I started on my Vogue 2 Motorhome Renovation. It has been a journey getting here, but I'm grateful she made it in one piece! You are more than welcome to follow me on my journey to restore this classic.

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Wish me luck and energy!

Decided to sell my house and move full-time into a fairly new Travel Trailer, so in November of 2019, I finally did that.

I thought it would take a couple of months on the market before it sold but I got a full offer within a week and they wanted to move in right away! I really had to scramble to get all of my 3 bedroom house and two sheds into storage units (plural)! My niece and her boyfriend came to help me and I swear I don't know how we accomplished all that but we did! ...

The Cabin Fever Cure -- 07/17/2020


New Mexico: Where Everybody is Somebody

Like almost everyplace in the US, the Chicago area shut down in early March. By May we were getting pretty stir crazy, so of course we decided on the perfect, safe solution: Road Trip!



We threw a mental dart at the map and it landed on New Mexico. Having heard good things about the state parks...

Reasonably Priced Unlimited Internet via 4G/LTE -- 07/10/2020


Real-Deal WiFi for RVers

We travel in our RV 4-5 months per year, and when we are on the road we want online access services similar to what we enjoy at home. Who wouldn't?



These are the services we need:

• General internet access for email, news, social media, travel planning, etc.
• Streaming

...

We decided to take our first little excursion to try output our motor home. Just a short trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. Majestic Oaks, a nice quite park with all the expected amenities. We got set up easily enough and things went well for a couple hours until all of the 110 power went out. I’m pretty handy and realized that it was probably just a breaker that clicked off. I searched everywhere for breakers. Inside outside, all the storage bins. I could not find them anywhere. My wife pointed out a...

Well, I bought my first Motor Home a real nice used 2007 Winnebago Spirit. It only had 25,000 miles on it and had not been used much in a while. I was super excited to get on my way back home to Mobile Alabama from Waynesboro Mississippi. Everything's going great the motor home is running good, transmission working just as it should. BANG BANG! What the crap is that loud noise. Sounds the tires just exploded. Well one of them kind of did. The tread started coming off the tire. I stopped and checked...

Beating the Battery Burden -- 07/05/2020


Once in a blue moon you stumble upon an affordable solution to a vexing problem that has plagued you for years; we're talking about an invention so elegant but also so simple that you cannot help but lament, "Why didn't we think of that?"

Maintenance of Flooded House Batteries Made EZ



That's exactly what...

Update: Wet Bay Woes -- 06/10/2020


Our trip out west has been great so far.

Oh Cr@p, It's Leaking!

Great, that is, until we discovered our recently rehabbed wet bay had sprung a leak.

We have been staying at full-hookup parks en route, so there really wasn't much call to fill the onboard water tank. When starting out, it was only loaded with several gallons, just enough to flush the toilet and wash hands.

...

If the thought of living in your RV full time has been on your mind, and you are reading posts just like this about it, then it is probably time to go for it. As with any change in life, you may have hesitations, but there are many good reasons why you shouldn’t wait any longer.

If any of these signs apply to you, then it is definitely time to start living an RV-life
You are bored with...

Roadtrip: Heading Southwest -- 5/16/2020


Trying to Shake the Stay-At-Home Blues

Just can't take being cooped up anymore, so with masks in hand we're hitting the road in June to put some serious social distance between us and our home turf.



We're planning to do a limited tour of the New Mexico State Park System, which we have heard great things about.
...

RV Projects: Wet Bay Rehab -- 5/12/2020


The NewAire Gets a Plumbing Makeover


One of the least impressive things about our original NewAire is its original wet bay. There's a lot of plumbing crammed into a very limited space, several of the plastic shutoff valves were leaking, and the whole conglomeration was covered with screen-printed plexiglass panels that did not hold up well over time. Sound familiar?

...

RV Projects: Replacing HWH Jack Springs -- 05/08/2020


Easier Than You Might Expect


The NewAire is equipped with HWH hydraulic leveling jacks on all 4 corners, and the rear passenger's side has been acting up: slow to retract - sometimes not at all. The jack is obviously on its last legs, but since a replacement would cost north of $400, replacing the 20 year old springs seemed worth trying.

...

3D Printed Replacement Panel Installed -- 05/04/2020


Piece of Cake


It's in. And everything works.




Finally got around to installing the 3D printed control panel on the driver's side door.




This is what the underside looked like. Note...

Update: It's RV Project Time! -- 5/1/2020


The NewAire Needs Some Elbow Grease (Again)


We're looking forward to lots of small tasks to be performed on our 2001 NewAire while parked in the kids' driveway. We need to work through a surfeit of projects that have been piling up for months.





So here is what's in the queue this go round:...

3D Printing a Replacement Control Panel -- 04/28/2020


Climbing Up The Learning Curve of 3D Printing


This latest DIY project has been an interesting undertaking, to say the least. It started with an aged and fractured armrest control panel from our RV driver side door:



The panel is wired to control mirrors, windows, a map light, and door locks. It was...