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Forum
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RE: Health Risk from Using Calphalon Cookware
All PTFE nonstick coatings can outgas at very high temps and that gas can be toxic to birds.
Calphalon produces PTFE-coated nonstick aluminum pans, anodized aluminum pans, disc-bottom and clad stainless steel pans.
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johnbhicks
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01/02/12 09:28am |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: St. Augustine CG's
A related question...
We're planning to stay at Anastasia SP in early March, 27' MH, no toad. We've heard tidbits about parking the MH at the Old Jail trolley tour parking lot and/or near the welcome station sort of across the street. Are those options still valid?
Thanks.
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johnbhicks
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12/27/11 08:35am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: US27
> turnpike
Umm..yeah, but this old rustbucket isn't about to go that fast very comfortably.
We did notice that every shopping center parking lot was chockfull. Seemed like there was far less traffic when we went north that way last March.
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johnbhicks
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12/22/11 02:44pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Dish tailgater satellite antenna
We've been using the Tailgater continuously 10 days now, and it's working as expected. We'd used a 1000.4 previously but I wasn't about to monkey with that on the road.
Ours came with 100' RG-6; I've used that to extend the 20' or so in the MH with no problem.
In heavily wooded parks we get partial reception (some sats can't be seen through the trees) but with a clear LOS it's been fine.
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johnbhicks
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12/22/11 02:31pm |
Technology Corner
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US27
We went down through north-central Florida today, Ocala to south of Clermont, for the first time in several years.
Don't think about it, don't even give it a moment's though. The area was a monumental pain. Lots of traffic and every light was red, and there were lots of them.
Next spring we'll be going a ways out of our way either west or east to avoid that mess. The outrageous rampant development in that area has created a huge bottleneck.
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johnbhicks
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12/21/11 08:18pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: What did you do to your Class C MH today???
Well we didn't really do it today, but recently we've added a Dish Tailgater to our arsenal of gadgets.
_It works great!_
We simply hook it to the receiver, plunk it in a likely-looking spot, power everything up and leave it alone for a half hour or so. If we're lucky and not trying to see through a bunch of trees we're automagically watching HDTV.
It helps to have a hand-bearing compass such as the cheapo Winegard to ascertain the probable tree interference; in our area the bearing on the sats is southwest, not Dish's "southern sky."
In a couple of parks in which the Tailgater couldn't hit all the sats at least SD was available.
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johnbhicks
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12/21/11 06:47pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Do you have a Wilson RV/Trucker cell antenna?
I mounted mine to the top of the ladder with a swivel mount so I can swivel it down for trees etc.
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johnbhicks
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12/05/11 08:24am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Antisocial RV-ing
In agreement with most, I think it's American's (North American's?) sense of personal space that largely prevents visiting in the small space of most RVs. It's just too small for casual visits for any other than really good friends.
It could be worse. Last year we decided that we didn't want to go to the Saturday night dance that weekend and turned in early. About an hour later the door opened and two friends marched in demanding that we come to the dance. In a few minutes we had _12_ people crowding in our little RV demanding that we come to the dance with them.
We went to the dance.
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johnbhicks
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11/26/11 08:30pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: brace for norcold refrigerator door?
My Norcold door in my TT had a really goofy hinge setup; when the top hinge pin/screw fell out the door fell off and broke the bottom hinge. Why anyone would design a hinge screw going _upwards_ is beyond me.
At any rate, I replaced the broken pot-metal hinge, drilled out both hinges and just through-bolted them from the top. Now even if the nut falls off the pin/bolt will stay in place. It's ugly but it works.
The is an 821 (I think) with that big wood door insert. My lightweight-door 641 in my old MH is doing fine.
There's been some real dumb engineering involved.
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johnbhicks
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10/11/11 05:26pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: SW Florida to Columbus, Ga.
Be sure you don't go through Columbus; take the bypass. I-185 I think it is.
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johnbhicks
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10/09/11 10:55am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: out side shower replacement?
I got a replacement faucet assembly from PPL; less than $40 and it arrived quickly.
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johnbhicks
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09/30/11 10:56pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Anyone used the RV as a way to avoid staying with family?
Oh, yeah, definitely a way to avoid those family moments.
Dear DIL insisted that we come for son's birthday bash; when we parked the fat ugly beast in the driveway, half hanging out in the street, she was quite happy when we said we needed to hit the road.
And when #2 son needed a place to stay, the fat ugly beast suddenly became "far too small."
Mom's parents took off in an RV to Florida in the '70s and the family didn't even get so much as a postcard for a full year; I'm trying my best to get Mom to follow in their footsteps.
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johnbhicks
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09/30/11 10:53pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Cinder Blocks..
Jacks cranked way down arent't stable and the TT bounces and wiggles when someone walks around; jacks on cinder blocks are much more stable. That's why the blocks.
That said, I don't think I'd tote 'em around with me. Blocks are more of a permanent-site thing.
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johnbhicks
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09/30/11 10:42pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: What DON'T you use??
The only things we haven't used are the fire extinguishers, the spare tire and the batwing. I hope we never use the first two and who cares about the third thing.
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johnbhicks
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09/11/11 11:14pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Looking for satisfied owners of class C motorhome
We have an '88 Yellowstone, bought used. She was high-end back in the day; aluminum roof, sides, caps etc; no slide, levelers or other foolishness (it can't break if it ain't there.) Short enough at 27' that there's no need for aftermarket swaybars to stay on the road. Gas mileage is more like gallons-per-mile but really not that different from new rigs.
We bought her cheap a few years ago; we had no idea if we'd like it or not. Did the usual maintenance and repair so we wouldn't be Found On Roadside Dead (FORD) and now we're fulltimers.
We've thought about the floorplan a lot and can't think of any way to improve it. She'll sleep two in comfort, we can stuff two more short people on the bed letting the table down but never have, and that cabover space is where we store our gear. The salesman would tell you "sleeps six adults or four adults and four children." Not gonna happen, not even with a shoehorn.
We figure that the amount we've saved by going with an oldie but goodie we can use the balance not spent on new to pay for camping the rest of our lives
We just got lucky, but by asking questions and paying attention on these forums you can figure out what's good and what's not. And please rent the type of class C you're considering, or buy an old rustbucket, and go camping for a month or two. Then you'll certainly know the answers to your question.
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johnbhicks
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09/11/11 11:07pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Satellite radio Antenna
Take off the screen from an overhead vent, stick the magnetic-mount antenna to the top of the steel bracket that holds the crank, then reinstall the screen being careful to not badly pinch the wire. Pull the wire across the ceiling to wherever you want it and hold it to the ceiling with white (or whatever color you please) tape.
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johnbhicks
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08/27/11 12:02pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: BIG GREEN EGG
The Egg absolutely rocks; once you get your fire settled she'll easily hold temp hour after hour after hour...
The Egg and similar kamados are principally smokers or "outdoor ovens" intended for long, slow cooking. Although they're expensive they're actually around the same price (for cooking capacity) as other high-quality smokers such as Stumps etc. If you don't want to go the price for an Egg you can do exactly the same thing with a Weber bullet but you'll have to fiddle with and refuel a bullet more often.
Although the Egg can be used as a direct-cooking grill that's doing it the hard and excessively-expensive way; you can buy a Weber 22" kettle for less than $200 and it's much more useful as a grill than an Egg.
Of course it makes sense to me to have a large Egg and a Weber performer. LOL
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johnbhicks
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08/23/11 01:08pm |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Tomoka State Park
Tomoka's nice and shady; most sites can be a bit tight but there are a few long pull-through sites. In September it's guaranteed that the skeeters and no-see-ums will carry you away.
Be sure to approach from the south (Ormond); don't even think of coming from the north (Flagler Beach) because of low clearance, narrow roads etc.
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johnbhicks
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08/11/11 11:52am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Where to go in FL?
September and the first part of October can be mighty sweaty in central and south Florida while it's somewhat more pleasant in north Florida. I'd suggest toddling up US 98, then hang a left at Perry staying on US 98 along the Panhandle coast as far west as St. Joseph Peninsula SP.
There appears to be a wasteland of CGs along 98 until Carrabelle, but Wakulla County operates a CG at Newport just across from the road down to the St. Marks lighthouse; $15 water/electric a couple of years ago. Also, don't even think of going through Tallahassee for any reason.
That's also the time of the year to keep a wary eye out for hurricanes.
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johnbhicks
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08/02/11 04:08pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Northwest Georgia Mountain Area
You'll need to go further north into the Smokies or up on the Cumberland Plateau for cooler. Here just east of Cleveland, Ga., it's now 95F before noon and has hit 97F several times in the past few weeks.
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johnbhicks
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07/13/11 09:41am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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