RV_

I'll post once the site survey is complete and through the installation process here for anyone interested.

Linda, You are right, had we known then what we know now millions of lives could have been spared in the 1900s. Lynda and her family had one happen right in front of them when she was ~9 years old in N. Carolina. The car in front of them wrecked and a little girl about Lynn's age was propelled through the windshield. Her dad was active duty USAF at the time and stopped to help but there was nothing to be done. The girl's father was begging for them to take her to the hospital but it was too late for that. I won't go into Lynn's graphic details, but that kind of thing never leaves you. Here's a free RV Consumer's Group page about how RVs hold together in a crash for anyone that wants to see pics and comments about the whys of RVs coming apart go here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1400/3519/files/RV_Durability_and_Crashworthiness.pdf?v=1625158721

I am seeing AI produced everything already from regular folks like me who downloaded the now free AI systems. Add AI, GB speed Internet broadband, Quantum computing, and things could get bad or great very fast. No holding it back.

Rod! I feel for ya. Even today it takes some trial and error. I long ago started using SD cards filled with my music and a movie or ten. My current Pixel 6 Pro which will be replaced with the 8 Pro if it is materially better than the 7 Pro. If no real upgrades then I will get a 7 Pro reduced a lot or used. But none of them have SD card slots any more. No problem as I have two 256GB USB A tiny flash drives and can just use them as long as I remembered to reformat them from Windows NTFS to ExFat file system so Android can see it. Then it is a matter of connecting it only when we are traveling out of our area. Also some new vehicle entertainment and comm systems have USB A ports you can direct plug into the vehicle audio system and by pass the phone while using no data for music or videos when stopped. I use streaming Tesla channels and in the other car Pandora but we all know there are dead spots for Internet and radio. Today less so. Here is a video on how to do it with an Android phone if you aren't familiar with it. It also uses none of your internal phone storage. Keep us posted on your phone and solution.

A bad driver is a bad driver RV, HDT, big or small rig, or car. I have seen motor homes with the driver sides seat belt attached to the wall made of wood or aluminum tubing and no steel frame in that spot so he may have had the seat belt ripped away or not. Years ago here some folks got offended when I questioned their saying they liked motorhomes because the grand-kids could play on the floor while underway. Adults can make that decision but if a sudden stop or accident propelled toddlers through the windshield from 20 feet back in the large Motorhome under discussion that day I sure would not want to live with that. Safe travels folks!

back when we were fulltime for 7 years we had our RV Roadie 2X 2X2 rule. We traveled ~ 200 miles per day (4-5 hours), stayed two nights at a park or camp area, one night to relax, the next day to explore and decide if the area warranted exploring further, then we left just early enough to make it to the next stop by 2pm which back in 1997-2003 when we were FT always got us a space. We fully retired when I was 45 and Lynn 43 and we did one ten hour drive day and was wiped with the bigger rig all day. I swore never again. Then after a few months realized we were in no hurry as we did not have to go back to work. We stayed at Escapees parks and Military base FamCamps 90% of the time except through Canada where we stayed at Provincial parks on the way up and back from Alaska. We never made a date to be at a friend or relative's because then we were rushing again if anything went wrong or weather. As well many times we decided to stay for something like the Wooden Ships Festival in Port Townsend WA, Grand Canyon, Valdez Alaska deep sea and salmon run fishing, or take a week or two at Fiddler's Cove FamCamp on the San Diego Bay with the Pacific across the road. And take our time at every National park for one to four weeks to explore with only three months spent on our family property in the south in winter. We had a one ton Diesel Dually Ram long bed and a 36 foot fifth wheel and we were both ready after 5 hours to stop even that young. At 71 now I could do that 2X2X2 schedule too. Our fellow SKPs were all ~20 years older and kept telling us we were too young to be retired. And until we slowed down to2X2X2 told us were hadn't learned how to be retired all friendly banter. I took a break from retirement for three years at 53 because we were off the road taking care of elderly parents. We did have two smaller fivers for part time RV trips for weekends. Even though fully retired we took almost a year to finally stop rushing and driving 8 hours or more as if time were limited. It is hard to relax when as military we were always driving cross country or across Europe for vacations and driving 8-18 hours in a day with breaks! You are asking all the right questions and once you've been on the road for a few months your questions will change as will what you brought with you. Minimalist is fun. Don't worry about others just do you and you'll find your pace and space. I was disappointed in myself when I started buying the stuff we needed to take care of acreage and building up our stuff again when we stopped full-time and became part time RVrs and had a house again and a workshop. Humans will fill all available storage one way or another and we sure did again.🤷‍♂️😕

Yep!

Or both ways.

Can't see it.

See Joel's post.

Joel, it's not ready yet, then we'll see, right? This should be interesting for investors to watch. Regular fission plants are acceptable to all sides in most cases. The old saw about "buy the rumor, sell the news" may apply. Or not. 😉

https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/newsletters/48464

Looks like another major transition is underway. Clean power! Fusion clean renewable energy will back up solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, energy sources. If their timeline is correct it is just in time to shut down the fossil fueled power plants. But it's still five years away from estimated to be online. Joel, it's always five years away right? But it looks better with recent breakthroughs. They will demonstrate their seventh gen machine online generating power next year? I'm with Joel's earlier comment that he'll believe it when he sees it! 😉 Excerpt: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Private U.S. nuclear fusion company Helion Energy will provide Microsoft with electricity in about five years, the companies said on Wednesday, in the first such deal for the power source that fuels the sun but has been elusive on Earth. Government labs and more than 30 companies are racing to generate power from fusion, which could one day help the world slash emissions linked to climate change. Unlike today's fission reactors, it could generate power without producing long-lasting radioactive waste. Fusion occurs when two light atoms such as hydrogen, heated to extreme temperatures, fuse into one heavier atom, releasing large amounts of energy. So far, earthly fusion reactions have been momentary and suck up more energy than they release, but companies have raised about $5 billion in private funding in the quest to achieve net energy gain. Helion's plant is expected to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 megawatts or greater after a one-year ramp-up period, it said. One megawatt can supply up to about 1,000 U.S. homes on a typical day. "Fifty megawatts is a big first step of commercial-scale fusion, and the revenue feeds right back into us developing more power plants and getting fusion out on the grid both in the United States and internationally as fast as possible," David Kirtley, Washington state-based Helion's founder and CEO, said in an interview. Polaris, Helion's seventh-generation machine, should come online next year and demonstrate electricity generation, using a mix of laser and magnet technologies to achieve fusion, Kirtley said. In 2021, Helion was the first private company to achieve 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) and the optimum temperature for fusion is about twice that, Kirtley said. While many fusion companies are looking to tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope, to help fuel reactions, Helion plans to use Helium 3, a rare type of the gas used in quantum computing. Helion has so far raised more than $570 million in private capital, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman providing $375 million in 2021. Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft Corp, said in a news release that Helion's work "supports our own long-term clean energy goals and will advance the market to establish a new, efficient method for bringing more clean energy to the grid, faster." The companies did not disclose financial or timing details of the power purchase agreement, or which Microsoft facilities would get fusion-generated electricity. Kimberly Budil, the head of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is experimenting with fusion, said last December that a few decades of research and investment could put scientists in a position to build a power plant. Helion still needs design and construction approvals from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), as well as local permits. But the fusion industry was cheered by the NRC's decision last month to separate fusion regulation from that of fission, a move backers say could reduce timelines for license approvals. Andrew Holland, head of the Fusion Industry Association, said nothing about fusion has been easy and that the power purchase contract likely had clauses regarding the timing of the delivery of electricity. But he said the deal shows trust is building. "The business world is starting to understand that fusion is coming and perhaps sooner than a lot of people thought," Holland said in an interview. "It's a vote of confidence that Helion is on its way, as are other companies building their proof-of-concept machines now." Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/microsoft-signs-power-purchase-deal-with-nuclear-fusion-company-helion/ar-AA1b0sSP?OCID=ansmsnnews11

And this one from the same time: "Hydrogen fueled vehicles have a number of benefits that are readily apparent." Hydrogen fueled vehicles have a number of benefits that are readily apparent. No greenhouse gasses or noxious fumes produced. A vehicle converted to burn Hydrogen fuel directly will not produce any toxic by products with the exception of a miniscule amount of NOX, far less than any other fuel. Essentially the exhaust will contain only water vapor and CO2. The CO2 is not a byproduct of the hydrogen combustion, but instead comes from the air that taken in through the air filter for combustion. Thus it actually produces just water vapor. I have been following one company in particular that has produced working models of hydrogen stations and generating plants that produce hydrogen from just water and electricity. They can be found here: http://www.stuartenergy.com/main_our_products.html The following is not all inclusive and is simplified to point out the main issue I would like to focus on here. There are two ways to power vehicles via hydrogen as a fuel. You can use a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity to run an electric motor, or you can modify an internal combustion engine to burn it directly. There are also two basic ways to generate hydrogen. Directly from water using electricity and water, or separating it from fossil fuels/natural gas/other chemical means. In following the evolution of Hydrogen powered vehicles I am finding some serious political misdirection coming from of all places some leading scientists? Here’s an excerpt: ” One problem, said Farrell, an expert on energy and environment issues, is that this glosses over the issue of where the hydrogen comes from. Current methods of producing hydrogen from oil and coal produce substantial carbon dioxide. Unless and until this carbon can be captured and stored, renewable (wind or solar) and nuclear power, with their attendant problems of supply and waste, are the only means of producing hydrogen without also producing greenhouse gases. In addition, Farrell points out that setting up a completely new infrastructure to distribute hydrogen would cost at least $5,000 per vehicle. Transporting, storing and distributing a gaseous fuel as opposed to a liquid raises many new problems. More billions of dollars will be needed to develop hydrogen fuel cells that can match the performance of today's gasoline engines, he said.” End excerpt. The whole article is here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/2003/2003071715007.html

I posted these two posts here on the Skps Forums in 2004/2005 and I found interesting because they did come through since. But were not there then. The links are almost 20 years outdated but I include them if anyone wants to use the time machines online to find deleted pages. Ballard power was expanding a prototype hydrogen fueling station that only needed electricity and water to make hydrogen for a residence, or several. I was in email contact with them and the engineer was also perplexed as to why Ballard shut the project down. Since many of our members are on the road and have limited time to download email and posts from here, (as you will soon find out on your trip)it becomes an RV issue from that perspective as well. I too would like to see reasonable fuel that's all US origin, and less dependence on outside sources. Trying to track commodity lot sources back to origin might be tedious. When I left Europe in 1997, gas cost about four dollars a gallon. We all want lessen our dependence on outside sources as a people, and on the other hand, don't want to allow any new oil rigs from an environmantalist perspective. I think you might be surprised at where the alternative to importing oil really will come from. I see the Hydrogen fuel cell as the emerging winner. There are already hygrogen fuel cells in operation, notably the US Post office in Anchorage Alaska. Their giant back up generator is 100% Hydrogen fuel cell powered. Busses are already in experimental use with fuel cell power, but the technology is still in it's infancy, and the busses going on the road today have gigantic fuell cells. Like the first diesels were too big for anything but locomotives and big ships, I look for the fuel cells to become doable very soon. Go to these sites for a look at what is happening now: Maybe the replacement for RV generators? http://www.ballard.com/portable_app.asp These guys are for real http://www.ballard.com/products.asp Cars and busses in operation now http://www.ballard.com/trans_app.asp Here's the busses that are going on the road this year http://www.internationalfuelcells.com/transportation/bustruck.shtml A great site to explore Hydrogen fuel cell technology http://www.hydrogenus.com/ Have fun!

There are two articles on Hydrogen vehicles I wrote for these forums in 2004 and 2005. I was hoping hydrogen would work. Then I found that it is made with fossil fuels and the catalyst for efficient mass electrolysis of water just hasn't happened yet. As well I realized that water is not readily available everywhere as sunlight is. And today water is becoming scarcer. They will be in "Other Topics" too.

I posted this here in 2004 and on my website and found it great because we did do it all. It is titled "Electronics Lagging!" We have the technology now. Why aren’t we producing the products we want/need for communications and entertainment now, that are surely coming soon anyway? Think of all the resources that we would save by reducing all the peripheral machines we use daily to one and a slave unit. Imagine being able to connect to the net with a notebook computer while waiting for a doctor’s appointment in a high-speed wireless mode. Imagine having one just one DVD/CD/CDROM/mini disc recorder, and one player. I have had it with the weenie excuse that the technology is not there and the market doesn't justify it! As when the paradigms shifted numerous times in the past (Hey! didn't vinyl (and paper) records disappear fast??) what makes money now must apparently be squeezed for it's last penny, before it is time to produce what's already possible. OK my trends aren't earth shattering. And that is what is so significant about them. Should have been here years ago! 1. RECORDABLE DIGITAL MEDIA: We have Recordable CD-ROMs. recordable Mini Discs. And we have . . . DVD players? The CD caught on because it resolved the inherent flaws of wear on LPs and data loss from magnetic media like cassette and reel tape. Now we have the technology to produce the finest reproduction and recording products all across the spectrum (video, music, home recordings, computer software copies and back up),in one machine. But is it in production? No way. Why? My bet is the same as the previous. The biggies have so much revenue from the existing VCR’s, tape decks, etc., that to debut a product that would so obviously put all other forms of media out faster than the LP went out would eliminate all the other products that they are selling so cheaply now. Or would it? It just would involve transitioning over a few years, that’s all! The system of today should be one CD/CDV/DVD/mini disc machine that both plays and records, attached to our computer, stereo, and TV monitor. (It would play and record discs for movies, audio, computer CDROMS, and play em back. Of course that would also eliminate: back up tapes (yes some still use tape backups), VCR’s, tape decks, video and audio tapes, CD players, Zip drives, built in DVD’s and CDROM’s, etc.! Storage reduced dramatically, components reduced to one fifth of the hardware we have now, aesthetics enhanced, and the quality of recordings permanently perfect and faithful to the source. A CD/CDV/DVD/minidisc player would be added to provide the source for recording. Of course we’d copy all our current media to it immediately. The artist’s copyright fears of mass duplication that some tout as the reason is of course absurd. WE CAN COPY THE MOVIES AND MUSIC TO TAPE NOW WITH OUR RECORDERS! DUH! What’s the difference? Of course those with vast video collections would keep their VCR’s. (I know some folks that still have 8-tracks!) 2. WIRELESS DATA AND VOICE COMMUNICATIONS: This is the biggest bust of them all. Currently we have wireless modems available that could transmit at speeds in excess of 150k BPS easily and they are not allowed into the nets. Most of the biggies are now deploying limited services designed to make the most money and provide the least service! So now we are back to . . the cellular subcarrier systems of CDPD, CDMA, and Ram (the slowest) with no compression enhancements and of course in the control of the big phone companies. Why? Because the longer we stay on wireless phones as they exist now, the more their revenues are! Milking the existing infrastructure is the prime directive in that industry. There have been a few non-commercial efforts to create a national standard that would allow the wireless to eventually replace the landline and they just seemed to disappear. Bill Gates sees it coming and just signed a partnership with Ericsson to deploy wireless Computer/data/communications units in two years! Yay Bill! 3. Satellite systems, which will always be limited by the number and wattage of the transponders uplifted into orbit, have, and will always have, limitations and expenses that ground based wireless systems can avoid. There is on the very near horizon a paradigm shift of major consequence. Wireless will certainly replace wired and the infrastructure must re-align with the interests of the consumer in mind. Currently Internet phone programs are challenging all long-distance fees and will only get better. Mediaring.com, and dialpad.com now provide almost perfect voice calls, free, over the net. And in a test with a friend in Norway, provided better sound and less echo and delay than some connections I’ve gotten with the normal providers on a transatlantic call. It is not perfect, but very usable now! And free! What’ll happen to the phone companies then? No long distance revenues, no wired subscribers, down to revenues from the Internet trunk lines only (and they own less of those than you’d believe.) But there are more revenues than you’d think in a wireless environment. Many countries have poor or no real landline infrastructure. Think China. Think rural India. Think emerging middle classes. Think how much cheaper to hook em up with towers instead of laying hard wire. Quadrillions in profit. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I think that is apparent. I merely raise some questions. The above are doing what the big three Automakers in the US did all throughout the 70's and the early 80's - serving up junk to the American public because they thought we'd buy junk indefinitely. The Japanese almost put em out of business before they wised up! The big four in landline services, and the big six in consumer electronics, and the American broadcasting consortium, are in for the ride of their lives. If they lose in the end, I won't even feel the least bit of pity for em. Like a hangover, it's a self inflicted injury. dg

Excellent post and my experience as well. I too would love to have that in an RV. The best I can do is to have that in my house which I will soon with Tesla Solar and two Powerwalls. I'll post in a few months when I have it installed and charged a few times. I don't know if you were a member of these forums back 2000-2006 or so when we were discussing hydrogen cars because Toyota or Honda or both were had just a couple of Hydrogen fueling stations in California. I 2004 I wrote about what we needed and just found that post in my Documents and will post it in "Other Topics" Funny how it all happened including the Telcos letting Cable take over the Internet because they balked at the cost of fiber in the first decade. Sometimes it is fun to see where we've been.

Let us know how it works out.

Wow! Excerpt: "A common genus of microbe found in wet, boggy environments could play a key role in the development of Parkinson's disease, by excreting compounds that trigger proteins inside brain cells to form toxic clumps. The findings, made by a small team of researchers at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland, build on the results of an earlier investigation showing that the severity of the neurodegenerative disorder in volunteers increased with concentrations of Desulfovibrio bacterial strains in their feces. By now demonstrating a potential path from the presence of the bacteria in genetically edited worms to physical changes in the brain that coincide with Parkinson's disease, the researchers hope to one day improve early diagnosis of the disease in humans, or even slow its progress. "Our findings make it possible to screen for the carriers of these harmful Desulfovibrio bacteria," says senior author Per Saris, a microbiologist at the University of Helsinki in Finland. "Consequently, they can be targeted by measures to remove these strains from the gut, potentially alleviating and slowing the symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease." Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/parkinson-s-may-be-caused-by-a-common-aquatic-bacterium/ar-AA1aSIJZ?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Tesla crushes sales estimates, nears 300% sales growth in Germany Excerpt: "Despite numerous macroeconomic headwinds, Tesla has reported a massive 272% increase in sales year-over-year in Germany during April. As Europe’s largest car market and automotive center, Germany is often used as a bellwether for the broader European automotive market. Hence, as Tesla has continued to grow sales in Germany dramatically, it has seen its European sales follow suit. Now, the German government agency that tracks car registrations in the country reported on the automotive sales of April, indicating that Tesla has continued its massive sales growth and has reached a new crucial sales milestone. According to the KBA, the German car registration agency, Tesla sold a total of 2,420 vehicles during April, which is an astronomical 272.3% growth from just one year ago. This incredible sales success is on top of one of Tesla’s most successful sales quarters in the country, demonstrated by Tesla’s 4-month sales growth. Compared to the first four months of 2022, Tesla sales have more than doubled, up 109.2%. Perhaps more critical than Tesla’s sales growth, the company has crossed the 1% marketshare milestone, accounting for 1.2% of all car sales in Germany during April. Tesla has previously crossed this milestone, but with a 0.2% margin, this is some of the most market presence the American automaker has ever achieved in the country. The German agency has not yet released model-specific sales numbers. It should be noted that Tesla’s success matches a broader industry trend, which saw car sales explode during the fourth month of the year, up 12.6% compared to April ’22. Moreover, EV sales caught their stride during April, up 34.1% year-over-year, representing a record 14.7% of the overall market. A total of 29,740 EVs were sold during the month. Looking forward to the rest of the quarter, Tesla should expect even stronger sales in the coming two months if the market continues to follow its traditional path. March is typically the strongest month of the year, and despite the dip in sales from March to April of this year, analysts expect a slight rebound into May and June, which are typically better sales performers." Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-300-sales-growth-germany/?utm_source=pocket_reader

Again a great article from Motley Fool for those looking at the EV Transition to invest in now or in the future. If you don't like or want EVs don't buy one. If you have links for more info on the industry please do add them in answers. Key Points: Warren Buffett recently expressed uncertainty regarding electric vehicle stocks, noting that intense competition makes the sector difficult for investors to navigate. Consumers are still early in their adoption of electric vehicles, and very early in their adoption of autonomous vehicles, but both markets are forecasted to grow quickly in the coming years. Tesla may have a durable competitive advantage in the form of manufacturing technology and artificial intelligence expertise. Excerpt: "The EV industry has already created tremendous wealth for some shareholders. For instance, Tesla (TSLA -2.55%) stock is up 4,500% over the last decade, meaning an initial investment of $25,000 in 2013 would be worth $1.1 million today. More importantly, the market is still early in its adoption of EVs, and very early in its adoption of autonomous vehicles, but experts expect both industries to grow quickly in the coming years. According to Precedence Research, the EV market will increase at 23% annually to reach $1.7 trillion by 2032, and the autonomous vehicle market will increase at 39% annually to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030. That growth will undoubtedly create wealth for some investors, but identifying the long-term winners in either market could be challenging. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer regarding EV stock ownership, but there are good and bad strategies. Investors that buy EV stocks should do so in the context of a diversified portfolio, and they should understand the risks Buffett pointed out. Tesla could be a long-term winner in the EV sector Tesla is one of the riskier stocks in my portfolio. Shares currently trade at 6.9 times sales and 103 times free cash flow. Those valuation metrics are outrageous compared to automakers like Ford and General Motors. Yet, I have no plans to sell my stake in Tesla, and I believe the stock will grow severalfold in value over the next decade or two. Here's my investment thesis: Tesla is the market leader in battery electric vehicles, and I believe its capacity for innovation will keep it ahead of its peers for years to come. That doesn't mean Tesla will maintain its current market share. The company will almost certainly continue to lose market share in the coming years. But the EV market is big enough for several winners, and I believe Tesla will outpace its peers in terms of profitability. Why? Tesla can produce battery packs (the most expensive part of an EV) at a lower cost per kilowatt-hour than any rival, and analysts at Cairn Energy Research Advisors expect that advantage to persist through the end of the decade. More broadly, CEO Elon Musk says Tesla possesses the most advanced manufacturing technology in the world. That is somewhat subjective, but Tesla did report the highest operating margin among volume carmakers last year, and management believes the company will retain that title in future years. Additionally, Tesla is a frontrunner in the race to build a fully autonomous vehicle. Data is the cornerstone of AI, and Tesla has far more autopilot-enable cars on the road than its peers, meaning it has more training data for its full self-driving (FSD) software. Tesla cars also pack the most efficient inference computer in the world, according to Musk. Those assets should come to bear in the near future. Tesla recently made its FSD software generally available across North America, and it plans to mass produce a robotaxi in 2024. Ultimately, higher margins on FSD software and autonomous ride-hailing services could make Tesla even more profitable. Admittedly, the portion of my investment thesis related to autonomous vehicles is very theoretical, and I know some investors disagree with my conclusion on Tesla. But I have a diversified portfolio and a long time horizon, so I am comfortable owning the stock despite the risk." Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/05/09/whos-ev-stock-leader-warren-bufffett-says-not-one/?source=eptyholnk0000202&utm_source=yahoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article&yptr=yahoo

https://www.votervoice.net/AFSA/newsletters/48445

Here are a bunch of YouTubes about that oven: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=High+Pointe+EC028BMR+convection+oven+will+not+heat Pat and Pete's suggestion may be a fix too if it is the outlet. I keep a cheap outlet tester that can check basics and even check pedestal outlets with an adapter. I go to it first as it is easiest. Then pull out the Multi-meter if that shows nothing. Example: Fluke is a top instrument maker and their outlet tester is affordable. Example of price: https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-ST120-Socket-Tester-Audible/dp/B0B3VCZ4XK

Sounds like you found a winner. When/if it all works out let us know. A professional and competent inspector is worth traveling to use.