imadtchmn

Well our camping weekend is almost here. We'll be leaving on Friday morning for High Falls State Park in Georgia. We decided not to go on Memorial weekend since we do not like crowds. We have the RV ready and I checked over everything I could think of. The TV is also ready except for the oil change and that will happen tonight after work.

We were going to take 3 of our grandkids, but 2 of the 3 decided they wanted to go to North Carolina for a month and visit their uncle and aunt and do some beach things with them. That leaves one with us. Oh well, plenty of time for all of them together next month. This will be our 1st camping trip of the year since we got stuck in the yard due to rain on our last attempt.

Went looking for new fenders for the 5th wheel. My goodness, they're expensive. $109.00 each, for plastic. Next project will be making my own fenders. I have some sheet metal laying around that I can make them out of and I think they will do fine. Will let you know how it turns out.

I decided that I really don't fit in the classless class since most of them are on the west coast and are more of the formal type. Not that I couldn't fit in, I just like to be able to be me. I like this one better and will remain here. Haven't heard from anyone in quite a while. What is everyone else up to? What did you do for your 3 day weekend? Hello, anyone there?

From what I just read, it would not be good to be anywhere in the midwest, from OK to MI. Severe weather from tornados, to hail and heavy rains, and extensive flooding. Glad I'm in the southeast atm.

Well we have 2 weeks left to finish getting ready for our first trip, second try, to get away. Hopefully, we won't run into getting the 5er stuck again. Still have one more tire to get replaced and we should be good to go. Getting that done this weekend or first part of next week.

The weather here has been really crazy. Wind, rain, cold temps. What has happened to spring weather. We have only seen a few days in the 80's and normally that would be our high every day. Grass is growing taller and can't get it cut since its been raining all the time. All the rain did allow me to find a leak though. Guess I needed something to do. Doesn't look like any damage has been done so I think I caught it in time. It turned out to be the seal at the antenna. The previous owner had built up a dam around the antenna base and I think it caused the seal to dry out and finally leak. I cut some of the dam down on the downslope side and replaced the seal in the base. No more sign of any leak on the last rain so I think I am good to go.

Our first trip will be to High Falls State Park the weekend after the holiday. Don't like going when it's crowded so we picked the weekend after the holiday to go. It should be nice and quiet. The grandkids are going with us to help us enjoy the pool there. Hopefully, the pool won't be really cold, but with the weather the way its been, it may be. Oh well, at least the grandkids will have a blast with swimming, fishing, and bike riding in the forecast. Here's hoping the weather holds out.

Fun travels everyone.

Welcome aboard imadtchmn, You don't have to be crazy to join this group but it sure helps. Jump right in and talk to us. We'll probably take every thing you say out of context, emblish it until you don't recognize it, roll it around in the dirt for a while then throw it right back at you. But most of us are used to that, most of the group has a better half also, I don't. All I do is chase Cowgirls but I don't catch them because if I did I could no longer chase them.

Hmmm, just the way I like it, warm and cozy. I would chase the Cowgirls too, but I think the DW would get a case of the you know what if I did.

Thanks for the welcome IYQ.

Not retired yet, but fulltime living in our RV. Have been and will still be a member of 2016, but thought I would also fit in the classless class since the DW keeps saying "You have no class"

It will take a bit of reading to catch up with all that everyone has been doing so..... on to the read.

Safe travels everyone.

Well I just got done reading the classless class forum and I think it's time to join them there. I agree with some that it's not when you graduate, but that you do what you want when you can and want to do it. I will still be posting in this forum since it is more like home to me and we have a common goal. FULLTIMING!!!!!!

Feel free to join me and a bunch of others in the classless class forum.

classless class link

First yard sell done, glad that one is behind us. Rear building empty, ready to move.

Congratulations, first step taken, second step will be easier, just like walking.

UGGGG!!!! What a mini vacation. OR should I say the lack of one. We were suppose to go on a 4 day trip to Indian Springs last Thursday and guess what? Things are never as easy as they seem. It had been raining quite a bit lately and the yard was drenched.

We got the RV hooked up and everything loaded. Checklist checked over, still raining. I pull forward about 30 feet and the tires on the truck start spinning. Now remember I have a dually. I got out and looked back and low and behold, what do I see? The truck has dug a hole with the short spin on the tires. What I noticed next disheartened me. One side of the 5th wheel was buried down almost to the axle.

I decided that I would try to raise the tire and put wood under the tire. Now remember it is pouring down rain and the grandkids are waiting to go camping. I get the jack from the truck and lift the tire up....or do I? Nope, the jack even with the boards under it also sink into the ground. Well vacation time canceled.

I did finally get it out 4 days later on Sunday. I had to wait for the ground to dry out so I could raise the axle and get the wood under the tires. I raised the truck and put wood under them also. Now everything was "above ground level." Keeping fingers crossed, I pulled forward and was met with dry hard ground. I moved the RV to a spot near the tree line where I normally keep it. The ground is hard there and I have never had any issue with getting out, even when it has rained for a week at a time. Lesson learned. Never park in a low spot.

The grandkids forgave me for the failure and they are now deciding when to give it a go again. I suggested after school lets out so they could go swimming also. Next trip, 52 days and counting.

Well, its that time of year. Tomorrow we pull out for our first camping trip of the season. As usual, we don't go far for the first trip. We like to make sure any and all maintenance we did goes well, so we do a test run.

We put 2 new tires on the rv, repacked all the wheel bearings and will be putting on 2 more tires later, that is if we don't trade it in first. We found a beautifully kept 2005 Holiday Rambler with everything we wanted already in it. It is also a 4 season and fulltime certified according to the manufacturer. It seems to have been well kept and after doing some research, this unit seems to be near the top of the line for Holiday Rambler. I love the fact of it being a 4 season. This means more insulation and warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer. Now if I can get the balance owed financed, we'll be in a new RV by month's end.

We hope the weather will cooperate since it is calling for thunderstorms both Thursday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday is suppose to be really nice. Either way, it is still better than working. Now, let's go get some fishing done.

Oh Yeah, How do you get a picture of your rig under your screen name

in the signature part of your profile, just click the image icon and add the url of where you have the picture of your rig. You can use any picture site to do this with. Copy the url to the image http popup and save.

Well I am getting my wheel bearings repacked and getting tires replaced. Almost time for our breakin trip to Indian Springs State Park in Georgia. It's one of our favorite places to go. Quiet, peaceful and this time, we are going geocaching. We will be spending 5 days there and then back home to do any repairs, etc that we may need to do. I will need to redo the roof this year. A bit pricey on the stuff to put on, but it will be worth it. I wanted to put it on before our first trip out, but the weather has just been too cold to do so.

Guess I also need to fix my signature block and see what other changes they have made to this site. Would have been nice to get an email on the changes. Oh well, what is done is done and life is too short for minor issues.

Have a safe spring and we'll post about our first trip about the middle of April.

Congratulations on the new 5th wheel and upcoming retirement. My DW also thought I was spending too much time on the RV sites until we went looking into Rv's. Now she is glad I did. I am able to do all the work on my 5th wheel and truck so that saves a lot of money that she can spend. I don't hear any more complaints if I am searching for anything. She knows it's to keep her happy.

Speaking on fixing things, its that time of year, everyone, to get the maintenance items done on your RV. Check the brakes, repack the wheel bearings, check water lines, check out the electrical and propane system, and don't forget the tires. You want everything to go smoothly while you're out on the road and not have to fix things while on vacation or traveling. I'll be doing mine in the next month or so. Have to be ready by the first part of April. Ah yes, vacations are coming around again.

Welcome to the class of 2016. Glad to have you in our class. Although it is still small, it will grow as time to 2016 gets nearer. Downsizing from a s&b to an RV seems to be the hardest thing to do. We have already done ours and still have a small shed of items at our daughters home. Most of that is tools, though we do keep other items, such as clothes, that we switch out during the winter and summer.

We are getting ready to do our yearly maintenance on our RV. This includes greasing wheel bearings, checking and adjusting brakes, checking lights, cleaning the outside including the awning and various other items. Even on the road, maintenance is important. Don't let it get behind or you may pay for it on the road. Learn as much as you can, so if something does happen, you can fix it yourself. Almost everything on the RV can be repaired by common hand tools.

Another item that is very important is checklists. "Ah yes", you say. "I know what all has to be done" Until I almost lost a power cord and tried to rip out the shore power, I thought this way also. You can find some checklists in the forum, but use that as a starting point. Customize it to your own RV and use it. Each RV is slightly different and will need items added or subtracted from any list. I use mine each and every time. I do not want a repeat of dumbness.

Well again welcome to the class of 2016. Sit back, relax, enjoy the adventures you are about to read in all the forums and post your own adventures. We love hearing about them. BTW I just checked and have 1318 days left, so I'll be right behind Hopeimakeit. Wonder if I can cheat and retire even earlier. I doubt it but like fulltiming, I can dream. Our first trip of the year will be a week in Indian Springs, GA. Can't wait.

Be safe on the road, and enjoy this wonderland we call America.

Welcome John and Sharon

Welcome to our class. It doesn't matter if its 2015 or 2016, you are always welcome here. If you have questions, we are all here to help answer them if we can, if not, maybe we can send you to the person that can. Fulltime RV'ing is contagious and the fun of it can't really be described. I love the fact of having a big yard and not having to take care of it, or having the lake out front, or maybe the beach. Although I am not fulltiming yet as the definition of it states, I do live fulltime in my RV at the homebase. Our DD stays in our stick and brick with the grandkids. We enjoy it this way. See the grandkids all the time, and can send them home when we are ready.

From the looks of your signature, you have the type of 5th wheel I am hoping to have by the time I retire. I would like to have the self leveling system also but don't know much about them. Does it work well and does it put much stress on the frame? Hope you don't mind these questions.

Again, welcome to the forum and the class of 2016.

It's almost Christmas. What are you plans for Christmas this year? Do you plan to travel with your RV or stay home? Lets hear some plans on what you are doing this Christmas.

The DW and I have put up our Christmas tree. Yup, we have a tree in our RV. Every year we have to make room for it and this coming weekend, we will be putting up the decorations on the outside. Just because we live in an RV doesn't mean we don't dolly up for the joyous season. The grandkids love to help with all the trimmings.

Have safe holidays and travels. I'll see about posting some pics soon.

Thanksgiving is once again upon us. The DW and I want to wish everyone a very nice Thanksgiving and may you enjoy family, friends and good eating on Thursday.

Welcome John and Janice. Make yourselves comfortable in our class. Those 4 years will pass by a lot faster than you realize. You will need all those months to get prepared. If you take one room at a time, it will be easier to get rid of items you don't need. Some will be hard to dispose of, but those things can go to children, grandchildren so you can see them when you visit.

The DW and I live in our 5th wheel full time since we gave our home to our daughter and grandkids. We are not full time (as in full time traveling) yet, but plan to be in October of 2016. We took the easy route I guess. Most of our stuff went to our daughter and grandkids, so we don't have much work left to do. I have a shed that has what is left over and it really is not much. We enjoy the weekends that we can take off and normally have the grandkids with us.

Again, welcome to the class. It will get bigger as time goes on.

Well as things go, I guess they are fine. We won't be going anywhere until next year. We have 10 tires to get. 4 for the 5ver and 6 for the truck. Don't want to risk more problems with blowouts, but money also plays in this issue. We also need to do our yearly maintenance on the 5ver. Repack the wheel bearings, wash and wax the outside, fix a wall where water got in and the wall peeled back, putting in a new tub, etc. At least I won't be bored.

Haven't hear from anyone in a while now. What are your winter plans? Are you taking weekend jaunts or staying home? Once everything gets fixed, you can bet we'll be back out there again.

Welcome Bob and Donna. Glad to see you're doing your research. Being in IT, one of the things you will have to look into will be internet access. You can't depend on open wifi or campground wifi access. HDT's are nice and the New Horizion rigs are beautiful. Wish I could afford one. Oh well, it helps keep a dream alive.

Again welcome to the Class of 2016. As time to fulltime gets closer, the class will get bigger. Ask questions, laugh and have fun. That's what we are here for.

George and Sherry

I need you to show me how to insert a countdown timer into my signature!

 

Roy

Just click on the timer and it will take you to the website. Follow the instructions and copy and paste the information to your signature line. Its the Travel and Vacation one listed there.

Welcome, highwayranger, to the class of 2016. Doesn't matter when you go fulltime, you're always welcome here. Are you actually an LEO? (feel safer already) Although I already fulltime in my RV, I won't be able to retire until 2016, hence the reason I am in this class. I intend to fulltime on the road until I can no longer drive and then maybe I can talk one of the grandkids into driving for me. Who knows what the future brings.

I see from your profile that you have been around for quite a while. Maybe we can learn something from you as we progress onward to our choice of lifestyle.

Again, welcome to the class of 2016. Make your self at home.

Welcome chocofolks. Of course you can join our class. We welcome everyone whether the are going fulltime in 2016 or in another year. We are all here to have fun, learn, and enjoy each others adventures.

Speaking of adventures, here is my latest one. The grand daughters had to go to Gulf Shores, AL for the girls Fast Pitch World Series and with us living near Macon, GA., this presented the perfect camping trip, or so we thought. Now I am one to check the 5th wheel and truck over a day or two before going on any trips. All was fine, checked tire pressures, slides in, final walkaround. All good. We start up the driveway and get onto the main road and now the problem starts. About 3 miles down the road, I notice the 5th wheel pulling harder. I decided to pull off the road into a pull off area and low and behold, the right rear tire has shredded. Never felt anything other than harder pulling. Now this is at 4 am and nothing opens until 8 am. We disconnect the 5th wheel, get the tire off, and the local sheriff pulls up and we inform him of the situation. All is fine and he said he'll keep an eye on it as he drives by on his patrol. Love the LEO's here. 8 am and finally we are able to go to the tire shops. For a fairly large town, it is hard to find any RV tires. Finally find one at one of the shops and he states $166.00 for the tire. Ouch! This tire would be $90.00 anywhere else, but he knows he has me over a barrel so I get it mounted and pay the price.

Now we are on our way and just 5 hours running late, but I still do not hurry. So I'm running late. I did leave a big buffer of time to get there. We head out Hwy 80 towards Columbus, GA and what do you know, they have done some work on the railroad tracks and left the tracks bare without building up in between the tracks sot we now have a very hard hit on the tires. They didn't pop. Travelling on another 25 miles and POW! Another tire blows. Great! We are in the middle of nowhere. Dead center between Columbus and Fort Valley. Found a Discount tire place in Fort Valley, 30 miles back that had some used tires. Can't afford new ones now. Drop 5th wheel, get off tire, take it to them and get it mounted. The owner asks if we would like to have a spare, just in case. Sure, for the price he wanted, of course. So now we are back to the 5th wheel, put on the tire, throw the rimless spare in the back of the truck and off we go. No more problems getting to Gulf Shores.

The girls played hard and came out fairly well considering they were a new team and had only played together for 4 weeks prior to this. They were in the top 15 out of 68 teams. Very proud of them. After a week of playing we are now ready to head back home, tired, worn out and just plain exhausted from the week of games and eliminations. We decide to take off around noon time and off we go. About 1 1/2 hours into the trip we are only 40 miles from our starting point due to the heavy traffic. We get ready to pull up to a stop light and, you guessed it, POW, another tire. I guess the railroad tracks were harder on the tires than I thought. We pull of the road into a parking lot and begin changing the tire and dismounting and remounting the spare by hand. Yup, do know how to do that being a country boy. Got the tire filled and after an hour, we are on our way again. Yippee!!!

We finally made it back home without any more issues on the tires, however we have cancelled any more trips for this year. We are going to spend some money on getting new tires all around, and a spare on the rim. One thing this trip showed me is that looks are deceiving. These tires were only 3 years old, but we do sit a lot. The RR tracks were bad enough to hurt the sidewalls, so we will be slowing down over all tracks from now on.

All in all, I still would not have traded this trip for work. It was hard and costly to get my grand daughters to the World series, but I would not have traded the experience with them for anything. BTW, it was just me with a 10 year old and 12 year old. They braved all the problems well and helped with each tire change. Kudos to them.

So you can see, trips can be costly at times, and I am in no way a rich man, however, a bad day on the road is still better than a day at work, no matter what the problem. Have fun everyone. Until next time.

Hi Everyone,

Ok, now that I have the margaritas mixed (it is Happy Hour here) and I have our avatar picture changed, I think I can lead you to where our Yosemite Trip pictures are. You can click on the link below,

http://s1078.photobu...489/spearson81/

to get to our pictures. Imadtchmn, I hope you and your wife and everyone else are able to get out here sometime in their travels to visit this wonderful National Park. I sometime wonder if we Californians take it for granted because it is so close. Anyway, the best way to enjoy the pictures is to click on the "veiw as slide show" just above the first picture.

Slowpoke

Can you pass me a margarita? I have been and used to live on the west coast. Tacoma, Washington to be exact, and yes, as residents, we do take our parks and sites for granted. I didn't realise how beautiful the west side of our country was until I moved back east. Sure do miss it. Loved the fact that the mountains and the ocean were only a couple of hours away. All we have here are hills (Appalachian Mountains) compared to the Rockies.

Our next two trips are coming up back to back. The first one is to Jacksonville, NC to see our son and daughter-in-law. Haven't seen them for almost a year. I'll be there for 5 days and the DW will be there for a month. When I get back on July 4th, I have 4 days to get ready to go to Gulf Shores for the American League Softball Series there. The granddaughters made it on the All Stars team this year and are going to the series. We expect to be there for a week. It will be a good bonding time for us. Its kind of a hectic schedule, but someone has to do it. Then its back to home plate, I mean home base and back to work. Whew! It seems to be a busy schedule, but I think I will survive.

Now about that margarita!

BTW loved the pictures. Makes me homesick.

I am glad you had an enjoyable time down in Florida. I think that there are crazy drivers everywhere in this country. You just have to be alert whenever you are driving.

The DW and I went to Yosemite Nat'l Park yesterday (just for the day). It is only a three hour drive from our home here in Livermore, CA. Had a wonderful time and the weather was great! The last time I was there was 45 years ago and the DW had never been there. I had forgotten how beautiful the Yosemite Valley is. I took a lot of pictures and I wish I knew how to attach them here. This is one item off the DW bucket list.

 

Be safe and enjoy your travels

 

Slowpoke

To view pictures here do the following:

Load them on a site like photo bucket or image shack etc. Then link them into the thread or reply using the square button in the tool bar with the picture of a tree. You can hold your mouse cursor over the button and it will say "insert image".

Once you have the photos uploaded to photobucket and a link to the first one copied to your clipboard, come here, make sure the text cursor is blinking where you want the picture to be in the reply, then click on the tree button and when the window opens, the highlighted text in blue needs to be deleted. Click delete while it is highlighted in blue, then paste your clipboard link in the box, and hit ok or whatever it says, and repeat for any more images you want. Make sure they are less than 800 pixels wide. If they are, the moderators will assist in reducing the size.

Hope this helps. Would love to see your pictures and yes, this is also one of the places on our bucket list also.

Hi all! Well we survived the drivers of Orlando, FL. Man, they are some crazy drivers. Got run off the road once and then had a VW blast by me on the interstate... in the emergency lane running about 80. Unbelievable!

Turkey Lake Park, a city owned park turned out to be everything the site stated. A very nice and well maintained park. The only thing on the downside was the floor in the showers. They were dirty and looked like they had not been cleaned all year. Thankfully, I had shower shoes. Other than that, it was a quiet park even with 200 boy scouts camping less than 500 feet away. They do not have internet anywhere but near the front gate.

Sea World was fantastic. The shows were all well done. I even rode the Kracken. Fair warning, not for older folks. My granddaughter rode it several times and said it wasn't bad, so I tried it. I won't believe her again. Made it to Coco Beach and watched the launch of the Xspace rocket. Beautiful site.

As you may have read, my granddaughters are in Little League All Stars. I was suppose to go to NC at the end of June, but now I find out that they have double elimination games from June 30 to July 2 so that cancels my plans for NC. The wife will be going up to see our DS, but I'll have to remain behind. Hopefully, I can fit in a few days with him towards the end of July. I really need 2 of me. Sometimes I feel that I am being pulled apart. Guess that's what Grandparents do, so as a grandparent,I do it.

Haven't heard any travel plans from anyone lately. What's up folks?

Be careful of the other drivers and have fun.