Star Dreamer

Any update on a schedule for the event?

Passports have to be mailed, banks typically require a mailing address even though they can send you your bank statements by email. You need an address to file your federal taxes (and state if your state does income taxes). Debit cards when being used out of your home area typically want you to enter your home zip code. I suggest you contact everyone of your items (cell phone, satellite or cable TV, credit cards, retirement funds, insurance, etc...that you get by email to see if they will accept you not having an actual mailing address. 

8 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Does that mean you don't believe Ford, GM, etc, mean it when they say they're committing billions of dollars with the goal of going all electric in the next decade or so? Ford can't keep up with the orders for it's F-150 EV pickup and is building new plants for manufacturing battery and other EV parts. GM has committed to going all EV by 2035.

The info we have seen implies only the US. Most likely they will create subsidiaries to provide vehicles with the ICE to other markets still. 

We did similar, we had electric leveling jacks on our 5th wheel and due to many errors in the programming when trying to level the trailer, we had them changed out to a Bigfoot Hydraulic leveling system. So far in the 1-1/2 years we have only had one error come up and that was because the site was too far out of level and we had to add 17" of blocking to the front jacks to get close to level.  Quadra Manufacturing did the install. Ours uses multiple pumps to power our 6 jack leveling system. Equalizer is another brand but they use one pump to power theirs so they have a lot more hydraulic lines to run.

On 3/9/2022 at 12:14 PM, Danfreda1 said:

We just got settled in for a month in Illinois and we’re watching fuel prices along the way. Tsd prices are anywhere from 4.38-5.10 from St. Louis to Springfield Illinois. We started looking on gas buddy and 2 Casey’s stores in Litchfield Illinois had it for 4.29. I called to confirm and we left with the hdt and went to the first one. Had to run debit card 2 times because station cut it off at 125. And free 2 transactions with same card it stops it. Went in prepaid 45 more dollars and got the big tank filled. Went a couple miles away and backed in to another Casey’s and did another 125 and 62 dollar transaction. All full now but the smart car is low. That was our intertainment for the morning hopefully it will stabilize or drop in the next few months. 

This is why I typically will just use the TSD card even if it costs more. If I have to drive more that 5 miles out of my way, I would probably use more fuel than what the savings would be. I like the high speed dual nozzles at a truck pump and the fact that TSD does not limit you to a dollar amount, just a max of 950 gallons in one day.

A) Flat bed truck with the 5th wheel hitch cut should work fine for pulling a 5th wheel RV. You will want to make sure the hitch head height will work with your 5th wheel or has adjustment if needed. You will want to watch that the weight of the flat bed didn't not reduce the capacity of the truck. You may find that the flat bed doesn't offer much for being able to carry other items without being secured.

The utility sides are typically too tall to allow a 5th wheel RV to turn and pivot. You would need to do some measurements to be sure.

If all else fails, read your owners manual. This is what ours for our 2016 says: 

"If standard (91 octane) unleaded gasoline is unavailable and you have to refuel with unleaded gasoline of a lower grade, observe the following precautions: Only fill the fuel tank to half full with regular unleaded gasoline and fill the rest with premium-grade unleaded gasoline as soon as possible. Do not drive at the maximum speed. Avoid sudden acceleration and engine speeds over 3,000 rpm."

Now we typically do not drive the maximum speed the car can go, but I do sudden acceleration and I am sure the RPMs go over 3000. If I had to use less than 91 octane, I would just have to drive with a lighter foot!

You can always try it. They probably want a regular RV toilet with a black water tank installed. You could always try to fasten a strap or chain to it and to the truck so show that it is permanently installed.

Do you have to go thru an inspection or just take pictures?

23 hours ago, phoenix2013 said:

We are having fun right now. Holes are all lined up.

Quite a bit of engineering went into the inner insert.

Ok, genius call, genius call. WHAT'S THE NEXT COMPONENT I NEED TO DESIGN TO MAKE THIS WORK?

In the meantime Young's Welding is spurring the Old Goat on by doing things like this.

It must be interesting to watch their CNC brake bend that up. I assuming is does the two small angled areas first then does the sides and ends. I may have to see if they give tours! 

13 hours ago, GlennWest said:

That is interesting. Thanks.

That trim and insert is what our manufacturer used on our trailer when it was built, except that it was black. After they screws the trim on, the coated the screws near the ends with sealer and also used a screw thru the insert at the ends to keep it from moving in the track.

When we were traveling in 2020, many of the State Parks had gone to reservation only for the campgrounds and even were restricting the amount of usable sites due to COVID and guidelines that the states were following. New Mexico state parks were closed to people from other states.  Even private campgrounds were being forced to limit capacity. I think many of these locations just found it was better to do the online reservation system and charge you to do it with a non refundable fee even if you canceled within a certain amount of time in which you would get some of your money back. 

11 hours ago, Kirk W said:

The argument over who should get what site first has been around since the introduction of the first RVs because tents were taking the best spots and as interesting as the debate may be, it really isn't the subject of this thread so start a new thread to debate that one and lets keep this about RV site availability and the need for reservations, please? We seem to have lost Luis who started the thread but hopefully he will return. 

I am concerned about that same issue. As I read through this topic I have begun to think that we didn't fully appreciate what we had years ago. Maybe we should also start a thread about the history of RVing and RV sites? 

Keeping with the current theme, we will be traveling from north TX to Escapade(east of Nashville) and probably visit eastern TN before it begins, then from there up into KY and from there west to KS before returning to TX. We do not have specific needs to return so we might even divert up toward CO & WY at some point in July & August. Has anyone done site investigation along those routes? 

We have a done a few trips some of that direction from TX to IN and our summer trip will go out to WY and ID from SC. Our fall trip coming up will take us from TX back up to IN but taking a different route. We have stayed at Golf Coast RV park in Beaumont Texas, then to Fontainebleau State Park in Louisiana, then up to Wallace Creek campground in Pope, MS, and then into Illinois last fall. In TN we have stayed at Clarksville RV park in Clarksville TN, Deer Run RV park in Crossville, TN and Old Mill Camp near Cummins Falls State Park & Cookeville, TN. There are a lot of State Parks in this area. There are also some nice Harvest Hosts in the Clarksville area. 

Heading west our plan is to do Springbrook State Park in IA just west of Des Moines, then a Harvest Host in Lincoln NE, then to Lake McConaughy State Rec area in western Nebraska and then up to a couple of  KOAs in Wyoming.  From there we head to Idaho and come back thru Montana.

Our fall trip will take us up thru Texas again, plan to be staying at Magnolia RV park in Goodrich, TX then Texarkana KOA, then up to Tom Sawyer's RV park in West Memphis, AR and up to IL. 

We are 72-73' long so any places we fit should fit just about anyone else.

4 hours ago, franco-bolli said:

 

I don't think I'll be attending, I'm not driving an HDT.
Best of luck,

FB

You do not need to have an HDT to attend. The rallies also serve as away to see what it is like to use an HDT for RVing. You are even welcome to come over to the park we will be at in Boise if you want to see our HDT, smart car and 5th wheel. 

Dave

4 hours ago, Sculptor said:

I just checked the campground in Idaho where the West Coast Rally is held, and they are full for that week.  I think there are other campgrounds and hotel accomodations might be available if you wanted to try to attend anyway.  All of the HDT rallies have a rep for lots of information.  The National in Kansas is somewhat aimed at new folks, but having said that it really doesn't matter, it's all good information for any level.

We have our reservation at Boise Riverside RV Park as the rally campground is full. They may still have some sites available.

5 hours ago, Kirk W said:

You are correct & conversations do seem to do that. So, what is your campground vacancy experience? And even more important, what do you see in the future? I do miss the RV we used to have that was well prepared to dry camp if need be and the ability to travel extensively with only occasional reservations. Will we see that ability returning? We are beginning to plan our travels for summer 2022. I have not yet made any reservations, but should we? 

We posted last Thursday in this topic. We currently have most of the places booked for our 4 month summer trip covering 20 states and about 7800 miles except for the places that do not have their reservation systems out that far or are closed because it is still winter in some of those areas. We will probably also start booking Florida reservations for next Jan and Feb as we found out this year that most were already booked up by May. Unfortunately we are one of those that use an HDT and are 73' long so our spots are limited but for example State Parks in Southern Florida in Jan are already booked solid no matter what site length. 

We have using the HDT now for 10 years but I was never one to just wing it and not make reservations ahead of time. I just never had to make them 11 months in advance! 

I believe we have sister trucks, Freightliner Century with Detroit 14L. In the 10 years we have owned it, I have not added any water mix to our radiator system, so I would question what your putting in as normal.

Now it is possible that when we get our about once a year PM done, they have added some then but I never notice it on my bill.

You may want to have a good mechanic check it out. Might be the start of something more serious like injectors or head gasket.

On 2/25/2022 at 9:21 AM, Wrknrvr said:

    Yesterday I set off another can of bear spray in our Jeep. This time is was a 1/2” whole in the bottom. Several years ago I did it. But apparently did not learn.

 

  I pulled the drivers side seat forwards and pinch the bottom of the can. So liquid cam out all at once.

 

   This a good way to keep people away from me.

 

 

blank Vern

We are planning a trip up to Montana and Wyoming this summer. I believe you are from around that area. Is bear spray, something we need to pick up and carry around with us? I would hate for it to go off in our smart car as it's concentration in a small area might make it much worse than your jeep!

It seems that this has gotten off topic which was discussing camping vacancies. 

Mount a receiver hitch on the rear and use a hitch rack/platform to carry it 

What we have found in our travels and trip planning is it really varies depending on location and time of the year. For example, Southern Florida in Jan and Feb is getting really hard to find places for short term stays and even month long spots are sold out by May of the previous year. State parks which allow reservations 11 months in advance are already booked up for January of 2023 with maybe an opening or to for one day during the week.   In general State Parks across the country in various areas will be booked up on the weekends but sometimes you can get in during the week as long as you leave by Friday morning. Surprisingly I found a State Park near Yellowstone that had availability but again it is for during the week. We are too big for most National Park campgrounds so usually our size prevents finding a spot no matter what day we try. Private or chain campground blocations are even getting hard to find spots in but so far we have been pretty successful for weekends but we are doing our reservations months in advance

While a lot of campgrounds will not allow you to use their water to wash your unit, they do allow outside vendors that carry their own water to wash your unit on site. Check with the campground that you are planning to go to and see what their policy is and if they allow outside vendors to wash they may have a recommendation that you can contact and make an appointment for the next day after you arrive.

We have stayed at D&W Lake Camping and RV Park near Champaign IL just off of I74 and I57 with our HDT but that was quite a few years ago. If you are part of Harvest Hosts there is a location near Rochelle IL that we are going to stay at in May after the ECR rally on our way to Wisconsin. We have also spent the night at the I39 rest areas about half way between Bloomington IL and Rockford IL on occasion. 

On 1/24/2022 at 4:14 PM, rickeieio said:

Here's the truck as it went to the paint shop:

Temporary lights, skim coat of bondo over the grind marks.  Tool boxes were on a pallet in the pick-up.

I ordered my Weather Pack terminals yesterday from another source.  Called my regular supplier to cancel and they said my order shipped this morning.   Looks like I'll have plenty.........  If anyone wants Weather Pack two or three gang connectors, I can bring them to the ECR.  I have both male/female clam shells, gasket rings and LOTS of crimp terminals in the two smaller sizes.

I could probably use some of the weather pack connectors if you bring them to the ECR. We look forward to seeing the finished bed there.

Dave

On 2/13/2022 at 7:48 PM, sandsys said:

$100 for a personalized plate in Minnesota then you keep it forever with no further fees; you can even transfer it to a new vehicle of the same type. But, you do have to domicile here which is not as easy as other places where you do not live full time.

Do be careful about moving out of California. They don't like people to leave. It's best to move sometime other than year end so you can file a partial year tax return in California to make it clear you are indeed leaving the state. And move as many business/medical connections as you can. Then you need to stay OUT of California for a substantial amount of time. No going right back to visit.

Linda

Linda, when we lived in Minnesota, the personal license plates still had a yearly registration and tax fee. It was the collector plates that did not have any yearly fees, just the initial fee but the vehicle had to be 20 years of age and you had to have another non collector vehicle registered too.   Coolfeet you may want to check the MN DPS website to be sure of what fees you will be  required to pay. 

On 2/13/2022 at 9:23 AM, jenandjon said:

The screws in the side of the door can be a pain. I guess my torx driver must be magnetic. I never drooped any. 

Yep, I may have to get a magnetic one to try.