Stargazer's Garage

While Roam Mobility worked fine for us in Portland, coverage in rural areas is severely lacking. Despite their access map showing coverage along Highway 20 as far east as Hamilton, in reality, we lost data on the outskirts of Sedro Woolley. At the campground, I switched in the AT&T SIM card and all is good again. Data is my oxygen.

I recently purchased a Nitecore EA4W  flashlight after educating myself with some of the excellent reviews written by Selfbuilt over on CandlePowerForums. I'm very pleased with this high-powered compact LED flashlight that runs on only 4 AA batteries. Before I knew anything about the real world of flashlights I purchased a  MAGLITE® LED 3-Cell D Flashlight from Walmart. You can see it in the top picture. It's brightness is rated at 131 Lumens. By contrast, the Nitecore EA4 is much more compact and rated at 860 Lumens . The picture on the bottom right shows the Maglite on the left and the Nitecore on the right shining on a fence about 30 ft away. The difference is clear. The Nitecore is noticeably brighter in the grass directly in front as well as on the fence.  I bought the "W" version of the Nitecore EA4 that has a warmer LED than the cool white that is also available. The Maglite has a cool white LED. The compact size of the Nitecore EA4 will make it much ea...

We were camping in our Keystone Premier 31BHPR one weekend when our neighbors in the next site mentioned that they had something called The Sewer Solution. The way they described the way it worked interested me, so we decided to buy one for ourselves while we were in Orgeon to save having to pay sales tax. I have to say, I totally love the system. It definitely makes dumping our tanks a much nicer experience.... From Bullet Mods and Accessories The Sewer Solution works by using water pressure to force waste down through the narrow hose. That means you need to run an extra water line to the sewer valves. Because we always stay at campgrounds with full hook-ups, that's never a problem for us. From Bullet Mods and Accessories From Bullet Mods and Accessories After you turn on the water jet, you open the valve and the waste gets pushed into the campground sewer system. When the black tank is empty, close the valve and open the grey tank. After it's all empty, what remain...

Debriefing Notes: The campground was much busier this time with neighbors all along the row with us. It was nice to have other children for our kids to play with. When we arrived the power tongue jack on our Keystone Premier 31BHPR was not working. I suspect that it might be a loose ground like it was before. I'll fiddle with it more our next trip. Didn't have the manual crank with me so I just left the trailer 1" nose up. It wasn't an issue sleeping inside. Overnight temperatures were around 5 C. Bought a couple of vent opening pillows to put up at night to reduce the amount of heat loss through the ceiling in the evenings. Tried it Saturday night and the furnace seemed to run less constantly. Need to find some way to warm the 16 oz propane bottle for our table-top patio heater. With these cold temperatures, the bottle ices up quite quickly and pressure drops so much that the heater turns off even when there's still propane left. Keeping the bottle warm would...

We averaged about two gas stops per day on our road trip in the GMC Yukon XL Denali and Keystone Premier 31BHPR. We did one stop in the morning and one in the afternoon. A full tank cost just under $70 depending on where we were in the country. I took this picture while we were in Montana because they don't have such low (85.5) octane fuel where I live. It's strange to me because no vehicle I've ever seen before required anything LESS than 87 octane for optimum performance.... Even with fuel in Blaine, WA now costing nearly a dollar MORE per gallon than it did last summer, it's still cheaper than it is in Canada so traveling in the US always saves us money.

Our stop for the night on day 3 of our 2010 Road Trip was Bozeman, MT. In the late afternoon, we could see dark clouds on the horizon and we followed the outskirts of a heavy thunderstorm eastward on the I-90. The timing couldn't have been better because when we arrived in Bozeman, the clouds parted and the sun came out. We stopped at the Walmart to pick up some food and supplies (including a disposable water filter for our Keystone Premier 31BHPR) and saw that the thunderstorm had left behind some flooded streets. We stayed at Bear Canyon Campground just outside of town. We had pull-through site #4 with water, electricity, and sewer. No fire pit. The campground was pretty and the location convenient (just off the I-90) but the pull-through sites, while long, were very narrow. With a playground for the kids and an inviting pool (which we arrived too late to use), it was good for passing through on a one night stay but not for anything longer because the neighbors were too clos...

Day 3 of our 2010 Road Trip in our GMC Yukon XL Denali and Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer had us traveling from Spokane, WA to Bozeman, MT, and according to Google Maps, covering a total distance of 645 km (400 miles) with an estimated 6 hours of driving. To tell the truth, this leg of the trip was the one that I was most concerned about because we were passing through the Rockies and over the Continental Divide with an elevation of 6393 feet. I've driven this route several times already in a passenger vehicle but never while pulling a trailer. I didn't know how the Denali would handle pulling the Keystone's 7600 lb GVWR for extended climbs. Our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali has a 6.2L engine with 380 HP @ 5500 rpm and 417 lb-ft torque @ 4400 rpm. The transmission is a 6-speed automatic with full-time AWD and it's never had any problems keeping up with traffic when pulling a travel trailer. I'm happy to say that it was no different in the high mountain passes. ...

We arrived in Spokane, WA, the final destination after our first full day on the road, shortly after 16:00. At Trailer Inns RV Park, the sites were the shortest we encountered during our entire road trip. The total length of our GMC Yukon XL Denali and Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer is about 55' long (the ProPride 3P hitch adds an extra foot), longer than the available pull-through sites, but the manager was friendly and helpful in guiding us into our spot. This is an urban RV park but there was a nice playground for the kids to play while we setup for the night. One item of RV gear we discovered that we needed was a water filter. Living in Metro Vancouver, we were not used to the hard water we found in Spokane and luckily we had enough fresh water in our tank to last the evening. I picked up a disposable water filter at our next Walmart stop and it worked well for the rest of the trip. When we pulled in to our site, our Keystone Premier attracted attention and questi...

This is a picture of our GMC Yukon XL Denali and Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer parked at the Winchester Wasteway Rest Area near Moses Lake, WA. Its name notwithstanding, we stopped here for lunch on the second day of our 2010 Road Trip. Because it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, this location was very quiet compared to the bustling Indian John Hill rest stop we made earlier in the morning. There were still people coming steadily through, but everyone seemed to be in passenger cars coming in only for a quick pit stop and zooming back on the road right away. There were not very many RVs and no tractor trailers at all. The wide open parking lot allowed us to put out the slides and have a very relaxing lunch. This is one of the great benefits of RVing and hauling around our own portable hotel room!

We pulled over for our first stop in the morning at Indian John Hill Rest Stop at about 10:00. It's was a very busy location with lots of people coming in and out but I was able to pull our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali and 35' Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer into a nice central parking spot. This rest area was large with nice grassy areas, picnic tables, and plenty of tourist information. The view is very nice, too, with the Stuart mountain range in the distance. Unfortunately, there was one dog owner who didn't follow the signs and had their large dogs loose outside the designated dog area, so I couldn't let our 2-year-old play in the grass. It was too bad because he really needed to work off some energy. We're lucky all our 5 kids travel really well. We've done extended road trips in the past, including driving to... ...Washington, DC, (see Road Trip 2007 , Road Trip 2008 , Road Trip 2009 ) and we generally find that leaving not too early, having a ...

The first full day of our 2010 Road Trip opened with blue skies and we were happy to put the previous evening's border glitch behind us and get on the road in earnest. The goal for today was to reach Spokane, WA, and seeing the sun appear from the mountains behind us was energizing.... Since we had arrived at Camping World in Burlington pretty late, all the spots in the back lot were full. We ended up parking on the side lot and left around 07:00 hoping not to impact workers arriving in the morning too much.

In August 2010, our family of 7 went on a road trip in our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali and 35' Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer. From Vancouver, Canada, we drove over 7500 km (4650 miles) through the United States taking the I-94 East to Thunder Bay, Ontario and the I-90 West back home from Minneapolis, MN. We spent nearly 30 days on the road living out of our trailer and had an incredibly great time. However, the journey was not without its bumps (including the first night when we found ourselves in the wrong lane at the border crossing and a flat tire in North Dakota), but every "wrong turn" we encountered happened at the "best" possible time to NOT ruin our trip. Even the bent axle that forced us to spend an extra 3-days in Deer Lodge, Montana, did not put a dark shadow on our vacation, because it allowed us to explore and make a special connection to a place we had no idea existed. As a result, we saw a very beautiful part of the country that we will alwa...

It's been a busy summer for us. It's been a GREAT summer for us. We completed our longest trip ever with our travel trailer going from Vancouver to Thunder Bay, Ontario via the USA with extra stops in Minneapolis and the SPAM Museum. The trip included over 8000 km of driving through 27 days and all sorts of wonderful sights and beautiful locations as well a flat tire, a worn out tire, a bent axle, and a wheel bearing failure. It all worked out well, though, and despite all that, we're really happy with our 2010 Keystone Premier 31BH and I'm quite impressed with the way our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali performed during the entire trip. Also, I can forget the ProPride 3P hitch : it was great and I was really, REALLY happy we had it especially when we hit the 50 mph wind gusts in the Dakotas. I'm uploading some of the pictures I took along the way to my Picasa album . I'll also post up some thoughts of our RV adventures here when I can.... Most of the pictures...

We took our Keystone Premier 31BH travel trailer RV out for the second time this past weekend. We went to the exact same pull-through site at Grandy Creek that we went on the Victoria Day long weekend a couple of months ago. Leaving on the Friday night after dinner was really nice. Traffic was light and smooth and we arrived at the campground around 9 pm. This time, I packed it with more gear and supplies to see what it would be like to tow during our extended road trip later this summer. I'm getting more used to the new towing setup now and found that it towed even better than before. The biggest difference was that I inflated the rear tires on our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali to the maximum 44 psi as shown on the sidewall and I raised the weight distribution bars on our ProPride 3P hitch to 8 inches. It felt very smooth and the forward/back tugging sensation that I felt on our last trip had disappeared. I think it has to be due to loading the RV differently with more balanced weight ...

Thanks to other Keystone Premier 31BHPR owners at RV.net I knew to check out the stabilizer jacks on our travel trailer even before we went out on our first trip. The problem with the jacks from the factory was that the stop nut that prevented the rods from backing all the way out when you retracted the jacks was loose. Ours suffered from the same problem and all four stabilizer jacks were replaced after we returned from our maiden voyage.... The hardware on each of the new jacks definitely look beefier than the originals. It was interesting that all four were not replaced with the same brand. The ones in the rear were branded Husky (as shown in the picture). But even though the hardware looks the same, the ones in the front had no name. The only conclusion I can make is that they are NOT Husky stabilizer jacks.

I took our Keystone Premier 31BH out of the valley and brought it into town last night so that I could get some service done. I was able to adjust the ProPride Hitch and get another impression of it since my first time towing with it last week. I set the weight distribution bars to 7.5" and I think it's the right setting because the forward/back motion--which I learned is called "chucking"--is minimized and the steering feels good. I might also try 8" again next time just to confirm. Also, after towing again last night I'm confident that my installation was correct because the whole rig pulls nice and straight. My previous complaint about it being tedious to raise and lower the WD bars with a ratchet socket has been nullified after I realized that I had a speed wrench (like the one used for the stabilizer jacks) that I could use. It's much stronger than the one for the stabilizer jacks so there's no worry about breaking it and it makes the process of...

We just completed the trip with our new 2010 Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer. It was also my first experience towing with the ProPride hitch. However, because I couldn't complete the entire installation in one day, I have some doubts my own setup. I need to remove the hitch anyway so that our dealer can work on the trailer, so I'll be able to reinstall the hitch and make sure I do it right. Here are my initial impressions on towing with the ProPride hitch.... It's definitely easy to hook up with no effort--the Denali's backup camera makes it simple. But it's time consuming having to raise and lower the WD bars with a socket wrench whenever I want to hitch and unhitch. My cordless drill doesn't have enough torque to turn the adjustment screw, otherwise I would use it. After hooking up and adjusting the weight distribution bars, the trailer was nose-high. I wasn't able to fix it right away, but after we got to the KOA I was able lower the hitch bar one ...

We just completed the shakedown trip for our 2010 Keystone Premier 31BHPR. Because the 35' trailer doesn't fit on our driveway, we had to keep it at the storage lot. That made setting things up a lot harder. In fact, we didn't get all the final pieces into place until the morning that we left. Luckily, it didn't take us too long to get on the road and even with taking our time to stop at a weigh scale, Hagen's of Blaine to pick up a couple of items, and a rest stop to make some minor adjustments, we were able to get to the campsite by about 3pm. We decided to go to this KOA for our shakedown trip even though it's farther away from home because we came here lots last summer and are very familiar with the facilities. Getting a pull through site made things that much easier. We found that we actually like the pull through sites a little bit better because they back onto the very large open field where the kids can play while we watch them. Overall, it was a good we...

From Bullet Mods and Accessories I did a lot of research over the past year about different kinds of hitches and although we never had a problem with our Reese HP Dual Cam system, the thought of towing a 35' trailer very near our limits across the Prairies this summer made it easier for us to upgrade. We the same trip a couple of years ago on the tail of some severe thunderstorms and I know how strong the winds can get. After reading information and comments from owners and non-owners of variety of hitches including the Equal-i-zer, Dual Cam, PullRite, Hensley Arrow, and ProPride 3P, I decided the ProPride 3P Hitch was the best one for us. I'm really glad I did, too, because customer service has been top notch and beyond what can usually be expected from "average" companies. I completed the install of the ProPride myself. It was fairly straightforward. I didn't bother to take any pictures of my progress because I found that Restcure.ca is a great resource with a...

We're another step closer to getting on the road with our brand new 2010 Keystone Premier 31BHPR travel trailer. The ProPride 3P hitch I ordered several weeks ago was shipped 11 May 2010 and is making its way from Grand Blanc, MI to the west coast. It left Hodgkins, IL this morning. I can't wait! UPDATE: 14 May 2010 The hitch is now on the West Coast! View ProPride 3P Hitch Journey in a larger map Can you tell I'm excited? Past journey as of 12 May 2010 View ProPride 3P Hitch Journey in a larger map