We Were NOT Ready for This | The Scariest RV Life Travel Day

[@joyfullythriving]

So thankful you guys were okay with that tire blowout! 😮 That is definitely a scary situation.

[@OpenRoading]

It was the weirdest thing hearing something blow off and not knowing what it was! So thankful for that rest area! - K

[@jackstephens1450]

Just discovered you guys today, love it. You are real people doing real travels. Not towing 125,000 5th wheel. Real people, real problems...

[@OpenRoading]

I mean…we wouldn’t mind a $125,000 fifth wheel. 😂 Maybe someday but if it ever happens I hope we remain real. -J

[@livingworkingoutsidebox]

Ditto 👍

[@LawrenceTuckerFyretuck]

Get some plastic pipettes to check for water in your gasoline. Gasoline with Ethanol collects moisture from the air. If there is water in your fuel, when you look inside the fuel tank, you can see the water collection on the bottom of the tank.

[@OpenRoading]

So we eventually seem to have solved this issue with a fuel additive. -J

[@dougwilliams3276]

Wheel Chauks at Harbor Fright, Cheep and solid, Best RV deal in the place.

[@OpenRoading]

I keep meaning to check this out! Someone else mentioned harbor freight but I keep tooling around with my homemade wooden ones that I made a month or so ago... 😂 Thank you for the reminder! -J

[@rswfire]

I love that you call one of your storage bays your garage. 😂

[@OpenRoading]

The other one is the basement. 😂 -J

[@deepaageny6091]

This is true boondocking issues. Finding a nice rv park would be good.

[@RVingwithLuck]

The jelly was perfect, but you need a lot more peanut butter.

[@OpenRoading]

😂 I’ll try that next time!! -J

[@bjkgaffmaster]

These are the type events and situations that can be a real pain to deal with. Lucky you are near a Walmart where you were able to get a replacement tire. Make sure any replacement you get is trailer rated and 10 ply if you did not know already. If you guys have a chain saw it is way easy to just cut a couple of wheel chocks from a couple oak or ash trees fire logs before cutting them to burn. They are way cheaper then buying store chocks (will not break like plastic) and can be an “emergency” source of firewood at a remote location if needed. You can custom cut them to size you need also. You can even cut some 10” wide by 2” thick and 12”, 18”, 24” long that can be used as level pieces and can be burned as they get old. If you are still planning your trip to Alaska consider plotting your roads route AS WELL as places to purchase tires, trailer parts and repair shops along your route. This may save you from having to wait a day or 2 to get the items you need for the repair. I saw you cleaning the Solar Panels early in the video (good job) and this is something that is very important that a lot of people miss especially when they are mounted on roofs. For solar panels to run at maximum efficiency they need to be 100% CLEAN. If the have even small amount of leaves, dust or debris on them you will loose almost all power generation. 10% coverage of a panel and you loose @90% of generating power. Max output needs panels to be almost perfectly clean. I will mention also that I have an IBEW Solar certification and have worked on installation of several very large solar farms in PA, NJ. If you are going to do air fryer again maybe consider running that off your generator, it will save a ton of your battery capacity for other uses. Air fryers use around same amount of wattage as a hair dryer and it can eat up battery storage pretty quick. Air fryer should run off of generator and will only be running for a few minutes. If you decide to use genset make sure to use a short extension cord that can handle 20amps load….12/3 gauge should work. Look forward to your next video.

[@OpenRoading]

Thanks for all the feedback. I like your idea for wheel chocks...need to remember that next time I'm around a chainsaw. -J

[@seabeevet9285]

😂😂

[@mariahorsfield76]

My husband like peanut butter on both sides and lots of jam in middle ❤❤

[@OpenRoading]

Oh nice! I approve of this method. -J

[@ernestinebyrne9912]

Wow! Y’all were blessed to not have any issues. Thankful that rest area was so close. Dad was a mechanic and he was so adamant to us that we maintain the spare tire and he wanted us to have it always in rotation with the other tires. I make sure I have a real tire at all times but I have gotten lax about having the mechanics rotate it as well. This reminded me. Next service on my vehicle I will have the mechanic check out the tire.

[@OpenRoading]

We were SUPER blessed. I'm pretty sure the fact that it delaminated instead of exploding saved us so much trouble. -J

[@luellenfrancois8895]

I love you guys! Your videos are informative and entertaining. Keep up the good work and don’t worry about haters.

[@OpenRoading]

No worries going on over here! 99.9% of everyone in these comment sections are amazing people. 🙂 -J

[@shawnbeerens4292]

I love the u.p! Although i have never been all the way over to the porcupine's, Im jealous! Glad you guys had a good time and that the tire didnt mess too much stuff up!

[@OpenRoading]

We lucked out with that tire for sure for sure! -J

[@shawnbeerens4292]

I just watched this video again, may I suggest a valve core removal tool. You could have removed the valve core and walked away from the tire as it deflated, and away from potential danger. I have also found loose valve cores causing a leak that you can't find.... also I'm Sure you know about them and you already purchased a generator and probably won't replace it for "no reason" but a dual fuel generator would be nice. That way you wouldn't have to chase gas if you didn't want to. The predator doesn't have one that size for some reason, but other brands do, just an FYI if your in the market

[@Chrisa197088]

Harbor freight has good heavy duty wheel chocks cheap! They are rubber and mine have held up well.

[@OpenRoading]

Thanks so much for the tip! We’ll check them out!

[@timjolly-z6s]

Really enjoying your channel

[@OpenRoading]

Thank you! -J

[@alanstallones8624]

Just recently subscribed to your channel! Loved the video of working at the sugar beet dump! I live in southern Idaho on our family farm. We used to raise sugar beets and have a processing factory nearby. As a young boy I would ride to the sugar factory with my uncle in his truck to dump the beets. I was always fascinated by the mountainous size of the beet piles!

[@OpenRoading]

So fun factoid... one of the pilers at our site have been in operation since the 1940s. 😳 -J

[@itsjustthatez4275]

Great videos I stumbled across. Very vibrant couple. I am learning so much from you two and others, getting ready for my 2024 RV adventure. Glad all worked out with your tire. Seems you are both Blessed with getting answers to the small roadblocks which happen. 😁

[@OpenRoading]

It's all about the journey! Sometimes roadblocks are small...sometimes huge...but we just keep plugging away. Thanks for watching and we hope 2024 is full of adventure for you! -J

[@twistcollins8554]

You need one half of a jar of jelly per sandwich, spend the money to buy a Honda generator They are worth it for longevity and dependably trust me 😊 Twister Collins

[@OpenRoading]

For sure! Honda would be nice. That's a lot of jars of jelly though. Like...more than a years worth even at my rate. 😂 Our Harbor Freight Gen is getting the job done so far. Compressor....well...that ended up in the trash not too long ago. -J

[@DownsizingMakesCents]

I can see you guys are upping your youtube game recently. Looks like you were posting randomly until recently, but now at least every week. Im curious why all of a sudden you are posting on a regular schedule after doing this for years posting once in a while. Generators suck but sometimes are necessary, we also have a propane fridge, why so many people are getting residential fridges. We also have the color control GX for our Victron system. I have starlink and use it at every spot, i did a diy long cable, over 300 feet to get to open sky when in the woods, I am working on a remote starlink system that i can put up to a half mile away to get open sky, it runs on its own battery remotely and use a Wi-Fi range expander to get the signal to the rv. Working on it this winter for our summer trip west again. Get a honda, 2200 the work every time. My honda 2000 is 20 years old and still starts on first pull. They are expensive but sometimes it is worth spending a few extra dollars. Sorry for all the long comments, woke up at 5 and binged your channel. Larry

[@OpenRoading]

Hey Larry! Re: KZbin game - we've tried 2 times in the past to build an audience on youtube with little to no success. This year we went at it with a much tighter strategy. We both love documenting our adventures but we did a lot of things wrong the first 2 times around that we're really working on correcting. Ultimately we would love youtube to be part of our income allowing us more freedom in travel. We did recently get monetized so now the quarters are rolling in. 😄 We initially made the jump to RV life with Kalyn's writing business as our full time income - but 2020/2021 + inflation hit us hard so I've been picking up quite a bit of workcamping jobs. (More on that in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4inn5uued2Hoa8si=ZRMd_H7KuqPYwD7H ) We're trying hard to phase out of workcamping and back into working on our own businesses. That's how I'm treating youtube by committing to x number of hours on it per week. -J

[@RVingwithLuck]

I just found you guys while doing a KZbin search. Always great to find fellow full time RV’ers. After watching a few videos, I subscribed. So glad the tire didn’t blow out! I currently (and for 2 years) don’t have a Jack or lug wrench. I am buying one ASAP!

[@OpenRoading]

Pro tip - don’t buy the lug wrench you see me using in the video…it’s a piece of garbage. It’s an all in one extension from Walmart and I do NOT recommend! Thanks so much for the subscribe! -J

[@dawnmarie4946]

Joe you are funny man. You both are funny..

[@OpenRoading]

I appreciate people who appreciate my sense of humor. 😁 -J

[@wildrvlife]

Sorry, we’re both with Joseph on the excess jelly. 🤣 although Craig would eat PB&Js without the bread all together if it was possible. 😂😂

[@comingstobrazil]

Also team Joe. There is no such thing as too much jelly.

[@OpenRoading]

Please don’t apologize. Be excessive jelly proud! -J

[@livingworkingoutsidebox]

Ok 6:00 love pb&j but how can you put the jelly on the peanut butter side and not spread it on the other slice of bread/toast?😮😢 It's not even? There will be bites with just peanut butter 🥜 😳😱 "The horror..the horror! ".... hint 1889😊 or 1979😊

[@OpenRoading]

LOL - ya know I had never thought about that...........-J

[@sandranorris6542]

Glad you are both safe. Do you have a TPMS and didn’t get a warning about the tire?

[@OpenRoading]

We do have TPMS although I think the tires are on the edge of it's range (distance from cigarette lighter to tires) because sometimes it seems to take a while to update. That said - in this case the TPMS worked flawlessly because the tire actually didn't lose a single pound of pressure during the failure. It was sitting there at 80psi....with the tread laying on the highway. Once I started deflating it at the rest area the TPMS started beeping in the truck. I don't know everything there is to know about tires but I was genuinely shocked it didn't go "boom" on the 2 mile trek to the rest area. -J

[@robertfbarron]

Love your channel! ❤

[@OpenRoading]

Thank you so much!!

[@diamonddangaming7396]

I like the Wahpeton huskies shirt

[@OpenRoading]

😄 I have family that plays on the tennis team -J

[@kencotton4645]

I know it is an expensive, but they make much quieter generators than the one you have. Also, just curious, are your batteries lead/acid, AGM or lithium?

[@OpenRoading]

Yeah - I know that honda makes a really quiet one. The issue I have with buying a super expensive one is that we really do not use them all that often. Except in winter which eventually I'd like to make my solar panels tiltable which would help solve that issue. We have 3 Battleborn Lithium Batteries. We invested in that and our minimal solar setup when we started our journey 4 years ago. -J

[@kencotton4645]

@@OpenRoading Good choice on the Battleborn batteries. I hear they are a really good brand of battery..

[@OpenRoading]

@@kencotton4645 There's a good number of people out there who believe they are grossly overpriced. I don't know enough about the technology to have an opinion. I do know that their warrantee is really good (8 years full, 2 more years partial). 3 years in one of our batteries stopped taking a charge. They replaced it, no charge and paid for all the shipping back and forth. -J

[@mikesleigher932]

Ok guys I have watched all of your videos. Gave them all 👍. Great job and Joe Great job the weight, you was a fatty 😂😂

[@OpenRoading]

Not sure I'd consider 200lbs being "a fatty" but yeah...I was overweight. Gotta be careful right now or I'll be heading back in that direction. -J

[@mikesleigher932]

@OpenRoading I hear you.. I'm the same way, I normally see a 20lb swing each year. Winter time I gain the weight and summer time lose it again..

[@adamguymon7096]

It's frustrating because the video ended and there was not a link in the description? I was hoping that I could watch the second half of the video?

[@OpenRoading]

If you go to our main video page and make sure “latest” is selected you’ll see all our videos in order from newest to oldest! Just scroll down to the one you are at! youtube.com/@openroading?si=v0So2N2soI4VcC53

[@jamesclark5310]

Goodevening. My question on your solar setup. Did you DiY or have it installed professionally? I purchased 4 Battleborn Batteries and the whole system. With 1200 watts of panels. Thinking i may need 2 more Batteries. And have it professionally installed.

[@OpenRoading]

I installed mine on my own (and I am by NO means a professional.) HOWEVER, I did communicate with a professional from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun and we walked through exactly what I wanted to be able to do with my solar system and he "designed" the system for me. By designed he figured out what size panels I needed, how much wire, what size inverter, solar charger, how many batteries, etc. But when it all came...there were zero instructions. LOL. So I did a LOT of research before and during getting it all set up. The two things I encourage you to do are: 1. Avoid the piece-meal approach. Get a setup you'll be happy with and get it done. 2. Make sure your setup can do things SIMPLY. When I plug in my RV, I don't have to flip switches, I just plug it in and it charges the batteries via shore power. When I'm unplugged everything (12v and 120v) works off my batteries. I don't have any extra steps that I have to remember - it just....works. We're planning on doing a video about our minimal solar setup at some point but I'm super nervous about it because...well...I'm not a professional. -J

[@OpenRoading]

To answer your battery question - I have 640w of solar and 300ah of batteries. So with that much solar you certainly would be able to handle more batteries. -J

[@seabeevet9285]

It’s weird watching this one and Trinity is not there!! So do yall have a lithium battery? It’s kinda confusing when ur talking about ur battery/batteries capacity??? And does the truck recharge the house batteries when ur driving??

[@OpenRoading]

We need to do an updated power video. Yeah, we have 300Ah of Lithium and it's charged either by solar power or shore power. We don't have a setup to charge it via the truck so we have a small generator that we use in a pinch. Generally we only need that when boondocking in the winter. -J

[@kencotton4645]

I'm surprised you don't use Starlink all the time. I have it and love it, though I am in a fixed location, so a different situation from yours.

[@OpenRoading]

We pay for Starlink on a per month basis if we need it, but it’s $150 a month! So defaulting to our T-Mobile hotspot (if we can) at $50/month saves us money. -K

[@JoeT.1960]

Do not get ST . Tires junk get LT's 10 ply or biger

[@OpenRoading]

These ones are 10 ply! (as was the one that shredded)

[@JoeT.1960]

Yep I no but the ST no good , they put LT s on new airstream@@OpenRoading

[@OpenRoading]

@@JoeT.1960 Thanks for the heads up! -J

[@donniegar7353]

You give out to much info on peeing this is y I’m not watching anymore

[@OpenRoading]

Alrighty!! -J