TXiceman

Kirk, we set aside the money from the house sale as well. We were just outside of NW Houston and we had no intention of living in Houston again. We had a rental house once and it was a pain and was so glad to finally sell it. You just have to do what is best for you. Ken

We sold the house. Had a rental property before and decided we did not want to deal with a property manager, property damage, and keeping decent renters. Ken

Honda EU series are quiet and reliable. Parts and service are available nation wide. On the clones, you pay your money and you take your chances. Ken

Fay, currently only gas engine vehicles are smog tested. Diesel are only safety inspected. Ken

I'd put Dutchman at the bottom of the heap. Ken

LOng waiting list to get one built. We looked at one at a campground and appear to be well built. Ken

Strange that A and B license classes have been in effect for only 2 years. I got my class A about 10 years ago. Ken

You could just threaten to move everything to another broker. Ken

So far, Wells Fargo has not given us any problems with the Escapees address. Ken

Just another point, for some reason, the drivers side battery has less noise than the passenger side. Also, the injector noise is not a problem on the VHF/UHF bands, Ken

Our passenger seat is not powered, so there is room. Ken

I will have to dig for the information. I found an article on line that was the basis of the ferrite chokes. There were some big chokes on the main harness on the passenger side by the valve covers and a couple of branches. It dropped the noise from an S8 down to an S, but you still hear the popping in the background. Ken

The 6.7l Ford has a lot of injector noise. Ford is zero help and I have bonded everything to everything. With about $120 of ferrite chokes on the wiring harnesses, I got the noise down to an acceptable level on my Yaesu FT 857D. The radio and Turbo Tuner are mounted under the passenger seat and the control head is on the center console. Ken

Check PPL Motorhomes in Texas. Many consignment units. Ken

First thing I offer is that this is an indoor floor product. We have seen several RVs that looked great for the first couple of years. Then the surface starts to craze and even flake. At this point it looks horrible. The solution is to strip the finish and reapply. Final conclusion is I will not use it on my RV. Ken

I have had to replace my RhinoFlex more often now than the older ones I had. Seems the material quality has gone down and they do not last as long. Ken

Been full time for over 3 years with the Escapees address and no problems. After I retired and sold the house, our credit score dropped to around 730, with nothing but two credit cards paid off monthly. We bought a trailer and financed a small portion of it...no problem financing. Now our credit score is back up to about 830. The only thing is the added small loan. Ken

It would be helpful to provide the manufacturer and model of the A/C and if it is ducted or direct blow. In general, all the RV A/C units are noisier than home units. Ken

Big5er, You post was clear and it read only for the CDL and the class A and B. Since you have some insight to these issues, I was wondering if there was more to it than what was posted. But it sounds like in typical government fashion, they have not thought it out and there will be confusion. By the way, my wife and I both have the class A Exempt and it is amazing at the number of people I have talked to in Texas with rigs over the 26,001 limit that know nothing about the law. All they can say is that the RV dealer never said anything to them. Usually it results in them saying that it is too much trouble and they are not going to get the proper class license. We had one heck of a time getting the right test in Houston. All they wanted to do was give us the full CDL test, even when I showed them that the CDL handbook specifically stated that RVs were exempt. Took three tries and after a call to Austin they finally figured it our. We took the driving portion in Livingston and no hassle there. Thanks for the input.

Big5er, Your post specifically addresses CDL license. The Class A Exempt is not a CDL, so how exactly is it impacted by the CDL changes? Ken

Why are you going to the nearest RV Service center? Most state inspection station can do the trailer/motorhome. The problem is finding one with a parking lot you can get into. The one we used in Tomball the last two times has me park in the lot adjacent to his facility, he walks over and gets the info and checks the RV.. If you have a gas motorhome, you will need to get a shop that you can get inside the bay. The counties that require a exhaust check are the biggest PITA. Ken

A 1 or 2 hour driving test....wow. When we got our class A Exempt, the driving test was maybe 20 minutes. What will they do, run you around the same area a dozen times? Ken

SWharton, the base sales tax is the same across the state. Each municipality can add on to this for a local sales tax or a mass transit tax. Most places are near the same tax rate. We rarely see more than a 1% difference. Ken

have you talked to Wilson about the issues? They are pretty helpful. Ken

Bury your head in the sand is the solution. ken