Low-impact travel, sustainable habits, water management, waste reduction and mindful living on the road.
when things go wrong at 2am in 15°F weather january 2022, caballo lake, new mexico. 2:17am. i woke up to silence. no furnace hum. no diesel heater fan. nothing. rv interior: 48°F and dropping. outside: 15°F. i had 90 minutes to diagnose and fix whatever failed before interior temp dropped to genuinely dangerous levels. i … Read more
stop guessing what winter will cost you most rvers have no idea what they spend on heat until they’re refilling propane tanks every 10 days and doing math on a gas station receipt. i made that mistake my first winter. $270 in december alone, just for heat. i had no budget because i’d never calculated … Read more
why quartzsite is the rv world’s winter capital 750,000 rvers descend on a small arizona desert town every january. no hookups. no reservations. just 11,000 acres of BLM land, a $180 seven-month pass, and the largest gathering of full-time rvers on the planet. i’ve spent parts of four winters at quartzsite. my first trip (january … Read more
the $115 upgrade that cut my propane bill by 30% january 2023, quartzsite, arizona. i’d been camping three days with no skirting. floor was cold enough to feel through wool socks. furnace ran 80% of the time overnight. propane consumption: 3 gallons per night. day four i installed DIY skirting using plastic storage bins and … Read more
the battery failure that almost ended my winter december 2022, 5°F, southern utah. i woke up at 3am to a silent rv. furnace off. lights off. everything dead. my two 100Ah AGM batteries had drained to 10.8V overnight, and at 5°F the solar controller refused to charge them at sunrise. i sat in a 38°F … Read more
why your propane furnace is costing you $900 every winter i spent $270 in propane during december 2025 heating my 28-foot travel trailer at caballo lake, new mexico. the next month, i switched to a chinese diesel heater. same rv, same thermostat setting, same exterior temperatures. january propane bill: $45. that $225 monthly difference is … Read more
Why winter boondocking is worth the challenge the appeal of winter solitude my first winter boondocking trip happened in january 2019 at quartzsite, arizona. i pulled into the LTVA area expecting emptiness and found 200,000 other rvers. turns out winter boondocking isn’t about avoiding people, it’s about choosing your level of community while paying zero … Read more
Why maintenance matters more than the filter itself Three years into full-time RVing, I got lazy. I’d been using the same inline filter for six months without replacement. it still allowed water to flow, so I figured it was fine. Then my family got sick. stomach issues, headaches, fatigue. we eventually traced it back to … Read more
Choosing between the top three brands When I ask fellow RVers what water filter they use, three brand names come up repeatedly: clearsource, camco, and clear2o. these aren’t just the most popular, they represent three different philosophies in RV water filtration. After using products from all three brands over eight years, I’ve learned their strengths, … Read more
Why installation is easier than you think When I bought my first RV water filter eight years ago, I stared at it for 20 minutes trying to figure out where it went. The instructions said “connect between pressure regulator and hose” but I didn’t even know what a pressure regulator was. I almost returned the … Read more