Kirk W

7 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Another issue is that the parks don't receive enough money to do even basic repairs in many cases. 

A major part of the budget problem stems from the practice of Congress adding more land to the various properties that are operated by the Park Service, without providing funding to do what is needed, thus forcing them to take money from parks already short of funds, in order to do what is required. Then through in the complaints that they get when/if the entry fees are increased or when they start charging a fee in a place that was free. Remember not so long ago when the price of the America the Beautiful Senior Pass was increased from the $10 cost that it had since it was begun as the Golden Eagle Passport in 1965, was renewed as the Golden Age Pass and in 2004 became the America the Beautiful pass with no increase in cost? That price was increased to $80 in 2017 and the $10 of 1965 is equivalent to $95.80 today. For some interesting reading, check out How Are National Parks Funded?

Based on many visits to Yellowstone NP, one big factor is to visit in the fall after school has started or in spring before school ends. In addition to the lack of  traffic and large crowds, either of those times you will see more wildlife than in busy seasons, partly due to fewer people to disturb them but also most animals are most active in early spring to recover from winter and in the fall to prepare for winter. The very best time to observe the bears of the park is in late September and October as they are pushing to gain fat for winter hibernation and pretty much ignore everything but food sources. If you do visit in the busy part of the year, arrive early and plan to walk as Bruce has suggested. Our experience was that crowds drop away very quickly, even in areas with boardwalks. A park ranger told me that in most areas, 60% of the visitors never go more than 1/4 mile and after 1 mile you will have left about 90% of the visitors behind. He said that they estimate that no more than 1% of the visitors ever get as much as 5 miles into the trails. 

On 4/30/2023 at 11:45 AM, Lou Schneider said:

As far as Nomad Internet's ad still appearing here, I think it's just another indication of the relative lack of attention Escapees gives to this forum.

You might want to look again.   

Tesla stock price according to the NASDAQ:

It is important to remember that in the time that it will take for EV's to become common on our roads other things will also be changing. If you dig back in history, when the gasoline automobile was in the early stages, one of the common reasons given for predicting that they would never be popular was that there were no places to get more fuel for them. Where we currently live there is nowhere that we could plug in to charge an all electric vehicle, but that doesn't say that there never will be. I doubt that I'll be around to see EV's become the majority of traffic on the highways, but I'd not be surprised to see them become the most popular commuter cars. 

Is that the bottom of the RV? I'm not quite sure exactly what I'm looking at but both edges, black and the white still seem to be parallel and level. Is that caulking that is sagged away from the black part? I'm not sure that you have a serious problem. It may help if you post a second picture that will show where this one is located on the RV. 

We have some friends in FL that bought one of the first Bolt's and they have been very happy with it, boastful even. As much as I don't believe one would work well for us, I do believe that electric cars are our future unless something dramatic is discovered soon. 

I would think that it will harm nothing to tow it to the dealer but you may want to avoid any rough roads, just to be on the safe side. Are you certain that it was not always that way? I'm not certain exactly what you have so you might want to post a picture if you are able. 

Welcome to the forums!

Have you checked to see if it is in the constant cool mode? It definitely sounds that way. It is possible that there is a bad connection via the plug connection of the circuit board but if that is not the case about all it leaves is the lower circuit board. Excessive cooling is nearly always the thermistor but if it is good then it must be the control circuit and it is all located on the lower circuit board. 

You may want to contact an RV tech to see if he has one of the PAL testers that the service manual refers to and see if he will check your board if you take it to him.

Quote

NOTE: The PAL tester will allow for proper testing of the integrity of the upper and lower circuit boards. PAL is available from your Dometic parts distributor.

12 minutes ago, cnielsen said:

So on your similar trip to Canada, did you have travel medical insurance or have a need for routine bloodwork?

Her condition didn't require regular lab work but on our annual visits so that wasn't an issue. We were never in Canada for longer than a week as we were summering near the border and made multiple short duration visits. we didn't bother with extra insurance. Probably we should have but...........  That was back in 2006. We were fulltime from 2000 through 2011 but returned to part-time in 2012 due to health issues. We are now nearing the end of our RV travel days. 

1 hour ago, 2gypsies said:

what are the LEOs doing about it?  Pulling them over?  Ticketing? 

Maybe it is people with CA license plates that need to worry?

Welcome to the Escapee forums! We are here to help and will do our best to supply answers. The trip you have planned is a wonderful experience and we have done similar but for a shorter time. I strongly suggest that you first talk with your doctors about your plans to see what they can offer by way of help. Doctors in Canada are not likely to prescribe or take other actions based on the records of a doctor in the USA, but will likely want to do all of the tests and such that you have already had, for themselves. Prescriptions may be less problem with filing in Canada but be sure to find out before you leave to go there. Some medications can't be transferred across state lines. There likely are solutions but investigate them before you head north.

On a more positive note, my wife was a continuing patient with several serious issues that required regular maintenance medications and we still went on the road fulltime for 12 years. One of the things that we did was to get our prescriptions through a mail order pharmacy to our mail service and then have them forwarded so that the prescriptions do not move.

22 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

I was replying to Bruce T's comment about some just getting out of the car at Grand Canyon and looking over the edge and then moving on. 

I think that we have all seen them. "Hurry and look! Take some pictures and get back in the car because we still have 300 miles to go today!"   🙄

National Parks: Ken Burns on why they were America's best idea

“You begin to have your memories or the important memories, the major signposts etched into your consciousness by the power of the national parks, and I can’t think of anything else besides tragedy--and this is the opposite of tragedy--that does that so well for us,” Burns says.

12 hours ago, bruce t said:

Define "visit"?

10 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

We explore our national parks thoroughly.

I am wondering how you define that as well. To use Yellowstone NP as an example, we have done some hiking on some of the shorter trails of a couple of miles roundtrip, we have walked the vast majority of the boardwalks, and in 2004 we volunteered at an Idaho state park and made day trips to spend a total of 26 days, 1 or 2 day trips to each attraction where we walked nearly all of the boardwalks. Yet we have not seen even close to all that park has to offer. The park boasts more than 900 miles (1,449 km) of hiking trails and 15 miles of boardwalks so did we see the park thoroughly?

At Denali NP we did an all day tour by bus with stops at all of the major attractions while there for 2 days.Denali National Park is huge – 6 million acres to be precise. So, to preserve the park's natural beauty, there are only 35 miles of hiking trails.

Everglades NP has about 1.5 million acres of canals, marshes and tropical critters, its hiking options are limited. There are 3 entrances and 5 visitor centers and we have been to all of those as well as having hiked most of the trails that they do have. When we volunteered there for 4 months in 2008/9 we also spent a day touring some areas not open to the public with an LEO by airboat but we didn't do any of the 120 miles of canoe/kayak trails. 

I could give other examples but the point is that with most of our national parks and monuments, to define what it means to see it well is a very subjective thing. Most of us see what we can based on the time that we have, our physical abilities and even our budgets. I think the only one of those attractions that I have seen enough to fully satisfy me with no desire to return to see more would have to be Devil's Tower, where we did spent 3 days on a fairly small attraction. When we were at Olympic NP, one of the park rangers told me that he had been in that park for 23 years and that there were still parts that he had not seen. 

9 minutes ago, superyooper said:

Not sure but I think the fuel pump is in the tank

I am quite sure that your fuel pump is in the tank as mine was on our F53 and pretty much all of them are nowadays. Mine was an earlier F53 than yours but when I sold it after 14 years and 82k miles it was still running fine but it did have a fuel pump replaced after 11 years due to it having been damaged by packrats. 

10 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

BTW, over 80% of all 12V problems is a poor/missing ground.

While my career would dispute that, I really don't see how it could be the case with this problem since there would be no spark at all if there were no ground. 

21 hours ago, agesilaus said:

Almost all those listed are impossible to visit for RVers.

If we assume that we can only visit if we take our RV, then that is true. When we visited Dry Tortugas NP we were fulltimers as were the other two couples who were with us. We visited by boat and left the 3 RVs in a campground but we did visit. We have visited many of the National Parks and also numerous other sites managed by the NPS by means other than our RV and we plan to continue todo so as long as we are able. I suspect that there are others who read the forum that may be interested as well. There is even a group called Worldwide Travelers BOF that is not exclusive to RV travel. 

The National Park System encompasses 424 national park sites in the United States. They span across more than 84 million acres, with parks in each state and extending into the territories, including parks in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam. Only 63 of them have the "National Park" designation in their names.   

How Many National Parks Are There?

If the chill box is that cold it is probably in constant cool mode for some reason. The most common cause of that is a thermistor open or shorted. Have you done any measurements with an ohm meter? Checked any voltages? I suggest that you download a copy of the Dometic Service Manual and go through the troubleshooting checks.

It is pretty easy to tell if it is in constant cool by looking for the flame if on propane or with your volt meter if on electricity. 

Quote

MANUAL MODE When operating in the MANUAL mode, the AUTO mode indicator lamp (A) will be off, and the refrigerator will run continuously on the energy source selected by the control system. NOTE: The food in the lower compartment may be frozen if the refrigerator is left on “MANUAL” mode. STANDBY MODE . . This control system contains a feature that will continue to operate the cooling system in the event of a failure of a major operating component. If the control cannot read the temperature sensor and operate at the preset temperature, then the control will run the cooling unit like the MANUAL mode.

1 hour ago, JimK said:

The new address needs to include the PMB number but omit "PMB".  This is not illegal but avoids raising any red flags.

The USPS regulations state that users of any private mail service should use either PMB or # just before the box number, but I have never heard of anyone having any issues with enforcement. I used PMB 621 for many years and never had a single problem. 

It has been suggested that when you leave any state that has a state income tax you should promptly file a partial year tax return to sever the ties with the state revenue department. I have known several people who did so and never had a problem but if you do not the state of NY might challenge if you really left. 

1 hour ago, JonFell said:

Any suggestions on this?

That sounds like the ignition probe has failed and should be replaced.

8 hours ago, sandsys said:

That's why a lot of full timers use the Escapee's mail service in Livingston, TX; they give you a street address that has been approved by the courts there as a legal address.

It is not that simple. The federal law called the Patriot Act set up requirements for addresses for various types of financial transactions and all financial organizations in the entire country are subject to them. There are also alternatives, if the business is willing to deal with them and knows about them. The reason that Livingston financial institutions are less difficult is the fact that the large customer base from Escapees has caused it to be commonly known and used there. The Escapee mail service is on the USPS business index the same as other mail services and the issue does arise from time to time with their addresses as well. Because they have dealt with the issue manny times you can get assistance if that happens by contacting the business office.

The court case that you reference had nothing to do with the use of the address for financial transactions, only the right to vote in TX and that case was settled in 2000-2002, long before the Patriot Act (triggered by 9/11) was passed.

37 minutes ago, Iroam607 said:

I retired from my electrical union but I believe I'm mandated to carry there Blue Cross policy till I get Medicare. Which is another year off

I suggest that you contact them first to see if you moving to SD and a mail service address will impact your coverage. It might not but you need to be sure. 

31 minutes ago, 2gypsies said:

We've been on some of those lakes... and survived! 

We have visited 5 of them but only been out on 2 of them.