FL-JOE

I agree with what others have said about the younger generation of RVers (50 and younger) not communicating the same way. I would predict that in another several years there would be very little activity on forums such as this one. As far as "club spirit" and attending rallies and such, some members will never make an effort to attend one. Maybe they already are active members in a different RV club with rallies, or a veterans group that keeps them too busy.

When we were returning to full time travel it was a hard choice between a toy hauler and a Class A pulling an enclosed trailer. The DW was leaning toward the Class A and trailer combination due to being able to have a car plus the Harley. I on the other hand would have rather pulled a fiver type rig. Then I started figuring out how I could add cabinets and design the interior of the enclosed trailer to double as a mini-shop and the Class A idea won out. It has worked out very well so far.

We still sometimes do a month in the spring in that coastal area of Alabama, and always do November down there. There is a lot to do and see, it isn't as crowded as Florida, plus the prices are much better. However, like Richfaa we will always end up in Florida due to those temperatures during the winter months.

Check with Good Sams but I believe there could be certain membership levels where they give you free roadside assistance each year.

I think you have to look at it like Richfaa, just go do your thing and don't worry about it. If California, or any other State, keeps track as close as some on here say they do, then I can think of all kinds of situations where an innocent visitor would have a issue. My elderly mother gets sick and I end up spending 7 or 8 months helping her in central Illinois. I'm still a full time RVer, I still don't own any property anywhere, I am still maintaining my FL domicile, I'm certainly still filing income tax as a Florida resident. Now if I decide to get a job while I'm taking care of her and staying in Illinois for 7 or 8 months then that could be another matter. What I'm getting at is if you are a retired RVer traveling around this country I don't think you have to be worried about some computer deciding you are now a resident of their State and causing you grief. I think it is a myth.

To be honest I don't use any computer based mapping anymore to look at, or plan routes. I start by checking my I-phone mapping for a general idea. Sometimes I will use google maps on my I-phone and sometimes I use the trip planning tool on my Pilot/Flying J app. Then I go to my paper Trucker's Atlas.

That is exactly correct! The only ingredient I need is those nice winter temps!

I can relate with Kirk. We were from Illinois originally and would never move back, however we have 5 married children and 14 grandchildren who still reside there. Obviously we will always visit frequently. Is the State broke, yes. Is the State corrupt, yep. Is there anything to do or see? Some if you know where to look maybe. California does have some sights to see IMHO. When we first went full time we got right out there and went through a few of them. We snuck back a couple years later for a week because we felt we missed a couple things around SF. But that was that and we would never return. IMHO there are more majestic, friendlier, cheaper places to visit than California. My list would start with southern Utah and go from there. These are places that we will be returning to again.

We winter kind of on the "gulf coast", that would be SW Florida's gulf coast. The year before we fully retired I was convinced that Texas would someday be our winter home. We spent a little over a month (March) on South Padre Island. The locals claimed it was a record March. We had an ice storm that knocked out power and closed everything down. It was so windy most days we only had the Harley out 3 or 4 times. It was probably a very unusual month but we never returned. My idea of retirement is wearing short britches about 360 days a year and jeans maybe the other 5. This Christmas will be the 9th one that I have worn a tee shirt and shorts for the day since retirement, as compared to working most of them in a heavy coat and gloves before retirement!

I agree with bobsallyh, if something comes apart or it gets a rip in it you won't be happy with what it does rubbing on your finish. If you were checking on it every few days it might take some of the worry out I suppose.

Most manufactures of DEF say it has a 1 year shelf life. If your RV was in storage for 3 years or longer I am guessing the DEF was bad. Continued operation could result in some extremely expensive repairs that certainly will not be covered under any type of warranty I'm guessing.

Don't have any idea what Class A you have, gas/diesel, F53 frame or air suspension? I am guessing going with a smaller wider tire wouldn't cause any issues. Wonder what size the original tires were suppose to be?

We were full time in a 38/39' fiver. Had a good floorplan, a w/d, and decent storage. We rarely if ever had issues getting in and out of any campground or RV site. Our current set up is larger and we still don't have problems finding sites. I think you have to look around the try to find the "perfect" floorplan and RV when going fulltime.

Like many others we use a couple different credit cards that gives us cash back on monthly purchases. As far as our debit card we generally only use that at Walmart which is where we purchase about 50% of our groceries plus get 90% of our cash. I carry some extra "emergency" cash but we really haven't been in a situation where we needed much. Coming out of the Grand Canyon area last month there was a big storm that killed power and internet to a wide area. We needed gas so we just hungered down at a station and waited until power came back up. Cash wouldn't have gotten us gas any sooner.

You "hit the nail on the head" docj. A number of them are crying foul and promising that when they get their next coach it will be a Tiffin. Not sure what they will do when Bob Tiffin is gone because I'm betting his family will probably sell out also. When we started we had fivers. After doing some research a Keystone Montana fit our needs for price, quality, and floorplan. I didn't really care if it was a family owned business or a public traded corporation. Then when we were in the market for a DP and after some research narrowed it down to Newmar, Tiffin, and Entegra. Again, being a smaller family owned corporation didn't really factor into my decision.