dedmiston
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Joined Jan 26, 2004
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Mud Flaps vs 5th Wheel Vortex
This question feels a little tinfoil-hat-ish, but… We’ve been towing a high profile 5er for years and I’m pretty good about strapping down things in the bed because the vortex in the truck bed will blow things around and even suck them out of the truck bed. We recently towed a shorter 5er with a lower nose and the vortex was more extreme. While part of me doesn’t care since my load is secured, the different air dynamics are driving one of my dogs insane and she’s visibly distressed while we drive. I’m looking for ways to reduce the vortex and I overheard someone mention mud flaps as a cure but I couldn’t ask them for more info. Has anyone here heard anything to support this? Or does anyone have any ideas? My only other idea is to wrap a few straps around my tailgate to hold down the plastic rail cap, because I can see it flutter while we drive. I can’t think of anything else that would be creating a sound that’s driving one of our dogs insane.Re: Trip Routing with Google Maps?
I'll have to say that RV Trip Wizard has really upped their game since the first time we used it in 2019. It's not cheap, but I don't mind paying for software if it's decent. A few things really jumped out at me: Instead of the old concentric rings to show distances on the map, it now shows actual distances according to highway travel. The map looks like a blob now, but no more "as the crow flies". I didn't use this because I was too lazy and hurried, but it's got an amazing GPS routing feature now. Based on the configuration that you define (especially your height), the maps support an active GPS routing that will keep you off the roads with low bridges. The selection of camps seems to be much more advanced now. Very cool. This still doesn't solve the issue that I was originally trying to conquer, but it's good progress. My use case was that I wanted to plan a trip from SoCal to Tyler, TX and be able to specify the daily distance I wanted to drive and/or the number of days I was willing to allocate to the trip and have the app give me some suggested stops. I ended up picking Las Cruces, NM as our first stop and then power through the next day. It turns out that one of the "claims to fame" of Las Cruces is that it's the midpoint between San Diego and Dallas, which coincidentally suited us nicely.Trip Routing with Google Maps?
I love Google Maps, but I'm looking for a feature that might not exist. Instead of entering in Point A and Point B as my destination, I'd like to enter Point A and then "500 miles from Point A" and have Google give me some options. ~ OR ~ Or I'd be happy to enter Point A and Point B as my destination, but then I'd like to be able to say "break this trip up into three days" and have Google suggest places to break up the trip. Has anyone had any luck with trip planning like this using Google?What kind of gen should I shop for?
We just bought a new fifth wheel and it feels like starting over again. We've only ever owned toy haulers that are already prepped for dry camping with onboard generators and fuel tanks. So my question for the braintrust is, what should I shop for in a portable generator. My criteria (I think): Not too expensive (probably impossible) Not too heavy (hopefully possible) Enough output to run two AC units Am I missing anything? It's a 50A unit, but I'm hoping to avoid buying a huge built in gen, especially since that would have to be an LP generator, which I don't want.Smoked Cowboy Beans
We're having a big family get-together soon and one of my kids requested a big batch of my beans. "Can you make it a double batch, dad?" It's my own recipe with bits and pieces taken from various inspirations. I need to refine the recipe though, because measurements like 12-16 jalapeños or 8-12 poblanos got me in trouble this time. The ratio of peppers is pretty strong and I might need to smoke another pan of straight beans tonight and mix them in with the rest to calm it down a little. They're still delicious though. Ingredients: 4 - 40 oz Cans of Pinto Beans 6 - 10 oz Cans of Rotel Tomatoes w/chiles 4 lbs Ground Beef 2 lbs Bacon 1 bunch Cilantro 2 cups Red Onion finely chopped 4-6 Poblano Peppers chopped 6-8 Large Jalapeños. Clean half and leave seeds & veins in half. 1.5 Tbsp Kosher Salt. Don't round up. There's plenty of salt in the other ingredients. 2 Tbsp Ground Pepper 2 Tbsp Cumin Directions: Cook the ground beef and let it drain while you fuss with everything else. Cook the chopped bacon until it's cooked, but not too crispy. Drain the grease, but leave some grease in the nooks of the bacon pieces. Dice the Poblanos, Jalapeños, Onions, and chop the Cilantro. Mix everything in a full-sized foil pan or two half-pans if your grill can't fit the large pan. Don't forget to mix in the spices. Smoke for an hour at low temp (175° - 195°). Stir at 30 min. Turn up the heat to 325° and cook for at least two more hours. Stir every 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the liquids and don't let them boil off. Cook until the poblanos are soft and sweet (heat is gone).
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