TXiceman

The last new car we bought for my wife was a Toyota Camry and it had more US content than Ford or GM. Ken

We have had both a class A and a class C. While the class C will seem more van like in driving, you really have to watch your weight on the larger units. WE had a 31-foot Winnebago Minnie Winnie with no slides. We did tow a small car when traveling. Loaded up for a two week trip, no waste water and 1/4 tank of fresh water, the two of us and one small dog, we were within 100 LB of the chassis GVWR. If you have slides, they will farther reduce your cargo capacity. Another issue with the class C is the loss of the front part of the unit when parked. The two seats remain forward facing and are best used for storage of items. Class C units are more prone to leaks in the cab over area. On the class A, you will generally have more cargo capacity and when parked, you can turn the two front seats to face the living area. If we were to go back to a motorized unit, I think that I would look at the smaller class A units for better living area, more storage and generally better drivability. Class C units are generally 3-season RVs and do not fare well in cold climates. Any RV you consider that is in the 30 foot range should have two A/C units for hot summers. Ken

Additional to the above info, many of the less parks have become trailer parks and not RV parks. There are many older RVs that are now permanent and have not been moved for years. With this come added decks, old cars no longer running, refrigerators on the porch, etc. It seems some are not enforcing the rules equally and letting the long-term renters get away with the trash. With the kids, you will most likely want to find a place with a playground and possibly a pool. These places tend to be resorts and are more expensive. You still have not told us what area you plan to live in. Ken

Seems to be more reasons to just not go to California. Ken

We have found that when we are east of the Mississippi River, a lot of the HD channels are on the eastern arc satellites. The Traveler is western arc, 110, 119 and 129 satellites. Could you check with Dish and see if the channels you are looking for are on eastern arc. Ken

Where do you plan to live while you are working? Living in an RV while up north in cold and snow is not fun. Even the best of the all-season and well insulated RVs can be a real chore to live in and keep warm. A true all-season RV is heavy and will require a properly equipped 1-ton diesel dually to haul it. Then you have to deal with water supply and sewer draining in freezing weather. You need to check some of the cold weather camping groups to get a true idea of winter camping in an RV. Ken

I agree. Pay your own way folks. All this "green" electric vehicle use is not FREE. Ken

Our 5er is 19,000 LB and we are still rocked a bit in windy conditions. Ken

The first questions are... What model receiver do you have and next is what antenna are you using? In the set-up menus you can select both HD and SD or individually. Make sure this set to BOTH. Ken

I am retired and choose to not read all of the political rhetoric that you are posting regarding the great Tesla's and their green energy saving. I will just block reading your post. Ken

This is all political "pipe-dreams" and no foundation for getting it done. Sure, a politician can listen to the "Greenie- Wiennies" and say "Oh, this is great. Let's just ban all internal combustion engines". After he gets the legislation passed, he is done and has no idea where to go. All I can see here is a typical giant "gobberment" cluster screw up. They need to enroll top scientist, engineers and manufacturers. Get the cost of the batteries down and figure out a way to recycle the batteries. I cannot get excited about the rush to EVs without a more definitive plan. My engineering brain cannot see any road to a organized change. Ken

I call BS on the article. Where are they going to get this extra power to charge the cars every day during the peak use hours? Are they going to only allow charging of EVs during off peak use hours? Texas for one has issued brown out warning the past couple of years for people to reduce usage. The have been both summer and winter load shedding and in some cases shutdown of the grid due to excessive demand. I am sure Tesla will publish anything whether fully truthful or not to make them look like the good green giant. The EV can grow into something good, but we have to get the infrastructure in place to handle the demand and also get the coal fired and natural gas fired plants replaced with a green energy source. States in the west are already reducing output from the hydro-electric dams due to reduced water levels. I guess Tesla has a magic plan to get the power grid up to the required levels and reduce the carbon fueled plants. But we have yet to see a plan from anyone. Ken

Get one with an impact detector that will stop recording after an impact. Ken

We carry 6 or 7 days on underwear, about 5 days of summer casual and the same for winter. We each carry a cold weather waterproof coat with a zip out lining, a wind breaker/light jacket, heavy gloves, work gloves, a couple of hats, 2 sun block fishing shirts, 2 pair of hiking shoes (boots) and some more formal things. For the dress up days, I have 2 pairs of slacks, a sports coat, 2 dress shirts, a couple of neckties, one funeral suit and a pair of black dress shoes. If we need beyond that, I guess we'll just stay home. Ken

Could not have been bad bourbon...maybe bad Tequela. Ken

Where are you located in Texas...it is a rather large state? What year make and model is the trailer? Ken

Technician license is not that hard to get. Get with a local ham radio club and there is always an "Elmer" to help you out. The problem with the HT is as you move around, you will need to find which repeaters are used when they activate a weather alert. Then you have to program the local repeaters and this is best accomplished with a software package and your computer. Most HTs now are difficult to program from the front panel. The best software I have found is from RT Systems. Another free one is CHIRP, but I am not fond of it. Most HTs come with a minimal programming software and cable. You can look up all of the repeaters in an area and get the frequencies, offset and PL tone if required and if the repeater is open or closed. You can also program the NOAA stations on the radio so you can have access to these stations. If you are just getting into the UHF and VHF repeaters, I would suggest you save DMR for a later date. DMR can be a bit of a steep learning curve and will not serve any purpose for weather data. But do get a radio that is DMR capable. Lots of people are using the Anytone HT radios. Happy chatting. Ken

The only issue I have heard of was someone set up camp at a Walmart and some nide person threw some eggs on the rig. One time while parked in a grocery store parking lot and my wife had gone in to pick up a few items, some jerks blasted by me and blasted the truck with paint balls in broad daylight. You will always be subject to a few morons in society. Ken

Good information Kirk. Thanks, Ken

We have talked to others that have not done the safety inspection for years and they are back in Texas for several months each year. The inspection can be a pain to get on larger rigs. First, trying to find a shop that you can get near. Next is waiting to get the inspection done. Most shops will admit that they lose money on the inspections and will do paying work before they do a $7.00 inspection. It is not fun to sit in a hot truck for an hour or two with pets while waiting for them to get to you. The inspection is a joke anyway. Before I pull out, I check all the lights and tires. Texas just needs to do away with the safety inspection on RV trailers. Ken

Ditto for us as well. In the stores, we are about the only ones still wearing a mask. When we go out to eat, we go at off peak times to avoid crowding. We wear our mask until the food is served and after eating, we don the mask again. Having seen the devastation that some suffer, it is pretty easy to wear our mask. So far, we have taken both shots and both boosters and have avoided getting COVID. Ken

We have had Kyle inspect or truck and trailer several times and we are always in and out in short order. We had him do some brake work and it was done at a reasonable price in short order so that we could have the trailer back. Ken

We have had GS ERS, Coachnet and the Escapees road service since 1984. GS ERS treated us good as well as bad and I finally dumped them after a flat on the truck. The service agent told us on the phone that if the spare needed air, which was not covered with changing to the spare and would be an extra charge. Prior to this we had poor service when we had to get the truck and trailer towed for the second time in a month. In general, Coachnet treated us well the few times we needed them. We never had an issue for use when we had Escapees Road Service, so I cannot speak for them. I did see a few negative issues on them though. When we needed to renew this year, we decided to go back to Coachnet even though it cost a bit more. Ken

I have read about Tesla and all the other wannabe EVs and for now, I am not ready for one. EVs are still in their early stages of development, and I look at them as glorified golf carts for now. Give them a few more years, but by that time I will probably not be driving anything, except possibly an electric wheelchair. I guess I will eventually wind up with an "EV". Ken

"Don't the pain relievers drug you use alter your perception as to intensity of the pain?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, and if you read the instructions on the bottle or Indications information, there are very specific instructions that you are not to drive a car or operate dangerous equipment while taking this drug. But then again, how many people are smart enough to read and follow instructions? Ken