brief stop in Hannibal, Missouri . Here is the boyhood home of
Samuel Clemens and what they call "Tom Sawyer's Fence."

This part of town makes the most of the Mark Twain connection.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
(Georgia and Tennessee)
commemorates these significant battles of the Civil War.

Driving tour of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Java Daughter and her family, stationed at Ft. Gordon, Georgia

A very young naval officer

The kids meet new little sister
 "Cupcake" at the hospital.

Baffled, Part 1

We've been baffled as to why our Dometic RM2510 doesn't cool on the road, but cools great while sitting still. The flame is not blowing out. But one possibility is that the space behind the refrigerator is too big and needs a baffle to direct the air flow to the absorber coil. We got this idea from a Dometic installation manual on page 3 at http://bryantrv.com//docs2/docs/dometicventing.pdf.

Looking down through the top vent opening behind the refrigerator.
This is a top view of the absorber coil. The flue pipe is on the right.

Here's the THERMOPAN sheet, 19.5 x 47.5 inches,
 we bought at Menard's to make the new baffle.
THERMOPAN is a type of heat-resistant, foil-covered cardboard,
easy to cut, and easy to fold for this purpose.

We cut and bent the THERMOPAN to create a baffle in this configuration.
The new baffle is meant to direct air closer to the absorber coil.

Great Husband inserts the new baffle down through the top vent opening
until it sits on the top lip of the lower vent opening below.
There the vent trim screws hold it in place.
The upper edge of the baffle is also held in place by the vent cover screws.

Calmark Cover, Part 3

Today we found new success in installing the Calmark cover on the Escape 19 and Great Husband summed it up, “Super-duper! It was a cinch!”  We are no longer fighting gravity to get the cover up onto the roof, and the whole operation took only a half hour, including installing the padding.

New method for removing the cover:

Unfasten the two black cords and pull them from under the belly of the camper to the non-door side of the camper. 

Near the buckle on each cord, bundle up all the excess cord length with bungees or wire ties. Fortunately, we never cut off all the excess length of these cords, and that extra weight was helpful later. 

Roll the front and back ends of the cover to the center of the camper, between the air conditioner and the Maxx fan. We do this with me helping on the ground and Great Husband moving a ladder around.

Secure the rolled-up cover by wrapping it with two bungees, one at each edge of the roof. The rolled-up cover doesn’t have to look especially tidy.  But the bungees keep the cover under control while it is stored so you can easily recognize the proper orientation when you are ready to put the cover back up.

From the door side of the camper, tug the rolled-up cover straight down into a large, clean trash can. The black cords should end up on top of the cover. The cover will remain stored in the trash can until you are ready to reinstall it on the camper.

New method for putting the cover back on:

Set up the trash can at the side of the camper.

The weight of the bundled-up black cords now becomes essential, because you can easily toss each of the black cords over the center top of the camper to the other side. Toss them over.

From the non-door side, pull the black cords toward that side while another person on the door side helps feed up the cover fabric out of the trash can. This is remarkably easy.

When the bungee cords are positioned at the edges of the roof, you know your cover is balanced from side to side.

Remove the bungee cords, and gradually unroll the cover toward the front and the back. Some of this can be done from the ground but some must be done by moving a ladder around.

Calmark cover stored in a trash can

Toss each black cord over the roof to the opposite side of the camper.

With me pulling the black cords from the non-door side,
Great Husband assists the cover fabric over the awning.
You can see the bungee around the fabric below his hand.

Here is the rolled-up and still-bungeed cover
on the non-door side.

We've taken off the bungees and started to unroll toward the front and back ends.

Assisting the fabric over the Maxx fan

And assisting the fabric over the pool noodles around the air conditioner

A bit more fabric-lifting to get it gently over the air conditioner

It's on! And nobody's cranky!

Escape Tips after Five Months

Always learning. We've had the Escape 19 for about five months now.

Pollyanna was wrong about needing only one BAL X-Chock. Our campsite at Sylvan Lake had some slope and it dropped off significantly immediately behind the camper. So we had leveling boards on one side, plus were using both X-Chocks for the first time. When getting ready to leave, Great Husband raised the stabilizing jacks and one tire slipped off a leveling board, which I had poorly positioned during set-up. The dual X-Chocks limited the camper movement to a significant jolt. I was inside the camper at the time, and pleased to avoid rolling down the hill.  http://norcoind.com/bal/products/consumer/chocks/chocks.shtml

The retractable screen door had been getting less retractable, tending to bunch up instead. Great Husband gave it a quick shot of silicone spray and that bit of lubricant made it operate like new again. 

Temperature sensor sits inside fridge

Some years ago Great Husband won a door prize at a car show--an indoor-outdoor thermometer intended for reading the outdoor temperature from inside your car. Instead, we mounted the indoor part on the surface of our refrigerator, and the outdoor part (the temperature sensor) inside the refrigerator. With this set-up, we can monitor the refrigerator temperature without opening the door. 

Digital read-out mounted on fridge door

We are glad to have two methods of emptying our tanks, and have been using the stinky slinky for quick dumps, followed later by thorough tank cleaning using the Sewer Solution, which macerates the tank contents without using any electricity. We especially like the back-fill feature of the Sewer Solution, since we can refill the tank with clean water and empty it repeatedly until we're convinced the tank is really clean. Too many dump stations do not have a threaded hose connection as is necessary for the Sewer Solution, but we make sure to find the right hose connection as the last stop before coming home. It's very obvious that the stinky slinky does only a basic job of draining the tanks, and plenty of "black" is left in the black water tank if the stinky slinky is your only method.  http://www.sewersolution.com/

Still loving the Escape 19. It is funny that when I show others the inside, I am most excited to show the bathroom, however small, however humble. 

Great Husband bought a great wax-substitute called RejeX. With it, the dead bugs wash off the front of the trailer so easily! In hindsight, it would have been nice to bring RejeX with us to the Escape factory, and apply some to the front of the Escape before we ever drove away.  http://www.rejex.com/

After more practice, the awning is now a breeze for us to open and close. I bet if we timed ourselves, we'd find it is up or down in 60 seconds. 

We purchased a 7-pack of awning hangers (Camco 42693), meant for hanging party lights from an awning. When the weather is right, we can hang our towels out to dry on the S-hooks included.  

Microfiber towels hang out to dry

Black Hills, South Dakota

Last week we Escaped to the Black Hills, a place we love for its wildlife and natural beauty, meanwhile avoiding the too-touristy towns, the casinos, and the Sturgis motorcycle rally. We have been to the Black Hills four previous times, when camping meant a pop-up full of kids, but we always find something new to discover and favorite activities worth repeating.

Mammoth Site

Mammoth Site, Hot Springs, SD – Here you can see the bones of 60 mammoths right in the dig site where they continue to be uncovered and studied. Great place to visit.

1880s Train

1880s train ride starting in Hill City – What a pleasant two-hour ride to Keystone and back! We sat in an open-air car and enjoyed the view and friendly, low-key narration. 

Mount Rushmore – We always enjoy seeing the four Presidents carved on the mountain. This time we didn't even take pictures.

Relaxing in the family room with "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on the laptop.

Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake – Two Ukrainian sisters were working the boat rental, and we took a canoe out on Sylvan Lake for an hour. Near the dock end of the lake, a wedding was underway and we listened in a bit without being intrusive. As I climbed out of the canoe, I was thankful to not fall into the lake in front of the wedding guests.

Black Hills Playhouse – This theater is a gem, presenting several plays each summer. We saw “The Three Musketeers”, an oddly humorous story with elaborate and well-choreographed sword fights.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built this fire watchtower at Harney Peak.

Hike to Harney Peak – This hike is rated moderate, but because of its length (over 7 miles round trip), it was plenty challenging. I could not, however, give up part way, since along the way we met an older man with heart trouble, diabetes, and other ailments, and even he was very steadily going after that mountain. By the way, if our conversations with strangers on the hike are any indication about the upcoming presidential election, Obama is in trouble.

View from Harney Peak

Up close and personal

Wildlife Loop Drive – Even if you didn’t encounter any critters, this would be a stunning drive. But we did encounter critters, including close encounters with bison herds (aka American buffalo), lots of pronghorn, lots of deer, prairie dogs, and one coyote. We recommend going off on one of the back gravel roads rather than staying on the primary wildlife loop.

We're told they are not feeling threatened unless they raise their tails.

Stay in your cars, humans!

And planned for next year – back to Custer State Park for the annual Buffalo Roundup! This takes place the last Monday in September each year. The bison are rounded up by volunteer cowboys and put into corrals, where they can be checked, branded and vaccinated. A month later a large number are sold at auction, and this helps support the park financially. It also reduces the winter bison population to a level that can be sustained by the available grassland. By spring the bison population booms again with the birth of the new calves!

Calmark Cover, Part 2

We firmly believe in the saying, "Your possessions possess you." Whatever you own, it invariably runs your life. Forevermore you've got to store it, dust it, wash it, fix it, move it, search for it...


...and in the case of the new camper cover, you've got to pad it. This was something we did not anticipate before the purchase. Where was the big warning in red letters, scrolling continuously across the website: "Caution -- Padding sharp edges to protect your camper cover may take over your life!" and just below it, "Once you get the padding and cover onto your camper, you won't dare remove them because you'll just have to put them back on again later. You may never go camping again!"

Oooh, Pollyanna, you sound remarkably negative today. Yes, Pollyanna sometimes loses it when Great Husband gets cranky, and the cover keeps making Great Husband cranky. 

We glued pieces of pool noodle together
 and slid them around vents.

Most of the padding methods we were using in the previous blog entry were disappointing in one way or another. So we came up with new ideas, chiefly using pool noodles. They are light and they don't absorb water. The big goal is simplicity and ease, and we hope we've made progress with respect to the padding. 

Still, it is not at all easy to put the cover on. That part just has to improve or it's a threat to spontaneous camping trips. Plus I'm hearing grumbling about buying a taller ladder. Oh, no! Another possession!

P.S.--don't miss Calmark Cover, Part 3, in which there is a happy ending to all this.

Pool noodles glued together surround the air conditioner.
But when we dragged the cover over these noodles, the glue started popping apart.
Now the noodles are bound with bungees.

Foam pipe insulation pads the awning arm.

Sheets of foam pad the bumper ends.

We no longer cinch up the draw cord in the bottom hem of the cover.
That created pockets at the corners that collected water and had to be drained after every rain.

Calmark Cover, Part 1

Our Escape 19 now has a custom cover made by Calmark Cover Company in California. We measured the trailer for the dimensions requested by Calmark and also sent them photos. Service was quick and we had the cover within two weeks of placing the order. The cover is made of Sunbrella fabric and has a handy zippered access panel at the door. Calmark Covers also have "FSR construction and friction reducer tie straps" and a 6-year warranty. FSR stands for Fabric Stress Reducer, which is a system of non-abrasive webbing straps at 4-foot intervals across the roof, and connected to the side panels. This seems to be a feature unique to Calmark-made covers. 

The cover came with grommets in the hem, meant for holding the cover down with bungee cords under the camper belly. As the cover first came from the factory, these grommets were not conveniently located for the Escape 19. Some were blocked by the tires, and others were not positioned directly opposite each other from side to side. When I called Calmark with this complaint, they quickly sent us a grommet kit, including installation tools, so we could install additional grommets where necessary. 

Calmark Cover on the Escape 19, with zippered panel at the door

The black straps which come on the cover are made overly long with the expectation that the customer will cut them off at whatever length is desired. We were initially dismayed that one of these black straps goes right across the zippered door panel, but Calmark explained to us that sometimes this is unavoidable because the black straps must align with one of the FSR straps in the roof. We have found it is not at all hard to release the buckle of the black strap when we need to use the door.

Fortunately the front of the cover is well-marked.

In the hem of the cover, there is a white cord to draw up and pull the cover fabric under the camper belly. In these photos, we don't have the cord cinched and tied as neatly as might be possible.




The first installation of the cover onto our 19 was a humorous effort involving Three Stooges and a ladder, but we withhold judgement on the difficulty of the task until we have more experience.

The cover weighs about 32 pounds.

It's very important to protect the cover fabric from any sharp edges. For now, our padding efforts include two swimming pool noodles running lengthwise over the air conditioner, old socks stuffed with rags and stretched onto the ends of the bumper, foam rubber squares on top of the two circular roof vents, and some pieces of foam pipe insulation at the ends of the awning. We have this last form of padding under further review for something better. And it looks like we should also add some padding for the awning arms.

Calmark adds extra size for protrusions such as bumper,
spare tire, air conditioner, and Maxx fan.