- While all of you guys are heading South
for the winter, (Phil laughs)
we decided to head North.
- Ruby has endured her second snowfall.
- Yes, I know you can't see it because it's all melted,
but we have been in the 20s
and 30s overnight. (Phil laughs)
We had sleet and snow.
It was cool for one day.
I'm good, we can warm back up now.
- (laughs) Yeah, I do miss the snow
and it was fun while it lasted, but it's gone now.
- So we thought we would share some tips
on how we are surviving the cold here in Tennessee.
We actually came here for two reasons,
one, to quarantine because we're meeting up
with some friends later,
and two, because they had cool trails,
which we have yet to get on. (laughs)
- And we probably won't get on, it's just too cold.
Stacy did run this morning, but yeah,
there's, I think, three rigs, counting ours-
- Yeah. - Here in this huge park,
so we lucked out.
- So the quarantining is great.
(Stacy laughs) - Yeah, it is.
- So let's walk over and share some of our tips
to keep you warm in freezing temperatures.
- And how not to jack up your water system in the cold.
One of the things we do when it's cold
or freezing outside is we fill up the freshwater tank
and disconnect the hoses
and the filters and the water softener, all of that,
so nothing freezes overnight.
We've actually gone so far as to take our water softener
and our water filter inside
because the wet bay is not big enough to hold both of them,
although our wet bay is heated.
We have two propane furnaces onboard Ruby.
The rear one for the rear bedroom will heat the wet bay,
and I've seen the ducting.
It's about a four-inch duct that blows hot air in there,
so we know the wet bay is keeping nice and warm
while it's freezing outside.
- As Phil said earlier, we have two zones
for our heat and air.
We have one in the front and one in the back.
Now this sounds great
because we're hooked up to power, but unfortunately,
our heat pump only works down to about 40 degrees,
and then it has trouble turning over that air
and warming it up.
So then we have to switch to propane,
and the propane heat is what warms the bay
and, of course, keeps us nice and toasty.
Now just a tip for you
so you don't fly through your propane.
If you have two separate zones,
when you go to bed, close your door.
Drop down the zone that you're not actually using.
That way, you're not using as much propane,
because nobody wants to pack up
and go fill back up the propane after they've used it all.
- Another thing we do on the inside of the rig is
we open up the under-cabinet doors
under the sink, if you will,
because our sink drain line and our water lines do go
through our slide and down into the wet bay.
So we keep them open so that the warm air
inside the rig will help keep those lines from freezing.
- And it's pretty crazy, but whenever we leave
our bathroom door closed, it can be a good 10
to 15 degrees colder in there. (Phil laughs)
I don't know why, in that tiny space
and the huge gap below the door,
but leaving the door open does make a big difference.
I know you're wondering, why don't we put up
some skirting? - Well, that's because
a lot of class A's don't have (Stacy laughs)
area for skirting.
They have about six inches once they're lowered,
if they do lower when you put the slides out and level,
so there's not a lot of room for skirting
on a Class A, I can tell you that.
- And not only that, if we bought skirting,
that would commit us
to cold weather RVing, (Phil laughs)
and that's not my plan.
- Yeah, no, nor would we have anywhere to put it
when we were done with it.
- Oh, yes. - I guess we could
just chuck it, but that would be a waste of money.
- Yeah, storage would be an issue.
Now if we were sitting somewhere for two, three months
in the same area and it was really cold,
then we would probably do something as far as skirting
to save money and energy and to stay warm,
but, nah, not just for a couple days.
- Yeah, I guess for us, if we were to do that,
I guess I would go buy some smaller bales of hay
and put all the way around the edge.
We've seen a variation of skirting.
The hay is one, cardboard boxes cut up,
vinyl coverings, canvas, you name it.
If you could think of it to cover the outside of your rig,
you can get it. - Yeah,
and just if you're gonna be in a cold weather,
you might wanna invest in some really good quality skirting,
but for us, nah,
I'll just let my teeth chatter
until we leave. - The only skirting
(Stacy laughs) I'm interested in are
the ones hanging up on her side of the closet, that's it.
- Oh, so funny. - Thank you.
(snowball thuds) Direct hit, dead center.
I love that lady. (Stacy laughs)
- We are packing it up here
at Tims Ford State Park here in Tennessee,
and it's a nice park.
We've really enjoyed it here,
even though we froze to death. (laughs)
- Well, we stayed warm where we had to.
I mean, it was too cold to come outside
and do anything, that's for sure.
And of course, today we're leaving
and I'm outside putting things away and I'm sweating.
- Yeah, it's gonna be a nice day in the 50s today,
but that's okay, 'cause we're staying in Tennessee,
so the next place we're going to will also be in the 50s.
- Yeah, let's hope we can play outside.
- Yeah, I just wanted to brief you in
on this state park, it's pretty nice.
There are actually three campgrounds here.
We are staying at their main campground
and the sites are all paved, but beware.
If you choose a site on the inside of the campground,
it's one big circle, all the hookups are on the wrong side,
and many of them, you don't have an overhang
'cause you literally back up onto a hill.
- Yeah, so you would have to pull nose-in
to these back-in sites
if you wanted to keep your connections on the driver's side.
Otherwise, you're having to run your hose
and your power cord under your rig to get to the connection,
so that's kind of a bummer.
That was our original site until we got here,
saw it and the hill and said, "Mmmmm no,
"we need something else." (Stacy laughs)
So we did move, but we were one of three rigs
when we first got here this in this huge place,
so we were able to move safely.
- Yeah, and there's actually four full hookup sites here.
We ended up moving to a full hookup site
'cause it was the longest site here,
and it's nice to be spoiled with sewer. (laughs)
- Yeah, it allowed us to do laundry.
We weren't planning on doing laundry here.
We were gonna do it later, but we had a full hookup,
so we did it. - Yeah, so it worked.
All right, let's finish packing her up and head on out.
♪ Wake up to these better days ♪
♪ No clouds, just sun on my face ♪
♪ Flowers grow through the cracks in the pavement ♪
♪ In the pavement ♪
♪ Fresh kicks and my favorite jeans ♪
♪ Stepping out, living loud and free ♪
♪ Walk around like a brand new melody ♪
♪ Hear me when I'm singing now ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ And it keeps getting better ♪
♪ It only gets better ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ And it keeps getting better ♪
♪ It only gets better ♪
♪(woman harmonizing)♪
♪ Hello to this happiness ♪ ♪ Hello ♪
♪ Living life with the volume up to 10 ♪
♪ See the world through my sunshine glasses ♪
♪ Nothing that can bring me down, down, down, down ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ And it keeps getting better ♪
♪ It only gets better ♪
♪ Oh. Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ And it keeps getting better ♪
♪ It only gets better ♪