Living the Dream… or at least following it

      People  are  asking  me " Why  do you want  such a  big  trailer" and " I wouldn't  want to  pull that thing"  and  this  and  that… So, I thought  that  I'd  take this  post  to explain a little bit for those  that  haven't  been following  along  or  for those  that  don't  really  know  us.
      Peg and  I have  had a  "dream" to ride our  horses in so many  of  the  beautiful spots  that  this great  Country and  Canada  has  to offer for  many  years. Because  of  Work restraints  of  my  previous job and the  fact that we take  care of 14  horses on our  place made it hard for us to get away  for any length of time.
      Last year, We were able to get away from the  farm and  our  jobs  for 21 days to test the waters and  see  if the "dream" was  truly doable. We planned and  prepared  for many  months  prior  to our  departure to Arizona in March. We met  up with  fellow  Back Country  Horsemen members Kelly  Brooke Allen and  Ron Stolp of BC and  their  friend  Darrell Brown in Wickenburg out  on BLM land   where we camped and  rode  with our horses. We  had  the  time  of  our  lives.

We rode several different areas and covered many miles on horseback. We met  new  and  lasting  friends on that  trip all who share  a common interest; Camping  with their  Horses and  enjoying life!
       So, Back to the  original question, Why  such a big trailer. As you can see  from the  photo above, an 8 foot  camper  would  become  a bit  cramped living  in it  for 5-6  months  a year  with another  person. The 4  horse  trailer  however  was  perfect  for 2  horses  to an extended trip. We  used  2 stalls for storage in the  horse trailer. That  is the  reason why we  decided to go ahead  with the 4 horse trailer. In the  coming months  you'll see how we  transform this trailer into a home capable  of  living  off of the  grid and free  of things that  we've all become  so dependent  on in our  lives.
       This  isn't  for everyone we know. We've  been researching Full time  Rv living  for a few  years  now and  although  we  don't  pretend  to have all of the  answers, We are  confident  that this is something  that we  both want to do. We did  alot of shopping around  for a Living  Quarters (LQ) horse  trailer that would  be  comfortable and within our  budget and  looked at  many different  models and  manufacturers. We chose a  Lakota Charger edition. Storage in the  LQ was a paramount  concern for both of us. The  Lakota  has  lots of  cabinets and  it's  light compared to other manufacturers.
       Our  model is a 15'6" Short wall  model with a 6' slide out. The  slide makes  all of the  difference in the world  as  far as room inside. Another  feature  that we  really  liked about this  model is that it has a rear  kitchen in it. The  kitchen is equipped with a 3  burner stove with an oven, a micro wave oven and  a large  RV refrigerator.
       We had  the  Air Conditioner  removed  when we  ordered this form the factory and  had  3  Fantastic fans installed  instead. We plan to install 750 watts of Solar panels on the roof so we needed to have as much space available as we  could. The panels  when coupled  with the  upgraded  battery  bank, will produce  enough energy  to run anything  that we plan on running. We will be able to live off of the  grid  with this  trailer and  not be  dependant  on electricity.
      We understand that this  trailer  may  not  be able to go everywhere that We  would like to travel with the  horses but, It will be able to go to a lot of them. The  thing  that we  had to stay  focussed on was the  fact that we would  be  in this trailer  traveling  for a  minimum of  5-6 months  yearly.
      I hope you'll find this  blog  entertaining  and  educational and  follow us as  we  live  this  dream...

Well it's been almost a year  since  I've written anything  on this  blog and  it really  hasn't  been because I didn't  have  anything to talk about. A lot  has  happened in the  past  year.
We went on several great  horse  camping  trips and  spent  a lot of time  at  our  Cowboy  Campsite.
         I officially retired  from 30 years  at the  County Road Dept. and now  we  are  planning  on going  Full time with  our  horses on the  road. Our  plan is  to travel South in the  cold  winter  months and  come  back North  in the  Spring and  Summer  months. We decided  that it would  be much easier  if  we  did that  in a  LQ horse trailer instead  of the  camper/ Bumper pull trailer  like we  did last  year.
So, we went out  and bought a new  LQ trailer by  Lakota

I plan on sharing  the  process of we  are  doing as  far as the  planning  and  preparing  this  trailer and  what  we  need  to do to get ready  for our  life  on the road. I hope that  you'll find  it  interesting and this blog  gives you insite  of what is involved  in living  the  dream.

Boulder City Nevada- Blakes  RV Camping and Horse Motel

We stopped in at Blake's  Horse motel outside  of Kingman Nevada on the  way down . It is located behind the  Petro Truck stop in Boulder  City. They are  very  nice  people. We weren't  lanning  on staying the  night  but, wanted to get the  horses out of the  trailer and  letthem "roll" in a roundpen and relax from the drive. They charged us  $5.00 for each horse  for the 2  hours that we were  there. They have  a  nice  clean facility. While we were  there  we also took advantage of their clean showers for $5.00 each. You can also camp here overnight for $15.00 per site which includes full hookups. They also have  a laundry onsite and if you don't  feel like  cooking; you can always  walk over to the  truck stop.

These are  the  overnight stalls at  Blakes  Horse  Motel

There are many  miles of  trails  right  out  of  the  back of Blakes RV Camp and  Horse  Motel. We talked  to several people that  use it as  a  vacation campspot and like  going  there.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/blake-ranch-rv-park-kingman

A land where  everything  Bites

One  of  the  first lessons  that I learned  on our  trip to Arizon was  that everything  in the  desert  will "bite " you in one  way or another. 

        Wherever you ride  there are  Cactus with  torns take can penetrate the  toughest  boots, trees that can rip your shirtsleeves from your  arms, and limbs that can rip right  though your Wrangler jeans.

Despite  the  warm weather  of the southern Arizona  Desert riders must  wear  either  Chaps or  Chinks to protect  themselves.

I was  happy  to be able  to field  test B bar B's  Chink for this trip to Arizona and  glad that  I did. 

Their  Chink are  tough and Because of the  open back; very  comfortable as they allow more air to circulate around your  legs while protecting  the front  of your legs. They did get  pretty scratched upon this trip but, for the  most part  kept my  legs from getting scraped up.

Here  you can see that the cactus needles can easily  pentrate  boot leather. they also hurt  when they do!

some  are  up to an inch and a half long and  very tough. You need a good  set of  leg protection and  the  makers  of  B bar B chaps and  chinks  use  good  quality  leather  in their products to keep you safe. I ordered  the  XL Chinks  for this trip but could've  easily  fit into the Large  size as then tend to run big. I just  used my  leather punch and readjusted them to a custom fit. they are  really well fitting  now. just go to http://www.bbarbwholesale.com/western-cowboy-chaps-chinks-c-147.html and see what they  have to offer. I think that you'll be  pleased with what you'll find. Also, They are  nice  people to deal with.

Last minute stuff

It's the  night  before we leave and  we're  catching  all of the  things  that  need to be  done  before we  lift  anchor and head out.
      Today  Scout  went and got her  haircut  for the trip. and  the  horses all got  the  curry comb  trying to get as  much  loose hair out  before we  hit the  road.

I also went to our  Vet and  got our  Vet Health  Certificate , a copy  of the  result back from our  Coggins test and  our  Brand inspection reports as well as a  copy  of  Scouts  Rabies  certificate.
Last  night  we had tags  made  for the  horse halters and  Scout in case any of them get lost.
I put the  "ICE" phone numbers on the  horse trailer rear doors and Tack room door and  Camper door.
        What is  "ICE" you may ask.  It stands  for  In Case  of Emergency. It is the  first thing that a first responder looks for on your phone  when they  come upon you. It is a phone number of someone close to you or in this case, my  cell number in case  something  happens while we are  out  on a ride.
        We also carry a paper in the  Tack room of the  Trailer that gives our  Vets name and phone  number and  authorization to obtain vetrinary assistance up to a certain amount for each horse in the trailer and  emergency contact numbers for people to get in touch with. A Copy of this same  ICE paper is kept in our  Glove box of the truck. This is  something  that  Peg and  I learned  when we attended the Large  Animal Rescue Team (L.A.R.T.) class a few years ago. We also became  members or  our  local E.E.R.T. (Equine Emergency  Rescue Team) at that time and drilled with the  fire dept.
        Tomorrow we are  pulling  out and  we just have to load the  food, our  clothes and  the  3  bales of Hale that I'll haul in the hay rack on the trailer. It's hard to believe all of the stuff that needed to be  done  before tomorrow. It seems as though we've  been working  on it for months. Well, actually , We have!
        There were  many miles of trail work that we did with the  horses to keep them in top shape for the  1400 mile roadtrip. We wore out several sets of shoes in  the  rocks and  hills  of  the Anacortes  Forest Lands. All of the  work on the  camper, trailer, setting up gear, etc. The list just keeps going on. We are planning on living  off of the grid and being  self sufficient. That takes  time  to prepare and  lots of planning. It is not something  you can just  "do" without thinking  ahead and  being  prepared for "whatever  happens". I am actually  glad  that  I've had  all of my  LNT training because alot of it is  coming  around  full circle  now as we  leave on this trip.
         We are  looking forward to many mile of trails  with healthy  horses , new  friends  and  beautiful scenery. We hope that  you'll be riding along with us!


 

Weight distributing hitches- Lessons learned

Weight  Distributing  Hitches
     

         
     I've  used the EZ lift weight  distributing  hitch  system on our 28' RV trailer when towing  for years.
I've  always  incorporated the  sway control system with it to help when in a high wind area or  with the  passing  of  Semi-trucks  passing  me on the freeways and was quite pleased with the way that the trailer handled when hooked up.
     I never  gave the system much thought  when hooked  up to our  GMC 3500 Dually  pickup as it was never  near the  towing  capacity  of the  truck.  I thought  that because  we were  planning  on hauling  down a 1/2  ton of  hay in the front  of the trailer and filling  2  55 gaalon drums with water  once we  arrived  in Arizona; I should  give them some  thought.
    For those  of you that  don't know what their intended purpose is, I'll try to explain and tell you some thing s that I learned along the  way. The  spring  bars are  connected to a control head which becomes your  hitch. Their  main purpose is to level your  trailer and  tow rig to equalize the  load to all of the tires. Without them the trialer  will have  a tendancy to "push down" on the hitch which raises the steering axle on the tow rig which can lead to reduced steering  and  braking function to the front  axles.
It can also cause a  reduced  level of braking ability on the  rear axles of the  trailer because they're riding  lighter than the front axles of the trailer. So actually they are a good idea to have on if your  load is not  level.
     So here are some  drawbacks. You can actually  set the  lift bars too tight on the trailer. This can be a hazard if you are  hauling an aluminum trailer  like our 4 horse  Cicle J. This trailer  has an Aluminum Tongue  which is a 3"x4" tubing. When you are  traveling down the  road and going through those dips in the road the  bars spring and  attempt to stabilize  the  truck and  trailer  so that it moves as a single  unit. This also puts stresses on the trailer tongue at the  same time.  The other  time that you are  stressing the trailer tongue is when you are  pulling  in and out  of things like  ramped gas station entrances and  supermarkets.
      The  bars  typically  come in different  weight ranges which are  500#, 750#, 1000# & 1400#. All that means its that the  heavier the rating , the harder it is to spring the bar and the  heavier the tongue weight  can be. One  word of  Caution on all of this is that you should NEVER exceed what the manufacturer recommends what the  towing  capacity of your  tow rig should be. The  other thing is (something that I didn't  know) is that ALL of the  spring bars for any weight  distributing  hitch  are  30" typically. You should not cut any  bar; they are rated at the end of the  bar where the chain is attached or where they connect to the Spring  bar latching  mechanism.
      So here is what I learned. The  trailer  tongue  on the  Circle  J horse  trailer  is shorter  than the one on our RV. Why does this matter?  When I hooked up the  chains on the  lift  bar to the  latching  mechanisms they were back at a 45 degree angle and the brackets were as far rearward as they could go. the  brackets were  tight  up against the  crossmember  of the  trailer  which is  welded  aluminum channel. This was all while the  trailer was straight with the tow rig. If I were  to make a left or right  turn with it like this, it could have cracked the weld on the crossbeam of the tongue or bent and  caused damage to the  overall tongue of the  trailer. This was  not a good situation.
     I called  Bickford  Ford in Snohomish where we bought  the trailer and talked to Maggi Clarke about it. Maggie has  sold  trailers all over the  Northwest and  really  knows her stuff when it comes to trailers. She had heard of this situation before  and knew  of  a  solution. She  directed me to a company  called  6 Roblee's that specialize in trailer parts. The Draw- Tite  hitch company made a part that is now  discontinued. It is a bracket that bolts on the end of your spring bar and moves the chain from 30" toeither 28" or  26" from the hitch ball. Now the  lift chain hangs straight  down from the latching mechanism , the bracket is way away from the  crossbeam on the tongue, I have  full range of the turning  radius of the  truck and I can back without  fear of breaking something. I still have to watch how tight  I cinch up the  chain using the  1000# spring bars but, I think I've  got that figured pretty good. Especially when we  took it out for the  test ride we did yesterday. The  good  part is that the  chain is now hanging straight down as it should be. When the rig turns to the Left  the  bar on the  drivers side moves towards the rear of the trailer so this movement is criticle. When the  rig turns to the  right, the passenger bar moves to the rear of the trailer so it is really important that the  chain hangs straight down when the  rig is pointed straight.
     The  other thing is that the  truck and  trailer are  both level now which is exactly what the weight  distributing  system is suppose to accomplish; which is a good thing.

Cowboy Showers

Cowboy Showers


Usually when Peg and I are  camping  out  of our  trailer and /or  camper we just use a solar shower  and  hang it in the  horse trailer  to take our showers in camp. The  problem is that you really  need to have  some warm direct  sunlight to heat the  water (which we may  get in AZ). Too often though, the water  wouldn't  be warm enough sometimes because  we were  camped at a higher elevation and  sometimes it was due to our  NW weather and  the  bag wouldn't  get hot enough.
      For those  of you that  haven't  used one  before, they really are  great for light weight  packing. They hold  5 gallons of water, and can rollup tighly in your pack, panniers, or larger saddle  bags. without  the water in them ; they weigh next to nothing.
     But  Peg came  up with a  better idea lately that  will work better in the  horse trailer  or somewhere  that we can have a propane  source with us. It's called a shower power and is a propane tankless water heater. It uses 2 D batteries to ignite it. The unit costs around  $100.00.
     Last  year we  bought  an electric transfer pump that we use with our  Honda generator to pump water from a stream to fill our  tanks on the  trailer or  5 gallon water  tanks when we are  in the  hills. I plan on using that pump and  using the  horse  water we  haul in the 55 gallon drums that  I mounted in the  trailer to take our  showers since  we  won't be in any established campgrounds. We plan on "boon docking" for the  most part. Which is off of the  grid. We should  be able to stay out  for several days in between having  to replenish water (Even for the  desert  conditions).

      We carry the  Transfer pump with us when we go anywhere  in the  mountains and  are  camping  out of our  camper. Sometimes  the  creeks are  too shallow to draw water into those  tall 6 gallon water jugs. And  if I have  a longer  hose I can also use it to pump water from the  55 gallon barrels over a longer  distance.
      A couple  of words of  caution though. If you are pumping  directly  from a creek for horse water, you should  use a plastic water bottle with a sock or stocking wrapped on the  outside  to filter larger particles. If you are  using the water  for drinking; make sure that you use  some sort of water purification system so that you don't contract  Guardia or other disease. Remember you don't always  know the source of the water or if  something  died in the water above you or if  someone  dumped something in the water source. Just because it looks  clean and  doesn't smell doesn't always mean that it is.
     

 We'll have  2  55gallon barrels for water that  can be filled once we  arrive at our  destination.

 I removed the  front divider in the 4  horse trailer so that we  had the front two stalls  for storage.

 We are able to carry 1000# of doulbe compressed  Timothy  hay  bales in the  front along with anything else we'll need.

 I also added plywood to the  front divider wall so that  the  horses would  be traveling  safer and  the  hay could be  kept drier by wrapping the  bottom in a tarp that was  laid on the floor. The  water tanks can be  filled by inserting a hose through the  front  drop down window on the trailer. we can also pump water out of the  tanks  by using our transfer pump powered by our  generator which will come in handy when we are  using Our  Eco Temp tankless water heater/ shower (more about this  later).
     The hooks that you see on the  front wall will store the  fly sheets and  any large items that we'll need to hang. It is amazing how much storage is available in these  front 2 stalls!
     One of the things that had to be done was getting the horses used to riding in the  rear of the  trailer as they're  accustomed to riding in the  first two stalls. As I've said before; there is alot to  the Principle of  "Plan and  Prepare".

Propane - a necessity

Propane is something you'll need in your  Camper

Propane  is used to heat  water, cool the  refrigerator and freezer, heat, and  for  the  stove  in the camper. In our  camper, there  are  2  portable tanks that can be removed to be refilled. The  problem with these  tanks are that they expire after  so many years and  have  to be  recertified.

    Propane tanks  expire after so many years and  they  can’t  be filled at the  filling  stations. At first  I thought  hat this only applied to the  ones having an OPD (Overfill Protection Device) valve but, the  last time  that I went  into our  local feed store to get them refilled the  kid didn’t  want to fill them because the  tanks were older than 12 years old. 

I started looking  and  new  tanks run anywhere  from $159.00-200.00 each.

and  that was just to replace  the 7.5 gallon ones.

    I didn’t want us to be  somewhere along the  road and run out  of propane and  have them not wanting to fill us. No heat, refrigerator, hot water or  stove wouldn’t  be  good  if you were relying on it being there.

    I found out that if you have a local propane  distributor in your  area, you’re  in luck! You may  be able to do what I did. You can take them down to them and  have  them re-certify the tanks for you. It cost me $10.00 per tank and took about 5 minutes per tank. The tanks need to be in good shape with no dents or visible  damage and free of rust. So for $30.00, I got 2 tanks certified and  filled with fresh propane. One less thing to worry about.

They just  put a label on the tank and you’re  good to go for 5 years.

  We are  getting  ready  to go on a voyage in a couple  of weeks that has been in the  planning stages for at least 2 years. Some things in our  plan have  changed in the  last year  but the  vision has remained the  same.

    We’re  headed  to Arizona to ride in the desert and bask in the winter sun.

We are  checking things out because this is our  plan once we  retire in a few years.

    For this trip , We’ll be staying 17days in the rig that you see above. There will be  Peg and  I, our  Texas Heeler Scout and  our 2  horses Jake and  Chief.

    I’ve been working  on the  truck and  camper for the  past month when it was  too windy or inclimate to ride the  horses.

    We’ve  done  several upgrades to the  4  horse  Circle  J trailer for this trip also. I’ll get into all of that  a bit later.

    We bought the 2007 GMC Duramax 3500 this year and  really  like the  truck. We traded our 2004 3/4 ton Duramax in exchange for it. It need some things done to it  for this trip though. 

    I wired the camper  plug-in under the  box of the  truck so that it would  run the  camper electrical and  charge the  batteries in the  camper. Also, The truck needed  Camper tie-downs installed. I elected to use the Tork-Lift brand because that is what we had on the last truck and liked them.

    The  other thing that had to be  redesigned for the new truck was the  front  Jack braces. The  new truck’s fenders stick out more because it is a dually.

A new beginning

Plan and  Prepare  means so many things...

         Peg and  I have  been planning  on heading  to Arizona  as snowbirds when we retire  for  years. Last  year we  decided that we should  probably head down with the  horse and  see if this is something  that is  really going to work for us. 

          We would  like to travel around the southern states of this  beautiful country during  the  winter months and  during the  Summers  head  North  to our  Horse  Camp in Lyman Washington and  also visit  our  friends  to the  North  in British  Columbia. Sounds  easy enough  but, how easy  will it  actually  be?

         In a week, We'll be heading  out to Wickenburg Arizona for our  longest trip with our  Horses  Jake ( my  Quarter horse  Gelding) and Chief (Peg's  Leopard Appy Gelding). This blog  will share  our adventures an share  some  of the  things  that  we have  done to prepare for this adventure.

         It might  even share  some  things that might  help you in planning  and  preparing  for your next big Adventure.