Ahhhhhhh! Out in the Boonies Again – Borrego Springs, CA

Starting the Montezuma Grade. Borrego Springs valley is in the background.

So yesterday we decided to take a drive. A drive to the wide, open desert for a spot with a view and a solitude worth dreams. What always amazes me is how easy it is to do something like this. I don’t just mean in an RV, I mean for anybody. One moment we were in bustling San Diego, and a mere 75 miles later we’re in another world. A world of silence, mountains and utter gorgeous remoteness.

Entering Borrego Springs

Even the drive was fun. We actually did this drive, our very first EVER drive when we started our fulltiming RVing adventure ~2 years ago. At the time we were rather green and rather terrified. You see there’s a few steeper (and rather famous) grades coming from San Diego into Borrego Springs if you take the route through Julian Pie Company in Santa Ysabel (which everyone should, of course…make sure to stop now). One of these is the Montezuma Grade and it’s a beaut of a drive down a long, sweeping and rather steep road with dramatic views of Borrego Valley.

Our new back yard

Two years ago we went the long way around to avoid it and marveled at the RV’s we saw coming down such a crazy route. This time around we looked at each other and chimed in unison “oooooo, let’s DO it!!” (the road, that is…not that your mind was in the gutter). And amazingly it was easy, so easy in fact that I marvelled at how terrified we were back then. With the help of our fabulous exhaust brakes and some simple gear management Paul only tapped the brakes a few times on the way down, and we got to soak in the sweeping views in all their majestic splendor. It’s not every road (especially in CA) that we take with such blasé abandon, but Montezuma is in good condition, well-signed and with a reasonable shoulder. We’ll likely take it on the way back too.

Oh yeah...this is the spot!

And just 6 miles or so outside of Borrego Springs we found our spot. Tucked back between the mountains with only a few RVs in sight (to the back) and a wide, sweeping and completely open view in front of us, the beast settled in for a little R&R. We mixed up a robust rum & coke, kicked back in our chairs and took the time to just sit and soak the whole experience in.

A deep sense of peace, a soft sigh and you know that paradise is right here on earth…and the real beauty of it all is that anyone can come find it!

A few curves ahead...NO problem!

A soft sunset in pure solitude

Planning A Slower Couple-A-Months

A private view on a hike in hidden Santee hills, CA

For various reasons we’ve decided to stay put around San Diego for a few more months. You could call it an extension of our whole “take your time” motto that’s naturally becoming part of our 2012 travel plans. So far we’re loving it here. Weather is spectacular, natural beauty abounds and we’ve got tons of friends & activities in the area, plus there’s plenty of opportunity to do day-trips to interesting spots.

Burst of early flowers by the beach

Just to keep things fresh and the ol’ travel-bug fired-up we’re going to mix-up the months by moving around -> some time boondocking in the desert (this coming week), a month by the coast and more time in-land by the mountains. For the moment it all feels “right” and although it’s not quite the rapid pace of our previous 2 years it’s all part of the RV lifestyle. Move as you want and enjoy the spots you like while you’re there.

This is beautiful coast. Paul poses at Solana Beach, CA.

Another novelty of our longer-stay winter is that we’ve made firm friends with just about everyone around our rig. I’m a natural-born conversationist so I’m usually nosing my way into whatever is going on around me. We’ve got the snowbirders out back who’ve just taken Paul golfing for the day, the young Navy family in front of us with a cute lab-chow mix that’s become Polly’s new bestest-boyfriend, and the folks to the side of us who’ve got a new German Shepherd pup and are a bit overwhelmed (I’m going to give them some free dog-training lessons today). It’s this same sense of community which draws many RVers back to the same spots year after year, and I can certainly understand that attraction.

Golf by the beach anyone?

Oh, and for those of you who perked up like prairie dogs at the mention of golf let me say that so far it’s only Paul going that route. He was a rather keen player in his youth and has taken it back up this year with great enthusiasm. In my case, my lack of patience and complete absence of hand-to-eye coordination has (to the great boon of other players in my opinion) kept me happily off the greens. Of course, between grumbling about his swing and cursing the slice, Paul keeps trying to convince me it’s a fun sport. You should never say never of course, but I do tend to lean to Robin William’s view on the matter (if you’ve never seen this is definitely not PG, but it’s a classic!):

Having nothing to say that can beat that skit, I’ll leave you for a relaxing week-end in the sun. Next stop, the wide-open desert…..we’ll see you there!

4 Tips For Creating Instant Indoor RV Coziness

We’ve had a few days of rain here in San Diego recently which means we end up doing alot of indoor stuff. You know what I mean -> hot chocolate, warm meals, watching endless reams of movies (Redbox deals of course! At $1.20 per movie they simply can’t be beat!). I don’t mind these types of days as long as they don’t last too long, which is why wintering here in the SW is sooooo nice. But all this did get me thinking about indoor tips and making your inside RV experience warm and cozy. In Danish we actually have a specific term for this called hygge -> the art of making your environment fluffy-sock-comfy-warm-inviting even on long, dark winter nights (we’re experts, don’t you know). Over the past few years we’ve infused hygge to the RV and picked up a couple of ideas which I thought might be kinda fun to share with others.

1/Add Mood Lighting

Mood-lighting in our bathroom. We hold everything down with Quakehold.

I’m a very light-sensitive person (in my cubicle days I always felt like the office florescents were sucking the living soul out of me), so I’m always looking for ways to make the lighting warm and cozy. Here’s my tips:

• Get LEDs in the right color & brightness - I spent alot of time finding exactly the right color and light when we converted our overhead G4′s and reading lights to LEDs. We’ve been incredibly happy with the results with the added bonus that these super-saving lights use ~1/10 of the power of our old halogens.
•  Use Candles – Being Danish I love real candles and we have several spots with candles and tea-lights around the RV. In a closed containers the tea-lights are safe and cozy, and will burn out on their own when done. I buy tea-light candles in bulk at IKEA, sometimes with scent too.
• OR, Try LED Candles - If you’re worried about using real candles in your RV check out some of the new flameless LED candles which are on the market. They’re battery-operated (perfect for boondocking) and the more advanced versions even have timers for the perfect mood-time. You can often find outstanding deals on these babies on eBay or in discount home furnishing stores.

2/ Decorate Your Space

Alot of RV’s have the same kind of “dullish” feel to them (what is it about RV decorators that makes them think everyone wants everything in a shade of brown?), so adding little accents of color and splash can make a huge difference to indoor feel. Here’s some ideas:

We've decorated the kitchen with burgundy-themed cooking accents

Our burgundy, teal and gold living room theme

•  Rugs, Pillows & Covers - In our rig the first change we did was get rid of our brown carpet and replace it with a burgundy red in the living room and a sky blue in the bedroom. I accented those colors with gold & red pillows on the couches and finished off the color-splash with teal Sure-Fit washable cloth covers on our (very brown) dinette chairs. Even if you don’t change our your carpet, throw rugs can be an bright, easy and cheap addition to your floor. Walmart, Target and IKEA are get spots to buy these at a reasonable price.
• Pictures & Decor - As everyone who’s ever rented a house knows, adding personal touches to decor and pictures can make your space feel more like home. We’ve put several pics up around the rig (using the 3M Command Strips), added several decor pieces (using QuakeHold Museum Putty), and hung some bigger pieces (with 3M Wire Hooks). None of these things have budged in 2 years of travel.
• Green Living Plants – I feel plants give a vibrant feel to just about any space. We have several pots around the house including a small one in the kitchen and a larger plant in the bedroom. Quakehold will keep these in place while travelling.

3/ Use Real China & Glass

Our home-made handy-dandy glass box

This is a kinda personal thing, but I feel having real china and glass in the RV adds alot to the sense of home I have here. If you package these properly they’ll travel over any terrain, and using these tips we’ve not had a single break (due to travel) in 2 years:

• Glasses – We use a wine-box lined with foam to create a custom wine, champagne & cognac glass holder. Fits any type of glass!
• Plates – For our plates we’ve lined the cupboards with a non-slip liner (the best stuff I’ve found is the thick IKEA shelf liner) and put non-slip plate separators between each item. They sell pre-packaged & cut versions at Camping World, or you can buy a whole roll of the stuff at Walmart for much cheaper and just cut it yourself.

4/ Add Some Scents

Burning some incense for our buddha in the living room

Of the 5 senses, I think smell is one of the most inviting and there’s some super-easy ways to add that dimension into your RV

• Incense - We have several simple incense burners that we use from time to time. Lots of places sell relaxing & attractive incense sticks or cones.
• Flowers – Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh flowers in the RV? We don’t buy them often, but when we do I use my handy-dandy collapsable WonderVase to show them off. Love that thing!
• Scent Spots – There are all kinds of scented cones, crystals and plug-ins you can buy out there, but my absolute favorite is the Febreeze Set and Refresh -> it uses no power, gives decent longer-term scent and you can place it anywhere. We always have one open in the bathroom.

And that’s the whole enchillada for our little family here in the rain. Time to snuggle-up and watch a movie, methinks. Got any good tips of your own?

Green and cozy in our bedroom window sill. Cat basket on the right.

We have a larger silk Chinese scroll on our wall in the bedroom

Paw Friendly & Off-Leash Beaches – San Diego, CA

Polly makes a new friend at Del Mar Dog beach

Having bombarded you with a couple of pretty geek-intensive posts I figured I would get back to something cute and fluffy. In my mind, nothing is cuter than our furry family (that would be the pets, not Paul), and nothing is more fluffy than a wind-dried beach dog, and these past few weeks we’ve been doing our best to show off both at all the paw-friendly spots around town. The perfect lead-in to a blog post!

The brand new San Diego doggie beach map!! Blue icons are off-leash spots. Pink are on-leash spots. CLICK IT!

Now, the locals here loooove their dogs and this city is one of the dog-friendlier in the state, in my opinion, with lots of spots to take pooch on the beach both on and off-leash.  They’re so beach-dog crazy here they even hold annual dog surfing competitions (check out the 2011 winners) and you can take honest-to-goodness doggie surf lessons. How cool is that?

Given we used to live in the area I’ve got a pretty good idea of where to go w/ pooch, but when I looked around on the net I realized it can be tough for new-comers to figure it all out. Lots and lots of info out there, but nothing in terms of actual maps so you can see where everything is. So, I decided to change all that with both a map AND a summary of my favorite spots…with a few local secrets thrown in.

Off-Leash Beach Havens

For leash-free lovers from North to South, here’s our favorite spots:

Your truly poses w/ Polly by the gorgeous Solana cliffs

1/ Del Mar/Solana Dog Beach – A wonderful and spacious dog-friendly beach right on the border between Del Mar & Solana that allows off-leash access from Sept thro’ June. Lovely back-drop of cliffs here too. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: If you park right by the northern end (Solana side) you’ll have to pay for parking, but there’s free parking right across the bridge (Del Mar side) just 100 yards south. You can also hike for miles along the southern end of Del Mar with pooch on leash, both up on the cliffs and on the beach below. For a lovely pet store, stop by Dexter’s Deli in Del Mar too.

Polly leads a friends' puppy on a hike on Fiesta Island. San Diego in the background and beach on the right.

2/ Fiesta Island – This island sheltered in Mission Bay is doggie HEAVEN! The entire Island is off-leash friendly, plus there is a huge (enormous, gigantic, humungous) fenced-in dog area where you can hike/run w/ pooch both on land and by the water. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: If you’ve got a smaller rig (class C), you can park all day right on the sand at Fiesta Island. Park closes at 10PM.

Going for a splash at Ocean Beach Dog Beach

3/ Ocean Beach – This is the original off-leash doggie beach in San Diego. It’s a nice stretch of beach silhouetted by the pier and popular with surfers too. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: OB has a very cool, relaxed late-hippy vibe and several of the restaurants around town ( for example O’Bistro and OB Noodle House) are pooch-friendly too.

4/ Coronado Beach - The very northern end of Coronado beach (near Sunset Park, by the naval station) is off-leash dog friendly. To avoid (big) fines keep doggie on leash until you’re right AT the beach. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: You can see the majestic and historic Hotel Del Coronado in the distance from here. Hop along w/ pooch to the Wine Styles Bar or McP’s Irish Pub after your romp for a dog-friendly glass.

On-Leash Beach Playgrounds

Outside of the “big 4″ there are a bunch of other beaches that allow on-leash access on the coast. Most of them specify an 8-foot leash and a few have specific hours. Once again our top pics North to South:

Polly digs for treasure in the sand

1/ Cardiff State Beach - The only state beach that allows dogs in San Diego. This is a lovely stretch of sand that runs south from Cardiff (just south of the watchtower at San Elijo State Park) to Solana. Dogs are allowed on-leash all along this area. Since it’s right next to San Elijo State Park this is also the only spot I know in San Diego where you can camp, surf (sweeeet long-boarding break) and enjoy the beach w/pooch right next door. We haven’t stayed at San Elijo (it’s $35/night for dry-camping and it’s rated for 35′-max) but we could probably squeeze into a few spots. MAP IT!

2/ La Jolla Shores – A cute little stretch of beach right in upscale La Jolla. Doggies allowed on-leash on the beach (and next-door Kellogg Park) before 9AM and after 6PM (in summer Apr-Oct) or after 4PM (in winter Nov-Mar). MAP IT!

Wonderful Mission Bay. Fiesta Island is in the middle.

3/ Mission Bay Park - Mission Bay Park has ~27 miles of shoreline all secluded inside this lovely bay. In addition to fully-off-leash Fiesta Island, the park allows leashed dogs pretty much everywhere else as long as it’s before 9AM and after 6PM (in summer Apr-Oct) or after 4PM (in winter Nov-Mar). There are tons of spots to take pooch here incl. De Anza Cove, Ventura Cove, Mission Point….you name it. If you want to camp in the area Mission Bay RV Resort (accepts Passport America mid-week) is a private park right on the bay beachline. MAP IT!

4/ Imperial Beach – A lovely beach with a superb pier right at the southern end of San Diego, you can take pooch on leash anywhere outside of the swimming area (north of Palm Blvd or south of Imperial Beach Blvd). MAP IT!

Some good links:
Dog-friendly restaurants in San Diego – from BringFido.com
Dog-friendly parks & beaches in San Diego  – From San Diego Travels
San Diego dog beaches and parks – From Sandiego.com

And with that I think doggie and us will go get wet and sandy (with a little post-fluffing-up) before the sun sets.

The Holey Story Part II -> Searching For 128 Amp Hours

The Eternal Question...

So, 2 days ago (in internet time) we left our intrepid boondockers in a 128 Amp Hour hole, with just the slimmest prospects of getting out. How would our adventurers elude this holey problem and find the amperage they so desperately needed before it was too late? Would Paul be forced to miss his football games? And Nina be forced to endure the prospect of Paul in such a horrifying state? Even our RV was morose and philosophical, throwing out the question “Oh, where are thou Amperage?”….

Would wine help? Most likely!!

Well, we got some FABULOUS ideas from our blog followers. Jil suggested a bar (which, though it would not directly close the amperage gap would certainly ease the pain and give the whole problem a much more rosy outlook). Terry suggested hooking up the bikes to a hand crank generator and peddling our way out of the hole (a suggestion I personally REALLY liked, especially with Paul on the bike). And Bob suggested one less football game (which seemed totally logical for me but was, of course, horrifyingly unthinkable for Paul).

Well, having strung out the suspense for as long as I possibly can, I’ll go through our thinking on how finally we solved our dilemma. We had 3 brilliant ideas for the gap, and it turns out the easiest and bottom line cheapest was the best solution (isn’t that always how you want it)?

1/ Go DC On Everything

DC Power baby!!

In every RV there’s stuff that runs directly off the DC current from batteries (lights for example) and stuff that requires you to turn on an inverter to create an AC current (like TV/internet/electronics). But if you look deeper you’ll find that you don’t really need the AC. Look at the back of your computer charger, for example, and you’ll find that although it takes in AC current it converts it to a DC current which is what the computer actually uses (for example the output on mine is 19V, 4.74A DC). So, instead of doing the whole silly DC->AC->DC conversion why not just mount a bunch of DC plugs, run everything directly off your DC batteries and get rid of the need for an inverter altogether? It seems like a great idea, but the numbers will tell you otherwise!

You'll need charge adapters for all your gear

Expected Costs. Costs for this project are waaaay higher than you might expect. Not only do you need to install a bunch of new DC plugs (we’d need 5 in various locations for our TV, satellite, 2 computers, internet router), but you’ll have to run new, thicker wires to those plugs (since the existing wires in your rig are not meant to handle higher DC current) PLUS you’ll need to buy DC to DC converters for all your electronics (since they all need a regulated DC voltage). Even if you do the installation yourself, a typical DC->DC converter costs anywhere from $30-$85 (e.g iGo Laptop Travel Charger), not to mention costs of wiring & new plugs. You’re talking at least $300. Add-in labor time/costs and this number will be much, much higher.

Expected Amp Hour Savings. In this scenario you get rid of your inverter. So savings are inverter usage = 2.5 Amps = 25 Amp Hours over a 10 hour period.

Bottom Line. It’s alot of money and time for very little savings. You use $300 and save only 25 Amp Hours = $12/Amp Hour saved.

2/ Dedicated, Smaller Inverter

The super-sleek Xantrex PROWatt 600 pure sine wave Inverter

We have a massive honking 2000 Watt inverter in our rig. It’ll run everything we have including our super-amp-sucking microwave, but it doesn’t need to be that big if you’re just running electronics. Why not buy a small, dedicated inverter just for the electronics and save some power?

Expected Costs. A small pure sine-wave inverter costs anywhere from $150-$300 (say the Xantrex PROWatt 600). We would keep our old inverter for the big stuff, so we’d need to do some additional AC wiring for this project too.

Expected Amp Hour Savings. Our current inverter runs ~2.5 Amps/hour. The new inverter would run ~0.5 Amps/hour. So, you would save 20 Amp Hours over a 10 hour period.

Bottom Line. Savings are still way too small to make a difference especially if we add-in the costs/time of getting more AC wiring done. At a minimum we use $150 for only 20 Amp Hours of savings = $7.5/Amp Hour saved. Better, but not good enough…

3/ Get a New TV

The Beautiful VIZIO M320VT

The new LED TV’s are nice, and as it turns out for this project they are REALLY nice. They’re thinner, lighter and use a ton less power. Could such a simple solution really make sense?

Expected Costs. A new 32″ LED TV costs anywhere between~ $400-$500. Since our old TV had a custom mount, we’d need to buy a new “universal” mount for another ~$50 too. However we expected to make some money by selling the old TV.

Peerless Universal TV Tilt Mount

Expected Amp Hour Savings. Here’s the shocker of the story. When we looked at the specs we realized our old 32″ Sharp Aquos LCD TV was running a massive ~175 Watts. The new LED TVs, many of which are Energy Star compliant only run ~60-75 Watts. That’s a HUGE savings of minimum ~100 Watts or ~80 Amp Hours over a 10-hour period. Plus there’s no need to run any new wiring and the new TV would fit directly into our old TV cabinet. A little modification needed to add the new mount, but nothing compared to the other solutions out there.

Bottom Line. For ~$450 we could get 80 Amp Hours of savings giving this solution a cost of ~$5.5/Amp Hour saved. Definitely the route to go.

4/ And The Final Results?

Et VOILA! The 100 Amp Hour saver is in place!

Well it turned out better than we expected. At the time we were shopping Costco had a deal going on a new 32″ VIZIO M320VT for ~$400 (all in). Paul got the Peerless PT640 Universal Mount on Amazon for $50 and we saved $120 by selling our old TV on Craig’s List (sold in half a day). Total cost = $330

And the Amp Hour savings? They were….wait for it….10 Amps/hour (as measured by our Xantrex LinkLITE) . Total savings = 100 Amp Hours over a 10 hour period. It’s not quite the full 128 Amp Hours we were looking for, but it’s darn close.

Bottom line we used $330 and saved 100 Amp hours = $3.3/Amp Hour saved. Not bad at all.

And so ends the holey story and everyone lived happily ever after….well, until Paul gets another one of his geeky ideas anyway.

The Holey Story Part I -> Dreaming Of Football In The Boonies

The Holey Story begins....

We were out in the boonies…far out in the boonies….and Paul was daydreaming

“I have a dream” gushed Paul “a dream of football”

“ooooookay” I responded, trying my best to sound supportive. Clearly we’d been spending too much time out here and Paul was going nuts…but I thought it safest to humor him at this point.

“No, no, no”, he answered excitedly (and with a bit of crazy eye in his expression, I thought). “You don’t understand”. “My dream is to watch 3 football games in one day while boondocking and using the internet without draining the batteries…and I think we can do it” he chirped, skipping happily around the RV

Paul putters around tilting panels out in the AZ desert

Several things fell into place in my noggin at once. The fact that it was football season (that would be American Football for my European friends -> where they carry the ball, believe it or not), the fact that Paul had been doing covert solar calculations for several days, and the fact that he’d been grumbling about needing more Amps. At least he wasn’t going crazy…in the normal sense I mean.

As a fellow geek I was immediately interested. Not in the football, mind you, but in the concept of the usage plan. Paul explained that he wanted to watch 3 football games in a day (so, TV/satellite on) plus have the internet on all day (because knowing me well, he knew I would need something to do), plus normal boondocking usage….all fully supported by our solar system…and with the least extra expense. Now, that was an interesting problem, from a geek point of view.

It's a question of Amps, my dear Watson...

In order to fully understand the scale of this dream I’m going to throw some numbers at you. Those of you of technical persuasion will no doubt be gripped with excited interest at this point. For the rest of you, go ahead and skip to the bottom-bottom line at the end, and spend the rest of your day blissfully math-free until tomorrow’s post.

In numbers terms Paul’s dream was about a management of Amps that needed to follow the universal and oft-quoted rule of “what goes in must come out”. In this case our generation (from solar) would have to match what was going out (to usage). Ideally we wanted to end the day with fully charged batteries too, but that was what we in the business call a “stretch goal”.

The Generation Model

Panel tilting is very exciting stuff!

Our system has 600Watts of Solar Power. Using solar flux models (see our post on panel tilting HERE and the model HERE), Paul calculated the approx. solar generation we would expect in January in the SW desert with 45-degree tilt of the panels.

Approx. solar  flux in SW in Jan at 45-degrees tilt = 5.95 kWhours/m²
Our measured solar surface (6 total panels) = 6 x 0.78 = 4.68 m²
So, total expected generation on a sunny day = 5.95 x 4.68 = 27.85 kWhours

Our panels/system are ~10% effecient (this is very typical of solar systems in general. Panels only really convert ~10% of incoming flux)
So actual generation = 2.785 kWhours = 2,785 Watt Hours
This translates into ~232 Amp Hours (divide the above by 12V)

Bottom Line = We expect to generate ~232 Amps Hours of solar energy from our panels on a good, sunny day. Lots and lots of assumptions in here, but it’s a decent, simple start.

The Usage Model

Here’s where we get into the really fun stuff. We calculated our potential usage model, and backed it up with measurements done at night with our Xantrex LinkLITE monitor (LOVE that thing).

(i) Our Inverter is a Magnum ME2012
(ii) For TV/satellite we have Direct TV, a satellite dish on our roof and a Sharp Aquos 32-inch LCD TV
(iii) For internet we use a Verizon modem, MBR1000 Router, Wilson RV Antenna and Wilson amplifier (see our full set-up HERE).
(iv) We have 2 computers which each run ~3 Amps
(v) This is a “fudge factor” which includes anything else we might want to do during the day (e.g. run lights, a bit of microwave, a few hours of furnace etc.)

Bottom Line = In this usage model we expect to use ~360 Amp Hours in a full day (24 hours)

The Bottom-Bottom Line

If you put it all together this is what you get

Total Solar Generation in one day = 232 Amp Hours
Total Usage in one day = 360 Amp Hours
Total Drain on the Batteries = 232-360 = -128 Amp Hours

In search of Amps....

Now, that’s the number we wanted to be zero, ideally, and clearly we were WELL over. We have 440 Amp Hours of AGM batteries (=220 usable amp hours if you don’t go below 50% discharge, which should always be your goal with deep-cycle batteries) so we can handle the load, but it’s not where the dream wanted us to be. Clearly this needed some creative geek-thought, especially if we didn’t want to pay out the wazoo to get it done.

Coming Next -> The Final Chapter. How we solved the elusive 128 Amp Hour Gap….

Cleaning & Cleaning Out – A Week of RV Cleansing!

The toad loaded up with stuff to go!!

We’ve been having another busy week here in Santee. “The List” (= the magical list which every RVer owns of “things we must do this winter”) is getting sloooowly shorter. In fact we’ve already sliced 4 massive items off the paper and there’s a faint hope we may actually get at least half of them done before we move on, a very respectable percentage.

Now, THAT's what I call alot of empty space! We've put up our new weather station on the wall below too.

Our first and most important item, at least while we were in San Diego was to go through everything in the RV and get rid of everything we haven’t used in the past 2 years. Like all RVers we started out thinking we would need a bunch of stuff which we never actually needed, and have managed to slop around the whole excess for two cross-country trips until we could get back to our storage here in San Diego.

Our cleansed and nicely organized storage bin

Our entire combined & updated closet. And most of this we won't use either!

After several weeks of grind and sweat I’m proud to say we’ve completed the task and getting rid of the excess has felt like a great diet ->totally satisfying and soooo much lighter!  Back when I first posted about this, blog reader Hector was curious what sort of things we were getting rid of. Obviously this is a very personal thing (every RVer has different things they consider “essential”), but here’s our list of stuff we won’t miss:

• Backpacking gear -> We bought ALL our backpacking gear RVing thinking we might get out while on the road. Well given that we’re pretty much camping everyday and our pets (plus big, comfy bed) are always waiting for us in camp, we’ve just never used it and can’t see that we will.
• Clothing – We’ve gotten rid of another 75% our current clothing. You simply don’t need much on the road, and you need even less than what you think is less. Goodwill got a good deal
• Books -> We loooove our books and brought along more than we needed on the trip. Since getting the Kindle we’ve been happily reading on that and haven’t felt the need to buy or look at the paper version. The excess has gone into storage and opened up 3 cupboards of space.
• Excess Kitchen Gear -> We do alot of cooking on the road and looove our kitchen gear, but there were a few pieces we weren’t using esp. some pans and one of our three espresso makers (we still have two left, so don’t fret)
• Knick-Knaks -> Other non-used items such as our wet-suits, old files, Paul’s cigar box (he simply doesn’t smoke anymore), an excess suitcase and some old electronics also went the way of the gone.

The carpet is looking good! The user looks like she could use a drink tho'

As well as a material cleaning we’ve done a thorough scrubbing-down of the insides including cleaning the leather furniture (highly recommend Meguiar’s Gold Leather Cleaner which I picked up in Walmart), and deep-cleaning the carpets  (nothing beats the deal of renting a Rug Doctor which you can get in just about any hardware or grocery store for ~$25 -> get the “regular” size (not wide) and also the hand-tool attachment). Both the latter have completely renewed the look of our interior. Now we just need a week or so of pet paws and mischief to bring it back to normal

And last but not least we’ve even managed to finish that mysterious hole I blogged about a few weeks back. Paul is so overjoyed with the results he’s insisted it’s worth  it’s own blog post (well actually, he wanted a full-blown 4-part series but I think I’ve managed to bargain him down). The results of his dream are next…..

My 5 Keys To Personal Freedom

“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship”. Buddha

Those of you who’ve been on the blog a while may have noticed our avatar has the name libertatemamo (freedom lovers…more or less…in latin). Freedom has been a cornerstone of my life ever since I can remember. It’s driven countless experiences for me both financially, emotionally and travel-wise, but in a very particular way. You could say RVing is a natural progression of my love of freedom (and it really is) but there’s much more to it than that. Freedom is a financial, mental and physical endeavor which I believe is attainable by everyone. It all depends on how you approach it. Here’s my take on what freedom means to me:

1/ Living Within Your Means

Staying within the circle. Hanging at beautiful Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, CA

You might not have expected me to start this way, but this motto has been a true brick of my freedom-loving life. I’ve always striven to live within (and more usually well below) my means. My very first income was made cleaning houses and my first 2 years of post-college work I shared a house with 4 other people so I could save part of my income. As my income rose I targeted to save at least 40% of what I earned, all in the quest to remain financially free. Then I met a man who felt the same way, and I was hooked
In our fulltime RVing we continue to follow this mantra. RVing has actually been the perfect outlet giving us the ability to adjust our lifestyle (via how we travel and where we camp) to our income at any given time. It’s been a truly freeing experience.
P.S. In the spirit of this goal Paul has finally been convinced to come back to blogging (yes, yes his own idea entirely…of course…bien sûr) and just posted our 2011 portfolio results yesterday.

2/ Living Debt-Free

We’ve not always been debt-free, but it’s always been a goal. We finally achieved it when we decided to radically change our life in Asia several years ago, and it’s been an incredibly freeing experience. Living debt-free allows you an enormous financial flexibility which the burden of debt does not. I think everyone should have this goal.

3/ Living Healthy

Playing for health. Fun and good for you at the same time!

A wise man once said that health is the most important gift in life and I certainly believe that. I struggled with weight ever since my early teenage years and finally found a way of eating & exercising which keeps me at a healthy weight and energy level, with blood levels that support it. Paul and I spend a lot of time researching and keeping track of our health (I’ll blog a bit on it sometime), and it’s definitely a freeing endeavor. The body is a super-complicated machine and there are no guarantees or magical recipes for 100%-health, but I think it’s important to try to make the best of what we’re given, no matter what that is.

4/ Living In Happiness

Morning sun salutations on the beach in SC...oh, what bliss!

We’re veering into the spiritual side of life here, but trust me it’s worth it. Having struggled with some pretty deep depression in my lifetime I believe happiness is a thing earned and worked at, not given. It’s a question of how you wake up, how you approach life, and how you allow your mind to react to the obstacles, stress and worry that daily life throws our way (and believe me those obstacles will always be there). I start each day with positive affirmations, make it a point to note and appreciate the daily beauty around me and practice both meditation and yoga. Plus I feed my mind with the right foods (amino acids, correct vitamin D levels, omega-3 supplementation, and cutting out sugar & gluten have all been key for me). I consider all this the equivalent to going to the gym for my mind and it’s going to be a lifetime plan. The more I exercise happiness, the happier I get. Isn’t that a fabulous combo?

5/ Staying True To Yourself

High in the CO mountains. This is my kinda freedom!

This is a kinda a big fluffy-white-combo-cloud summary of all of the above, but it completely works. You could say I was gifted with an independent character and a solid upbringing that supported that streak (both of which are correct), but I’ve also worked to stay true to that precious gift. I’ve always strived to follow my own path in life, to seek the things that gave me fulfillment and happiness and to stay true to those values. It’s not always been easy and there have been cases where I’ve sacrificed material, financial and career gain (much to the astonishment for those around me) for personal growth, but it’s always, always been worth it. No-one can live your life but you.

With that rather profound end to my little post, I challenge you to answer one question. What does freedom mean to you?

2011 Top RV Parks & Campgrounds Of The Year

Believe it or not we’ve made it to 2012! With 2011 speeding rapidly behind us (at an ever increasing rate, or so it seems) this is the perfect time to review the best of the best of sites that we stayed at last year (just like we did in 2010). In line with our “free-the-beast” camping style most of the spots we chose were public parks. In fact out of 62 total stops in 2011, only 5 were private parks, and all but one of those 5 were big city. It’s the way we like it ->loose and free in the wild with just a rare touch of civilization every now and then. Since SO MUCH of our camping was in the wilds I’m switching around a few of our catagories this year. Hope you enjoy them!

1/ Top 3 Camping Spots with a VIEW

Lovely Lone Pine Campground, CA

We came across some simply spectacular views in 2011. In fact so many campgrounds made this list that I had to narrow it down to those that gave us true 360-degree views right from our RV site.

• Tuttle Creek, Lone Pine, CA -> Sweeping 360-degree views of Mt.Whitney and the Owens Valley, all for only $5/night. Wow!
• Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, NM -> Nestled in the Sacramento Mountains you have a fully open view of the valley with the mountains behind you. Oh, and sunset out your window too!
• Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM -> Book a water-front site in the north campground for sweeping views of the lake with the mountains in the background. Gorgeous!

2/ Top 3 BEACH Camping Spots

The wonderful beach at Fort Stevens State Park, OR

We managed some great beach stops both in FL, TX and OR. It was hard to chose, but these 3 made the top of our list:

• St Joseph Peninsular State Park, Cape St.Blas, FL -> Remote and gorgeous with paw-friendly beach only ~1 mile away! We simply raved about this spot when we were there and it definitely makes our top list.
• Carl G.Washburne State Park, Florence, OR -> A hidden gem along the OR coast boasting both a dog-friendlly beach and an awesome lighthouse.
• Fort Stevens State Park, Astoria, OR -> Miles of beach, history, lake and trails all in one. And ALL of it paw-friendly too.

3/ Top 3 FOREST Campsites

Our "sitting area" at Convict Lake, CA

When we’re in the mountains we LOVE the forest campgrounds and we managed some pretty gems in 2011. Here are my favorites:

• Canyon Rim, Flaming Gorge, UT -> What a spectactular spot! A mini-campground with only 7 RV sites just steps away from outstanding views of Flaming Gorge.
• Cayton, San Juan NF, CO -> We totally fell in love the remote Lizard Head Wilderness here and would come back in a heartbeat. You’re next to river, mountains and days of hiking at 9,400 feet.
• Convict Lake, Mammoth Lakes, CA -> It’s the most expensive of our NF choices, but in a simply fabulous location. Lake, mountain and views. You get it all here!

4/ Top 3 Camping DEALS

Desert boondocking just outside of Yuma, AZ

This may seem like an odd catagory, but I had to mention it. I’m lumping together a few campgrounds into one here just to give you a feel for just how GREAT a deal you can get camping in the wilds.

• New Mexico State Parks -> I’ve mentioned them soooo many times on the blog, but they deserve just one more. New Mexico has the BEST camping deal in the country IMHO. The Annual Camping Pass is $225 and covers a YEAR of primitive camping with only $4/night extra for electric. Add to it that New Mexico has some of the most beautiful State Parks we’ve encounted and I really can’t imagine a better deal.
• BLM Campgrounds -> BLM campgrounds are primitive and often remote, but they’re fabulous deals at only ~$5 a pop. Good examples that we’ve simply loved are Tuttle Creek and Owl Canyon in CA, Datil Well and Orilla Verde in NM.
• Boondocking -> What’s even better than $5/night? That would be FREE!! There are tons of great boondocking sites especially on BLM land out west. We snagged a gorgeous spot on the beach in Sea Rim, TX, a desert beauty in Quartzsite, AZ and a remote lovely just outside of Yuma.

5/ Top 3 Not-Yet-Mentioned Gems

Hill view of the lovely Davis Mountain State Park, TX

These didn’t fit into the other catagories, but they made our list of top-rated campgrounds for their own individual reasons. So, here we go:

• Davis Mountains State Park, TX -> One of our absolute top-rated campgrounds because it combined the best of everything. Great sites and facilities in a fabulous location with both hiking, star-gazing and hills. Sadly fire swept this area in 2011, so we’re not sure what it all looks like now.
• Mesa Verde RV Resort, CO -> Yes, a private park believe it or not. Great facilities just outside Mesa Verde National Park. It made the very top of our list of private parks visited in 2011 and deserved a mention for that reason alone.
• Markham Park, Sunrise, FL -> We wintered here last year and consider it one of the nicest spots for extended stay in southern FL. Want gigantic sites, oceans of green, trails and lakes? Add-in a full-blown dog-park and biking area to boot. Then, this is your spot!

There are tons of other worthy and beautiful campgrounds that I didn’t manage to mention, but we’ll just have to place them in the archives for the next time. Happy Camping everyone!