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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Forums For Locals Campers?
www.volunteercampers.com For those in East TN.
This one looks a bit out of date but the contact info may get you something...
http://lirainmakers.org/
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afob3
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05/24/12 07:45pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Planning vacation near Dollywood TN - Aug 20th
My two options would be the PF KOA or Gatlinburg Jellystone.
KOA is the closest to Dollywood I believe & once parked you will never have to drive anywhere else. A short walk across the adjoining city park and you are at the trolley terminal. Short on amenities though for kids. Just a simple playground.
Gatlinburg Jellystone is probably furthest but the BEST family campground in the area. The owners are all family and on site. Plenty of organized activities like candy bar bingo and scavenger hunts. 30 minutes to Dollywood but feels like real camping instead of being stuffed in a parking lot. We can spend a week here and keep the kids busy with maybe a day or two doing the touristy stuff.
You might find the Dollywood season pass to be cheaper than 3 day passes. Worth checking on. You could also save one day by arriving after 3pm because the next day will be free. We are season pass holders and I would have a hard time not seeing everything there in a day or two. Three might be too much.
We would be glad to have you on this side of the mountains.
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afob3
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05/23/12 01:29pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Our new F150 HD Ecoboost
Welcome to the club!
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afob3
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05/22/12 05:04pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Need advice on 2 new tow vehicle scenarios...
We had a minivan with our first pop up several years ago. Camper got bigger and then the TV had to get bigger. My wife is the primary driver of the truck for grocery getter dutties & kid taxi duties. When we talk about it, it is 'her' truck. I drive the sedan because of my longer commute. In fact, she really wants me to consider a prius when it is my turn again.
She has a heavy foot and gets about 15 doing her normal in town running. Towing we get 11. Long interstate runs without the TT (and me driving) gets 22. I say pack everybody up in one and take it for a ride. With 2 car seats strapped in there is still enough room for one of us adults to sit in the middle of the rear seat and still be buckled. It is plenty big enough for a family. There may be an option too to have the front seat as a bench if you need extra seats. We have the console or cavern as she calls it because you could loose a small child in there. Only downside as a family runabout is cargo sits on the rear floor if it is raining. We took a trip last thanksgiving to PA without the trailer and just put our suitcases in large garbage bags in case it rained. There are more expensive options like a cover but bags were cheaper for as often as we might need them.
The fuel tank is huge so a visit to a gas station on empty is more than the minivan. BUT... we are getting around the same miles per gallon and just filling up less often so it evens out.
We went shortbed only because it wouldn't fit in our garage if it was any longer. The big mirror on the drivers side has to be pulled in on entry as well. Otherwise my car wouldn't fit. Those mirrors are awesome for towing though.
Hope that helps.
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afob3
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05/21/12 07:48pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Do you use cell phones while backing into campsite?
Another vote for let the DW back it in. Tell her to turn the wheel right or left.
It's almost like remote control :)
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afob3
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05/21/12 07:18pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Maximum I can tow safely with this truck
You will run out of payload sooner than towing capacity. Check that number on the door sticker. Subtract weight of occupants and cargo. Subtract about 80 more for the hitch weight. This will give you a an idea of how much tounge weight you can handle.
While shopping trailers take the GVWR of the trailer (max weight it can be) and figure out what 15 percent of that is. That will give you the max tounge weight of the trailer. If it doesn't put you over on payload you should be OK with a good weight distributing hitch /sway control. This little bit of math gives you a fair worst case senario since brochure tounge weight is usually well below actual. My brochure tounge weight is 600 but loaded up it is 800lbs.
My truck is similarly outfitted and give me no trouble with the rig in my signature. There are others here that tow even heavier with an EcoBoost with maxtow as well.
The key is payload....
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afob3
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05/21/12 08:57am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Input from those with kids...
2nd choice would be off my list since nobody wants to make beds every night.
1st choice looks just like mine except our dinette is a U instead of booth. We liked it because we can use it as a couch with the table put away. It works will for my boys 4 & 7. I think the booth setup will get old trying to watch tv or just spread out to sit on a gloomy day.
3rd choice is nice if all the numbers work. It would be too big for us to store so I've never looked closely at that floorplan
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afob3
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05/19/12 07:34pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Townsend, TN KOA questions
Did you mean 15 instead of 115? Best I can tell from the map 115 is a cabin.
If it is 15, it would be where the 5er is parked in the right side of my first picture.
When is your stay booked? I wouldn't mind snapping a pic for you if I'm back there before your stay.
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afob3
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05/15/12 07:47pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Townsend, TN KOA questions
Its 30 minutes from home and a regular quick weekend getaway spot for us. Ask away. Somebody else mentioned Tremont Campground. Thats our 2nd choice in Townsend.
Though not on the river, here is site 36 from a few weeks ago.
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/camp/4-27-12/site36.jpg
Site 52 the following weekend.
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/camp/5-6-12/52rear.jpg
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afob3
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05/14/12 08:19pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: I swapped my ride over the weekend...
Welcome to the club. Wait till you hear the turbos kick in & hold 65 on a grade without downshifting.
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afob3
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05/14/12 08:13pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Camping with a 1 year old
All good suggestions. At one point I would get jealous of the old timers or childless neighbors as I watched them napping or relaxing with a cold one under the awning. Then I realized that I started taking the family for THEM not ME. Each year gets easier as they mature.
Early on, all hitching and setup / teardown stuff was done while they were safely buckled in carseats with a movie. The rest was simply tag teaming and making sure we always communicated who 'had' the boys. We also have a bin of 'camper only' toys for inside and outside. This helps keep the toys 'fresh and exciting' since they haven't played with them as often.
Somebody mentioned using bells. At night we make sure they both have a glowstick. They are cheap in the camping section or you can get a large pack at Halloween time. The boys think they are cool and it makes them easy to watch if they wander out of the light.
The good news is now that they are 7 and 4 it is much easier since the 'expectations' have been set early. Each year they have earned more setup / teardown roles.
I think they behave better camping since they now know it is a special time. We had to cancel a trip earlier this year because they had been giving DW a hard time. I really wanted to go but it was a good leson to teach.
This is still one of my favorite camping pics.... Little guy was 3 months old and big brother was only 3.
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/2008/Spring08_files/image018.jpg
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afob3
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05/14/12 07:39pm |
Family Camping
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RE: Hanging pictures
Only downside to the command strips is if you apply to a wallpapered surface. I hung a light toothbush holder in the bathroom of our former HTT. We wanted to move it to the new one. The strips released cleanly as they should but we found giant air bubles in the paper where the weight had pulled it loose. The command strips held great but the glue behind the paper was the weak link.
Lesson learned.. In the new TT I used command strips and hung it on the wooden side of the medicine cabinet.
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afob3
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05/14/12 06:59pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Tongue weight and hitch selection
Go trade it. When we upgraded I was told that my 550 bars would be just fine on a TT with a 600ish dry tounge weight.
Told the Salesman to go ask the Svc. Manager why this wouldn't be OK. This was an experienced sales guy not a greenie. He really didn't understand the difference :(
You could always do a quick and dirty measurement of your tounge weight with a bathroom scale and some scraps you have around the house. Mine loaded is 800 lbs.
Here is some generic directions on how to do it.
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afob3
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05/12/12 03:05pm |
Towing
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RE: Funeral Edict?
They will get over it.... I understand the idea in a procession is that they are trying to keep everybody together between the church and cemetery but stuff happens.
The ones that bug me are when I am heading the opposite direction on a 2 lane and somebody ahead of me stops for the procession going the other way.
On the flipside, last year I had the opportunity to watch a procession for one of our fallen soldiers. The motor cycles, helicopters, and so on in the procession were very moving. Traffic in all directions on a 4 lane hwy was stopped with people standing quitely next to their cars. Simply a WOW moment.
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afob3
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05/12/12 02:44pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Skyline (Koala) - Small Fiberglass Strands Inside Trailer
Hang in there... This is an old resurected thread by somebody shopping Koalas. It would be interesting to hear the outcome though.
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afob3
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05/12/12 02:37pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Skyline Koala 25DS - opinions?
OP here...
Yeah the Ecoboost came after the Koala. The Tacoma did OK with it & we knew we were maxed out. The F150 made me realize just how maxed out we were.
Not too many Koala people here. Maybe 5 or so. There is a small group of us at the yahoo group skylinekoala as well.
So far we really enjoy it. The only big showstopper was a slide leak caused by a warped piece of facia on the slide. The dealer did an awful job & I chose to fix it myself. By contacting Skyline directly I was able to get the parts and support directly from the factory to fix it. clicky to thread on that
The only other funky thing we have found is (at least on this floorplan) the toilet is not directly over the black tank as on our last TT. From what I can see, deposits land at the bottom and are directed to the side down a pipe into the tank. If you don't wash your solids down with plenty of H2O they could possibly back up.
We are very happy with our Koala and the direct easy to reach support from the factory. If we had to do it again I would consider a Skyline product. Just not from that dealer.
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afob3
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05/12/12 01:23pm |
Towing
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RE: I love camping
For me it is all good. We always try to capture a picure that reminds us 'why do this' every trip out. It ends up being my desktop background until we get back out again.
Here's my current desktop background pic.
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/camp/4-27-12/bigmouth.jpg width=600
I just love it when he spots other campers on the road & asks when we are going camping again.
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afob3
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05/11/12 07:53pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Hotel Promo codes
When I worked at a hotel many moons ago it was very common to get discounts for just asking. The reservation computer had close to 40 different types of discounts from the 'rack' or standard rate. Most common ones are:
AAA
Military or Veterans
Government Employee - I still use this one as an employee of a local school district.
Buisiness
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afob3
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05/11/12 05:55am |
Family Camping
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RE: What do you park on at home?
I've got 4 of those 16" by 16" pavers spaced and planted in the yard where I park it. It took some careful measuring but it works. Parking is a bit of a challenge since I have a smaller bullseye to hit. A bit or practice and it isn't an issue any more.
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afob3
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05/08/12 07:21pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: ~Post your campsite photos here~
Site 52 at Townsend TN KOA
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/camp/5-6-12/52rear.jpg
http://obrien.unitegriefsupport.org/camp/5-6-12/52front.jpg
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afob3
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05/06/12 11:53am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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