NDBirdman

I have many times. Point is if we get hit with cyber, etc, computers and financial institutions will be down thus credit cards/debit cards will be useless. But I regress, don't intend to lead us astray with thoughts of bad things happening. Sometimes, I just like paying for things with cash and watch youngsters that live by the debit card try to figure out how much change they owe you.... LOL

Hmm, did not think of that. Mines on the bottom because of the weight. Maybe I should remove anything paper backed to a higher box. Thanks for the thought!

Apparently I did not see some removed posts, I wrongly assumed Kirk's post directly under mine was aimed at myself. I was wrong. My apologies to Kirk!

With gas/diesel skyrocketing, will we be able to fill our tanks much longer with cash carried on hand? Will this cause fuel shortages? When it gets announced we are shutting off (blanked out.... but y'all know the deal), I bet the price/availability of fuel is going to be crazy, what say y'all? I'm heading out shortly to fill all tanks and am happy we just filled our 500 gallon LP tank. (No, not a political question and don't make it one.)

Got a ... poop load* of that too... hehehe.... sorry, couldn't resist. Run on PMs already missed the boat, retailers I deal with can't hardly get any and are begging for ppl to bring it in, atleast in my neck of the woods. $$ wise, atleast my bank, limits on what cash you can take out at one time, have for quite a while. Anything much bigger than a k, they will order it for you, they don't keep large amounts on hand. Atleast, that's what they told me. I do agree totally with that sentiment. Could be dangerous identifying your rigs for large amounts of cash, etc. This is why I have and suggest a bank safety deposit box, you can always get to it even during/after any sort of run/cyber attack, etc. Cheap insurance, think of it like part of fund diversification.

Yes sir

We keep a lot of canned food for our back-up. That, and a lot of garden seeds. All backed by guns/ammo. Of course this is in our SnB, could not carry this much in an RV. We could easily go 12 months or more without internet/banking/infrastructure. My personal feeling is if we get hit hard electronically(cyber attack, etc), the (any country's)$$ won't be worth much anywayz. Even if it retained some value, the cost of goods/gas, etc would be prohibitive and a couple gs hidden/on hand would not last long enough to get very far. Another reason to have some pms hidden somewhere. Along with all that, just incase banks are hit hard, I keep monthly print-outs of all our accounts for proof if banks loose their data.

I have a RAM under classifieds for sale.

I've lived half n half, city/rural. I think your statement is correct but I will add, I've been amazed in folks from both areas as just how (uninformed) most are about what's in the world. I've gotten blank stares from folks when I tell them there's more to life than what you see in your little area, get out and see the world! Life does not end at the county line.... LOL And I say that because that's how I grew up, until I left and never looked back. RVr's, other than the weekend warriors that never leave their local area, RVr's know what I mean!

Not being a country song fan, I've not heard that one from Hank Snow. Johnny I have heard sing that one though.

After reading that, I can't get a song out of my head, I think it was sang by Johnny Cash..... LOL, now I'll have to figure that one out.

Typed out a snarky reply but erased it. Driving fast through ND, your missing some very nice small towns just off the road, most with free or cheap camping, great fishing, friendly locals, etc. Ya ever seen a car/truck after a moose has crossed your path? Not worth driving fast. I tell folks, and yes it's a very old saying, slow down and smell the roses, well, except when going by the hog barns along hiway 2..... LOL I'm just down the road.

Yea... a surcharge for the out of staters..... I live/drive withing 50 miles of the ND/MN state line. I usually drive the speed-limit or a couple MPH under. 9 out of 10 vehicles that blow past me like I'm standing still sport MN or north of the border tags. When I'm on my bike during our very short warm weather periods, that tends to scare the cwap out of a guy.

Have had same happen over the years. Last one was last month. Card company texted and asked if I made a suspicious purchase and I said, no. Card was shut off, charge canceled and new one, new number was sent to me. I just finished getting my accounts straightened out, most our SnB expenses go on my card as automatic payments. BTW, the freaking charge was for .40 cents... they were testing the waters before I would guess would have been a much bigger charge/theft. I wish I could just cancel all my cards and go back to cash, getting tired of the B.S. these idiots pull. Get a job and earn what you have, don't be a dayum scumbag thief. When I was in the service, I returned from a deployment to find a nasty letter from my CC company at the time demanding payment... my card was maxed out. Funny, or sad thing, was it listed the company name/phone number on the bill. I called them, after a brief discussion, they reversed all the charges. The dumb-arse actually gave them his real phone number he was calling from. I called it, he was proud of his... misdeads. Called again only his wife answered that time.... I explained why I was calling and told her about his 1-900 sex number obsession. She was not very happy about it, would have loved to have been a fly on that wall when he got home.

3 Feb 2022, 10am, it's -18f, windchill -23f. We're having a heat-wave! Anyone up for a snowball fight? I'll supply the snow.

Right now... minus 15f, windchill -26, 6am in da morn, minus 35f, windchill -41. Spent the day working on SnB's water supply. Who wants to camp in my yard? LOL, it's cold out there, or out here...(ND) 🙂

Yea, coffee, and I'm sticking to it! Don't do a keg pull til late afternoon. Thanks for the thread though, love reading about the webb scope(sat.). I am a space addict, and not the TV/Sci-fi baloney. And yes, I am accused of being... spacey, at times.... LOL

No truer sentence ever written! We as humans understand very little in our arrogance. Where does space begin, where does it end? Is there a beginning/end to space? Is space just a tiny bubble in a glass container sitting on some unknown intelligent being's desk or fireplace mantle, or in a terrarium on that being's child's dresser? If we could travel trillions of light years away from our know solar systems, would be look up and see the same, endless empty(?) dark void? I want to know what actually contains/controls and purpose of..... space and how big it actually is, not what we guess. When I look through our small telescope, it makes me feel so tiny, we are nothing compared to what's actually out there. We are not even the size of a single atom on an elephant's back in the grand theme of .... of what? Just what the heck is actually out there? We spend billions to develop bigger and better scopes, but in the end, all we get are better pictures, not what is truly out there. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to viewing what this shows, I love looking up at night. Sitting in a reclined chair, glass of wine in hand, looking up and imagining what that intelligent or not so intelligent being is thinking/doing looking up the their sky also wondering if they are the only intelligent critter in that big dark sky. I was born in the wrong time. I should have been born a couple thousand years down the road when humans have the ability to travel thousands of light years in a blink of the eye. I'd put the vessel in overdrive, full steam ahead and not stop until I reach the (end?) of what ever it is. Maybe then, and a big maybe, the beings I find are able to live together, not kill each other, not hate their neighbors, not spend a lifetime destroying the very thing that gives them life, the mother planet. Time for me to go grab another cup of coffee, I think I've gone off the deep end but I bet I'm not alone.

I had a Garmin, once, well, twice. Many years back, don't remember the model but I paid for lifetime subscription. After 6(ish) years (I did the updates every 6 months), I went online to update it and got the reply, model no longer supported. Could not get the updates I paid for. I threw that in the trash. This is why I love my google maps on my cell phone, always up to date. I also had a Garmin fish-finder/GPS unit I used for ice fishing. 1 year (season) it quit working, I went to the store I bought it from. They said they won't warranty it or send it in for repairs as it was now a discontinued model. Contacting the company got the same reply. Garmin..... l'm glad y'all have good luck with them.

Do you see all these units better than Google Maps on most cell-phones? Mine is up to date every time used, where as the one in my RAM.... is wrong too often. It would be correct, if I paid them $149 every couple years to update it. Rant on: For what you pay for these darn trucks map updates should not be charged but standard. It's just another way for the parent company to continue to shaft customers.... Have never paid nor will I pay them for this B.S. Rant off. I can understand buying one like the trucker's version for routing avoiding traffic and low bridges/tunnels and road grades for the bigger RVs. Google (cell-phone) has never let us down to date but I'm sure it could.

Thank-you for that tid-bit. Had not thought about the tranny part, but your right, the engine can be top-notch but with a bad/cheap tranny/drive train, it can spoil the whole experience. I will be towing an enclosed trailer (for trike/gear or a 4-down vehicle). Very important info, again, thanks!

Start addressing him as the *Grinch* And perhaps, every-time he starts up, put the movie-Grinch on the tube.

Our first 20 yrs of marriage, it was hard to buy each other or our kids much, not because of $$, but because of my job. Every time we moved, and there were many moves, we had to go through and toss/donate lots of items. It got old quick! So we got into a minimalist type of Christmas/birthdays, etc. Now we are mostly stationary in a SnB, I still hate buying much. Someone wants something, they get it, after a couple uses, it sits in one of our.... hoarder... room/sheds. for years. We have migrated to what we make with our hands and more gift cards and use them for items we want/need. I use mine mostly in wood-working or beer brewing supplies. My better half uses it for her quilting/needle-work. At-least those items get used and don't collect dust for 10-15 yrs. At our location, we no longer see much of our family, so for the past few years, amazon gift cards makes them happy. I agree with previous poster, it's sad to see folks running around looking like a doe in the head-lights stare searching for a gift in the mall. I sit and think about what Christmas is actually about instead of all of this commercialism that holidays are now about. I have had friends/family rave about what they receive from us from my shop. But, there are only so many bowls/platters/cups/flat-work I can make. Rarely receive a comment from folks when they receive commercial stuff from a store. And malls.... I wear hearing aids, every ding-ding-ding that goes through my ear drums is like a nail being driven through! IT HURTS, PLEASE stop this torture!!

Cool, what y'all said certainly speaks volumes! With these comments, I definitely won't shy away from a motor-home with a V10.

The emissions killed most good engines. We have a RAM with 6.7 diesel, I get 20-23 empty cruising down the hi-way, but with camper in tow we averaged 9mpg on level roads. Our camper was fairly light, but when towing heavy equipment, I didn't bother to check, I just figured I was low at those times. It probably would even out, gas v diesel fuel. Gas cost less and you go through more than diesel, diesel cost a-lot more, at-least in our area. Another thought in my mind (yea, a very scary place... lol), if we were to buy a new one, the 10k and up price difference between a gas and diesel engine, I can buy a whole lot of gas. I do understand the difference in maintenance cost/upkeep between the 2. In the long run, I believe I will get there slower but have more $$ left over although I don't need to worry about pennies as long as I have enough left to keep the wife happy.