When will our troubles end?

We left our last post after we successfully fixed our frozen pipe and clogged drain at home.  after everything was fixed and we were able to get some much needed rest, we started emptying the van and preparing for winter storage again as there is aplenty of winter left.  We soon discovered that one of the lithium batteries died and we were not able to revive it after plugging to shore power or running the engine.  Great.

Time for a call to the factory and find out what we can do about the toilet pedal that won’t go back to place and some advice about the battery.  We knew that Erwin Hymer North America Group (formerly Roadrek) was experiencing some challenges and it was unclear whether the plant is functioning at the moment, but they did take our call.

We were advised to call the toilet manufacturer directly, as the warranty comes through them, and as to the battery, they suggested to take the van to an authorized dealer to take a look at it.  Dometic, the toilet manufacturer informed us that the toilet needs to be replaced and will be covered under the 1 year manufacturer warranty.

Called Forest City to schedule an appointment to have both things looked at. Then the sky fell and Hymer went into receivership. Bummer.

So this is where we are right now.  There is still a glimmer of hope that someone will purchase the company and revive it (and honour the warranties), but we are not holding our breath.  We may be out of a few hundreds or thousands of dollars, depending on what needs to be done, but there are hundreds of people out there who just lost their livelihood and have much bigger problems on their hands.  We really feel for them and hope that there will be a good outcome for them.  We’ll be fine.

Of course, as this situation unfolded, Facebook exploded.   There are a lot of Class B, Roadtrek, and Hymer groups online some with ties to the company.  The discussions ranged from angry bashing, despair, to trying to mobilize the owners to form some productive and positive solutions to our situation.  We personally prefer the latter and would love to see more solution-oriented posts.  We also don’t think that there is reason for panic, its not as if we lost our vans.  Yes, we may need to put our own money when it comes to repairs and sadly, for some of us it will be more than they can afford…

Enough whining for now.  We will keep you posted as to the fate of our toilet and battery, but this post is about our recent trip, so lets get on with it. We promised to give you a cost summary and analysis for the entire trip, we will also talk about the pros and cons of winter travel and whether we would do it again.

2019 Winter Trip Summary

What we thought will our trip will look like:

We left for our winter trip with high expectations for a month away from the bitter cold Ontario weather.  We envisioned a warm southern breezes as we hike scenic trails under the desert sun.  We contemplated leisurely drives through bucolic back roads and pastoral meadows, stopping here and there to mingle with the locals and checking out the local cultural and culinary scene. Warmth and a leisurely pace were he operative words.  That’s way we went for a month.  We envisioned boondocking under the stars fully self-sufficient in our tiny home away from home.

What our trip ended up looking like:

We dodged several winter storms and experienced extreme cold temperatures.   At times it was warmer at home…the rest of the time the weather really wasn’t that amazing.  To added fuel to the fire, all three of us were sick at different times (all together for about 10 days), which forced us to significantly change our plans. because we had to change our route significantly due to weather, or stay longer because of illness, we ended up rushing all the time and covering great distances too quickly.  We ere able to enjoy the scenery and hike a bit, but felt rushed.  At least we were able to boondock some of the time and the van proved to be a stand up sort of gal.

Takeaways from this trip:

Things that worked well, or better than expected:

• we loved our boondocking experiences! The electric system, solar, water, sewer,  and propane capacity and management went very well.  This is definitely the way for us to go.
• the versatility of moving between electric and propane depending on whether we have hook ups or not was very convenient.  We used the the ceramic heater, Instapot and induction plate when we had hookups, and propane when we were boondocking.
• the electric blanket is worth its weight in gold. Get one! Seriously.
• the leveling planks that we use are 4 wood planks that can double up as emergency fire wood.  They easy to use and store.
• the Lagun table is awesome and made a huge difference in food prep, lounging, and moving about the cabin obstacle free. We are very happy with it!
• we found the propane heating to be very effective. At first we thought it was loud, but we got used to it very quickly.
• the instant pot was amazing especially since we needed to make special food for Emma. Highly recommend it for longer trips.
• we didn’t go into too much detail as to the physical expression of Emma’s illness because we didn’t want to embarrass her. We will just say that having the option to pull the shower head outside of the van so that we can wash her behind 5-10 times a day and sometimes during the night, was a true blessing.
• gas prices were in our favour this time!  We weren’t always able to get the very cheap prices, but generally the were around the US$2.00 per gallon mark.
• internet reception between the Google Fi and our Canadian Rogers phone was almost seamless.  Looks like they are using different towers so we always had at least one phone with reception when there was no wi-fi.
• our food management was good.  We left with enough cooked food that we froze to last us during our hectic long hauls when we had no time to cook.
• Passport America was amazing for us most places accepted it even if they didn’t say so on their website.

Things that didn’t work so well:

• some of our food and Emma’s food was confiscated at the border, definitely need to do our homework a bit better before crossing.
• we hope to boondock more, but were forced to go to RV parks especially driving back i the extreme cold.
• the oil filled heater that we bought was a bit of a disappointment.  although it was quiet as we hoped it would be, it was in the way and not as effective as we would have hoped.  The propane, ceramic heater, and the van’s heater are all you need.
• someone forgot to unplug the drain in the sink prior to using it which resulted in a mini flood
• the toilet is acting up. It stopped working a couple of times (back in operation after a battery reset), and the flush pedal is wonky now.  Looks like it will need to be replaced.  Time to think about a composting toilet again!
• you may remember our complaints about the lack of a proper place to mount the toilet paper and how we just slide it over the faucet handle.  Well, it works well unless you are driving on a bumpy road that causes much vibrations in the van.  Can you see where this is going? …luckily the pump was turned off or we would have had a serious flood on our hands.  Always turn the pump off!
• as we were driving through minus million degrees, or at least that’s what it felt like, the window on the sliding door opened as it wasn’t latched properly.  We are still debating which one of us gets the go-to-jail card for this genius move.
• we use way too much internet and it is way too costly. We need to find some solutions and also curb some bad entitled habits.
• we covered in depth the unexpected illnesses and will say no more about it.
• weather weather weather – too many cold and snowy system with a splash of rain and strong winds tried to compromise every leg of our trip.
• battery issues after the trip – we don’t know yet what the issue is and whether it is trip related or not.
• we didn’t bring a hummingbird feeder.  They are everywhere and will come to your feeder if you think of bringing one with you. some people hung bright red things in bushes, and that attracted them too, but they were cheated out of nectar this way.

All in all, we feel that other than the biggies (weather and illnesses), things went well.  We are very happy about our little outfit so far.

Will we do this again?

We did conclude that going the distance that we did in uncertain weather conditions was a bit ambitious.  Adding at least 2 weeks to the itinerary would have made a huge difference.  Even better would be not having time restrictions whatsoever, but this may have to wait a bit.

So our conclusion is that we need to go somewhere closer if this the amount of time we can spend.  Of course, all y’all knew that, it is us that have to learn the hard way.  Really, the good news here is that we made it back in one piece.  Considering our trials and tribulations we would consider this an outstanding achievement.

We are a bit on the fence about winter travel (the way we did it), however, the reality is that our trip was somewhat compromised because of Emma, so maybe we should give it another try.  Hey, winter isn’t over yet, maybe we should plan another trip!

BY THE NUMBERS:

• Days on the road: 29 
• Distance: 11,200 km 6959 miles
• Fuel Average: 6.84 km/l (16.09 mpg)
• Total cost: CAD$2360.35 (US$1,790) (gas, RV parks, food, entry fees, etc. – not including health insurance, internet, vet bills, etc.)
• Average cost per day: CAD$81 (US$61)
• Nights in RV parks: 11
• Nights Boondocking or visiting: 16
• Money saved using Passport America: CAD$285 (US$216.28) the cost of membership was CAD$58 (US$44)

So again, we will ask that if you read thus far and enjoyed following our adventures, do click on the follow us button, like the post, comment with your thoughts, or do a little happy dance and send us the video. We really want to know that you are there! 

Next post will be our 6 months review. We’ll let you know what we think so far about vanning, about travel in a class B, and our impressions of our Carado Banff.  Make sure to follow us so that you don’t miss it!  

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