ONE OF A KIND. HDT RV. Smart Fortwo Hitch. RV Fulltime Living. RV COUPLE. RVing. Harvest Host

In English? What what were they saying? And it is not turning on. Not good since we're boondocking. No. Yeah. So no error codes. There's no error codes being displayed. You'll be able to turn in there with that big old ditch. You think you can make that? I think so. Without. What? Without putting us in the ditch? Oh yeah. Farms have been in the family since the mid-1800s. My great-grandfather came out and homesteaded it. A nice five days. Yeah, enjoyed it. Heading out now and on to the the next chapter, if you will. Yeah, yeah. We got a little pit stop first. Get the little chore done and then off to Alabama. No truck parking. Are we a truck or are we an RV? We are a truck today. That's the entrance right there. And we're done with our pit stop. Yep. So we got the generator diagnosed and serviced. And now we just have to get a battery. Yes, that was slightly unexpected. Yeah, because voltage was fine, but tested the amps and... Yeah, not so fine. Not so good. Yeah. Between now and January, we've got to, yeah, we got to get some batteries. But at least it was nothing serious. It was nothing specifically with the generator. So yeah, it wasn't the fuel. Yeah. Nothing internal. So good news, it was just the battery. So that's easily fixed. All right, so now on to our next stop. On to the next stop and towards Alabama. Yeah. All right, we have just arrived at our next pit stop, RVH Lifestyles. Care to let everybody know why we're here? Well, tomorrow I will let everyone know. Tonight I have to check into just a few things to see if what I want to do is possible. So they're going to make some mods, hopefully. Hopefully they'll make some modifications, but not to what you think. Good morning everyone from Dennis, Kansas. I don't know what Dennis's claim to fame is, except that RVH Lifestyles is here. So what are we looking at doing? We're wanting to modify the hitch that's on the smart car. They used to make a hitch for the 15s and earlier. That's the 451s. But they didn't for the 16s and 17s because they stopped making them. And Kurt, who made the hitch, said no more. That's it. But we have a hitch. And we use it to winch our smart car up on the bed, which works great. But when we put our e-bikes on it, a little bit of flex on it. A lot. And the bikes just flop all over the place. Yeah, so it hasn't broken. And it might hold, but I don't know. I don't like the balancing. Yeah, the balancing's not good. We think the design's a little bit under what it should be. It should be a little stronger. So we're here at RVH. We're going to see if they can modify our hitch on the smart car. Might be the only one like it out there. Yeah, maybe. We're going to see. All right, the review is complete of our little hitch problem. And there is no hitch in the problem solving or in the resolution of the problem. Oh my gosh. All right, so they took a look at it, did some investigation, and there is a remedy. Yeah, the nice thing is they put the bikes on there. Yes. And we didn't have to lift it and put it on there. That was the real nice part. And they saw where it was flexing really bad, so. Yep, so they've got a solution. And they're just going to build a whole new hitch. Yeah. Better materials, better design. Yeah. And should be a lot better for the e-bikes. Yes. So we're excited about that. Well, we may be down in the lower 48, but our minds and hearts are still up north. Yeah, for a split second I saw that GPS and it said James River. And I thought it said ferry, not freeway, the abbreviation for freeway. So yeah. We pulled out from Dennis, Kansas. It was a good visit. Very good pit stop, yes. And we. Very productive. Yeah, it was. We accomplished everything that we wanted to do, actually. And then some. Yeah, that's true. That's true. We got a little bonus on that. They're also gonna pull the bed off. Yeah. Yeah. Wait a second. The bed? I thought we were just talking about the smart hitch. All right, so the bed is on the truck. We've got to take it off. This is a story that goes back four years, actually five. But when we had our spacecraft built, it came in a little hefty. More weight than what our single axle truck, which was originally came from the factory, designed that way, could handle. So we had to add a second axle. A tandem set to it. We went to Custom Truck in Kansas City and they did it. Did a great job. But we're idiots. We did not add a power tandem. It was just simply a tag axle for weight. We weren't thinking. We got some bad advice. Anyhow, that's a long story. I don't care to go into it. But what we're going to do now is we're going to have RVH pull the bed off. We're going to take this back to Custom Truck in Kansas City because we went there before visiting RVH and before the HTT rally. They checked it out, looked at it. They actually had a tandem set for a Volvo. It's actually the upgraded version of what ours is. So they've got one. It's on reserve for us. So we're going to take the truck back up there. They're going to swap out our tandem for this powered set of tandems. Both of our axles will be drive axles, which will be really sweet. All right. So two gentlemen just stopped by to take a look at underneath the skirt of Voyager. And in English, what were they saying? Yeah. So basically, we've got 43,000 pound capacity with our existing rear end. And that's what they meant by 40. Because if we drop it from 43 down to 40... Right. Because they're trying to find a match set of 43, which is extremely uncommon. But a match set of 40s, 220s, much easier to find, probably less expensive. And we don't need the 43. We don't need 43. 40 is more than fine. Because we're way over as it is. In a good way. In a good way. So that's what they're talking about. Okay. Thank you. Because we've had problems. We've gotten stuck or almost stuck in almost small little areas like dew on the grass. It doesn't take much. Any undulation of the ground and our drive starts to spin because our tag axle pulls it up. So going back to Custom Truck, they have said that they can do it. But they had to have the bed pulled off. They didn't want to do that. So when we were at RVH, we talked to them and they said, sure, we'll pull it off. So that's what we're going to do. The smart hitch and the bed of the truck. And we're going to get a power tandem installed on the truck. And then we can go to a lot of places. They even looked under to make sure. So they said they could do it. So they were not the original manufacturer of the bed. But they did say that they could pull it off and allow us to get everything boxed up and store the contents of Voyager at their facility. Yeah, which is really nice. Because otherwise, I'd have to find a storage facility, get boxes, box it up, take it to the facility. And this is also going to save us a lot of time too. So instead of driving from Alabama to South Texas to Missouri, basically Kansas City, and then go back around. We're going to save some mileage and not have to take that drive from South Texas all the way up to Kansas City driving separately. Right. And which would be nice, just a couple of hours up to KC. And plus, they've got a place for us if we need to spend the night. That's really nice too. So it just, it's working out great. It is. And so now the plan's in place. So are you going to yell out Woo Pig Suey? Woo Pig Suey! So we're staying at a Harvest Host. It's a farm. I'm thinking this has got to be it because... She said pull in. But man, look at that ditch right there. You gonna be able to turn in there with that big old ditch? Oh man, David, I don't know about that. You think you can make that? I think so. Without... What, without putting us in the ditch? Oh yeah. This is like our first time out in six months and you're doing this to me? Well, you know, gotta start sometime. Oh my gosh. I had like six inches. Oh, inches a mile I guess, huh? So when I talked to her, she said go out back and go by the grass. I'm thinking maybe over there. Yeah. And so we've made it. We're not settled yet, but we've parked and we haven't sunk, so the ground's nice and firm. We are in Bono, Arkansas. It's a beautiful day. It's really sunny, so you know what we're gonna see. We're gonna see Sonny Bono. Get it? Isn't he Jack? Bono, Arkansas. Well, he is, but I really like him and Cher. So this is for you, Sonny, that we're in Bono and it's sunny Bono, Arkansas. All right, that's it for tonight. We'll see you guys in the morning. It was a nice overnight stop last night at Piles Farm. It's a boondockers welcome. Saundra would say that the roosters were crowing a little bit too much. I kind of like the atmosphere, but I'd say 1 a.m. in the morning is a little early, but we're gonna get going this morning and keep heading south and east towards Alabama. This little fellow has come to greet us this morning. He's been crowing all morning long. Traveling on a Sunday down to Alabama and it's nice going through a bigger town on a Sunday because there's so much less traffic. Went through Memphis today and it was a breeze across the Mississippi. That was a beautiful day. You've got so much to choose from. I know. So you go right next to this guy. Yeah. Look at you backing up. Oh, I know. It's a nice little treat. Now, filling this thing up is not going to be a treat. Well, the afterwards, the process of filling it up is a treat compared to Curiosity because I can just ram those nozzles in there, put them on full blast. Yeah, I love that. I don't have to baby it. No, but then we got to pay for the fill up. Yes, that's not the fun part. That's not the treat afterwards is paying for it. No. I've never had anyone take fuel from me, but I've had these locking gas caps for several years and they work great. A little bit of silicone in them every so often and keeps the tumblers nice and oiled and I don't have any issues with people taking fuel, especially during these days where it is expensive. Well, we made it to the Hoover Met RV park and we have never, ever seen it this busy and then David went online last week and looked like there were plenty of spaces available, so not sure what's going on. Even over here, there's trailers everywhere. Yeah, so there's something happening today, this weekend, this week, something. Wow, so I think it's busy. It's not that this place is tight, but yeah, all green. All green. Our home for two months.