Vladimir

I have a strong bias against wildlife biologists.....they wrote the recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl and now it is going extinct!!! I did get to write a minority opinion...that was ignored. Because wildlife biologists and maintenance personnel in most cases believe in old wives tales. It is easier to agree with a majority opinion, than to search for the truth. Good science. Apply the scientific method and be critical of your findings. Lights, in my opinion, and limited observations do not work. They do not work in the opinion of others that have tried doing somewhat controlled studies of lights. Just because you put out lights and don't have pack rats doesn't prove anything!!! It is much more complex than that!!! My problem with lights is two-folds. Pack rats are rodents. They carry infectious diseases. They are a human health hazard. Putting out lights......still leaves the Pack Rats around. They are still carrying infectious diseases and they are still a human health hazard. IF the lights work...and they don't all you have done is protected your wiring in your truck. Which you can do by simply opening the hood at night. Night-time lights, however, ARE a human health hazard. My doctor recommended black-out curtains, etc. for health reasons over 20 years ago. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-guidance-reduce-harm-high-intensity-street-lights https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/ama-assn.org/files/corp/media-browser/public/about-ama/councils/Council Reports/council-on-science-public-health/a16-csaph2.pdf https://thesleepdoctor.com/2016/10/31/5-serious-medical-conditions-linked-nighttime-light-exposure/?cn-reloaded=1 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23953362/ The third article is "popular" press. The other three are rather technical. BUT worth reading for the health risk of night-time lights. So putting out lights for PACK RATS.....lets the Pack Rats reproduce and continue being a human health hazard, but worse yet....the lights to protect the soy harnesses in your trucks is a ALSO a health hazard to YOU. Doubling up on your health hazards.

Just because you "were strongly encouraged" doesn't mean it works....BTW.. opening hoods DOES WORK. I placed game cameras under trailers with lights and without lights. I got pictures of pack rats strolling underneath the trailers with lights without a concern in the world. Get a wildlife camera...their cheap. Stick it under your trailer. See what you find. View the video link I posted. BTW...that LED flashing light in the video is "VERY BRIGHT". It is a 5000 degrees Kelvin and the camera is an INFRA-RED camera at the lower end of the visual spectrum. So that is why is appears so faint. Did you notice the Pack Rat reaction to the light?? Nope, my park does not have a "perfect storm of habitat". It has a "perfect storm of panic about pack rats". I set traps around the park as well as camera's. I trapped pack rats ONLY in three locations. One resident did trap pack rats in another location. ALL FOUR sites were good habitat for pack rats. Yet, many people in the park have those stupid lights endangering their health!!!! IT IS ALL about habitat...manage the habitat. Want more pack rats in southwest Arizona, plant cholla and prickly pear cactus next to each other. Want less pack rates....do the equivalent of opening the hood. No place to nest and little food to be found. Wildlife cameras are fun and cheap....you can buy three for a $100!!! Stick em under your lighted trailer. Stick them under my RV that is unlighted. You will learn quite a bit night after night.

I don't know IF this was the same case or similar....but it was more along the lines "did the Federal government (Forest Service, BLM, USFWS) have the authority to manage "animals" on their lands. The time frame is about right. Traditional the States have managed "animals". Which is why you get a state license to shoot a animal or kill a fish. The Federal government, on the other hand, managed habitat. Well, if the Federal government "owns" the animals on Federal lands, then all you need is Federal permission to hunt and fish on lands owned by the Federal government. In many states, there go almost all the fishing and hunting license revenues!!! When both sides realized that the Federal government was going to win the court case, it was quickly dropped by the "higher" levels in the Federal government. Be careful what you wish for.....when you get it...it might turn out differently. It might be a different case, I believe, the one I was thinking of was in New Mexico. Section 2 and the equal protection clauses in the Constitution are interesting. I am really surprised that more lawsuits are not filed under those two provisions. BUT, what do I know...I am just a immigrant to this country.

I spent TWO months at my SKP lot dealing with pack rat issues. Here is what I learned....... Lights do NOT work. I put out game camera's and the pack rats were caught on camera!! Didn't seem like the lights bothered them at all. See video below, that matches with my experience. Here is a video on lights and pack rats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOdt4G2uVAQ Lots of predators, however, do NOT like lights. Cats excepted. So your probably encouraging the pack rat population by putting out lights. It is all about habitat. In my wildlife management classes in college it was stressed that it is almost impossible to eliminate a wildlife species by hunting. It really does have to be a apex predator to be able to eliminate it by hunting. At the pack rat level....forget it. You cannot kill them quick enough to overcome their reproductive capabilities. The park landscaping next to me....and bless the Landscaping Committee they do a pretty job. They planted Prickly Pear Catus which provides a "home" for the pack rats. AND right next to the Prickly Pear Catus the planted a jumping Cholla the preferred food of pack rats. I killed SIX pack rats over a few nights time (live trap and then drowning them). I thought I was Pack Rat free!!! BUT just to be sure a week later I put out my wildlife camera. They were BACK!! I can picture in my mind....The male pack rat looking at the true love in his life and saying "What luck!!, we just found a Prickly Pear home next to a Jumping Cholla!!! Can you believe our "good fortune". At this point, I left. But will take up the battle next winter!! HABITAT. You need to change the eco-system around your RV. That means altering the habitat so that Pack Rats do NOT want to live there. Like Pat and Pete I am fed up with the lights. They violate the lighting standards for the park. Light your LOT...you don't need to LIGHT MY LOT!! Nighttime lights are a health hazard......I really don't care about your health, but I do about MINE. IF you want to eliminate Pack Rats....deal with the habitat around your RV. And if your just there for the night....hey, let it ride. BUT I would lift the hood on my vehicle. Pack Rats don't like the wide open!!

I remember way back in the 70's a camping fee war between Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. There was a sign setting the rate depending on what your state of origin.

I was working for the Forest Service in 1987 or so. We were using a linear programming model to calculate timber harvest levels during the Forest Planning process. ONE computer run was costing us $1,000 and that was using the Federal computers in Kansas City!! It took a overnight run to do ONE run. We were doing lots of runs, probably the total numbered in the hundreds before the model was finally retired. At that time, Compaq came out with the 486/33 desktop and another company came out with linear programming program that used a dongle. So it really was a fairly simple decision to buy the Compaq machine. About 20 years later, the Forest Service was doing an inventory of ALL its functioning computers. The accounting department called me and said that their information showed that I paid 17,000 dollars for the Compaq 486/33 and they assumed that figure was incorrect and wanted to know what I paid for it. The taxpayers paid $17,000 for it. They got their money's worth out of the machine. It was still functioning 20 years later. But is was no longer "cutting" edge technology. Over the years, it kept moving "down" in what it was expected to do. At the end it was hooked up to a Nikon film and slide scanner and was "slowly" converting the historical Forest Service slides and film to digital files. It didn't make the 30 years to retirement. I think the Forest Service finally gave it a early-out retirement" after 25 years. They don't build computers like that anymore.

I NEVER signed up or used Facebook, EXCEPT one time I had to sign on as a user during a forest fire. The team was using Facebook. Anyway, on just upgraded to Firefox and their privacy notifications. Firefox has blocked Facebook tracking!! I guess once you sign on to Facebook......they will always know where and what your doing !!!

I just have a couple of questions.... I have lived in several towns where there was NO MAIL delivery to residences. You had to have a Post Office Box. Is that different than a mail forwarding service?? In those days, I had no physical address. I suspect with 911 service these days most counties have established “addresses” even though mail is not delivered there?? So the address is sufficient?? In the near future, I might shift my mail again to a Post Office Box for a host of reasons. Does that mean I lose the right to purchase a firearm?? For a few years, my mailing address was actually a Federal agency....the Forest Service. The mail went to their office and then was delivered by the Forest Service to my location. I am not sure if the Forest Service does this today.....but how does that work?? On the side.....I had a official government passport, boy did that help getting a personal passport!! I wonder if I used a government agency as my address if that would speed my “permit”.

What John said...except I have TWO working CO detectors with digital readout. CO in a RV in no joke. Get TWO detectors with digital readout....AND follow John’s suggestions.

My RV dealer said you don’t want to buy one of these!! I ended up with a front hitch and put a Yakima rack on it. That works. Doesn’t have to be a Yakima rack, but a front hitch on the truck is handy for all sorts of reasons, not just bike racks.

The information is somewhat dated so check for current regulations. BUT, this does give you ideas on how to fish without paying high license fees. https://usbackroads.blogspot.com/2010/06/free-fishing-spots.html

I just upgraded my computers from Windows 2000 to XP. Those are the ones that run the telescopes and camera’s in the observatory. As others have mentioned you need scanners and items from that era. In my case, I am not going to pay 5,000 dollars to upgrade all my equipment!!!! Windows 7 is great. I might upgrade to that soon in the observatory. I do use Windows 7 for my photography and general purpose computing. I am trying to get a refurbished computer with Windows 10, but it seems that with the pandemic the refurbished market is sold out. There are some real advantages to being behind the curve.

I pay for my prescriptions out of pocket. I got my Dr. to write a prescription and have me fill the year order at one time. The prescriptions are all fairly common, nothing exceptional. Costco filled the initial prescription as a 90 day supply and I pointed out tot them I wanted the ENTIRE years supply NOW. The asked me to give them a weeks notice so they could fill my prescription. The “just in case” business model for filling prescriptions upset the apple cart!!! So yes....shortages are pretty common. I am good till December! BTW...this was THREE years before the current situation.

Several years ago, I almost bought a used RV in Canada. The rub is when you take it across the border. IF I remember correctly the US wants that medallion that certifies a RV. I think most folks have seen it, but never paid attention to it. Well, that medallion does not exist on vehicles made in Canada for domestic use. IF you buy NEW, the dealer will affix the medallion and you can get across the border. I got all sorts of "good" advice on how to sneak a used RV past US Customs. I decided to confine my used purchases to the US. Anyway, check with US Customs. Since I was looking for a used or new RV I called the company that built them new....and got the complete story. All things might have changed since a decade ago.

We are wandering off-topic.....but PRIVATE COMPANIES cannot set laws and regulations for the UNITED STATES. Trust me on this. As a Federal employee we have had the courts send back some of our agency decisions simply because they were concerned that "advisory" councils were making regulations and NOT Federal employees. The Federal government can use whatever data it wants in its decision making process....BUT the decision is limited to the Federal government and its "employees" that Congress designates to write the regulations. For all those folks concerned about government spending......really this is something we should be spending taxpayer dollars!!!

I don't have Direct TV......but if you read the post. Regrettably, we must inform you of a new law that affects your programming. Until recently, the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act authorized DIRECTV to provide you access to your out-of-market broadcast networks—ABC, CBS, NBC, CW, and/or FOX. Unfortunately, Congress has decided to not renew key provisions of this law. As a result, on June 1, 2020, we no longer will be able to provide you access to these out-of-market channels. These are not available anywhere else. However, this change does not affect access to your existing local network stations. We have the "best Government money can buy". I am not sure why Congress is involved in this at ALL. Why is this a Federal matter?? In Wenatchee, my local cable system offered the "local" Spokane TV stations. Ooops, some Federal law and resulting Federal regulations made Wenatchee part of the Seattle TV market. Wenatchee is EXACTLY half way between Spokane and Seattle. It has historically been part of eastern Washington, but lately floods of urban refugees have been moving over to Wenatchee from Seattle. So the Federal government made the local cable company replace their Spokane TV stations with Seattle TV stations and the cable bill went up as a result. Even worse, the local TV station was now part of the Seattle TV market so if they purchased ANY nationally syndicated programming that have to pay Seattle rates!!! There are lots of worthwhile things that the Federal government is responsible for....as a Federal employee for 30 years I know that. WHY is CONGRESS fiddling around with TV programming in local areas and on satellite. Oh wait....I forgot...."We have the "best government money can buy". rant mode off.

Governor Inslee and Washington state is special. I have spent the past 14 days in self-quarantine at my second home since I believe I was exposed to the virus in Arizona. Around my second home are "second homes" of the rich and famous. Yeah, I was country before country was cool. They are coming over from King and Snohomish Counties....the original epicenter of the outbreak in the US every two or three days. Drive over here for a couple of days. Go back to King County for a couple of days, then drive back over to Chelan County and their FIVE ICU beds. I called the Governor's Office and they were aware of the problem with 30,000 plus second home owners driving over.....It is DAY SIX since I called and nothing has been done. Even Governor Cumo in New York objected to closing the roads so the second home owners being able to leave New York...I guess after they left it was no longer his problem. It is a real problem for rural areas. Sun Valley is totally wrecked by the virus and their ONE ICU hospital bed. Yeah, they flew in on their private jets and then flew out when they got sick, but the locals DON"T have private jets. Good luck finding a place to stay if your a full-timer. Your choices are between a caring community with medical resources and toughing it out on your own in the middle of somewhere. This thing is serious. It is going hit a couple of weeks later out west than back east. See how New York goes....so goes the west two weeks later. IF we had a stay in place order that was actually enforced....(but notice in Washington state that is NOT happening) there might be a chance of slowing this thing down. For full-timers....avoid catching it at all costs. I would not be surprised if the County Sheriff starts checking ID's and asking why somebody from King and Snohomish County wants to visit Chelan County in the midst of all this.

Just drove last week from the Mexican border to the Canadian border....more or less. That was interesting. So the information is somewhat dated.....From Benson to Wenatchee, basically on 93 until Idaho March 18th in Arizona. It was pretty much business as usual. Parking lot fairly full at stores and businesses. Lots of traffic on the roads. Stopped for the night at a BLM campground and it was fairly full. But it looked like lots of snowbirds were staying there rather than moving on. March 19th in Nevada. Pretty much shut down. The Governor closed all the casinos, brothels, churches and other gathering places. Highway 93 heading to Idaho had long "wagon trains" of trucks and Canadians heading home. Really surprised at the number of Canadian snowbirds that were heading north. I guess when the PM said come back home....they all started heading north. Going through Ely I was surprised to hear on the radio that the town had two cases. One case, definitely related to overseas travel. Camped on BLM land outside Alamo. Only RV there at 3:30 in the afternoon and then had 15 other rigs join me by 5:00 pm. Alamo grocery store was picked fairly clean. At Jackpot there were people that looked like they were going to boondock there at night. Casino was closed. Campground was open at that point. I decided to head into Idaho for a BLM campsite instead. Oh, driving was definitely an adventure. Almost saw a 15 vehicle RV pile-up outside of Wells!!! Did see another single vehicle that rolled off the road around Wells. I tried to stay away from everybody on the road!!! March 20th in southern Idaho. What pandemic?? Stayed at a BLM campground just a short distance above the Nevada line. It was pretty full with locals fishing and riding their quads. Traffic looked a little lighter than usual going through Boise. There are virus cases in Boise and a large cluster in Sun Valley. I guess those private jets brought it in. March 21st in north-east Oregon. Lots less traffic according to the gas station attendent (they pump your gas in Oregon). Campground I stayed in was a "resort' RV park that was pretty much empty. No contact with anybody. Just a note on the office door on which sites to take. They were staggered so that nobody was next to each other. You paid by dropping your registration and money through a mail slot. Not many people in the campground. March 22nd in Washington state, somewhat lighter traffic, not sure if that was due to a Sunday or a virus. Pretty much everything was open. Today March 26th the "shelter in place order" goes into affect in Washington state. Pretty quiet around Wenatchee. Several new cases and another death from the local extended care facility. Washington state owned public lands are ALL closed to overnight camping. Individual National Parks are also closing campgrounds and even closing overnight camping in Wilderness Areas. Not sure the status of private campgrounds. Yesterday in Washington state, the Governor FINALLY issued a shelter in place order for two weeks after several requests from the medical community. There is much less traffic on the roads. It is suppose to be essential traffic only. People are going outdoors for walking and using local trails. Hope this information, though dated, is helpful. It does give you the wide variety in response from the local state governments.

Thanks for posting the link. I might pick it up when I get home. The version with the "trucker" antenna looks like it would be really handy. I hear you Kirk about the pride. But having a phone given the places I frequent is pretty handy and important.

I have not found a good solution. I have used 200 feet of garden hose and a milk jug when the source was ABOVE the RV. That works really well!!! However, I have used a 12 volt "shower" pump, a submersible 12 volt pump, and a couple of other kludges. The 12 volt shower pump worked best of all, but I did not have to pump more than 10 gallons at a time. I don't drink out of tanks. I did use the 12 volt shower pump to fill a "bag" water filter set-up. I suspect there is a pretty good market for a well-designed water pumping system for RV's.

Ally Bank is the former General Motors Acceptance Corporation that offered car loans for General Motors. During the last financial crises the Federal Government not only bailed out General Motors, but they decided that GMAC (Ally Bank) was really a bank and not a financing arm of General Motors. I had a car loan with Ally Bank, when I called them and told them I wanted to make a additional principal payment, they told me to compute it myself. I told them....fine. They were accepting my interest calculations and balance due. At that point, they decided that maybe they would tell me how much I was paying in interest and principal. Unlike losthikers...I have no problem with a for profit business. But this is telling.....I have THREE credit unions that I do business with an multiple accounts with each. I do NOT do business with ANY banks and have closed out and moved accounts to the credit unions ASAP when my accounts were transferred due to mergers, etc. There are great local banks in this country. There are NO great Wall Street or national banks. But why take a chance...get a credit union account.

Mobility....the definition varies according to activity. Early in my career, I supervised a couple of interpretive naturalists. We organized a set of "handicapped" tours using the local Boy Scout troop and Forest Service resources. Our tours went through "swamps", but today's term is wetlands. They are still cool no matter what you call them. My surprise was the number of Vietnam vet's with war wounds that made it difficult for them to walk. Canoeing, however, took advantage of their upper body strength and suddenly they were no longer "handicapped". The letters were most gratifying and opened a view on "mobility" that changed as a result. Mobility...canoes, electric bicycles, tri-cycles both electric and non-electric, motorized wheel chairs, wheel chairs for trails, and it keeps going.......define your mobility issues and then look at how you can overcome them. A raft trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon has been on my bucket list for 50 years. I am saving it for my later years, when I have mobility issues.

Hey, thanks for that information. I was totally clueless about "high value loads". Hmmm, maybe next time....a Wal-Mart driver?? But seriously...thanks for the info....it never crossed my mind. I must confess, particularly on two lane highways I will always drive behind a semi. Living in rural areas, there is not much survivability in a head-on-crash. Nobody, wants to have a head-on with a semi....a car seems so much safer to them.

Ok, serious question..... Going down I-5 your going to have somebody tailing you ALL THE WAY to LA. So why wouldn't you prefer to have ONE vehicle behind you, instead of a different vehicle every couple of minutes?? I understand the need to see people behind you. I try to stay far enough back that the truck can see me AND most importantly I can stop before I meet the vehicle in front of me. Really, when you come down to it most folks driving cars do NOT realize how long it takes to stop a semi or RV. I was almost killed by a semi that did NOT notice my left turn signal on a two lane highway. I don't know if he was on the phone or fiddling with the radio, but I quickly turned right into the ditch and he had his brakes locked and smoking and finally came to a stop about a 1/4 mile from me. I was mad as hell at him, but since I was driving a government vehicle I thought it probably was not a good idea to drive down to him and start discussing highway safety with him. There is no reason not to drive safely. Just today between Yuma and Tucson it was interesting.

Yeah, I know that....I tried to stay as far back as possible and in position where he could see me in his mirrors. But I-5 is such a straight shot that you really do need to wig and wag to check on traffic behind you. The issue is unless traffic dictates I really didn't want people pulling constantly between him and me. After all it was I-5, but a fairly light traffic day. I did drop back whenever I thought a semi or larger rig really did need to pull in between us. Only happened once in the 150 plus miles!! A friend of mine did it with his Camry and drafted a truck for several hundred miles. They both pulled off at the same exit and the trucker walked over asked him if my friend was going to buy him lunch with all the gas money he saved drafting the truck. Oh, I forgot I got plenty of warning on potholes and bumps on the road surface when he tried to avoid them.