agesilaus

I heard at Yosemite that they lost want-to-be rock climbers who thought clothes line would substitute for the very price real climbing rope. And they lost hikers who would be hot and sweaty in summer and when the ran into a mountain stream jumped in. Only to discover that the stream ran off the 600 foot cliff not far away. That was decades ago, I'm sure people are more intelligent now days. And when taking a cross country skiing class the instructor said that that they found lost skiers occasionally when the snow melted. They had made the unhappy discovery that you can ski 20 miles in the deep snow, but after breaking a ski tip, you could not walk back that far. I always carried a emergency ski tip in my pack after hearing that. That was in the days of wooden skies tho.

And these are not the ones you would expect, warning this is on FoxNews so avoid reading if that is a problem for yoou: Deadly Parks We have been to number four and five neither of which impressed us as having any major hazards, Traffic deaths was the number one cause, medical was high but animal attacks not on the list. Neither YNP or GCNP in the top five.

My own experience is that I had a work related back injury and have been on workman comp for the treatment. I've been going to a Pain Specialist for the last ten or 12 years and saw a neurologist before that who used Botox injections. They slowly became less effective and I switched over to the other doc. He went thru a lot of different meds until we settled on the Tramadol and Lidoderm Patches. The Tramadol was a minimal dose that I took only at night. When this crack down began to clamp down he was going thru everything he could think of and could tell skating on the edge to keep giving me 90 day scripts. We started using teledoc visits at the end but that was a special dispensation during the plague. Finally I just decided to do without rather than let him get in trouble. Actaully ibuprofen works pretty well for me but I have to be very careful about taking it with food. The DEA makes no effort to distinguish whether you are on Morphine or Demerol or on a weak opioid like Tramadol. Nor do they look at the dose. It's all the same. There has been a lot of abuse of the opioid system and the ham handed government does care who the catch in their net. Video visits might be an option for you tho. Or you might look at Botox shots, they did a good job for me for years. Think they lasted 90 days or so.

Just a guess but I would think that would greatly complicate state to state travel. y son, a LEO, tells me that the material is very pricey in FL. Does insurance cover it? And is it legal everywhere?

Ditto, we went with Walmart since they seem to be more common. However, at least in Florida, if you are talking schedule 3 drugs, then you have to see the physician every 30 days. I had to drop Tramadol which is a very weak narcotic since it was impossible to travel and see the doc every 30 days/ Walmart and U assume the big drug stores will transfer the script around tho it will lead to confusion.

What the heck is a castle in this context? I doubt that they have a Neuschwanstein Schloss there.

You may want to join the Escapees, they have affiliated RV parks, including several in AZ that have discounted prices for members. Plus they offer many other benefits.

Probably better to add a cup or so of bleach, fill the tank, and let it sit over night. Then drain and flush. This is superchlorinating the system and it can take awhile to do in biological films. Hydrogen peroxide works well too, but you probably don't have access to the 30% peroxide. Which is hazardous anyway. I generally dump half a bottle of bleach down the shower, and the same for the kitchen sink. Give it overnight in a fill gray tank, then drain. Do this every six months of so to kill odors.

We stopped at over 40 spots this last year. We rarely had a problem finding a place but we did normally call ahead the night before. We started this when we cut the day's travel down to 250 miles, or less and had a defined area that we wanted to stop in. We do boondock when we can, mainly west of the Mississippi. But we also try to Famcamp or use COE parks. We stay at city/county parks when we find them but they are often first-come no-reservation. A long rig like you describe could be tough to take boondocking down moderately rough and twisty roads. Make sure you have good ground clearance. And being out on one of those roads could spell trouble if you don't have 4WD and it rains

I'll have to defend Kirk here. He always tries to be helpful and I have never noticed him being overly critical. As for demand curves, people do not always get the right balance. Most park owners have never taken econ or a business class: Demand curves

Well a business, if it wants to be successful, needs to maximize price vs sales to maximize profits. If they can raise their price while still filling the park then that is what they need to do. Econ 101. They aren't running a charity. If they have shareholders, then they are legally required to do so, as I understand it.

If you want reasonable rates (1000/mo or less last year) then you are looking at parks north of Orlando/I4, there are several big parks around Chiefland, one near Archer. I Others down US 19 south of Chiefland. Many parks in the Ocala National Forest east of Ocala. There is a very highly reviewed campground called Rock Crusher Springs, west of Ocala. Near Crystal River IIRC. We've driven past but never stopped in. The Village south of Ocala is a pickelball hotspot. No beach swimming along the west coast until south of Tarpon Springs. With a few small local spots the exception. Lots of major springs tho. The weather won't be swimming weather tho for much of the winter, not by Floridian standards. But much warmer than up North. It has like the rest of the country been record cold here, lows in the 20's or even below for almost a week. Most winters, spring arrives in February tho. I'm sure there are many along US 1 but the will be more expensive. Rule of thumb, price goes up nearer real beaches and the further south you get of Orlando. Well above 2000 a month.

I don't know about any parks in South Florida. But you should be aware that many are at least partially booked by the folks already in them. And be ready for price shock.

My son recently became a LEO and I asked him a question. I have heard over the years that police give you a 5 mph buffer over the speed limit Before issuing a ticket. Well in Florida only, do not depend on this ib other states, the fine for 1 to 5 mph over the limit is zero dollars, most police will not bother stopping you unless they have some other reason. The local department, he works for, usually will not definitely issue a ticket for less than 15 mph over. 10-15 is optimal and you may get either a ticket or a warning. So once again FLORIDA ONLY.

No tho the Livingston Cell signal was weak. I have to wonder why you went to Mo during this cold blast. My son is in school at Columbia and it was -8 Friday with a high of +4 on Saturday.

I went thru the same thing when the visible phone I had died. We were in GA and our address is in FL. Just like you I went thru days on the phone finally thought that they had it straightened out but no, they shipped it to FL anyway. Their customer support, on phone and on line stink.

I searched in TN and found just a couple spots, IL and IN has a few.

Boondocking spots are rare east of the Mississippi. Florida has some and so does MN and I think MI. COE is you best bet in the east.

That is absolutely the case. We use BLM and FS camps all the time. Tho I have to say the worst road to an established camp was to the FS Camp outside the Idaho entrance to Yellowstone. It was a wonderful campsite tho with sites right on a whitewater river. But the road was 10 miles of the deepest potholes we have ever seen. A ranger told us that the USFS allocates no money for road maintenance. One thing to be ultra cautious about is the fact that many of those roads have no turn arounds. Once you are on them, with your fiver or TT, you are stuck unless you can back up for miles. Ditches on both sides with trees right up to the two track. We got on one at Hungry Horse reservoir in MT only to find a big dirt pile blocking the narrow road five or six miles in, Geez that was something you won't forget. So drop the camper and drive the road out in your truck FIRST.

Well we have 4 100W panels on the roof of our 25Y, and there is plenty for 2 more maybe 4, I'd have to measure. A fiver would have more room.

We have an AF Travel Trailer and not a fiver. In general the brand has a very strong reputation for being higher quality and heavily insulated. Not perfect of course but good. We boondocked with a couple AF fivers at the south rim last year and they were quite happy with their units. Northwood makes a line of off road campers but no surprise they are extremely expensive.

That would be a fumble fingered IIRC

UURC start somewhere in FL end in Austin

We drove I10 east from Livingston to the Tallahassee FL area a month or so ago. No problems seen, even the Louisiana section was OK and that usually has some sort of construction going on. There really isn't any sort of practical, southern, route that you can take to avoid I10. You can divert up to I20 but that will be way out of your planned route. US90/98 is deadly slow with innumerable small towns west of Eglin AFB. East of that it is good and fast to Perry, 4 Lane mostly empty. We didn't drive thru Houston this trip but have many times in the past and yes it is the bottleneck in the route, even without construction. Texas has lots of surface roads and I suppose you could bypass Houston. We came into Livingston via Bryan Texas(from Lubbock and New Mexico). The roads were good but of course much slower going thru many towns. It depends on your time available for the trip.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it.