Jinx & Wayne
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Posts posted by Jinx & Wayne
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Kirk,
That is interesting. We are closing on the VanLeigh Vilano 320GK tomorrow. It looks like a few more years on the road.
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Does anyone have any information - good or bad - about:
East to West 5ers in general and the 325RL in particular. We are looking at at a 2023 325RL. I'm not finding much in the way of reviews.
VanLeigh Vilano 2022 320GK.
I am amazed by the lack of basement storage in these machines.
Wayne & Jinx
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When we went full time and switched domicile to Sumter Oaks the VIN's on the truck and fiver were physically inspected. For the truck we drove it to the Tax Collector's office in Bushnell. We called the Sumter County SO and a deputy came out, inspected the VIN on the fiver and signed off. We took that form with us to the TC office when we registered the truck. Pretty hard to do from somewhere else.
Wayne
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My fiver can with Dexter 7000# Never-Lube bearings. Part of the upgrade to disc brakes included switching to Dexter #8000 axles with oil bath. I can't tell whether they are any better than other hubs, but I haven't had any problems in five years.
Wayne
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On 1/29/2023 at 8:21 AM, Dutch_12078 said:
One woman traveling alone put a sign on her door when leaving the RV to shop similar to this: "Fred, don't open the door until I get back, the snake got loose." She never had a problem with break ins...:)
Going on fifty years ago I was working at our family-run commercial hunting/fishing camp in Maine. My stepfather and I came back from the long run to town after sunset to find the lodge dark. On the door was a piece of paper. We had no light, but my stepfather had a cigarette lighter that was out of fluid. We peered at the note as he sparked the lighter. Gradually we made out ...
"Wa...Watch..Watch out...Watch out f...Watch out for..Watch out for the bear."
The satisfaction of finally making out the note was spoiled by the chill running down my back.
Wayne
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On 1/2/2023 at 12:49 PM, rynosback said:
Many thanks for all of your insight, it is truly helpful.
My pleasure.
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Tater was right. You can't fix stupid.
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When we started wintering in Florida we were in Davenport, near Orlando. Very expensive but they had the amenities you want. There were lots of activities and lots of traffic. A few years ago we moved our winter base to the Sebring area. Much less expensive. Still lots of traffic if you are on US-27 in town, but things get rural pretty fast out of town. There are several parks along the US-27 corridor south of Lake Wales down through Lake Placid. You might find something there. Warmer than northern Florida, too. This is along the central ridge which seems to divert quite a few stormy days. We are 110' above sea level! That is a towering elevation for Florida.
There is also the US-17 corridor south of Winter Haven. Again, it starts to get rural pretty fast. If you do choose this area beware of being in lowlands along the Peace River. Our new neighbors here, around Sebring, were in Zolfo Springs. Their site flooded by several feet during hurricane Ian. They were away, but had a trailer with a motorcycle in it when the flood hit. Totaled.
Wayne
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3 minutes ago, Randyretired said:
With all of the boondocking in AZ for winter camping it would be easy to boondock year around.
So far we've been east of the Rockies where there is far less boondocking.
Wayne
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14 hours ago, Vladimir said:
I looked inside the 5th wheels after five miles of gravel road and they were a total mess on the insides. Broken glass lampshades lying on the floor, drawers emptied, the entire interior covered with dust.
I don't know if it was just the people driving the 5th wheels had no clue on how slow they had to go on a washboard road to avoid damage to the trailer or that the trailers were never designed for off-pavement travel.
I'm pretty sure that most fivers have these vibration issues. Our checklist includes taking down fixtures, securing cabinets and refrigerators (all glass jars in bottom drawers for one) and lots of stuff on the bed and furniture. It still moves.
Wayne
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On 12/1/2022 at 6:57 PM, Vladimir said:
I am not sure that your going to gain much downsizing to a 27 footer. I assume you mean driving Forest Service and BLM roads instead of off-road.
I'm not talking about true off-road driving or even extended rough road driving. I looking for something that isn't going to bottom out or shake everything lose easing though a rough area or driving moderately on a rougher highway. I would like to be able to boondock more.
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We are into year five of full timing. Our fiver is into year 18. We plan to do more western and Alaska travel in the next couple of years. We would like to go to some less traveled spots. Right now we are in a 37' Carriage. We love it but think it is time for a change. Two of the slides are quite large and have given us some trouble. They are unlikely to do well driving to Alaska. We think it is time to get a smaller RV for a few years and want something more nimble. We want to stay with a fiver and are not interested in a Class A as the units we've seen are too expensive (I am a diesel person.)
We're looking at the Arctic Fox 27-5L. Does anyone have experience with or knowledge of that vehicle? Comments good or bad?
Does anyone have suggestions for a different vehicle? We want to be at about 30'. Decent kitchen. Room for wife's sewing machine and cutting fabric. We can live with a dinette but would prefer not to. Solar would be nice. Full queen bed (I'm tired of camper queen). Max height 13'.
Wayne
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7 hours ago, RV_ said:
Magazines loaded does not wear them or their springiness out
For years army firearms instructors taught us that you only load 18 rounds in a 20-round M-16 magazine or the spring would wear out. I suspect that saved the government thousands millions of dollars from that 10% that idiots couldn't fire off into the blue on rock-and-roll (full automatic fire).
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On 11/7/2022 at 12:52 PM, RV_ said:
I have had some of the wackiest beliefs old hunters and young held from filing the sear on an M-16 makes it full auto (Not functionally) to a chief telling me the Vietcong could use our 5.56mm M-16 ammo in their 7.62mm AKs but we could not use theirs and that was an advantage they had??
In very early 1969 my army drill sergeant claimed they could use our M-14's 7.62/.308 in the 7.62 AK. Like offering couples advice in the middle of an argument, I decided perhaps I wouldn't mention that the AK ammo was a significant amount shorter. I cannot imagine how far I would have low crawled had I mentioned the problem.
Wayne
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13 hours ago, Kirk W said:
but I have also learned that discretion is best way in such situations. Most LEO's agree that a domestic dispute is dangerous to become involved in.
I wholly agree. My thought was to ask how it towed a couple of days after they arrived. That may or may not have gone anywhere. I never saw them so I didn't ask.
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On 11/4/2022 at 9:22 PM, TXiceman said:
The one time I came close to feeling seasick, was offshore at Galveston and it was hot and the wind dies to a calm. The sea was slow rolling swells. I was never bothered by rough seas and sailed through squalls with no problem.
We had a similar experience on a SCUBA club boat off of the Big Island when I was stationed at Pearl Harbor. We had no wind and slow, long, glass calm swells. Everyone was sick including the skipper. When we got to the reef that was our destination we could not get off the boat fast enough. Retching underwater with a SCUBA regulator in your mouth was a new experience. I've been fortunate not to repeat it.
Wayne
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On 11/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, RV_ said:
Well the delay was a lady who had made a name for herself in the park for non-stop talking was in his driver side window as he was hitching up and he told me he could not get her to leave him in peace. So he got flustered and forgot to check his hitch was locked, pulled forward and dropped the fiver on his truck doing some significant crushing to the bed sides.
Our solution to these folks is to say quite bluntly that we are in the middle of a checklist and we cannot talk now. Period. Then stop we talking and ignore them, or ask them to step back and then ignore them. I've only had to repeat this once. Usually they just go away. Maybe my rudeness factor is higher than some.
Similarly I never offer to help anyone back in. I assume they have a system. My question was really about how to talk about the safety of the truck/combination. Regarding backing in, they will either get it or not and will continue RVing or not. It is the killing someone in the meantime that has me worried.
On 11/5/2022 at 2:23 AM, bruce t said:I would never interfere. Not because I fear a punch on the nose. But because it's great entertainment.
Jinx refers to it as the 4 o'clock show.
Wayne
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9 hours ago, Star Dreamer said:
You may want to pick up some Bonine motion sickness pills. We have some from when we went on cruises but so far have never needed them in the RV.
I read their packaging. It still list drowsiness as a side effect so beware driving.
Wayne
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21 hours ago, ms60ocb said:
my wife does not help on directions, its a left-right thing, her left or my left and I do don't do well with left or right. But she does watch that I don't hit something and we do good.
That is our system for the same reasons. It works. It took time to get here.
Wayne
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Thanks. I gather answer is, "maybe, but carefully and not in the heat of the moment." That is pretty much what I thought.
My comment regarding blind backing being easier in some situations - if that were the case here he would still be backing in on a non-blind🙃.
Wayne
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I'm not sure if it is okay to comment upon RV things we've seen, but I'm going to take a shot at it. We've been at several campgrounds in several states in the past few weeks. The trip south was faster than we planned. So no names and no places are mentioned. I'm not even going to mention RV or truck brand. This could be any large RV from Florida to Maine. If you still see yourself in this story take a hard look.
One of the biggest fivers I've seen actually traveling on anything but a HDT. Big expensive unit. Disc brakes and a good suspension. GVWR: 28000, UVW: 22900, GAWR: 24000 and Unladen Hitch Weight: 5065. Pulling the rig is a 3500/350 DRW 4x4 diesel fancy class crew cab long box. Curb wt greater than 8133, Front GAWR 5600, Rear GAWR 9900, payload less than 5867, and towing 32,500. These numbers are generous. There are lots of extras on the truck Weights are in pounds.
The sites are perpendicular to a two-lane fine-gravel road. We backed into a similar site with a 37' fiver on a 350 in one shot but we do this quite a bit.
The driver drove up and the passenger hopped out. For some obscure reason the driver opted for a blind back-in. There is a good turnaround at the entrance about 100 yards away but driver decided on blind-side. The passenger went to the rear of the RV without a phone or radio. Driver started backing up. Passenger started waving arms in all sorts of what appeared to be incomprehensible combinations and shapes. Both were swearing at each other. Over the next hour there was one instance of some sort of expensive noise. Eventually they got into about the middle of a wide site. Not once did the driver get out and look. They occasionally spoke but it looked pretty heated.
Had I ever seen anyone outside I might have struck up a conversation about trucks and weights, but maybe not. Where do you begin?
I'm pretty sure they were over payload and probably over rear GAWR.
We get into a site using the GOALS model - Get Out And Look, Stupid! In earlier years we had some miscommunication and heartburn. This season we had one moment of that quickly ended. I am aware that this growth is a process over time. This year our full time kids gave us Tshirts that say "Sorry for what I said while we were trying to park the camper." We could laugh, so I can understand some stress. These folks were way out there regarding lack of communication and information gathering.
So I opted not to say anything. But this is a community. We may be scattered nomads, but we are still a tribe. Should I have tried to talk? If so, how?
Wayne
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I think you were talking shop. Just a guess.
Which videos are you watching? Last year my daughter gave me a Great Courses gift certificate for my birthday. I bought the NatGeo Fundamentals of Photography and got hooked. I recently started working my way through Fundamentals II.
I've taken a couple of online courses - Secrets of Better Photography and Photographing Nature w/DSLR. I'm currently taking a Lightroom course. The course that helped the most was Secrets. The Nature course was a disappointment due to the instructor's lack of engagement. I'm not far enough into Lightroom to say much about it.
I'm not sure what you mean by DPP-4; I'm pretty sure it is not dipeptidyl peptidase 4 which is the only reference I could find through Google. I started using the Photo app on my Mac and then went to Lightroom. It made a big difference. There are some pretty good YouTube videos for Lightroom. The processing tools are very good. It is subscription; $10.66 for Lightroom and Photoshop. I use Lightroom Classic because it is not cloud based. I can use it without internet access. I have yet to try Photoshop.
We are also fulltime. I'm shooting mostly critters, architecture and birds, but I also shoot events - All-Florida Rodeo, Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin' Festival, etc. I avoid portraits whenever possible.
What are you using for camera gear?
Do you want to take this off forum? If so respond to my email.
Wayne
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14 hours ago, homelesshartshorns said:
I have been stumbling around with photography for several years. I am still the Guy with "More Money than Talent"
I suspect that describes most of us doing this. I've taken a couple of online courses and try to shoot frequently. The very good shots are still few and far between. I like to think that gap is narrowing, but days like today make me think otherwise. I don't think I have shot anything more difficult than today at Wright Brothers Memorial. Big, flat open spaces that dwarf every subject to insignificance. Flat gray sky with no cloud contour. Ugh.
I am happy to talk shop if you want.
Wayne
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On 5/25/2022 at 8:19 AM, homelesshartshorns said:
I was not so interested in showing off photos here but looking for people interested in the hobby. You have a nice day and thanks for comments.....
I missed your post until now. I took up photography about a year and a half ago. I am very interested in it and working pretty hard to get better at it. I would love to have someone with similar interests to talk with about photography.
Wayne
wfoote@me.com
Civil Action Phone Scam?
in General RV Information
Posted
Kirk,
Don't answer any calls from unknown parties with "yes". Scammers use this technique to record your voice and then charge purchases in your name. Here is an article from the Minnesota Attorney General describing this problem.
Wayne