First Winter Trip South - Pls Help Us Avoid Future Divorce
Hi All:
First time on an RV forum, although I've been lurking here for months, and have found a lot of useful information. But since we are about to venture into potentially dangerous waters, it seems like a good time to jump in.
DH and I are planning to take our first mid-winter RV trip. We have previously only done short trips (4 to 14 days) in the summer ... and one in the late fall where we experienced frozen tank misery when crossing Montana to get back to ND. While we don't have a specific itinerary planned, we would like to visit some snowbird friends in AZ while we are down in that direction.
I've already poured over the forums for winterizing tips and information; we will probably not dewinterize until we get south enough to do so safely. We are not experienced RVers, and would like to avoid the stress of anything freezing when we need to to not be frozen.
A Little Background:
* We would love to fly to some beautifully sunny destination, but we have a special needs cat (needs subQ fluids daily), and we don't live in a region where we can easily find pet sitters. This fact, and the fact that our other two cats are like our kids (please don't judge), is what brought us to the RV world in the first place.
* Our old "rig" was a little Leisure Travel Van which worked great as a way to get from point A to point B and avoid towing a car with us, but was too small for us older folk to be comfortable. So we are about to take delivery on a Jayco Seneca 37HJ and will be flat towing our Jeep Wrangler. We are looking forward to not having to haul cats into and out of hotel rooms, or renting cars, all while enjoying the newfound comfort of our bigger rig.
* Why leave in the middle of winter? We are cattle ranchers, and our livestock count will be at its lowest after the first of the year. That is the only time we can reasonably ask a hired ranch kid to manage the remaining wintered livestock by himself for any length of time.
(Explanation over ... thanks for your patience!)
Would Love Your Advice:
1 -- Since we are leaving in the thick of winter, we probably need to get south as quickly as possible. We are in the northwestern portion of ND, so we are about as far from warmth as you can get in these lower 48. Does anyone have any thoughts on just how far south we need to get in order to dewinterize?
2 -- Does it seem feasible (if we are willing to go with no showers and bring jugs of water) to stay in open campgrounds with only an electric hookup for whatever number of nights it might take us to get to our dewinterizing destination? Or would you recommend we just plan on staying in hotels for those couple of nights?
3 -- Since we are thinking about AZ for a final destination, does anyone have any routing advice? I assume we should try and stay out of the higher elevation routes, even if it takes us longer to get there, just to avoid the snowy travel factor. Any suggestions?
4 -- Do we need to have chains for our tires at all in case of winter weather? Can you even PUT chains on a Seneca?
5 -- Can you think of anything else I need to know, or can do, to help mitigate a complete breakdown of our marriage that might be caused if we face winter RVing challenges along the way? On the one hand, I expect the inevitable. However, I believe in the motto, "If it's predictable, it's preventable."
Any help you all might be able to provide would be very much appreciated. Thank you, in advance!
First time on an RV forum, although I've been lurking here for months, and have found a lot of useful information. But since we are about to venture into potentially dangerous waters, it seems like a good time to jump in.
DH and I are planning to take our first mid-winter RV trip. We have previously only done short trips (4 to 14 days) in the summer ... and one in the late fall where we experienced frozen tank misery when crossing Montana to get back to ND. While we don't have a specific itinerary planned, we would like to visit some snowbird friends in AZ while we are down in that direction.
I've already poured over the forums for winterizing tips and information; we will probably not dewinterize until we get south enough to do so safely. We are not experienced RVers, and would like to avoid the stress of anything freezing when we need to to not be frozen.
A Little Background:
* We would love to fly to some beautifully sunny destination, but we have a special needs cat (needs subQ fluids daily), and we don't live in a region where we can easily find pet sitters. This fact, and the fact that our other two cats are like our kids (please don't judge), is what brought us to the RV world in the first place.
* Our old "rig" was a little Leisure Travel Van which worked great as a way to get from point A to point B and avoid towing a car with us, but was too small for us older folk to be comfortable. So we are about to take delivery on a Jayco Seneca 37HJ and will be flat towing our Jeep Wrangler. We are looking forward to not having to haul cats into and out of hotel rooms, or renting cars, all while enjoying the newfound comfort of our bigger rig.
* Why leave in the middle of winter? We are cattle ranchers, and our livestock count will be at its lowest after the first of the year. That is the only time we can reasonably ask a hired ranch kid to manage the remaining wintered livestock by himself for any length of time.
(Explanation over ... thanks for your patience!)
Would Love Your Advice:
1 -- Since we are leaving in the thick of winter, we probably need to get south as quickly as possible. We are in the northwestern portion of ND, so we are about as far from warmth as you can get in these lower 48. Does anyone have any thoughts on just how far south we need to get in order to dewinterize?
2 -- Does it seem feasible (if we are willing to go with no showers and bring jugs of water) to stay in open campgrounds with only an electric hookup for whatever number of nights it might take us to get to our dewinterizing destination? Or would you recommend we just plan on staying in hotels for those couple of nights?
3 -- Since we are thinking about AZ for a final destination, does anyone have any routing advice? I assume we should try and stay out of the higher elevation routes, even if it takes us longer to get there, just to avoid the snowy travel factor. Any suggestions?
4 -- Do we need to have chains for our tires at all in case of winter weather? Can you even PUT chains on a Seneca?
5 -- Can you think of anything else I need to know, or can do, to help mitigate a complete breakdown of our marriage that might be caused if we face winter RVing challenges along the way? On the one hand, I expect the inevitable. However, I believe in the motto, "If it's predictable, it's preventable."
Any help you all might be able to provide would be very much appreciated. Thank you, in advance!
