ispjs

OMG.....come on man. "Added 30 quarts without draining what was in there?"

I lived outside of Las Cruces NM back in the early 70's. Used to be able to drive the 50 miles or so to El Paso and cross the border. I could have dinner, shop, and drink in any bar in Juarez, no problem. Not anymore. Between 2010 and a couple years ago we have made several trips out west to include Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc..., one of those trips was on a Harley Ultra Classic and all 2 lane roads plus second rate motels. Never felt threatened nor did we witness any crime and on that trip we were all over Arizona. I consider myself very observant and I am probably 100 times more suspicious of folks than the average person, however I have never felt threatened or unsafe traveling out west. I guess it is just different perceptions by different people.

When I regret not having a fiver as a full timer is when I need to haul something. Currently our personal mode of transportation is a Mini Cooper 2-door convertible. It seems like every week I am trying to pick something up in it that won't fit. It is times like those that I dearly miss my F350. But then again when I pull into a gas station to pump 8 or 9 gallons of gas in it cause it is almost empty, and the lie-o-meter says I just got 33mpg with that tank, don't miss the F350 so much.

I don't think he is coming back.

Good idea Ken. The way things are in the world today with mass shootings every few months and bombings all over the place I imagine EMS folks have a hard job finding victims family in a timely manner sometimes.

Ken, when we started our initial search for an RV to full time in (first time around) we discounted motor homes for the reason you stated. If there was a drive train malfunction or service was needed then the whole unit would be in the shop. We were fine with that decision and enjoyed every minutes of our travels for almost 3 years of full timing. However, now starting out again I guess I am spoiled. I want to have both a car and my motorcycle with us all the time. So this time around we will take the risk for that trade off. The other advantage is with my fiver it would take me at least 15 minutes to get completely leveled and set up. If it was raining all that set up was done outside basically. With my coach I can kick on the generator, put the slides out, level, and never go outside until the rain stops if I want. But who knows, won't be riding a Harley forever. In a few years might end up back in a fiver.

I would call Gene's Auto & Frame (239/334-7427) in Ft. Myers. They do alignments on large rigs, towing, body repairs, etc. Not sure how much mechanical stuff they do but when I have been there the county always has school buses and squad cars there being worked on. Other than that I don't know who services Cat engines in this area.

Just a word of caution about drug sniffing K-9 teams. The misconception is that these dogs are detecting the actual drugs. They are simply detecting the odor of certain things they have been trained to detect. In my experience we certified/trained our dogs on cannabis, cocaine (rock/powder), meth, H, and several other illegal substances. But my partner was just detecting the odor of those substances, it didn't mean the actual substances were still present. In other words if someone smokes a joint in your front passenger seat and then the next morning you get stopped and a drug dog takes a sniff he may alert on that area. Much depends on how sharp the handler is and how much he trains with his/her dog. Drug sniffing K-9 teams are just like anything else, there are really good ones and then there are not so good ones.

If Law Enforcement or EMTs can get into your phone or not may still not solve getting in touch with family in the case of an emergency. What if your phone is damaged? This is our second entry into full time traveling after selling a home. There is a ton of factors to consider and it is not the same for everyone.

The discounts are similar, in other words if Lazy Days in Tampa has a new Montana fiver with a MSRP of $95,000 then they only have about $45,000 to $50,000 in it and you can probably get 25% off on your deal. We owned one used fiver and one new, both Montana models. Bought a 2012 F350 diesel truck new but had the advantage of writing it off for my contracting business for 2 years, so in reality a $52,000 truck cost me just under $40,000. We fully retired and traveled for just under 3 years putting 42,000 miles on. When the F350 was 3 years old I sold it for $46,000. The Montana had Splendid w/d, Winegard Traveler Sat dish, auto leveling, and 3 TVs. Since it was 39' long with 4 slides (king bed) there was a lot of living space. So all in all it was a really good way to travel for us at the time. Now going back to being full time we wanted to have a car plus the Harley with us all the time. Obviously this requires being in a coach.

There are numerous options to consider Bill. I prefer to have a "real" physical address where someone I know actually lives. During my career I had to make numerous death notifications in the middle of the night based on just the victims driver's license. I'm not sure how that goes in present times if that victim happens to be using a fake address with a mail service. I suppose if the police officer can get into the persons cell phone and find information they could track down family. I would suggest anyone full timing carry a card in their wallet listing next of kin information (a person they are not traveling/living with).

Bill, actually they could have some of the required items. When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago we wanted to change our DL and registrations over right away because of wanting to file homestead paperwork for our property taxes. If I recall correctly we used our Direct-TV bill, our Verizon Wireless bill, a bank statement, plus they let us fill out and sign an affidavit swearing that was our legal address. Even when closing on a home it takes a few days to generate a utility bill with your name/address on it. Last month we went in after selling our home to get our DL and registrations changed to our new address in Florida. They wanted the same type of proof. Our address is just where we get our mail delivered and is actually a friends residence. I had my name put on her electric bill plus I signed an affidavit. The clerk said I could have used a couple bank statements, a Verizon bill, plus signed an affidavit if I hadn't had a utility bill. I'm not saying one way is better or worse than the other. Going through a mail handling service like Escapees has many advantages. The main downside for us would have been we wanted to be able to pick up our mail in person for at least some of the winter months. By using a friends address close to where we winter, or using a Mailbox Express service close by we could accomplish that.

We have been doing winter vacations in Florida almost every year since 1982. Always Sarasota and further south. Have never experienced any temps in the low 30's. In the last few years living down here (Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area) we have had a few nights where it got down to low 40's but almost always recovered to 70 or above. I think there is a line where you have to be south of for warmer weather in Florida, but IMHO it runs from Sarasota over to Ft. Pierce. Anything south of there you are good all winter.

Tom, the last year prior to us retiring we decided we needed to spend part of a winter in Texas. We had always went to Florida and once and awhile Arizona for relief from the frozen tundra. We did about 5 weeks on South Padre Island in March. We had a Harley Ultra Classic at the time with us. We actually got to ride about 3 or 4 times. We had almost a week where the temps were in the 40's. They had an ice storm that closed the island for 2 days! After that experience we pretty much made up our mind that between December and March there were only two states that we could be found in......Florida or Arizona.

In Florida you can also use Mail Box Express stores, which are in probably every country in the state. For example, I believe between Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, and North Ft. Myers there are at least 4 of them. If I remember correctly when you go in to get your Florida DL and registrations you have to show either 2 or 3 pieces of proof of your new address. A utility bill with the new address, a bank statement with the new address, or something similar I think.

Congrats on both selling your house and purchasing the Challenger! We really liked our 2014 Challenger 37GT that we had previously. Not sure what you are basing the statement on "do like the fact that I can do mountains at speed and not block traffic if I want to fly"...... , possibly a test drive? Unless they have doubled the HP in those V-10 gassers since 2014 you won't be flying up any grades with it once you are loaded or pulling a toad. If you are full time and traveling 10,000 miles or more a year it probably makes sense to be in a diesel, but if you are just living in an RV full time and not really traveling much then the V-10 should serve you well. I could buy my oil and filter at Walmart and change it in about 15 minutes. The V-10 is an easy bullet proof motor that is cheap to maintain IMHO.

Thanks!

Without going back and reading all the posts, I'll take a chance and mention this just in case no one has. Lowes sells a battery operated rat/mouse trap for around $45.00. It looks like a miniature mail box. You put a small smear of peanut butter in the end of the garage and of course the rodent crawls inside to get it. Once the device feels some weight it zaps the poor little critter! There is s light on top to let you know you have a dead guest ready for dumping. No fuss no muss!

I assume most full timers have a "home base" where they return each year for doctors appointments and/or to visit family. Where is it? How long do you stay? Do you use the same CG in that area each time? Since selling our SW Florida home we have been at Upriver RV in North Ft. Myers. We basically came here because they had super pull thru sites plus it is within 7 miles or so of our doctors, our mailing address, and several of our resident friends. We planned on checking out other CG's in the 20 or 25 miles radius but probably not now. Over the years we have stayed in numerous CGs for a week or longer. We have never experienced one as friendly as this one. Last night they had their first progressive wine tasting event. Most of the campers in the super sites participated. As a group going from site to site all evening, meeting everyone, and making new friends. Some folks are here for the first time (like us) and some have been wintering here for 12 to 15 years. My DW and I were just amazed at how welcome we felt by everyone! We may have found our future "home base" for each winter after all.

We also have done Grizzly RV and of course went into the west entrance. Grizzly is a good park but way overpriced. I guess it doesn't matter because they seem to always stay full. We never knew about any dry camping north of Jackson Dennis, we will be looking into that for our 2019 trip out that way.

I've still got to buy some reflectors in case I break down on the side of the road, but I am carrying two rather large orange traffic cones.

Jim, I assume you were able to maneuver your way out of that Texas Walmart. It is information like that which makes me think I may use them sparingly.

Thanks Carl, I'll check them out. Friends of ours went all the way up to Robertsdale AL (Azalea Acres RV Park) to keep their coach safe from Irma. It isn't fancy according to them but huge sites and an easy drive to Mobile and New Orleans. We called them today to get rates and they gave us a monthly rate of $300 plus juice! That is the type of place that makes sense to me. We can drive into New Orleans for some great evening in our car and spend other afternoons riding the Harley. Our friends said the rural area around Robertsdale and north is great riding.

I would think that depending on the Walmart you would have to get up fairly early and monitor how busy they are getting and what is getting parked around you.

It isn't that $12,000 a year is too much strain on any type of budget, it is simply that I really don't want to pay most campgrounds $40 a night for a piece of grass and $6.00 worth of electricity 365 days a year. We gladly pay $1,200 a month plus electric here in SW Florida for our winter stay. Don't mind paying with the quality of CG and all the activities, plus we have to be in this area to get all the doctor visits and stuff out of the way. Appreciate the concern, but we can probably squeeze by for a few years in our rig without mowing grass part time.