Story – Roving Dutchmen

Exploring California

Leave a Comment / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2022-07-20 2022-07-20

We are horrible at updating our blog posts, but I do seem try to post to instagram more frequently, so if you haven’t yet follow there for more frequent updates on our adventures!

Some of you may remember Yogi Bear, and it seemed like a fun theme park to take the kids. What we did not realize was that neither of them had ever watched the show, so to prep them we had them watch two episodes. Anyways, when Yogi Bear came out we thought they would want to meet him, instead they both ran really fast the other way! Tyler finally felt a little better when we answered his question: “Is there a human in there?”. This kid has never seen these dressed up stuffies, but he immediately realized there had to be a person inside, so proud of my little man!

Lawson’s Landing was a tip from my cousin, it’s a no frills campground just north of San Francisco. We got to park our rig right on the sea wall, with basically our patio hanging over the water. How awesome is that! We went on a walk along the beach and a sea lion followed us all the way, calling out to the kids and showing off. Went on a little hike in Samuel P Taylor State Park and got immersed in some redwoods. But mainly we sat on the beach and did some digging, driving monster trucks and watch other people dig for clams. We had never seen any clam digging before, but it was not going to be the last time.

Thousand Trails, the time share for RV’ers. When we bought our rig we received a year included. In Arizona in winter most of the parks are 55+ and we just never bothered, but we suddenly noticed there were a few parks on the map. Online never worked, so I finally called and booked us a week at Russian River. There is no nightly cost, this is payed as a yearly membership, so for us this basically means free camping with (partial) hookups! It’s a wonderful little campground, with some tight corners, and I am super proud of Eric for getting us into our spot. That was a tight fit.

There was a nice little river where the kids got to float and toss rocks. We also got to see the wonder that is Old Faithful Geyser of California, one of only three geysers in the world coined with the name, ”Old Faithful.” The kids had a lot of fun feeding the goats, and Tyler learned a lot about earthquakes and tsunami’s.

Then Tyler had the request to go to an aquarium. Never one to deny requests that don’t need a screen, we pulled out our phones and looked for the nearest aquarium –> Aquarium of the Bay at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco! How were we ever going to get our dually truck into those narrow streets and find a parking spot. A little searching found plenty of parking on the other side of the bay, in Sausalito, and then we even got to have a ferry ride into the city, right past Alcatraz and the Bay bridge.

I wanted to be back at Elk Grove for the Sacramento County Fair to see my cousins kids show their animals, so back to Tudesko Construction. But planning is not my best skill unfortunately, so we got there on the weekend after, sorry guys! We did get to explore the Sacramento County Fair, and Ty got to go on a couple of rides with his cousins, and we got to see a demolition derby!

Last but not least before heading up into Oregon, we stayed at Lakeshore Inn & RV in Lake Shasta. We ended up in a nice spot next to the pool with a view over the valley. The lake was so low, it really made an impact, realizing the lack of water and the impact that is having on the landscape, and further down on agriculture.

We came here to visit Lake Shasta Caverns, we took a boat trip across the lake and then had a wonderful tour inside the cave. We saw some great formations and even spotted a few bats.

A month of travel and adventure

Leave a Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2022-03-03 2022-03-03

So much has happened since we left Buckeye. We spent a wonderful week with the Ruprecht family first at Shadow Ridge RV resort and then exploring BLM land in Ajo, AZ. Camping is more fun with friends! The best moment for me came when Tyler asked Eric for his helmet, and then looked on in amazement when Tyler rode off, pedalling on his bike. I had not realised Eric had not seen him ride before.

We continued boondocking in Marana near Tucson. We met with a few other families we met through Fulltime Families, and had some nice evenings around the campgrounds hearing stories from much more experienced nomads. We even got our knives sharpened by a very entrepreneurial 14 year old girl, “Dull is Dangerous” is her motto. She is going places!

Then off to Buckskin Mountain State Park along the Colorado River. After a lot of desert, the kids had some good times playing in the river. But best of all was meeting up with my friend Annie. I knew Annie back in Amsterdam in my late teens. It was the strangest thing to realize it had been almost 20 years since I last saw her. She visited with her 2 dogs and we were able to rig up an ez-up tent from our back patio to create another room.

From Buckskin we returned to the SARA Park Rodeo grounds at Lake Havasu for the Escapees Winter Blast Hangout. This promised to be a lot of fun, with firework shows almost every night. We found that the best show was actually on Sunday, when they were determined to let off all their fireworks in one grand display, so that they could avoid the pit of despair that awaited all unused fireworks at the end of the show.

Weather had been beautiful and we felt super fortunate to snag a few nights at Lake Havasu State Park right at the lake. Unfortunately winds picked up again and temperatures dropped, so the peaceful time at the beach was more reminiscent of a stroll along the beach at Scheveningen.

Then off to Quartzsite. This place is a boondockers paradise in winter, with a lot of long term options. Most places allow you to stay max 14 days, but here you can buy a permit for the whole winter season, and many people take advantage of this. We gathered here for a Grand Design rally. It was somewhat surrealistic to see all these same luxury RV’s parked together in the middle of the desert. We met some very nice people, and were amazed by the solar setup done by Joshua of Rooted Off Grid, they have solar panels on slide-out racks, which look like wings on their modified-3-axle Solitude 390RK, which gives them 6kWh of power, allowing them to run their RV like it has full electric hookups.

After Quartzsite, we had a few days to kill before heading to the Xscapers Convergence in Tucson. I had heard many good things about Lake Mittry near Yuma and wanted to check it out. And though it is pretty amazing, it just was not for us. The water was unreachable for the kids and we encountered plenty of mosquitos. Now if you have kayaks or want to spend your time fishing from one of the many jetties jutting out into the lake, this would be the place to go. Anyhow, I decided it was time for full hookups before our next 8 day stretch boondocking, so we booked at a random RV park half way. We are at Sonoran RV Park in Gila Bend, there is not much here, but the park is super nice. We drove in and a friendly gentleman led us right to our spot. The kids and I got ready for the 90 degree pool giving Eric time to set up our site. After spending a few weeks in the desert a large body of water is such an amazing thing. Tyler took a minute, but with some help from a friendly surrogate grandmother quickly found his confidence again swimming around. Aidan was not really sure what to do with so much water, but after almost an hour of clinging to me found that the top step was awesome to lay on and semi crawl and scoot back and forth. By the end of our pool visit he was jumping into my arms from the side.

On the project side of things, we’ve expanded our battery capacity to 12v 600Ah, giving us ample power for longer boondocking stays, though we still need to expand our solar array to match it. We also made wooden slats for our bed, which are a lot prettier than the plywood we used before!

Xscapers Bash 2022

Leave a Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2022-01-18 2022-01-18

We left Yuma and made it up to Lake Havasu where we stayed at the Sara Park Rodeo Grounds to attend the Xscapers Annual Bash. We had an early arrival ticket so that Eric could attend the “RVers Boot Camp Express” to learn everything there is to know about RV’s in one day.

We were one of the first to arrive, but in the next 2 days the place filled up with about 400 full time RV’ers ready to party! We were set up in the family section and met many new friends. Tyler had a blast playing with all the kids and joining in on all the activities, and Aidan really found the artist within him.

The bash was also an opportunity to have mail delivered, and Nadine decided to pick it up with the boys while Eric was in class. Big mistake, Aidan almost got buried! Luckily there were other families there to help and two teenagers were instructed to help with the heavy lifting.

A ferris wheel was being erected and Tyler was adament to be the first one on it. It only took sneaking out of the opening ceremony to make that happen. Nadine joined him, and they had some amazing views as they spun around while watching the sun set behind the mountains.

Tyler and Aidan also proved to be super party people. Ty found an awesome green hat and quickly made many friends. Aidan has discovered music, and just can’t sit still when the band starts playing, he runs right on to the stage and starts shaking his little hips.

What else… there was a bouncy house, a bucking unicorn that Tyler stayed on for almost a minute, a bit of karaoke, video games, face painting, and climbing up the giant dirt pile.

The first thing boondocking taught us, is that the dealer installed battery will not get you through the night, and worse still it will not run the coffee machine in the morning. Eric’s bootcamp knowledge was going to be put to the test! We had bought a great lithium battery, but unfortunately after several attempts of charging it we found that is was a dud. A second battery was waiting for us 3 hours away at Eric’s parents, so after the kids went to sleep Eric left to go pick it up and return the next morning. He got everything installed, and even installed a new converter so that we can actually get a full charge. Now we can really boondock! He also installed our side cameras, and had a bit of a scary moment when he had to drill in to the side cap. He is becoming quite the handy man, I think maybe he’ll be signing up to become a certified RV technician before the year is up.

After such a busy week, at least we found a great place to relax. We are parked right at the beach of Lake Havasu, with a great big sand box right at our feet. Driving up, Tyler asked: “Do we have our sand toys?”.

Happy New Year!

4 Comments / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2022-01-03 2022-01-03

We’ve been escaping the cold down in Winterhaven, California this week, which is next to Yuma, Arizona. So technically, we crossed our first state line!

Pilot Knob RV Resort, our refuge from the cold

We had our first small parking mishap. A very rusty water spigot suffered, but we were able to shut it off immediately. A good lesson in communication, and thankfully not an expensive one!

We made one major upgrade this week: our mattress! We went with a Purple Mattress Queen, and it’s a great combination of support and comfort, while not being too heavy (110lbs) nor too tall (9″), both of which are important for using it on our Happijac Bed Lift system. We’re still on the lookout for a welder to produce a custom aluminum frame, which will let us turn the bed 90 degrees, and gain some space, but we’re sleeping much better already!

Putting the kids in prison, Yuma Territorial Historic Prison

We will be heading to the Xscapers Annual Bash next week, where we’ll be “boondocking” for about 10 days. That means we’ll be surviving self-contained: no water, sewer or power hookups; we’ll rely on our own battery/solar, generator, and holding tanks. It’s a bit intimidating, having that as our first boondocking, but at least there will be plenty of support around!

Merry Christmas!

Leave a Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-27 2021-12-27

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a lovely Christmas, both at our new home in the RV, and at my sister’s house with the rest of Eric’s family.

With a cold weather front closing in, we’re adjusting our travels slightly, heading south towards Winterhaven California, rather than Camp Verde Arizona, but we’re still planning for the Xscapers Annual Bash in Lake Havasu in just under two week’s time!

First Travel Day

1 Comment / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-23 2021-12-23

Last week was our first “Travel Day”. That’s the common term used for days when you pack up your campsite and RV, and haul it down the road to the next location. Now, that may not sound like much, but you’re essentially packing your house like it were luggage, and then subjecting it to a series of small earthquakes for a few hours.

We stressed about it for a couple of days, but the day arrived! All the water and sewer work, which takes a fair amount of waiting time, we managed to do the afternoon before. Dirty jobs, done dirt cheap, and all that.

Everything went without a hitch. No, wait, there was definitely a hitch involved. But smoothly! We stopped amongst the truly Big Rigs for a pitstop about halfway through our 3h20m drive, and then backed in to our new spot in one good “swoop”.

Our site, at the Desert Tortoise Campground at Lake Pleasant, Arizona, is absolutely gorgeous. It has only two downsides: no sewer hookups, and it’s very un-level. Lack of sewer hookups only means we’re reliant on our own onboard holding takes, and so need to be a bit more conservative (since we’re here for 2 weeks). The un-level site however meant that things inside are a bit trickier. So, Aidan and I went shopping! In the meantime, Nadine and Tyler started working on the boy’s room: step 1, rip out the old bed!

We’re here through the holidays, slowly getting the hang of everything, still futzing with the stereo and other random projects, and meeting some very friendly neighbors. We even popped back down to Avondale for a family visit, and saw some very fancy Christmas boats!

Until next time, Merry Christmas!

Welcome, Home!

4 Comments / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-14 2021-12-15

We got it! Our 2022 Grand Design Momentum 397TH was delivered to us on Friday morning.

A big thanks to Brian from Roadrunner RV Inspections, and RV Driving School, who helped us inspect our RV before accepting delivery, and then teaching Eric how to drive the beast! Eric drove the RV right off the delivery lot and into the sales parking lot, before we even signed for it! His first time towing anything at all. Then off to driving lessons, and then to our first camping spot at the KOA in Tucson, Arizona. We’d been staying at that KOA for a week in a cabin, but now it was time to move in to our RV!

We’ve been very busy sorting through everything, and figuring out where things should go, and more importantly, how this thing works! Who knew how much time we’d spend thinking about water and sewage! Nadine’s been doing a fantastic job making it feel like home, too. Pancakes & Christmas lights, amongst other touches, go a long way!

There have been a few minor build issues we’re dealing with, but on the whole, nothing major. The stereo hisses, for example, but more annoyingly, the Lippert OneControl system, which controls our whole rig, and you should be able to access on your phone, isn’t working. We’ve made progress on both items, especially with some great support from Grand Design’s Rockford Fosgate technician on the stereo issue, who walked Eric through a full diagnostic over the phone! We’ve also been busy installing extra bells and whistles: a backup camera, and a tire pressure & temperature sensor system.

That aside, we’re very happy with our new home! It’s gorgeous, spacious, and I hope will treat us well (so long as we treat it well!). The kids have been loving the back patio, and so have the parents: enclosed play space! Tyler’s been making friends with the neighbors, and really asking about everything; endearing, but exhausting!

Our first “Travel Day” is coming…!

Full-Time Waiting

Leave a Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-03 2021-12-03

We got our first taste of full-time RVing, at the Full-Time Families Hangout in the White Tank Regional Park. There were about 18 families “boon-docking” at the group camping area there, which means they were running without “shore” power nor water and sewage. Instead, they relied on batteries, solar, or generators for power. Tyler and Aidan were amongst the youngest participants, but had a blast… Especially when they hired a bouncy castle!

We didn’t have our own RV yet, so we stayed at a nearby farm we found on Airbnb. This turned out to be a great location for us as well, as the host family had a son well-matched to Tyler, who taught him how to handle 1-week-old piglets, and how to properly climb a treehouse. And how to keep the adults out, by means of a trap door. In any case, a great time had by all, and we met some amazing full-time families whom we hope to meet again soon on the road!

The boys admiring the farm animals. That’s Kevin Bacon in the middle.

We’re now waiting impatiently for our rig to arrive in Tucson, Arizona. We’re hopeful that it will arrive this week, though it will still be next week or so until we could possibly drive it off the lot. But it’s so close!

We Got Our Truck!

3 Comments / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-11-13 2021-11-13

Our 2022 Ford F-350 DRW King Ranch arrived, and we’re very happy with it!

Now we’re waiting on the trailer, which is being built this week, but it’ll still likely be some weeks until we can see it.

Jetlag!

1 Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-11-10 2021-11-10

We’ve arrived safely in Arizona as of last week, but we’re still a bit worse for wear. Jetlag in a pair of toddlers is a helluva thing!

We had a bit of an unorthodox travel itinerary: from Zurich, we stayed a week in Amsterdam to visit Oma, and then we flew to Calgary (YYC), stayed 17 hours, and then finally flew to Phoenix (PHX). I’ll refrain from deciding if the stayover in Calgary was the right call or not, as it’s very much a toss-up, but we did stay at the in-terminal Marriot hotel there, which was quite pleasant. And beyond that, we discovered that YYC has some fun playgrounds, for when you’re wandering the empty halls at 2am in your pajamas.

That was only the beginning of the journey, however. We did eventually arrive in PHX, sans one bag–still lost, a week later–but the middle-of-the-night adventures only reached a fine middle. We know exactly which businesses are open at 4am in the Phoenix area, and I must say, disappointment! Turns out, “Dutch Bros Coffee” is not a place for coffee: there’s nary a drink without whipped cream, and when we asked for two latte macchiatos, the legitimate response was “frosted or whipped?” But no matter, Tyler wanted “fries and an ice cream without a straw”, which seemed an entirely reasonable request, so adventure-ho! McDonald’s? Nope, no fries, only tater-tots. Jack-in-the-Box? “We only accept mobile orders” (which they helpfully told us over the order-taking intercom of the drive-up we were at…). The winner? Wendy’s! Frosty’s and Fries! (Apparently the only thing they were able to produce at the time, too.)

The kids are slowly adjusting to the new clock though, thankfully. That first week was really rough. This past week we’ve stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with a built-in water park… but we chose it primarily for the cozy sleeping quarters for the kids!

Next up: we’re getting our truck! It arrived at the dealership today, so we’ll be picking it up very soon!