Even we could never have imagined doing THIS in a t@b 320 S!

dragonsdofly

Since December, 2021, we have lived in our 30' 2006 Keystone Laredo travel trailer. But it needed extensive slide room repair this summer. We own several houses, but all are occupied and we couldn't find an appropriate hotel/motel accommodations, so we moved into our first love, our t@b trailer. All 7 of us! Husband (Jim), me, 4 cats (May, June, July and August) and our long time parrot companion (since 1983) Chico.

To say we are crowded is an understatement. It is a strenuous challenge and then some!

Chico occupies the galley countertop.



Cats pile themselves in the corners, on the bed, on the back shelf, everywhere. They charge into the wet bath whenever we open the door. There is cat litter in every nook, cranny and every wrinkle in the bedsheet.





We have to close the windows whenever we step outside because the cats try to follow, and as everyone knows, those screens will not restrain bugs, let alone 12-15 lbs of determined cat, 4 times over. Even the 90+° F days require closed windows if we have to leave. Challenges to overcome every hour. Six on the bed is a puzzle in progress.

During this time, cat fur has become one of our main food groups. Vacuuming the fan screen is effective for 10 minutes or so. We no longer can see the fan blades turning. I think we're letting a large fur blanket accumulate up there and it will be easier to peel off later. We're living out of plastic containers kept outside the t@b and cooking on our grill outside. We're really "roughing it" in a very different way.

I've cooked breakfast by the flaslight on my phone, because the husband gets up at 4 am to go to work, and the bird screams if there is any light source. We don't want everyone in this campground to be awakened at 4 am by a screaming (to greet the day) parrot who can be heard up to ½ mile away. We're trying if not succeeding to be good camping neighbors.

Our understanding of difficulty has shifted. And yet, our t@b never complains. It shelters us from the torrential downpours of the last few days. Puts up with the cats sharpening their nails everywhere and deals with the logistics of moving the bird to the bed while cooking inside. It has been there for us during this stressful, very crowded time. It has endured many cat box cleanings, more wipe downs and floor washings than it has ever had. And still provides us with the enjoyment of having it.

We can't imagine never having had our t@b. After several weeks of this situation, we anticipate moving back into the large trailer soon. It will be wonderful to have all the interior room we've become accustomed to, but then we can take our t@b trailer for some several day or weekend outings of the more normal kind. Our furry and feathered family can stay for 2 or 3 days in the big trailer. And we can enjoy actually camping in our t@b again!

Mouseketab

Wow!!! That is a crowd

BrianZ

Incredible.  I cannot imagine.

dragonsdofly

Aaaaaaaaahhh! Could all of you hear the collective sighs of 7 formerly very cramped souls this afternoon? Our state of distress has ended. We are back in our much repaired 30 ft Laredo travel trailer. The slide (large at over 13' in length) has a new floor, a new roof and and a slide topper to protect the roof. The cats are sprawled, the husband is hungry and the bird "sang" when placed back on his high shelf. We are so relieved, but happy to have had the t@b as a backup and roof over our heads during this tightly squeezed time.

Thanks for listening.

P. S. I hope none of you ever complains about not having enough room in your t@b after hearing about our challenge/adventure. And note, we will never be homeless as long as we have our t@b!

 -Denise, Jim, May, June, July, August and Chico

dlb

Great story, thanks for sharing!

dragonsdofly

@dlb so glad you enjoyed it. It is in the spirit of sharing our predicament that our tale was offered. Through the travels and adventures we began having with our t@b, we learned we might want to transition to full timing, and we have. We are so very lucky to be able to keep and use more than one trailer and are grateful for the privilege. Thank you for the nod. This experience has been another well earned accomplishment in our new to us rv'ing lifestyle. 

Now, on to more life and continuing adventures.

P.S. your "dlb" happens to be my initials.

Fair weather and great roads and trails to everyone who t@bs!

BrianZ

We've never complained!  But then, we've never had a May, June, July, & Aug in our T@B all at once! 

dragonsdofly

@BrianZ but you may have had a Chico in there with you?

All in fun!

BrianZ

Nor a Chico, but we've got two indoor felines at home, plus an outdoor adopted feral.

dragonsdofly

@BrianZ we and the animal spirits commend you! Our calender cats were a feral born litter. I had originally asked to adopt 2 kittens so they could be companions and young enough to adapt to vehicle travel, but after a few conversations with the shelter/agency, they first requested we take the black kitten (May) too as they have trouble finding suitable homes for black cats. A few days later the query came to also adopt July (normal tiger stripe) as she was so wild and unmanageable  that no one could handle her.  Thus they feared she'd be turned loose to be feral again. I agreed and that's how we came to domesticate and raise this entire litter.

Btw, they came from the shelter with their names. May, June (tortie) and July are female and August (buff stripe) is male.

Sometimes things are just supposed to be THAT way. The fates have arranged it so.

4 cats, an Amazon parrot, and 2 humans in a t@b 320 for almost 3 weeks. Who could've thunk it?

That's our story and we're sticking to it!

BrianZ

We've had rescue cats for over 40 years; never less than 2, but never an entire litter.  We took three with us to Germany when the Army moved me there.  One of our current girls is a tortie.  Nice to hear you were able to keep a whole litter together.  That must have helped them to adapt.  Amazing that you could though. Congrats on your survival skills, @dragonsdofly !

dragonsdofly

@BrianZ we've got you beat. Rescuing for 60 yrs. At one point the husband found a just born abandoned litter of 5 brothers. We waited an entire day for the mother, but she dropped them and left. The following day, with umbilicals still attached they made their first trip to the vet. When the doc asked me to name them for vet records, I answered 9,10, 11, 12 & 13 because there were already 8 living in the house. We rescued 2 German Shepherds in a 20 yr period, punctuated by a red king doberman after the Shepherds. At one time, Chico was 1 of 3 Double Yellowhead parrots, plus the vet gave me a rescued Patagonian Conure. At the same time there were the aforementioned 13 cats. All the while we helped with 5 nieces and had 2 great nephews for 13 yrs. Seems we have an open door policy. And wouldn't change a thing.

Surely you and your family have earned your place in pet heaven.

Meanwhile we're still working on accomplishing that honor. -Denise

Btw, it's not survival skills, but accumulated life experience.

N7SHG_Ham

I know not one person with a slide who doesn't have to have extensive repairs, they add floor space, but they all seem to have issues, you aren't alone. Airstream and the Avia for bigger trailers without a slide if I decide to get something bigger than the Tab 400.

dragonsdofly

@N7SHG_Ham we bought this trailer knowing it had problems. The Laredo, whether travel trailer or 5th wheel is the top of the Keystone line (not saying much after owning a t@b). But it was purchased for it's extreme cargo carrying capacity. At only 30 ft long it has 3,200 lbs CCC. Even 40/45 ft 5th wheels don't have that much and we needed it.

We were in our house for 43 yrs. We accumulated a lot. While I can pare down, remember we've got 45,000 miles with 4 people in the t@b, we had pretty big full time plans. 

The first clue I had while inspecting this trailer for purchase was the mushrooms growing in the bedroom carpet, a sure sign there was rotten wood in the floor. Probing found a section 6 ft long and 18 inches wide of soft to non-existant floor between the bedroom and the slide. No problem. We could handle that and the price got knocked down even more. Found the leak source, did a 2-3 ft roof seam cleanup and recaulk. Husband removed the entire finish flooring, loose laid vinyl, and excavated the rotted floor section, replaced the bad osb with plywood, and then my brother (finish carpenter) installed vinyl plank flooring. Good to go. In the meantime, I repainted the entire trailer and some cabinets. Removed the dining banquette and table, replaced with 30" tall kitchen wall cabinets and straddled a 16" wide board on top of the cabinets (6 ft long) for our table. I sew, so this space is multi functional. Cabinets gave me extra kitchen and sewing storage space. I sewed a slip cover for the jack-knife sofa in purple, found a plum colored carpet for the slide, cut it to fit and then learned to dyi carpet binding. Took us 2 yrs with the husband still working full time. One day while putting the slide out we heard and felt a big thud. Shook the entire trailer. Slide still operated, but had dropped 3 inches on the end closest to the rear of the trailer. It went in for inspection and ensuing explanation. The end that dropped holds the fridge and rv techs found the fridge drain line was coiled under the fridge itself. Appeared to have come from the factory that way. For 13 yrs every time the fridge was used its frost and moisture was pooling under the fridge. Invisible damage. The big thud was the subfloor of osb giving way. The ¾" plywood floor was still intact, but we had diagnosed problems.  The fridge drain line was immediately routed to drain outside and we still got another 2 years of use. The slide floor replacement was pre-emptive as was the roof repair. We did it before it failed and stranded us. Now mechanically we're good for another 16 yrs with it.

Back to the reason for the extreme cargo capacity. Along with making it suit our needs, my husband rewired everything to 12V for efficiency. This beast was meant to be towed to a campground and plugged in. Almost everything was 110/120V. Lights, all outlets etc. It is a 2006 model yr and that was customary. Few people owning a trailer that slept 6 boondocked then. All light switches were on the light fixtures on tne 6' 10" ceiling. I couldn't reach any of them. After wiring new 12V circuits, removing most of the 110/120V lines, husband dropped lines through the walls for wall mounted switches. Oh, joy. I could turn lights, fans and accessories on or off with the flick of a wall switch.

That led to the last step in our plan. A trip with the trailer to Elkhart, Indiana and Future Solutions for a whamma jamma super slick solar install. 1.4 k in 8 rigid panels on the roof in the form of 4, 2 panel circuits. 2, 50 amp charge controllers, a 3,600 watt inverter (always on) and 600 ah of heated Battleborns. All weighing in at somewhere between 1,000-1,200 lbs and filling our entire pass-through storage with switches, equipment redundancies, safeties and every kind of solar wizardry necessary for our self-sufficiency.  More technological wizardry was installed in our tow vehicle to allow us to feed those hungry LiFePO batteries if ever necessary from the truck without damage to the truck or the Battleborns. 

We are back in Michigan, in a working type campground. Almost everyone here works at the power plant across a tiny river from us doing updates and expansion construction. Electrical charges are $7.50 a day and .19 cents per kwh. Most other resident campers have electrical bills of $300-400 a month plus the monthly lot rental. We haven't had to plug in except for the 19 days in the t@b. And we are in a relatively shady spot, not getting any sun until after 2 pm.

So we bought this particular trailer for the floorplan, the cargo capacity and because I wouldn't feel bad tearing it apart to make it mine. Some bumps along the way, but that is life. You never know if the next hailstorm will damage your home's roof and reveal or create bad spots.  Such had been our journey with the Laredo trailer. 

Thankfully, our t@b, built for us, was plug and go, and still is.

Well, look at that book I wrote! Highjacked my own thread did I. And that's how it how it goes.

-Denise & N8ZLQ