What do you do about jury summons? (let's hope this doesn't happen for awhile)
What are the pros and cons of different spots?
What makes a good campground?
Let us know anytime you have a question. We'll answer these and others you bring up, if we can. I put these here for safekeeping so I wouldn't lose them. Answers (from our perspective, of course) soon.
Click on any of the frequently asked questions below to go to the answer text.
Those are really great questions, aren't they? Please give us more questions, we promise to try to answer them. This is supposed to be frequently asked, and answered as we have time. You can email us at as4822@gmail.com
We conduct two to three full-timing seminars annually, and did so 2008, 2009, 2010. We learn as much as any attendees at these seminars. Our fellow panelists invariably surprise us with their solutions, and attendees bring up the darndest questions.
Two years ago a panelist and good friend asked, "Do you two have liability insurance for full-timers?" We thought she was nuts. Eventually we checked with our agent who told us, "Nope, your truck coverages do NOT apply to the trailer when it is unhitched from the truck.
Hmm, Hunter was right (of course!). We really like our Allstate agent -- she always took such good care of our issues, renewals, questions. And this time she recommended we check with other insurers for this coverage.
Three years ago we had a little run-in from a driver insured by Progressive. Progressive was over-the-top wonderful handling our claim. Then we started seeing their cute adverts. Hey, who knew about Progressive Insurance? Suddenly we hear about them everywhere. Need to check them out!
We checked a couple of companies for liability coverages and Progressive won. Now if our RV rolls back and knocks over a mile of campground fence, we might have ready help to cover the loss. Doesn't really make us feel much better, but hopefully this is prudent and reasonable.
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Why'd you buy a gas-powered truck instead of diesel?
The past couple of weeks, in Canada, diesel prices have been well under regular gasoline. Maintenance and first costs are still considerably higher for diesel than gas engines. Some diesels are evolving to quieter systems than even five years ago, so this could be a non-player.
We've read or heard the payback for diesel could be less than 100,000 miles. It depends upon two primary items: first cost and the other costs. We think the payback is well up above 150,000 miles, and we aren't sure we'd have our truck this long. Why bother?
Diesel engines are unquestionably stronger than even our huge 8.1L gas setup. Way stronger. We recently climbed lengthy (+/- 6 mile) 8 and 9 percent grades. We were, at times, down to 40 or 45 miles per hour. So what? Gas is good enough for us.
Why a GM truck instead of Ford or Dodge?
The 2500HD, GMC or Chevy, is a fine towing vehicle. We prefer the extended cab since we only 1 percent of the time would need the rear seating and admire more the looks of ext cab. We eschewed the 8' long bed because (1) we don't want to carry more than we can stuff in the shorter bed, and (2) the longer wheelbase creates a frustrating delay in the trailer's turns when backing.
Friends with the 6L gas engine in GMC or Chevy do just fine with 31' trailers, so the loss of the 8.1L engine appears to be no biggie. You would have a 4.10 rear end and the higher gearing will spin your engine a little faster, better within its power curve. Fuel economy on the 6L is at least as good as ours. The only apparent benefit of our largest engine might be a longer life, since engine parts are spinning so slowly much of the time.
We are truck brand indifferent. Our first was a 1993 F-150 ext cab long bed. Bed too long, engine already severely worn, brand just fine. Finalists for second truck, beefy enough for our conversion from 22' weekending Airstream to 25' full-timing Airstream, were Dodge, Ford F-250, and Chevy 2500HD. Multi dealerships for each in our hometown, so easy to shop all.
Dodge seemed unable to really match a cab/bed/engine to our wants. Ford looked fine. But we realized we had a Scouting contact with GM Fleet purchase capabilities. Okay, we'll focus on GM. Our requirements were simple (we thought): 2500HD; captains chairs, cloth; 8.1L gas; Allison tranny; extended cab; 6.5' bed.
The fleet manager answered in one week with a great match: "How do you like Red?" Our cowboy cadillac is sport red metallic, and we adopted it easily. We don't have towing mirrors, a bigger deal than we realized even with the extenders we add on driving days. Absolutely no other complaint. What a great truck!
Do you have and use a generator?
We have a Yamaha® portable generator, 1kw 110v gas-powered, 27 pounds of power, quiet, and a gas sipper. We wondered if we should haul a larger generator or, like some of our friends two 2,000 watt generators. A 3,000 watt unit would power everything we have. Two 2,000s would also. And we could use only one of the two when we didn't need so much.
We decided we couldn't afford the weight and fuel consumption and cargo space of the larger generators. Why would we need to make our own power for air conditioning? Our house has wheels so we can relocate if we need to. We bought the 1,000 watt (1 kw) generator.
After three plus years, we have found the generator a great sometimes relief and sometimes a convenience. We've repaired tires twice at roadside, using the generator to power the 110vac air compressor. We've loaned it to friends to recharge their trailer's batteries. And we've recharged our batteries a few times when dry-camping. Lately we've realized our batteries probably didn't need the excitement and would have been fine another day or two.
The 1kw generator is small and lightweight, easy for us to handle. We store it in the truck's bed near the tailgate. We'll try to keep it there as much as we can. As a friend stated earlier this summer, we want to be generator snobs, eschewing noisy and smelly generator use for battery conservation and solar charging instead.
What are the pros and cons of caravanning?
We've spent just over two weeks on a caravan and just over six weeks on another. This is just two caravans, so we lack much perspective on this issue. We liked the caravans enough to sign up for three more, though.
First, the good news. We found, on both caravans, a great advantage in having someone show us an area. Our first caravan was a short one in Alaska, with just six venues over a two weeks period. The driving days were generally leisurely, short miles, but take our time and stop a lot. They strongly encouraged us to take at least three times the normal driving time (for the mileage) to enjoy all the stops along the way. It was worth it and enjoyable, especially since they provided us guidance on things to look for along the way each driving day.
The leaders of these guided caravans have usually done a thorough job scoping out good places to eat and stay and sightsee. We enjoyed all the dining experiences and sightseeing, and the campgrounds were as good as, if not better, than what we would have found. But the caravan's camping site budget is higher than ours. That's a good thing, too. Let us explain.
Airstream club (WBCCI) caravans are led by dedicated volunteers, other members of WBCCI. They spend the prior year or two traveling the routes, recording the mileages, noting the scenic stops, evaluating the camping and dining places. They determine the caravan budget and manage the participants' caravan fees (the kitty). At the caravan's completion the leaders account for all expenses and refund any remainder to the participants.
We could, for less money, take trips on the same routes as the caravans. We are almost certain we would scrimp in places the caravan doesn't, and we would therefore fail to participate in many good experiences. While the caravan is more expensive than our self-guided travels, we plan no more than one caravan per year and budget for it as best we can.
The only downside to caravans, for us, is the relentless pace. We're very spoiled in respect to travel pace, since we live in our Airstream all year. We can knock out miles like crazy, and try our best not to. We are perfectly happy driving 60 or 100 miles in one day and not driving again for days. But on caravans you either go with the group, every two or three days, or you forfeit the prepaid meals, activities, and camping for any days you miss. We're too cheap to want to give away much of what we feel we paid for.
Two years ago, on a caravan, we were getting a little tired of moving, moving, moving, and wanted a break. We signed out of the caravan for one night to go off by ourselves to a nice little state park in Oregon. Completely off to ourselves, backed up to the Williamette River under a canopy of tremendous evergreens, we had privacy for the first time in over a month. It felt great, and is something we miss when we're on a caravan.
What about KOA campgrounds? Or, are other private campgrounds better?
We have only stayed in three KOAs, and have visited several others. Two of the KOAs we visited seemed absolutely top drawer, with great facilities and sites and location. All this, regardless of brand or ownership, comes at a price. At these two KOAs, you get what you pay for.
The KOA in Okeechobee also seems best in class, with far more amenities than the resort we rented in. A nice nine hole golf course, four tennis courts, two swimming pools, and lots of nice programs and spaces complement this pretty park. We're not paying nearly what the KOA charges, so Jim drives 15 miles to play golf and 6 miles to play tennis. Maybe it would be worth paying more to have these on the premises?
The KOAs just north and just south of Charlotte, NC, are not places we would choose to stay. We found them unattractive, too close to the highway, and they don't offer much that interests us. Like I said in the first paragraph, maybe you get what you pay for.
We eschew private campgrounds because they're almost always costlier than our budget can sustain and we don't usually care about the amenities. Our favorite campgrounds are woodsy and a little isolated, like many of Canada's Provincial Parks and many of the State and National Parks. We might find a lot of privacy or we might meet lots of fellow travelers -- either way, we seem to meet more people in these parks. Perhaps they spend more time outside their RVs?
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How do you get your mail? Escapees Mail Forwarding Service does a superb job handling our mail forwarding. Our return address labels and magazine subscriptions and personal mail all point to our Livingston, Texas, mail forwarding company's business. They store and forward our mail to us per our periodic instructions. We only get first class mail, plus any special magazine subscriptions we select, regardless of mail class. For example, our ARRL QST (ham radio) magazine is not sent first class and would be discarded by the mail service as a lot of advertisements (which is really is). But instead they hold and forward these with our other mail.
This works nicely because we don't get all the junk mail you probably do. No flyers, no catalogs (this is a plus and a minus, eh?), no Publishers Clearinhouse announcements. Less trash! We generally arrange once every two weeks delivery of our mail. This is easier sometimes than others. We send a message with our planned next mail pickup location to the mail forwarder a week ahead of time. Will the Post Office in that city or town accept general delivery? Not all do, so we must call the intended Post Office specifically and ask them.
Escapees sends our mail to the designated pickup location via US Priority Mail. We walk into the Post Office and ask if they have a General Delivery package for, and before we can say our name they say, "You are Jim and Debbie? It's right here." We show identification and we have our mail. Not so many people do this as in years past, so some of the post offices we visit apparently just don't get much of this mail.
This costs us $4.80 per package and is charged to our revolving account at Escapees. They draft our credit card at $50 increments a few times a year as needed. In a package we'll have a few greeting cards, letters, or bills, and three to five magazines. How reliable is this?
A couple of years ago we had two little hiccups in the same month, one near Charleston, SC, in Hollywood, and one in Raleigh, NC. The first one was a timing error, we didn't allow enough time for the mail before our intended departure from Hollywood. We ended up staying three extra days in Lake Aire Campground, a very nice Passport America campground. We asked our mail-order pharmacy to send meds as General Delivery to meet us in Raleigh, NC. Several days later we receive a phone call advising the meds were sent and returned to the pharmacy.
Our fault, we hadn't learned to confirm if the intended Post Office handles General Delivery. And the Post Office we had selected, near Raleigh's State fairgrounds did not. The pharmacy resent the General Delivery package to a different Post Office location nearby and we received it no problem. The post offices hold this mail for you for 30 days, so it is to our advantage to have it sent ahead of us and held. And Escapees is a great way to work this.
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How do you get internet service? We drive from one Tim Horton's Restaurant to another, in the chance we'll find wifi. At Tim Horton's you can always find superb coffee (in china cups) and wonderful doughnuts. We don't so much find wifi but you have to keep trying, don't you?
Real answer: we use a Verizon USB air card and a Sprint card, one in each of two laptops. Some few areas we cannot get sufficient signal on either card and then must seek wifi at a coffee shop or library or campground lounge. Or at least we can talk to friends on the HF ham radio.
How does the recession affect you and how are you adjusting to effects? We are definitely affected by the recession. Our savings aren't earning anything, our value in stocks is up then down then down. So we have less money than we've had since the economic meltdown. Good news for us is, we aren't spending as much as when we were working. Our property taxes and insurance are much lower. Our income tax (what income?) is low to nonexistent. The minute we stopped working we went into extra-frugal mode, but the recession boosted our attention to our money.
We are more conscious of our actual to budget expenses and stay as close as we can on these. We are loathe to pay for frills we don't need or want. State, provincial, and national parks are plenty nice and suit our tastes and budget. Eating out is so expensive and easy, for us, to save money on. We could flex down on our expenses more if we need to, by lengthening stays and reducing travel and reducing charitable donations. Great flexibility seems, for us, a distinct advantage over some people.
Are State and Fed Parks the way to go? We think State (U.S.) and Provincial (Canada) and National (U.S. and Canada) parks are definitely the way to go. We love the locations (almost never adjacent to an Interstate or big highway) for their quiet and remoteness. We feel safer in public parks, generally, than in busy private rv parks. And we pretty uniformly save money camping in public parks. So yes, we like public parks.
In addition to the issue of having enough space for all your stuff, there's the issue of having enough space for the two of us. People ask how we can possibly get along full-time in 200 square feet of space. Of course, we don't stay in the trailer all the time. We are out sightseeing, touring, shopping, and hiking during the day and enjoy spending time outside during the evening if the weather is nice. We spend the most time together in our truck when we're driving between locations. It's fortunate that we really enjoy being together and so far the closeness has not been a problem for us.
Finally, a trailer's size does not necessarily equate to it's net carrying capacity, or the weight of your cargo. We weigh our trailer several times annually to ensure it is balanced (at least ten percent of trailer's weight is at the hitch)and to ensure we are within our gross vehicle weight rating, or gvwr. We moved heavier stuff from the trailer's rear end (exterior cargo compartments and interior overhead bin)and placed the stuff in the truck. Lighter weight stuff (e.g. down sleeping bags, fleece blanket) replaced the heavy stuff. It is way too easy, and a bad thing, to overload a trailer's weight capacity.
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