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RE: Regarding Overnights in Rest Areas
Wow...great replies. I didn't expect so many from such a simple post. Thanks to everyone. Great information and I'll be sure to follow up on most of it. When I originally posted I didn't mention I was hoping to keep the schedule quite flexible. Many of you pointed out that you too use this type of overnight so that you are flexible with your schedule...that's a big plus to us too.
If we see something in the nearby area, we like to stop and check it out. Our boys are always looking at the billboards for obscure advertisments and begging us to stop. Doing this in the past has meant missing a planned stop at a specific campground as it would require our driving into the late hours. Or worse yet, having to miss out on something really neat because we are running behind schedule because of traffic (the worse). Flexibility is a big plus.
Thanks for the links to free/cheap campsites. A big help.
See you all out on the road.
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feltham
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01/22/12 12:47pm |
Travel Trailers
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Regarding Overnights in Rest Areas
DW and I are in the planning stages of our next great trans-America excursion for August 2012. We'll be going from the Western NY area to Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP and then home again...all in a 3 week trip. We are very excited.
We have broken the trip down into segments of driving with 2-night stays in Apple Vally Minnesota (DW needs to see Mall of America) and Medora, ND (I need to see Theodore Roosevelt NP). Other than that, we'll be doing quick stops for the night before resuming early then next morning. So my question...is there a resource I can use to find out where on our route overnight stays in rest stops are allowed? Here in NY, overnight stays are only authorized in certain areas.
My ideal plan would be to drive day 1 with a quick overnight then drive day 2 with a 2 night stay (seeing the local area attractions)...repeating this cycle out and back. Our 2 night stays would be in local campgounds and quick overnights right in highway rest areas. I'm hoping to save the time driving from the highway to the campground, setting up/taking down and returning to highway. I'm picturing driving late, pulling off, crashing in our TT and up early the next day to resume.
We did a similar trip to the Black Hills area in 2010 in a 2-week trip and I felt we wasted a lot of time going from the highway to campground and back again... Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
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feltham
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01/22/12 07:41am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: How many will fess up to their errors?
Got a few to share...
-Took our new unit out for maiden voyage and hooked up campground water in the rain. Kept hearing water running...couldn't figure out from where...after 5 minutes of searching inside and outside (in the pouring rain) I notice water coming from the outside kitchen hatch. Open the hatch to have a wall of water fill my already wet shoes. Seems during the PDI we put the plug in the drain and left the faucet on.
-Left the shore power cord plugged into the house outlet before leaving on a trip once. Heard it pull free...no serious damage but tore the strain relief on cord.
-TV antenna on more than one occasion...'nuff said
-Forgot a 12 pack of soda in a cupboard while winterizing (was behind some stuff)...found it in the spring..."sticky" is the appropriate word I think.
-On our previous hybrid, the bunk latches were the key style...pinched the fabric in the locking mechanism and tore a hole in the vinyl. Couldn't figure out why it was so hard to turn the key...duh!
-Forgot to rotate bypass valves for hot water heater during winterizing...filled the tank with pink stuff. I caught on when it took 2 gallons and shows no signs of slowing...done this now 3 separate times... but never 2 years in a row...I'm genius.
-On hybrid, ran out of propane while camping once and had to put up bunk to get tanks off then put bunk back down...didn't realize I'd need to put the tanks back on once I got them filled at the campground office...that's right...bunk up and down a second time.
Made 6 quarts of homemade ice cream...put in freezer for next day's celebration (4 of July). Had to lay container down to fit in freezer. Went to see fireworks show a couple hours away and power at campground goes out...propane tanks off...not sure how long the freezer tried to stay cold, but it wasn't long enough. A sticky sweet mess in the freezer was waiting for us (took several hours to clean that one up). Good thing the camp store had dixie cups to settle the restless natives who were really looking forward to ice cream.
-steps out on highway - 'nuff said
-came back from camp store one night in the dark. Entered site and wondered who left all the stuff out under the awning and turned the lights off...entered camper and wondered who had remodeled and redecorated while I was gone...took me all of 3 seconds to realize I was in the wrong camper. Sleeping man on couch was a sound sleeper. By the way, I loved all the mods they had done.
That's it for now...but I'm sure there will be more.
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feltham
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08/17/11 09:11am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
caboose (last)
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feltham
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08/17/11 08:11am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
Last again.
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feltham
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08/15/11 08:49am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
what?
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feltham
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08/02/11 09:36am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
too
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feltham
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08/01/11 11:08am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Storage of WD bars
I used to lay them across hitch behind propane tanks. Then one day found a piece of 4" PVC laying around. Cut it to about 54" long and sprayed it black with Fusion spray paint. Mounted that across the hitch frame under the propane tanks near the trailer frame using some long hose clamps. Bars slide in and out with ease and they are always within reach.
I haven't worried about them disappearing...I guess my faith is in the honesty of those campers around me. I sure hope I'm not proven wrong.
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feltham
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07/29/11 11:23am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
Pair of byes...but I'm last once again.
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feltham
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07/29/11 11:13am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
maybe so
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feltham
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07/25/11 01:49pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
were...not now though.
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feltham
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07/25/11 11:03am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Thousand Islands
We were making it a yearly trip, but haven't been back in a couple years now. Lots to do there like mentioned above.
We rented a power boat once for the day and had a blast. Surprising thing about renting a boat...you don't need to demonstrate any knowledge of boating to do it. I had never piloted a boat a day in my life. But when I slapped down my credit card, they rented a boat to me - no questions asked. Short story...we had a great time on the river and it was incident free.
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feltham
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07/25/11 08:11am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
Back then, we were the foreigners...last again.
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feltham
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07/25/11 06:39am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: CW customer service
Dell (computers) did a big study a while back on customers that returned to Dell for follow up purchases. They found that there was a higher percentage of returning customers when they had experienced problems (and had to use Dell's Customer Service) than there was for customers that had flawless experiences with the delivered product (not using Dell Customer Service). Demonstrates that some customer bases are more swayed by service than by quality of the product.
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feltham
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07/22/11 12:46pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
I like toast last...use to to mop up the juice on my breakfast plate.
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feltham
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07/22/11 12:40pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: CW customer service
Need to agree with some already posting here. Location is the key. Been to many CW's in our travels. Some good, some not so much. Once on the road with an emergency, local CW got me what I needed off of a new unit on their lot for the price it would have been in the store...simply went out, took it off a brand new unit and handed it to me...I was impressed.
But I won't shop in our local CW. I had my wife and family drive to meet me there one evening to shop for items for our new TT we just bought. The store is located about 30 miles from home on my route from work. Checked the hours of operation on the internet...open til 6. Got there at about 4:45. Spent 10 minutes shopping and had well over $200 of stuff in our cart when the manager, very smartly young lady, informed us we'd have to check out...they were closing in 5 minutes. I politely explained that their internet hours stated 6PM...she rudely informed me that wasn't the case on this particular evening. She was unwilling to allow us to finish our shopping (we had probably made it 1/3 way through the store with mad money in our pockets to deck out our new unit). Long story short...after several exchanges...growing more rude with each one...we left the half-full cart sitting there and haven't been back since. Went to WalMart and spent our money instead. Their loss.
CW's vary by the staff they keep. Find one with a good staff...doesn't matter what the sign outside says. Find one with a bad staff...don't go back.
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feltham
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07/22/11 09:52am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: newbie to towing
Already mentioned but worth repeating...tweak your WD hitch setup. That last 10% of adjustment improves your towing experience by 100%...trust me on this. Don't tell yourself "that's close enough". Get it near perfect and you'll be a much happier driver.
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feltham
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07/22/11 09:24am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
That's totally cool...he's obviously last.
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feltham
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07/22/11 09:17am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
somebody check on jetboater454...make sure he's okay up there in that attic. Haven't hear from him since he was last...
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feltham
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07/21/11 11:58am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Who can be the last poster?
that's ok you can do it longer this time :b starting now
I agree...and perhaps take some of these others with you...LOL
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feltham
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07/21/11 06:45am |
Around the Campfire
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