Occasionally we need to lug a bunch of heavy or awkward things, e.g. several packages from Amazon from a campground mail room to our coach. So a recent purchase was something to help with that: a compact foldable wagon:

It folds and collapses to a compact size, with a protective cover:

And unfolds easily, with a telescoping handle:

It doesn’t take up much room in the basement of our RV (under other stuff):

In use:

While we probably won’t use it very often, I expect it’ll be very handy when needed.

The windscreen on a motorhome is a big hunk of glass, which is great for driving down the road, and sometimes nice for views from a campsite, but when the front of the coach faces into the sun, it can be like a greenhouse, significantly heating up the coach.

Many people solve this by adding some sort of shade to cut down the glare; from something basic like a reflective shade inside like you might put in a car, to something that attaches to the outside, often made of fabric that lets one see out but nobody can see in.

A popular brand of shade is Magne Shade, which uses window-mounted magnets to easily and securely attach the shade.

They can even have custom printing on the shades, to add more personality. Since our domicile is in Oregon, and we used to live in the foothills of Mount Hood near Portland, and we thought a reddish image would suit our coach, we chose a royalty-free image of the mountain reflected in Trillium Lake at sunset, cropping it to center the mountain in the image.

The manufacturer provided a rendering of how it would look:

Manufacturing took several weeks, then we received the shades:

We installed the shades ourselves. One of the first steps was to arrange the shade on the windshield, temporarily attaching the magnets on the inside. My ladder was very useful (and one of the reasons for buying it):

Then it was time to stick the magnets to the glass; here’s an interior magnet, that secures the shade via another magnet sewn into the shade:

A view of the interior magnets from outside, without the shade:

We attached exterior magnets across the top… which turned out to be incorrect (more on that later):

To aid with installation, we stuck the magnets to an inverted cake pan (they are very powerful, so we needed to take care to keep them separated):

We also got shades for the side windows. Here I’m preparing to install the driver one:

I attached the magnets to the side shades, in preparation for installing them:

After positioning the shades, the magnets are stuck to the glass, and the shades removed for 72 hours, to let the double-sided adhesive cure:

When not in use, the shades are stored in a bag:

Adding the shades is easy; just lift them into place, and they stick and align automatically; they came with two poles to help reach the top:

We also got covers for the mirrors:

Here are the shades when first installed, before they had worked out their wrinkles from shipping:

Notice that there are color-matched covers for the wipers, too:

A view of me standing outside from inside:

After installation, we had four magnets leftover… oops:

We had followed the installation instructions, which said to use four external magnets across the top:

But apparently for our coach we didn’t need that; we should have used interior magnets. So at our next campsite, we corrected that.

Here I’m using the windshield wiper to aid unrolling the shade:

I used my ladder again to remove the four exterior magnets across the top, and replace them with interior ones; it was pretty easy:

Like so:

That is tidier when the shade isn’t in place, and seems to hold it more securely.

Here are some pictures of the shades installed:

Mirror cover:

Driver side:

Passenger side:

We’re very happy with the shades, both from how they look, the extra privacy they give us, and the heat management benefits:

A couple more shots from another campground, without the palm tree shadow and site label:

Highly recommended!

It may be shocking to learn that our coach has a steering wheel. Which is kinda useful when driving… but not so much when parked at a campsite:

A fun idea that we saw in an RV we looked at is to have a table on top of the steering wheel when parked. Which has two benefits: (a) it looks nicer, and (2) it prevents our cat from stepping on the air horn!

So we purchased a nice one from Wood Design RV Interiors.

The table has sides to enclose the wheel, and pins underneath to accommodate the angle of the steering wheel (when it is tilted almost flat):

Here it is in place:

It’s a good place for our potted plants:

How fahncy.

A recent addition to our RV is a set of high quality jack pads — heavy duty pads to go under the hydraulic leveling jacks, to provide better support on soft ground like dirt, or protect more fragile surfaces like asphalt from the weight of the jacks.

Here are the pads under the back jacks:

And the front jacks (yes, those jacks are smaller):

Peeking behind a front wheel, you can see the whole jack mechanism:

While there, a bonus pic of part of our 150 gallon diesel fuel tank, which can be filled from both sides:

And a front air bag, which acts as suspension while driving, and can be used as alternative to hydraulic leveling for short stays:

A couple of jack pads after removing them:

I store two on each side of a basement compartment, for easy access when setting up at a campsite. I don’t need them when on a concrete pad, and not so much on gravel, but on sand, dirt, grass, or asphalt, they are a useful addition.

A perhaps better (certainly more convenient) option for jack pads are permanently attached ones, like SnapPads, but unfortunately they are not compatible with our coach, as there isn’t enough clearance between the back tires and the jack when it is up in travel position.