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I'm getting the same 38 degree reading......in my frig. I've got to get off the computer and go wash the car before we hit our 80 degrees today.

We did our exploring of California back when we were full timing in a fiver. Coming from Illinois I didn't think I would ever find worse maintained roads but California changed my mind about that. We won't be back.

Our youth…….the good old days for sure. Could take a long drink from the neighbors garden hose and then jump on your bicycle and ride as fast as you could down the road, no helmet, no knee pads! How did we survive? We checked into a park (I won't bad mouth the State) a few years ago and the office must have reminded us 5 times about the bicycle helmet rule while riding in the park.

We use mainly bottled water for consumption and CG water for everything else. Our coach has a whole house filter and the frig has its own filter so the ice maker is helped by those. We do consume the ice from the ice maker. We change our filters probably a little more often than we need to. We also use a little bleach to sanitize our system every few months. We honestly are more cautious with our water than when we were in a sticknbrick. Hope I don't freak anyone out, but yesterday after cleaning all my wheels I took a huge long drink straight from my green garden hose!

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Guess I should have checked back on this posting, sorry for the 3 month delay! Little Luke is doing pretty good, thanks for asking. He will explain how his pacemaker works to anyone who asks and always has a smile on his face.

Have you been up on the roof to inspect all the moving parts? There are two coax which could possibly interfere with the movement of a roof mounted dish. A couple months ago we lost signal but I can't recall exactly what the error message said, it may have been the same as what you are seeing. It ended up being the 5' cable that ran from the mount up through the arm to the satellite head. Manufacturer sent a replacement for free. While we were waiting I replaced it with a regular piece of coax to get back up and running. Mine was only 11 months old and certainly did not look damaged or bad but it was.

CURE FOR CABIN FEVER: sell everything. Travel around the country in an RV making sure you stay in warm climates. Repeat annually as needed.

I agree with the 300 miles a day Carl. When we do our normal planning I try to stay between 250 and 350 a day. Early in 2018 we were going from Pigeon Forge to Peoria, a little over 600 miles. Our grandson was having critical open heart surgery in Chicago and we wanted to get closer just in case things didn't go well for our little 3 year old fighter. I decided to do it in one day and we discovered that compared to pulling a fiver, or even trying to do that in our gas coach, this was a breeze. Since then if we have an issue not locating a good place to overnight I will extend my miles out. We have done the 600 plus a couple other times in 2018 and it was fine but I don't make a habit of it. I would be thrilled to even see 7 or 7.5 miles per gallon for 2019. I will end 2019 with only 18,000 or 19,000 miles on so probably won't see that much of an increase.

We were coming up your way, sort of, this fall. We even had made a couple reservations but a certain hurricane changed our east coast plans for 2018. But who knows, I may be reaching out to you in 2019 or 2020 for some on-the-job training! Thanks.

Stop in a local Pilot, Flying J, or Loves and pick up a Trucker's Atlas. While there also find and purchase a small blue book called "Pocket Truck Stop Guide". The Trucker's Atlas it almost like a regular atlas except it shows all designated highways (where the big dogs can go). It will list each and every low clearance in every state. The small truck stop guide is a really good reference for not only places to fuel but where all rest areas are. With these two items and an I-phone you can get by nicely.

Welcome Mark, and thanks for posting your experience on the tire purchase. So, to sum up the FMCA tire program, if you are a "smart" shopper and take your time finding your tires you can actually save more money on your own as compared to using the program. Okay then.

I joined Escapees last year and started checking their forum on a regular basis. I was eager to pick up some fresh ideas from experienced full timing folks over there. To say I was less than impressed would be a huge understatement. We never joined a chapter or attended any type of rally's because we just move around too much. I suspect the actual members in most of the chapters are probably really nice folks. However the forum is basically ran by 3 or 4 regulars, none of which are current full timers. One gentlemen seems to have some good knowledge and is a weekend moderator, but if you don't agree with every statement he makes then get ready for his verbal attack. Problem is he used to full time years and years ago and has a closed mind to any new ideas or changes. Anyway, for just participating in their online forum to gain some knowledge as a full timer, or possibly even help a newbie out once and awhile, it was falling short.

About the only discounts we ever see are from PA and GS. Generally those are only weekday discounts and don't amount to much, but they add up through the year and we always get our membership money back within the first 3 or 4 months of traveling for them. The ones that we never find a park giving discounts for is FMCA and Escapees. We are dropping Escapees and I had a weak moment and renewed FMCA recently (thought I would miss Carl too much).

Don't know what type of RV you have, but when your slides are in does that cover up any heat vents? That would be the only issue I would check before heading down the road with a furnace on.

One difference I didn't count on that effects our expenses is the simple fact we are in a tag axle coach this time around compared to pulling a 5th wheel. When we were in our fiver and heading out west we would take several days because I always capped my daily miles around 350 or so. I could take my time and it was just about right. The fiver wasn't set up all that good for dry camping so at the end of every 350 mile day we would of course stay at a CG for between $25 and $35 usually. Now with our current coach I have found that I can easily run 600 to 650 miles in a day and not be tired at the end. We can dry camp because our coach is set up better for that. So if we are just heading somewhere 1600 to 1700 miles away with no points of interest along the way it used to take us at least 5 stays in campgrounds. Now we can do it in 3 easy days with only the middle day staying in a campground. We used to average right at 11mpg pulling our 39' fiver (F350 SRW 4x4). This year we only averaged 6.5mpg with our coach pulling our 24' trailer (Mini + Harley). At first glance it would seem that our total fuel usage would be higher for the year. Not so. With the F350 and fiver all of our transportation needs were met by driving the 1-ton truck. We not only towed the fiver but drove it everyplace while camped. Now we either use the Mini Cooper (32 - 40mpg) or the Harley (30 - 38mpg) for all transportation needs while camped. This has cut our total diesel/gas cost down considerably.

Dee, that is probably the best explained example of how some TT memberships can work I have ever read. Considering the circumstances and amount paid for your initial membership I certainly understand how it is working for you guys. We just figured our end of year expenses and averaged right at $31 per day for CG fees. That is about $5.00 more per day than I wanted to be at but our 4 months in Florida is driving our average up too much. For 2019 I am hoping to do much better by adding a little more dry camping into the mix and taking advantage of a couple cheaper CGs we found. Safe travels, Joe

I'm not really paying any attention to food, eating out, shopping, or recreational expenses, because those are all funds that we would spend if we were in a S&B anyway. As we go along year after year full timing I just wanted to gauge basic RVing expenses, or what it actually costs to travel full time in our coach. Even this first year it was cheaper than maintaining the S&B plus part time traveling in the RV.

X2 what Carl said. My Newmar is a DP and my engine batteries are very well vented plus they are sealed units, so never any corrosion there. My house bank are wet batteries and that compartment is not very well vented so I do see corrosion in there. I check the distilled water level every month but I still have to use a battery cleaner and wash everything out in there once and awhile. I suspect if it was vented better I wouldn't see as much.

Considered renewing my FMCA membership after the first year but decided against it. There were many reasons for this. I did try to visit this forum on a pretty regular basis because there is some good information posted here from time to time. What I didn't realize was that if your actual membership expires they will kick you off this forum also. So, pulled out the credit card this morning and signed on for another year. Guess I will re-evaluate again next December but at least now I know if it expires the forum goes out with it.

I don't know of any forum or outlet geared directly toward what you are looking for. In SW Florida there are several nice campground where owners own their own lots. Don't forget to check Gulf Waters RV Resort in the town of Ft Myers Beach. It isn't exactly on the beach but across the bridge. Extremely nice CG. Several years ago there were lots for sale.

With my battery bank (eight 6-volt) I can do pretty good dry camping for a couple days without the generator. Newmars have a small solar panel which keeps the engine batteries charged so no matter what you won't get stuck. We will see what 2019 travels bring. Certainly if we found a place to dry camp to a longer extended period of time I would get serious about solar options.

Carl, didn't know what section to ad that into. Didn't want to double any of my total annual numbers!

We recently (Nov) completed our first year of full timing in our current rig combination. Even though we had the experience of a 2 year stint of full timing previously, there was a learning curve involved this year. We preplanned our travels throughout the year and relied on our Trucker's Atlas, along with Google Earth, to make sure we could get in and out of places we wanted to go. Our expenses were about what we anticipated as far as fuel costs and CG fees. The coach performed great. As with any new RV there were things to get fixed and adjustments that had to be made. Nothing I would consider "major" and of course everything was covered with no expense to us. I have broke down my figures for the year. PLACES: coming out of SW Florida in the spring we visited St. Augustine, Robertsdale AL, Savanna TN, Pigeon Forge TN, Peoria IL, Coldwater MI, Muskegon MI, Nappanee IN, back to Peoria IL, Lexington KY, Dandridge TN, Bristol VA, Mt. Pleasant SC, Sanannah GA, Robertsdale AL, and back to SW Florida. RV: Traveled 5,865 miles. Spent $2,992.56 for diesel (all at Pilot and Flying J, except for one stop at a rural Shell). Spent a total of $1,138.38 for annual maintenance (engine, chassis, generator, and Oasis). Our longest travel day was over 600 miles. The average travel day was 379.25 miles. The total average mpg ended up being 6.5. CAMPGROUNDS: the total expenses for campground was $11,318, which means our average for the entire year was $31.00 a night. WHAT WE LEARNED: I needed this first year to get familiar with my coach. I would like to start servicing the generator and Oasis myself in 2019 to keep my annual maintenance costs under $700.00. Our $31 per night average for CG's can be reduced easily. The highest we paid was about $500 for a 6 day stay at the Mt. Pleasant KOA on a relative's recommendation. It was an old park, not worth $25 a day, and we won't return there. We will be seeking out and taking advantage of more dry camping while traveling from point A to B. We should be able to get the annual daily average down to $20 to $25 a night.

I really don't think anything that has been posted, either "for or against" a TT membership on this thread could be described as wild misconceptions. But you are correct, a TT membership is not right for everyone. I think everyone would agree that the average TT campground is not a top tier deluxe, or high end facility. At best, based on the ones we have stayed in or drove through, they are average, and some could be easily rated as below average. Most are not resort style with huge paved sites and high end landscaping. When we plan our annual travels the first thing we do is decide on a rough draft of where we want to go and in what order. This rough draft is based on exploring places we haven't been to and sometimes returning to some favorite attractions around the country. The point is we full time travel where we want on our schedule and it has nothing to do with where we might find some membership campgrounds that we belong to and feel we have to use. As I said in another post, we have two regular campgrounds we use for a total of 5 months. One is up north and we stay there almost 3 months every year to visit kids/grandkids. The other is in Alabama and we stay there a month coming out of Florida each spring and another month in the fall prior to reaching SW Florida. The average between these two campground (5 months) comes out to under $12.00 per day. They are both nice campgrounds with large sites. Can you stay in TT campgrounds for 5 months cheaper than that if you add your memberships up? The rest of the year we may spend two weeks at a CG for $95 a day, or $45 a day with a couple free PA free days thrown in. We also mix in some Walmart or Cabela stays when needed. But we always stop and camp where and when we decide, never based on any type of membership commitment. Please do not interrupt anything I have said to be a "wild misconception" about TT. As a full time traveler it is just how we view it and why we would never spend our money on it. Some may feel it is a good bargain and fits their needs.