The Travel Berkey

One reason Hubs and I wanted to get this particular floorplan in Wandering Wanda (Winnebago Adventurer 27N) was the amount of counter space and the fairly unique L shaped counter. We discovered on one of our trips that taking bottled water with us took up way too much storage space. When one of the vendors that we have purchased from in the past put up the Travel Berkey water filter/purifier system ON SALE, I knew the time was right to purchase one. These things don't go on sale often, and I got it cheaper from the vendor, TechnoRV, than on Amazon.com.*

Our counter space is rather unique in that the part of the counter with the sink does not move, instead the slide comes in and covers one of the double sinks, leaving the other sink available. In the past I've put our coffee pot in the sink to keep it safe while on the road. I learned the hard way, not to depend on my bungee cord setup. Now, I have room under the sink for the coffee pot and the remaining available sink carries the Berkey.

Travel Berkey comes with two filters that will filter 6,000 to 8,000 gallons of water. Better yet, when not in use for short periods of time, I can remove the wet filters, place them in a plastic bag and store them in the fridge for a few weeks at a time. For longer periods, they get dried out and stored in plastic bags until needed again.

Since our two earlier trips in 2019 in our Class C Dynamax required us to (a) carry a lot of water and (b) purchase more water along the way, we were glad to have this "appliance" with us on our last trip which was a 20 day trip up to the Hershey RV show where we purchased Wanda, up to Buffalo, New York area and over to Syracuse where we took delivery of Wanda and then home again. Travel Berkey holds 1.5 gallons, and we travel with our dog and cat. We also have a whole rig water filter and can add an exterior filter if we feel it is necessary.



*Other than being a customer, I have no connection to TechnoRV, Berkey Filters or Amazon.

Road Warrior?

On our trip home from Syracuse, New York with our wonderful Wandering Wanda Winnebago, we took the absolute worst road I have ever driven on and that includes roads in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. This particular route, I-81that runs north and south from Tennessee up to New York was pure unadulterated crap in New York and northern Pennsylvania. And I am not referring to road construction areas - just the road which was patched and patched and patched.

It got worse in Maryland and West Virginia in the construction areas. Remember, Wandering Wanda is 8'5.5" wide. Those construction lanes were extremely narrow. I hated driving in it. And, I do ALL the RV driving. I felt like I was fighting those horrible road conditions for most of that drive.

Once we got into Tennessee, it was much better and we were on the home stretch once we exited I-81 at I-40 and headed west.

Satellite Adventures

Yesterday I hooked up the satellite that came with our RV. This is not something we would have bought, but was included by Winnebago for the Hershey RV show. When we finally opened the box last week, which had been already partially opened, we discovered that the cable was missing. I ordered one off Amazon, which was delivered over the weekend and yesterday finally decided to tackle it.

The Wally receiver was already installed and on. Now, the directions clearly say not to plug that in until after you hook up the satellite to the connection on your RV. It took me forever to figure out where the plug was without dismantling everything.

I followed the directions and got a no signal message. Sigh. I knew it wouldn't be easy. Went back up in the cabinet, unplugged Wally and tried to pull it off the velcro to see if there were other issues. I pulled up the velcro instead. First thing I noticed was the HDMI cable was not attached. Attached that, plugged in the Wally and the install process began and failed. Unplugged again, pulled up the receiver again and checked the connections. Oh, duh, the cable connection was loose. I know they advise you not to over tighten, but this was barely on. Plugged back in and finally success.

We're supposed to get three satellites. We got one. I'm sure that's because we are surrounded by trees. Eventually, another satellite connected because the channels doubled. It worked and the picture was great. So, finally, disconnected the dish from the RV and stowed it.

I'm sure if we are in a campground that is fairly bare of trees, we'll be glad we have it. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at had cable, but there were a couple that had nothing, and no local stations either.  Our trip to Perry, Georgia last year comes to mind as the TV reception was really bad. Also, it was very cold and rainy on that trip. Not that I expect the satellite to work in bad weather. But hopefully, we will get some use out of it.

Water! Not Where I Want It!

This did not happen with Wandering Wanda the Winnebago, but with Izzy the Dynamax Isata 3 on our last trip.

Due to space constrictions and the fact that we would be driving the rig for several days before landing in one spot for more than one or two nights, we used our cheap Walmart pot that uses k-cups. The first night out, I filled it with water for the first morning cup. Next morning, I put a k-cup in, set the coffee mug underneath and heard it heat up. I got about four drops of coffee out of it. That's when I noticed that the coffee mat was soaked. Yeesh. Obviously there was a leak. It was still capable of making coffee, as long as you didn't load up the water until you were ready to brew.

Not once, but twice, I forgot to put the coffee cup on the brewer. Those little drip things do not hold 12 ounces of coffee. What can I say, I am NOT a morning person. Still we persisted with the crappy coffee maker knowing that at home that our compact Keurig was waiting for us. The first thing unloaded after the pets was that little coffee maker straight into the garbage.

Wandering Wanda's Adventures

This is Wandering Wanda Winnebago. We acquired her on our trip to the Hershey RV show and have owned her now for over a week. This rig is everything we ever thought we wanted in a motorhome.

Some of y'all may remember we started out a year and a half ago in a class B. One long thunderstormy weekend was all we needed to move up to a class C, a Dynamax Isata 3. We used Izzy the Isata enough to know that it didn't have enough storage. Hubby and I both have our own mobility issues, and it was getting increasingly difficult to maneuver inside the RV, especially while traveling with our dog, Champ and cat, Mouse. The research during our last big trip which was a 17 day trip up to Michigan to visit with family and friends. We actually looked at Winnebago Vista 29VE, which we liked, and which had great storage, but it really did not have the floor plan I wanted. What I wanted was the Vista LX 27n plan, but that was discontinued. We also wanted auto gen start, which would protect us in case of a campground power outage or for when we were not on shore power, we could set it up to protect the pets from the heat. The 2020 Winnebago Adventurer has the floor plan we want and the features.

It also has a bed that does not fold and storage that goes on and on. One of the reasons I like this floor plan is that it has storage all across the back which is accessible on three sides. Love it.

We took delivery of it in Syracuse, New York on Friday, September 20th. We were fortunate to get a couple nights (each night on a different site) at the Villages of Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. On the day we were to check out, we checked to see if there were any cancellations. There was, but it required yet another move, to a back-in site. It took a couple tries that first time, but I did it and we had a day to chill and have another delicious meal at the casino. We really needed that day, since Friday was exhausting for all of us, especially the pets.

We left the casino park on Sunday and spent the next three nights on the road. The first day was the worst, because I-81 in New York and Pennsylvania was the absolute worst. The last night on the road was very disappointing. We stayed at a park that we had visited on the way up, and both their restaurant and store were closed due to insulating in progress. It didn't matter, we still had some food in our pantry and fridge and we enjoyed our last evening on the road. Somewhere along the way, we discovered that our lights no longer worked on our awning and on the entry handle. Still trying to figure that one out.

We hope to have many more adventures in Wandering Wanda the Winnebago!