bradrm

We find the Gov's orders frustrating , confusing & annoying. He has lumped the 5 southern CA counties from San Luis Obispo all the way down the coast together. This latest order is based on dropping below ICU occupancy threshold of 15%. Here in SLO, they show a total of 53 ICU beds in the county & the County is reporting one covid patient in ICU. What this means is that the campgrounds in the Pismo Beach areas are being closed simply because there are less than 15% available occupancy in the LA & San Diego! Gov Newsom appears to have divided the counties in such a way as to justify shutting down essentially the entire state. I think that this is more about preventing us from enjoying the coming Christmas & New Year's holidays in a semi-normal way. We saw similar shutdowns for the Memorial Day & 4th of July holidays. I believe that we are mature enough to take the necessary precautions without the Gov dictating so harshly!

I think that there is little concern if we use common sense & be selective as to where we go to see things. Are the places you would like to visit open or closed? The issue for me is the political demands being made in some states regarding self-quarantining. One never knows what rules each state or city will impose & enforce. We do things wherever we live so why not live similarly wherever we go?

Hwy 223 going west from Hwy 58 does not have much of a grade...nothing to worry about. CA-166 across the valley is flat. Once you go thru Maricopa you will encounter a 6 -7 % climb for 3+ miles. Once you level off CA-166 is pretty much level then you will have an easy downhill ride to Hwy 101. The climb out of Maricopa is the only grade and it's uphill. Take your time & you'll not have any problems. 166 intersects 101 just north of Santa Maria, going south you will pass thru Buellton & then on to Santa Barbara. Going north on 101 you will be just a few minutes south of Pismo Beach. From there it's 40 some miles to the wine country around Paso Robles. Going north on 101 out of San Luis Obispo you will climb up Cuesta Grade, a 6 -7 % 3 mile climb. Going up is slow & easy.....be careful coming down, gear down to 3rd probably & use your exhaust brake but your service brake only as necessary. I used to have a 39 ft Safari with a 300 hp Cummins......40 - 45 mph, exhaust brake on as I crested the top...let it come down in 3rd gear watching the tach closely. North of Cuesta it's basically flat traveling until you get north of Ukiah.

When we visited the Boston area two years ago, we chose to stay at the Canoe River Campground in Mansfield, MA. We also wanted to camp outside of the greater Boston area to avoid the congestion & also because I had relatives in the Warwick, RI & Bellingham, MA to see. Mansfield put us roughly equi-distant to Boston, to Providence and to Cape Cod. Canoe River CG, like many CG's in New England are very family oriented, so they have many activities for the kids. The owners of Canoe River CG suggested taking the train to get into Boston & offered to take us to the Mansfield train station. He said that if we called him when we got on the train coming back, he would pick us up at the station. Normandy Farms is a very popular CG but is rather pricey. Another popular place is the Circle CG Farm Campground in Bellingham.

We have been talking about a trip to see these parks in Utah next year. Anybody have any campground recommendations near each of the parks in Utah?

I thought that the question of opening membership up to owners of towables was to be voted on in July. Does anyone know if the board has authorized the FMCA membership to vote for/against this proposal? If so, what were the results? I haven't seen anything here regarding this as yet.

I also use a Canon Pixma IP 110. I like this printer very much as it is very compact and the print quality is excellent! I have had this printer for two years and my printing demands are limited so I don't have a feel for how long the ink cartridges last yet.

We stayed at the Midessa Oil Patch RV Park last October & it was nice. Our experience there was good & we would stay there again if we pass through Midland-Odessa again. I believe it could have been a KOA at one time judging by the style of the office. The power & restrooms were good. I don't remember having any noise issues such as full timers leaving for work.

I recently ran across the planner that http://www.rvparky.com/ offers and found it useful. I especially like the way it changes all your dates if you choose to vary your schedule. It also does not list many RV parks but used in conjunction with http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ it is still helpful. I have not heard of RV Trip Wizard so I will continue to follow this thread to learn more of others experiences with it as we are planning a cross country trip this summer. Brad

We are headed to Crater Lake & Sisters from central CA this summer in our 38 ft Safari Simba towing a Ford Edge. We are looking forward to the drive up Hwy 97 out of Weed through central Oregon. After Sisters we plan to work our way west to Salem, & then the Tillamook area. We will be then traveling south along the coast on 101 on our way back home. The last two years we have gone up on US 101 & enjoyed that very much. There are so many small towns to see and enjoy. This year it's time to see the other side of the mountain! Does anyone have any favorite RV parks in these areas? I understand that wherever we stay we will have to drive a bit to get to Crater Lake NP. Thanks!

I have a Duo Therm heat pump that is not working as expected. The front system is running in "Aux Heat" mode, so the furnace runs when I set the CCC for heat pump to run. The rear heat pump runs normally. I understand that when the temperature drops below 30 degrees the heat pump will switch to Aux Heat but where I am located night time temps are in the high 50's. I suspect that I may have a bad temp sensor causing this. How can I find out what is happening here?

I recently upgraded to the wireless Genie system at home and plan to take it on the road soon. I plan to locate the host receiver in the bedroom, with the video bridge connected to the bedroom TV output jack coming from the video control box and use a wireless client up front for the overhead TV. Can I put the power inserter in line coming into the video control box or is there a better location?

We traveled on Hwy 18 between Lincoln City & Salem and Hwy 38 between Reedsport & Eugene in our 38 ft coach this last August. These roads were really nice to drive down and the scenery was great on both. I haven't driven Hwy 20 but I would think that Hwy 20 would be as good as Hwy's 18 & 38. Oregon's highways are far superior to those here in CA.

FYI - We got "promoted" to Member status at 10 posts. Thanks!

We are planning on going to the FMCA Western Area Rally in Indio in January. Does anyone have any RV park recommendations in the Indio - Palm Desert area? Any favorite places to stay for 4 - 5 nights? I have been looking at Desert Shadows, Indian Waters & Indian Wells parks and each seems to be nice and conveniently located to the Indio fairgrounds. Thanks!