ScoutsPal

Henry, May we presume you were talking about chewing on the tires...because being out of liquor is NOT funny!!!

The building you hide behind just might be the one that collapses. This is a good time to be heading north. The farther north you get the prettier the colors will be in a month or so. After the mess is cleaned up you can head back south for the winter.

My problem with Thousand Trails or other memberships is location. I go someplace because that is where I want to visit...not because there is a membership park in the area. As far as KOA goes, there are convenient locations when on the road, and those in destination areas are a little more expensive, but like McDonald's you know what your are going to get (usually). If you are retired and full-timing then three weeks in a location which is not necessarily in a "hot spot" is probably OK. But I don't have three weeks to just hang out in a membership park. I'm going someplace I want to visit and the membership parks aren't always (usually) conveniently located nearby. But if you are going to stay at KOA make sure you have the Value card.

I would be happy to tell Bob and Gita hello. Will they know who RVerOnTheMove is? Thanks to both of you.

We are planning a fall weekend trip to Elkhart to visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame. Any recommendations on campgrounds--which is best, which to avoid. Thanks in advance. Mike

We went to several wineries for tastings and I found most to be okay. There were a couple I would describe as better than okay and I bought them. If you find them to be exceptional, well that is your opinion and that is fine. Appreciation of wine is a highly subjective matter. But I think there would be more than one or two local wines on the menu at the Riverside Inn if they were all so exceptional. (IMHO)

You could have a 90 day supply filled before getting to New York then you have three months before you have to worry about your next move.

So you are able to stay at Bay Harbor without having to endure a tour and sales pitch? If that is the case I will put them on my list. I'm not buying a lot and going to one place all the time so I won't go to a spot that wants to pressure me to buy something.

Tom, can you point me to an FMCA card with this rebate. I looked through the member benefits and only saw a VISA with "points" rewards. In my experience with these points cards it takes too long to earn anything of value. But, I am ready to sign up for cash rebates. And that will certainly get my wife's attention. We stopped at Pilot/Flying Js on our trip to Nashville in June and had a couple incidents similar to Sam. The printer failure at one and trouble getting my card to register at the first stop. Going inside for a receipt is a pet peeve of mine when paying at the pump. If I am not looking to buy something in the store, I have no reason to go in, stand in line, and watch people who don't like their job under perform. As an FYI, Pilot has an app for smartphones and you can look up current prices in an area where you expect to stop to fuel up so you can be on the watch for better prices when you get close.

I just got my card back in April or May (thru my Good Sam membership) and I get 4 cents per gallon for gas. But I will not use it if there is a better price in the area.

Wow, your son and daughter couldn't have moved much further apart. That will sure make for some expensive commuting between them. Enjoy your new adventure!

Since our June trip to Nashville we have pretty much been housebound for a couple reasons. First, the coach was out of commission for a time but it is now back in service and ready to hit the road. And then there has been the overwhelming job of transitioning my mother-in-law from being independent to assisted living. She was hospitalized in early July, went to rehab for 2 1/2 weeks, and was moved to her new residence this past Friday. Along with that there is the huge job of dismantling and re-distributing 90 years of accumulated belongings. The burden of this job falls mainly on my wife as her brother is more of a nuisance than help, although he doesn't dispute anything she does, he just argues and complains about everything making the whole situation more stressful than necessary. The old apartment will be vacated completely by today and then the job of deciding what to do with the storage shed full of her possessions will begin in earnest. From this experience I have decided that I don't want to leave this much "stuff" for my daughter (and only child) to have to deal with when we have made our final journeys. Although we will not likely become fulltimers because my wife does not want to be away from our grandson (and his future siblings) for any length of time, I think adopting a fulltimer's mindset will be the way to go--"If you can't carry it with you, you don't need it." It will be a mighty task convincing her to unload much of our accumulated "stuff" before daughter is forced to deal with it. As this process is cleaned up in these waning days of July, it is time for a much needed break. Next weekend we will be taking a short trip to Frankenmuth, aka Michigan's "Little Bavaria." It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from home and yet a world away. And hopefully, all the cares and worries of the past month will disappear for at least three days. It will also be a chance to rest and recharge before our journey to Myrtle Beach in three weeks with our daughter and her family. We will stay at the Jellystone Park which is a short distance from downtown as they provide a shuttle to Zehnder's and back. There will be at least one dinner in Zehnder's bar while watching the Detroit Tigers try to re-establish their comeback from a disappointing season thus far. My wife has a pre-determined route of shops to visit when in town. Other than that there will be a lot of kicking back and unwinding intermingled with walks with Scout intended to burn off his excess energy and get him out to meet others of his species. The Frankenmuth Jellystone is an older park built before the proliferation of slides and awnings. Many of the sites are very narrow and require a willingness for "closeness" with your neighbors that I don't possess. They have, however, done some restructuring of a couple areas and converted two old sites into single "deluxe" sites. We will be on one of these. They are also upgrading the electric on these bigger sites to 50 amp but you need to make sure you are getting one of the upgraded sites if you stay there, at least during hot weather if you want to run both air conditioners. It is a good family park as they have lots of planned activities for the kids. So all I have to do is get through another work week and I can work on enjoying the good life (at least for a short time).

Give your son a big "thank you" from the FMCA family for his service. I hope he gets back home to his family without incident.

Are you traveling with kids? If so, avoid Wild Cherry RV Resort. We stayed there last summer and if you are looking to visit area wineries and are just looking for a place with a nice view to park the RV then this might be a place to consider. If you look in my photo album and open the picture of Scout (my Golden Retriever) you will get a look at the area where they park the coaches. They are around the pond and two golf holes (not seriously groomed but Ok for practicing). While they do easily accommodate large coaches, there is no pool and not a whole lot to do there but it is a good base location from which to explore the area. While you are in the area I do highly recommend the Riverside Inn in Leland for dinner. Food is great and so is the wine list. (And it ain't local wines!)

We all like to say we are "camping" but in reality in today's motorhomes we can only claim to be RVing. The difference is illustrated by your experiences outlined in your blog. We had a travel trailer for ten years before we bought our coach and even that had too many comforts and conveniences to be considered camping. My wife likes to have her own bathroom and our daughter wanted to sleep in her own bed so that is why we live the RV lifestyle. (I have to admit, I would NOT want to go through those tenting experiences, either. It is a bout comfort for me!)

I, too, am curious about the stabilizer. I was reading that they take out the side to side rocking on gas coaches. Does anyone know if they can be used to reduce/remove a slight lean. Our 2008 Bounder leans slightly to streetside because, they say, of the two slides on that side. I did have someone look at the suspension and they said it looked fine.

I sort of agree with cmarq. I don't like or use Facebook either because I can't believe what it does to people. My wife will show me things and it seems to make people act a little silly and say things they wouldn't normally say. I am new to FMCA and stepping out a little here because I think this is a much smaller community than Facebook and there is a common interest here. As for the photo, I tried and tried and couldn't get it to work. Then I stumbled onto making it work and I don't think I could tell you how I did it.

I sold my previous travel trailer in one week on Craig's list. If it is clean and in good shape someone will snap it up pretty quick. My buyer told me "you wouldn't believe the difference between photos and the real thing." There are people out spending considerable time looking for the right (you name it!)

Yeah, I don't know what happened. The original post just disappeared. There was a duplicate "draft" copy that I re-posted. And thanks for the suggestion. It piqued my wife's interest.

In August we will be making our 5th trip down there since 2000. Each time we have stayed at Lakewood Camping Resort. It is a very big park and golf cart rentals are recommended. I wish it were closer to home (Michigan) so we could go more often. Most sites are big so you will have no problem with your coach.

I am new to FMCA and just setting up my profile. I see lots of profile photos here on this thread, so I have to ask how they got there. I saw in the new users guide you have to take a photo from your gallery. So I set up my first album but when I try to add a profile photo it keeps going to my pc photos and they are too big. I don't see an option to take one from my album. Any suggestions?