Second Chance

1 hour ago, da'gheens said:

Pardon me, what is EFS fuel card? 

Everyone has had some great input. Our CC has cash back on gas purchases and there are some other cards specific to a company or franchise with discounts. I was wondering which ones you find to be the best? It would have to be a place you can get gas nationwide right? Like truck stops (flying J) or shell stations. Or is there a gas app that actually pays good discounts. Something you could use on top of looking for the best pump prices. 

The EFS fuel card is offered through TSD Logistics: https://www.tsdlogistics.com/services/fuel-program/ . It offers discounts at all the major truck stops.

The Pilot/Flying J card is in conjunction with Good Sam Club and is only good at PFJ travel centers.

Rob

Our truck burns diesel. We have a Pilot/Flying J fuel card (an actual credit card - not a discount card to use with a credit card) through Good Sam. We have an EFS fuel card for all the other truck stops. EFS actually has better discounts than the PFJ card. 

Rob

Good to know - and thanks. This experience is in my future (hopefully not for another ten years or so).

Rob

These are available for Coleman and Dometic models. Pretty pricey and amount to nice looking baffles:

AC Silencers

Rob

2 hours ago, Rover said:

With Medicare and TFL, I usually don’t have to pay any deductible. TFL has covered the Medicare deductible each year. I think one year I had to pay a few dollars toward a Tricare deductible but don’t remember why. 
 

Vicki

 

I've never had to pay a TFL deductible of any kind. As a secondary payer, TFL has picked up anything Medicare didn't.

Rob

1 hour ago, Ann-Cabell Williams said:

Great to know. What did you study for the written test. I see some conflict, wondering which sections of the handbook you need to study?

Read ALL of the first post in this thread:

http://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/125345-texas-class-a-or-b-license-upgrade-faqs/

It has been updated and tells you exactly which parts of the manual you need to study.

Rob

My wife and I both use Live Mail (essentially Microsoft Outlook mail accounts) and calendars. The mail and calendars will sync across both of our laptops, our android phones, and my Kindle Fire if I want to. I just used the search function to go as far back in the calendars as we've been using Live Mail (about ten years) in order to establish a timeline on health care providers - worked very well. All devices are synced via the databases on the servers.

Rob

2 hours ago, RV_ said:

That's why we use the base pharmacies here. Three major bases have full service on Base/post pharmacies here. We don't have one we can use in Cheyenne Mountain or Schriever AFB. We are using Peterson AFB which is ten minutes from our house. 

VA/MTF pharmacies work for those of you that have a home base and/or stay in one or two places for longer periods. For us rolling stones, Express Scripts and Escapees mail is the option that works best. 

Rob

If you are eligible for a USAA membership, they can put a package together for you, too. They've been very good to me for 35 years and, when we transitioned to full-time, passed me off to a supervisory agent, licensed in Texas, and familiar with the ins and outs of full-timing. (Yes - the coverage includes VPP/valuable personal property coverage and an umbrella policy for additional liability coverage). I think they only cover towables now, though - if you have a motorhome they shunt you to Progressive.

Rob

Good thing I had just set my coffee down - that's funny!

Rob

Considering the safety issues of RV absorption refrigerators, their uneven cooling, and the fact that we've had the cooling unit on our Norcold 1210 replaced once, already, we will be ordering our new rig next month with a residential refrigerator. The basic residential configuration comes with a 1,000 watt inverter and is intended for two 12V batteries. We'll be ordering the manufacturer's solar option which comes with 300 watts of panels mounted, a 2,000 watt inverter, battery monitor, regulator/charger and transfer switch. Should keep the frig going even if we loose power for longer than overnight (as was happening in California over the past month).

Rob

15 hours ago, agesilaus said:

I've been using LibreOffice tho not very much. Mainly the spreadsheet right now. It works and is much cheaper than MS Office. I don't know how it compares feature by feature but 95% of users never use more than the basic Office features.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We've been using an outdated copy of Office 2003 Professional that's not compatible with some of the new file formats - and the compatibility pack is no longer available for 2003, either. I had previously tried Open Office and didn't like it. I've downloaded and installed LibreOffice this morning and, so far, I like what I see. Thanks again.

Rob

1 hour ago, Jim & Alice said:

We travel thru El Paso a couple times a year:

Going East on I-10, get off at Anthony Hwy 404.   Continue east to Hwy 213 - turn south there... continue on traveling south to Hwy 375.   Turn east on Hwy 375 there, following it south & east until it loops around to join I-10.

These are good roads, negligible grades, 

This^^. (Native of the Las Cruces/El Paso area - travel this route often.)

Rob

Same package for $429 on Amazon with free shipping if you're a Prime member.

Rob

2 hours ago, noteven said:

Ok ... everyone stop. 

I’m being arrested under suspicion of posting in the wrong Topic (again)...🤣.

Can a moderator move this to the receipts?

"Receipts?" Have you been required to pay for something?

Rob

More care must be taken to install aluminum wire to avoid fire hazards. Intermittent heating and cooling from conduction cycles can cause connections to become loose with aluminum wire and possibly spark. Larger gauge aluminum wires are required to conduct the same loads as copper - so if space is a concern when routing, copper wins. 

Rob

It depends on your receiver. We have not been able to do this with 211x or Wally receivers without the antenna connected and locked onto at least one satellite. I asked Dish and they confirmed this is the case for the single-tuner "RV" receivers with external hard drives.

Rob

Many of you have probably already been notified or have seen news of this (per email from Tricare):

I was a few years behind Smitty... my late wife and I bought a new Westphalia pop-top in 1974. We thought it was the cat's meow with a little frig, propane stove, two beds, etc. Looking back, it didn't have A/C (even when driving) nor the power to make it over a long 7% grade in fourth gear. Times have changed.

Rob

3 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Escapees Co-Ops are really different than general Escapees parks/Escapades.   A lot of the Co-Ops are darn right hostile to those who are traveling - even though they NEED Escapees who travel to at some point buy into the co-op.  I've never been able to figure out why.   It isn't just you, it is the nature of the co-op lifestyle I guess, where they become so isolated they forget what it was like to travel and be the new kid in town.   Also, almost all Co-Ops are 55+ and a lot of older people aren't very tolerant especially when it comes to people who represent change.   One of the most welcoming to us has been Timber Valley, in Sutherlin, Oregon, which is why we usually stop.  But I have noticed a definite chill this past year.

 

I agree. We've stayed at almost all the co-ops and are on the list at two of them. The median age at several of them seems to be about 84, so your observation rings true. I don't understand the disconnect between needing Escapees to buy in as people die or age out and being clique-ish or unwelcoming. I also agree with you about Sutherlin - nice bunch of folks there... just wish they took reservations!

Rob

19 hours ago, Orvil Hazelton said:

KIRK, my friend . . . in my experience, our younger generation isn't as interested in "forum" participation as they are in newer styles of communication  such as texting, et al.  Letter writing and other ways of communication using the English language are now completely out of vogue. In this day and age its all quick abbreviations without punctuation. My dear English teacher mother would turn over in her grave. As for this mid-seventies age man. . . its all beyond me. I'm grateful for this newer Escapee generation who has evolved into the Xcapers . . . well done to our new Carr generation.  I'm just an old guy who loves the Escapees,  yesterday and tomorrow.  As always,  Orvil Hazelton 75065.

oRV beat me to it (that's how he spelled his name on his Escapees name tag the last time we saw him - love it!). Looking at the Xscapers web site, they seem to connect on Facebook and other social media platforms. I know our kids do, too, and think I'm a dinosaur for participating in "old-fashioned" forums. The Xscapers also have their own gatherings, etc. On the other hand, I've seen the younger crown (that's anyone younger the us, I guess) welcomed by most Escapees anywhere we've been (there's at least one curmudgeon in every large group of any kind).

Rob

On 10/4/2019 at 9:42 AM, scouserl41 said:

I just us the app. Failing that call the Tech Assistance. It's simple and the Tech guys are really great.

BnB

We haven't called or chatted since Dish gave us the ability to change locals with the phone app. It's great - and MUCH faster!

Rob

Google Maps for the first, general planning. Then the Mountain Directory (Eastern or Western) if we're going through places where grades and roads might be of concern. Then, using the information gathered above, set a course in our Garmin RV760 which makes sure we steer clear of low overpasses or bridges, restricted roads (have seen several of those in CA where we are at the moment), etc. This combo has kept us out of trouble for four years and 40K miles.

Rob

3 hours ago, RV_ said:

Big Update on Windows defender!

"Windows Defender was recently boosted by an industry-respected AV Test report that gave it a perfect rating alongside F-Secure Safe 17 and Norton Security 22 for home antivirus protection. The differentiator is that Windows Defender is a free solution that comes installed as part of Windows 10. This was excellent news for both Microsoft, which has been working hard to make Defender a top-notch security offering, and users who can get the best protection out there without splashing the cash."

The independent Anti-malware antivirus rating lab, that years ago rated Windows Defender pretty low, and for some, that was the last time many looked. Well for quite some time now, Windows Defender has gotten top scores, now perfect, which few others have gotten.

While I know it's easy to feel attached and loyal to a security program you've used for years. Defender is all I use backed up by Malwarebytes paid version. However, that's only because I have five lifetime premium licenses that cover all but one of my systems, but they all have Windows Defender as the primary defense against Malware.

Here's the latest list of the test results of all the top A/V Anti-malware programs stack up against each other: https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

Here is the Windows Defender page where you can learn more: https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/june-2019/microsoft-windows-defender-4.18-192315/

I just can't see paying for any product that does not exceed the AVTest.org perfect score Windows free Defender, earned, or even equals it. Free versus paid? Do the math. Free? Paid?

Remember do not try to run any other security A/V program with any other except Malwarebytes as an adjunct to Defender. But that's not really necessary. If you decide to switch remember to download the removal tool from your vendor, and run it as your vendor instructs. Do not leave any Antimalware programs installed when using Defender. Any questions ask below in the main thread topics.

Safe computing!

Derek,

I appreciate how you follow the technology industry and post usable information for the rest of us. I'm posting this in support of what you have said above and to say that I have been using (only) Windows Defender for a couple of years now with excellent results and no incidents of infections or malware on our two laptops. One thing I never liked about products like Norton (besides the money-grabbing pricing schemes) was the amount of resources and overhead they demand. I found that they slowed down most processes - especially web browsing. Windows Defender seems to be more efficient and less "consumptive" than avast! which I used for a long time, too. (I was a systems and database manager for a large community hospital before retiring and all the techs recommended avast! for PCs.)

So another vote for Windows Defender from a satisfied user.

Rob

I've tried a number of different brands and styles of water hoses... some are too stiff to work with when the temps are below 90 deg. F, others kink if you look at them the wrong way, and still others can't hold up to being pressurized all the time. Does anyone know of a brand/series of fresh water hose that they've been happy with? We have a heated hose for use in the winter - I'm looking for just a regular, non-heated hose that's safe for the fresh water system.

Thanks!

Rob