RV Improvements and Observations

Here's the floorplan of my new RV, a 1999 Four Winds 5000, 28A, which hasn't changed much in 13 years. Even without slideouts, it's roomy and feels spacious:

There is so much I like about this unit.  For one, the layout is attractive, and convenient in every way -- very well thought out.  The woodwork is beautiful.  The cabinets close securely. The color scheme throughout is attractive, with nappy gray/brown fabric on the couches and seats that will wear well and won't show dirt.  I like that it's carpeted, and the carpet is clean.  The couches are comfortable.  The couch bed flips open with one flick of the wrist, and there's still room to walk around.

I love my kitchen, complete with vented stove, oven, microwave, double sink, and window blinds, and there is plenty of storage.  Both the hot water heater and refrigerator operate on both AC and LP gas, and the fridge gets plenty cold.  And it's plenty roomy.

The windows have screens which are all in perfect shape, and they all have these very cool pleated fabric blinds that pull up and down, one for shade, the other for privacy.

L to R, Willow, Maxie, Lucky Lucy, Pepper

The bedroom delights me so much, I've taken several naps out there.  Not much walking space, but the queen mattress is  7" of memory foam, extremely comfortable. I need a soft bed.   There's plenty of storage in that room, and a form fitting bedspread and throw pillow, in colors that won't show dirt!  My dogs have already claimed this space!  They know it's all for them.

There's a side table by the bed, which many RV's don't have (even the fancy ones), with convenient electric plug placement for a reading lamp and fan, and I bought myself a little radio, casette/CD player so I can listen to radio, music or Books On Tape.  I keep it going even more than the TV. Very cozy.  After a hard day of trialing, I'm looking forward to kicking back in my plush bed surrounded by snoring dogs, and being read to sleep.  My friend Joy donated me several Books-On-Tape casettes that she buys from the Library for $1 each, then passes along to friends.

It's hard to find things small enough to fit in tight spaces, but soon after I got home I found a little wooden medicine cabinet at Lowes, for the bathroom.  It looks like a built in, a perfect color match, and was on sale for $24. I installed it immediately. It's a bit tricky finding wooden beams behind the thin interior walls, but I did. Also installed a paper towel rack inside the door of the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

I noticed right off that the shower takes up a lot of space, which goes un-used most of the time. So I measured the cavity and went searching for some stackable Sterlite drawers in which to store everything from dish towels to paperwork to small tools (stuff that clutters up the surfaces if there is no place to put it).  I found these drawers at Wal-Mart, and they turn the space into a useful dresser/closet/counter. I can remove the drawers to the bedroom whenever I want to take a shower, then stack them back in. When travelling, I secure the drawers in place with bungie cords. Along the sides I have room to store my Hokey, broom, window sun screens, etc.

I also purchased a one-piece unit for the outside compartment, very convenient for storing the myriad items of hardware one carries -- from small tools to bungie cords, duct tape, wasp spray and other things that would otherwise rattle around and make a mess.  This unit is easily removed as well when loading and unloading the rear compartment with all the porch furniture.  It fits in snuggly enough that it can't tump over, and I hope is sturdy enough that it won't break apart on the road.



You can see straight through to the other side, and the
back of the Sterlite drawers from the previous photo.

All my chairs, table, coolers, barbeque pit, fans, rugs, wagon and such forth fit in the two outside compartments. The back compartment is 2' wide x 9' across, a near perfect size for the bigger stuff, but there is absolutely NO wiggle room for our 2'x4' folding table, our 2' x 4' Xpen segments, and Lucky's large crate. These RV manufacturers need to get hip to the fact that many items that need storing are exactly 2' wide.  We need at least an extra 2-4 inches for clearance.

Most of the equipment I had purchased for the pop up camper (table, chairs, lamps, extension cords, clamps, pots, pans, dishes, etc.), work perfect in the RV.

I purchased 32' (two 16' units) of 48" high xpen to make a yard for my dogs. Ebay had a great price on these. I also built 15' of plastic lattice skirting along the bottom edge of the RV, to keep the dogs from escaping under the vehicle.  I was pleased to discover that the same edge pieces designed to cap off and strengthen the lattice, also slid on top of the x-pen segments to keep them more stable.  X-pens segments are, I've found, pretty flimsy unless you set up an octagon.  I still need to rig up, or invent, some sort of stabilizers at ground level.

Some would consider it a minus that my RV has no built in entertainment center.  Instead, there is an empty overhead bed.   However, for about $400, I designed my own.  With luck, I scored a $200 22" flat screen 1080 HDTV from Best Buy for $119 (their last unit), and a $79 BlueRay player on sale for $49, $80 for a swivel arm wall mount, and a Surround Sound Sound Bar from Target for $79, which looks/sounds great. (The regular TV speakers could barely be heard over the full blast air conditioner.) John already had a box to convert analog antenna signals to digital, and we plan to upgrade the antenna to receive signals from over 50 miles away. Of course, we expect mostly to use TV for local news, and to play DVD's and training videos. We also investigated Direct TV for our whole house with a portable box included to take on trips, but that option collapsed when they came out and told us we have too many trees on our property to receive clear satellite signals 24/7.  So we're stuck with cable. Bummer!

John and I spent all day yesterday, tearing out false walls and bottoms in the pictured overhead cabinet, to mount the TV on a swivel arm.  What a job, and we still have to hide all the wires!  But it looks great and I'm satisfied with my little "entertainment center".  And I still have all that overhead storage at my disposal.

I've repaired a bunch of little things too numerous to mention like a small tear in the drivers seat upholstery, a loose doorknob with stripped screws, etc, and added several little features like a 12 volt plug, an outside thermometer, a wall clock, driver and passenger window sun blockers, rugs on the steps, and so forth.  I love my little engineering projects, and am pretty good at problem solving.  It's heap good therapy, and I ain't finished.

When I am finished, I plan to make a list for RV developers to consider that would make their product just a wee bit better. 

I'm also getting the pop-up camper ready to sell, leaving in it all the improvements I've made. I'll be real proud if someone comes along who appreciates all the work I've done on that unit, especially claiming the vertical spaces with removable shelving.  To tell the truth, it's about as comfortable as the RV once it's set up. No kidding. Setting it up just takes too much time and energy when I have to run my dogs the same day.

So, I'm keeping busy.  Even though my vision is skewed and my Mom's health has me worried and my hip hurts so I'm not practicing agility and have yet to sign up for my next trial, at least I'm dreaming about competing again and preparing for it in what ways I can.

Upwards and onward!

Lake Charles Agility Trial - 2011 CKC

Maxie - 6 runs, 3 Q's (1 XJ, 2 XS), 2 1st places, 1 2nd place, 37 MACH points, 5 videos posted
Lucky Lucy - 6 runs, 1 Q (XJ),  6 videos posted

MAXIE:
Well, no QQ's for Maxie this weekend (he Q'd once per day), though I have to say I was running faster and surer, and we were mostly just 1 mistake from Q'ing on each NQ run.  He ran fast and focused, always exceeded course time by 6-22 seconds) and I know for sure now there's a MACH dog in there.  We met our goal of adding at least 35 MACH points to our tally at this trial, but didn't get that 6th QQ we were hoping for. Mistakes were as follows:

• XS Fri - no video, but he was under course time by 17 seconds, with only 1 fault, probably popped out of the weaves as I can't remember any other fault.
• XJ Sat - knocked the first bar - he hasn't knocked a bar in over a year, but I positioned him, then repositioned him at the start.  I've never done that before, so I must have broken his concentration, or else the bar was barely on there (which happens).  Then he popped out of the 10th weave, still under course time by 7 seconds.
• XS Sun - Skipped the 3rd weave. Otherwise a clean run with 10 seconds to spare, but the video shows his time could have been improved by at least 5 seconds with fewer wide turns.

SUMMARY: With Maxie's fast, reliable weaves at home, I can't figure out what to do about his less reliable weave performance at trials. Am I doing something different, like holding my breath, babysitting him, watching too hard?  As to the wide turns, we will practice more front crosses, which I tend not to do to spare my ankles, stronger pulls, and collection drills.

Lucky on the start line, intently watching a fly.

LUCKY LUCY:
Lucky's runs went like this:  "Look a fly, try to catch it".  Flies in the stands, flies at the start line, flies in the ring.  OMG, flies everywhere, and Lucky the only dog I saw constantly lunging at them!  She must have captured and swallowed 3 dozen flies.  I couldn't always get her attention on the start line, nor in the que waving her tug toy in her face, or offering her peeled shrimp, and she HAS NEVER REFUSED THOSE before.  I once had to collar grab her at the start line and push her forward to the first jump, after which she proceeded along.  It must be programmed hard into her DNA to be a fly catcher!  Major distraction work is needed here.

• XS Fri = clean run, but exceeded course time by 4.93 seconds.
• XJ Fri - trotted around 3 jumps in a row, tracking flies, about the 15th obstacle decided to run and finished fast.
• XJ Sat - Q, clean run, under course time by 1 second.
• XS Sat - clean run, but exceeded course time by 9 seconds.
• XS Sun - no faults until second to last obstacle, she leaped over the down contact on the A-frame.  Broke my heart because I failed to say "halt", tho I was pointing down.  Exceeded course time by .62 seconds anyway.
• XJ Sun - clean run, but exceeded course time by 6 seconds.

SUMMARY: Lucky's problem continues to be lack of speed in the ring.  She is mostly accurate. Outside the ring, or in practice when I'm carrying her tug toy, she runs like the wind.  We'll be going to lots of matches next year.  We'll also practice on focus, learning to ignore flies and other distractions.  I also need to discover just how to "transfer value" (which Susan Garrett assures me can happen) from her favorite toys, tugging and fetching, and just plain running for joy, to agility.

THE WEEKEND:
Apparently I wasn't the only one whose entry got screwed up (last post).  Various CKC members proclaimed the situation "intolerable", "unacceptable", etc.  On Sunday they couldn't provide Q'ing ribbons, either, because they were left out on the scoring table and had gotten wet in the driving rain.  They offered to mail them out to us, which got a few serious competitors PO'd.  The trial secretary is going to catch some flack.  But my question is . . . . . has the club bothered to train her to take over when their usual trial secretary became unavailable?????  Here's a perfect example of my oft repeated concern -- clubs ought to be mentoring members for every job.  Never know when some key person will leave in a huff, move, die, have an emergency, etc.  Part of belonging to any club is being in a sharing environment.  One gets to learn things free of charge, or far, far cheaper than taking private lessons or paying school tuition.  Clubs are a natural outgrowth of people wanting to share what they know, meet and do things with others who enjoy common interests.  Sailing clubs, sewing circles, reading and/or writing groups -- all great social inventions that only work well with enthusiastic sharing, teaching, mentoring.

Audrey drove over from Baton Rouge on Saturday, stayed from 10:30 to 3:30, and it was real nice having a family member/best friend around. She brought me some of her famous sweet potato casserole, helped me manage the dogs and gave encouragement, but unfortunately she only saw the last 2 runs, neither of them Q's.

Saturday's Horrific Storm:  The weather was typical Gulf Coast once again -- cold, wet, and windy.  On Saturday about 4 p.m., in blew a horrible storm. The sky turned black, with north winds whipping thru at hurricane force, with trees bent over and heavy rain going sideways.  The dogs and I were tucked into the camper, and within 30 minutes of Audrey leaving the awning envelope was flapping and banging hard and relentlessly against the roof, the canvas walls were bowing in about 15".  Afraid my camper was going to blow over or the telescoping uprights that hold up the roof would snap, I made a command decision that it was better to be wet than crushed or broken, so I cleared the middle area, unzipped the clear vinyl window coverings on either side, draped them down over the couch cushions, and let the wind and rain blow right thru the camper.  I also unzipped the side windows a crack to let some air thru. This relieved enough pressure on the canvas walls, and they held.  We all sat out of the way, dry, on one bed, with all our belongings stacked on the other bed, for about 40 minutes, watching the water pour off the vinyl onto the floor.  Afterwards, I dried everything off with a beach towel, then swept about an inch of water out the door.  I don't know if Fleetwood designed this intentionally, but it was neat that the side windows had a rain flap, and the main window vinyl unfurls down when unzipped so it covered the couch cushions, which stayed mostly dry.  No damage was done, and the floor needed a good mopping anyway!

RV'ers Social: By 5:30, still raining on and off, about 30 RV'ers filtered into the concessions area of the arena and outdid themselves with a huge spread of food.  Each brought a dish, from home-made boar sausage, to shrimp scampi, rasberry salad, merlerton pie, and lots of desserts.  Judge Gerald Marotta attended. The boudin balls I brought from the King's Truck Plaze in Iowa were appreciated.  Tall agility tales were flying around, laughter abounded, I got acquainted with a few more folks.  Very colorful folks. So much talk, I didn't get to tell my harrowing tale about surviving the storm.

My new video camera rocks.  I was able to get vivid pictures, clear videos, and I can't wait to post a composite of all the closeup videos I took of Time2Beat dogs going thru the weaves. I hope to do that later this week, but with our mailbox down, a friend's funeral, weeding and decorating for Christmas needing doing, and this new laptop I'm still getting used to, it may be awhile.

My new laptop ROCKS! I was able to watch HD quality DVD movies Friday and Saturday night while tucked in the camper. Saw the first 2 seasons of Dallas!  Picture quality was great!  The built in speakers are adequate. I can import videos from my camera using Windows Live Photo Gallery, bypassing Sony's Picture Motion Browser, which I despise. 

RAFFLE: I managed to win 2 raffle items again. Paid $10 for 12 tickets, same as usual, and I'm guessing I came home with over $100 worth of loot.  What fun!

1. 

   

   Huge basket was full of LSU paraphranalia,
   including a few more items not shown.

   First, a huge basket full of LSU paraphranalia. I only put 2 tickets in the LSU drawing bag, and only because I liked the blue basket (matches my kitchen decor) for picking garden vegetables, and because Audrey called my attention to the potential Christmas gifts I could give my LSU-loving friends. I find it odd that I start liking football only 2 weeks ago, and the Universe immediately presents me with a huge LSU Flag, mug, dog collar, bracelet, blanket, back scratcher, piggy bank, LSU dog sweater that fits Willow perfectly, and other assorted LSU paraphranalia. That's how it works when one opens doors, (according to various scriptures, as well as my own pagan experience).
2. 
   I also scored 4 christmas hot chocolate mugs we'll surely use, with a Christmas vinyl tablecloth and rawhide chew wreath.  

I was actually not the last person to leave the campgrounds this time. Having figured how to shave off about 45 minutes and several buckets of sweat to camper set-up and take-down. Mostly, I store the shelving boards out on the floor instead of tucking them under the mattresses, I store the awning poles outside under the tongue end rather than the back end of the trailer (saving many steps), and I don't put out any decorative items. Also, by parking the camper with the door facing north, the sun hits the south side of the camper and gives afternoon shade where the table is -- so I don't need to put up the awning for shade purposes (in winter) -- a huge time savings.

Interstate Nightmare: The drive home was strange and stressful!  I left Lake Charkes at 2:30 Sunday with half a tank of gas, expecting a 2.5 hour, 140 mile drive, and didn't get home til 5 hours later, 7:30, because traffic on the interstate came to an idling standstill for 2.5 hours.  There was no news on the radio, so I called John and he couldn't find anything either.  I was watching my gas needle go down and had no idea where I was or where the nearest gas station was, so I eventually called 911 with my mile marker, and she said the Tiger Truck Stop was 2 miles ahead.  I reached it about 20 minutes later with less than half-a-gallon left in my tank - 9 miles worth.  It took another 15 minutes to pull up to the pump because the place was jam packed with people pulling off for gas, bathroom, food, and nobody was directing traffic.  The clerk said they had to call in another gas truck.  Oh, did I mention it was cold, windy, and drizzling? We found out that a cucumber truck had overturned at the Gross Tete exit at 10 a.m. and they expected it to take until 8 p.m. to get the interstate cleared.  I managed to park us in a safe spot, pottie the dogs in a grassy area, and prepared to stay put several hours if necessary.  About 6, though, I could see traffic moving on the overpass, got going, and made it home slowly but without further incident.  We had gas, plus a dry spot, food, water, money, my cell phone, nearby bathrooms, and each other, so I was calm.  The dogs mostly slept thru it all.

I always have done pretty well in a crisis.  I get practical. It was real funny watching numerous men jump out of their idling cars on the interstate, run across 40 yards of ditch, in the dark, to the woods, to pee.  Don't know what I would have done if I had had to pee. Certainly not cross a dark ditch! Probably just maneuver to the left lane, open both car doors on the drivers side, hold up a towel or sweater between them, squat, and pee on the road.

Motor Home Fever:  Of course, all those hours on the interstate and I'm thinking how I have to set the camper up to dry out the next day and what a pain that will be.   And all that while, in the next lane over, I'm idling alongside this beautiful BTCruizer motor home.  It looked small, about 24', with only 1 slideout, and seemed to be saying "Check me out! I'm perfect for you."  I called John and had him Google it, he printed out several sheets, and I Googled it the next day but we couldn't find one smaller than 27' with less than 2 slideouts or under $40,000.  I'm sure this one was shorter.  I'm now following a few E-bay bids.  Yes, okay, hell yes, I still want a motor home.  I can't see me setting up this camper when I'm 70, but I intend to do agility til I'm at least 75.  I want to stay packed and ready.

"The right motor home, at the right price, is on its way to me."

This basket is 15" across,
these grapefruits are 4" across,
a lot bigger than they look in this photo.

Monday evening John heard it was supposed to freeze overnight, so we picked about half the grapefruits (40) off our tree.  My new blue basket came in real handy!  John will take some to work, I'll take some to class and some to neighbors, and we'll be eating a grapefruit a day all thru December.  Mostly, I peel them like an orange, divide into segments, then peel back the thin bitter membrane on either side of each segment to get to the juicy pulp. Monday night got out the electric juicer and tried guessing how much juice was in one of the large ones, John saying 6 oz and me saying 5 oz.  He won.  Mixed half-n-half with Sprite, it makes a sweet dinner drink. Yum, yum!

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Always gas up on the way there AND on the way back to any trial.  You never know when you'll get stuck idling on the interstate for half-a-tank's worth of going nowhere.
• Pee before you leave, and every time you stop.
• Have your car stocked with food and drink.
• Don't bring the camper to Lake Charles ever again!  As someone said last year, you can always count on it being "cold, wet and windy in Lake Charles" in November.
• Camping experience matters.
• Backup Accommodations: The LaQuinta Inn in Sulphur had my reservation, and allowed me to cancel by 6 p.m. on arrival day.  The cost was about $50/night. Red Roof Inn offered some kind of 24 hour special that was about the same price.
• Practice positioning and re-positioning my dogs at the start line. 

Now, with the weather cold and me staying in, I'm on to fooling with the 1st trial videos taken with my new camera.  I'm thinking of putting all of Maxie's videos together into 1 video per trial, with my audio commentary.  Same with Lucky.  Maybe a slow motion evaluation of good and bad points. We'll see how long it takes me to learn how to do that.

Upwards and onward!

Pop-Up Camper Improvements

Vertical Shelf -
View from the "Living Room"

While at the Lake Charles trial, where it was so cold we spent more time inside the camper than usual, I concieved a way to create more storage space utilizing some of the vertical space which is otherwise wasted in pop-ups.  In addition to providing a shelf for a microwave and heater, the upright boards provide vertical walls to hang coats, leashes, mugs, hats, etc.  (Hooks barely visible in this photo)

I bought the lumber (smooth finished pine) and pegging rod from Home Depot. The 4 uprights have 2 pegs in their feet which fit into holes bored into the blue shelf.  The top of these uprights are held in place by the cap shelf, with 2 nails that slip down thru the shelf into 2 vertical holes in each upright.   This keeps the whole assembly together.  Each lower shelf is installed at the back with one nail peg on each side.  The shelf then pivots up, then rests back down on 1 nail peg on each side that hold up the front of the shelf.



Vertical Shelf -
View from the "Bedroom"

The Sterlite drawers (from Walmart) give the shelf side-to-side stability when I wedge a piece of wood between them and the left uprights (seen in next photo).

Here is the completed shelf viewed from the bedroom, held together with nail pegs and completely disassemblable when closing up the camper.  The lower shelves are adjustable at 2" increments.  There is 3rd shelf in case it is needed. Holes are also drilled all along the upright boards for large cup hooks to be installed, wherever I want them.  The whole thing disassembles in a few minutes and stores flat under the mattress, same as the kitchen shelves I built over the sink/stove area last year (photo below).

NOTE TO THE UNITIATED: In a pop-up camper, you can't have anything permanent sticking up vertically since the roof cranks down when you travel. 


Kitchen shelves built last winter.

Thus, even the latest, newest models have NO SHELVES, meager COUNTERSPACE, and very little display space.  It has been my "engineering" challenge since last winter to claim this empty vertical space by designing attractive, sturdy shelves that disassemble and store flat within minutes, beginning with my kitchen counter shelves, which really make the bare pop-up look like a cute little house.  I've sent photos of my shelving projects to local RV Showrooms to maybe spark their interest, but they seem unimpressed.
 

Yesterday I bought a small Emerson, 700 watt, .7 cu ft microwave from Wal-Mart, $50, which fits in perfectly.  It's small and cute, but has a turntable large enough for a 9" dinner plate, tall enough for a large McDonalds syrefoam coffee cup. Meets my needs.


Lumber:  $46

Microwave:  $50

Total cost:  $96

Sweet!

Our pop-up is becoming more and more luxurious!  The small footprint of this shelf area serves as a chest of drawers, coat and hat rack, additional counter space, bedside table, and when the heater is put away, an entertainment center.  I can watch DVD's on my laptop while lying snugly in bed.

I also bought a queen memory foam pad 2" thick and put it on the master bed.  $100, but OMG, it's just as comfortable now as my king size bed at home!  I had no problem spending the money where restful sleep is involved because let's face it, pop-up camper beds are notoriously hard.
Ah! We have just about everything now to live comfortably during 4-day dog agility trials or any other place we might camp.  Of course, no hot tap water, no shower, no indoor flushable toilet, but when I compare my $4100 investment to $20,000 - $120,000 others are spending on their RV's . . . . . . . oh, never mind, I don't have that kind of money anyway so there's really no point comparing.  My little port-a-pottie works just fine for my middle-of-the-night pee, I empty it in the morning and it stores outside during the day.  All trial sites and campgrounds have showers and bathrooms, anyway, and I feel just as clean heating a pot of water and giving myself an all over scrub with a wash cloth.  For a gal on a tight budget, I'm quite satisfied.

Upwards and onward!

Hattiesburg Agility Trial - 1st Pop-Up Excursion

John, Max and Willow pose just before we leave our house.

Legs Earned:  Maxie NS2, NS3, NJ2, NJ3
Q 4 out of 4 runs, all 1st place.
Earned NA and NAJ Titles

Our first excursion in the pop-up was a total disaster! I had entered Max in our first out-of-town trial, in Hattiesburg, and wrote about the trial here. Since John's days off are Thursday and Friday, he followed me as I towed the camper behind my Grand Marquis on Thursday.  We gave ourselves a whole afternoon to set it up.  It was my first time pulling it, and while it was jerky and bumpy in town, once I got going 75 miles per hour, at a steady pace, it towed fine.

Unfortunately, nobody told me I needed an extension mirror on the drivers side, so I couldn't see over or around the camper. Had no idea who was behind me. We had our walky talkies, though, and I was able to tell John to stay a good distance behind me, and watch my back. The traffic wasn't bad.

Arriving in Hattiesburg, at the RV area of the Forrest County Multi-Purpose Center, we found all the desirable slabs (near the lake, close to the arena) were on a steep slant. What stupid engineering! Nobody prepared us for that. Nevertheless, I chose the best view, near a hiking trail. When lowered and fully extended, the two back feet of the camper were 3" off the ground, and we had no levelling boards! We scrounged around the park and found a discarded 2x4" piece and some pressboard we were able to tear up into little bits to wedge between the back feet and the slab.

Cracked slab under car.

Unhitching the camper from the car was a bitch because the slab surface wasn't flat, either. It had an enormous dip shaped like a V, which I had not noticed when choosing the site. No matter where we positioned the car, the camper was either pulling UP on the hitch, or pushing DOWN on the hitch. We had a devil of a time finding a spot where both were level, but this positioned the camper too far back from the patio slab extension, or too far forward of the electric and water hookups.

Feet finally stabilized, we unhitched the camper from the car it immediately began chattering off the boards and down the hill, and by the time we got it stopped, the back feet were no longer over the slab and there was a 6" dropoff to the soggy grass. Let me tell you, we were sweating buckets by this time. Of course, no one had told us we needed wheel chocks! We managed to push it back up the hill a foot or two, John held it while I backed the car up enough to chain it back to the hitch and pull it up about 5 feet, pulled the brake, then went searching for anything to chock the wheels before unhooking it from the car again. We finally found two old broken pieces of concrete block that were plugging up holes under the chain link fence around the lake, thank god, and used those.
 

At this distance, we discovered that our 15' hoses (one for water, one for drainage) were too short to reach the water spigot.  So we had to join them together to make one hose long enough so I could have running water. OOPS!  Need to buy longer hoses. I'm beginning to realize, this rig didn't come with ANYTHING EXTRA!  I didn't really need a sink drain hose anyway because I wasn't washing dishes, just brushing my teeth and rinsing out the coffee cups, etc.  What the hell, the sink could just drain on the slab, and excuse me for not knowing everything already.

All this in 90 degree weather, windy, and overcast.  It was muggy as hell!

?, with linked pens set up for all her boxers,
and a separate trailer to house her scooter
and other stuff.

We got the rest set up without a problem, went to the arena to set up our crates, then came back and fried up some thick pork chops on the built-in outdoor stove under out awning, somewhat what we had pictured our first campout to be, and visited a few other dog people in the park.  One of them was Susan Kelley, competing with her Champion boxers, and we were amazed at all the pens she set up to feed 6 or 8 of them, and how she walked them twice daily on her motor scooter, 1 or 2 at a time.  It was quite an operation! She warned us to take down our awning, as horrible storms have come thru that park suddenly and ripped them off of dozens of rigs.  So we took the awning down, then turned in.  For the rest of the weekend I smoked my cigarettes outdoors in the rain under an umbrella!

Next morning John and I were awoken by Nedra, who was walking her dogs and had come to find us.  That was real nice.  Then we went to the arena for awhile and watched the Excellent dogs compete before John had to leave for BR.  I was on my own.

Max competed in Novice FAST on Friday, just for kicks and to get Max used to the arena.  We scratched.  Need more distance training.  Everyone from BR went out to dinner but I was so darn exhausted, I stayed home and downloaded to my computer the videos I had taken of all our club members' runs, and watched them.  That was my evening's entertainment.

I slept well Friday night and we did very well on Saturday, 2 more Q's, 2 1st places with perfect scores.  We were 1/2 way to our goal.  Now we just needed one more Q in Jumpers, and one in Standard, to earn both our Novice Titles.  Saturday night we all went out to dinner and had a good time.  I refrained from alcohol, planned to get to bed early, and was confident all would be well on Sunday.

What I came home to, though, was a Battle Of The Bands going on in an open air arena right next to the RV Park.  The bands screeched horribly and the crowds were loud 'til 2 a.m.  I hardly slept.  Nedra had also told me to pack up as much as possible on Sat. night because as soon as our dogs ran on Sunday they were leaving.  I needed their help getting the camper hitched back up to my car!  So I packed everything I could on Saturday night, and between runs on Sunday I had to go pack some more, and lower the roof.  By this time it was raining and hot!  I left the dogs crated up inside the arena. I wore my thin waterproof jacket with hood, but while that kept the rain off, I was sweating buckets inside.  I felt almost feverish, weak and light-headed.

When Max and I had our first Sunday run, we Q'd with a score of 90, but barely, due to my exhaustion. My legs were like jello. Then Nedra and Cheryl H. and I went out to the camper and they helped me raise the feet, back the car up to the hitch, then unchock those wheels.  I drove the camper up to the arena and parked sideways along a curb, perpendicular to the painted lines of a long row of parking spots.  I took up about 5 slots.  Then I had to go back inside for our last run.  We Q'd again, but barely.  I was so sweaty, tired and disoriented, I just made stupid mistakes, such as releasing Max from the table BEFORE the judge said GO.  Duh!  I just could not concentrate.

My wee little pop-up amongst the big rigs.
Notice my neighbors' dogs behind their portable fences.
There were a husband, wife and 5 dogs in that family.

When I got back out to leave, someone had parked in the slot right in front of my car, and someone in the slot right behind the camper! Fortunately, one of the cars moved within about 5 minutes or I could have been hemmed in for hours.  So, I'm thinking, what the fuck else can go wrong?  I couldn't wait to get safely home.

I pulled out of there and vowed NEVER AGAIN to take my pop-up to a trial unless I have checked out the area beforehand, the weather is nice, go the day before to set up, and have some help.  Going solo almost cost us our title.

Yet hundreds of agility competitors travel to trials all over the country in their RV's.  They do this weekend after weekend, and many have real nice rigs, with fences to let their dogs out in, scooters to walk their dogs with, barbeque pits, etc.  It was so pathetic to see my wee little pop-up amidst all the big rigs.  But you know what?  Max, Willow and I were as snug as a bug in a rug.  Were it not for the, er, "learning curve", we would have been very, very content.

So, what else could go wrong?  When I got home, the next day I had to put the camper back up to dry the canvas out.  While raising the roof, a cable popped, one of the 4 telescoping pillars that raise the roof collapsed, and I could neither raise nor lower the roof any more.  It sat there totally lopsided. Shit!  Shit!  Shit!  What if this had happened in Hattiesburg?  We finally got our strong, tall neighbor, Thom, to come over and hold that corner up while I cranked the roof down, then towed it to a shop for repairs.  I explained about that repair in my Pop-Up Camper post yesterday.

Ace Maximillion von Fry, NA NAJ

Summary:  We earned our AKC Novice titles and the right to list them after his name!  Goal met. But it was sweating buckets the whole way. Here's a picture of Maxie posing with all his Novice ribbons. It shows 6 green "qualifying" ribbons, plus 6 blue "first place" ribbons, plus 2 red Titling ribbons. The best part is he earned 6 legs in 6 runs, and didn't NQ once.  It's a fantastic beginning, but I'm told it won't last.

Now on to the next trial to earn our Open titles.

Pop-Up Camper

Set Up In My Yard

We bought a Pop-Up Camper off of E-bay in November 2009, and I have had it set up in my yard about half the time since, tinkering around with it, making it more comfortable and homey.  Truth is, I've always wanted a pop-up camper.

Your basic pop-up has a very small awning, no shelving whatsoever, and the beds are darned uncomfortable  So I set to work to make ours more livable. I should also mention, when you buy a 16 year old camper, no matter how well it has been taken care of (and it was in great shape for its age), there are problems.  I'll tell you about those and what to look out for.

First off, it's not easy to buy a camper off of E-bay because most of the sellers live far, far away -- Arizona, California, New Hampshire.  And you have to arrange to pick it up.  I lucked out and found one for sale in Greenwell Springs, LA, about 30 minutes away.  We went, the guy set it up for us, and even brought it to us because we didn't have a hitch yet and he wanted his $2,500.

Kitchen shelves over the sink and stove

We set it up immediately.  Then the real adventure began!  It was filthy inside, so I removed all fabrics, washed, dried, hemmed and patched them, vacuumed everything else, cleaned all drawers and cabinets, and washed the soot off of all the vinyl windows. Then, noticing the lack of shelf space, I commenced to design and build some removable kitchen shelves, all held together with removable nails.  It goes up in minutes and really makes the space more livable, not to mention more homey. On it I put my tea pot, coffee pot, salt & Pepper, condiments, cereal, flash lights, cookie and crackers tins, etc.  Hooks on the uprights are perfect for storing coffee cups, pot holders, keys, etc.  All the food would have to be stored in the car without these shelves, as there is no counter space. The shelf breaks down into individual boards that store under the mattress while travelling. It's neat!

Next, as to bedding, we spent the first night in it and discovered the mattress was too hard.  So I purchased a queen 2" memory foam mattress, cut it to size, and the master bed is now almost as comfortable as our big king size bed at home.  Trying to save money wherever possible, I went to Family Thrift and purchased some lovely matching sheets sets, and blankets for both beds for just a few bucks.  They look like new.

Armrest, Plastic Drawers that stack on
the floor while travelling, and plexiglass
screen cover that lets light in while keeping
in the A/C or heat.

Third, I built an armrest that attaches to the left side of the couch, doubles as a handy storage compartment, and is also removable during travel.  I also found some plastic stackable drawers that fit perfect, and store on the floor while travelling.  Drawer space is really important to avoid clutter, and while our camper has more drawers and cabinets than the new ones, no camper has many drawers.

Fourth, we found the 6x9 awning a joke!  The slightest breeze and the rain comes right under it, and the sun is rarely right overhead, and when it rains it fills up with water and sags.  I used PVC pipe to build a frame to keep it from sagging, and designed two awning extensions that tripple the awning size, look good, and fit in the camper when packing up.  That took a long time to design, but I persevered and finally made it work.

Lastly, I hated how, when it's hot or cold out and you run the A/C, you have to zip up all the canvas bedroom window covers and the screen door needs to be closed.  You can't see out anymore.  The tent caves in visually and becomes a very tiny space. It's claustrophobic.

"With the windows open to view, the whole great outdoors is your living room, and the scenery is your framed artwork."

So in addition to the awning extensions covering the side windows so you can leave them open during a rain, I designed a plexiglass plate for the door to replace the opaque panel, which keeps the cold or hot air in, but lets you see out.  Now I just love it.  I can feel "outdoors" in all weather.

There are a whole lot of steps to "popping up" your camper, so after I practiced putting it up and down a few times, I generated a detailed TO DO list, 3 typewritten pages long, of which steps to follow and when.  It's a lot easier to do if you sequence your steps properly.

I was warned that there are always hidden problems when buying an old house or old RV and the same is true of the camper.  First, within days the door lock broke and had to be replaced.  Then the sink pump broke and had to be replaced.  Then, when I brought it back from Hattiesburg and set it back up to dry, a cable broke that lifts the roof up and down.  That had to be professionally replaced.  I had to fix several other problems as well, like the A/C condensation dripping off the roof and wetting the side canvas by the bed.  So I cut a piece of tarp just the right size, clamp it on, and the water drains safely to the ground.  The LP gas tank was on the wrong side, so I moved it to the easier side to reach.  We had to replace the crank handle for the wheel.  I built 2 insulator boards so when it's really cold out or wet, your feet and head don't freeze when you're in bed.

Other purchases:  port-a-pottie, pedestal fan, 2 x 4 outdoor plastic table, 3 folding chairs, 2 folding wooden tables for inside, 2 25' hoses, pots, pans, flatware, electric cords and plugs, fuses, bulbs, trays, outdoor carpet, outdoor lamp, assorted rope, clamps, tools, all bedding, linens, a cooler that fits perfect in the door well.  Most of this from Wal-Mart at reasonable prices.  This puppy came stripped bare, as do all new campers!  If I ever sell it, I will save someone many, many hours of shopping and agony to resolve all the issues.  That will make me happy!

Also, we needed a hitch, and lighting harness for the car -- another $250.

Adding it all up, we now have about $4000 in our camper and are ready to ride in style.  A new pop-up runs around $16,000, and they are stripped bare too!  And I've heard they also have problems right out of the gate.  So all in all, we got a great deal.