The Nonsense of W&J

When Windell wanted to advertise our YouTube channel on the back of our truck and camper, I thought it was a waste of time.  We created our YouTube channel for ourselves to record our own adventures.  I thought most people would not be interested in our simple adventures.  And, I wasn’t sure I wanted people to know me based on our videos and posts.  After all, we are simply amatures with no previous experience in videomaking.  Of course, we have a blast learning more about making videos and posting on YouTube.

However, advertising on our vehicles has provided some surprising benefits.  We have met some really nice, amazing people simply by having our YouTube channel posted on our truck and camper.  Recently we met a friendly couple who followed us while taking a detour in Colorado from our campground.  We then followed them to the nearest Super Walmart.  It was a blast to smile and chat about our short adventure together.

Our little YouTube channel is not big by any means.   We are not influencers and we do not make money from it.  We do not really care if we ever do.  Not everyone we meet will want to subscribe to us or watch our videos.

Our videos do not contain a lot of drama.  We do not post our Full-Time RVing life or the maintenance and repair on our camper.  You will not find campground reviews on our small channel.  And, our adventures will not appeal to everyone; not everyone wants to shark dive (I don’t know why!).

But our YouTube channel has provided us many benefits which we have written in a blog.  One of our greatest benefits of advertising our channel has been meeting and chatting with new people.  Because they see the advertising for our YouTube on our vehicles, we have more people coming up and saying hello or asking us about our travels.  We love the comments and suggestions we receive.  Unfortunately, while traveling, we do not always have internet service.  It may take us a few days to reply to comments.  But, we do read them and try to reply.

Being afraid to post publicly on social media or advertise your YouTube channel simply so people will not judge you does not make any sense.  Since advertising, we meet awesome, friendly people that we would probably not meet if we did not advertise.  We receive a lot of friendly comments about seeing the advert or meeting us at a place.  It makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

Sure, we get dislikes on our video and sometimes harsh comments.  We do not take it personal.  We make our videos for our own enjoyment and memories.  However, we do enjoy it when people find new places to explore from us.  And, we love when people provide us with new ideas on adventuring.  So, it is no big deal if we receive a dislike on a video or a critical comment.

Also we know we are not perfect.  As we plan to travel overseas more, we hope to open our own minds to new experiences without any preconceived ideas or notions of how people should act.  We cannot wait to explore and learn from various cultures and populations.   And, we hope we continue to make new friends along the way.

We will continue to post our adventures for our own memories and for anyone else interested.  Our vow is to remain true to ourselves.  Sure, we may not have many subscribers or any revenue from our little YouTube channel.  However, the joy and opportunities it has brought us to date has already paid us back in rewards.

We found some great spots for our dispersed camping in Colorado.  All the sites listed below we used during 2024 in our travels.

CR102 Dispersed Camping off Hwy 25 Walsenburg, CO

GPS: 37.7192, -104.8205

Campendium App

This dispersed camping spot had a small area below the hill for a couple of vehicles to sit.  We  actually went up the hill a little bit where there was a camping spot with our travel trailer in tow.  The gravel road was busy during the day with large trucks.  However it was very quiet at night.  Further up the hill, there were no camping signs.

This is a great spot for an overnight stay only.  We would not stay here for several days, though.  We used this site as our first campsite in Colorado after leaving New Mexico.  It is right off Highway 25.

Manchester Creek Road Dispersed Camping

GPS: 39.0052, -105.1632

Campendium App

We dispersed camped in the Pike-San Isabel National Forests, near Divide, CO.  While we were staying in late April, we experienced a brief snowstorm with several inches of snow.  We had to dig in our winter clothes for some sock hats and glove after being in Florida all winter.  There were a lot of campers in this area while we were there, including a couple fifth-wheels.  Large rigs can easily fit in this area.  The road is well maintained and we had no issues pulling our travel trailer in.  You can stay for fourteen days on this BLM land.

However, it is loud during the weekend.  There are many UHVs during the weekend with a lot of music and noise.  If you want peace and quiet, it is better to stay through the week.

Escalante Canyon Road Dispersed Camping

GPS: 38.7788, -108.2501

Campendium App

This dispersed camping area has designated camping sites on the west side of Colorado.  This area is about 45 minutes away from Montrose, CO.  We used this area while returning from Wyoming.  The area has designated campsites; some are larger than others.  Bigger RVs can either find a spot or park in the parking lot at the beginning of the road.  The road is maintained.  The area is used by the public for recreation.  However, it is quiet.

The sign at the parking lot says seven days of designated camping.  However, some of the campsites have signs with fourteen days of boondocking.  The parking lot is not as quiet as the designated campsites.  There is a lot of traffic in the parking lot where people will stop for an hour or two, even in the evenings.

This area is in the desert.  When it rained on us, it was extremely muddy.  We waited a day but still left tracks trying to leave.

RV Repairs are a constant when you live in an RV full-time.  There are many conflicting views on what RV to buy and how much you need to know to make your own RV repairs.  When we decided to RV full-time, we purchased a brand new Salem Hemisphere Lite 23 foot travel trailer from RV Nation for about $21,000.  After we purchased it, we took it to a dealership to have it inspected and fix anything they found.  Luckily, they found no real issues that required immediate repairs.

The first year on the road, our awning would not work.  So, we called a mobile RV tech for the first time to fix our awning.  The repair was simply reconnecting a wire.   The tech not only reconnected the wire, but made sure it couldn’t pop out again.  This was the start of our relationship with Mobile RV techs.

We have used a total of four mobile RV techs during our four years of Full-time RVing.  The last three technicians we used were called to repair our water pump.  We have replaced our water pump twice.  The water pump fails, and the fresh water tank will fill while connected to city water.  The water pump should not allow this to happen.  So, our most frequent repair to date on our travel trailer has been replacing the water pump.  The last time we replaced the water pump, we added a brass check valve to prevent the water from filling our fresh water tank even if the pump itself fails.

The last repair we had was the camper toilet valve replacement.  This is an easy repair.  We knew something was wrong when we began seeing water around the floor bolt on the toilet.  So, we had the part replaced.

If we have repairs that we do not feel comfortable fixing ourselves or if we want more information, we ask the park where we are staying for recommendations on RV Techs in the area.  Although we do research the most likely fix in YouTube, there is a lot of additional service technicians provide us.  We are always asking lots of questions about our RV.  Mobile techs are great sources of information, and for us, much better than exploring the internet.

We now know how to replace the seal that cracked on the front of our camper, that our slide out rubber does not need replacing, and that no leaks can be detected in our RV.  They have even offered us suggestions on installing a We-Boost on the camper.  We love asking questions and speaking with experts who have been in the field for over twenty years.  Many people simply look at the cost of the repair but do not consider the wealth of information you receive from a knowledgeable RV tech.  We appreciate all the advice and information most of our technicians have provided.  And, they have saved us quite a bit of money on their advice.

Many posts have been written on the poor quality of the Salem Hemisphere and the worst buying experience from RV Nation. We have been very lucky.  Our experience with both have been really good.  However, we are glad we had another dealership inspect our camper before taking her on the road.

Our travel trailer is now four years old.  The trim and cabinets on the inside show their wear and superglue has become one of our best fixes.  We have taken her to a trailer place in Okeechobee, FL and had our wheel bearings replaced and greased.  We have installed our silicone roof and continue to observe and maintain our RV.  However, we know she will not last forever and that the repairs on her will become more frequent.  We expect to replace her, hopefully way in the future, whenever the cost to repair her becomes too much.

For now, though, we fix what we feel comfortable doing ourselves and call Mobile RV Techs for the rest.  We have watched many YouTubers who insist that you must learn how to repair your RV yourself.  But don’t fret.  If you, like us, are not mechanical or if you are unsure about the fix, call a reputable RV tech.  We have only had one tech who stopped by but never returned to actually repair our RV.   No worries, though.  You only pay when the job is finished.  There is no shame in acknowleding that someone else is smarter than you in an area and that you can learn a lot from them.

When we started RVing Full-Time we watched a lot of YouTube videos and read a log of blogs on RVing.  Many of these recommended unneccesary RV improvements, renovations, and purchases.  2024 is our fourth year of full-time RV living!   We have learned so much about ourselves and our Full-Time RVing.  We have made few RV improvements to our little travel trailer as we are not remodelers nor are we mechanics.

Our little travel trailer has done amazing for us.  It is our means of comfort while not exploring and playing.  However, we are not people who are comfortable drilling holes, doing major rewiring, or making significant overhauls to our camper.  Our few RV improvements have been simple, easy, and have made our full-time RVing more comfortable for us.  We do believe in preventive maintenance, however, and try to inspect and clean our camper on a regular basis.

Our RV Improvements

Silicone Roof Sealant

For the first year of traveling, while we had warranty on our roof, we cleaned and took care of our rubber roof.  While sitting in North Carolina under trees, our rubber roof got black mold in some areas, although we never saw any punctures or integrity loss.   After North Carolina, we began investigating coatings for our roof to provide more protection and to minimize maintenance.  We decided to apply a silicone roofing layer to our camper.  This may not be the best choice among experts, and we are not RV techs.  However, we love our new roofing.

When our manufacturing warranty on our roof expired, we added the silicone layer.  We know that reseach indicates that rubber RV roofs should last ten years, and we had no issues with our rubber roofing.   However, we have also known people whose RV roofs had to be replaced within a year.  Because we are the sort of persons who like preventive maintenance, we wanted to avoid any obvious leaking or issues before they happened.

Our travel trailer now has two layers applied.  We really coated the areas around the skylights and fan bases with the silicone to make sure there were no leaks and to better insulate our little travel trailer.  The camper is definitely more insulated and more comfortable.  During the nights when it gets cold, we will still wake up with the camper about ten degrees warmer than the outside air.

Although we still inspect the roof a few times a year, we do so less frequently than when we had the rubber roofing only.  We were checking about every one to two months with the manufactured rubber roofing.  Now we check around every four to six months.  If we start seeing issues where areas are not covered or the silicone layer is reducing around the skylights, we will apply another layer.  And, if we purchase another RV with the rubber roofing, we have already decided to add the silicone layering after the warranty expires.

One of our favorite RV improvements is our silicone roof.  We have no issues that we are aware of.  It doesn’t leak, is well insulated, and stays cleaner.  Applying our due diligence, we even made sure our camper could handle the extra weight of the layer on the roof.  However, the slideout still contains the old rubber roofing.  It is not recommended to add roofing layers to slideouts and we wanted no issues.  So, we clean and maintain our rubber roofing on the slide.  But it is a small area that does not take long to clean.

We do not recommend everyone add silicone layering to their roof.  We are not experts and we are always learning more about our camper.  And we have made a lot of mistakes.  However, our silicone layer on our roof is one of our simple, but positive RV improvements.  Everyone should research and decide their own roofing maintenance and replacement if needed.  We do recommend that instead of YouTubers and Bloggers, however, asking questions of RV techs is the best way to decide on your personal RV improvements.

LevelMatePro for RVs without Automatic Leveling

We live and travel in a small travel trailer that we love.  It does not, however, have automatic leveling. We purchased many items when we first started RVing full-time that we did not need.  Again, we were led astray by many YouTubers and bloggers.  Yet, the LogicBlue Technology LevelMatePRO Wireless Vehicle RV Leveling System we purchased on Amazon has made leveling our travel trailer so easy.  You can turn it on any time before you set up.

Our four year old LevelMate Pro connects to our cellphone using bluetooth.  Please note, however, there have been many updates since we purchased ours.  After it connects, the app on our cellphone simply tells us which side needs to be raised and how much.  It also tells us how much we need to raise and lower the front jack to be level. The most difficult part of using the LevelMate is remembering to turn it off!  It is so easy to use we recommend this tool if you, like us, don’t have self-leveling jacks on your RV.

Leveling is very important to us and worth the extra money of purchasing the Levelmate Pro.  We do not put our slide out if our travel trailer is not level.  Also, we have been told that if you have a propane fridge, it is not good for it to run while not leveled.  Besides, Jessica does not like sleeping in an unlevel camper.  It is no fun to feel as if you are rolling downhill while flipping in bed.

New Battery and Solar – Our Favorite RV Improvements

Our first year of full-time RVing, we kept the lead acid battery that came with the travel trailer instead of replacing it.  Unfortunately, we did not know that if you let a battery empty, it decreases the ability of the battery to hold a charge.  At the end of that first year, when we pulled over in rest stops for the night, we only had lights for about fifteen minutes before the battery went dead.  Luckily, we carry lots of flashlights.

Our second year we knew we would have to boondock more on our trip out west, and we decided to upgrade our battery to a 200 ah AGM battery and purchase a 300 watt portable solar panel.  What a difference these two RV Improvements have made to our lives!  We know that if we sleep without a power hookup, we will still have lights in the morning and the refrigerator will be fine. While we stored the travel trailer for a month and a half and disconnected the battery, we still had 80 percent left on the battery.

When we need to replace the battery again, we will again purchase the 200 ah AGM again.  Lithium batteries are too expensive and require rewiring of our little travel trailer.   Many YouTubers praise the lithium batteries.  However, a RV tech that we respect warned us against them.  He warned that when Lithium batteries lose charge, they plummet instead of gradually losing charge.  Our AGM battery should lose charge a little at a time.

We do check our battery frequently, even if it is not hooked up to the camper, just to make sure it does not drop below 70%.  We learned our lesson with the first battery.  Temperatures can also affect batteries, so while we were staying with family over the winter, we still checked the battery and kept it charged.  Yet, if the battery charge becomes insufficient, we can easily buy a new 200 ah AGM battery and continue traveling.

Both the battery and the Jackery can be charged with our portable 300 watt solar panel.  The solar helped us out a lot charging the Jackery while truck camping.  And we like using the solar to charge our battery in our travel trailer while boondocking.  The 200 ah AGM batter, the 300 watt portable solar panel, the Westinghouse Inverter Generator, and the 500 Jackery are sufficient for our boondocking power needs and worth every penny we spent.  If we purchase another travel trailer, and upgraded battery will be one of our first RV Improvements.

Water Saving Showerhead

One very small RV improvement that we recommend for everyone is a water saving showerhead.  Windell wanted to upgrade the showerhead as soon as we purchased our travel trailer.  However, Jessica, not thinking it was a necessity, put it on the bottom of the list.  She changed her mind quickly while moochdocking with friends.  The water pressure was so low, the water barely dripped through the showerhead.  Taking a shower was frustrating and forget about washing your hair.  So, we went to Walmart and purchased a water saving showerhead.  What a difference!

Instead of trying to maneuver your body under the dripping, the new showerhead allows us to rinse our bodies and wash our hair without being a contortionist.  And, when we do have some pressure in the parks (even though we always use a pressure regulator), we can take some awesome showers.  The water in the shower can now hit the opposite wall!  We never experienced such great water pressure in the shower with the old showerhead.  This may be a told you so from Windell, but the water saving showerhead will also be one of the first upgrades in any RV we own going forward.

Reinforcing the Bumper

We had no issues with the original bumper from the manufacturer for the first year of RVing.  Therefore, we did not reinforce it.  We put the bike rack with two bikes on the bumper and took off with no worries.  We traveled from Missouri to Virginia, then south to Florida.  So, we may have been a little over-confident in our second year that the bumper was just fine, without reinforcement, traveling out west.

Then, we hit a huge pothole traveling from Washington State into Oregon.  Yep, the bumper ripped.  During the rest of the trip in the west, when we moved, we put the bikes inside the travel trailer and took them out at the next site.  This was an absolute pain in the you know what.

So, we had our bumper reinforced with some plates while we are sitting in our home state.  We have realized that putting our bikes inside to travel and outside when we get situated is not a long-term sustainable plan for us.  And after several months of traveling this way, we will try to make sure we never ever do that again.  Reinforcing your bumper right from the get go is a necessary RV improvement and will probably save you headache in the future.  As with everything on an RV, when it breaks, it may not be in the most convenient area to have it fixed.

Bidet

One of our most favorite unnecessary RV Improvement is our bidet.  We originally purchased our bidet to save on toilet paper and wet wipes for two reasons.  Jessica is trying to reduce the usage of throw away plastics while Windell rolls his eyes.  And we are on a tight budget.  The money spent on groceries cannot be spend on adventures.  So, we try to analyze our expenditures frequently and see where we can save money for more flights and boat trips.

The RV bidet by Clean Camper that we purchased on Amazon was easy to install.  We nonmechanics had no issues.  At first, we were uncertain about using a bidet.  Now, we love it!  It was one of the main comforts we missed about our travel trailer while truck camping.  It has saved us a lot on wet wipes and toilet paper usage.  However, we also feel cleaner.  No matter where we live in the future, we know we will want a bidet.

The few RV Improvements we have made to our little travel trailer has made our RVing full-time more comfortable and easier.  We are uncomfortable with major improvements that could affect the integrity of our camper.  Instead, we enjoy adding simple improvements that we can carry on to the next RV.  When we first started RVing Full-time, we watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of blogs.  Some helped us a great deal, but many recommended major changes to our camper.  However, our first rule should always be Know Thyself.  Our few small improvements have been enough to make us feel comfortable without any major overhauls.

We love whale and other marine life watching and we love boats.  So, while we were staying in the La Conner Thousand Trails in Washington State, we booked a Killer Whales Charter from San Juan Island.

Before arriving at the docks for the charter with Western Prince Whale Watching Adventures, we had to take a Washington State Ferry from Anacortes to San Juan.  We love taking the ferries in Washington State that provide access to the Pacific Islands in the area.  The ferries have always been clean.  And, loving boats as we do, the ferry trip itself is a fun adventure.  You can book the ferries online with WSDOT and see the Islands and schedules.  If you are in Washington, we definitely recommend taking a ferry ride.

We took the earliest ferry ride from Anacortes to San Juan so we could explore a little of the Island.  Specifically we wanted to visit the Lime Kiln State Park on the Island.  Lime Kiln has a whale watching observation viewpoint and a lighthouse.  Although we did not see any whales from the observation point while visiting, many have.

After exploring the Island, we parked the truck and hiked down the the Friday Harbor docks to get our gear and board our boat.  We love marine life, as you can tell from our videos.  And we were so excited to book a charter to see Killer Whales.  The best time to see Orcas is April through October.  Humpback whales are more often seen August through October.  However, it is possible to see whales and other wildlife year round.

On our charter, we saw a family of killer whales that live in the waters.  It was amazing to see the only male, a brother, and several sisters together of the family pod.  The top fin of the male was six feet tall – the same height as Windell!  Unfortunately, we did not see the mother who at the time had a baby with her.  It was an exhilerating experience and our first whale watching tour.  Since then, we are committed to going on more whale watching tours whenever we can.

Although it was summer when we visited San Juan, being on the boats is chilly.  We were cold, especially on the Killer Whale charter.  If you book a charter or ride the ferry in Washington, you may want gloves, a sock cap, and very warm socks.  It will make your adventures more comfortable.  The charter will provide you with warm clothing for the rest of your body, however.

This was an amazing experience and we still talk about the Orcas to this day.  We have never regretted booking any whale watching or Orca charter.  They are so much fun and we always learn a lot about the animals.