trailertraveler

As you can see, everyone has developed their on routine for travel and has their own favorite method for finding overnight stops. In my experience, no one source includes every campground/RV Park so check them all out and find which ones work best for you.

Our dogs (we've had 4 that RVed and as many as 3 at one time) can usually last longer than we can before needing to take a break. They all really enjoyed sitting out with us in the evening so we have found Walmart, truck stops and other blacktop boondocking sites less than ideal. One notable exception is some NM rest areas which have separated parking spots with picnic table and BBQ grill and a 12-24 hour stay limit. On the US and state highways, rest areas are often few and far between; but we have found some good ones and they are rarely crowded.

In campgrounds and even in the boondocks, keep a close eye on the dogs as there may be dogs running loose or critters that can cause harm. Take your dogs' medical records and vaccination certificates with you. Some campgrounds may actually ask to see them. Should you need to find a vet while travelling, there is a chain co-located with some Petsmart stores. We have had good luck with vets recommended by the campground owner or staff.  One last thing that we found about travelling with dogs, changes in the water such as the amount of chlorine can give them gastric problems. We have a charcoal filter in the fresh water line and than use a Brita pitcher for their drinking water. We still have a problem occasionally and keep Pepto tablets and a pet formula of Kaopectate on hand, both of which work well.  

43 minutes ago, amarie1 said:

A city park ...you mean like a regular park, with swingsets and baseball diamonds? 

They run the gamut. Yes; some have play areas, ball fields, tennis courts, etc. while providing places that an RV can park. Others have designated RV sites some even with hookups for some or all utilities.  Some have lakes with hiking trails while others are just paved, gravel or grass areas. Some are free, some have modest fees and even those that have utilities are generally modestly priced. Many are first come first serve while others take reservations all the time or for weekends or special events. Some are managed by the municipality while others are managed by community groups like the Lions Club or Rotary.

8 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Many people drive a while and then estimate where they'd be at a certain time; look on a map for a town and RV park and then call for a reservation while enroute to the town.

We adopted this method on our first trip when we pulled into a campground and found that it was closed and the next campground in the direction we were headed was an hour away. There are parts of the country where there are not a lot of campgrounds/RV parks. A highway, pipeline or other construction project can fill all the RV parks in a fairly large area for a month or more. In some areas of the country, flooding and/or storm damage can close parks seasonally or unexpectedly. Parks, especially public parks may be full every weekend. We try to not travel on Friday and Saturday unless we are familiar with the area and are sure we can get a place to stay or have a reservation.  

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Doggos and I are getting more comfortable.

This to me indicates that you have more than one dog. Be aware that some parks (not many in my experience) do not allow dogs. Some have a restriction on the number of dogs. Some have restrictions on the size/weight and some have breed restrictions. Although we have only encountered it at one park out of the hundreds we have stayed at since 2004, there are some parks that charge extra for dogs. Just another reason to call ahead of arrival.

There have been several mentions of city parks. County parks and fairgrounds may also have RV sites at very reasonable rates. The best sources I have found for these are free campsites and  Ultimate Public Campgrounds. If you  have a GPS, you may be able to load campground location data from Ultimate Public campgrounds at a small cost. Data sets are available from USA campgrounds, the Discovery Owners Forum and the POI Factory for free.

You said that you joined Good Sam. They have an online Trip Planner.  I-80 is a direct shot from Chicago to Oakland. There are several online campground directories that depict campgrounds on a map. In addition to the ones already mentioned, there are RV there yet, free camp sites,  Ultimate Public Campgrounds, and USA Campgrounds.  

Welcome to the Escapees Forum!

We have owned both a Class C and  a travel trailer. 

What do you plan to use for transportation at destinations? If you plan on a toad; with a Class C, you will have to keep an eye on your GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating) hitch rating and Maximum tow rating.  We started with a 27' Class C, no toad. It served us well for weekends, visiting family and short vacation trips. Using it for site seeing, shopping, etc. was somewhat of a pain because we had to unhook and re-hook for each trip. Our Class C had the Chevy 6.0 gas engine in a 3500 chassis. The towing capacity was 3500#. We found that very few cars that could be flat towed weighed 3500# or less. Adding  dolly or trailer to the mix just added weight to the combination making it still difficult to find a suitable toad. I think 5000# tow rating is more common these days and Chevy now offers the 4500 chassis for RVs.

After retirement when we started travelling for longer periods; we ended up switching to a 27' box (30') travel trailer and diesel pickup with a cap on the bed. The trailer had more useable space than the Class C and more carrying capacity even without considering the capacity of the truck. We purchased both the trailer and the truck new for less than $60,000, but that was in 2007. I think you would have a lot of choices in trailers and gas trucks within your price range if you wanted to upgrade your current rig.

When you look at Class C's; look at where the storage compartments are located with an eye towards being able to balance weight. Our Class C had a huge storage compartment behind the passenger side rear wheels. It could easily be loaded with far too much weight for the rear axle and/or the passenger side rear tires. Another outside compartment was made of sheet metal hanging beneath the coach. My tool box (about 50#) just about ripped the compartment off from the bouncing down the road.

Something I suggest you look for in a Class C is seats that will swivel around for use when parked. Ours did not have them and the cab area was basically wasted as usable living space when parked.

Good luck in your search for the right RV for you.

We were on the road from February through May. Even after arriving at our summer location, one of the bigger issues for us is the availability of groceries and other products (sporadically everything from rice, fresh and frozen meat to dogfood) . Several on this thread and other threads have stated that they order online and have delivery or pickup.  We are rarely able to get everything we need at one store and sometimes not at any of them requiring multiple visits to multiple locations. Even online orders from Amazon, etc. were out of stock or delivery delayed for extended periods (that seems to have gotten better). Because of the small size of the refrigerator/freezer and generally limited storage space in the trailer, it seemed like we were running out of something every couple of days. Even though we have a larger freezer and refrigerator where we summer, limits on the quantity of items like meat and frozen vegetables has made it difficult to build up much of a cache.  So, my question to those that shop online. Do you usually  get everything you order? Since I see grocery store staff picking orders from the aisles, I am wondering how good an idea they have of existing inventory.   Do they tell you when you order what is out of stock or low on stock or do you find out at pickup/delivery?

Please note that the statement quoted by 2gypsies above was not mine it was from an article by an Associated Press journalist quoting Duke University health economist David Ridley.

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And for all the government promises of stockpiling doses in hopes of starting vaccinations by year’s end, here’s the catch: Even if a shot pans out -- and it’s one that your country stockpiled -- only some high-risk people, such as essential workers, go to the front of a very long line.

“Will you and I get vaccinated this year? No way,” said Duke University health economist David Ridley.

 

30 minutes ago, Pieere said:

I sure would like to see Italy and China's reports of the COVID-19 tallies or if they are reducing!

Italy Deaths as percent of cases reported 34,744/240,436= 14.4%

From the same source:

U.S. Deaths as percentage of cases reported 128,665/2,668,588 = 4.8% 

In regard to the original question, 

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How long will this go on?

Here are some quotes from an article by an Associated Press journalist. 

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Many scientists don’t expect a coronavirus vaccine to be nearly as protective as the measles shot.

If the best COVID-19 vaccine is only 50% effective, "that’s still to me a great vaccine,” said Dr. Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania.

“We need to start having this conversation now,” so people won’t be surprised, he added.

12 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Actually they do have a SARS vaccine, but the disease killed so many, so fast,  they really never got to try out the vaccine large scale.   But some of the candidates are built on the work done on SARS.  

Here is a recent article by the Mayo Clinic.  

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Several vaccines for SARS have been tested in animals. Most of the vaccines improved the animals' survival but didn't prevent infection. Some vaccines also caused complications, such as lung damage. A COVID-19 vaccine will need to be thoroughly tested to make sure it's safe for humans.

Another quote from the article that may be relevant to many in this group: 

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People older than age 50 are at higher risk of severe COVID-19. But older people usually don't respond to vaccines as well as younger people. An ideal COVID-19 vaccine would work well for this age group.

From what I understand, how long the virus takes to run its course will depend on how long it takes for a significant enough portion of the population to develop immunity. That number is not decreased by slowing the infection rate. The slower the infection rate, the longer it will take for the required proportion of the population to develop immunity. A viable vaccine administered to a significant enough portion of the population will speed the process. How long the naturally acquired immunity or that from any vaccine lasts will also be an important factor. If the virus follows the pattern of the flu with different strains requiring different vaccines, the virus could become a long term cyclic part of the disease landscape. Evolution theory suggests that killing the  host too quickly (i.e. before it can be spread widely) is not a good strategy for a disease organism. Thus a disease may become less virulent over time.   A lot of questions still unanswered.

We have driven US-191 between Hoback and Rock Springs several times pulling 30+ travel trailers  and found it to be a pleasant drive. Have not done it in the past few years so do not know about current road conditions. 

You stated that 

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I connected the cable it came with directly from the dome to the satellite hookup on the outside of the trailer.

My trailer came with two satellite connectors and a cable tv connector on the outside of the trailer. One satellite connector is  for the main entertainment center and the other for the bedroom tv. If this is the case with your trailer try both. If there is also a cable tv connection, it is not uncommon for the connections to be mislabeled. Try that one also. When I got my current trailer, some of the cable connections were not properly connected. Check the length of the center wire on the coax connectors to make sure that it is long enough to make good contact. Check the connection at the back of all the connection plates also.

4 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Search Google for a mod on the plate with the OTA antenna power switch.  It gives you a jumper to bypass the switch amp for satellite or to use the amp for OTA antenna.

If you can not solve the problem with the satellite cable wiring and the cable connection works, you can use the connection for the OTA/cable tv as Mark and Dale suggest or install a pair of diplexers on that coax to combine and then split the cable and satellite signals. I have done both with good results on previous trailers. 

29 minutes ago, docj said:

If you use a router with dual radios (2GHz and 5GHz) you can eliminate the need to receive and retransmit data packets using the same radio. ..Just use one radio to connect to your hotspot and the other radio to connect to your network devices.

Not really, it may speed things up but the communications to and from the hotspot to the router are still using the same radio (which can not transmit and receive at the same time) as are the communications to and from the router to network devices. A true two radio system has one radio dedicated to receiving signals and another to transmitting them. if everything is working properly, I typically get the best speed at the network devices by tethering the cellular device and connecting network devices by ethernet to the router. This results in the cellular device being the only radio being used as opposed to the three in the scenario  you describe.

11 hours ago, docj said:

I think you'll find little difference between USB tethering vs WiFi.

Not in my experience when the cellular signal is on the slow side like 5-6MBS which is still not all that uncommon in many of the places that we like to stay. This past winter in a couple of places in Florida was the first time I have seen cellular speeds anywhere near some of the speeds reported by individuals on this forum.  I don't think the speed of the processor changes the fact that the radio has to receive the signal and then retransmit it.

12 minutes ago, GlennWest said:

We run our Roku all the time with our Verzion mifi. 

Yes, I do too, but that uses hotspot or tethering data which does not last long if you have a 15GB limit before throttling as I do. I was talking about projecting the tablet/phone screen image to the Roku using the Smart View feature of the device. The data used doing that is counted as on device data which is not throttled.. As far as I know, you can not stream to the Mifi and project that video to the Roku/TV.

56 minutes ago, docj said:

Not to be picky, but the speed of your hotspot after it is throttled is ~500kbps, not 500MB. "kbps" stands for kilobits per second and it's a measure of speed (a very slow speed). "MB" stands for Megabytes and is a measure of a quantity data, not its speed.

 

I've you're having issues tethering to your Ranger, feel free to contact us and we'll assist you in resolving the problem.  Normally, tethering is foolproof and rocksolid stable.  I tether a Jetpack7730L to a WiFiRanger Aspen and it runs for weeks without supervision.  FWIW are you sure that your 8800 has the latest firmware update?  The earlier firmware versions had issues relating to dropped connections.

Thanks for the correction, my bad, I edited the post. 

The Mifi says the software is up to date. There is no mention of "firmware" in the 8800L menus. As for contacting Wifi Ranger I have done that a couple of times. They were of little help as the problem is sporadic and the 8800L is not one of the devices that they test. One rep said he had heard of issues with the 8800L. Since I can always connect wirelessly, they were not overly concerned and did not seem to appreciate that in situations where the Verizon speed is not very fast (which we encounter fairly often in the places we like to visit) that the difference between tethering and a  wifi connection can make a substantial difference in streaming quality.

The Mifi seems to tether fine to my old Go2.  

We have Verizon. When we got new phones about 18 months ago, we could get a hotspot or a tablet with no equipment fee just the monthly line charge. We got a hotspot and a tablet. The hotspot has a fixed limit of 15GB before speed is throttled to 500MB which is virtually useless. The tablet has the same limit on hotspot or tethering usage, but is unlimited for on device usage. We have used over 250GB in a month and not noticed a significant speed reduction from prioritization. We can use the tablet for on device streaming or project video to the TV through the Roku device which can not be done with the Mifi. I have not noticed  significant speed difference between the tablet and the Mifi. I have had more issues tethering the Mifi (8800L) to my Wifi Ranger Spruce router than I have with the tablet. I wish I had gotten a second tablet instead of the Mifi.

We typically spend from Mid-May to Mid-August on the Mid-Atlantic Coast and will do that again this year. Having had our return from Florida in May seriously impacted by closures, travel restrictions and quarantine policies, we are waiting to see how things progress before heading out for our usual late summer/fall trip to Arizona, New Mexico, and Kansas. Our biggest concerns are the re-imposition of travel restrictions/quarantines when having to travel long distances through so many states.  Another factor is what will actually be open. This is not only a matter of government policy, but also the economic impact of the recession on businesses. After the 2008-2009 recession, we visited many small towns where the downtown areas and historic districts were nothing but vacant buildings. For example, I remember walking through Chama, NM and only a couple of the buildings were occupied. It makes no sense to us to travel thousands of miles to just sit in a campground. However, I will miss my favorite fishing and hunting spots. 

You might want to read this article about Direct TV DNS channels. 

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But Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, tells the TV Answer Man that his company has now secured new agreements with all the networks except for ABC. Due to the change in the law, the company was forced to negotiate new deals with the networks to continue offering its programming to subscribers who previously received the out-of-market signals.

“We negotiated with the major networks and completed deals with all the networks (Fox, NBC, CBS and CW) except for ABC. We are still in talks with ABC but can’t disclose any specifics. Our goal is to continue providing network content to as many homes as possible,” Greer said in an e-mail.

 

10 hours ago, Jim & Alice said:

so simplicity of use (Streaming vs. Dish remote) will end up also being a factor as to what gets used where.

Since we have an Xfinity account that provides access to the streaming channels we use, we do not have a separate subscription to You Tube TV. Unfortunately the Xfinity App only works on the Roku devises I have when they are attached to the Xfinity router (Wifi or ethernet). I have no idea how it knows, but it does. The Xfinity app does work on the phone and tablet, but knows if you try to use the Smart View feature to project to the TV and will not allow this.  So, we use each channels' app. We have to use the Xfinity channel guide or the TV Guide app on the phone or tablet to see what is on the live broadcast/streaming channels if we do not know the schedule. 

51 minutes ago, spower said:

I am mainly worried about my fridge and how it would handle the freezing temps, it is in a slide out.

We have stayed in areas where the temperatures have gone below freezing overnight with no problems. Everything I have heard/read about problems with gas absorption refrigerators in slides has been about overheating in high temperatures due to the location of the top vent on the side rather than in the roof which allows better ventilation.

Take a look at New Mexico from Albuquerque South. Escapees has a park in Deming and a coop park in Lakewood. There are also opportunities in Alamogordo and Las Cruces with higher elevations near by in Ruidoso and  Cloudcroft with National Forest lands nearby.

Another factor to consider is the relationship between the wheelbase of the SUV and the length of the trailer. This article gives an explanation and some guidelines. A trailer with a rear slide (usually containing a bed) can provide more interior room without an increase in trailer length.

20 hours ago, Jim & Alice said:

am pondering a Roku device plugged into my Samsung TV (HDMI), and trying the ‘Fubo’ streaming services for TV channels that we currently watch.

I have been using a Roku TV, Roku premiere and Roku Ultra with a fairly large number of free streaming services and apps. I recommend the Ultra or any other device that has an ethernet connection and 5G wifi. When using a cellular connection, I tether the cellular device to the router and connect the Roku to the router by ethernet. This eliminates wifi hops and seems to reliably give better speed to the 'Roku which improves the streaming experience. If you are in a park/campground with robust enough wifi and 5G access points, the 5g is often less crowded and much faster. As we travel, we have found some areas that have a wifi system with an SSID of cablewifi. Subscribers  to a number of high speed internet providers can log into these hotspots using their provider credentials. If your high speed internet provider has a hotspot system, you may be able to use that in some commercial parks. I see Xfinity, Cox and Spectrum hotspots quite often in parks with park models or long term stays. We have an Xfinity account and have had good luck with using their hotspots at times.

If you have cable TV, check apps like Netflix, ABC, NBC, Fox, , History, A&E and many others to see if you can log into them for free with your cable TV provider credentials. Xfinity gives us access to many with CBS being the one major network exception (they want a separate membership). Also check out some of the free streaming services like Pluto, Tubi, Crackle, and Filmrise. Locast can provide free streaming access to local OTA stations in some areas of the country.

We do not have an unlimited cellular hotspot account, so once throttling kicks in streaming is limited to on device viewing. Our Samsung android phones and tablet do not have the capability to connect to the TV by cable as iphones do. They do have a feature called Smart View which can be used with the Roku devices to view what is streaming on the device on the TV. No network connection is needed as it is with casting. The device connects directly to the Roku by wifi.  Smart View seems to require a faster cellular connection than to just view on the devise. Because it uses both the wifi and cellular radios in the phone/tablet, using Smart View draws down the battery pretty quickly. The phone/tablet can also shutdown to prevent overheating, especially if you connect it to a charger or use a Wilson Sleek to boost the cellular signal.

Hope this helps!