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After my trip to Mammoth Lakes in early July, I decided I needed to get some non-travel business taken care of. Two things became apparent during my travels so far. First, having a vehicle to get around with while I'm at a campsite would make a big difference in my ability to see more of the area around me, and make the stay more comfortable. The second thing is TV -- I'm addicted.
In addition to taking care of those two issues, I needed to get some dental work done, establish my new health care situation (Medical), and have standard maintenance done on my RV. Things that required making multiple appointments. So most of July, and all of August was spent taking care of business. I bought a Vespa motor scooter. It's 150cc, so it's highway legal and requires a motorcycle license. I needed a rack so that I could carry it on the back of my RV. That turned out to be a much bigger issue than I expected. It was no problem finding a rack with the right weight capacity, and correct fitting for the RV. However, the rack was more for dirt bikes than it was for scooters. Plus it was designed for a two person team to load it, and it was designed for a lower hitch. Consequently, I had to add a metal plate to cover the divots that made the scooter bottom out while being pushed up the ramp. I had to extend the ramp. And finally, I had to add a metal arm-like-thing so that I could use a come-along to ratchet the bike up the ramp. Here is a picture showing the bike and the rack. The side of the rack facing the camera is where the ramp hooks on (the wooden piece nearby is for extending the ramp). The other side has the arm I added for the come-along. With all that done, I can load the bike by myself pretty easily. |
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For TV, I bought the "Tailgater" by Dish. I'm very satisfied with it. It gets all the channels I could ever want (some of which I'll have to discontinue after the promotional period, or start paying more). The HD quality is great. I've only had weather related problems once. Since I do most of my living in the south west, that shouldn't be a problem very often. Here is a picture of the dish bungeed to the top of my RV. That's the setup at my home base, and is sometimes the best solution out on the road (not while driving on the road of course). At some sites, I can just put it on the picnic table or even just put it on the ground. |
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