TELLUSRVTravels

04/29/2023

Our 7th RV trip took us to the same place where we did the first trip when we bought our Thor Freedom Traveler A-30 in 2022. The place is Cedar Creek Marina by the lake of Texoma by the Oklahoma border. The place has a nice restaurant and the RV spots are close to the lake with beautiful views. Our intention was to test out the equipment for our longer trip to the Gulf of Mexico to ensure that the dealership did not miss anything. We only stayed for one night.

03/10/2023

The Starlink satellite kit is here and I also did some research on what kind of pole to buy to be attached to the ladder back on our motor home. I ended up buying FlagPole Buddy that is special made to the second generation mounting kit. It can also be used as a flagpole. The Starlink kit came yesterday and it came quicker than expected, around a week from ordering.

The Starlink Gen II "Dishy" (Rectangular) works best above the RV roof line. By using the Flagpole Buddy Starlink compatible pole holding system, the user can install the Dishy above the RV safely and securely without climbing the ladder. Our patented system angles the pole into two mounts from t...

12/22/2022

When reflecting on the purchase of our 2022 Thor Freedom Traveler A30, I think we made all of the classic purchasing mistakes we could have made. That is why I don't like buying cars. Let me explain what happened. We found our dream motorhome on the last day of the quarter for the local Campingworld dealer. They were eager to get us a "deal," which I think we got based on my research of the discount. But I did NOT realize that they were still making money on me. They are making money on the RV loan and the additional 5-year extra warranty. They even "forced" us to take insurance through them, and I am sure they are making monthly money. Could we have "walked away" from the deal? Yes, of course. Did we want? No. Rita and I knew what was going on, but the situation was such that we did not want to turn back on what was done. The most disturbing thing was that the local CampingWorld general manager was sleek and smooth talking. The following day when we visited, he did not recognize us or even say hello. What does that tell you? We have purchased 15+ cars in the past 22 years, so we know what it is, but we have never purchased an RV. Next time if we change/buy a new one, we will be much wiser. I have learned through pages what others have been going through, and the experiences are similar. I don't have much respect for the local Campingworld location, but based on what I am hearing from others, it is the same with every RV dealer. Live and learn. That is the name of the game.

12/13/2022

Based on the interest in my Facebook post that showed my mobile office in our 2022 Thor Freedom Traveler A30, I decided to share the equipment information and the reason why I bought the equipment. I own a management consulting practice, and it is very important for me to be able to work when on the road with our motorhome, "Luna." It is very important for me to have two screens to work with in situations where I am expected to stay a bit longer. This applies to all of our properties as well as our motorhome. The requirement of the screens is to have a large enough screen resolution that allows me to be productive and have different applications open simultaneously. I spent considerable time looking at different options and ended up buying from Amazon, the following monitors: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7QH787/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The specks on the monitors are as follows:

UPERFECT Truely 4K Computer Monitor, 15.6" IPS UHD 3840X2160 USB C Monitor[100% sRGB Wide Color Gamut], HDR FreeSync Speaker Type-C HDMI OTG VESA Portable Monitor for Laptop PC Phone, Stand Smart Case

The location where I planned to use these monitors is on the front passenger side, which has a table I can move back and forth, which has worked beautifully. For the monitors, I had to buy monitor stands, which are as follows:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0875SL7VL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The specks on these are as follows: MOUNT UP Single Monitor Stands, Freestanding VESA Monitor Desk Mount fits 13 to 32-inch Computer Screen with Height Adjustable, Swivel, Tilt, Rotation, VESA 75x75 100x100 MU0023

My tablet is a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 i7 with 16GB of RAM and 512 Gig of solid-state disc.

My keyboard is Microsoft Designer Compact Keyboard, and you can see the specs behind the following links:

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Designer-Compact-Keyboard-21Y-00031/dp/B08JM45NSM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3VAG9RWD8EEAO&keywords=Microsoft+Designer+Compact+Keyboard&qid=1670950387&sprefix=microsoft+designer+compact+keyboard%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-3

I am super happy with the setup, it works for me, and it is easy to assemble and disassemble when we move from one place to another.

I hope this is helpful, and I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

12/10/2022

Our 6th trip (10th RV destination) took us back to Fredericksburg, Texas and to a brand new RV resort (Arch Ray RV Resort) which is still under construction. We were a bit unfortunate the entire week as it was raining and this resort specifically was not a pleasant visit as the roads were muddy to the spot that we had. The spot had artificial grass just beside the spot where we had our motor coach which made it a bit easier. We tried to walk to the nearest winery but that turned out to be impossible, both due to the mud and we would also had to walk along highway 290 which has lots of traffic. Our decision to have to pull a car got just stronger as we were really “hosed” at the RV site without a car. We decided to leave one day earlier as the rain just continued. However, I believe the RV park will be really nice once it is finished. The Wi-Fi in this place was fantastic, best of all the parks we have been in. I also want to emphasize that the location is nice if you want to visit wineries and you have a car. And it was not the fault of the RV park that it had been raining for a week, but with our three hairy dogs and mud… not a good combination. I am sure we will return to this park again. I realized that I only took one picture from the park… I guess the rain took a way my desire to take pictures. This was our last trip before winterization of our motor home and to get ready for 2023 season that will start late February, early 2023. -A30

12/10/2022

Our 6th trip (9th RV destination) too us to Medina Highpoint Resort which is along the beautiful highway 16 and between Medina and Kerrville, Texas. We have which we have ridden with our Honda Goldwing many times. Parts of this highway are so steep that I truly had to keep myself focused to get our 32-foot home safely to the resort. The location is beautiful and located in a valley with mountains around the resort. I guess that there is no cell reception, none. However, the resort will provide Wi-Fi which was pretty good so we could use our phones and Internet through the Wi-Fi. I even did a workshop for a Microsoft partner during the week and it worked well. However, we won’t be able to visit this place during a week when we have to work. We can’t rely on the resort Wi-Fi so until we have Internet through Starlink satellite internet access. We will get that before we continue our season in February-March 2023.

12/10/2022

Our 6th trip (8th RV destination) took us to a week long trip (November 18th to 26th, 2022) to Texas Hill Country. This was also our first ever Thanksgiving trip with our motor coach and Rita of course prepared my favorite Thanksgiving meal on the road.

We drove down on highway 281 with the first stop at Bending Oaks Ranch RV Resort in Fredericksburg, Texas. The RV resort is restricted to 21 years or older. We really liked the resort, the spot that had had a nice table by it with lots of grass around which of course was nice for our doggies. This RV location is on the famous highway 291 which has tens of different wineries that one can visit. This is the trip where we realized that we have to haul our Ford Edge with us going forward. It just restricts us too much if we don’t have our car with us. Our Thor Freedom Traveler A30 has a strong 7.3 liter V8 engine so it will be able to pull our Edge easily.

12/10/2022

Our 5th RV trip (7th RV park stay) took us to Peninsula Point Luxury RV & Tiny Home Resort by Richland-Chambers Lake close to downtown Corsicana, Texas. We made this trip September 30th, 2022 weekend. This is a brand new resort that is still in the building phase and we did like it, we even considered to buy a lot by the lake but decided not to after some consideration. The resort is only 2 hours from our house so we felt that it is close enough to just leave on Friday for a weekend and get back on Sunday evening. There are no services close by at this place either so unless you have a car, you are stuck to this place so you should have everything you need when you arrive to this location. Our spot was by the water and the sunsets were unreal. We will visit this place again in the future.

12/10/2022

Our 4th RV trip and 6th RV park stay took us back to Catherine’s Landing. We liked the place and as we returned from the Missouri/Arkansas border, we felt it was a good spot to stay when returning back to Dallas. We were luck as we got the same RV spot again by the river and all of our three doggies already knew the place so it was easier to get them also comfortable. This time we were in luck as Sebastian’s girlfriend Shelby came to visit us from Little Rock and took us to a nice restaurant in downtown Hot Springs.

12/10/2022

Our next RV park (5th RV park in our RV life) during our July 2022 took us to Missouri/Arkansas border by Table Rock Lake. This resort is considered as “luxury RV resort” and based on the RVs, it is. Even with our 32-foot motor home, we felt that we ”did not belong there”. Wealthy people have bought $500k-$1M motor homes that they keep in their lots and have maintenance people taking care of them. We understood that some even have similar expensive RVs in other places like Florida and they just move from one place to another. There are no restaurants on the site so if you want to go somewhere, you either have to use your RV or you have a car with you. Our spot was fantastic with a view to the lake and waking up in the morning, we were just in awe how beautiful the place was. This is also a resort where people stay for long term so our spot was rented by an owner of the spot. The place is beautiful, but I don’t think we will revisit as it is far from anything and we kind of like to have local services close by.

12/10/2022

Our 4th RV trip and 4th RV park was the first a bit longer trip where we wanted to test out if we can both work and enjoy RV life. We could. This trip took place July 11-17th, 2022. We departed Dallas and headed first towards Little Rock Arkansas and the first RV park was Cathrines Landing in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We truly love this place and also have our favorite spot close to the river with lots of grass for the doggies. The only downside in our stay was the weather. Humid and +100 Fahrenheit every day. It was so hot that one could not be outside for long and the only time we could enjoy our stay was mostly in the evening hours. This place does not have restaurants, just the resort small boutique so if you don’t have a car, you are out of luck if you want to visit downtown Hot Springs.