Only about 3 weeks left before we go through the big trip. That means it's time to prep for the trip by getting Moby and ourselves ready. In case you haven't done the math, our little journey will take us 10,000 miles around the US. That means that Moby needs to be in top form.
Repairs
We've just taken in Moby for a complete checkup and had a few issues taken care of that would have been a problem on the road. Now that Moby is mechanically fine, we have a good deal of confidence that we Moby won't have an expected issues during the journey. Our mechanic, Jesse, from Hillside Imports said he would give it a thumbs up for the long journey.
Great, now for the rest of the stuff. I've gone ahead and replace some aged/cracking vents on the outside and re-caulked the seal around the galley window from the outside. I've also replaced the upper rear curtain rack which I broke on our last camping trip. We need a working rear curtain for privacy on our road trip. Fortunately, there is a single website online, Eurocampers.com, that sells the track. Unfortunately, it is kind of expensive for a piece of plastic track, especially the shipping. Having no real choice, as replacing the curtain itself with another type of curtain was even more, I went ahead and ordered the track.
When the track arrived it was slightly longer than expected and so I ended up making precision cuts using my Dremel with a cutting disc to get the precise cuts and also smooth out the ends so as not to get cut by them. Finally, I used a 5/64 drill bit to make some pilot holes in the track before screwing in the screws.
I also replaced the exterior aux.battery vent and sink drain vent, both either cracked or showing signs of age.
Both of these required recaulking to make sure we don't get outside water inside the van during rainstorms.
Preparedness
My sister got me a membership to AAA which is a great tool to have for long road trips as it adds a little piece of mind. We've already gotten our money's worth as I have downloaded digital copies of many of the US National Parks TourBooks from AAA and they are in ePub format which works great on Kindle or iPAD devices. In addition, we picked up hard copies of maps by region and by state in case we need it and also we had a TripTik made for us with our complete route.
Finally, I picked up an app for the iPad from Rand McNally which is something new for 2013. It has the entire US on it as well as state by state maps with some decent detail. This will make it convenient for us as we don't have to keep a large Road Atlas with us. I don't think we are going to get lost as we are triple covered now. On top of that we have our GPS device.
With the lack of a latptop with us, I need some way to store pictures from my digital SLR after my CF memory cards fill up. Seeing as we are hitting a lot of parks, we will have a lot of pictures. The best combination of ease and ability to transfer photos is with the following for us:
1) iPad Tablet
2) iPad Camera Connection Kit (allows SD cards and USB cables to connect directly to iPad)
3) RavPower WiDisk/Power Bank (New device just released in 2013 that creates a Wifi hotspot and allows you to connect any external HDD, USB thumbdrive, or SD Card and transfer files over to it).
4) 2.5 in 1 TB External HDD (Opted for the smaller size of notebook external HDD)
Because we are travelling to some remote areas where there may not be a readily available gas station, I ended up picking up several 2 gal gas containers which we will put on the luggage rack on top of the Moby.
I originally tried to get 2 5 gal containers but they are too tall and cause unnecessary drag to the aerodynamics of Moby (in short, it would probably cause us to run out of gas faster). I ended up with 5 of the 2 gal contains to get the same capacity but with a much lower profile and minimal drag. I hope we don't have to use these, but you have to consider it, especially when we are in some remote areas of national parks.
Just for good measure, I went and removed the bed cushion covers and washed them to make sure we had something clean to sleep on. I'm not sure if in the 14 years that Moby has been living, if the bed cushion covers had ever been washed. Now they smell nice and are clean too.
Finally, we got some very cheap seat covers for the front bucket seats. They are imitation sheepskin in a matching grey color like the rest of the inside of Moby, but at under $30 for the pair on a clearance buy from seatcoversunlimited.com . They are located in Mesa, AZ, but the service I received from this company was below average. I would probably think twice if doing a serious order from them. They managed to forget my order in 2.5 weeks and didn't do anything to expedite the shipping even though they messed up the order and had misleading info on their web site. However, for the price, I was willing to live with it.
The point of the seat covers is so that we don't have to worry about getting the front seats dirty after we come back sweaty and dirty from our hikes.
B, the wife, is working on making some vent covers out of mosquito netting we bought for sale from Joanne Fabrics. We need one for the roof vent and for the passenger and driver side windows when we camp out and need ventilation in the summer. That's it, but things are starting to come together and the reality of the trip is starting to dawn on us.
Until next time.....
Repairs
We've just taken in Moby for a complete checkup and had a few issues taken care of that would have been a problem on the road. Now that Moby is mechanically fine, we have a good deal of confidence that we Moby won't have an expected issues during the journey. Our mechanic, Jesse, from Hillside Imports said he would give it a thumbs up for the long journey.
Great, now for the rest of the stuff. I've gone ahead and replace some aged/cracking vents on the outside and re-caulked the seal around the galley window from the outside. I've also replaced the upper rear curtain rack which I broke on our last camping trip. We need a working rear curtain for privacy on our road trip. Fortunately, there is a single website online, Eurocampers.com, that sells the track. Unfortunately, it is kind of expensive for a piece of plastic track, especially the shipping. Having no real choice, as replacing the curtain itself with another type of curtain was even more, I went ahead and ordered the track.
When the track arrived it was slightly longer than expected and so I ended up making precision cuts using my Dremel with a cutting disc to get the precise cuts and also smooth out the ends so as not to get cut by them. Finally, I used a 5/64 drill bit to make some pilot holes in the track before screwing in the screws.
I also replaced the exterior aux.battery vent and sink drain vent, both either cracked or showing signs of age.
Both of these required recaulking to make sure we don't get outside water inside the van during rainstorms.
Preparedness
My sister got me a membership to AAA which is a great tool to have for long road trips as it adds a little piece of mind. We've already gotten our money's worth as I have downloaded digital copies of many of the US National Parks TourBooks from AAA and they are in ePub format which works great on Kindle or iPAD devices. In addition, we picked up hard copies of maps by region and by state in case we need it and also we had a TripTik made for us with our complete route.
Finally, I picked up an app for the iPad from Rand McNally which is something new for 2013. It has the entire US on it as well as state by state maps with some decent detail. This will make it convenient for us as we don't have to keep a large Road Atlas with us. I don't think we are going to get lost as we are triple covered now. On top of that we have our GPS device.
With the lack of a latptop with us, I need some way to store pictures from my digital SLR after my CF memory cards fill up. Seeing as we are hitting a lot of parks, we will have a lot of pictures. The best combination of ease and ability to transfer photos is with the following for us:
1) iPad Tablet
2) iPad Camera Connection Kit (allows SD cards and USB cables to connect directly to iPad)
3) RavPower WiDisk/Power Bank (New device just released in 2013 that creates a Wifi hotspot and allows you to connect any external HDD, USB thumbdrive, or SD Card and transfer files over to it).
4) 2.5 in 1 TB External HDD (Opted for the smaller size of notebook external HDD)
I originally tried to get 2 5 gal containers but they are too tall and cause unnecessary drag to the aerodynamics of Moby (in short, it would probably cause us to run out of gas faster). I ended up with 5 of the 2 gal contains to get the same capacity but with a much lower profile and minimal drag. I hope we don't have to use these, but you have to consider it, especially when we are in some remote areas of national parks.
Just for good measure, I went and removed the bed cushion covers and washed them to make sure we had something clean to sleep on. I'm not sure if in the 14 years that Moby has been living, if the bed cushion covers had ever been washed. Now they smell nice and are clean too.
Finally, we got some very cheap seat covers for the front bucket seats. They are imitation sheepskin in a matching grey color like the rest of the inside of Moby, but at under $30 for the pair on a clearance buy from seatcoversunlimited.com . They are located in Mesa, AZ, but the service I received from this company was below average. I would probably think twice if doing a serious order from them. They managed to forget my order in 2.5 weeks and didn't do anything to expedite the shipping even though they messed up the order and had misleading info on their web site. However, for the price, I was willing to live with it.
The point of the seat covers is so that we don't have to worry about getting the front seats dirty after we come back sweaty and dirty from our hikes.
B, the wife, is working on making some vent covers out of mosquito netting we bought for sale from Joanne Fabrics. We need one for the roof vent and for the passenger and driver side windows when we camp out and need ventilation in the summer. That's it, but things are starting to come together and the reality of the trip is starting to dawn on us.
Until next time.....
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