The ultimate Interstate off-topic thread

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by wachuko

... we stopped .... to look at the Winnebago Travato 59KL... ... We could see ourselves making this floor plan work. ....

On a previous thread, when Technomadia announced they were picking a Class B and we'd all have to wait for the reveal, I myself did not have to wait for the reveal. I predicted right then and there that they'd opt for the Travato - it was the only logical choice.

The unanswered question both for folks like Technomadia and myself is -- how do we accommodate an office in a Travato?! It doesn't even have couches, just beds. There's not even a proper couch to sit on - there's no conversion like with jack-knife couches.

The rear bath and lack of office potential are 100% deal-breakers for me, but the operational functionality of the Travato is otherwise admirable.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Full-timing RV lifestyle film review: The Far Green Country (free on Amazon Prime). . .

Some people might find my review to be a bit harsh. . .

. . . Because of the extraordinary filmography and the refreshingly honest (if viscerally offensive) portrait that it presents, I found it to be a film worth watching. . .

Short film trailer, so you can see if it might be of interest to you:

https://vimeo.com/261629179

Yes - I found your review more than a bit harsh. Also for anyone else interested in watching this film you can get it free on Tubi, with a few embedded ads.

https://tubitv.com/home

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Yes - I found your review more than a bit harsh. ...

It's a matter of personal interpretation, obviously.

I asked my husband, "What exactly does this woman bring to their table?
-- She doesn't work a paying job.
-- She exhibits no education or skills.
-- She self-presents with the arrogance of a trust-fund baby.
-- And rather than taking some of the load off her husband, she breathes a sigh of relief that he has consented to being responsible for BOTH the moneymaking AND every single RV system."

Zero percent chance that ^^ would ever work in any conceivable marriage of mine. I would never treat my husband like that - I do have a conscience! I ask him to do certain things for me, and he does them very well. No matter what conflicts we may have, I owe him the decency of reciprocity, and I will deliver.

I believe very strongly in a secular interpretation of "equally yoked". Every marriage that I've ever seen end up in the ash can of history has done so because one person was disproportionately greedy and exploited the other.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

It's a matter of personal interpretation, obviously.

I asked my husband, "What exactly does this woman bring to their table?
-- She doesn't work a paying job.
-- She exhibits no education or skills.
-- She self-presents with the arrogance of a trust-fund baby.
-- And rather than taking some of the load off her husband, she breathes a sigh of relief that he has consented to being responsible for BOTH the moneymaking AND every single RV system."

Zero percent chance that ^^ would ever work in any conceivable marriage of mine. I would never treat my husband like that - I do have a conscience! I ask him to do certain things for me, and he does them very well. No matter what conflicts we may have, I owe him the decency of reciprocity, and I will deliver.

I believe very strongly in a secular interpretation of "equally yoked". Every marriage that I've ever seen end up in the ash can of history has done so because one person was disproportionately greedy and exploited the other.

I agree 100% that married couples must share lifes burdens to have a successful marriage.

For the couple in this documentary I think you are overlooking the burden of full time care of a toddler, which appears to be the mother's task in the movie .

Do you have children?

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

I agree 100% that married couples must share lifes burdens to have a successful marriage.

For the couple in this documentary I think you are overlooking the burden of full time care of a toddler, which appears to be the mother's task in the movie .

Do you have children?

MIKE - I agree with you in that "the burden of full time care of a toddler" is nothing to be sneezed at. That is far more difficult than any full-time job I have ever had. Any mother who chooses to do that deserves whatever she asks of me to do, just so I do not have to care for a toddler. I know - I am raising a 4-yr. old right now (semi-full-time). As much as I love my grandson and love doing it for my daughter so she can care for their newborn this first few months, it is a tough & demanding job, both physically & mentally.

[LB_3]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

I agree 100% that married couples must share lifes burdens to have a successful marriage.

For the couple in this documentary I think you are overlooking the burden of full time care of a toddler, which appears to be the mother's task in the movie .

Do you have children?

IB addressed this in her review when she touched on the responsibilities that come with becoming a mother vs the indulgences of youth. In short: grow up.

I love how the toddler in the film is motivated by earning his ranger badges but my biggest issue was the apparent lack of peer to peer socialization for the toddler. I’m guessing that the road show will end when the child enters school but home schooling in the van makes it possible to raise a family in a nomadic lifestyle.

As for children, our family is larger than just IB and myself. However since we’re the only ones on these forums and we have a lower public profile, we choose not to discuss details of our family here.

[InterBlog]

If you look carefully in the film, you'll see the father devoting himself to that child. The mother is disproportionately in front of the camera mainly because the father is the cameraman.

When he speaks, he says "my" child, not "our" child. It's one of the most obvious and most defensive ways in which he demonstrates his awareness of his own exploitation. Mentally and emotionally, he has already cordoned himself off, with his child. If those scenes were excerpted from the film, a casual observer would concluded that these people were already divorced and sharing custody.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by carpenc

Thank you!! I want to stay in the area for a few months so this is a great tip. I am currently booked for a few weeks at Paradise By The Sea. Do you know of it?

If this is the one you refer to in San Diego, we did not stay there. https://www.paradisebythesearvresort.com/ We stayed at San Diego RV Resort one night while passing through. Last minute decision as we never book ahead. Ok, but kind of cramped and near the freeway.

You can visit the Harbor Park in Oceanside for free. Nothing that special in the daytime, but nice sunset at night. Your site should have beach access nearby, so I guess the seals swimming in the canal is all it has to offer.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Nice find. I see three of my ideas in there that I have not seen in any other commercial design:

...
(2) Flexible wall storage (I use an extensive array of magnetic pieces; they use a slat system).

....

I really like this wall system, to the point where I am compelled to post an inspiration pic.

It's ingenious in that it solves multiple issues simultaneously - the van flexure issue (can't put inflexible materials on the walls), the storage utility issue (because you can move objects around on the wall similar to a peg board) and the aesthetic issue.

On that last one, the choices are limited, and it's an area where almost all van designs really fall on their faces. Airstream got around it beautifully with their aluminum plywood overlay, but they are about the only producer whose walls I've liked (and they later largely did away with the aluminum in favor of the grotesque mouse fur that they currently use). But even aluminum limited the utility of the walls. It was a great aesthetic, but without much versatility.

This is beautiful AND functional AND will stand up to the rigors of life on the road, especially flexure and vibration:

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I really like this wall system, to the point where I am compelled to post an inspiration pic...

Me too... I will be using that in the small bar modification that I am making. Going to be additional work for me since I will be going through the effort of covering it with the same laminate that is in the rest of the AI... but worth the time and labor.

[wachuko]

New Travato competition from Thor... The 2020 Thor Sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykebyNJ6uS8

Only reason I mention it is because you can see the reviewer mentioning an 11KW Lithium system coming soon for it... Since Airstream is own by Thor as well, maybe something that will also trickle down to Airstream in the future!? In the comments he mentions that they are looking at Mastervolt for the Lithium package (https://www.mastervolt.com/recreational-mobile/)

I do like the finish on this Sequence over the Travato... and for less than 80K... not bad at all. Even if it is still ugly on the outside...

[Hittenstiehl]

Love the Slatwall fixture image.

Slatwalls can also come with an aluminum edging insert where the rail is thereby giving more rigidity to the wood as something hangs on it. Even if you had to take the accessories down during travel and just hang them back up when you became stationary it would be such a nice way to store so many things.

I used one in my home craft room. I think this is an incredible idea and I would love to try to incorporate it into the trailer especially in the kitchen galley area.

[InterBlog]

Thor Sequence -

Something I had not previously considered: Lav in the rear means dump valves right there in the departure angle space. I wonder how that works out in real life? They appear very low.

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Thor Sequence -

Something I had not previously considered: Lav in the rear means dump valves right there in the departure angle space. I wonder how that works out in real life? They appear very low.

Yeah...I noticed that too... closing handle seemed way too much out for my comfort... there is a shot in the video where you see the level of the generator in relationship with the dump assembly and they seemed to be at the same height. But the dump assembly being that low and so far back...humm...not good.

I am out as of Saturday...on my way to San Francisco for a week, but when I get back, I plan to stop by the local Thor dealer to look at it in person. Will take photos and share.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Yeah...I noticed that too... closing handle seemed way too much out for my comfort... there is a shot in the video where you see the level of the generator in relationship with the dump assembly and they seemed to be at the same height. But the dump assembly being that low and so far back...humm...not good.

I am out as of Saturday...on my way to San Francisco for a week, but when I get back, I plan to stop by the local Thor dealer to look at it in person. Will take photos and share.

Tail-striking is my specialty. I've sheared off one of my rear strike plates and scraped them more times than I can remember. Replacing them with wheels is a higher priority now than it has been in previous years, given the towing episode we had in May (below).

I'd appreciate it if you could post more photos. It's something that we might want to point out to prospective buyers who ask about the pros and cons of various models. Or maybe this new Thor model has protective plates or wheels that were not visible in the video.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

...
I don't know why they are talking lithium at this early stage - they haven't even raised the wreckage yet.

Note that they are not referring to a lithium component of an electrical power system here - they are talking about consumer devices. Take 39 people and add up all of their devices, both phones and camera gear and other portable stuff like iPads. That's a large number of cells that could have something go wrong. ....

The US Coast Guard issued an MSIB recommending the following:

"...consider limiting the unsupervised charging of lithium-ion batteries and extensive use of power strips and extension cords".

It sounds like they might be more concerned with the loading practice than the devices themselves. Which makes sense - lithium fires are rare. If they were not, houses would be burning down left and right. More common is an ordinary electrical scenario that might ignite nearby lithium sources which were not, themselves, directly at fault.

We have that same challenge in the industrial realm. Sometimes we begin health, safety, and environmental audits with the mantra "OK, let's go onto the production floor find all the unpermitted extension cords". We have to train industrial operators that they will *not* be allowed to run cords willy-nilly and pile up equipment on them, because it's dangerous. If additional electrical power is needed at workstations, it has to be supplied through upgrades of the fixed electrical structure, and it has to be wired in by industrial electricians (which are a different breed from residential electricians).

This is relevant because we all charge devices in our rigs. It's instructive to know what happened to this boat and why.

[InterBlog]

IIRC, it's 5 years today since LB_3 and I flew from Houston to Memphis to pick up our Interstate. Or if it's not today, it's very close (maybe today is the day he pressed "Buy It Now" on eBay).

This past week, I had my first experience of vanner reputation preceding me. I spent two days training industrial operators at a facility in the next county. At the very end of the second day, I asked if there were any final questions on the course material. One of them piped up and said, "Yeah - is your van with you here today?" It was not - it's still too hot to work out of it (our first cool front may arrive by the end of September), and post-Nova Scotia trip, it was in storage. I had to explain to the rest of the class what prompted the question and what our van is all about. I don't know how the questioner found out about it in the first place, though.

[InterBlog]

Well, this grated on my nerves - an article in Outside magazine titled Laws Targeting Vehicle Campers Could End Dirtbagging.

The same practice enacted by different subcultural groups goes by different names. What WE call boondocking, THEY call dirtbagging (their nickname arose during a simpler, lower-budget era that was about as far away from glamping as one could get).

"Dirtbagging has long been a defining element of outdoor culture. Skiers, surfers, and climbers in particular often consider a season of itinerant vagabonding a right of passage. The modern archetype, of course, is Alex Honnold, who before Free Solo was perhaps equally known for being the world’s most daring climber and living in a sweet adventure van."

Anyway, in this case I'm not sure that the "rose by any other name" idea fits. But one thing is true - demand for respectable overnight parking is exceeding supply, and it's only getting worse. The free market needs to step up and take care of it.

It has here and there, but thus far, that's rare. For example, in one major Texas municipality, I rent overnight private-property parking spots on a regular schedule. These run about $20 per 24-hour period. They are explicitly advertised as "overnight" parking spots, although no mention either way is made regarding whether people are actually remaining on the parking location. Don't ask, don't tell.

But that ^^ scenario is rare. The article is correct in that we do have a larger problem to contend with nation-wide.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Well, this grated on my nerves - an article in Outside magazine titled Laws Targeting Vehicle Campers Could End Dirtbagging.

The same practice enacted by different subcultural groups goes by different names. What WE call boondocking, THEY call dirtbagging (their nickname arose during a simpler, lower-budget era that was about as far away from glamping as one could get).

"Dirtbagging has long been a defining element of outdoor culture. Skiers, surfers, and climbers in particular often consider a season of itinerant vagabonding a right of passage. The modern archetype, of course, is Alex Honnold, who before Free Solo was perhaps equally known for being the world’s most daring climber and living in a sweet adventure van." . . .

Good article - thanks for sharing.

[Lily&Me]

I’ve never heard it called dirtbagging, but in just my own observation the number of people living and sleeping full time in all manner vehicles is definitely on the rise, and going to be an increasing problem.

It seems to be a lifestyle that is becoming coveted, and cottage industries developing to teach and support it.

If you’ve been in primitive federal campgrounds lately, there are more and more vehicle dwellers to be seen.

Vehicle dwelling has even come to my street, tho only one, a young woman recently residing in a van.

Maggie