It’s official, I jumped into becoming a full-time RV’er last Tuesday and let’s just say it wasn’t without its challenges and expenses.

Coincidentally, it happened to be the coldest week I can remember in the last 20 years or so, or maybe it was because I noticed more being dependent on new operating systems to sustain me.

I had a neighbor at the state park for about two days, who pulled out before the big snowstorm when I was alone except for the deer and other critters in the woods and my trusty friend Skittles my Calico cat for company. Skittles doesn’t say much, but does purr on occasion. She’s probably more freaked out than I am at all the changes.

The adventure commenced last Tuesday when I went to get my RV in Lebanon. The brake box for pulling a trailer I had already on my truck didn’t work so I had to get a new one installed and it took a little longer than expected with all the light hookups so I wasn’t able to hit the road until about 5 p.m.

Once I had this behemoth hooked behind my truck, it was like I was driving a tractor-trailer which I did briefly but it was many years ago so I was a bit out of my comfort zone of driving my little Fiat. I had a first-class hitch installed thanks to the folks at Cedar City RV with sway bars.

Still, it was a white-knuckle drive to Rock Island with a lot of two-lane roads and it being dark and all. I could only hope I had a street lamp outside my campsite to allow me to back in more easily.

No such luck. I did have my 1200 lumens flashlight and my dad for a ground-guide, something most military folks remember you had to have when backing.

The exchange wasn’t perfect… “To the right,” Dad said.

“My right or your right,” I replied, to which my dad shined my military grade spotlight in my face.
“What?” he asked.

We finally got it in the spot but it took some doing. Since I didn’t crash into anything I considered it a success.

I knew temps were going to drop, so I thought I would get ahead of it and the next day heat taped my garden hose and wrapped it in insulation. That was great, except the pipe where the park provides the water froze. I heat-taped and insulated that next, whereas the next day my valves wouldn’t open to dump my holding tanks. I bought more heat tape (I probably spent the most on heat tape in the county last week) and insulated those, thawing it out with a blow dryer and pouring in liquid RV antifreeze to boot.
My garden hose was froze the next morning again – reminded me of the Old Man’s Oldsmobile in “A Christmas Story” where he said, “That son of a gun would freeze up in the middle of summer on the equator!”
It’s always something.

Contact Steve Warner at          
news@smithvillereview.com