Top Ten Motorhome Upgrades We Have Done to Our 2016 Winnebago View

We decided to put together a list of our Top Ten favorite upgrades to the motorhome. We have owned this RV now for 3 years. Over this span of time we've done some things that we felt made it better or more comfortable for us.

While we were relaxing in the motorhome during a beautiful Sunday Mother's Day picnic, we decided to make a video of the TOP TEN THINGS we have updated. The link for the video is at the end of this blog post.

It may not have been sunny, but it was nice to sit back and relax in our motorhome while we brainstormed and made this list.

We were sitting on the shores of the Green Bay, which leads out into the waters of Lake Michigan. The sun would appear, then disappear, alternating with spits of rainshowers.

Please remember: We are not sponsored in any way by any of these manufacturers. We bought all of the items with our own money. We are not paid by anyone to show these items.

These are the things mentioned in the video: 

NUMBER 1. 

The conversation started with us realizing that during the last 12 months, we have spent six of them living inside the motorhome.  After our trip to Alaska, we decided to splurge and make a purchase of an RV mattress specifically made for our unique bedroom slide in our 2016 Winnebago View G model. We have been sleeping on the original two-piece memory foam mattress from the manufacturer since day one, which was now 9 years old. It was time to get a new one.

We went on to our Winnebago Group on Facebook and asked other people with the same model where they had gotten a good mattress. It has to be custom-made with this special fold in the middle, called a "hinge". Hands down everyone recommended this company: 

https://wildernessrvmattress.com/products/the-aspen

Aspen Custom - Queen / No Corner / Hinged 10” memory foam mattress WRV-52850  $788.29

They were very easy to deal with, they took all of our information over the phone and the mattress was shipped quicker than the originally had projected. I think they had given it 14 days and it was here by the 7th or the 8th day? It arrives compacted in a box and all we have to do is carefully cut it open and it expands. 

Here is the YouTube video of the process:

https://youtu.be/8RWJko73Iuw

The mattress is hinged and folds in half "like a taco" with one section being longer than the other. 

When the back slide is deployed, the mattress is unfolded and becomes a queen size bed.

It has been extremely comfortable, and we are quite pleased with it. Our regular household queen size sheets fit well, and our electric mattress pad heater is perfect. It was a good decision. 

NUMBER 2. 

Our last motorhome had an automatic leveling system. We really miss not having one on this motorhome. We knew it was possible to have one installed, or to do it ourselves for that matter. But we decided to add a little detour to a trip in lower Michigan and stop directly at the factory to have one installed. Who better than the people that actually make it to specifically install it for our motorhome.  We called ahead and made an appointment. Everyone was very professional and our work was done perfectly. We were quite happy with the installation and the demonstration of showing us how it worked.

Bigfoot Leveling Systems 

https://thebigfootleveler.com/akc-mb2007

305 US-131 South, White Pigeon, Michigan 49099  $5,000 approx.

Here's the YouTube video we made of our visit and the process of having the levelers installed.

https://youtu.be/Rg7V2PJ5Q2Y

There are four hydraulic levelers, located on each corner of the motorhome. Inside there is a control panel that was mounted on the side of our cabinets that is easily reached from standing by the open doorway.

It's quite a contraption mounted up underneath the motorhome and Steve was able to check it all out during the initial walkthrough. .

It automatically senses and levels the motorhome with each individual leg and figures it out to be perfectly level when we reach a campsite. We really enjoy having the stability of the levelers, and it keeps the motorhome stabilized from dipping and wiggling when you move around inside of it. 

NUMBER 3.

Many times, RV sinks are much smaller than traditional home sinks. The one we originally had was two basins and they were very shallow. With the angle of the faucet, if the water was turned on too quickly with full power, it would splash on the bottom and right out onto the stomach of the person standing in front of the sink!!  We always had to be careful to open the faucet slowly so we wouldn't get an unexpected bath. 

Sooooo we did a little research with careful measurements, and found out that we could replace it with a single basin that was deeper than the original.

We did the swap when we found one from ClassACustoms for only $119.00, free shipping, no tax. All of the other RV sites wanted $200-$300 for the same sink. 

It's an undermount sink but we mounted it from above with a bead of silicone and caulking from underneath.  It was really an easy job and we really appreciate the new sink.

 https://www.classacustoms.com/25-x-15-Farm-House-Style-Undermount-Single-Basin-Stainless-Steel-Sink_p_576.html

The two individuals sink base covers still fit on top of this, side by side, after Steve did a little teeny routering along the edge of the undersides of the covers. Not in the photo below, but it adds to the counter space when cooking.

NUMBER 4.

This was actually the first upgrade we made to the motorhome. These aren't in any particular order. We were camping one of our first times out in the motor home and realized the crazy Flexsteel Fold and Tumble loveseat was the most uncomfortable thing. Even with little additional ottomans in front of it, it was not comfortable to sit back and watch TV and relax. There is only so much width in the slide for any loveseat, and household ones won't work. It needs to be a RV specific that can be bolted to the floor, have access to the seat belts, and come in pieces to fit through a narrow RV door.

Steve was looking at Facebook Marketplace, as he usually does, and he ran across somebody selling a brand new RV loveseat exactly the right size that we needed!! They had purchased it from an RV Warehouse in Indiana in anticipation of putting it in their school bus renovation. But then they realized they could go with a longer full-sized couch. So it hadn't even been used or installed yet, and they were selling it on Marketplace.

We skipped out on our last day of camping and rushed over to purchase a NEW Williamsburg grey reclining loveseat set for $500. We removed the Flexsteel Fold and Tumble loveseat and used the same screws for mounting the Williamsburg. We sold the Flexsteel to someone else for their van built out for the same amount of money!  

So really, our cost was $0.00.

It is extremely comfortable and we really are pleased that it matches the interior. The original seat belts are made to come up through the back sections of this special RV loveseat, so they are legal seated positions when you carry passengers in the motorhome.

NUMBER 5. 

Now that we had replaced the love seat with the beautiful dark charcoal colored upholstery, we decided to cover our driver and passenger seats in the cockpit. The cream colored "leatherette" fabric of the original 9-year-old seats was beginning to peel and chip away. It's a known fault with the seats from Sprinter thru Winnebago. Most people replace the entire seats. But we went on our Facebook Winnebago group again, asking for recommendations. Someone had recommended this company who custom makes the covers exactly for the right ones that are in our motorhome. 

So we took a chance and ordered them in the color of our choice.

seatcoversunlimited.com

 Leatherette Custom Seat Covers - Charcoal - Front Seat

Custom Tailor Made - 20% OFF - BACK TO SCHOOL SALE

$429.00 but on Sale $343.20  Shipping Free  Total $343.20

Here's the YouTube video of us installing them

https://youtu.be/8RWJko73Iuw

It took a bit of effort to get them on, but they fit absolutely perfectly and snugly. The hardest part was getting the armrest covers on. But once it was done we were quite pleased. They're comfortable to sit on and we like the dark color that matches our love seat. They never really get hot because if it's a sunny day, we pull the windshield screens across to keep them from absorbing sunlight when we are parked.

NUMBER 6.

This one is kind of a biggie. We had debated back and forth about upgrading the 2 wet cell deep cycle Trojan batteries that operate the coach portion of our motorhome. (These are NOT the two driving batteries for the diesel engine on the chassis).  The process on our particular motorhome is much more involved to swap them over to lithium batteries. It also involves changing over to a new system controller, getting a new larger inverter, getting a new converter, altering the compartment the batteries reside in, as well as changing the engine alternator and some of the other wiring components on the motorhome. Quite an expensive and involved process! 

Although lithium batteries are really nice, we really didn't want to go through all that to upgrade the motorhome. So we did the next best thing...

We did some research and purchased a Bluetti power station. This contains everything in one unit, a large LiFePo4 lithium battery, the controller for solar, the inverter to give pure sine wave power for sensitive electronics, and can be charged in multiple ways. It has a large 30 amp plug on it that we can just plug the motorhome into! It rides perfectly in the first compartment next to our passenger entry door. It even runs our Starlink as we drive down the road, and we aren't wearing down the chassis batteries in the process.

Our unit is the Bluetti AC200L 

https://a.co/d/098IiG4t

(approx $900) 

https://a.co/d/020gp8VQ

We can charge the Bluetti:

• from our solar set up, 
• or from our generator, 
• or from plugging it into shore power, 
• or the best way is that we can charge it while driving from the alternator (with the addition of the Bluetti One DC to DC charger). 

Bluetti Charger One DC to DC charger. Bought on Amazon, added post fuse 60 amp and grommets. $250 on sale, normally $399. BLUETTI Charger 1, 560W Alternator Charger, 

https://a.co/d/0bDYESDb

Here is the YouTube on installing the DC to DC charger: 

https://youtu.be/QNQ168xRG2A?si=bSyVSw_qLnH8_FE4

We put a 320 watt solar system on the cargo trailer roof for $125. We also have a Renogy 400 watt portable solar panel that can be deployed if needed.

https://www.renogy.com/products/renogy-400w-solar-panel-blanket

Here is the YouTube of getting the renergy solar panel: 

https://youtu.be/XpFgZ8Prx8U?si=dsLaxJEReluvA3PN

It fits perfectly in this compartment without interfering with any of the original battery space.

NUMBER 7. 

(really 7A, 7B & 7C)

The next thing on our list was to improve our "ride". We knew that other Winnebago View owners had made changes to the suspension. We took a lot of their advice and did some research and decided to invest in some products to make our rig handle better. Especially dipping and swaying as you pull in and out of driveways or gas station aprons etc. Also when being passed by semis or dealing with high winds on the road. The suspension can make all the difference. 

The previous owner of our motorhome had already installed the Hellwig sway bar. That makes a huge difference in handling.

But we knew that the shocks and the struts needed to be replaced as well. It was 9 years old and we don't think they had ever been done before. 

7A.

First up were the rear shocks, we ordered the special ones from Agile Off-road in California. They were so much beefier than what was originally on there.

AOR0016-HEAVY AO Fox 2.5 Rear Shocks – Sprinter 3500 $499.99 Discount Total  Agile Offroad https://agileoffroad.com/

10928 Wheatlands Avenue Suite B

Santee CA 92071 Shipping Cost $0.00  Total $499.99  

We were able to do this project ourselves. It was amazing how bad the old shocks were. If you watch the video link below you can see how easily Steve can compress the old ones. That's not right. So watch the video below and you can watch our process:

https://youtu.be/sc-o_1RyeOw

7B.

Once that was done, then we also had to do the struts up in the front. Again, using the advice from the others with the Sprinter chassis on our Winnebago View list, we ordered these that are specifically designed for the Sprinter chassis used for rvs. They carry loads differently than the regular Sprinter vans used for deliveries or other purposes. The RVs have a different weight distribution and it was discovered after the fact that they needed a different strut then what were originally put on the chassis.

Shockwarehouse.com

Bilstein 22-334299 Front B6 Camper Advanced (DampMatic) Strut Sprinter 2500/3500/3500XD × 2

$398.00

https://youtu.be/SXi7UN7L24o

They weren't quite as expensive as the shocks were, but all around it was a huge improvement to the ride. It was well worth the expense.

Once they were done, we were in need of an alignment. We had that done down at the Mercedes-Benz in Appleton.  

7C.

But after our trip to Alaska, it was time to also invest in new tires. RV tires should never go longer than 5 or 6 years because they "age out" a lot faster than they wear out their tread. They age from the inside out because they do not get used every day to distribute the oils throughout the rubber. It's called "dry rot". So because they sit and are not driven every day like a car, you don't go by the miles on the tires, you go by the years. All tires have a date code stamped in the side so you can tell the age of your tire. The first two digits are the week and the second two digits are the year itself. Thus 2122 would mean the 21st week of 2022. 

In choosing new tires, we specifically indicated that we wanted fresh ones. Sometimes you will be told about a "great sale" but they are actually tires that have been sitting on the shelf in a warehouse somewhere for one or two or even three years. They are brand new as far as not being mounted on a vehicle yet, but they have been sitting around for quite a while. Beware of those great sales! 

We called ahead and ordered our tires and insisted that they be fresh and that we will check the date codes when we get there.

Six Michelin Agilis tires Cross Climate 2 

LT 125/85 r16 115RE1bsw  We had them installed at Discount Tire in Green Bay (NOT recommended!)  $233 each $1,398 $3.50 per tire disposal fee $21 Final total $1472.05

It was quite a fiasco with irresponsible workers not lifting our motorhome properly on the indicated lifting points and causing potential damage to our chassis. We really had to monitor them and insist they follow what is in the manual and not what they think they needed to do. Watch the video below for more information:

https://youtu.be/dsEIN6Gf-Ag

After they were done, we still had to have the tires balanced again by the Mercedes-Benz repair shop down in Appleton. We also had everything looked over for any potential damage after their botched up work at Discount Tire. 

NUMBER 8.

Tireminder TPMS sytem from Amazon

This is really an important item to have, especially if you are towing something behind your motorhome. We have tire pressure monitor transmitters installed on all six tires of the motorhome, as well as anything we are towing behind. In our case, we mostly tow our cargo trailer which has two more transmitters on it. 

Those who say they can walk around and thump on their tires with a bat to monitor their pressures are "old school". You really can't tell what's happening to the tires on something you are towing behind you. You can't thump your tires when you're driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour either.  There are instances of a trailer or vehicle with a flat that keeps running down the highway and starts on fire. Soon the towed item is in flames and you can't get it unlocked off the hitch fast enough without it passing through an igniting onto your motorhome.  Twice warnings have happened to us with flats on vehicles we were towing behind our larger motorhome. It's saved our butts and a lot of headaches. This way we can tell if we have a slow leak, as it will register as soon as it drops too far below the baseline. It also alarms us if there is a rapid decrease in pressure, or a rapid increase in temperature.

We invested in this tpms, although there are others out there on the market. We like this one because we can change out the batteries in each individual sensor and not have to replace the entire sensors. Our old Hopkins N-Vision system we had to replace the entire sensors which was quite expensive. So that is why we chose Tire Minder this time.

TireMinder Smart TPMS with 10 Transmitters for RVs, MotorHomes, 5th Wheels, Motor Coaches and Trailers  https://a.co/d/06UtrgVK

$518.00

NUMBER 9.

Our motorhome originally came with a Coleman Mach 1 roof air conditioner. It had a hard time keeping up with high heat, especially with a dark sided and partially dark roofed motorhome like our Winnebago View. Also, it was very noisy and not very efficient. We decided to make a change to a newer quieter one that also had a heat pump feature.

Houghton RV Air Conditioner 15K Quiet AC Unit with Heat Pump, Remote Control 

RP-AC3800-DB-KT-SS

Type: Ducted, Color: Black, Thick Roof Extending Bolts Include Installed Soft Start: Include (+349.95)

https://recpro.com/rv-air-conditioner-15k-quiet-ac-heat-pump-with-condensate-pump-remote-control/

$1,687.95 USD Shipping:$0.00 USD Grand total:$1,687.95 

Here's the YouTube of how our neighbor came to help us get it up on the roof and get off the old one. It was quite a job, but we are glad that we did it.

https://youtu.be/tYAlY6Lzd9o

The new unit is much quieter, and more efficient and less power consumption. We added the soft start feature to make it easier to get it going even if we are running it off the generator or shore power. 

Steve felt quite successful after it was all done, and here is his celebration dance up on the roof. LOL

NUMBER 10.

Last but not least, we added a Furrion propane stove/oven combination. Remember, I said these are no particular order of importance. But to me, this one was really important! 

Our motorhome originally came with only a two burner cooktop and no propane oven at all!! The two burners were awkward, one was larger and one was smaller. It was not very easy to cook on and the kettles would tip on the little wire brackets around the propane burner. Any larger fry pan or kettle would actually touch the edges of the plastic surface countertop when cooking.

It does have a microwave/convection combination unit up overhead. But that's not the same as a propane oven. Especially if you are boondocking a lot or camping without hookups. Who wants to fire up the generator just to run the convection oven? If you are doing something like a roast or slow cooking something you would need to have the generator running for hours. Not only that, I just don't like convection oven for cooking. I never really got the hang of it. 

We had mentioned several times that we would like to swap it out for a regular propane stove with more burners, and a propane oven underneath.

It would mean sacrificing two of the drawers in the cabinetry underneath this cooktop. But I was willing to do that, just to have a propane oven.

Again, Mr Steveio had his eyeballs on Facebook marketplace. It's amazing the stuff that he can run across that is usable for us, and usually at a really good price. 

Can you believe it, he found a brand new RV propane Furrion stove / oven that had never even been installed in an RV before?  A guy who works at an RV repair dealership said it had been shipped to them for an insurance replacement but had been damaged during shipping. It was merely some dents on the side of the housing and didn't affect the operation at all. His boss gave it to him and he was going to do a van conversion build out, but never got it done. So he decided to sell it on Marketplace for a third of what it would have cost new!

We snapped it up, quick as a wink. It had never even been hooked up to a propane tank yet, so we brought along our own to test it before purchase. Everything was wonderful and it worked fine.  He lowered the price from $250 down to $220 because we had to bring along our own propane tank and a couple fittings to test it out.

Here is the YouTube of our process of installation which was quite extensive:

https://youtu.be/lwlGvU7RPRg

First we had to take out the old cooktop, which we sold to someone else doing a van buildout. Then we had to very carefully cut this countertop. It really is nothing more than a layer of thick plastic over a layer of styrofoam! I suppose they make it as lightweight as they can during the RV construction process. It's definitely not a regular countertop...

We had to remove the two drawers underneath to make room for the entire unit. We discovered that the narrowest top drawer could still fit underneath right above the bottom drawer. It took some really careful cutting and configuring, but we were able to still keep that second drawer. We only had to omit the middle drawer as a sacrifice. Like I said, I was very willing to do that just to be able to have a propane oven! 

Some people had mentioned the hinged glass top cover is known to shatter. So we decided later on to remove that glass top cover and just keep it in case we ever sell the motorhome. If someone wants it, they can have it put back on. It's just two screws. 

Now we have three burners, with plenty of cook space and a heavy cast iron grid to set the pots on. No more tippy kettles on little wires like the old two burner Coleman unit. What an improvement.

Okay, those were the Top 10. But there were some other items that we had considered as being part of the top 10 but didn't quite make the cut. They are wonderful improvements and upgrades. So I decided to include them here: 

THESE ARE THE RUNNER-UPS:

COSTWAY PORTABLE WASHER SPINNER

If you've been reading this blog at all, you know how much I hate going to laundromats. Especially urban city laundromats. I would much rather do our laundry in the motorhome and hang things out to dry, or hang them up on hangers. In our last motorhome we had a washer dryer combination built into the cabinetry in the bathroom. I really miss that. So this was our next best alternative being lightweight, and able to ride in our own shower stall...

COSTWAY Portable Washing Machine, Twin Tub 20 Lbs Capacity, Compact Laundry Washer (12 Lbs) and Spinner (8 Lbs), $149.00

https://a.co/d/0hA47BCt

Here's a link to a YouTube video while we were camping where we used the washing machine: 

https://youtu.be/ZH3n-SxVf14?si=SMaRXP2C_eo1i-Ig

For a small unit, it really washes well. Then you take the clothes out and put them on the right hand compartment for a spin cycle. It spins them out almost dry. No kidding! It uses about 8 gallons of water to wash, and another 8 gallons to rinse. Since we only have about 37 gallons of water on board, we try to only use it when we know we have water available at the campsite, or that we are going to stop somewhere later that day and can refill our water tanks. 

I have learned to wash multiple loads first, using the same water. I set each load aside in a laundry basket, and then rinse multiple loads using the same rinse water. Starting with whites and lights and going down to darks and jeans. It works rather well and conserves the water use.

When not being used for washing clothes, it doubles as our laundry hamper. We put our dirty clothes right inside while traveling. It stays right in the shower stall when we use it and drains directly down into the shower drain. If we want to take a shower, it's easy to lift it out and set it in the hallway while we use the shower. 

Clothes dried on the line always smell so good. This is so much nicer than wasting a couple hours in a grubby hot stinky urban laundromat. 

Some campgrounds do not want you to hang clothes lines, so then we opt to hang our clothing on hangers and hang them inside of the motorhome from the cabinetry until the clothes are dry.

LEVELMATE PRO

We used this leveling system a lot more before we installed the Bigfoot levelers. It helps to monitor what section of your RV needs to be higher or lower to get level. That is important for proper operation of the propane mode on an RV refrigerator. If not level, it can create hot spots in the tubing where it can burn out and ruin the refrigerator coil unit. Then you have to replace the entire unit or the entire refrigerator. 

This handy little device helps determine which tires you need to drive up on blocks to get more level. We still use it now sometimes pulling into a campsite to try and move forward or backward until we reach the most level position. Then we deployed the Bigfoot levelers to accurately stabilize us.

LogicBlue Technology LevelMatePRO Wireless RV Leveling System, Bluetooth Leveler. 119.00 on Amazon - $20 coupon got for $99.

https://a.co/d/0iVZHDEl

Here are two videos of how we installed it and another one of how it's used. It's quite handy!

https://youtu.be/cbO2dEuzWRE

https://youtu.be/3hYNWzTbym0

ZERO GRAVITY LAWN CHAIRS

This next one isn't on the RV itself, but it's part of our RV gear. Over the years we've had two different types of zero gravity recliners. They've been good, and we always put them away at night so they have lasted for many years. Our first set lasted over 20 years. The second set from Dunham's Sports has been about 2 years, but they weren't quite as comfortable. 

One day we were at Camping World to pick up something out of their camp store. Near the entrance was this one single beautiful zero gravity chair with wooden arms with a big clearance price tag on it! I sat down on it and it was VERY nice! Steve tried it out, and it was tall enough on the back side for his tall frame. We really liked it, but there was only ONE! 

The clerk overheard us talking and suggested maybe across the highway at Grand Design, kind of their "sister store", they might have another one? 

We called over there, and sure enough they had one, only one, also on clearance! So we asked them to save it while we purchased the first one from Camping World.  Then we rushed over and picked up the second one from The Grand Design shop. I think they were $60 each?  I don't recall. 

My goodness, these were so comfortable and seem to be really well made. I think they will serve us well for many years to come. They are heavier and taller than any of our other zero gravity recliners had been over the years. We gave away our old ones to the kids, and now these are the new thrones for the King and the Queen. The salesman was laughing at us, sitting in the parking lot. He offered to sell us a new RV to go with the chairs. LOL! 

They sure are comfortable, 

and they also came with cute little side tables for our evening beverages.

LAPTOP STAND 

This one was totally Steve's idea! On our old motorhome we used to have a retractable desk that came out of the front dash area for my laptop computer to ride in. I love using the Microsoft Streets and Trips as our GPS for traveling. It operates with a USB dongle to the dash for the GPS unit and uses the large screen of a laptop and the memory to track all of our trips and maps and information. I love it, but we did not have a comfortable way in this motorhome to set my laptop near the passenger seat. 

Instead of setting my laptop over on the loveseat to just monitor while we were driving, Steve came up with this idea of a laptop stand that can flip down and out of the way when not being used. That way it doesn't block the airbag feature of the dash. 

HUANUO Adjustable Monitor Stand, Single Arm Desk Mount for 32 inch Screen and 17 inch Laptop, $37.99

https://a.co/d/0hPHbuO4

We mounted the the stand right to the frame of the seat. My laptop is velcroed on tight with heavy duty strapping and can flip down out of the way. I really like this setup. I can swivel the seat around to face the living room area when we are stopped and camping somewhere. I use it for editing my videos when we are stopped, or updating information on my blog. So it really is like a little office space.

CAROTE STACKABLE COOKWARE SET WITH REMOVABLE HANDLES

We decided on this one as an anniversary present to each other. After our long trip to Alaska, our original set of pots and pans were still just fine. But we had had them since 2012. I was thinking maybe I would like an upgrade. We saw some other RVers on YouTube use this interesting set of stackable pots and pans with detachable handles. They come with felted flower shaped petals that work as a trivet in between the kettles to keep them from rattling around during travel! What a great idea...

CAROTE 33 PCS Pots and Pans set Non Stick, Ceramic Cookware Set, RV Kitchen Cooking Set Removable Handles

Anniversary present   https://a.co/d/05wY9e8k

$139.99 Amazon  

Here is our YouTube of how well they nest and store completely in one drawer underneath our stove.

https://youtu.be/u739ZsaSvEw

I especially like the 4 place little egg cooker. We cook circles of scrambled eggs and maybe either chopped ham or Canadian bacon. We make up our own breakfast sandwiches and the size is perfect for the egg circles.

The handles detach and the kettles all stack neatly inside of each other. I have three different handles. They can be removed during cooking to give more space on the smaller footprint of an RV stove. The glass lids are multi-sized that can be used on various kettles or fry pans. Best of all, there are some plastic lids that snap on and you can use them for food storage in the refrigerator!

12 VOLT DIMMER SWITCH

This one was Steve's little favorite extra thing to do. We have some under counter LED strip lights that just switch on bright, or off. No in between. So he decided to add some dimmers. He had done this on our previous motorhomes too. 

He likes this one that's a touch dimmer for 12 volt fixtures. It only came in a double format, but we can cut it apart with a small oscillating tool blade.

RecPro Dimmer Switch | RV 12V Touch Dimmer Switch | Compatible with LED, Incandescent, or Halogen Bulbs (Double) Amazon $30.95 (double switch we cut apart)

https://a.co/d/0dw650B9

Our previous You Tube installing the dimmers under the cabinets:

INSTALLING DIMMER ON LED LIGHTS ON 2016 WINNEBAGO VIEW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOCV2L60Wo

Now we can dim down the lights over the loveseat area when we want to watch tv. We can brighten up the lights over the kitchen countertop when we are working on some cooking, or dim them down into the evening for soft lighting. They really are handy! 

EXTRA EXTERIOR LED PORCH LIGHT

This one is the most recent upgrade we have done. It kind of ties in with the previous dimmer switches. Because he took the regular switches off, when replacing with the dimmers, he happened to have an extra on and off 12 volt switch that matches all of our others. 

On the passenger side of our motorhome we have one of these LED strip Optronics light as a porch light by the passenger entry door. It's very handy for at night when we let out the dog or for checking out what's going on outside if we hear a noise. 

Steve decided we should have one over on the driver's side too. Since he already had the switch, we ordered a matching light from Walmart of all places! We installed it on the top edge of the slide on the driver's side. Now we can just reach up under the cabinet and flick the switch to check on what's going on out on the driver's side of the motorhome. This is also especially handy for Nick's last call out to do his potty before bedtime. Sometimes it's better if he goes over there rather than on the patio side of the rv.

Here is the extra light switch Steve had that comes in two parts. We were able to fish through the wiring from the outside to the inside and then through the cabinet to the underside surface. Then he wired it all up and put it all back together.

As Steve says: "AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!"  All done on the top edge of our driver side slide.

Here's the video of the two of us discussing all of these upgrades while we were relaxing in the motorhome on Mother's Day:

I have another blog post coming up about our beautiful Mother's Day and some things we've been doing around the house. Stay tuned! 

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - 2ND Week at Buckhorn Creek Corps of Engineers - Lake of the Pines, TX

We are now on our second week in this most beautiful place... Buckhorn Creek Corps of Engineers campground situated on Lake of the Pines, Texas. This area of Northeast Texas is full of tall pine trees and actually has green grass and leaves budding out on shrubbery already at the end of February. This is exactly what we were looking for when we left Wisconsin three and a half weeks ago, at four degrees below zero!

Sadly, the rules at the Corps of Engineers only allow you to stay 14 days at a particular campground within the same "basin" or flowage. Some of the campgrounds may allow you to extend it an extra time, depending on the rangers discretion. This is to keep people from moving on in and setting up like a permanent resident. Also, only a few of the sites here have sewer hookups included. So it does mean that you do have to pull off the site after a period of time to dump your holding tanks. It's easy for us to pull in the slides, drive over and dump our tanks, and drive back and set up again. It's not such a labored process like it is with travel trailers or fifth wheels. It only takes us about 15 minutes.

This campsite is so pleasant with the wide open view of the water as well as this large lawn in front of us. Every day Steve takes Nick on his 100-ft long rope real and throws his toy for him. Nick zooms back and forth, usually the full hundred foot length - repeatedly - to return his toy to Steve. It really helps to wear him out and take the edge off his energy level. He has just turned 3 years old, but acts like a puppy.

I know it may be sound boring to some, but we have just been totally enjoying sitting here and looking out at the water. We watch the birds come and go, their songs filling the air. The springtime calls of birds is something that we don't hear all winter long in Wisconsin. I think the birds there are too cold to sing!!!

We also watch the fisherman come and go in their boats. This particular little craft drew some interest. It looks like one of those paddle boats with a little electric motor. It seems to be a little larger with seats on it that can rotate and all directions for fishing, without having to stand up. We have seen these guys come down and fish in our bay and then slowly work their way back out around the point. I'm not sure where they are camping or if they have a cabin nearby. It sure is a cute little boat though.

We watched them catch a couple fish and then work their way back out. What a pleasant way to spend an afternoon? 

The weather here has been exceptionally delightful. These are the types of temperatures we have been looking for.  The night time temps are just enough to kick on the heat and warm us up a bit. The electric mattress pad heaters take care of the rest. We are cozy all night long and by morning, ready to open the windows and make our coffee.  Some rain is forecast later in the week, which is desperately needed in this area. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana are all in a drought. Some rain would be wonderful because the fire danger is so high.

This little guy is all worn out from playing with his toy. He now needs to sprawl across me and gaze lovingly at my face. Wondering if I'm going to get up and give him some treats. Spoiled brat.

We decided that since we were staying a second week, we needed to pick up some things from a little convenience store about 3 miles away. Round trip is just under 6 miles. Easily done on our bikes. It even means riding across the top of the dam on the road.

We decided not to take Nick or his little trailer because we didn't know if there were shoulders on the road that made it better for riding a bike. After our experience in Jonesboro riding on an urban city route, we wanted to be sure before we left what the roads would be like --- without taking Nick along.

It turned out they were okay, and really we could have taken him. But that's okay, we leave him behind in the motor home on his own. We pulled down all of the shades and we turn up the TV pretty loud to drown out any noises he might hear from outside. We have a Wi-Fi camera that we can peek on him and see what he's up to. It also has a temperature sensor on it that lets us know if for some reason the power were to go out and it were to get too hot inside. Both the security monitor camera and our Starlink operate off our 12 volt DC battery system, not the campsite post 120 AC Power.  Modern technology sure gives us peace of mind.

We made it to the little convenience store. It was our choice to either come here or pull up stakes in the motorhome and drive 12 miles over into Jefferson, Texas to a regular grocery store. So we took our chances and came here instead.  

Steve offered to take a picture of me! I don't often get many photos of myself because I'm always the one taking the pictures. So here I am, this little bicycle riding Granny...

We picked up our groceries, and then strapped them all carefully onto the panier bags on each side of my bike. Plus we had room for Steve's Modelo beer strapped to the center of my bike rack. His bike has a different carrying bag on his back rack that carries things like air compressor, spare bike tube, first aid kit and tool set. Because he carries those things, I get to carry the groceries! 

The store was convenient, but it definitely was not cheap!  But we were able to get a dozen eggs and some gallon jugs of drinking water as well as just a little quart of milk and a loaf of bread. The bread was $5.99 a loaf! It didn't even taste that good. We tossed in a big bag Doritos (which wasn't all that big) and Steve's 12 pack of beer. Ouch! $50 later we were ready to hit the road.

We pedaled on back to the park and put away all of our groceries. Everything made it, including the eggs. The road was a little bouncy but I did make a little video of it anyhow. If you watch the video clip at the end of this blog you can watch our little ride to the store and back. 

After we got back to the camper, a little guy was quite miffed that he didn't get to go along with us. He kept giving us the glare look and kept going over to his little cart and pawing at it, begging for a ride. 

So we did.

When we got back, there was one more neighbor had moved in down the road from us. But he was very, very quiet and just was worried about going fishing early in the morning. That's about the only sound we heard from him was his boat taking off from shore. Later on we spoke with him and it turns out he only lives 6 miles away. He comes here for 2 weeks at a time to relax and fish and enjoy the park before all of the summer people come.

Now that we had a dozen eggs, I boiled up two and made up some potato salad for dinner later on. Steve tossed a couple of our nice juicy hamburgers on the grill. With the fire ban on, they ask that we don't use charcoal grills or anything that could possibly be on the grass and catch fire. The little table top propane grill was okay up on the aluminum table, over our black topped area next to the camper.

While Steve was doing the grilling, I set the table. This is the beautiful tablecloth we bought when we were visiting in Mexico about 15 years ago. Our friend Mary had one just like it, and I had admired it. When we traveled into Mexico we found the same market where she had purchased hers and I bought one too. It makes me smile every time we use it. So bright and colorful with intricate designs woven into the yarns. It isn't stamped or printed. It's actually woven. 

I set out the buns and the pickles and the potato salad and even some of my precious pickled beets that we brought from home.

Topped it off with a glass of my "Two Buck Chuck" wine, Charles Shaw wine from Trader Joe's... Adding in such a beautiful view to have our dinner.  Like I said, we aren't asking for much out of this vacation getaway other than a nice warm place to sit and look at something pretty. We really found that here...

The evening started to cloud up a little bit. We were hoping maybe some rain was going to come overnight. (It didn't) It's made for an interesting sunset with the golden sun peeking out with the heavy gray clouds.

Then suddenly all the background burst into beautiful bright pink and even an edging of crimson along the horizon. What a great treat for an end to a beautiful day.

We spent the rest of our second week basically just doing our own fun stuff that we do. Taking some bike rides, with or without the dog. Did another two loads of laundry in our little portable washing machine. We cooked some creative meals, and took some nice naps. Later in the evenings, after dark, we usually head inside. Since the burn ban was on we couldn't have a campfire anyhow. We crank up the Starlink and we watch some YouTube favorite channels that we enjoy. Mostly traveling and camping, some homesteading. We cuddle up on the love seat with a bowl of popcorn. And the dog between us. 

One evening I made up a special meal. I took some pictures of it during the process. I put shredded chicken along with precooked rice and sauce and seasonings in flour tortillas. I spiced Steve's up more than mine. I didn't have any enchilada sauce, but I used up some leftover spaghetti sauce. Lol. 

Imagine being from Wisconsin and not being able to eat cheese??? I can no longer digest cheese properly, but we found this Violife brand that is a dairy free cheese substitute there's actually made from potato starch.  We can get it in either a Mexican shredded, mozzarella, or even in sliced American that tastes really good for a grilled cheese sandwich.

I sprinkled some of the shredded Violife cheese on the top of our enchiladas. Then I covered them with tin foil and popped them in the oven for half an hour.

Oh my, a rich and filling enchilada meal with a little side salad and some guacamole. 

I want to give a little shout out here to one of our granddaughters.  This is our 10-year-old Whitney. I think she's the only one of all of our grandchildren who actually reads my blogs, and watches my YouTube videos! She sends me silly little pictures that she takes of her cat and her 2 dogs. She also just got glasses...

Recently she has been writing me emails!

So a huge shout out with love and hugs to this sweet girl who takes the time to write to her Grandma Pfun! She is learning letter writing skills at school and I am so appreciative of each and every one that I get. 

Since we have unlimited water, and an outdoor shower, it was time to scrub up this little dog and get him smelling fresh and clean again. We have biodegradable dog shampoo and an outdoor shower on the side of the motor home. I laid our rubber floor mat down for him to stand on so I could scrub him up well from head to toe. Then rinse rinse rinse. With his long hair takes quite a while to get all of the soap out of him.

He was not too happy with me...

I brushed him out, clipped his toenails, and told him he was very handsome. Do you think so? 

We've been taking time on this trip to relax and look around instead of rush rush rush from one place to another. That might not appeal to some people who travel to get to places. 

To destinations. 

To sites. 

To tourist attractions. 

I think, for us, we need to slow down and smell the roses. Or the dandelions.

Almost every evening we were blessed with these beautiful sunsets. The colors are intense and we hang out long enough to watch the sun slip down over the far horizon behind the trees.

This really has been a wonderful spot to be camping for two weeks. Here's the YouTube that goes along with this blog post:

And this video is from the last few days on the campsite before we left. It has Nick getting his outdoor doggy spa bath! 

But now it's time to move on. Let's see where we are going, further down the road.

0 miles traveled today (other than the 6 miles traveled on our bicycles to the store and back)

1,121 miles traveled so far