Monthly Archives: September 2013

full time RV

Can you give me some input on RV full timing?  Your opinion on best type of rig, size, must haves, etc.?  I’m thinking Class A or 5th wheel — but no experience

Our Response

Currently we have a Winnebago type 20+ foot camper because that is what was available when we needed it and in our price range.

The up side for the driver compartment being connected to the cabin portion is that you can spread out a bit and still be able to talk with each other. Your co-pilot can get cold drinks from the frig without stopping or make you a sandwich too. In the morning if you want an early start, you can get up and just start driving without the hassle of going outside to the truck. You can, depending on how you have the thing configured have a bread machine making bread for you while you drive. Others can sleep comfortable while one drives.

The down side is that your whole house goes with you to the store and if /when you have mechanical issues or need the engine serviced your whole house is in the shop for however long and you have to figure out where to live and how to get around during that time.

PULL behind

I like the bumper hitch type over a 5th wheel. A 5th wheel interrupts the use of the bed of the truck. I would want a camper shell for ‘extra’ hauling or to put stuff from the store or lumber whatever else you may want to haul. Several people that I know have an external gas tank mounted in the bed. I have seen 100 gal tank as a single and with 2 of the tanks- so 1600 – 1700 lbs of fuel. One guy that I talked with at church this summer has 1 – 109 gal tank and his range is from here in Wyoming to south Florida without refueling.

Generally the other up side to a pull behind is that it can be parked either at a park or free standing and left behind when you go shopping or to the movies or appointments ect, when the truck needs serviced you can still use your home on wheels. Also when the miles build up and you switch out the truck for a newer one the house stays the same, which is cheaper.

The down side is that everyone has to move from the camper to the truck when you are on the road. Given your situation ¾ to 1 ton crew cab may be a good choice.

POWER issues

We have 4 [I would like to expand this to 8] deep cycle marine batteries wired into the camper along with an 800 watt power converter so that it charges while we drive. The o2 concentrator and C-pap [s] run off the same system and we can set up stationary for 2 days before the batteries need to be charged again. We do have solar panels that help extend that time. We plan on adding a couple of 600 watt wind gens at a later date. We do have a 5,000 watt gen set as back up. At some point I would like to change that out for one in the 800-900 watt range as it will use less gas and will be easier to move around.

With some of the newer security systems out there you can alarm the door[s] and windows along with the truck & perimeter with wireless motion alarms and even have CC with a recorder.

How we got started in Preparedness

How we got started in Preparedness

My husband and I have been married 35 years and we started from the beginning of our marriage putting extra food by for a “rainy day”. Then the more my husband taught me about preparedness, the more I understood the importance of it. So we ramped up our ‘rainy day’ storage to include material, larger clothes for the kids and camping supplies and clothes.  After we joined the LDS church we had the Bishop’s storehouse available to us, so we really started to increase our supplies by adding bulk grain and beans to the ‘rainy day’ storage.  At that time we did not have the money to buy the cans and boxes so we put the food up in 2 liter coke bottles and juice bottles.  We also added water storage at that time.  Then when job pays became more generous we started putting food up in #10 cans and 6 cans to a cardboard box.  At that time we started getting cramped in space and got more creative in our storage, which we will talk about at a later time. I did object to food storage for a little while until my husband informed me of the importance of it.  He said what would you do or give up to get food for our children when they are hungry?  Some good shows to watch were “The day after”, “Red Dawn” the older one, “Dante’s Peak”, “Enemy of the State” and “The Day After Tomorrow” were ones that I watched and helped describe to me what [and why] we needed to prepare for.

Growing up I had some exposure to preparedness, we always had a garden and put food up from the garden. Then we would go to the local farmer’s market and get more peas and green beans and pecans. We would fish and put that up and my Dad would hunt.  Mom would buy extra paper products, toilet paper and paper towels. I also remember my mother and me taking my Dad to work early in the morning and my mother was dressed in her housecoat and slippers and I had my pajamas still on.  Now that I think about that, what would have happened if we had been in a wreck or if the car would have broken down.

That was the extent of it growing up, but I did have some prior training.  My grandfather loved to put food by for the winter, we said it was the squirrel in him, but he said it was just common sense. I remember the family at barbeques when he would cook a whole goat and then everyone would take some of it home and every time mother would warm some of it up for dinner, I would remember my grandfather.

Please refer your friends to www.PerpareSurviveThrive.us

Sterilizing surgical instruments in an autoclave. Back in the ‘war of northern aggression’ aka the first American civil war, they did not sterilize the surgical instruments between patients, most of the time they did not even wash them nor their hands in between patients. Back then the medical profession did not even know about the germ theory. Hence, many people died of infection.  Also back then we did not have ANY type of antibiotics.

 Today in a modern medical facility we have autoclaves that will fit on a table top and ‘industrial’ sized ones that you could walk into. The basic way that an autoclave works is by both raising the temperature to around 270 degrees F and the air pressure to around 15 PSI inside of a container which in turn kills all of the germs inside the instrument package. Typically you would maintain this for 10 to 45 minutes and then let it rest –just like cooking- to cool naturally to a temperature the was safe for you to handle. You can sterilize instruments individually or in ‘sets’ such as a suture set consisting of a needle driver or locking pliers, thumb forceps and scissors. The instruments would be wrapped in a double layer of cloth so that a ‘dirty’ person can hand the package to a ‘sterile’ person without contaminating either one of them.

 Now that we have that basis of understanding we can discuss what to do in a ‘field’ situation when you have to do all that outside of a modern medical facility like in a disaster or SHTF situation.

Mirro pressure cooker

Mirro pressure cooker

 In essence an autoclave is just a fancy [and high priced] pressure cooker or canner without the bells and whistles. Recently I was at several garage or rummage sales. At one of them –most likely an estate sale – I came across a colander for 50 cents and on another table there was a Mirromatic pressure cooker for $8.00 – it had ALL the spare / replacement parts to be able to maintain it for MANY years. And as you can see on the photo they were a perfect fit for each other!!! The colander in this case will suspend the instruments up out of the water and yet allow the steam and heat all the way around the package.   IM004523

 Now for the procedure. Step one wash your hands. :} that is ALWAYS the first step in any medical procedure. Then gather your supplies, in this case instruments you have already cleaned, cloth wraps -4 each, autoclave tape with is just masking tape that has strips of latex on it that turn brown when autoclaved – if you don’t have that, then just use plain masking tape and a magic marker to write on the tape the date and contents. Your home autoclave [pressure cooker and colander- if you don’t have one which will fit like my new one, then use 2 colanders which will fit inside the pressure cooker to keep the package out of the water]. Fill the pressure cooker about 2 inches deep with the cleanest water you have. Process the package.

 For longer and safer storage of your sterilized instrument package once it has cooled down and is totally dry you can wrap it with plastic.

 Let us pray that we never need to use this information in a real situation.

 

colander inserted into pressure cooker, almost as if they were made for each other.

colander inserted into pressure cooker, almost as if they were made for each other.