Kirk W

The RV refrigerator has only a very small propane flame and no pilot. What you are seeing is the flame for heating. Is there any odor of ammonia either inside the refrigerator or in the rear access panel? What about any hint of a yellow powder or mud in the rear of the cooling unit? Either of these would be an indication that the refrigerant has leaked out of the cooling unit. To give anything more would require some additional information.

If you see the flame that tells me that the 12V-dc power is available and the fuse is not blown. Have you checked the display for any sort of error codes? Are there any panel lights showing? Is there any cooling at all in either the freezer or the chill box? Does the interior light come on when you open the door?

You can find a copy of the service manual for this refrigerator on the website of Bryant RV.

I agree with Roger that the major change will be wind drag from the frontal area of the travel trailer. Based upon my experience towing our tt I think that your anticipated 12 mpg is probably in the right general area. Our V-6 powered SUV got about that over this past summer's travels of roughly 5,000 miles. While we have a smaller tow vehicle we also tow a lighter weight RV. From all that I've read I doubt that your frontal deflector will make a very big difference, but the combination you are planning is one that I've never seen used so hesitate to guess. I see truckers beginning to use them so there must be some improvement. I'll be very interested to hear how this works for you.

 

CA is such a mess right now we're afraid to stay! Do you think its a good idea to change domicile before buying the RV or selling the house?

Keep in mind that you must leave CA in order to change your domicile. While you don't have to sell the house before you go, you can not just do things to claim TX or SD and continue to live in CA until the house sells. One of the key issues will be CA taxes and most find that it is good to submit a partial year income tax report to the state in order to notify the state revenue department of that change. Of course that will also mean that you won't be able to be employed in CA when you do this.

I did make some other suggestions in the other thread that you have on this subject.

Welcome!

Having lived as a permanent resident in 9 different states and as a temporary one in 19 others I find that all political systems move rather slowly and tend to make more mistakes when they hurry, but TX has moved much more quickly on this problem than is typical of most states. It seems to me that the Escapee staff, other interested parties, and the political delegation representing the RV community and truckers who have sought action have been very responsive. It is true that they still bear watching but then our system only works properly when under scrutiny by those served. There is no solution that will be immune to criticism by those who are determined, and you just can't make everyone happy, no matter how hard you may try. I am sure that they will continue to monitor the results.

To Jim and those who worked on the problem, well done!

 

The devil is in the details. How will this be accomplished, phone calls, mail only, certainly not online

Some people just prefer to find fault. Why not see what the details are before you start to criticize them?

I agree with Jack. Those that will see little or no impact don't understand what the big deal is, and those of us likely to be severely impacted are impatient for a solution that's going to be months in coming, if indeed one is offered at all (a solution has been promised, but we all know how little politicians and bureaucrats value their promises).

 

Many have speculated in this thread about the underlying motive for the change, but that is irrelevant at this point. ........

 

The "solution" is as simple as reinstating the former option...................

That first statement is much to broad a blanket statement to be valid. I will be little impacted now that we are part-time as is true for many who have left the fulltime road and who now winter in Texas or base there. But most, if not all of us do understand the implication and many of us are also actively pushing our elected representatives to get a workable solution in support of what the Escapees, trucking companies, and others are doing. But we can't simply leave it to others to get things done abut should all of us take the time to join the action at least to the extent of writing a few letters. I wonder how many of those who post here and keep this thread going have bothered to put as much effort into helping to get this solved by contacting their representatives?

As to your simple solution, the catch is that this was done by passage of a new law that has been signed by the governor. The trucking industry has full time lobbyists who should have caught this before the law was completely through the process, but failed to do so. They are as much at fault as anyone and more than most. But to put things back will require action by the TX legislature to change the new law or reascend it. Nothing political is very simple, even if it should be. Our best hope for an immediate solution is via the development of procedures then action by the legislature.

 

Also, are those with Escapee addresses actual citizens of Livingston? I understood that the Escapee complex was outside city limits.

Escapees who use the mail service as domicile are residents of Polk County, but not the city of Livingston. However the complex is just a short distance from the city and has a large economic impact upon it.

 

. I doubt that 10% of legislators have ever even heard of Escapees.

.

I believe that you are wrong on that score since Escapees are active in the lobbying area within the state on a pretty frequent basis but it would be difficult to prove either way.

Here in England we get an mot for 1year and it is illegal not to have one and you cannot get insured without it .

I'm not sure what an mot is but here in the USA we have license plates on our vehicles, much like yours but those plates are issued not by the national government but by the state of your residential address. Each state sets their own rules but the plates are honored by all other states and in other countries. The cost of the plates is also set by each state and varies quite widely from one to another as do the taxes on them and most anything. In addition, some states also require a safety equipment inspection on an annual bases as well and in this case, Texas is trying to combine the two processes into one and has run into some problems that the legislators failed to consider. That is what the entire debate is about and if they will accommodate the RV traveler or not.

To grasp the US system of government you need to understand a little bit of US history in that the country was founded as an alliance of independent nation states who joined forces for things like defense, international business & relations, and some limited other things but each state retained their own sovereignty for internal transactions. Out Civil War was fought mostly over the issue of whether or not one of these states had the right to withdraw from that union. Because of the outcome of that war and for efficiencies of business, travel, and national relations, more and more power has slowly transferred to the federal government while states have lost powers. Even so, the individual states continue to operate many things autonomously, each with their own rules and driving licenses, vehicle registration, and taxes are to a large degree controlled by the state governments.

DH says to ask how to download the magazine online please.

You do have to contact Escapee's office to get the access account set up if you have not done so. So far there is no way to just sign into the member only part without doing that first.

Please clarify, does this mean we will be able to use the Escapees park in Bushnell as a legal domicile?

We will very likely know more when the magazine comes out. My guess is that not all details are set yet.

Excellent initiative for your self preservation!

This has been asked requested for a very long time and I highly doubt the current issue had a lot to do with it, other than to perhaps push it forward just a little bit more quickly.

So this offends you for what reason? Is there some problem with them attempting to serve the membership?

Garages where inspections were done were subject to break-ins by persons looking for blank inspection stickers. So they lobbied for something to be done. IT vendors made the case to DMV/DPS individuals that one database could take care of everything.

Mind sharing your information source on this statement?

Chrystal City and it was by the employee behind the desk who processed all of my paperwork as she checked off a questionnaire that I then signed. It was not for a renewal, it was for my initial DL when establishing residency last month.

Thanks for the info. We moved to TX some 11 years before we went on the road so I really don't remember much of what we were asked and most likely it is different now anyhow. We have changed TX counties since then, once from Tarrant to Polk and three years ago from Polk to Smith but that process is very simple and in the first case was just done by mail. Changing counties seems to be pretty easy probably because the rules are actually set by the state even though the work is in a county office.

I completed my registration completely by mail. I obtained my Texas drivers license in 2006. As of this date I have never had a vehicle inspected in Texas. However, I do not travel in Texas, and have not traveled in Texas more than about 15 days in the 18 years as a Texas resident..

I suspect that AFChap is correct in this but there are also things about this which have been changed by the federal laws since 9/11 because this is a clear case of reasonable questioning the validity of the claimed domicile. Consider this definition from "The Law Dictionary."

That place in which a man has voluntarily fixed the habitation of himself and family, not for a mere special or temporary purpose, but with the present intention of making a permanent home, until some unexpected event shall occur to induce him to adopt some other permanent home.

just curious on which state you would use for your drivers license because the questions I was asked when applying for my Texas DL was: Do you have any vehicles? and Are they all registered in Texas?

Which office were you renewing in when asked those questions? It must be something quite new as neither Pam nor I remember any such questions when we renewed our licenses a couple of years ago. Were those questions on some form, or just asked by the employee who was doing the paperwork?

On the issue of multiyear registration stickers, I just received this note from the Smith County vehicle registration office in reply to the question if they are still available.

The state is going to one sticker starting next year therefore we have quit selling multiyear stickers.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

Cathy Black

Supervisor Smith

County Motor. Vehicle Dept.

Thanks for the information, Travis & James.

I think the main issue is that this was listed more as simply a "consolidation" of windshield stickers, more than anything else. I think that is how the "details" got over looked. Every one said "One sticker? Oh that is better." and just voted "yes".

This is exactly the way I read things. It happens a great deal in most legislative bodies. It looks like an easy, non-confrontational issue to use to get things to tell the voters that the legislator can claim to have accomplished. He then acts with no study at all.

I am amazed at the way some members seem to take great pleasure in trying to find things to criticize about the "club."

I was in Texas for a while and contemplated "going Texan" but decided to keep my Florida residency (and vehicle registrations). Texas has some bizarre steps to "go Texan". First, you have to register your vehicle in TX within 30 days. But you cannot get a drivers license until you've been in the state for at least 30 days (proven by certain acceptable documents which show you've been there at least 30 days). WTF?!?!? I couldn't navigate the requirements and put down a set of steps to follow on a piece of paper, so I gave up. I eventually left Texas because I found the people "inhospitable".

You sure do "know" a lot of things which are not true. There is no such requirement and many an Escapee Texan has taken care of everything by spending 1 week or less in the state and then going on the road. Had you asked here, there is a booklet available free from Escapees that is titled How to Become a Real Texan that spells out just what is needed and demonstrates how it is one of the easiest states of all for the process.

 

and the law linked to in my previous post; I am wondering if the effect on traveling RVers and Motor carriers is the "unintented consequence" and getting personal property tax for RVs used as residences to the counties is the true intent. Registering an RV used as a residence that never moves or may actually be incapable of moving without removing skirting, putting wheels back on, etc. seems to me to be close if not over the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Texas has no personal property tax on vehicles. They do however have real estate taxes that apply to improvements on rented or leased property such as a condo type community. The fixed RVs then might be deemed to be fixed improvements.

This is really the only way to MAKE people get inspections, and to make everybody get current on their inspections. A while back I started looking at people's stickers to see if the inspection month and the registration month are the same, and was shocked at how often they're not the same. I know I liked gaming the system by waiting until the first of the month after my inspection was due to have it done, to get a sticker with the new month. Over the course of a decade, I'd save almost $10.

I doubt that has much to do with it. The date of the safety inspection and the issuance of license plates is typically only the same if the vehicle is still owned by the original purchaser. To use the vehicle currently sitting just outside of my door as an example. I bought it used in June of last year and so the license plates were also issued in June. The original month of sale was December and since the vehicle has never been without a current inspection, it is still due for renewal each December. So I really don't think that I have been gaming the system.

I wonder how much it would cost to start a small mail service in Bushnell, FL?

So call the office and ask. They are usually quite open about things they are considering.

Has anyone in SKP management thought about going into partnership with an existing SD mail service?

Yes they have. As recently as about a year ago they did look at it and the revenue is just not there to justify it. It might happen at some point if an established service were to be for sale at a reasonable price.

Sorry but I have to disagree Kirk. I can renew registration totally through the mail if it is not tied to inspection. I went over a year without an inspection because my truck was out of state that long. When I first brought it back into state I had it inspected immediately. No problem. New method, total problem.

Jim, you missed what I actually said. I said if you are in residence which means present in the state. I too have been out of state many times, renewing by mail or online when out of state in our 12 years. It is definitely a bad thing for those who travel, whether fulltimers or just travelers in an automobile. What I said was that this is probably what they were thinking and never considering what happens if those same people happen to be out of the state when registration is due.

It would be interesting to know who was behind this new law.

While that is true, I highly doubt that there was any sort of conspiracy but that it was simply an oversight. If you happen to be a resident who is here most all of the time it would actually be more convenient than the current system with two stickers. We were in TX when the registration sticker came about and it was done to curb the stealing of date stickers on license plates that had become a problem. I didn't consider it the best answer back then and I still don't but if you were never gone at renewal time the combining of the stickers would be less of a hassle than the present system. On our current SUV the inspection is due in Dec. and the plates are not due until May which is a nuisance and there is the two stickers as well. The Polk Co. delegation is looking at it so I do expect that to get corrected and there is still a year to get it done.