Visited my HiLo
 

Spent three small sessions getting the HiLo ready to be towed out for inspection. Had to remove the cover. Part of it had shifted and was frozen slightly in the ice. Next year we will stake down the drivers side of the tarp. Next the battery was reinstalled and then the tires pumped up to the correct tire pressure. The next day it was towed to Dunn tire for five new tires. We had to order them in and defeniately had to pay a stimulation price to boost up the economy. The last tires were put on in 2008 and cost two hundred and some dollars. Yuck!! inflation. Cheaper than a blowout!!!! The HiLo was shiny and oh so clean until we towed it out our dealer for inspection. The inspection was only $6.00. It cost more in gas to get there. No work was needed. All registered and ready for camping. Waiting for Friday when the weather will be a balmy 50 degrees. I will wipe down the exterior and recover. Sunday I brought DD to work at HD and decided it was time to order new 1" aluminum blinds as they were on sale at 20% off. I did all the research for this in the fall. Ended up going to the HiLo(parked off site) and raising it up to decide how many inches for the wands and a few other details. Called our sales person up with the changes. Sure was cold in the HiLo 20 degrees. Felt so good to be back inside our expensive hobby!! The blinds should be coming in about two weeks. Worst case we take our noisy generator over and run the furnace and get the blinds installed. Something to look forward to after my April 11th major surgery. The blinds only come in room darkening. Hoping this will be okay. The old blinds lost a lot of their coating when we washed them. I will post pictures when they are installed. What did you get for your RV today?

Sam, if I may be nosy, what brand tire did you have installed and what price range are we talking about? We are headed for new tires before Alaska and I'd like to get your opinion. Thanks (And you are still in our prayers)

Envious of your trip!
 

We bought our HiLo and drove it to Alaska many years ago. It was a wonderful trip!

Replacing tires
 

I don't want to quote you a price as our size tires may be different then yours. We had the tires balanced. Dunn gives you a folder that explaines their 24hr Roadside Assistance Benefit and Nationwide Limited Road Hazard Program. Ours is a 1990 25ft. Classic. The tires are sure trail by carsile. DH told me these tires are American made. Alaska sounds like a fun trip.

What did you get for your Hi Low today?
 

Sam, I did not spend as much on my unit today as you did as I only bought a "Tornado" for the black water tank. We had a three day campout this past weekend with our Tow Lite for its maiden outing and since the toilet was hardly used I decided to clean the black water tank when we returned home. Was I in for a surprise! One inch rocks and gravel came out of the tank and continued rinse after rinse. After installing the "Tornado" I will take the unit to a dump station for a thorough rinse.

2005 Toyota Tundra Access Cab
2005 Tow Lite 27T

I just replaced my tires, did alot of reseach. I bought Maxxis brand tires, switched to a D rating tire from a C rated tire. At $120 per tire, one of most expensive tires but was the highest rated. All the tires I came across are made in china. I think Maxxis are made in japan. Read the reviews. I had to purchase these tires on amazon.com because there was no local dealer for them. Then I had a local tire shop mount and balance them. I put the tires back on the trailer myself after I repacked the wheel bearings.

Buying tires
 

I know about the price of buying tires. Ours were not quite as expensive as yours. We aged out our tires. One tire was worn a little crazy from our broken leaf spring that we towed with a while before we realized we had a problem. We only camp about ten days a year. We had this brand of tire on since we purchased the RV and had no problems with it. Would love to camp more but DH is still working part time. This year I have been hit with too long a list of health problems. I will need at least four surgeries to regain my health. Keeping positive!!

Another thing when buying tires, tell the tire dealer you will not accept tires that are more than 6 months old. I bought mine last year from Steve Shannons (tire store in our area) and told them if I look at the date codes on the tires and they are more than 6 months old they're going to replace them with newer ones. All four of my new tires had date codes of less than 3 months.

Glad to hear you are spending some $$$ on your hobby Sam! Even better to hear you are thinking and feeling positively about April 11th and beyond!!!!

I always enjoy your posts so keep on posting. Want to see your new shades once you get and install them.

Best wishes and prayers are coming your way all the way from Houston!

Buying tires
 

I also told the sales rep. at Dunn tire that I would not accept tires that had been sitting in the ware house for two years. Our code date is Jan. 2014. Today was a balmy 40degrees and we visited the HiLo. I wiped off the outside and then we reapplied the sunbrella cover. We weren't able to separate our two halves of the HiLo with a crane when we replaced the seal. This made it impossible to replace the seal around the Ref. I purchased a teal towel and fabricated up a draft stopper to put in back of the ref. when in the up position. With the left over towel fabric I made a draft stopper for the inside door ledge. I filled them with dried lima beans. DH says every now and then they can be put in the microwave so bugs aren't attracted to them. You can also fill them with rice or cat litter. Next week it is going to be 50degrees four days in a row. This should melt all the snow. Our city looks like a garbage bomb went off with all the dirty snow and papers blown around.

Getting new aluminum blinds
 

DH got a call from HD that I didn't pay for the blinds. I called and got it straightened out. Too many people in the blinds flooring dept. I most certainly paid when I placed the order. The projected delivery date is April 4th.

I also have purchased the maxis tires also after extensive research and also went from a c to a d mostly because I have a 19 t and only have one axle.
I have had a blowout it is not fun, because of this I have purchased an electric scissor jack ( 4k lbs) and it came with a impact gun with universal sockets ,battery hookups (12v) all in a nice hard suitcase . ($89) online Unfortunately I admit I got caught with my pants down (no jack), the tires looked great ,lots of tread but I understand trailer tires rot from the inside out . It is good to roll them in storage if possible . I wanted to change them ASAP after purchasing the trailer but the season came and away I went . I learned a lot that year. Camper is out of storage and ready to go all have fun this season !!!

Returning on 5 October from our 4 week camping trip, there were a number of repairs and improvements that need to be done before putting our sleeping beauty back to bed. In the time that it took me to complete the repairs, a number of you could have completed a full refurb! First thing to work on was the water heater, which started leaking when we were dry camping south of Ouray, Colorado. We did not have any leaks with the tank itself, just with the plumbing to the tank, but those repairs, which were started on the 12th, weren’t completed until the 18th. With a continued drought here in sunny California, I did give sleeping beauty a sponge bath and after she was dry I climbed on the roof and cleaned all the sealing tape around the vents and such and followed up with self leveling Dicor along all edges of the tape. While I was on the roof I noticed the vent lids on both the kitchen and bathroom were cracked so I replaced those today. On 3 October, just east of Tucson, we lost the tread on one of the trailer tires and I called AAA to change the tire, with the worthless tire throw into the back of our truck. After completing a few of the afore mentioned repairs, I realized there wasn’t any way this senior citizen could get the new spare back in place...under the trailer and secured with two bolts....so, since I had a hitch receiver on the back of the trailer (not heavy duty) I ordered a spare tire carrier that I could slide into the hitch receiver. I also cleaned all of the old caulking (squeeze out) from around all of the windows and re-caulked around the windows with a silicone caulk. On the front window guard, one of the wing nuts to hold the window guard up could not be tightened to secure the sliding bracket, so I had to drill out the rivet at the top of the bracket and then remove the screws holding the bottom part of the bracket. I removed the small bolt and epoxied a new bolt in place and re assembled today. The sleeping beauty has now been put back to bed. Winterizing? Nah, this is Southern California and so far climate change isn’t so severe that we have to worry about a freeze.:)

Pictures that I selected did not post:confused:

To be continued. Tha Thats all folks.:D

Oh my gosh, how in the world did you get your trailer in that tight space, Garry? I would have wiped out the house!

Looks like you hit many of the spots we would like to go in the future! :)

Even I can't back a trailer hooked to a truck into such a tight spot. I use a "Power Caster" to park the trailer and I do it just a few feet at a time, always checking the clearance on both sides. Power Caster,electric trailer mover dolly, boat dolly, toy hauler :)

On our trip the National parks and Monuments included Moab, Mesa Verde (second time, first time for the Cliff Palace Tour), Aztec National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands National Monument. Bridal Veil Falls in Colorado required a round trip hike of 4.6 miles, which really did us in.:D

Garry, where did you camp at Carlsbad? And, would you recommend it?

Glad you were able to visit Cliff Palace. Did you tour Balcony House too?

The Power Caster looks a neat tool. I had a "manual one" from Harbor Freight. Not nearly as expensive, but our trailer was just a bit to heavy to make it practical.

White Sands is a pretty amazing place isn't it? My eyes still hurt from the glare. Janet and I ate lunch at one of the picnic sites in White Sands when we visited while camped in the mountains above Alamogordo, near a small town called Cloudcroft.

- Jack

We did not tour Balcony House. Our knees were done for the week after the Cliff Palace, so we might have to make a third trip to MV.
We camped at Brantly Lake State Park which was about 30 miles north of Carlsbad. The campground was okay but not at the top of my list. People fishing the lake are advised not to eat the fish because of high levels of ??DDT? found in the fish. Brantly has water and power hookups, showers and a dump station. I think fees were $14.00 a night and all was on the honor system. All campsites were out in the open, not many trees around, but it served its purpose.
And yes, driving through Lincoln National Forest (beautiful drive) we went through Cloudcroft on the way to White Sands. I was born in Clovis, NM and lived in the state for 19 years, but had never been to the Caverns or White Sands, which, like you say, could be like snow blindness.

Thank you Garry. I had originally planned to visit Carlsbad this Fall, but other things have come up so I'm putting it off till Spring. I was mildly surprised to find there was no camping within the Park boundaries at all. When we visit National Parks, we prefer to stay "inside" (but not underground, of course).

Balcony House is kind of fun, and it's a very unique ruin. For those who have never been there, there is a "tight squeeze" on the exit route that "wide bodies" have to be able to navigate. This is done on your hands and knees through a short rock cave-like opening. It's a Ranger guided tour, like Cliff Palace and there is a portal that simulates the tight place where you sign up. If you can't fit through it, you don't take the tour. There are also several ladders, so if you have certain handicaps, you can't do it either.

- Jack

Jack, when you do go to Carlsbad, allow plenty of time for the viewing. We did the self guided tour for about 2 1/2 hours and only went part of the way through the "Ballroom". We took a short break and then went on a guided tour which was another 1 1/2 hours. The first part of the self tour we went down 850 feet. When we went back down for the guided tour we took the elevator back down to the 850 level. Oh, and after the self tour we took the elevator back to the top. The history on the caverns provided by our guide was very interesting and informative.

Thank you again Garry. Looking at the website for Carlsbad NP, there are several Ranger guided tours in addition to the self-guided tour of the main cave. I also noted that you need reservations for these things, so will have to probably make those well in advance. I had planned to spend the better part of a week there, so I should have plenty of time to see everything.

I'm a sucker for caverns, waterfalls, high alpine meadows, mountains and slot canyons. Rivers and the ocean are big turn-ons too. I think I've covered almost everything, haven't I? (Actually, I'm not eager to visit cities, unless they're very special.)

- Jack

Lehman Caves
 

Jack, (only) about 9 hours from you in Great Basin National Park is Lehman Caves. You can camp right on Lehman Creek in one of the two campgrounds (around 7,500 ft. elevation) and take a day trip up to Wheeler Peak (13,000 ft.) It's only a 3,000 ft. change in elevation from the trailhead! :D There is a campground up there at 9,900 ft. if you care to drive the trailer that high.

Lehman Caves Tours - Great Basin National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Garry, how difficult was it to install this product? I'm thinking of purchasing one also.

Thanks,

Cool, I've certainly seen signs referring to Great Basin NP, but I've never been there. I could certainly take the trailer up to the 9,900 ft campground. I took it up to Cedar Breaks NM, (above 10,000 ft) three years ago. That was a STEEP drive - I believe it had a 13% grade and trailers were not recommended. But, I figured my F150 would make it. It did, but I was in 1st gear for most of the pull.

I'd been meaning to look up Great Basin, so you've given me a reminder to do just that.

- Jack

It's a beautiful place and not very crowded. Hoping to go again next year as I have relatives in Ely, NV. The road up to Wheeler Peak campground is fairly steep in places but up to a 24 ft. trailer is allowed.

When we arrived at the caverns about 10:15 am we made reservations for a tour at 1:30 the same day...however, some tours were closed due to flooding from heavy rains the first part of the week.

Not hard to install. You just have to decide how and where you want the access for the water service line that you attach to the black water tank. Since you do have to drill a hole into your black water tank, you need a good silicone sealer for the fitting. With the location of the tank on my rig, I had to buy additional plastic hose for the water connection.:)

Thanks, Garry! Looks like the reviews on the various websites are mostly positive so I went ahead and ordered one. I'll give a review on this site after I've installed and used it.

My stompin' grounds!

Tires...
 

I'm glad to see you all installing new tires and checking air pressure/rotation, wheel bearing repacked, etc.
It's no fun having a blow out! My last trip, I had a blow out and this caused some metal to be bent in the wheel opening. This thin metal was a mistake by HiLo. I re-straightened the metal and then bought some aluminum panels like the same aluminum that comes on the front of the HiLo. I installed these panels around the wheel wells to strengthen the openings if a blow out occurs again. You can find this metal on EBAY and other sites.
Those original tires were not very good. Be wary if you are still using them.
I also bought a 12 volt jack and a 12 volt impact wrench which really speeds up a tire change, if you can't get road service!
Good luck and safe travels.