4 hours ago, kb0zke said:

We finally got in some real boondocking! Yesterday we arrived at a BLM "campground" that has about a dozen back-in sites a couple miles off of the highway. Decent roads from the highway back to the campground. Solar worked exactly as expected.

That sounds like an excellent start! Hope it continues that way for you.

Linda

Are you worried about choosing the right rig for you? Mechanical problems? Safety on the road? Ability to drive/park a rig? Finding people to camp with? Give us some clues, please. We'd like you to enjoy your journey as much as we all have so will do what we can to help you.

Linda Sand

What I know is that you are to raise the flag all the way up then lower it to half mast--not just raise it to half mast.

Have you seen this waterless flush toilet? It might solve your problem.

https://dry-flush.com

Linda

21 hours ago, sandrabarry said:

I am just stepping out on this journey, I am very afraid

Tell us what you are afraid of and we will help you understand why it's not really so scary. It's best to start a new thread titled something like "help me calm my fears".

Linda Sand

6 hours ago, Chalkie said:

While I agree with this, it should be pointed out that in the US, at least, anyone can go to an Emergency Room and receive medical care. Not so for pets.

Emergency Room care is expensive!

1 hour ago, Diana Wilson said:

But would love to know how people get videos to be watched by so many people? 

It takes time and effort. Blogs are often entry points. You get an audience by offering something people want. Once you get enough viewers there you start posting videos on your blog. Eventually you transition to mostly videos. But, all that takes time and effort which few people are willing to give in today's instant world.

Passenger vans have rear windows through which he should be able to see his trailer.

Linda

1 hour ago, Chalkie said:

OH, my! I am so embarrassed! I had it in my head the steer wheels, i.e., the ones on the road doing the turning. SMH  LOL

Every time I see anything about steer wheels, in my mind I see the scene from the movie Jersey Boys with the safe in the trunk.  

Linda

The closest I came to that combination was a Dodge Caravan pulling a small tent trailer. But it was nice to have the space in the back of the van for gear. I know lots of people who have pulled a "fiberglass egg" type trailer with a Chevy Suburban. That's a popular combination.

Linda Sand

4 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Park Nicollet Specialty Center

Specialty care

• Cardiac Electrophysiology
• Cardiology
• Ear, Nose & Throat (Otolaryngology)
• Neurology
• Optometry
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Radiology
• Sleep Medicine
• Surgery

That's just one of the specialty centers. Park Nicollet has several buildings located all around the Minneapolis area. Dave's primary doctor is in Minnetonka. Mine is in St Louis Park. His dermatologist is in Wayzata. We sometimes go to Urgent Care in Plymouth or Maple Grove. But they all share the same outgoing phone number. Weird, I know but I like it.

Linda

5 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

All of your doctors, labs, specialists have the same number?

Yes. They are all (internists, dermatologist, optician, ophthalmologist, optical, lab, gynecologist, and hospital) part of the Park Nicollet system except for our dentist. Park Nicollet has all their outgoing calls routed through the same phone number. So it is in my contacts as ParkNic outgoing. We don't know which doctor is calling until we answer, though.

Linda

18 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

In years past, my wife and were pretty good about letting unknown calls go to voicemail. In the past year or so though, with all our recent medical issues, we're regularly receiving calls from doctors offices where the calling number is seldom the same due to multiple outbound lines and cell phone use. The best we can do until things settle down is to keep adding new numbers to our contact lists and quickly hanging up on the scammers/spammers.

We're lucky in that all outgoing calls from all of our doctors show the same phone number so adding that number to my contact list was easy.

Linda

10 hours ago, RV_ said:

The Swiss Bucher looks like it is. https://swissarmyvehicles.com/vehicles/duro-6x6-110

That doesn't have the angled rear end of the original one.

Linda

4 hours ago, aztex said:

About half unknown numbers are not scams but business related.

Even some of those can be scams. My previous health insurer had a company that called me all the time wanting me to sign up for this program or that one. They called from numbers all around the country. Now, I don't answer any calls from numbers that are not in my contact list. If they leave a voice mail, I check that to see if it's someone I want to call back or not. If they didn't care enough to leave a voice mail, I don't care about them either.

Linda

16 hours ago, Ali Lee said:

Hi all, 

My husband and I are looking for a built out camper van to purchase, price in the $25k-$35 range. We are willing to travel to pick it up. Would appreciate any leads, thank you!

The one I founding your price range is already sold but this one is just a bit more money: https://sportsmobile.com/van-inventory/14910-2/. Sportsmobile has been doing high quality conversions since the days of The Beach Boys.

Linda Sand

20 hours ago, lappir said:

I too was part of the generation of 14-16-18 and maybe even 20% interest rates of the 70's and 80's. It was not fun

I, however, lucked out. I bought a five-year Certificate of Deposit just before the rates dropped. The bank I bought it from was not happy with me since they had to pay that 20% for all five years.

26 minutes ago, LiveWorkDream said:

OL thanks for calling me a youth! I'm 54.

Our daughter's age--so, yup, being the age of our kid makes you a kid.

Linda

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

most owners find that the diesel maintenance costs more as well. 

And diesel mechanics appear to be fewer in number.

9 hours ago, jenandjon said:

We are on a tighter budget than normal too. There will be lots of Rames noodles and ham sandwiches eaten on this trip.

Ham sandwiches are one of my favorite foods no matter what the budget is.

Linda

Our 2008 Winnebago View Class C had a diesel engine and the noise was surprisingly quiet. We could talk with people standing by the open cab window without shutting down the engine or feeling like we were yelling.

Linda Sand

5 hours ago, Chalkie said:

I'm not in California. It is easier for manufacturers to print one warning label that satisfies the legalities of a product in all the places it is going to be sold. Thus, here in Texas we are blessed with Prop 65 warnings.

Maybe that's in hopes of keep us itinerants out of California?

Linda

15 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

I once had a long conversation with someone who full-timed in a sprinter van, mostly all boondocking.  He had some good insights into water management - he said he tries to use his water twice, like using dish water to flush the toilet, and so on.

Things I learned about water in my Sprinter van:

3 ounces of water is enough to dampen a wash cloth to use on your critical areas between showers. When it's cold out, put the water in the microwave for 30 seconds before pouring it on your cloth.

3 ounces of water in a cup is enough to brush your teeth and rinse your brush.

A bowl in the sink will let your dampen your hands for washing then rinse them multiple times if you don't go overboard with the soap. It only takes a drop of a liquid soap to do the job unless you've been greasing your bearings or something like that. For those jobs, wearing disposable gloves removes the need for extra hand washing.

Our daughter went to an environmentally conscious camp and the sign in the bathroom said, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down."

If you put used TP in an air tight bag, you won't fill up your black tank as quickly.

16 minutes ago, kb0zke said:

Sunday afternoon I'm going to fill and dump, then we'll go as long as we can using as little water as we can while still using only our own water. That will tell us how long we can boondock.

Testing your boondocking limits where you have full hookups available makes it less stressful. I wish I had done that because I always wondered how much longer I could have gone if I'd been willing to push the limits. I did once have my gray water back up into my shower but I never waited for the toilet to burp.

Linda

4 hours ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

They obviously have never boondocked much. 7 days on the tankage they have is not going to happen. One of them uses a combined black and grey tank and neither one carrys much in the way of fresh water.

Depends on your conservation efforts and how many people you have. In my last van I had 40 gallons fresh and 20 each black and gray and I could easily go a week or more. I also had 400 watts solar and 400 amp hours with everything being electric except for the diesel furnace. I never came close to using all my fresh water before I found a dump because I got nervous since my sensors did not work. 

Linda