First two months full-timing!

[lcd32bit]

We've now got two months behind our belt living and working remotely full-time on the road, having sold our Seattle home in July and hit the road since. After a bit of a hiccup with our tow vehicle breaking down the same week we were closing on our home (yep!), we've been mostly problem free for 1,700 miles of towing across numerous mountain passes and at times rugged terrain. The biggest problems we've had have been with our full Victron system which was unfortunately not correctly installed and programmed, so we've had to spend a lot of time to troubleshoot and resolve that.

Working remotely is an interesting experience, and while my interactions are mostly with folks in various parts of the country, not physically being with my team takes some adjustment, and Skype calls don't fully make up for face-time. Internet access has been very reliable with my Cradlepoint IBR900 router w/ 5-wire Panorama antenna, with the only time without signal was when we were staying in the National Forests above Aspen, CO.

We're currently camped around Crested Butte, CO. Attached is a picture of us after getting dirty crossing Kebler Pass on a particularly rainy and muddy day.



Our route so far:



Our equipment:

• 2017 Range Rover Sport Supercharged (5.0L Supercharged V8)
• 2017 Airstream International Signature 27FB Twin
• 5x 100W Solar Panels
• 600Ah Victron Smart LiFePO4
• 3000W Victron MultiPlus w/ ColorControl GX
• Cradlepoint IBR900 LTE Router w/ Panorama 5-wire Antenna
• Wilson WeBoost Drive 4G-X w/ Surecall Antenna
• Iridium Satellite Phone Dock w/ Iridium Dual-Mode Antenna
• BlueOx Sway Pro w/ 1000lb Bars
• 16" Michelin Defender LT Tires w/ Wireless TPMS
• 2" hitch receiver for bike rack installed w/ frame reinforcement

P.S. PLEASE, let's not make this a thread about tow vehicle preference. There are many existing threads, and other parts of the forums, to hold those discussions in.

[DreamStreamr]

Congratulations and welcome to the adventure! Your Victron power system sounds really awesome and with twice the PV panel capacity over ours you'll do great on solar.

Good luck and safe travels,

[dbj216]

Hello from Colorado: Crested Butte is one place we have not visited yet in our Airstream. We will make a point of it next summer. We've lived in Colorado for 2 years and love it. We were flatlanders from Minnesota and not used to towing down steep grades with all sorts of curves on them. But I'm getting better at it. It is perfectly safe if you go slow enough. No one has ever tipped a trailer over at 10 mph.

You probably have read the blog of Rich Luhr of Airstream Life fame. He writes very well, and he full times maybe 8 months a year while publishing Airstream Life. Check out his "Man in the Maze" blog. I find it fun, and covers all the adventures of full timing. He has been writing it for years.

http://maze.airstreamlife.com/

David

[wulfraat]

Great stuff! Living the dream

[DreamStreamr]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

Great stuff! Living the dream

EXACTLY, RIGHT?

We're chasing 75 degrees and hitting it regularly in Colorado just now. Loving it.

[lcd32bit]

Originally Posted by DreamStreamr

Congratulations and welcome to the adventure! Your Victron power system sounds really awesome and with twice the PV panel capacity over ours you'll do great on solar.

Good luck and safe travels,

Thank you! We're thinking we might want to add another panel as we are power pigs - we can churn through 200Ah in a single day, and 500W of panels seems to bring in 3kWh on a sunny day, or about 230Ah of charge. With 600W of panels, we can likely run the fridge off the Inverter all day (to reduce propane consumption) and run everything we need to.

My biggest concern is that we do not carry a generator as our tow vehicle does not have the space (tons of payload capacity though), and on extended boondocking in the winter might not bring in enough charge to keep us going. So far, I don't see a need for a generator, but I might reconsider and get a 2000W Yamaha and convert to Tri-Fuel to run off one of the LP tanks.

[lcd32bit]

Originally Posted by DreamStreamr

EXACTLY, RIGHT?

We're chasing 75 degrees and hitting it regularly in Colorado just now. Loving it.

Nights here in Crested Butte are COLD! It's going to snow too this weekend! Fortunately though, I'm headed to Orlando next week for a conference, so it'll be nice and warm.

[lcd32bit]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Hello from Colorado: Crested Butte is one place we have not visited yet in our Airstream. We will make a point of it next summer. We've lived in Colorado for 2 years and love it. We were flatlanders from Minnesota and not used to towing down steep grades with all sorts of curves on them. But I'm getting better at it. It is perfectly safe if you go slow enough. No one has ever tipped a trailer over at 10 mph.

You probably have read the blog of Rich Luhr of Airstream Life fame. He writes very well, and he full times maybe 8 months a year while publishing Airstream Life. Check out his "Man in the Maze" blog. I find it fun, and covers all the adventures of full timing. He has been writing it for years.

http://maze.airstreamlife.com/

David

Crested Butte is really awesome - amazing hiking trails, offroading, mountain biking, and back in town the restaurants are fantastic! Amazing views in every direction wherever you are. Very sad that we can only stay here for 5 days as we need to head to Durango to take a flight out to Orlando on Saturday for a conference next week.