RE: E-Z UP shelter advice, please
We have had 4 different ones.....the first was a straight-side EZup with the 3 side panels which lasted about 6 seasons before my DH ran over it and bent the legs and busted a tire on the truck!!! We paid about $200 for it at Sam's (this was when they first came out). I didn't have the $ to buy another EZup, so I went for a cheaper one and it lasted 1 season and did a lot of flying around. It was nowhere near as heavy as the EZup. We then got another EZup with the slanted sides and it lasted 1 season, as well. We now have another stright side EZup and we have 2 seasons with it so far. Hope for at least another 3-4 with it. We take it to the beach with us every time and it went through some ferocious storms last year with it and had no problems except for dumping the water off that accumulated on top of it.
DON'T GO WITH A CHEAPLY MADE ONE, GET THE REAL THING!!
RE: Bought A TT and never camped before.....
Take a few hours and go to the RVing FAQ on the home page of rv.net. It has LOTS and LOTS of suggestions, have to haves and might like to haves. It will also answer just basic questions you have about what to take, what not to take, etc.
It's definitely a must-do before your first camping trip.
Just remember that camping is supposed to be FUN and don't get so caught up in making it PERFECT!!!
RE: Gatlinburg.Tenn.
I will second Carolina Cruiser in his referral of Pine Mountain RV Park. We have camped there 4 times and it's a great campground. We have also stayed at several of the other parks in PF as well as in Sevierville. The sites are not large, but they are somewhat bigger than other parks. It has great WIFI, water, sewer, electric and basic cable. One outdoor pool and access to a lazy river pool across a little country road as well as an indoor pool and hot tub.
RE: Parris Island SC
Hunting Island is THE PLACE!! It's about 15 miles away, but it is absolutely a wonderful place. Only water/electric, but they have 2 dumpsites in the campground. We usually just take our blue tote and dump it every other day. The bath houses are usually pretty clean and the sand and ocean is really great. At $25/night, it's a steal.
You will also be close to Hilton Head Island, so it is worth a trip down there.
We love Hunting Island and even thought it's about an 8 hour drive, we try to go at least twice a year.
Make reservations well in advance if you plan to go this summer
RE: what to use for bunk rails for 1year old.
Why not purchase a queen size egg crate pad, cut it to length, then cut it in half lengthwise and place the egg crate side to itself. That will make it about 3-4 inches thick. Use an old sheet to wrap it in and sew to fit as the mattress cover. Since it's for a child, you might even get a waterproof sheet to put in there, also. I would try to use what I had instead of spending extra money. That way, if it doesn't work well, you won't be out of anything except for a little bit of time.
RE: Almost Hybrid owers....
I am sure it probably was when it was new, but it does kinda wear out and if they cleaned the upholstery, a lot of it would have come off in the cleaning. I would probably say no and go to Walmart and buy me a couple cans and do it myself. I think a can is about $6 so a total of $12. Spray everything while it is good and clean, open up the tent ends to air it out and then camp! I don't know how much they are charging you, but I think $12 is a pretty good price for about 30 minutes of work.
Enjoy the new HTT - we loved ours, but found that a hard sided 33' TT better served our needs with us 2 and the 2 kids, plus 2 grandparents about half the time. The bathroom makes it so much better as does being able to load it up without pulling out the beds, etc. as with a popup.
RE: Boston for July 4th, Possible?
OK, I can compare the two - been to both and yeah, I can tell you some stories about the DC one....more so than Boston, but I would go back to either of them. I live in a little town of less than 5,000 and I can tell you some horror stories about some functions that have taken place here, too.
The Boston concert was the best I have ever attended. I have also been to Louisville for the Derby, to Cincinnati for their Labor Day festivities on the river and other assorted happenings.
Nothing compares to the Boston 4th and the Boston Pops!!!
If you have the chance....go for it. I don't think you will regret it at all.
RE: what to use for bunk rails for 1year old.
campergrl81 - My girls have TRIED to knock them off, but if they are laying on the mattress, their weight (what little there is) will keep them from being able to push them away from the mattress. My girls are almost 6 and 3 now and we have had them since the little one was about 4 months old. The bar goes under the bed quite a ways. The 2 bars (about 18" from each end) have a strap attached to them and you could easily attach the heavy duty velcro to the strap and to the bottom of the bed platform to give you some added safety. They will also fold down so you don't have to remove it to get the child out of the bed or to check on them.
RE: Show me your satellite mount
pigroaster posted some pics of the one he made on the Handy hints, products and gizmos thread. It's here. Clicky for pigroaster
RE: Bristol Race - WARNING!!
I checked for reciprocity for the states and found this:
The members of the Drivers License Compact: include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Thus this leaves the states of Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee and Wisconsin as non-members though most of these states still have their own agreements with other states to exchange information regarding traffic tickets
SO, YOUR STATE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A RECIPROCITY AGREEMENT WITH TN. I GUESS YOU JUST HAVE TO GUESS!
RE: Changed to direct TV
I almost changed, but I kept Dish because I like two receivers for 4 TV's. Actually in our house the two receivers runs 5 TV's and then we have another receiver in the motorhome.
We just put splitters on our TV's, we have DirecTV. We have 1 DVR in our den, a receiver in our living room with a splitter to our girls' toy room as well as a splitter to our TV on our deck. We have another receiver in our bedroom with it splitted to our bathroom.
We have no problems, the only thing we have to remember is that you have to change the channel on the receiver, not the splitted TV.
When we camp, we take our receiver out of our living room and carry it to the TT (we already have a dish there). Takes about 30 seconds to unplug it from the wall and TV.
RE: cedar point amusement park sandusky ohio
It's great. If you have kids, you can go to the park early, come back for lunch and a little nap or rest, then back to the park for the afternoon/evening. They run shuttles in/out all the time. If you forget something (like sunscreen), you can hop a shuttle and be back in 15 minutes.
RE: Any pictures/thoughts on Wilderness Road Campground-Cumb Gap
I have never stayed there, but my DH and oldest DD have. We were supposed to go stay for 4th of July weekend 3 years ago, but our 2nd DD decided to arrive a little early. They left on Wednesday and I was to go down on Friday afternoon, but...... Jayda was born on Friday. Anyway, he says that it is a very nice campground with electric and water at a few of the sites, mostly primitive and with long, narrow lots. He is not a picture taker so we don't have any pics. Sorry. We do plan to spend a few nights there this year.
RE: what to use for bunk rails for 1year old.
Walmart sells a set of rails which attach under the mattress with clips and have about 15" long under mattress swivel arms. We use one on each of our bunks for our 2 DD's. They are adjustable length ones and are about 13-14" high. See the clicky below. They were pretty inexpensive
Clicky
Bristol Race - WARNING!!
Just wanted to make all my rv.net friends know that in/around the Bristol Motor Speedway, many of the small and large towns have installed speed cameras as well as traffic light cameras. The speed cameras will flash if you are exceeding the limit and you WILL receive a $90 ticket in the mail.
FYI
RE: Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge RV parks
I'll second Pine Mountain RV Park - their pool will be closed and it will probably be too cool to swim outside, but they are owned by the same people that own the Mainstay Suites, which is across a little country road and you have access to their indoor pool and hot-tub, which is huge. Our 2 DD's absolutely love to go their. Their pool is nice, heated and a good size. The campground has full hookups, is back off the parkway about 2 blocks so you don't get the noise, but is on the trolley line if you don't want to move your vehicle. It is "smack-dab" in the middle of Pigeon Forge at traffic light #6 (from 1-10) so it is easy to get anywhere. Well, except for the traffic. Buy yourself a good map of the area so you can use the back roads to get in/out. Traffic is pretty much horrendous anytime you go, but especially on weekends.
RE: Taking a step up
We no longer have our pup, but when we had it, we LOVED it, we just kinda outgrew it. We found that a screen house, not an attached screen room was much more practical. It was easier to put up, take down and much more affordable.
The screen house could be put up in about 10 minutes, whereas the screen room took us about 45 minutes - after we learned how to put it up and take down. The first time was about 1 1/2 hours.
Whatever you do, have a good time and don't sweat the small stuff.
RE: racoons and pop ups
Like lcommerford, we frequent Hunting Island, and as such have had our encounters with these high IQ creatures. They are the most amazing animals. When we had our pup, we were awakened early one morning/late one night by a strange sound. I peeked out the window that we had unzipped part-way and found 3 racoons under our bed area that had opened a locked Rubbermaid container that had been bungee corded together and were eating the dogfood by the handfuls. We turned a flashlight on them and I think one of them "gave me the finger", but kept eating the food. The next evening, we double bungeed it. (I couldn't get it open, DH had to open it to feed the dogs). Yep, they got into it again! The next evening, I set it up on the picnic table, double-bungied with 2 chairs sitting on top of it. You got it, they did too!! We finally brought it into the pup. They showed up and scratched at the door, but we didn't let them in. I guess they found another dinner somewhere else.
At Hunting Island, you can always find the "newbies" on their 2nd day because their trash is usually strewn around their campsite!!
RE: Boston for July 4th, Possible?
I, like your DW, had wanted to go for YEARS!!! We finally got the chance 6 years ago, but we were camping in a Comfort Inn. I will tell you to take the METRO or whatever it's called to get to the area. When the concert/fireworks are finally over, set off walking toward the METRO station, but don't stop at the first one, keep walking another block and a half and you will be able to catch a train there. Nowhere near the thousands of people standing around the first one to catch the train. I could have walked back to the hotel quicker than I could have caught a train from the first station!!
BTW, it was one of the most unforgettable nights I have ever experienced - the Boston Pops with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!! Heaven!!
