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Happy Groundhogs Day
My trailer just woke up and saw its shadow and said six more weeks of winter-time to head south.http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/borregokid/CIMG1225.jpg
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Keith M
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02/02/12 08:23am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Q crafts show
Went to the craft show last year and there went any crafts. If you want crafts then go to Michaels. It was funny walking around the tent and trying to find any crafts. Almost everything sold in Q except Rocks and distressed merchandise can be bought cheaper somewhere else. A good example is LED lights which might cost $30 but $15 on Ebay.
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Keith M
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02/02/12 08:00am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Thinking About Calling It Quits
I think the high fuel prices are the biggest drag. I would bet Quartzsite has half the visitors of say 1998. Throw in the collapse of the economy and plummeting home prices and I dont see a big future in fulltiming or snowbirding. You can buy a decent stick built home in Las Vegas or Phoenix for much less than a semi-decent RV. Tucson and lots of other places even in California arent much more. People retiring now have the option of buying a second home for 1/3 the price it was six years ago in some areas.
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Keith M
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02/01/12 12:45pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Winter Vacation vs. Snowbirding or being a Winter Texan.
Snowbird are like migrating birds in a sense. If you are out in the desert feeding birds at a feeder over the winter sometime in late March you will notice the birds disappear except for maybe Quail and Doves. You will also notice all your neighbors have started to leave and by the third week of April even though the weather is quite pleasant you are by yourself.
The hotels and condos on the other hand that cater to vacationers actually do quite well in April and May in area like Phoenix, Tucson, and Palm Springs filling rooms after the "snowbird" vacationers have left.
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Keith M
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01/31/12 10:03am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Lightweight construction vs. durability
There are not a lot of "snowbird" quality rigs being made anymore in the 30 foot range. Alpenlite made a 29 footer until about 2004. Holiday Rambler and Sunnybrook also made snowbird rigs. Arctic Fox had a 27 footer and now I think their smallest is 29 feet. I would look at the Arctic Fox really hard or a 10 year old Alpenlite. The motor home with a tow vehicle is probably the prefered way for long term snowbirds.
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Keith M
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01/31/12 09:54am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: troublewith the inverters,or sand/dust
I was going to suggest the same as Skip, clean the terminals including the trailer ground. In addition I would get a decent voltage meter so you can get an accurate read on your batteries. Also check the water level on the batteries. Batteries dont last all that long if you are doing a lot of boondocking and are using a lot of electricity.
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Keith M
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01/31/12 09:43am |
Tech Issues
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RE: How do you use your trailer?
I thought about that question a few years ago and thought people should be outside more since so much RV promotion is getting "outside". Lots of people are quite happy to spend all their time inside. Lots of people pull up to a cammpsite and put out one or two chairs and then go back inside not to be seen for two or three days. I have given up wondering why more retirees arent out walking, swimming, biking, etc. A lot of them have indoor activities that keep them busy. I have met RVers who read a lot and others who write books or have craft hobbies.
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Keith M
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01/31/12 09:34am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Mesa/ Apache Jct, short term, no reservations
There are people with Jeeps that snowbird although typically they wont be in RV parks. The majority tend to be weekend-warriors in southern california or affilated with either Family Motor Coach or Escapees.
Heres a group of Escapee Boondockers hiking a slot canyon right after Thanksgiving 2010 in Borrego Springs, CA
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Keith M
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01/31/12 09:25am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Mesa/ Apache Jct, short term, no reservations
It will cost almost as much to spend a week in some of the parks as it will to spend a month. I would recommend White Tank regional park on the west side of the valley after Mcdowell. There are at least two golf courses nearby and El Mirage has one also. You are heading into peak snowbird season. As soon as spring baseball training starts the parks pretty much fill up. El Mirage is really close to Surprise and Peoria home of Rangers, KC, Mariners, and Padres. The Whitesox and Dodgers arent too far away in Glendale.
If you dont have to be plugged in Organ Pipe National Monument is a great place to spend a couple of weeks. If your up for boondocking the Darby Wells road outside of Ajo is pretty nice, plus you are close to town. Ever heard of desert golfing?
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Keith M
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01/31/12 09:05am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Lest We Forget
Spent a few hours digging about 100 feet of snow about 8 feet wide. I am thinking I will head out on Ground Hogs Day. By then Spring will be just around the corner. Very pleasant today with temps hitting 45. Didnt seem like winter.url=http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/borregokid/CIMG1222.jpg
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Keith M
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01/30/12 06:45pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: Lest We Forget
Thats a good question, I have been taking care of grandkids. I also decided to take in the three holidays and Halloween which fall within two months. I missed the Escapees Thanksgiving in the desert. I did get a couple of calls asking where I was. I am going to wait for a decent thaw though. I dont even have a snow blower as I am usually gone by Decemeber. Its supposed to snow 7-10 inches today. The coldest daytime high temp in Borrego Springs was 47 and the coldest night time low 14 in my time spent in the desert. If you park your rig so your windows face directly south in the desert the sun will heat the inside up on the coldest desert days.
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Keith M
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01/24/12 06:53am |
Snowbirds
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Lest We Forget
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a60/borregokid/CIMG1211.jpg?t=1327366026
I swung the gates open a week ago before the snow hit. The snowplow guy put about 3 feet up on the shoulder. The rest is about 18 inches deep to the trailer. It might take a couple more weeks before there is a decent thaw to head south. Today was actually very pleasant with the temperature going from 15 to 36 degrees full sunshine and no wind.
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Keith M
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01/23/12 05:51pm |
Snowbirds
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RE: wINTER CAMPING
I would run RV anti-freeze through all the lines if it was really cold. If you were to try to flush a toilet that has frozen water-ice running through it you will break the flushing mechanism. One of the reasons why the RV anti-freeze is cheap.
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Keith M
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01/13/12 08:24am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Living in extreme weather
I would probably install two of the bigger Olympian Catalytic heaters. You will have to be adding heat to the rig all the time. The two big ones would put out 16,000 BTU's which is probably marginal once it drops below 20 or so. The trailer furnaces arent much more than 50% efficient. i would use that when the two Olympians cant keep up. The large tank is a good idea. Some people get one or two large aluminum tanks that they can throw in their car/truck and get filled.
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Keith M
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01/13/12 08:14am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Best route from Malibu to Palm Springs-Emerald Rv Resort
I would just stay on I-10. According to google maps its two miles longer and 7 minutes more travel. The difference in travel time is a lot less in an RV when you are traveling 55mph instead of 65.
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Keith M
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01/12/12 01:17pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 1000 inverter w ith 2 batteries on Fleetwod Discovery
Depends what you are inverting. An old TV and satellite dish will draw 2 batteries down very quick. The biggest draw I supect for most people are the lights. Many of the older automotive type bulbs draw 13-17 watts. I would replace all interior bulbs with some decent LED lights.
The other issue is the batteries themselves. If you are unplugged and have fairly high power needs consider going with 4 golf cart batteries.
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Keith M
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01/10/12 10:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Interesting post on Quartzsite
Quartzsite has had its high water mark just as RVing had its high water mark several years ago. High gas prices and a lousy economy has probably cut the number of Rvers in Q in half from say 1999.
From an economic perspective with declining real estate all over the US but especially in Arizona and the Coachella Valley you would absolutely be nuts not to look into purchasing a second home instead of a costly RV.
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Keith M
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01/01/12 12:05am |
Snowbirds
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RE: The New Winter Spot is going to be Gila Bend
Lukeville Gas Station and Store Sold
Gila Bend is definitely a crossroads plus its the nearest place to get supplies if you are staying at painted rock. I came across this story above on Lukeville. Lots of rumors about the grocery store closing. I dont know if it happened or not. Its about five miles from Organ Pipe. Ajo the nearest town is 24 miles away.
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Keith M
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12/07/11 09:57am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Where are all the snowbirds ?
Usually by this time of year I would be down in the desert. The lousy economy has a ripple effect. In the past year I have found I have had to spread my resources around my "community". Christmas is a big financial hurdle that will have to be crossed before I head south. I suspect other snowbirders have had their plans changed by stuff thats really outside their control.
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Keith M
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12/07/11 07:59am |
Snowbirds
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RE: Dangers in Organ Pipe National Monument?
Heres a link to quite a few pictures in Organ Pipe.
I wouldnt hesitate at all spending time in Organ Pipe. They have closed the big loop road that goes to Quitobaquito which is an oasis in the desert-very rare. There are some great hikes out there though. Most of the illegal activity is at night with smugglers coming over from Sonoyta. I have in the past seen a couple of border crossers in the day but most are at night and usually are south and east of the campground.
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Keith M
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12/03/11 11:47am |
General RVing Issues
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