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Forum
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RE: Just started, please help!!
I agree the walk thrus are rushed. I have had our 2002 Winnebago Brave since 2009. I went back to the dealership once with a tape recorder and note pad to re-ask some of the things I forgot because of feeling overwhelmed. Since I bought the RV out of town, I have since made friends with two dealerships that do repairs on my coach. I have them on my cell phone and have called to ask the service guys questions. They would rather answer your questions before you have a major problem.
I also have printed information from previous postings and put them in a notebook for future reference, especially if I don't have the computer with me. Just get some dividers for the notebook so you have it divided by subjects like - pre-check list for a trip; check list when you are at the campground, etc. I also have some bright pink post it notes to remind us to put away things before we leave. This is for all travelers in the coach so if they are in the bathroom and find the soap hasn't been put into the sink, they will do it, or make sure nothing is at the end of the bed and drawers are closed before bringing in bedroom slide. I broke a drawer that way the first 6 months we had the coach.
Do whatever makes life easier for you since we all do things and learn differently. Since it is only my husband and I and we can park next to the house, we try to make sure and use the food in the RV when we are at home, but have a list taped to the table to mark down if we use the food so we know to replace it. Also, once a year, I have to go thru the cupboards at home to remove out of date food. Don't forget to do it in the RV also. Since we live in Texas, we sometimes have to leave because of possible hurricanes so I like to have emergency food already stocked in it. At home, we keep a clear plastic container with a lock on lid to hold my husband's medication and fill a one week pill holder. If we have to leave, it is easy to grab his medication container, my medication in a smaller container, both brief cases that have the insurance papers, marriage license, animals license, etc. so we just have a few things to grab and load into the RV as well as grab the cats to put in the carrier cases. We also keep clothes in the closets and drawers so we don't have to worry if we have to bug out from June 1 to Nov 30.
No question is a dumb question. I will tell you from experience, if you might travel once a month during the winter and may not operate the generator as often as you should, put the gas stabilizer in the gas tank and run the generator for 30 minutes so it spread thru the generator. I did not do this. I did have half a tank of gas when we had a freak storm come in. Late I filled the tank up but did not run the generator and had to pay to have the generator cleaned out. The gas had varnished.
Have fun in the RV. Keep a notebook of where you have been, miles traveled, gas price, etc. so you can plan a trip a little easier knowing what it cost before. Make notes of where you went, etc. so it is a log and journal too. It is fun to look back, especially if you compain about the price of fuel and see what you paid the previous year or if you liked a camg ground or not.
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lizbard
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11/15/11 01:16am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Another RV Fire
I had just pulled in to a KOA park in Little Rock, AR. I was having problems hooking up the water because of stripped threads - when I thought I had it fastened down and turn on faucet, it spewed water all over.
While I was on the phone with the office, I remarked that I could smell something burning and it wasn't food. My girlfriend, who was along on the trip, remarked whatever was burning was where I was sitting since there was smoke there. I jumped up, told her to grab our purses and get out now. I started to grab my fire extingusiher when the men from office came really fast in the golf cart. They grabbed the extinguisher out of my hands, got my girlfriend to get out while looking to see if it was just smoke or fire. They put the fire out.
I was sitting on the stairs at the time. All three of my batteries are under the middle stair. It turned out the battery holder/tie down for the engine broke while I was driving. Somehow it shifted and connected with one of the coach batteries. It didn't catch fire until we were at the camp. Thank heavens it did not happen while I was driving. It was late so we waited until the next day to get towed to a shop. Craig RV was unable to get parts while we were waiting, so they put a new engine battery in the middle and fastened it down so I could get home. After I got home, I was able to get it fixed at home. Now all the battery fasteners are replaced and we are doing fine. It took about a month or so for the smoky smell to get out.
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lizbard
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08/28/11 07:56am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Where would you go? What would you do?
Contact the different states to get their tourist info. For Texas just call 800-8888-TEX and request our book, map and RV/camping guide, state parks. Texas has LBJ's library and other state museums and cemetery in Austin. There are numerous military museums in the state. The National Vietnam Memorial and Museum is in Mineral Wells with a half size Vietnam Wall. In Dublin, TX is the oldest bottling plant that uses pure cane sugar, with a small museum attached and a soda fountain - DR Pepper. There is another museum for Dr Pepper in Waco, which also has an entire east Texas town on the campus of Baylor University and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame (the lawman, not the ball player). In Corsicana is the Collin St Bakery, famous for their fruit cakes. Along IH35 between Austin and Dallas are several Czeck communities. I believe in East Texas are several Menninite villages. Like they say "Texas is a whole 'nother county."
In 2009 we traveled from Texas to Georgia and stopped at several places on IH20 between Shreveport to Georgia at several military museums that several cities had set up. Vicksburg, MS has a new Civil War museum (just found out because they had a special quarter earlier this year). On IH20 between Shreveport and Monroe is a small museum about the capture of Bonnie and Clyde in their town.
Columbus, GA (FT Benning, GA) has an Infantry Museum outside post. Also there is a large military museum off post south of Macon (Warner Robbins AFB). FT Rucker is outside Dothan, AL. between there and Birmingham we saw a sign for an old village museum that was very interesting with military exhibits as well as cabins (furnished in period furniture), etc. My husband was stationed at FT Rucker and FT Benning.
In 2007 we traveled from East Texas to Wisconsin to Ohio, to Tennessee, then back to East Texas. Along the way we stopped at numerous Civil War sites (we were collecting info for several kids who were being home schooled. Picked up a couple of CD's that described the driving tour at a couple of them. They were descriptive so visually impaired could see what everyone was seeing as well as making sure they knew what the people were seeing.) Sometimes we planned on going thru a town not knowing they had a museum (the way their travel info was written made it difficult, sometimes it was only an entry on a map that caught our attention or a sign when we came into town).
Kentucky has several places with Civil War museums. Bardstown, KY has a Civil War Museum and a town next to it, as well as a whiskey museum and of course a tour of a whiskey distillery. Bowling Green has the corvette museum. Somewhere south of Bardstown on our way to Bowling Green we ran across a Cocoa Cola museum and a car dealership who had their own small antique car museum.
Jacksonvile, TN has Casey Jones village, with the Casey Jones museum and train cars.
We contact the different state tourism bureaus, order their info either by phone, on-line or from a post card in a magazine. Then we try to plan our trips from that. The trip in 2007 was done by car, the 2009 trip in our RV. I am the only driver, so I only like to travel 250 miles in a day, unless I take a nap while he is exploring a museum that interests him and not me (that is one reason we got the RV).
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lizbard
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08/28/11 07:08am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Route idea and assistance
Since you are military, go to the PX and get a copy of the Miitary Travel Guide for RV's and camping. Or if you cannot find that, get the laminated US Map of military Posts. on one side is the map with the different military installations listed, on the back has the phone numbers for the posts with the number for the RV camp ground if available. When you stay there, it will make your travel dollars go further.
I have looked at the Next Exit book and plan to get one befoe my next long trip.
Also, get a membership in Good Sam for $20. They have a travel routing guide on line that will help you avoid low bridges, favor interstates, etc. you put in your preference. I'm glad they got the old guide back.
As you know, by going to the military posts, sometimes you can save money on gas, get food at the commissary, medical if needed, etc. We are retired military and have had good luck traveling this way since we got our RV in 2009.
Good Luck. Drive safe. If you are the only driver, keep your miles per day to 250 no more than 300. It gets tiring if you are not familiar with driving long distances towing a trailer. If you need to stop before nightfall because you are tired, some veteran's groups will let you park in their lots (VFW.org, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans). Also Elks (Benevelent Order of Elks) will let you park, sometimes with a small donation you can even use electricity. Please pace yourself, check here or at a RV shop on how to manuever over mountains (haven't tried that yet), etc.
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lizbard
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08/28/11 06:41am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: What are the High End Diesels?
The Foretravel factory is in Nacogdoches, TX in the Pineywoods. Motorhomes of Texas is just down the highway and is authorized to sell and repair used Foretravel Motorhomes. Foretravel also has electrical hookups at the factory for when they have rallies or people are passing thru.
The 2010 Foretravel with the $1.2M price tag was sold at Motorhomes of Texas for $930K.
I checked out some 1995 Foretravels with the unibody (no slides) and loved how they looked.
Couldn't afford one for our first RV, but if I had the money I would get one.
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lizbard
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08/13/11 04:39am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Washington DC
If you are short on time, after you get to the mall area go to the kiosks that have the trolley's or tour mobiles. For a set fee you can be taken to different monuments, Arlington Cemetery, etc. You can get off, visit whatever, then hop on the next one that comes around. Don't forget they now have 2 Air and Space Museums. One is on the Mall and the other is out by one of the airports in a hangar.
If you will be traveling to Baltimore, stop in at the National Cryptolocgical Museum. It has the machines and info on code talkers, etc.
Also, it is neat to visit Annapolis and the Navy Academy. It will make the kids appreciate home when they see how the beds have to be made and how clean the cadets have to keep their rooms.
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lizbard
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08/13/11 04:23am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Nervous Nellies-came close to buying today
Besides the electrical, I would worry about the age of the tires. We bought a 2002 Winnebago gas in 2009. We didn't realize it had the original tires made in 2001 until we were getting ready to get it inspected in 2010. The tires for ours cost approx. $800 a pair and we needed 3 pair. We just say we had a good guardian angel looking over us since we did quite a bit of traveling the first year. Needless to say we didn't do much traveling in 2010.
Also check the hoses to see if they have cracks. I went with gas as the oil changes were cheaper since I need someone else to do it.
Good luck finding one. Then do small trips while you learn about it. I have found 250 miles per day is far enough so we can get to camp in daylight.
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lizbard
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08/13/11 04:10am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: At what age?
We never had our own kids, but "borrowed" friends and family kids. At 3 and 7, they can have "chores" around the camp ground to feel useful under adult supervision. The 7 yr old can help in planning side trips. Contact the different states you want to visit, highlight on the map the route you will take and get some input from them on stops. There are lots of unusual museums, road side stops, etc. that might make an impression on them.
We enrolled my nephew in a program in Austin, TX where he got to imagine life before electricity. I think he was in 3rd grade, yr round school. About 6 months later the class was studying life before electricity. He remembered making lye soap, pounding the rugs, etc. It was something he "did" that made an impression on him.
With their input you can see how your kids have progressed in school. Pick up point and push digital cameras for $20-30 at Walmart and let them take pictures of things, prints are inexpensive, then you can help them put them in a memory book so they have something for show and tell. They will be learning stuff without realizing it. Before going on the long trip, plan several trips that are 1-2 hours from home and take your TT or RV so they can get used to it and explore some of the places close to home. Learn about the history of their state. If you get a school compass (with the stubby pencil) and draw a circle on the map to show 100 miles, 150 miles then you can look in your state's information book. Your kids will see how much fun it is to help plan the trips. Tell them that while theme parks like 6 Flags are fun, they cost $XX but if we go to free or low cost things, we can still have fun and do more stuff. They can even help with meals. I taught several neighborhood kids to cook and they remembered that for a long tme.
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lizbard
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08/13/11 03:54am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Running refrigerator at home
When I bought our RV, I had a 30 amp plug installed on the side of the house where it is parked. I keep it plugged in and a/c and fridge on. My husband is retired with some health problems. When he decides to watch tv with the sound blaring, I run away to the RV to read, listen to music, etc. He knows where to find me if he needs me and I have food, bathroom, comfortable furniture, cell phone and can re-harge MY battery so I can help him later.
One time I saw a bumper sticker on a truck camper that said it was "Daddy's doghouse" or "his man-cave" I haven't figured out what to name mine, except it is cheaper than being hospitalized for insanity or jailed for hurting the husband.
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lizbard
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08/08/11 11:46pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: internet service
Most Texas rest areas with rest rooms have wifi. When we traveled up north, there were several states that also offered free wifi.
Having the air card means I can look on-line for a camp ground using Good Sam, Trailer Life, Elks with a donation, some veteran's groups let you park overnight with a donation. This is especially helpful if you encounter bad weather or you can look up phone numbers for repair places, etc.
Since we have AT&T cellphones is why I went with the AT&T aircard. It just makes life a little easier.
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lizbard
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08/08/11 11:04pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: WiFi and home service
We use our cable company for TV and internet at home. I tried the free Wifi's at RV parks, but didn't seem to be in the hot spot. For $60 a month I got an aircard with AT&T to use with my laptop in the RV and very seldom have any problems. I also use it at home if my DH and I need to be on the computer at the same time.
If you can get out of the dial-up with AT&T you might want to check into this or Verizon. You need to see where their service area is. Our cell phones are on AT&T so we just have one bill.
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lizbard
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08/06/11 12:32am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Newbie with one last trip routing question....
I used to live in Austin and now live in East Texas.
First things first - we are in an Extreme Heat Advisory, just about all over Texas and I know it extends into Louisiana. The temperatures are triple digit by noon or 2pm at the latest.
If you want to get used to the RV and see some of Texas, then take I35 North to US79 in Round Rock (the same exit as the Dell Diamond). Take US79 to Marquez, then turn to SH7. you will cross over IH45, if you want to go up that way to get to IH20 but you will backtrack to Dallas. Instead, stay on SH7 and go to Crockett then to Nacogdoches. We have several camp grounds there or you can follow the signs for US59. If you go this way, you can follow US59 to Carthage, then take the loop to connect to US59 North to IH20 or follow the signs for US79 that will take you into Louisiana.
There are several RV parks we have used in Shreveport/Bossier City, and several more going to Alabama. We made that trip in 2009. Send me a private message and I will glad to pass on the ones we went to that were good - especially since that was our first trip in an RV. You will be glad you have the RV when traveling thru LA (they now have one rest area with bathrooms re-opened now) and Mississippi as we went thru them on IH20 with no rest areas and quite a few gas stations were closed.
You can also go North on IH35 to Dallas, take the loop around Dallas to IH20. If you go that way, in Waco is the Dr Pepper Museum, Texas Rangers museum (the lawman not the ball players) and outlet malls. It just depends on what you want to see. Just remember to look for a place to camp early because once you start getting warm then the trip is no fun. If you are military or retired military, there are several fam camps I can tell you about.
If you travel from Austin to Nacogdoches, that is approximately 250 miles. My husband no longer drives, so that is my limit in a day. Also because of the heat, the front dash a/c will not keep everyone cool in the rear. If you run your generator in order to run the a/c, you will use up more gas. We were in Shreveport last week and quit our errands, etc. at 1pm. Called and got a camp site at the DiamondJack Casino (pull thru with GS cost $28) we hooked up, cooled off and left for home early the next morning.
The route I suggested first will take you thru the Davy Crockett forest, so some areas are cool. Just be careful if you park on or near any grass as we are very dry. There are burn bans in effect, so no charcoal fires.
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lizbard
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08/06/11 12:21am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: This Darn Heat
We will gladly ship some of this heat to you if you can figure out a way to get some of your excess water to us. If they can install an oil pipeline to haul oil sand that we don't want because it leaks, why can't they come up with a way to have a pipeline going north and south with places to attach or open a valve so your excess water can be directed to us and save your houses. Lake Nacogdoches is 15 feet below normal. Farmers and ranchers need water for their animals as well as crops and hay.
So if someone can figure this out, I figure they should make a pretty penny from the feds and insurance companies since they won't have to pay for damaged homes, crops, etc.
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lizbard
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07/17/11 05:16pm |
Tent Camping
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RE: Audacious campsite neighbor...A first for me
I was at Ft Sam Houston RV park that is on post. I had called ahead, told them I would be arriving after hours, was told to take a certain slot, get the page from the bulletin board, pay and put the paperwork and money in the after hours box.
I arrived, office was closed, my paperwork was not on the bulletin board but my name was on the list for the assigned spot and a truck camper without the truck was parked in my assigned spot. I took the next empty one and after putting down my jacks, I stepped out to hook up to water and electric. I was using my cane because of my arthritis was hurting (it was February and cold). My neighbor came over and helped me hook up, we talked about where we were from, where we were going, etc. and I got back in, opened my slides and was getting ready to enjoy a cup of hot tea and some soft music while I waited for the RV to warm up. Next thing I know, I get a knock on the door. The gentleman informed me I was in his spot and I had to move. I told him I had the same problem and the other people were not around to move. He said that wasn't his problem, I had to move since I was in his assigned spot. I then asked him, while I shut the slides, and shut off everything, open the front curtains, etc. would he go and check to see what other slot was open. He was upset, but he did it, after made sure he saw my cane. He came back and I asked him if he could disconnect my water and electric. He did it, but was not happy. I moved to the open space and another neighbor was taking out his garbage and helped me get hooked up. I told him what happened and he just shook his head. He was in his RV and his brother was parked next to me. He said he had never served so he was here as his brother's guest.
A couple of hours later, the manager came around since I was not parked where I was assigned. I explained what had happened and he said I was fine. I don't know what happened to the truck camper or the other person the next morning but by the time I was ready to leave (after 9am since I did not want to get in on morning traffic) both of them had already left.
This was the first time I was met with rude people. The only people who can be on post are active duty or retired or DOD or friends/family of theirs. If the truck camper person and the other person are active duty, I feel sorry for our troops. At that time, I wished I could be like my husband said "old Army", only I got out as a SP4/E4 and he was a SFC/E7 when he retired. He said if they were enlisted he would ask where he learned his manners. If they were an officer, he said as a retiree, he would ask if that was the same way he acted in his command.
We have only had a RV and going camping since 2009 so it is still new to us, especially since 2010 we didn't go out much do to needing new tires and a few other mechanical things.
Maybe the other people were newlyweds and did not want to give a show to the neighbors. If they wanted privacy, maybe they should have paid for all the spaces around them. I'm sure the RV park would not have minded putting up cones or something so no one would camp there.
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lizbard
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06/26/11 08:15pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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CiCi's Pizza to honor Vets on Memorial Day
We saw an ad in the Houston Chronicle.
To honor our military - CiCi's Pizza
All Day Memorial Day - all active duty military and veterans EAT FREE!
Uniformed or with proper ID
Drink not included. Dine in only. Valid only at participating locations.
I went to www.cicispizza.com site. They did not mention anything about it, but it has a locater by using the zip code you can find a CiCi's closest to you.
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lizbard
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05/30/11 02:21am |
General RVing Issues
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