hemsteadc

I think I'll check out some CGs north of Cortez.  They look nice.  The harder they are to get to, perhaps less crowded.

1 hour ago, Star Dreamer said:

 getting to the campground early does help. 

That was probably my mistake.. getting there in the afternoon. There were a couple spaces with a tent in one and a table in the other, and just one that appeared paid for.  Somebody always has to game the system by doing that.  

My camping trip from hell:

Drove 3 hours to arrive at my favorite BLM camp.  Full. Completely full, on a Wednesday. I've been camping here for years and this has never happened.

Drove back 45 miles to plan B campground.  Space available, but there's a forest fire burning 3 miles away, the wind is howling, and no sign of anyone trying to put it out.  People were camping there, and a guy told me if there was danger the sheriff would come by and get us out. I'm sorry, that doesn't seem like a great way to get a good night's sleep.  

Drove another 80 miles to Mesa Verde NP.  Campground partially open, just one loop for tents. Lots of campers, but I can't fit in there.  Now it's 5pm.

Drove 35 miles to find another campground closed.

Well, that's 4 possibilities down the tubes. Gave up and drove home.  Arrived just before dark at 7:30pm.

9 hours of non-stop driving only to end up back where I started.  Oh well, at least the cat survived and I didn't have a breakdown.  I'll wait a few weeks until things have settled down. This was the first good weather and everyone wants to go camping.
 

On 4/12/2022 at 8:16 AM, ms60ocb said:

A couple questions, isn't -3 Celsius around 27 Fahrenheit or definitely below freezing.

Google says 26.6, so yes, around 27.

50 minutes ago, GlennWest said:

. We were on twitter but basically all conservative voices were banned. 

No, hate speech and advocating the overthrow of the US government were.  Some people don't like abiding by the terms of service.

TSLA is really taking a dump over this.

30 minutes ago, docj said:

 I paid an RV technician to do it! 😁

My RV technician would have to have his 8 yo child do it. It's in the framework with about a foot of crawlspace.

I hope I never have to replace mine because it would be very difficult. 

I've seen many questions over the years about problems with flexible hoses and wires in kitchen slides.  None have been reported that I could see.  Well, after 21 years, I finally had a break.

I started smelling gray water after doing the dishes, and didn't give it much thought, until a few days later I went outside and saw water pouring out of the slide.  On further inspection I found the flexible sink drain hose had come loose from its mooring on the PVC pipe, and sink water was just dumping out onto the slide floor behind the cabinets.

I slathered some JB Weld on the outside of the flex pipe and stuck it back in its sleeve.  We hope it's fixed. 

So, yeah, they can fail, but, it takes a long, long time and thousands of slide movements.

SpaceX just launched another 50 satellites.  Should be good for us RVers.  Amazing to watch the rocket deliver the payload to orbit, and then return.  Cameras on board.

3 hours ago, ashton23l said:

What do you mean? I called battleborn and they said we could adjust mine to work

Assuming you mean Battleborn can adjust your converter, yes, that's possible.  Schauer did that for me, just for the cost of UPS.  Schauer, however, is the charger maker, not the battery maker.

1 hour ago, oldjohnt said:

Yo hemstead, if I understand you correctly, it appears to me if you add more panels IN PARALELL,,,,,,,And since current adds when using panels IN PARALLEL,,,,, The current will be greater from the PARALLEL combination of multiple panels !!!!!!!!

Oh yes, that's correct.  Small wire handles higher voltage much better than amperage... up to a point of course.. as long as your controller can handle it.  We're not talking 400 volts or higher here.  And wiring panels in series is so much simpler.

I'm 74, and been on the road for 20 years. 

I have just one physical problem that may sideline me in the next few years:  peripheral neuropathy.  It's a severe numbness in my feet, and it's starting to progress upwards through my ankles, causing me to have less control of my balance and movements.  It's sort of like if your foot goes to sleep, but it's about half of that sensation all the time. I can twist my ankle simply by stepping on a rock wrong, and collapse to the ground in an instant because I can't feel what's going on fast enough to respond and correct.  There's no medicine or treatment I'm aware of, no known cause, and nobody I know has it.  This is not diabetic neuropathy, which is more common.  I can still feel the gas and brake pedal just fine, so for now we're good.  Thank heavens for cruise control...and I'm looking forward to getting an electric car with the reactive braking and all the other technology to keep me safe.

Mentally I find that I worry and fret a whole lot more than I used to.  What if I break down?  Have I done this or that chore that I was supposed to?  What would I do with my cat should I need repairs?  ( Travelling with a cat has changed my camping style a LOT).  This constant worry is starting to make RVing more of a chore than an adventure.  I'm ok in the summer when travelling shorter distances to local campgrounds, but leaving for months at a time may come to an end if this is how it's going to be.  And I do travel alone, so that makes it just that much harder.

I'm just darn glad I started doing this 20 years ago when everyone thought I was nuts for selling a house to live in a box.  I've seen too many folks wait and be sidelined by their health. I've had plenty of time to see much of the country and I have many fond memories of that.    
 

17 hours ago, DanZemke said:

My impression is that Lou was saying: with an MPPT controller hemsteadc could have added more panels in parallel, using the same wire size.  And the efficiency would be about the same.

Lou - please correct me if I've misunderstood.

I hope Lou wasn't saying that, because it's incorrect.  Since he's checked out, I thought I'd answer.

My 'solar ready' wiring was #10, which was good to about 350w at nominal voltage.  I added more panels and wired them in series so I didn't have to rewire anything.  Works fine.

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I bought years ago so price was at a premium, but no way would I go back to LA.  Less weight, much faster charging, no watering, no corrosion.. etc.  You cry once, but you'll love them.  Hoping it's the last batteries I'll ever buy.

Nice, but no room for walking.

2 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Don't blame hosts and rangers. They have nothing to do with correcting web sites.

Of course I don't blame them, but I thought a complaint coming from them might carry a bit more weight than from a disgruntled old man.  When I say they don't care, I mean that nobody says "Gee, I wasn't aware of that.  I'll mention it to my boss."  Nobody. 

It's hard to imagine that with the site numbers being on the wrong side of the road, not a single person has mentioned it to the host but me. The sites on one side are large pull throughs, and the other are smaller backins.  Big difference.  And you book a site by number, not by location.  I also had a ranger from this campground (on the phone) tell me there was no cell service there.  I mentioned I had Verizon and it worked just fine.  The normal reaction from a normal person would  have been "Oh, thanks, I didn't know that."  Nope.  She just seemed to get more angry and ended the conversation.

Like the saying goes, it's not what you say, it's how you say it.  I try my best to be honest and factual without being confrontational. I don't know, maybe they just don't like dealing with problems, because somebody up the IT ladder is going to have to fix it, and then somebody will have to be blamed, and boy is that uncomfortable for someone.  So I guess everybody figures it's just better to leave it alone and let the public deal with it. 

Perhaps it's my IT background that causes me to get perturbed with these rookie mistakes on websites. It's just pure laziness.

And what is THIS topic doing in Travel?  hahahahahahahahaha....

lose, not loose

On 4/5/2022 at 5:43 PM, bigjim said:

  I know this area well and I found recreation.gov to be very confusing.  I hope it is not the same for all the other places they are responsible for reserving.

They aren't any better in Utah.  One CG reservation map has numbered sites on the wrong side of the road, for years.   All I get when I mention it is excuses and arguments.  Hosts don't care, rangers don't care.

Reserve California has their share of goof ups too.

43 minutes ago, Patrick Cunningham said:

Bill, I checked out the video and it talks about getting multiple networks because one might have more signal strength than another in a certain area.  

Starlink may be the answer to all our communication problems.  They're working on roaming as we speak.  Years ago I was hopeful that we could get internet with our portable satellite dishes but I guess that's not ever going to happen.

57 minutes ago, bigjim said:

Not sure what medical bills you are talking about but some of mine sure are forwarded by the mail service.

Yes, a mail service may, or they can email them.  I was referring to the PO if you just have an address you're forwarding from.  And medical bills often take a least a month to process.  It's a very slow, tedious process.

I've asked, but I've yet to find a single doctor or dentist who will e-bill me.

You will not be getting medical bills forwarded. Unless things have changed, they can't be, and they don't participate in 21st century technology.

22 hours ago, Pat & Pete said:

When is the last time you found a gas pump that wasn't some kind of pay first .

Dual fill truck diesel pumps, for the most part, will not accept a regular credit card.  You must go inside, estimate how much you need,  and give them your firstborn.  I realize that's not "gas".

I paid $5.29 at Twin Arrows AZ yesterday.  Of course the pump cut me off at $100.  Grrr