RV Shows can be a fun but overwhelming experience. We created this guide and cheat sheet to help you remember what to look for when you are checking out all of those RVs and to help you remember what you saw by the time you get home.

When we started thinking about the possibility of full-time RVing, we started attending local RV shows to get a feel for what was available. We only had experience with our little pop-up and didn’t have a clue what type of RV we wanted to buy. Going to the RV shows let us see a bunch of different types of RVs and brands in one place and take a few minutes to make ourselves at home. We got a feel for the kind of layout we liked and what might work for us. We even made a trip to the big Hershey, PA show to have a broader experience! The shows helped us narrow down our choices and helped us down the path to our motorhome life. 

We know RV shows are on a lot of people’s must-do lists this time of year and we thought we’d help out. The shows were helpful for us, but they can also be a lot of work. We put together some tips that helped us get through the RV shows with our sanity still intact and our gathered info at our fingertips. We also created a cheat sheet you can carry with you to the RV show and mark down the pertinent information for each RV you like. This way, when you get home you won’t be wondering if that brown RV had enough storage for you. This should make your shopping process MUCH easier.

RV SHOW TIPS:

• If you can, find out which dealers are coming to the show and find out if they are bringing models in which you are interested.
• Get a map of the show and find RVs you are looking for and make sure to hit those first.
• You don’t have to pick up every brochure at the show. They will get heavy by the end and almost all of that information can be easily found online on the manufacturers’ websites.
• Keep a running list of your top 3 RVs. Constantly update the list as you find RVs that are better suited for you than the ones in your top 3. 
• Remember what type of camping you want to do. This lifestyle is different than living in a house. For instance, features that may make sense in a house, like a residential fridge, can make it a bit more difficult to boondock.
• Take a picture of the sales sheet or model sticker on the RV before you start taking pictures of the RV. This will help you to keep track of which pictures go with which RVs. They will all start to blur together after a while.
• Look at the layout of the RV to see if the living spaces are still accessible with the slides in. Can you get to the bathroom, refrigerator, bedroom etc?
• Save the million dollar luxury RVs for the end of the show after you have seen your prospects. Unless you came for the million dollar RVs!
• Print out multiple copies of our RV Show Cheat Sheet so you can take notes while you walk through the RVs. It will also help to remind you to check for the features that are important to you.

Get your copy of the RV to Freedom – RV Show Cheat Sheet.

WHAT TO BRING:

• Comfortable shoes
• Notebook and pen
• Camera to photograph RVs in which you are interested
• Water/Snacks – There is always food at the shows but it’s usually overpriced
• A bag to carry brochures
• Copies of the RV Show Tips and RV Show Cheat Sheets

Most of all don’t feel pressured to buy at the show. Those show prices are normal and available all of the time. All of these RVs came off of local dealers’ lots and they will all go back there after the show. If the one you are looking at gets sold, just be patient. They are all mass-produced, so you will find another one.

Even if you aren’t planning on buying a new RV, it can be helpful to attend RV shows to see many different types of RVs and floor plans all in one place. This can help you figure out what you like and don’t like.

This month marks three years on the road for us. It feels like it was only yesterday that we started this journey, yet we can hardly remember our lives before. We’ve had many ups and few downs living an in RV, but we’re quite content with our lives. Part of this may come from the transformation we’ve experienced since we’ve been traveling full-time. 

How Living in an RV has Changed Us

We know we changed as the years passed, but this was recently confirmed when we visited some friends from college. The last time we had visited was two years ago, only one year into traveling full-time. This visit, they couldn’t get over how much we’ve changed, especially Brandon. It helped us to see there were more changes than we realized happening and we knew it all stemmed from our experience on the road.

Curtailed Consumerism

When you live in an RV, you adopt a mantra: one in, one out. There just isn’t the room to collect things. We started paring down our collection of stuff in preparation for living in an RV, but once you’re in it, the lack of extra storage space really helps to curtail any retail therapy you may employ. The fact that we no longer watch much TV and even fewer commercials means we’re not as bombarded by messaging to buy, buy, buy and have less impulse to go shopping. We now collect memories and sunsets with a few smashed pennies and stickers thrown in for good measure.

Additionally, we enjoy slowing down, sitting around campfires with friends, hiking, exploring in our off-road capable toad, and generally just hanging out. We aren’t out to see everything possible and spend every dime we have to get into theme parks and such. We take pleasure in what’s around us and the company we keep.

Laid Back Planners

While neither of us were ever crazy planners, Kerensa did like to have a general plan of where we were going and what was around when we got there. Sometimes that skill still comes in handy like planning for the Florida Keys, but for the most part, we don’t make reservations anymore. We prefer to stay loose with our plans and be able to adjust quickly to meet friends, dodge weather, or choose a destination on a whim!

Our lives have become more laid back and we have become more laid back with them. Going to Mexico for a dental check-up was not something Brandon would have entertained three years ago. Now, it’s just part of the RVer life. When things break, we don’t stress too much. We just make a plan to fix it, adjust, and move on.

Super Social

We both identify as introverts and only keep a few close friends. But living in an RV has made us more social than ever. We are usually up for any kind of RVer meet-up and we’ve made so many friends this way. Connections are made quick, but deep. Never before have we felt such a strong sense of community while living in a fixed location. We keep up with our friends digitally when not together, but we will go out of our way to meet-up when possible. We plan gatherings in the winter and try to attend Xscapers convergences when we’ll be in the area. We have more friends in our circle now than all our years before! We wrote more about how we stay in touch in Staying Social on the Road.

Only a small portion of the friendly faces we’ve met on the road

Best Things about Living in an RV

There are many reasons we love our life on the road. The top one is being able to travel, of course, but the RV life has afforded us other opportunities we didn’t think about when we took off three years ago.

Spending Extended Time with Family and Friends

Instead of taking a few days off of work and flying out to see family twice a year, we can now park nearby and visit like we’re neighbors. This also applies to friends scattered throughout the country. When you have limited time to travel, you may only get to see some friends every few years if at all. Now we’re working on making a second loop to visit everyone again!

Living Like Locals

Again, we’re not stuck to a vacation timeline. We are not on vacation, this is our life. So instead of pulling in for a week and cramming our days full of sightseeing, we balance our days with work and play. We choose what we would like to see, but don’t feel compelled to “get our money’s worth.” We may stay a few days or a few weeks depending on what we want to explore in the area. During this time, we’re carrying on a normal life similar to a resident by shopping at local stores, eating at local restaurants, and participating in daily life. I cannot say we are true citizens by any stretch, but it does give us a better sense of place than a vacation usually does.

Wild Camping or Boondocking

We didn’t start doing this one right away, but, boy we were happy when we did! It really opened up the possibilities for us and made us love this life even more. Upgrading our batteries and adding solar upped our game and allowed us to get off the grid even if it’s just at a Harvest Host or casino. But being able to camp amongst the red rocks of Sedona is something special, especially when it’s just you or a small group of friends. It’s a good breather between campgrounds and something we try to do as much as possible. And can you really beat the low, low price of free?

Worst Things about Living in an RV

We actually have a hard time with naming the worst things. That’s not to say everything is perfect and all rosy in RV living, it isn’t. It’s just that nothing seems so awful that it needs to be called out. Maybe it’s our more laid back attitude or just knowing things like dumping the black tanks are just part of life, but it never seems that bad. Still, we feel compelled to come up with something, so here are our least favorite things about living in an RV.

Getting the RV Serviced

This is mainly because it is our home and office and it can be disruptive. If we need to be out of the RV while work is being performed, we have to find somewhere else to work or wait with our pets. We’ve done this at the service center, at a friend’s house, and once we just rented a hotel room because we didn’t want to work in the car all day with two dogs and two cats. We don’t think they wanted to sit in the car all day either. We’ve also spent the night at service centers which are not the most scenic locations, but really aren’t all that bad. Sometimes you even get to plug into power.

There are some things we do ourselves, but it’s not like we carry a full mechanic’s tool set for everything that comes up. Installing our sway bars in the desert sounded like a good idea, but after a couple missing and broken parts were uncovered on the RV, we had to put it all back together and go to a shop.

Driving Around Big Cities

We were city dwellers before heading out on this never-ending trip. We drove daily to work in big cities like Dallas and the area around New York City (for her part, Kerensa will readily admit she took public transportation daily in NYC and was already out of practice).  Doing it in a car is one thing, but in a motorhome is an altogether different experience. Cars tend to zip around you and most people don’t realize how long it takes for an RV to stop. It can be a little nervewracking. To combat this, we try to avoid rush hour and may take alternate routes. PSA: Don’t cut off an RV in traffic. You may think you’re jumping ahead, but you may be dooming yourself to being rear-ended by something 5 times your size.

Remembering to Book Holiday Weekends

This is a little bit of a whiny thing to say, but it’s real. Holiday weekends tend to just blend into the calendar now and it’s easy to forget to plan ahead. We’ve been lucky so far and already had holidays booked totally by accident, found boondocking, and spent Independence Day parked in a dive buddy’s driveway, but we have forgotten holidays and so have our friends. Memorial Day weekend campground reservations may be booked months in advance and we just don’t think like that anymore. Maybe now is the time to set reminders.

Boondocking in Buffalo Gap National Grassland outside of Wall, SD

Highlights of Our First Three Years

There are so many things that we’ve loved that it’s hard to choose, but there are a few stand-outs.

Wintering in the Desert with Friends

Last winter, we spent the week leading up to the new year with around 40 other rigs in the Anza-Borrego desert. It was truly one of the most memorable New Year’s Eve nights we’ve ever experienced. We sang karaoke (well, not us, we watched karaoke), burned a plywood borrego, and ate like kings at a potluck out in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty fantastic. From there, we broke off with a smaller group in search of better internet and continued with the community happy hours. We then hiked it up to Quartzsite for an Xscapers convergence and another gathering of close friends. It was a pretty great way to spend a month, especially before we all dispersed in different directions for the spring.

Meeting People

We already discussed becoming more social, but meeting other full-time RVers in this community is one of the best things that has happened to us. There are some people we consider friends that we haven’t even met in person yet. The RVing community is welcoming and open and we often start friendships online through Facebook groups or Instagram before crossing paths in real life. 

And beyond RVers, we have met many interesting people living all over this nation. We’ve watched artisans work their magic in New Orleans and listened to teachers in small towns describe what it’s like teaching in a school of fewer than 10 students. Traveling has shown us different perspectives. Moving around the country, we realize that people are more alike than different. They all have their individual struggles and are just trying to get by the best way they can. What brings us together is a sense of community and we love to help foster that.

Being Surprised by Places

This comes with the territory as we are always exploring, but there are some places that just sneak up on you. Case in point is the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in Wall, South Dakota. We stopped in Wall to see the Badlands and visit Wall Drug, but ended up being blown away by the beauty of the grasslands. We were able to wild camp on the edge of the Badlands for free (thank you USDA Forest Service!) and witnessed some of the most beautiful skies and scenery. This beautiful and peaceful site is easily one of our favorite places we have camped so far!

We already knew we enjoyed Vermont having traveled up to the southern part of the state a few times when living in the area. But we were still surprised by how much we enjoyed Burlington once we got up there. We only had a few weeks, but could have easily spent the whole summer there. It really seems to come alive and Vermonters make the most out of the season. Brandon was able to dive Lake Champlain multiple times and explore a wreck only a handful of people had seen before. And seriously, we’re out of maple syrup, so we may need to go back this year.

Getting a New RV

When we say new, it’s only new to us, but that’s how we prefer it. Let someone else shake it down. After hemming and hawing over trading in our previous RV, we finally decided to go for it. We knew our old one was too big for us and we didn’t want to invest in upgrades like solar when we didn’t feel like it was ours. It was the right choice and we’re very happy with our current set-up. We installed solar panels, so we didn’t have to worry about the batteries overnight or running the generator twice a day like on our old coach. We have more options as to where to stay with our smaller size and off-grid capabilities and that makes us very happy. Now we just need to redo the interior a bit and it will be all ours.

Low Points of Our First Three Years

Living in an RV doesn’t magically make the world stop and we’ve had our share of heartache and frustration over three years, a lot of it personal. Kerensa lost two grandparents within a year and when you’re on the road, it can be hard to get home. And sometimes things just go wrong.

Losing Both Cats

We only had our little Gypsy cat just over a year when she snuck outside in San Diego during our pre-desert stay. The next month was filled with constant searches, fliers, and talking to anyone in the neighborhood, but we never found her. A short time later, our older cat Dylan was diagnosed with lymphoma. This is something most cats can live with, but six months after losing Gypsy, we lost Dylan, too. We did learn about coordinating intensive long-term medical care for a pet on the road and where all the animal oncologists on the west coast practice. Thankfully, our initial oncologist was so helpful in making sure she was looped in with what was happening along the way that we felt we had a primary vet on staff.

Mini Catching on Fire

Yes, we’d say having our car catch on fire in west Texas definitely ranks as a low point. We had stopped at a pull off area in between the small town of Alpine and the smaller town of Marfa looking at wildflowers when Brandon noticed the car smoking. Brandon ran back and found a fire in the engine compartment. We pulled our small fire extinguisher out of the trunk and knocked the flames down. Brandon was able to pull everything out of the car while Kerensa called for help. The signal is very spotty out there and we were able to maintain signal just long enough to get our location to the operator. When she asked for a call back number in case we were disconnected, the line died and the signal never recovered. Thankfully, the sheriff and fire department were already on their way and they were able to put out the fire and take us back to the campground.

We scrapped our plans as our car was towed off to be repaired in El Paso and we had to move to a bigger city to find a rental. It turns out that Minis have an issue that can cause them to catch on fire at any time. Not trusting it after that, we switched it out for the Xterra. It was a pain at the time, but now it’s a story to tell around the campfire.

The Future

So you may wonder after three years on the road if we have plans to buy land, jump on a boat, or keep driving. We can whole-heartedly say we want to keep driving. We love the RV lifestyle and what it has brought us. So much so that we are diving in even more and focusing on RVing in our work lives, too. We have big plans for the coming year and we are excited about what we are doing next. We want others to share in this journey and know that they can do it, too.  

RV to Freedom: Our new Facebook community to help others learn about living in an RV.

We are opening a Facebook group called RV to Freedom: Learning to Live in an RV where anyone can come and ask questions to learn about living in an RV. We truly hope to help people get over their fears, cut through the clutter of opinions and information on the internet, and learn how to live on the road. We hope you’ll join us and share your experiences, too. The full-time RV community is welcoming and open and we want to encourage everyone to join, participate, and form connections. It makes us better prepared and better people. We hope to see you there and on the road!

Share our post or tell your friends to join by going to RVtoFreedomGroup.com. We can’t wait to chat!

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In the middle of Washington state’s farm country, is a unique dive that I learned about when researching the Valhalla missile silo in Texas. Once I found out about this Titan missile silo dive, I added it to our map and hoped to get to the area eventually. The site is fairly remote from any major cities, but as luck would have it, it ended up being near our route from Portland to Spokane, Washington.

The Titan Nuclear Missile

This Titan missile silo complex is much larger than the Atlas silo that I dove previously. It also had much more of the original equipment inside. I only did 2 dives here, but I could easily do more to explore other areas in the complex. You can even make your way through horizontal tunnels underwater into other parts of the missile complex if you are properly certified and equipped.

This is a painting of the missile complex. We entered through the vertical shaft near the center.

Traveling by motorhome made this dive a lot more accessible. We spent the night in town before the dive and then drove the motorhome right down to the dive site. It was nice to have the AC running and the awning out in the 90-100 degree heat while we suited up into our dry suits for the mid 50-degree water below.

The dive shop has set up some benches and tables on the surface to make it a bit easier to gear up. Here we are receiving our pre-dive briefing before heading down into the tunnels.

The entry down the old emergency escape hatch. This shaft would have been filled with sand to protect the workers inside from a blast above. If they needed a quick escape, it could be opened and the sand would fall into the room below and then they could climb out.

The dive shop rigged up a pulley system so we could easily lower gear down into the staging room below.

I’m heading in!

Here you can see the sand from the escape shaft covering the floor. We made our final gear checks and prep in this room before we headed into the tunnels.  These are the last lights we will see other than the lights we brought with us.

The shop keeps a small kayak in the prep room so we can drag extra gear with us through the flooded tunnels. The tunnel behind the kayak is our entry into the silo complex.

Our group heading into the silo.

The tunnels connecting the silos are all flooded. The metal flooring was salvaged long ago, so we had to make our way on exposed beams and pipes. We kept our BCs inflated so that when we missed a step we wouldn’t fall into an open hole in the floor.

The water became deeper and deeper as we approached the silo. I actually enjoyed this because it helped to keep the weight of the tanks off our backs and the water was nice and cool in our dry suits so we weren’t too hot by the time we reached the silo. When we reached the silo through the door in the photo above, we put on our fins and masks and deflated our BCs to drop down into the main missile silo.

As long as we made sure not to disturb the silt on the beams, the visibility in the silos was pretty great.

The depth of the silo was around 105-110 ft. The water temperature was a pretty consistent 55 degrees.

The entire internal structure was supported by giant springs so that the missile and equipment were protected from shock if a bomb should go off on the surface.

Fortunately for us, these are no longer “hot.”

I like to find all the serial number tags on the old equipment in the silo.

Here, I am looking up toward the blast doors on the surface. You can see the platforms that fold out of the way when the missile would be lifted to the surface to fire.

This was the only bit of color in the silo. I believe these are pressure release valves. They were probably for the fueling of the Titan missile.

The staff would use an intercom system to communicate with various areas of the silo complex.

I think this eye wash station and elevator are a bit redundant now that the silo has flooded.

I believe this interesting looking pipe transferred the liquid fuel for the Titan missile.

I’m glad we don’t have to use the stairs to get up and down in this silo. I’m sure the people working here never imagined a bunch of people swimming around for fun inside their top-secret base.

At one point in the dive, I looked up to find the dive master sitting on a beam watching everyone. It was a bit creepy and cool at the same time.

Verdict: If you are at all interested in diving and cold war era relics, this is a very cool dive! I found the walk in through the tunnels to be just as interesting as the dive itself. If you can only dive one silo, I would choose this one. It has a very authentic feel and there are a lot of little interesting things to look at along the way. If I’m in the area again, I will try to go back and explore some more.

A website with the history of the Titan missile program.

Wikipedia page for the 568th Strategic Missile Squadron that managed this site.

So far, I have been able to dive the 2 known dive-able missile silos in the US. Now I’m hooked and want to find more. There must be more silos out there just waiting to be explored.

Once we made the move from a diesel RV with air suspension to a gas RV with leaf springs, we felt like the addition of beefier anti-sway bars would help to improve the ride a bit. Our new motorhome felt a little like a boat on uneven roads. There’s a reason Kerensa doesn’t do a lot of boat dives with me and she was having the same issues with the new ride. We called up our friends at Roadmaster and discussed what would be best for our RV. They shipped us a new anti-sway bar to replace the existing front anti-sway bar and a new rear anti-sway bar to supplement the existing one. I spoke with Roadmaster about whether or not I should try to install these myself. They said that it can be done but having an RV lift would make things easier. Being the cheap manly man I am, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Once we got all the parts and tools together we got to work installing the Anti-Sway bars while we were boondocking in the desert with some friends.

Here’s our story of success, failure, searching for replacement parts, and finally giving in and going to a repair shop.

First of all, Why do you even need anti-sway bars?

Anti-sway bars exist to help resist the tendency of a vehicle to sway from side to side while you are driving. On a large top-heavy vehicle like a motorhome, they are necessary to keep the rv from swinging uncontrollably from the left side to the ride side as you go down the road. This is especially noticeable in high winds when trucks pass, or if you need to make a quick maneuver. Motorhomes come with anti-sway bars from the factory, but a lot of the times they just aren’t strong enough for a comfortable and predictable ride once the motorhome is loaded down with gear. Larger and stronger anti-sway bars will do a better job resisting side to side movement and can help improve handling in this respect. It’s worth noting that if you have front to back bouncing, also known as porpoising, that anti-sway bars don’t help this.

I thought installing these while we were out in the desert with friends would be best. We wouldn’t upset any campground managers by doing mechanical work in their park and we have friends with varied knowledge, tools, and expertise to help. Here you can see Marshall of FindingMarshall.com supervising and I’m sure making some remarks about how I’m doing it wrong. Also in attendance were Josh from ArdentCamper.com checking to see if this is a project he wants to attempt on his RV and Eric from JenericRamblings.com standing by prepared to offer one of his many power tools for the project. At the bottom, you see me in a pose that I would spend a lot of time in over the next couple of days.

Marshall describing the benefits of a properly installed Anti-Sway bar to his audience.

The install for the front anti-sway bar was pretty straightforward and went just according to plan. For our particular chassis, you remove the existing anti-sway bar and replace it with the new larger diameter anti-sway bar. Because of the increase in diameter, you will also replace the bushings with larger and nicer bushings and brackets from the Roadmaster kit. The bushings are lubed, put into place, and then everything is tightened down with new hardware from the anti-sway bar kit.

Removing the existing anti-sway bar using a breaker bar and a pipe over the handle for additional leverage.

To remove the anti-sway bar, I needed a long breaker bar. In addition, I slipped a piece of pipe over the end to extend it a bit further. Fortunately, my fellow nomads had these on hand. There isn’t a lot of room to work between the motorhome and ground, so getting leverage on some of the bolts can be tricky.

The new anti-sway bar and bushings at the top with the old one at the bottom.

Greasing the bushings with the included grease. I thought wearing gloves would keep me from getting it on myself. I was wrong.

When installing the new bar, it’s best to have someone else under the RV to help you lift the heavy bar into place while you get the brackets installed.

Eric and Josh helped underneath. I think Marshall is still supervising.

Once you have the bar in place it’s a simple matter of bolting it back up and torquing everything to the proper specifications.

The front anti-sway Bar installed.

Now for the Fun Part!

After success with the front anti-sway bar, I was ready to tackle the more complicated install on the rear anti-sway bar.

Once I got down underneath the RV I found a problem that I hadn’t noticed before. The existing rear anti-sway bar on our Ford chassis was missing one of the brackets that holds the bushing in place. This effectively made the anti-sway bar useless. I didn’t notice this when we bought the RV and the bushing bracket could have been missing since then. Because of this, we really don’t have a good bearing on how bad it really was before our upgrade. It’s a possibility that if we had just replaced that bracket, it could have made a large enough difference that we didn’t need the additional anti-sway bars. I am pretty sure, though, that I would have still gone with the additional anti-sway bars on this chassis.

In my research, I found that it is somewhat common for the rear anti-sway bar bushing brackets to come loose on the F-53 Ford Chassis. I was able to easily tighten up the other side because it had started to work itself loose as well. I had to drive to a nearby town to try and find this bushing bracket. They didn’t have it in stock, but they would have it the next day, so I decided to go ahead and continue with the install and come back to this once I had the part.

The first step on the install is to mount the plates that hold the new anti-sway bar. To do this, you have to remove the large nuts on the u-bolts that connect the rear axle to the RV. This is scary for obvious reasons, but the weight of the RV is sitting on the axle and we were level with no risk of the RV shifting. The passenger side went fairly well. These are large nuts tightened to almost 300ft/lb so they take a lot of work to get them off. They are also in an awkward position so it takes a bit of contortion to get enough leverage on them. This is where an air impact wrench would have been great.

The drivers side u-bolts are where my big problems began. I found one of the nuts on one of the u-bolts was cross threaded. This made the nut very difficult to get off, and meant that the u-bolt was ruined and I needed to find a replacement. Once I got the u-bolt off, I started calling around to find a replacement. I found a replacement about 1.5 hours away in Lake Havasu. So the next day we hopped in Rex and headed to Lake Havasu leaving behind our RV with an unbolted axle in the desert.

I tried to stay clean, but that didn’t last long.

Once we got back, I began re-assembling the driver’s side and found that the u-bolt was too short to install the additional plate needed for the Roadmaster anti-sway bar. Fortunately, though, it was long enough to reassemble the axle so we could get rolling.

I also got in the bracket for the existing rear anti-sway bar. Some of the bolts I removed from the front anti-sway bar fit this new bracket perfectly so I got that back together as well.

Now it is about 3 days after I started and I am back to where I began after the first half of the first day. My arms are sore from fighting with cross-threaded u-bolts while lying on my belly under the RV in the desert. I decided to throw in the towel while the RV was still driveable rather than risk finding another part that needed to be replaced and being stranded for longer. There is still another step of drilling holes into the frame to mount part of the anti-sway bar kit and I was quickly losing confidence in my ability to get it all done.

Throwing in the Towel

At this point, we left the desert boondocking spot to head back towards the coast for our next stop. We could already tell a large difference in the handling with just the new front anti-sway bar and the replaced bracket on the existing rear anti-sway bar.

I would have like to finish the job myself, but sometimes you just have to give in when you don’t have a house or garage to work on things. Overall, though, the anti-sway bar kits were nice and included all the nuts and bolts needed. If it wasn’t for the missing parts on our Ford chassis and the cross-threaded u-bolt, then I may have been able to do all of this myself while lying in the dirt in the desert.

In the end, we took our RV into the RV Specialists of San Diego for an AC repair and had them finish the rear anti-sway bar install, too. We received new u-bolts that were long enough to do the job and brought those in along with the bar and look of defeat on our faces. I think it took the service center just over and hour to do the whole rear anti-sway bar including drilling brackets into the frame. It sure looked easier with a lift and air tools.

The rear anti-sway bar installed.

After we finally got all the anti-sway bars, back into place and installed, we did notice a nice improvement in the handling. The RV will still sway when we hit a bump under one side of the axle or if a gust of wind hits it hard, but it’s much more predictable now and it ends quickly. I used to have to let off the gas a bit to let the sway calm down, but now I can keep the cruise control on and feel comfortable with the ride.

7-6-2016 Kerensa’s Addendum

After experiencing the very twisty Highway 20 to Fort Bragg, CA in both the SUV and RV, I am convinced that the sway bars saved my stomach. I had no problems in the RV on the way there and it was a pleasant, pretty drive. When we drove back through in the SUV, I experienced strong motion sickness. I much preferred the RV handling and will now sing the praises of new, heavy-duty sway bars to anyone experiencing a little rock and rolling.

*Disclaimer: The bars were provided for review purposes. As always, our opinions are completely honest and our own and cannot be bought, sold, or swayed. We are anti-sway in our opinions as well as our driving.

Kerensa decided that we should book it to Burlington, Vermont to get out of the summer heat of North Carolina. Of course, the first thing I did was get online to see if it was even possible to scuba dive in Burlington.

It turns out that yes, you can dive in Burlington and it’s pretty damn good diving too!

It doesn’t really matter how good the dive was when you surface to a view like this.

A quick Google search came up with Waterfront Diving in Burlington. Their site contains a list of historic canal boats that sank in the cold fresh water of Lake Champlain. As a shipwreck hunter, the news of well-preserved wooden wrecks really intrigued me. The next step was to find some locals to show me around. I put up some posts on Scubaboard and connected to the Vermont Divers Facebook group to find some fellow divers to point me in the right direction and take me out for some dives. Little did I know this would lead to one of the most interesting dives I have done to date.

An unexpected  dive on a relatively unknown wreck deep in Lake Champlain

I went on nice evening dive with a couple of the locals I met through Facebook. I didn’t realize at the time, but they were testing me to see if I was capable of conducting a dive they had planned later that week. We met up at a location called Thompson’s Point. There isn’t much to see here, but it is one of the deepest places in the lake. From the shore, we were able to gradually swim down past 100′ to cruise along a ledge that drops deeper into the lake. It was pretty dark at this depth, so I don’t have any photos to show, but as we went along with our flashlights we started to find old bottles strewn along the bottom. We collected a few for one diver’s personal collection and surfaced shortly after to the beautiful sunset in the photo above.

Once we surfaced, they invited me to dive on a wreck that they and a local boat captain had recently re-discovered. The wreck was a steam-powered tug boat that sank in 1931. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum found the wreck in 1996 and sent a few divers down to verify its identity. Even though the museum identified the as the US La Vallee, the location was not shared publicly in order to preserve the site.

My new dive buddies invited me to dive this wreck with them and be one of the first to see it since the survey crew located it in 1996. As a thank you for the boat captain, I created this video to show the wreck and credit Larry’s Diving Services. The wreck lies at 105 ft near the current Ferry Lanes in Lake Champlain. The water at that depth is very cold and pitch black. Due to the depth, we only had one dive with a limited amount of time. Below is the video we managed to capture during that short first dive. I hoped to get back to it again but the weather didn’t cooperate and we had to move on.

The wheel and rope pulley still intact on the La Vallee

Bottles and other artifacts were still present on deck

You can read more about the US La Vallee on the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum website.

The OJ Walker

In addition to the US Lavallee, I dove a few other wrecks with Waterfront Diving. These were also on Captain Larry’s boat since the shop contracts with local dive boats. One of my favorites was the OJ Walker. The OJ Walker was a schooner-rigged canal boat which is basically a sailing cargo boat that designed to fit through the canals and locks to bring cargo up and down the Hudson river from as far away as New York City into Lake Champlain. The size of the locks determined the size of the boats and because of this archeologists can determine the age of the ship from its size. As time went on, the locks grew bigger and bigger in order to bring through larger and larger ships laden with cargo.

According to the Waterfront Diving website, the OJ Walker went down in a storm in 1895 carrying a heavy cargo of bricks and tiles. Even though this ship has been underwater for over 100 years it is remarkably well-preserved. The cold fresh waters of Lake Champlain serve to preserve these old wooden ships, unlike the ocean where currents and living creatures will quickly eat their way through a wood ship like this.

The Wheel of the OJ Walker: Care must be taken in order to avoid damaging this delicate structure

This wreck lies at a depth of 65ft and is considered an intermediate to advanced dive. Good buoyancy control is mandatory to avoid running into and damaging the fragile structures on the boat and to avoid touching the bottom and kicking up a cloud of silt. Here some light still filters down from above, but a good flashlight really helps you take in the details of the site.

In the gallery below, you can see the deck and mast of the OJ Walker as well as some of her cargo of bricks still resting on deck and one of the brick carts laying on the bottom near the ship.

A dead eye from the OJ Walker: Although these look skulls, they are used in the rigging of the sails

There are many other wrecks in Lake Champlain that all have their own story to tell. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation puts out a very nice pamphlet that describes the wrecks, their history and gives specific location information. I picked up my copy from Waterfront Diving.

Toad = Towed behind vehicle for you non-RV types.

After we bought Rex, we had to get him ready for our life on the road. This included organizing what we considered a huge trunk, at least compared to our Mini. We wanted to carry gear to be ready for any adventure that popped up. But first we had to figure out how we wanted to tow him behind the motorhome. There are a few different companies that provide options for both pulling the vehicle as well as stopping it.

When searching for a new towing system, we had some requirements we hoped to meet:

1. The tow plate can’t interfere with off-roading
   Some companies’ tow plates protrude from below the bumper. I didn’t like this option as I knew we’d be off-road and I didn’t want the lowest part of the front end to be the critical tow plate. I was sure I would end up damaging it by bashing it into a rock on one of our adventures.
2. A clean appearance when not hooked up
   When the Xterra is not being towed, I didn’t want too much gear hanging off the front end. Again, I didn’t want to risk damaging something when out having fun.
3. A good braking system
   We needed a brake system to help keep Rex’s 5000 pounds from pushing us down the mountains. We also needed a brake system to make towing Rex legal in all 50 states and Canada.
4. A simple interface
   We wanted as few connections as possible and to be able to quickly remove Rex from the RV if needed. Sometimes you have to drop the motorhome in a cool town and do a little impromptu exploring. We wanted to be able to unhook quickly without drawing too much attention to ourselves.
5. A new tow bar
   We needed a new tow bar as well. Our previous towbar was purchased used and only after we had it did we notice that it had been damaged and welded. It worked ok for the lightweight Mini, but we preferred to have a new one with hefty Rex so that we could feel safe.

After a bit of research, we settled on Roadmaster gear to get Rex ready for the road. The driving factor was the Roadmaster tow plate and its mid-bumper placement. This keeps the connections up out of harms way when we go off-road. If I manage to damage them, then I’ll have bigger problems than a bent tow-plate!

The next major concern was the brake system.

All options have their pros and cons:

• The simplest portable box system works well for most people. But if you move often, it can get a little tiring having to position it and remove it for every trip.
• The air braking system works beautifully mimicking the exact brake pressure from your motorhome. Of course, you need air brakes in your motorhome for it to work.
• The Invisibrake is sleek, hidden, and no fuss once installed. The install is a little more complicated, though.

We chose the Invisibrake for its ease of use once installed and portability to another RV with or without air brakes. The system activates automatically when we hook up the car. When stopped, there are no extra parts to remove beyond the tow bar set-up before we can jump in and drive. When switching RVs, the toad remains unchanged. The only add to the new motorhome would be the LED on the dash and connection to the RV plug that alerts you to the braking of the toad when the system is in use.

A nice benefit to the system is that it also acts as a trickle charger to keep the toad battery charged when on the road. This is great for people who have to leave the key in the ignition to keep the steering wheel unlocked. With this little feature, there are no worries about arriving at the final destination with a dead battery.

We installed the tow plate on our Mini and once was enough. This time we turned to the professionals at Nolan’s RV in Denver to get Rex ready for his new life on the road. Our tech Gary spent the 1st day with Rex pulling his face off and removing some of his under bits to properly fit the Roadmaster base plate to the frame.

We had to take his Face Off!

The baseplate installation was pretty straightforward. Remove the front fascia, remove some of the existing metal components, then bolt on the baseplate, trim some plastic here and there, and re-assemble.

Gary at Nolan’s RV preparing to install the Invisibrake system

The next step was installing the Invisibrake system. The first thing was to find a place for the controller. Roadmaster recommends installing the control under one of the front seats. For the Pro-4x this didn’t work because there is a subwoofer under one seat and the navigation computer under the other. Instead, we decided to mount the controller in the storage compartment under the floor in the trunk. This will keep it protected and out-of-the-way.

After completing the installation on Rex, we brought in the motorhome to verify everything worked and install the brake light in the dash. We went over the connections to our motorhome and hooked everything up for his first tow.

Rex’s new grill

Here’s a quick description  of Rex’s new connections:

1. Receiver for tow bar connections to drag Rex down the highway
2. Safety cable connection in case he tries to escape
3. Power plug to send power to the brake lights, turn signals, and brake controller – This plug also sends the signal back to the motorhome dash LED.
4. Emergency brake away connection – In case Rex manages to escape,  this pin will pull out and the brake controller will apply the brakes to try to bring Rex to a stop before he hurts anybody. This is the last line of defense that we hope to never use.

If only this happened automagically

The guys at Nolan’s RV did a great job of setting Rex up and troubleshooting our old plug on the back of the RV. Since we left, we made some slight adjustments to the brake controller to dial in the braking power and haven’t had any issues. Hopefully, this system will provide us with many miles of service without us having to do anything but hook up normally and hit the highway.

Organizing the Junk in Trunk

The next thing we needed to do was organize all the new storage space we had. Since we always carry our scuba tanks in the trunk when towing for safety reasons, we needed a way to get the tanks in and out of the back without having to take everything else out too. We decided to build a simple, strong box with cubby holes for gear and a big flat top for the tanks.

Rex’s trunk organizer built on a picnic table in Leadville, Colorado

We built the box strong enough to support the weight of our scuba tanks and connected to the rails in the floor of the Xterra with strong ratchet straps to keep it in place. The whole box is easily removable if we need the extra space.

Now we can keep the trunk stocked and ready for whatever adventures may come our way.

Both of these modifications have made Rex a roadworthy option for all our adventures. We can tow him to a great spot, disconnect, drive up a dirt road, and then go hiking with the equipment in our fully stocked trunk. We can’t wait to take Rex to the rest of the country!

For more on why we chose the Xterra as our new toad and to see some of the places it has taken us, see Meet Rex Part I – Our New Toad!

Meet Rex our new Toad
(That’s a towed behind vehicle for you non-RV types)

After getting our Mini Clubman stuck in the sand in Florida and putting out a little electrical fire in Alpine, TX (200 miles from the nearest Mini dealer), we decided it was time to get something more suitable for our needs.

When we began the search for a new toad, we had some specific requirements to keep in mind:

1. Ready for flat towing
   The vehicle had to be flat towable from the factory. There are ways to make most vehicles flat towable, but we didn’t want to go through extensive modifications to get it on the road.
2. 4 wheel drive
   We wanted a 4 wheel drive vehicle since I like to follow random paths off-road and we didn’t want to get stuck again. We also felt this would be a great way to access places further off the beaten path and see things we couldn’t otherwise.
3. More storage space
   The mini was just too small for the activities we like to do and more space means we can be ready for more activities.
4. Reliable and easy to find service
   After having to tow the Mini 200 miles to find the nearest dealership, we realized a good service network is important since we never know where we might go.

2015 Nissan Xterra Pro-4x

We chose the 2015 Nissan Xterra Pro-4x to take us on our next adventures. It’s the last of a long line of Xterras. The Xterra will no longer be made after this year, but in its 16-year run it has proven to be a capable and very durable vehicle on and off the road.

The Nissan Xterra checked all the boxes for us and the Pro 4x model gives us some nice off-road upgrades: larger tires to give better grip off road, skid plates underneath to protect the vital areas from sharp rocks, Bilstein shocks to soak up the big stuff, and a locking rear differential so if the going gets rough, we hopefully won’t get stuck.

The Nissan Xterra provides a ton more interior room and storage space than the Mini did and the 6-speed manual is flat towable 4 wheels down from the factory. This is important since we will be dragging Rex around by his face behind our motorhome. The extra space allows us to keep our hiking gear, jackets, water, etc. on board all the time so we can head off on a trek whenever we want. We even built a simple organizer for the trunk so that we can keep gear packed and out of the way as well as having a place for my scuba tanks.

To see more on the organization of the trunk, check out Meet Rex Part II- Prepping the Toad. There’s even a video!

In his first 3000 miles, he has taken us to so many places the Mini never could. 

Rex has carried us up over Mosquito Pass. At 13,185ft, this is the highest 4wd pass in North America.

We’ve chased the spring wildflowers high up into the mountains where they still bloom late into the summer.

We’ve driven miles down a long, bumpy road to find the site of a plane crash from the 1960s.

We have visited many of Colorado’s long abandoned mines that are left to the ravages of time.

Rex has even made some friends along the way. Here he is at the top of Tin Cup Pass in Colorado.

Rex has shown us a lot of cool places so far and we expect to find many more along our travels.

To see more on Rex, how we tow him, and organizing the trunk, check out Meet Rex Part II- Prepping the Toad. There’s even a video!

As our route took us towards Houston, I really wanted to do a tour of NASA since I didn’t get a chance in Florida due to timing. While diving at Valhalla, Nuclear Missile Silo, I met some people who worked at NASA in Houston. I contacted them to ask if they had any insight into the best experience at the Johnson Space Center. They told me that the Level 9 Tour was the best way to go and would get me into places that other tourists don’t get to see. That sounded right up my alley, so I called to book it. I called over 1 month in advance and still had some trouble getting a spot. (NASA only allows 12 Level 9 tour members each day and it’s steep at $89.95 per person, but the small private group and the access you are granted I found to be well worth it if you are at all interested in space.)

When I arrived at the Johnson Space Center for my tour, I skipped the ticket lines outdoors and went directly inside to the information desk. There I got my VIP Pass and ticket good for two days: one day to do the tour and one day to come back and see the rest of the Space Center. At our scheduled time, we met in the back of the space center and had our pictures taken for security purposes. We then boarded a small 12 person bus with our tour guide and driver who was also a tour guide. We would use this bus all day, so we could leave our belongings in it and only take what we needed. We were allowed to take cameras into all buildings, but some buildings did not allow any bags but they could be safely locked in the bus.

When you enter the space center property, the first things you expect to see are astronauts and scientists. Instead, you see longhorn cattle! This is because of a joint venture between NASA and the local school district to provide land for the students to raise cattle.

Only in Texas would a space center have longhorn cattle.

The first stop on our tour was actually off of the NASA campus. We headed over to Ellington Field which is home to various reserve branches of the military, as well as NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL). As a scuba diver, this was, of course, the place I wanted to see most of all. On the short ride over, our tour guide who grew up in this area during the height of the space race told us stories of his parents packing them all in the station wagon to drive by John Glenn’s and Neil Armstrong’s houses to see if they were out mowing the lawn. He shared with us a bit of what it was like when astronauts were regarded as celebrities and the race to the moon was on everyone’s mind.

The Neutral Buoyancy Lab is where the astronauts can come as close as possible to the weightless environment of space and do dry runs (or would that be wet runs) for missions on the International Space Station. Here astronauts can work on 100% accurate full-scale models of the actual space center components. Teams of scuba divers accompany the astronauts to help them move into position under water. I could see myself doing that job one day!

If you are lucky, you may be there on a day when astronauts are in the tank working. No one was in the tank this day, but it was still very impressive. Sitting just outside the tank is the new Orion Module waiting for testing. This will soon replace the space shuttle for missions to the Space Station and keep us from having to pay the Russians for a ride. It’s interesting that they are going back to a capsule system rather than a shuttle.

Orion Module awaiting testing in the NBL

Unfortunately due to some shenanigans involving someone thinking it would be funny to jump into the pool, NASA has made the floor level off-limits to tours, so the only view of the NBL is from above.

The next stop, on the other hand, puts you up close and personal in building 9 – the robotics building!

Walking into the building, we were immediately face to face with the Mars Exploration Vehicle Prototype. I had seen this vehicle in various documentaries before. To be this close to the Mars vehicle is my equivalent of a 10-year-old girl meeting Justin Beiber (Or whatever thing 10-year-old girls are into nowadays).

This vehicle is designed to get out of any terrain in which it finds itself. The back side of the vehicle has a space suit incorporated into it, so that the astronaut can get into the suit and walk around then return to the vehicle without bringing dirt and debris inside. Also when they are out for a walk, the vehicle can follow them autonomously.

The people in this photo are others form the tour group. This is how close we were!

Building 9 is packed with old and new prototypes as well as current experiments and test models. There is so much to see here that I could have spent all day.

Also in building 9 were several active projects. There was a mock-up of the Orion capsule on which they were busy installing internal components for training.

There were also some SpaceX components in the building, but some of them were a little more shrouded in secrecy.

This rig lets them test fit docking rings from various private and international companies such as SpaceX to ensure that they will mate successfully with the ISS.

ISS Docking Ring Rig

This is an actual space suit from one of the space shuttles. They are using it to test something and we were right next to it. No glass, no railings, just us and all this cool stuff.

A real space suit from the Space Shuttle missions.

I don’t know what this is, but I didn’t stick my hand in it.

Pretty much the motto of NASA

The next stop was lunch. This being an all access tour meant we ate lunch in the same cafeteria as the astronauts and engineers of NASA. On our way in, we saw astronaut Timothy Peake leaving. We were each given a ticket that allowed us to get anything we wanted from the cafeteria and to choose a table. Off to my right, I overheard a group of engineers talking about the ISS and something they were working through. Behind me was a couple of marketing guys talking about the NASA facebook page and the Twitter feed. I sat quietly taking it all in as I ate my burrito.

Space Burrito

Pro-Tip: Wait to buy your souvenirs until you get to lunch. There is a gift shop in the cafeteria and since it is for government employees, the prices are much lower than the Space Center Gift Shops and they don’t charge tax.

After lunch, we got back in the van and headed over to Mission Control. Here we were shown the past, present, and future of mission control.

The first stop was the present; the current mission control room that is flying the International Space Station. Here we got to quietly observe the space station as the astronauts were headed off to sleep somewhere over North Africa. Our guide told us about each position in the control room. We were fortunate this day that a group from the NASA IT department was also giving a tour, so we got to hear a couple funny stories about what it’s like to be IT for NASA Mission Control. One anecdote involved an astronaut on the ISS forgetting his email password and calling the NASA tech line from the ISS to request a new password. The astronaut could not remember his pin number to authenticate his password reset so the tech just asked him to come over to the office to get it reset. The tech didn’t quite understand that this guy was calling from space. The astronaut then asked the tech to tune their tv over to NASA tv. There the tech saw an image of the flight director holding up a sign to the camera that said “RESET THE PASSWORD!” Apparently, you don’t mess with the flight director.

Present day Mission Control

The next stop was to see the future of Mission Control at NASA.  Here you see a much less cluttered environment that feels more open and integrates more touchscreen technology. After thorough testing, NASA will move Mission Control over to this room.

Future Mission Control

Finally, we were invited to see the past. The actual mission control room for all of the moon landings and most of the shuttle missions. My parents remember watching the moon landing on tv which was all controlled from this room. I remember watching the Challenger disaster which was also controlled from this room.

Past Mission Control

Unlike the regular tour that just gets to view this room from behind glass, we got to sit in the actual seats while our guide talked to us about some of the people who sat here before us. When Apollo 13 called and said “Houston, we have had a problem”, this is the room they were calling. When the Eagle landed, it was controlled from here. It’s amazing to think that my camera has more computing power than the entire space program when they put a man on the moon.

Sitting in the flight director’s chair.

Someone’s idea of a joke.

You didn’t want this phone to ring.

Don’t flip this switch!

It was great honor to sit in the famous Houston Mission Control. I am afraid one day they won’t allow the tours to do this anymore. The guide told a story of one of the tourists that started opening up the cabinets while sitting there. It just takes one incident in this historic room to have it sealed behind glass forever.

NASA has a lot of rules and a lot of procedures. I got a kick out of this very official looking sign for the break room.

The last stop on our tour brought us back to view the mighty Saturn V rocket. After the program was shut down, two rockets were left behind. My grandfather was one of the 350,000 people involved in the Saturn V program, so it was pretty cool to seen one of the actual rockets in person. It’s hard to capture in photos the magnitude of this machine, you really should see it in person.

Pro-Tip: The Saturn V on exhibit at the Johnson Space Center is owned by the Smithsonian making it is free to visit without having to buy tickets to the Space Center. Just look up Rocket Park in Houston.

After our visit to the Saturn V, the tour wound back to the main museum space just in time to purchase a few souvenirs before closing. I already bought a t-shirt at the cafeteria, so I took this time to check out some of the space suits on display and the space toilet!

On the way out, I stopped to check out the last 747 used to carry the space shuttles. Boeing donated it to the museum and it will soon become an interactive exhibit that you can walk through.

I finished the day eating dinner with my dive friends I met at Valhalla that work at NASA. We enjoyed some Rudy’s BBQ and talked diving, the ISS, and future hopes for Mars.

This is a very cool tour and well worth the money. If you are even slightly interested, you should do it. It’s rare to get this kind of access to artifacts like this anymore. Make sure to book way in advance!

http://spacecenter.org/attractions/level-9-tour/

Lake Jocassee is in South Carolina and holds a few interesting secrets. One of which is the Mt. Carmel Cemetery. It was sent to the bottom in 1973 when the valley was flooded to create a reservoir for the new nuclear power plant.

The infamous movie “Deliverance” featured the Mt. Carmel cemetery. As I wound through the hills of South Carolina to the dive shop, I could hear the dueling banjos playing in my head. In the clip below from Deliverance, you can see the backhoe and graves from when they were removing bodies before they flooded the valley.

This cemetery is 130ft deep and lies right at the extreme limit of my training. The dive plan only allowed for about 9 minutes at the bottom to avoid necessary decompression.

Another concern for divers at this depth is Nitrogen Narcosis. This is sort of like becoming drunk from the excess nitrogen in your system due to deep depths. It affects everyone differently and for me it clearly affected my ability to run the camera. There were a couple of shots I thought I captured, but after I reviewed the video on the surface, I realized I turned off the camera when I thought I was turning it on.

Below is the video I was able to capture featuring some of the more prominent grave sites. I saw open graves from where the bodies were exhumed, but unfortunately I messed up and didn’t capture the video.

I hope to visit this site sometime again in the future and explore it further.

If you are ever out this way and want to check it out, head to The Lake Jocassee Dive Shop. They’ll take care of you.

Posing for my 100th dive in the center of the large radar dish.

Vandenberg is a name that all wreck divers in the US know. Since I started diving just a couple of years ago, I have dreamed of diving on this ship and when we bought the RV, we knew Key West would be one of our first major stops.  I spent countless hours researching the dive plan, depths, current conditions, and ship layout. She was formerly a troop transport and missile tracking ship. The Vandenberg is over 500ft long and in almost 150ft of water. The ship rises 100ft off the bottom and can experience strong currents dues to its location in the open ocean. I realized that I needed to increase my skill and comfort if I wanted to enjoy a dive like this. So I quickly got to work.

While in Indiana, I had a good group of mentors and some nice, deep quarries to play in. Every dive was a training dive for me. I tried to get feedback from fellow divers and I dove every month … even through 6 inches of snow and 43 degree water. The only way to get better at diving is to keep diving. In the video below, you can see one of these dives in my favorite Midwest quarry on New Years Day.

In addition to diving, I sought out additional training to help me better understand the challenges I could face. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make the Vandenberg out to be some kind of a death-defying, extreme dive site. It really isn’t most of the time and many divers have dove there with much less training, but I am a bit of a safety nut underwater and I wanted to make sure I felt prepared and comfortable so that I could enjoy the dive.

It just so happened that my first dive on the Vandenberg would also be my 100th dive. This is a big milestone for most divers, and traditionally you are supposed to do it naked. I’m sure I could have gotten away with it in Key West where anything goes, but … maybe for my 1000th dive I will.

Because of the size of this wreck and the fact that I would only get 2 dives on it, I chose to hire a guide in order to get the best view of the wreck without wasting my air swimming in circles. I asked around on the scuba forums and found an excellent guide in Bill Grayson, an underwater photographer and dive guide in Key West. He was able to show me all the key spots and cool areas he knew at a pace that allowed me to take the photos I wanted. We were actually able to cover the whole ship in 2 dives, but it would take many more dives to really get to know her well.

Bill Grayson approaching the large radar dish

After a short boat ride about 7 miles out from Key West, we arrived at the site of the Vandenberg. When we tied up to the mooring, we were greeted with the best possible conditions I could have imagined. The seas were flat and there was no current at all. Looking over from the side of the boat, you could make out the top features of the Vandenberg almost 60ft below us. All that preparation and worrying was unnecessary, but as they say, “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” This time I got the best! On top of the pristine dive conditions, we were the only boat of divers (just 4 of us) on the Vandenberg that day and we had the whole ship to ourselves.

Here you can see the dive boat nearly 60 ft above us

The main features of this wreck are the huge radar dishes that once listened for nuclear missiles launched from the former Soviet Union. You can also see these dishes and the ship in action in the horrible 1999 movie  “Virus.”

The Big Dish

There is a lot of relief on the deck of the ship

There is so much to explore on the ship and it has been expertly prepared for diving. Once properly trained, there are a lot of internal spaces to explore and get to know. You can also see life taking hold on the ship. We swam into rooms with barracuda hanging out. There were also large schools of jacks cruising around the ship and using her for shelter.

There are many swim-throughs to explore on the Vandenberg

Here we are swimming up through the decks of the ship

Heading toward the big dish

The crow’s nest

Here we approach the dish that is now sitting on deck after being “destroyed” in the movie Virus.

The big dish from above

Swimming out through the bunks

The Vandenberg is a great dive and I wish I did more than 2 dives on it. I will be sure to dive it again when I get back to Key West. Do yourself a favor and get down there!

More info on the Vandeberg from the Florida Keys website.

Once I learned that 30 miles off the coast of Morehead City, NC there lies a graveyard of shipwrecks inhabited by Sandtiger Sharks, I knew I had to go. Here the Gulf Stream sweeps warm waters up from the Caribean, bringing with it good visibility and a plentiful supply of food to support a large population of sharks. The sharks congregate on ships, many of whom were placed here by a different type of underwater predator. In the last years of WWII, German U-Boats prowled the deep up and down the East Coast of the United States looking for easy prey in merchant vessels shipping war supplies in the Atlantic.

CARIBSEA

A 8ft Sand Tiger I met above the Caribsea wreck

One of the wrecks I dove was named the Caribsea. It was sunk in the middle of the night by 2 torpedoes fired from the U-Boat U-158. It is reported that the ship sank quickly and only 7 members of the 28 member crew survived the attack. The ship lies in 70-90 ft of water is known for its abundance of marine life and the presence of many Sand Tiger Sharks.

When I reached the wreck, I had my first encounter with Sand Tigers. I have seen a few sharks before, but they were all nurse sharks and one small reef shark which are smaller and not as imposing as a full grown Sand Tiger. Fortunately, the Sand Tigers look menacing, but actually have a very mellow personality. I had to keep repeating this to myself as I was passed on both sides by Sand Tigers as big as me. It is definitely an interesting experience to realize you are no longer the top of the food chain. On this dive, I saw over a dozen individual sharks. They would cruise by with their snaggly teeth overcrowding and hanging out of their mouths. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the divers and would just glide past as their dull black eyes kept a watch on these noisy bubble making primates flopping around beside them.

I’m sure the wreck is interesting, too, but my eyes were fixed on the predators encircling me. I don’t really have much of a recollection of this wreck as it was my first time in water with large sharks!

More info on the Caribsea wreck from NC-Wreckdiving.com

AEOLUS

Life inside the Aeolus

My next dive trip was a bit farther out to sea. The hope was to actually dive on one of the U-boats that prowled these waters. A depth charge sunk the U-352 in this area in 1942. It lies a bit farther out than other wrecks and can have some very strong currents on it. We were trying to dive the U-boat, but Neptune didn’t want to cooperate and we had to divert to a different wreck in the area.

More info on the Aeolus wreck from NC-Wreckdiving.com

If you choose to visit Morehead City to check out some of the awesome wrecks in the area, be sure to bring your Dramamine. The typical boat ride is 30 miles and takes about 3 hours in the open sea. The benefit of this long ride is much clearer water and some of the best wreck diving in the country.

I used a dive operator called Olympus Dive Center. They are one of the best in the area. They operate 3 boats. Two of the boats are nice, large ocean-going boats that are pretty comfortable for the long ride out. The third is a smaller boat used for inshore diving.

Olympus Dive Center
713 Shepard Street
Morehead City, NC 28557
252-726-9432
info@olympusdiving.com

Hanging out with Barracuda during the safety stop

Ever since I left this place, I keep telling everyone I meet to go there. Located in the beautiful and unique 1000 Islands area of Northern New York, it is a very special place for lovers of shiny, old wood.

What the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Museum does for aviation, the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY does for personal watercraft.

 This place has a little bit of everything.

Are you interested in the St. Lawrence River Skiff?

 How about a 1960’s era fiberglass canoe?

 Is a luxury hotel boat more your taste?

Or would you rather feel the wind in your hair as you motored through the 1000 Islands?

Maybe your need for speed is a bit stronger? The Antique Boat Museum can take care of that!

This museum has 4.5 acres filled with freshwater boats of all sorts. I went a little crazy and took a ton of photos. They are all in the gallery below or you can go directly to our Flickr page.

I addition to all the awesome watercraft in their collection they also offer boat building classes, educational courses for youth and adults, and they host an annual boat show in the summer.

Boat building workshop.

Take a spin on the Praxinoscope and envision yourself motoring through the 1000 islands on your own runabout.

Pardon Me – the world’s largest runabout.

By far, my favorite boat at this museum was Pardon Me. Designed by John Hacker, one of the premier designers of powerboats, Pardon Me was built in 1947 in Alexandria Bay, NY. The boat is huge for its type and is beautifully appointed. No detail was overlooked as evidenced by the chromed protectors on the bow to keep the bow line from rubbing the varnish.

The vessel was supposed to be a large, high performance boat to amplify the fun that could be had in a small powerful runabout. Unfortunately, it didn’t perform as hoped and was under-powered and difficult to control. Over the years, the boat changed hands and new owners tried to upgrade the boat to meet the original expectations of the design. Eventually, the power for the boat was found in a new Packard engine and cooling system and Pardon Me could finally make waves in the 1000 Islands as intended.

 I could just imaging blasting by someone in this huge speedboat while politely yelling “Pardon Meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Pardon Me is currently in the water in the boathouse at the Antique Boat Museum. If you are lucky, you might get to see it screaming around the islands.

Here is some more info on Pardon Me form the Antique Boat Museum’s website.

Does this poster style look familiar?
It was created by an ad man of the day named Theodor Geisel. You may know him better as Dr. Seuss. Yep, decades before “The Cat in the Hat” and  the “Lorax”, Dr Seuss was developing his style selling oil and greases for Essomarine.

I know I’ve shown a lot, but there is still a lot more to see. Get yourself up to the 1000 Islands, get some 1000 Island dressing, go see a castle or two, and then head on over to the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY.

Flickr Photo Gallery of the Antique Boat Museum

 The official website for the Antique Boat Museum – www.abm.org
750 Mary Street, Clayton, NY 13624
tel 315.686.4104

On our way to Burlington Vermont, I wanted to visit a place I saw in a documentary.  The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center was built to expand the overstuffed National Air and Space Museum in DC.  The old museum was just too small to house these exhibits and the old storage areas made conservation difficult.

The Udvar-Hazy center opened in 2003 in Chantilly, VA and houses an amazing collection of Air and Space artifacts in a couple of massive hangars.

When you enter the space, you are greeted by WWII era fighters hanging from the ceiling locked in a perpetual dogfight over my favorite plane the SR-71.  Behind the SR-71, you can see the mighty Space Shuttle Discovery in the entry of the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.

Link to all pictures from the museum.

We only had a couple of hours to spend here, but I could have easily spent all day.  The museum hosts free guided tours many times throughout the day and has self-guided tours through their Smartphone app.

The museum is divided into various areas highlighting different aspects of aviation.  There is space dedicated to vertical flight, business aviation, the early years of flight, war planes, modern aviation, humans space flight and many others.

The most impressive area to me and the reason I made the detour is the Space Shuttle Discovery.  I knew the Space Shuttle was big, but seeing it in person was very impressive.  The Shuttle is displayed with its tiles still scorched from the last re-entry.

This area was filled with artifacts from all aspects of spaceflight.  There are Satellites hanging from the ceiling, ICBMs around the perimeter, and Mercury era space capsules.

Between the main 2 hangars, there is another third hangar which was the subject of the documentary I originally watched.  In this hangar, you can find vehicles and artifacts that are in the process of restoration.  You can look down on the workshops from above and see what it takes to keep these items for the future.

If you are at all interested in any aspects of aviation, you must go to this museum.  The museum really did a great job and it is an impressive sight to see.

Link to the Museum: http://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/

Link to all pictures from the museum.

On a drive back from a dive near Austin, my new dive buddy mentioned that there was a decommissioned nuclear missile silo that was dive-able in Texas. If you know me, you will know there is no way I am leaving Texas without diving it. So I got on the googles and turned up the interwebs and found Valhalla!

The view from the blast doors to the surface of the water.

Standing on the Silo Doors.

Valhalla is a decommissioned Atlas-F hardened nuclear missile silo located near Abilene, Texas. It is actually part of a complex of 12 silos located around Texas and formerly run by Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. To learn more about the silos check out this guy’s site: Phildorsett.com. I talked with him prior to the dive to learn more about the silo myself.

Valhalla is owned by Family Scuba in Midland Texas. If you want to check it out for yourself, contact them to find out when there are open dives you can join.

The silo itself is divided into 2 separate silos. One is 2 stories tall and served as the command room and crew quarters. The other is the main silo where the missile and fuel was held. The main silo is 180ft tall from the base to the blast doors. This silo was once filled with many levels of equipment to service, fuel and guide the missile. It is now mostly empty and filled with nearly 130ft of water. The water comes from ground water that seeped through the concrete walls of the silo. The water is extremely clear and at a constant 60 degrees year round. The air temperature of the silo stays at 68 degrees year round, so this is a great dive to escape the summer heat in Texas.

Original section view of the silo.

The first question I get asked when I talk about this dive is, “what is there to see?” The silo once housed a lot of equipment and instruments. Those were salvaged after the silo was decommissioned, but as they lifted some stuff out through the blast doors the shackles would break and some material would fall to the bottom of the silo. The bottom is littered with debris made up of mostly twisted metal and duct work. At 40-50ft, there is a metal shack attached to the wall which served as the inertial guidance shack. Apparently it was too difficult to remove, so it was left in place. Inside you can see some control panels and plaques for the machinery manufacturers. The walls of the silo are mostly featureless and smooth which can make for a very eerie feeling when ascending and descending. There are parts of the wall, though, that have deposits on them from when the ground water seeped in over time and they are interesting to check out. The coolest thing about the place is the fact that you are diving in a Nuclear Missile Silo.

Diver approaching the Inertial Guidance Shack.

My video of the bottom of the Silo. The audio is from an old news reel film about the Atlas program.

Another interesting feature about this dive is that it qualifies as an Altitude Dive (2500ft above sea level), Night Dive, Deep Dive, and Wreck Dive in one. The location for the dive is about 20 miles south of Abilene, Texas in the middle of one of the largest wind farms in the country.

After driving through scrub brush and the rolling desert hills near Abilene, you approach the dive site. The site is mostly left over junk from previous years as a farming community. There is one small nondescript concrete doorway that gives the first hint of the silo below. On the day we visited the silo, there were some mild threats of tornadoes in the area. This is the only dive I have ever been on where the weather did not matter. It was impossible to get “blown out” on this dive. If a tornado came overhead, we would just go underground and shut the blast doors behind us. We could have a nice enjoyable dive with the apocalypse going on overhead. Fortunately, on this day, we didn’t need to test that theory.

The entrance to Valhalla

At the entrance to Valhalla, there is a nice little warning to those who may want to dive without paying; it’s a little good Texas humor. The owner of the silo was a pretty cool guy and not what I expected at all. He seemed pretty down to earth compared to the type of people who you would expect to own a missile silo.

Once in the silo you begin the journey down the stairs. There is one long set at the entrance, then a set spiraling down to the control room. All equipment for the dives must be hand carried down these stairs and then back up at the end. You learn real quick not to waste any trips up or down the stairs. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as I expected and there were plenty of places to rest.

Stairs down into the silo.

After passing through 2 sets of blast doors, you arrive in the command center. Here you can spread out and set up your gear in preparation for the dives. The owner also has a small selection of dive gear here for purchase in case you forget anything.

Once geared up, you pass through another set of blast doors that would separate the crew from the missile and head into the main silo. Here you walk 30ft down to the floating platform on the water’s surface. The owner demonstrated the water’s clarity by dropping a nickel in the water and you can watch it fall deep into the silo.

Tunnel from command center to missile silo.

You have to climb up and down the stairs for each dive. I am glad I was diving sidemount, so I could leave my tanks at the bottom until the end.

Exploring the deposits from the seeping groundwater on the walls of the silo.

The only limitation to the visibility in the silo was the light. The only light in the silo was from 4 flood lights mounted overhead. This was good down to 60ft or so, but after that the water filtered out the light and dive lights are necessary.

Here I am circling my way up the silo.

The inertial guidance shack.

Mounts for the levels that were previously in the silo.

The owner signing my Valhalla shirt.

After you complete your Valhalla dive, the owner will sign a shirt for you. He will not sell you a shirt unless you actually complete a dive here. Here he is signing my shirt after diving to 105ft in the silo.

Looking up at the launch doors.

This trip was a very unique experience and I recommend it for a couple of dives. It’s one of those you do, just to say you did it. The dive itself is super easy, if a bit cold. Being inside a former missile silo was the real draw for me. During lunch while others were up on the surface grilling I was down in the silo playing with the blast doors. They still swing easily given their age and size. If you have some time and want to do something unique, head deep into the heart of Texas to visit Valhalla.

Now, I hear there is a Titan missile silo in Washington state that is dive-able. I’m going to have to find my way out there.

UPDATE: I finally got to the Titan Silo in Washington. Check it out here: Titan Missile Silo Dive

This is just round 1 of Austin BBQ; There is no way to see it all in the short time we were there. We will be back.

Before we begin I just want to clarify something. When you pour a big pile of match light charcoal into a grill, set it on fire, and then proceed to char the hell out of your meat you are grilling. You are not making Barbecue. 

County Line BBQ
4.0 stars:  Yes, please! 

There are many facets to the flavor of Barbecue: smoke, crust, marbling, etc are all important but equally important to the flavor is the location and company. County Line may not have been the best BBQ, but I enjoyed it with new friends while sitting next to the river after an enjoyable dive in Lake Travis.

County Line BBQ was a good solid place. Everything was decent and the sweet tea came as fast as I drank it. It’s not the kind of place that will be raved about by guys in tight jeans and handlebar mustaches while they wait in line for 3 hrs. It’s a place that real people will go to hang with friends and relax. As a professional tourist, I had to sample a little of everything.  Sausages are a Texas thing. I’m not really that into them, but I had to try. There is also a bit of brisket in there. It was all good. It wasn’t the best brisket I had, but it didn’t suck.

Rudy’s BBQ
4.5 stars:  Yes, please! – Eat until the end of days

I know, I know – It’s a chain! I don’t care. It’s damn good. This happens to be another place I went after a dive. I guess diving and BBQ go together in Texas. Everything we tried was pretty good, but that crust on the brisket is what I dream about. It’s still a few months before we get back to Texas, but this is on my short list of places to go again.

Neon Beer Signs – Check, Family Style Tables – Check, Big Ass Texas Flag – Check

This was for 2 people. One of them is a vegetarian.

Look at that crust – LOOK AT IT!

Cooper’s Pit Bar-B-Que
2.5 stars:  Meh

Go figure, this is another place I went to after diving in the Comal River. We were told that this was the place to go in the area. It was ok, but nothing special. The meats were cooked alright, but lacked much flavor or impact. I don’t feel the need to go back.

Order your meat from the pit before choosing sides.

They serve bbq the right way, on a piece of paper on a tray.

Take a look at this and then go take a look at Rudy’s Brisket. I’ll be going back to Rudy’s.

Micklethwait Craft Meats
4.0 stars:  Pretty Alright

It’s in a vintage trailer and there is always a line. It must be Craft Meats! This guy has developed a pretty strong following in Austin. They prepare all their own meats and bake their own bread. They also make a pretty good home-made moon pie. They are really known for their sausages and they have different ones all the time. It was definitely good food, but I’m not a fan of standing in line for BBQ.

Homemade Moonpie.

What do you feed a vegetarian? Sides and dessert!

As you can see it was all good. It’s worth it to check it out. It’s just down the street from Franklin BBQ, but the lines aren’t as bad.

If it wasn’t for the lines I would have rated it higher. Did I mention I don’t like waiting in lines for BBQ?

Salt Lick Barbecue
4.0 stars:  Alright, Alright, Alright

That’s a lot of murder right there.

Salt Lick BBQ is legendary in Texas. I was wearing my Salt Lick shirt around NYC the other day and was stopped twice to talk about the place. It started in 1967 with this pit bbq in Driftwood, TX. The owner would cook all Thursday and then sell on the weekends until he ran out. Soon he was running out quickly and decided to enclose the area around the pit and make it a restaurant. Now people from all over flock to the Salt Lick. This is another one of those places where the location and the company influence the flavor. After driving through the hill country to find the Salt Lick, sitting down with friends to eat it is that much better.

Realistically there is better BBQ in town, but I think you need to visit just to see this pit for yourself.

Kerensa noticed the pies.

Familiar family style seating.

I was hungry again when we visited and I didn’t know if I would get back so I chose the sampler with a bit of everything. I’m not a big fan of sausage, but I really liked it here. I would order it again if I went back.

That’s it for now. We’ll be back soon for Round 2.