Almost 600 miles from Des Moines to The Wall, nine hours in 104 degree heat, no reservation waiting for us, and an RV door that kept popping open on the interstate.
The replacement power cord showed up and the macerator still would not run. Here is what finally got it spinning, what the dump at the Marquette tourist park cost us, and the news we have been sitting on for weeks.
No sewer hookup, a full black tank, and a macerator pump that would not turn on. What actually fixed it, the second problem that showed up right after, and a $41 laundromat bill.
We went eighteen months without sanitizing our fresh water tank. Here is the bleach-free method we finally used, step by step, and how little time it actually took.
We reserved a pull-through site in Wisconsin and still couldn't get our 40-foot Brinkley into it. A campground regular named Joe showed us a trick we'd never considered, and then the week ended with our first Harvest Hosts stay at an actual Western saloon.
Love's RV Stops promise full hookups and real sites at a truck stop price of about $74 a night. We stayed in one with our Brinkley Model Z 3515 to find out what you actually get.
A two-day run from South Carolina to Louisville with no reservation, a 10-foot bridge with smashed RVs on its Google Maps photos, and the tightest campground we've ever squeezed our Brinkley into.
After a year and a half of full-timing with no real water filtration (and one campground with a lead warning taped to our door), we finally installed the Blu Tech AR3 three-stage filter on our Brinkley. Plus a midnight toilet flood we didn't plan on.
A "chill" two-hour hop from Tampa to Orlando turned into bent banana trees, a flying chair, a wind-speed research session, and the same embarrassing mistake we swore we'd never repeat. At least dinner was good.
A week of boondocking at our first Hipcamp farm, and the water bladder we'd hauled around unopened for over a year finally earns its keep: 24 gallons siphoned into the fresh tank. The full 7 days off-grid? That part didn't survive contact with reality.
We spent a day in the Brinkley section of the Tampa RV Super Show touring the new GX 3500, the Model Z Air 297, and the I 265, comparing each one to our own Model Z 3515 and coming away a little jealous.
320 miles from the Smoky Mountains to South Carolina, hitch-up to after-dark arrival, with every stop in between. This is the travel day nobody puts in the highlight reel.
Our second national park ever started with our most stressful travel day yet: mountain turns, a first tunnel with the RV, rain, and a last-minute campground switch. Then the Smokies gave us waterfalls, a snake on the trail, and the climb to Arch Rock.
Our first national park ever, and we brought 40 feet of fifth wheel up steep mountain roads and a gravel campground drive to get there. Overlooks, the Endless Wall Trail, and tacos and tequila to close it out.
We boondocked in Brinkley's lot the night before a big service appointment, broke something new while parking, and picked up a rig with fresh wall panels and a brand-new fridge. Mostly a win.
