Extended RV Trip – Motorhome Gets a Bath
Breakfast at Heaven on Earth was fanominal! Our stomach’s were happy and our energy levels were peaked. It’s time to get back on the road and see what mother nature has to show us today.
The sun is out today, the fog, ice and snow are behind us, and warmer temps ahead. Slides are in jacks are up and we are rolling down the road again. Next stop, Redding CA.
We originally planned on getting a lot farther along on our trip, but Redding has a factory outlet shops right off the freeway. The ladies (my mom and my wife) were ready for a break and shopping was just the distraction they needed… 4 hours of distraction to be exact.
To be totally honest, they had a really great hat shop there and dad and I both picked up new hats while we were there. Not to mention the walk felt great after days of travel.
With the day mostly gone and dinner time just ahead, we decided to camp right there in Redding at one of the many RV parks just off hiway. We got full hookups and large pull through spots for $30.00 a night with no reservations. Of course this was in January and may be totally different during the summer months.
I have to really stress to you how nice it was to have a short driving day and an early evening to cook a nice dinner and relax. We even got to watch a movie, re-adjust our travel plans and just talk for a while with my folks. It turned out to be one of our most memorable days of the whole trip… the 100 mile day.
The RV Wash
Jan 19th – We got up well rested and really ready to go again. We fixed a nice breakfast and it was time to get the slides in, the jacks up and head down the road. It was also time to do something about the dirt and road grime that had collected on the outside of our motorhome.
All that snow, ice and freezing rain from the first couple days of our trip had left a sticky almost black coat of grime all around the rig. It was time to take advantage of the warm CA sun and get the motorhome washed and waxed.
It was perfect timing as we headed into Corning CA. A large billboard let us know that there was a truck wash just off the freeway.
In case you didn’t know, big rigs or semi-trucks tend to get dirty on the road too. They have, like an automated car wash, set up these large truck wash systems to clean the large trucks and trailers. What many don’t know is that these truck washes are also perfect for large 5er’s and motorhomes. So, what normally can take hours to do by hand, takes only minutes.
It cost me only a $1.25 a foot to wash and wax coat my motorhome. The guys at Royal Truck Wash in Corning CA did a great job of pre rinsing and making sure the under carrage got clean. The water preasure isn’t so high that it will do any damage to decals or trim and the use soft brushes to get any stuborn grime. I’d feel safe with even the fanciest of paint jobs.
I do have one Truck wash tip though.
While the water preasure isn’t so high as to damage paint and trim, it is high enough to drip through crank window seals and on your slidder seals. So, since you can be inside while they wash… just follow along on the inside with a couple towels and catch the leaks as they occure. It’s easy and quick and saves on the water marks and mess.
Less than 30 minutes later and we were back on the road with a nice clean RV. It felt great to have all the salty road grime behind us. The other benifits were faster jack retraction and less noise from the seals on the slides. It also keeps the corrosion down and helps make our motorhome as efficient as possible.
That’s all for now. Next time we’ll tell you about the worst RV Park we seen on our trip. This is one park to avoid if at all possible.
For now, here’s a link to some great Digital Scrapbook downloads.
FREE Photo Calendar Template Downloads
These are perfect for using all your travel photos to create beautiful picture calendars to keep your dates on while you travel. They also make wonderful hand made Christmas and holiday or Special Occassion gifts.
My kids, my brother and sisters and all of Kathy’s family complain if we don’t have a new one made for them each year. Kathy and I just take the time to collect photos from each family of their travels and special events from the last year and then we make a personallized calendar complete with everyones birthdays and anniversaries for each side of the family.
It doesn’t take much time and it’s a gift that keeps giving all year long.
Hope you have some great travels of your own this week… don’t forget to put them in your own “Travel Scrapbook” while the memories are still fresh. You wouldn’t want to forget anything now, would you?
FREE Stationery