bruce t

sandsys my error. I misread your comment. Yes Comfort Inn is a part of the Choice group. We always used Comfort Inn as the benchmark.

TXiceman I hear what you are saying. Nothing like your own bed, fridge and pan! We always stayed at higher price hotels that minimized the risk. In the hundreds of hotels we stayed in over the years we have only ever walked out of one. A few we closed our eyes and prayed. But 98% of them are just fine. sandsys Comfort Inn group has several price 'layers'. These layers give a guide to cleanliness but no guarantee. Avoid airport hotels and areas that look like they may rent the rooms buy the hour. 😘 We always traveled with a cooler. That allowed us to have a slow breakfast or stay in at nights. Travel is all about compromise. We always had large motorhomes and a toad. The toad was great. But 40ft motorhomes were an issue in many state and national parks. Big cities were also an issue. Travel in an RV is great. Own can. Own bed. Own fridge and freezer full of icecream. But with large RVs you always had to be aware of back road limits. Campground that would have large sites. We got caught a few times on the east coast and up in the north east. We then started to have issues such as slideouts playing up. Air leveling playing up. Just stuff that annoyed me. When we sold our motorhome and car and purchased a pickup we traveled much more. We seen way more of the back roads and small towns. We were quicker to avoid bad weather. For us the down side of hotels was well and truly compensated for by all the extra experience of having the extra mobility. I got work as a freelance photographer and the pickup allowed us to change plans much more easily. Now having said all that. If we were to come back to the USA we would buy a good pickup and the best small 5th wheel we could find. How small? 30ft and 3 slides. Does such a thing exist?

We lived in the USA for a total of about 8 years. From 1996 to 2017. Motorhomes/RVing to pickup and hotels. I'm a figures nutcase!! Spreadsheets multiply on my computer!! I found that insurance, registration, fuel and campground/hotel fees plus capital costs all came out about the same. Food was a bit more expensive with hotels. RVing was way more stressful setting up and storing. Hotels meant taking what you get. (But there's way around that). The shorter the stay in the USA the more viable hotels are. (We stayed in hotels for up to 3 months at a time). Every town has a hotel. Not every town has an RV park. Backroads aren't an issue in a car. In a nutshell it come down to lifestyle. Renting becomes viable for periods of a few months at a time. All care no responsibility. Just drop it of and catch a cab to the airport. Caveat - I'm not handy. We always bought new or new new RVs. Our pickup was new. So maintenance wasn't an issue for me. We belonged to the Choice group of hotels. That gave us a free night every week.

One place that never gets a mention is Williamsburg VA. We have been there a few times. Late afternoon you will hear the beat of the drums and the pipe. Volunteers march onto the parade ground. George Washington rides his horse in the addresses the volunteers. Canons are fired. Now we aren't Americans but we find it very stirring and patriotic.

Google PPL rv in Texas. They have lots of RVs and most of the answers.

Just a FWIW. We have done a lot of traveling in our days. Europe, USA etc. The museums in the USA are stand outs. There is somethings the USA doesn't get right. But there are lot of things the USA does really really well. And that's the museums. Another one to ad to the must see list. The East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore. Small but brilliantly done.

rickeieio you beat me to it. I was also going to nominate Wheels Through Time. It's not just the items in the museum but the presentation. Unique. I knew Dale as a friend and his wife Trish. I did a lot of photographic work there and sold hundreds of prints in the store. Matt's now in charge and the museum is in good hands. FWIW there's some nice RV parks along the creek within walking distance of the museum. It's a great area. Just a few miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

D&J the days of taking responsibility for your own actions ended long ago. Now we expect someone else to look after us! This doesn't apply just to covid and other health issues. It's always easier to blame someone else. I have friends who honestly believe that signs don't apply to them. Yet they are very, very quick to ask for help. There's a reason lawyers are rich!

Here in Australia all us old farts are entitled to 10 free test kits per 90 days. Just walk in to a pharmacy and pick them up. (No you can't get more because all the pharmacies are linked to a central computer). This issues has become a political hot potato. Actually hasn't all covid stuff become political? The reason for the limit of 10 was because some folks were testing them selves several times a day.

A BIGGER problem is paying with cash. Silly as it seems but we have had funny looks while handing over $100.00+ cash before being allowed to pump. On another tangent!! If you think other folks stealing your information and using it to buy stuff is bad. Then where does 'big brother' and data companies sit farming your data every time you use your card? Buy a frying pan at Camping World and you get all sorts of junk advertising RV stuff. Handing out your credit card details is no worse than your computer watching every web site you look at!

It all makes you wonder where the weak link is. Is it an employee somewhere 'selling' information? It can't be just random. Guessing a number is one thing. But linking it up with an expiry date and the number is just to coincidental. There has to be 'inside' links somewhere. That's where the hammer needs to fall. A VERY heavily.

Just a timely reminder to watch your credit card buying and details. For the 3rd time in about 15 years my credit card has been hacked. Luckily my bank sends a text message if any "unusual" purchases are made. I got a text and phoned the bank. They immediately cancelled the card. Someone had tried to use it several times. A subscription, $23.00, to Netfix was all that got through. (Why Netflix let if is another question). I'm anal about my card use. Watch my statement all the time. Like every few days. Have only 2 automatic charges on it. Don't use Amazon or such with the card. But still my card detail were leaked. Just be careful.

Oh dear. We are complaining about the heat and rain while you poor folk are getting frost bite. Think of these poor folk. 34 inches of rain and temps around 100f. 80000 lightening strikes. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/kimberley-cattle-station-records-rainfall-/100800272 Much of inland Australia is flooded. Main roads west and north are cut. As are rail links. Note the road trains in the first image. Can't turn them around that easily! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-02/wa-allows-triple-road-trains-for-supermarket-supplies/100796558 Some are doing a 3000 kilometer detour just to deliver their loads. So every time you think your weather is crap remember somewhere else is worse. FWIW here at home we have nights dropping to 80f and humidity around 95-98%.

The problem I see is the definition of allergies. So many different allergies. I'm a bad hay fever sufferer. So we travel with a bag full of hay fever pills. We all so both have bad food allergies. The ones caused by visiting too many restaurants!! 😁 Don't let allergies stop your dreams. There are many ways to work with or around them. I suffer from cluster headaches and migraines. If I let them rule my life it would be a sad sad existence.

Here in Australia the go to App is Wiki Camps. Has thousands of sites. Campgrounds to free sites. POI and fuel stops etc etc etc. There is a WikiUSA. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.angryrobot.wikicampsusa&hl=en_US&gl=US I have no idea how well it is supported. I'm just passing on the information. If it's like the Australia version then the few dollars up front fee will be redeemed many times over. I read some of the reviews in the app store find it interesting that folk object to paying just a small amount for something that could save them a lot of money. We use the Australian one 100% of the time.

It would be an interesting exercise to see if hotel bookings are tracking the same way as campsite bookings. Is it just an RV 'thing' or is it travel in general? I know here in Australia finding a campsite is like winning the lottery. Thousands have stopped traveling overseas and are now traveling at home. Thousands of new RVs and zero new RV sites. Dry camping has become so much in demand that even remote dry camps are now crowded. Wait for a new RV can be up to 18 months. My crystal ball tells me that in a year or two, when covid is the 'norm', international travel will be back and used RVs will be cheap. Maybe even empty RV sites will return.

A few comments. First simply remember that every problem has a solution. You just need to find that solution. Second. Do it now. We traveled a lot. One day I woke up in hospital and our traveling life had ended. Don't wait until it's too late. Third. Listen to all the advice but do it your way. good luck.

RV I like your video. Shows a lot about you. "Agree with me because I'm the only one who is right." Right? My last post on this thread. My head is getting sore from banging it against a brick wall.

GlennWest don't use logic. For those living in apartments etc what's the solution to charging at home? Not an insignificant proportion of the population. Solar on the roof for which tenant? Charge points in the parking lot? If you have a dedicated parking space. These aren't problems without solutions but solutions that must be found. I'll repeat. I'm all for change. But change in a responsible way.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for green technology. I think my father was one of the original tree huggers. We made our money in the nursery industry. My concern is the over promise and under deliver of many of these technologies. The first electric car was a few years back. Not that many. Around 1830 in fact. Since then electric vehicles have been 'coming'. For a decade of more we have been told over and over about new batteries. Well where are they? There is, IMHO, a blinkered view of EVs without regard to other technologies. I just don't want to buy into Beta when VHS will be the way to go.

A couple of comments re some of the above comments! Here in Australia there isn't an issue with running a/c from an all electric off grid RV. It's doable and only needs the right balance of solar and batteries. Re charging an EV from solar. Keep in mind that folks use their vehicles during the day so wont be at home to plug into solar. When they are home it will be night time! No solar. We all read tests about all sorts of vehicles. EV and ICEs. Towing capacity, range, etc etc all get quoted. But what are the 'usable' figure? From years of experience we know what towing an RV does to our tow vehicle performance. But what happens with an EV? Is the battery discharge linear? How does weather etc affect the results? Only long term consumer use will give us that information. Yes change is coming. But lets not rush into it and find a huge OOPS doing so.

Guys you are talking USA facts and figures. The USA isn't the world market. You may think so but it ain't. Tell the folks in African countries about the future of EVs. They don't have the money let alone the electricity. But that's ok. The rich are ok with telling how the poor can live. The future WILL be determined by the market and capitalism. I'm now down the rabbit hole I knew was coming.

RV none of us know the future. Henry Ford didn't. He, like many others, took a risk. Some blacksmiths never! My whole point is that ideaollogy won't chance squat. Good sensible logic and capitalism will. But I wouldn't bet my house on EVs. Don't forget hydrogen. Yes there's a lot of work to do. Hydrogen negates the negative "long charge" time of EVs. Remember not all power outlets will be or can be super chargers. But regular gas stations may become hydrogen stations. Infrastructure for electricity is way more expensive than hydrogen storage. Who knows. Maybe, like Toyota, there will be a move back to hybrids. A bet each way maybe. I want clean and green. But I also want something that is affordable and usable.

RV please show me where I mentioned electric pickups. This is the rabbit hole I was talking about. 'Use any statement and interpret it in a way that suites an agenda'. Now I will repeat. Australians buy far more fossil fuel guzzling American pickup than they do EVs. The implication for those who need a translation is that many Australians simply don't care about the EV v fossil fuel debate. They want a vehicle that suits their wants and needs. The market will supply those wants and needs. No amount of lecturing from the so call knowledgeable folks will change what consumers want. The market will set the pace. Not ideology. FWIW fossil fuel cars still outsell EVs even in inner city locations. Maybe it's got something to do with recharging your EV while living on the 8th floor of a block of units. FWIW some mining industries have been testing electric trucks. Those trucks simply don't leave the work site. So research using those as an example can't be used and applied to the general market. Another example are the headlines about the mining companies converting to electric trains as an example of how things are changing. First the locos they now use are diesel generators powering AC motor. So already using electric power. These are dedicated iron ore lines with up to 2 mile long unmanned trains. Not typical railroads. Converting to all electric with all the associated infrastructure isn't the same as applying that same technology to all trains. There's a point I'm trying to make without falling down the rabbit hole myself. The point is that we can't take one headline or one example and say this is what the future holds. It's simply not that simple. If one RV company is successful in building an all electric drive RV then we can't make the statement that the future is here or even coming. No it's just one example. When more RV companies follow and consumers make an informed choice to go EV then yes the future is on it's way. But being selective with reporting and news items isn't the future. And trolling through tens of thousands of web sites to find a news item that suits are argument is simply paranoia. The thread is "Are electric RVs coming?". The discussion is about electric RVs. Not climate change. Not politics. Not ideology. Not forcing others to believe in what you believe in.

No doubt this topic will go down some deep rabbit hole with differing opinions. Before it does I'll just say that in my opinion no government will "force" a chance. It has to come via good ol fashion market demand. Consumers will determine how much that they are prepared to change. All the EV dreams may well turn out to be just that. Dreams. Hydrogen etc etc may leapfrog the EV industry just like VHS jumped Beta. My money is on some sort of hybrid. FWIW here in Australia large American fossil fuelled pickups out sell EVs by approx 5 to 1. What's that tell you about consumer sentiment?