Winter Spring trip

jrhamel

Our T@B has decided it wants to take us on a long trip. We plan on leaving Wisconsin mid January and head south until we hit the Gulf of Mexico then west until we get to California then north as far as Mt. Vernon Washington. We have no time line, and nothing other than directions set in stone. We are looking for ideas of must see places in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. We are big outdoors people, mountain bikers and hikers. Love out of the way places where there are not a lot of other people but we also want to make sure we see the classic places as well. We plan on doing boondocking and National and State Park camping as well. 
Thanks for the ideas

nhmike

I'd definitely go through Sedona, Arizona and head up to the Grand Canyon. 

Lesley_and_Ian

We live in Wisconsin too and are planning an April May trip south.  How will you deal with de winterizing your T@B?  Is there a night time temp at which you still need to have the systems winterized?

Verna

@Lesley_and_Ian, I live full time in my 400, and I spent over 6 months a year in my T@B S Max.  

I follow a self-imposed rule that I always kept at least one gallon of the pink anti-freeze with me during the fall to spring. If the night time temps were going to stay at or below 30* for more than 8 hours, I winterized and put the pink anti-freeze in the traps for sink, shower, toilet and made sure I sprayed some on the exit gates for the black and gray tanks. 

Using the blowout method for winterization is very quick, so you can perform it anywhere where it’s OK to dump your fresh water tank to keep that water from freezing. I always keep bottled water with me for drinking and cooking and when it’s freezing, I fill a 4-gallon jug for use for heating water for washing dishes. Use the pink anti-freeze for flushing the toilet and dump your tank frequently.

The blow out method also keeps the pink anti-freeze out of your fresh water tank, so you don’t have to worry about sanitizing it when it’s warm enough to fill the tank.

If you are unfamiliar with the method, documentation is in the category of User Manual....located on the left side of the forum page. 

DougH

Padre Island in TX is always nice.  Free boondocking right on the gulf.  Heading west from there, the Ft. Davis to Alamogordo NM stretch (caverns, "mountains", national forest, White Sands NP) has plenty of cheap to free places to park with spots to ride, hike, climb.

Donna

White Sands, NM.  Mesilla, NM.  Big Bend, TX. Taos, NM. Tucson and San Xavier del Bac, AZ

Lesley_and_Ian

Verna, thanks for the advice.  We have an older DM T@B so it will be easier than your description.  But it reassures me we can do it!

jrhamel

Thanks @Donna and @DougH, I've added your suggestions to our list. 
@Lesley_and_Ian we plan on de-winterizing as soon as we get far enough south where temperatures allow. Will more than likely have to re-winterize before we return to Wisconsin. 

Tundra57

With the blow out method, do you also suck antifreeze into the pump which gets bypassed when you blow out through the city water port? I have a dealer installed valve to allow me to quickly suck up antifreeze into the pump.

ScottG

Tundra57 said:

With the blow out method, do you also suck antifreeze into the pump which gets bypassed when you blow out through the city water port? I have a dealer installed valve to allow me to quickly suck up antifreeze into the pump.

Most directions I've seen say just to run the pump dry and disconnect the the lines. Some of us--perhaps in an overabundance of caution--do run a little antifreeze through the pump just to drive out any residual water that my be lingering there.

For guidance you might wish to consult the ScottG Winterization Worry Scale.  :-)

driftless

Palo duro and Caprock Canyons State Parks in the Texas Panhandle are great for hiking.  Petrified Forest and Painted Desert near Winslow, AZ are also beautiful.