Al F

The same goes for those who go to Las Vegas or the local casinos, they talk a lot about their winnings but very little about their losses. From the stories I hear & read the casino business is one of the worse in the world, everyone wins but very few loose.

So how to you know when to sell the stocks you own so you can put the money in CD's or bonds while you wait for the market to go down? Is now a very good time? With the market at $29,000, up from around $8,000 back around 2008 is that when? Or is the market going to go up to $35,000 or $40,000. Or do you just keep a couple hundred thousand dollars in CD's just waiting for the "right" time to buy? 🙂

I absolutely would NOT recommend an inexperienced driver take an RV up the Oregon coast on US-101. Granted that on US-101 the grades are not real steep, but the curves going up and down those grades are somewhat sharp and the road, while normal US highway width feels narrow. Sometimes you are literally between a rock wall and the traffic on the other side of center line while going around the curve. Especially when a large truck is coming at you. Besides, it is not like the Siskiyous Pass has snow and ice on it every day. Just use the suggestions given earlier to check the weather and don't go if there is ice and snow. As far as driving down the pass, just limit your speed to 45mph or slower. At the top, down shift from 5th or 6th gear to 3rd or 4th and stay off the brakes. If you are in 3rd or 4th and your rig is quickly running up past 45mph, press your brakes hard to slow down to about 40mph and down shift another gear.

The tour buses drive up there for people to stay at the lodge (motel). About 4 years ago we drove our 29' Class A up and stayed in the Chisos Basin CG at one of about 2-3 campsites that is long enough for our rig. It was very difficult to level the RV though. The hair pin turns were very tight, but we just took them very, very slow and we were fine. Before we took our RV up we drove up in our toad, selected and paid for our site, then went back down for the RV. Not saying I recommend taking a rig over 24' long up there. BTW, the campground hosts many times have RV's up there in the 35' long range.

Many back country sites are open, but very few can you get a RV into. Over 50% of the dry camping sites at Rio Grande Village are OK for 32' long and longer. Everything is by reservation ONLY. Here is the reservation website: https://www.recreation.gov/search?q=Big Bend National Park&entity_id=2584&entity_type=recarea I think your chances of finding many open sites before April 1 is slim to none, other that a few days now and then. Chisos Basin CG has very short campsites and the road is not recommended for motorhomes over about 24'.

If you go to Medicare and enter in your Rx's they will give you a list of insurers with the primiums, costs of each drug at which ever pharmacy you chose and your annual total cost for each insured/pharmacy. It also breaks down your monthly costs and shows you when you will go into the gap and catastrophic. https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare/?utm_campaign=20201104_oep_mpf_omcs&utm_content=english&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#/?lang=en&year=2021

There is an article in USA Today about the DOI's order: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/america/national-parks/2020/10/28/national-parks-give-free-entry-veterans-5th-graders-gold-star/6055843002/ It is good to follow the new media for your news. In the DOI news release I see that the "DOI" made the order and there is mention of some bipartisan legislators supporting the order. However those are the only elected officials I see that are mentioned. No mention of any other significant elected officials.

I can't speak for the Black Hills or Custer, but ALL the popular NP's and State Parks, as well as many other places, have gotten very busy over the last 10 years or so. We were in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in August 2019 and it was pretty busy. However we stayed inside the parks and would get up and on the road to the scenic places and hikes we wanted to go to. Staying in RV Parks outside the NP's may add 30 minutes to an hours drive to get to the first area you want see. Basically we got to the parking areas before the crowds arrived. We spent about 10 days in the Tetons and 2 weeks in Yellowstone.

Escapees also has an online RV Education website: https://www.escapees.com/education/rvers-online-university/ For internet availability with Verizon here is a link to their coverage: https://www.verizon.com/featured/our-network/ To use the Verizon coverage map, scroll down to the big red map, look to the lower left of the map for "Expand interactive map" click on it and then enter the zip code of where you will be. A word of caution, the farther you get away from major highways or population centers the weaker the signal will be. A cell signal amplifier, Such as a weBoost, is a great help.

Do you use email to request forwarding, or do you call? I try to never call anyplace to request a service or order something because I can't establish who's error it is when something goes wrong. What did Escapees tell you about why your mail went out 1st class instead of FedEx?

Your CPAP rating of 3.75A at 24V DC power would be the max power the CPAP will use. If you can be comfortable using the CPAP w/o having the humidifier or a hose heater turned on you should find that the CPAP will pull about 1 amp or less for just the electronics and the blower. My wife uses her 12V CPAP very night and it pulls less than 1 amp, w/o the humidifier on. Her CPAP plugs directly into a 12V outlet with an adapter we bought from the CPAP maker. Your CPAP is a 24V DC machine. The standard power cord likely has a little box in the cord that converts the 120V AC to the 24V DC the CPAP needs. You can buy a 12V to 24V adapter like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Regulator-Adapter-Vehicle-DC9-20V/dp/B01EFUHGMU/ref=sr_1_3?crid=FJN6W68VOJB9&dchild=1&keywords=12v+to+24v+dc+step+up+converter&qid=1601756218&sprefix=12v+to+24%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-3 This following link will help you understand the use and operation of the 12V systems and batteries used in an RV. It will also really help with all the terminology you saw used in the replies. The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1) The 12 volt Side of Life Part 2

The trailer should be level when towing. That is the best setup for the suspension I believe. As far as when parked for the night and the fridge being level: As long as you are comfortable in the RV the fridge will be fine. We are comfortable with a bubble level off by about 1/2 bubble or less. If the RV is off level by more than 1.5 or 2 bubbles (you have to estimate on the bubble level for more than one bubble off) then I would not run the fridge for more than a hour or so. A 35 foot RV, can be off level by about 10 inches (front to rear, bumper to bumper) and still have the fridge still be OK. That is with the fridge mounted along the side of the RV (not in the rear). Most people would be quite uncomfortable with a rig that unlevel.

I would not take a rear engine diesel, especially one with the radiator in the rear behind the engine repeatedly down a dusty road. I would be very concerned about all the dust getting on the radiator. Watch out for the overhang behind the rear axle as well as a really long wheel base when going down gravel roads. Easy to drag the rear bumper or get high centered.

I have see what appears to be HDT trucks with cherry pickers mounted on them with 4 wheel drive used to work on rural power lines. So I guess you could get a Super C build on HDT 4x4 chassis.

This would be more fun if this: if it was made gender neutral: The gender neutral stuff sure does get confusing.

Yeah, Sharon & I do the "we should" many times, really meaning "you should". 😀

I guess the original statement here: Could be reworded to: BTW - However, Shingles can be very nasty. The pharmacist's partner is a dentist. Said they had a patient who had shingles in their jaw area. Would come in for a Novocaine shot to be able to eat! Another friend had it which affected their hearing for about two weeks. (Couldn't hear out of one ear). 🙂

If you are comparing a "Super C" to a Class A diesel pusher then I would say you do not get the same "space" for the length of the motorhome. The 4-5 feet of engine space sticking out the front of the Super C is wasted area as far as living space.

That is what a couple of staff in the hospital told us, "Get a second flu shot in Jan-Feb if you get one in September."

DW & I got our flu shots the first few days in September. We get our shots every year. Last year (2019) we got our shots in September and I came down with the flu in February 2020. I was back to about 90% in 6-7 days and 100% in 10 days. DW got the flu from me about 8 days after I came down with it and was in intensive care for 9 days with double pneumonia which turned into sepsis. The infectious disease specialist thinks we came down with type A flu whereas the flu shot was for type B.

Ouch! $25 per document for the notarization. Isn't that expensive? Is this the typical cost? The cost I found was from this link provided earlier in this topic: How to get something notarized

Great info. Thanks, Kirk.

What RV do you have? Was there a factory installed inverter in the RV when it was new? As jcussen, wrote earlier, RV's with an inverter installed from the factory will have a sub panel installed with c/b's just for the circuits to be powered by the inverter. If you are installing the inverter in an RV which didn't have an inverter installed from the factory, then most people install a sub panel for the 120V outlets, the microwave, and maybe the fridge. Usually no need to have the air conditioner(s) or the water heater connected to the inverter.

I think you will find that in most motorhomes, the existing battery compartment is exposed to the outside environment. There is little incentive for the RV mfg to put them in a heated compartment as lead acid batteries are designed to be used in temps from zero to 100 degrees. As far as lithium batteries are concerned it is the battery internal temp not outside air temp that is the concern. If the lithium batteries are in an enclosed compartment with some insulation they will probably be above freezing (internal temp) down to 10* outside temp or lower and OK for charging. They can be discharged down to zero or lower. The batteries also produce some heat when being used so that helps keep them warm. On the other hand heat over 100* is detrimental to long life of the batteries. So putting in a well insulated compartment w/o good ventilation is not a good idea.

Walmart & Murphy (separate stations here) both are $1.73. Valero is $1.75