coachmac9

We are spending the winter Volunteering at a state park in northeast Tx and absolutely love it. This is our second Texas State park to "volunteer host" in and both have been great experiences and would (and will) come back to one of them next winter. We have had great Rangers to work with who have been extremely accomodating when we had to make unscheduled trips for family emergencies and other "real life" happening that popped up. They have also been super appreciative of the work we do and time we spend at the park. They are open to camp hosts spending shorter time spans but generally require at least 30 day stays. Good luck in your travels, there are many, many opportunities out there to explore!!!

On 11/10/2020 at 7:57 AM, Rover said:

Mark and I workkamped with Southern Cross this summer. Feel free to message me if you’d like to chat or have any questions. Or if you have any questions I can answer here. Overall it was a good experience and we would do it again. They have asked us to return in the spring (actually wanted us to stay thru winter, but we wanted a break) and we are considering returning. 
 

Vicki

 

Thanks for the replies guys! Rover, if you don't mind I might shoot you a message in the future about what to expect and the details about the job! Thanks for replying!

Just curious if this company is still operating and still hiring...I know this is an old thread but we have been following it since the first page and the timing has just never been right for us. With the possibility of the Oil and gas industry going down like a rock we might be looking for something else to do part time.

I have no experience with this particular RV but have read many, many reviews about the poor quality of anything that Thor produces. I would suggest looking for "owners groups" of that particular RV on Facebook. We did this with a couple of different makes and models of Rv's and learned some very valuable information about particular Rv makes and models that we were considering purchasing .In one case it saved us from buying a very poorly built Rv.  Best of luck to you!

I guess I got lucky...we were looking for an ultralite bumper pull and found one on CL. No problems at all!!

1 hour ago, Twotoes said:

Get a quote from Geico. I am fulltime in So Dakota and Geico saved me a lot of $$$. I have my Class A, Jeep Wrangler, Harley, an umbrella and 3 rental properties with them. 

I would second Geico! They saved us some money and also paid for a new awning that was damaged by a thunderstorm...and paid off very quickly!

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:28 PM, Semper Fi Huck said:

Doing what?  I am a full time RVer with a 4 year old child, and we go all over the country.  I haven’t heard of any other driving  jobs that I could do form wherever I happen to be in the country, could you tell me about this oil job?   

There are many different types of driving jobs in the oil fields...and they all pay very well right now. You didn't mention having a four year old son along with you in the original post. Yes, that definitely will limit your job choices...good luck with your test and job search.

On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 4:32 PM, cactus said:

Wish I had your talents

Me too!!!

If you are going to go ahead and get your Class A you can make a lot more money with a lot less hassle in the oil industry. They are desperate for Class A drivers and you can work as much or little that you want to work. I have a Class B and am presently getting it upgraded to a class A to supplement my retirement also.

We had great experiences this past summer going in and then coming back to the US...in fact coming back in to the US the computers had crashed and the crossing guards were very apologetic when they asked us to please wait for a few minutes while they rebooted their system...we then struck up a very pleasant conversation with the guard while we waited.

Wow!! Sounds like a blast!! Definitely going to have to put this on the to-do list!!

I have the same problem. I am 6' 4" and my knees hit the underside of the steering column which really hurts and is annoying. With the slide in, as it will be when traveling, the problem is even worse because I can't adjust the back of the seat to get comfortable. This is one of the main things I have put on the "list" for the next RV I buy...along with a bedroom slide and 50 amp service!!!!

1 hour ago, Chalkie said:

Like anywhere else you should be careful in selecting where you get your work done. I know someone that had some painting done in Mexico and it did not hold up well. As in everything you get what you pay for.

 

Good advice! I'm not sure I would ever do it but the pics and reviews that I have read have been good. I'm sure there are good and bad places down there just like here in the states.

We are members of the Discovery Owners group and there has been lots of talk on the discussion groups lately about folks who have gone down to Mexico to have this done. The cost is about half of what it is in the states and just judging by the pics the owners have posted, it looks like the work is top quality...of course there is the added benefit of staying the winter on the beach in Mexico too!!!  

The final chapter to our hot water saga...I hope!! I took the control board out and began searching for a replacement. To my shock the one that I needed ranged in price from 220 to 250 bucks!!!!

The biggest problem I had with that(besides the money) was that I was dealing with a 16 year old water heater and all the parts that I DON'T replace are still old and I'm not 100 percent sure this part would fix it...I looked at just replacing the whole water heater and the cost was around 400 bucks, so no savings there, and then I remembered that the previous owners had installed a Camco Hot Rod to make the water heater electric also. They told me that it just worked for a short while and then started throwing a breaker...so I got a wiring diagram from Camco and started checking their install...sure enough they had not wired it properly and fried the element in the tank which was causing a direct short and throwing the breaker!!

12 bucks for a new element, about 20 minutes of re-wiring and it worked like a charm!!!! ANDDDDD the best part of the story is my wife bought me tickets to the NASCAR race in Ft. Worth with the money we saved!!!!! WIN/WIN for me!!!! 

Thanks so much for all the ideas and assistance from everybody!! This is a great forum!!

John, definitely was not the gas valve and no gas smell...it was more of just a click and it was at the board...nothing down stream from there...and it would do it once every time I plugged the board back in...but nothing down at the gas valve.

Thanks for all the great info guys, I'm sure thete will be others that will be helped with this info!!! And congrats on selling the house and your adventure that wil soon start!!!

Here's a small update...I worked late yesterday but got home early enough to do some poking around today. I wanted to make sure I was getting the correct voltage coming in to the circuit board so I checked it at a junction before it gets to the board and all is good. Then I unplugged the connector (3 wire connector) at the board and checked, same thing, 12 volts coming in...then when I plugged the connector back in to the board it made a clunk...no spark down stream at the igniter and no more clunks from the board...also no voltage below the board...then the rains came so my detective work stopped there...I did have time to unplug the connection and plug it back in several times...same thing...on click or clunk and that was it.

Thanks Kirk, I will print out the correct service manual and study it for a while...usually, as you mentioned there are very audible snaps that are easy to hear but there isn't any noise whatsoever now...I checked the voltage at the lead going out to the ignitor and there was nothing but that was expected since there was no "click" to hear or spark to see...I will do some more checking with the meter when I get home this afternoon and report back.

Well shoot, mine decided to quit lighting Friday...when you flip the little switch on the control panel the orange "ignition failure" light stays on...went outside and opened the compartment door and listened while the wife flipped the switch and nothing, no click or little spark or anything...checked the voltage and no juice coming in...couple of questions...is the "sparker" or lighter powered by 12 volt or 110? I checked all the 12 volt fuses and 110 breakers in the main box and all was good...I'm wondering if there isn't another fuse/breaker somewhere that I can't locate...what am I missing???

oldjohnt, we are a little farther north than kirk (Lake Tawakoni) area, if you ever need anything while passing through let me know!

I have the same problem that just started Saturday night Thanks for all the suggestions! One more question, might there be a fuse blown that controls the 12 volts going to the water heater or do they usually not have a fuse??  

Here's another "bad timing" event that doesn't exactly shine a great light on Equifax...seems they were "fighting to kill a rule that would allow victims to sue"!! 

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-equifax-arbitration-20170911-story.html

Great information in these posts, I would like to add something that has literally saved me from many accidents. When I was much younger I drove an ambulance for many years and while we never had to pass any special test to do this we had several "driving lessons" from others that had been driving ambulances and other emergency vehicles for years.

Their number one tip or habit that they taught us to develop was "driving ahead" the faster you go the farther ahead you look and always assume they are going to do the worst possible thing. Change lanes in front of you, pull out from a stop sign, driveway or business as you are approaching ect ect. and always believe they aren't paying attention and don't hear your siren or see your lights...I know of three situations that by doing this I was able to take defensive action and avoid what would have been a very bad accident. I did it for many years and it just became so ingrained in my mind that I do it in any vehicle I drive. Checking mirrors constantly and checking side traffic constantly...it will save your life! 

Hey, they were nice enough to train you for retirement!!! Now that's a great deal!!!

We tried filling out all the forms but it did little good. We still had part of our mail not forwarded so we did as one of the other posters suggested above...use a family members address and either go by and collect it once a month or pay them to forward anything important. In our case it works great but I am sure that it would not work for many of you.