RE: RV Park for Zion and Bryce NP?
We stayed at Zion Canyon last April and day-tripped to Bryce and Kodachrome State Park and also took a day trip to St. George. Springdale is pretty centrally located to all of this and it doesn't take all that long to look over Bryce, including taking a hike if you want to do so.
RE: Rv Wholesalers
We just used Amazon to purchase a replacement faucet for the outside kitchen on our Jayco HT 26.5 RLS. Apparently I didn't get it properly drained last fall and the pipe cracked, causing a leak within the trailer that I didn't find until quite a bit of water had run on the floor. Called my dealer and had them sell me a replacement but upon getting it found that it was the wrong size. They didn't have the right size in stock and said it might take ten or more days to get it in, never talked about drop shipping to me. Found the part on Amazon on Friday last week, ordered it and got it yesterday afternoon and got it installed. Had a little hitch, but when we got that worked out, everything seems to be great with it now.
RE: Jayco Eagle vs Keystone Copper Canyon
We looked at the Jayco HT 26.5 RLS and the Copper Canyon and wife was more impressed with the Jayco quality than the Copper Canyon. Copper Canyon had a couple more "goodies" but we hope to have the FW for quite a few years so quality was important. And, the cost was no more for the Jayco than the Copper Canyon. Look around, try some sites line RV Direct and see what you can find for prices. That's what we did, then we talked to a Jayco dealer about 2 1/2 hours away and he basically matched the RV Direct price when transportation was factored in. We got ours for about a 31% discount from "MSRP", paid $26,200 a year ago in January. Probably a bit higher now, but so are all the others.
RE: Grand Teton Park, Moran, WY
kfp, whether you like ATV riding or not, I don't think it's legal within Grand Teton or Yellowstone National Parks. There are a lot of trails outside the Parks, but basically foot trails within them. Sorry you got your feelings hurt, but the OP wasn't asking about trail riding. Why not start up another thread asking about trail riding?
RE: Grand Teton Park, Moran, WY
AuntEthel, unless you are worried about an hour trip each way from Colter Bay to the entrance to Yellowstone with some very nice scenery, you could stay in Colter Bay and day-trip to Yellowstone. We do it all the time, even towing our boat from Colter Bay to Yellowstone Lake to fish for the day. A person can leave pretty early in the morning to miss car traffic and tour the parks loops, one per day, and get back a little late in the evening, just in time to watch the beautiful sunsets on Jackson Lake as you are having dinner, etc.
RE: Grand Teton Park, Moran, WY
Uncle Grumpy, where the heck is that 20-mile stretch coming from Moran to Lander? I live in Lander and went up to Grand Teton three times last summer and twice more to Jackson this winter and I do not, for the life of me, remember any 20-miles stretch of severe frost damaged road. In fact, almost all the road from 15 miles outside of Dubois to the Turpin Meadows turn-off about five miles from Moran is new road that has been completed in the last eight years. Going from Moran to Rock Springs through Jackson and down the Hoback is a long ways out of the way for no good reason, unless you want to take a look at all the gas wells around Pinedale on the way to Rock Springs. Then you would hit I-80 and have wall-to-wall trucks for another 110 miles from Rock Springs to Rawlins. Not my idea of a great trip with an RV.
RE: Tent camping in/around Yellowstone, without generators
While you are planning on leaving your generator at home, I suppose, remember to bring bear spray with you or be prepared to buy some when you get to the Park. And remember, you can't leave anything outside a hard-sided enclosure that smells of food, it draws bears as well. Unless, they have the bear boxes or the hangers in the trees. Not trying to scare you, just the facts of life in the Park. Bears are getting more numerous and it's not nice to have one around your food. As far as generators, Colter Bay has about 125 or so sites that are generator free if you would consider camping there and day-tripping into Yellowstone. We camp in Colter Bay, where they allow generators, and when not fishing, we generally take one or two day trips to Yellowstone. Get up early in the morning and get home late in the evening, but the trip is worth it.
RE: What effect is Sequestration having on the parks?
Why haven't the agencies asked for the ability to change the usage of the funds? Is it because they have been told to make the cuts as public as possible to try to embarrass a segment of the government due to certain other segments being unwilling to make adjustments in spending. By the way, the FAA funding budget for 2012/2013 was quite a bit higher than the prior year. I don't really believe that the budgets were stagnant, what with actual spending going up every year while our tax revenues aren't going up as fast. The continuing resolutions for the last four
RE: 10 Worst States for Retirement!
WyoTraveler, why do you pay more taxes in Wyoming than you would in California/ The sales tax here is 4% compared to Ca. 7-8%, no income taxes and still fairly low fuel taxes. Property tax is a little high, but nothing like Texas. And, us Wyoming folk don't pay, directly, most of the taxes that fuel our government, the energy industry and tourists do that, kinda. Most studies show that people from out of Wyoming pay up to 35% of all sales taxes collected in the state.
RE: Looking Rear Living under 10,000 GVWR....any suggestions?
Jayco's HT line are all under 10,000 pounds. We have the 26.5 RLS with two swivel rockers in the rear. No island kitchen but plenty of room. Ours came from the factory with a sticker saying that the "dry" weight is 7,272 pounds leaving about 2,600 of cargo capacity. Even with me in the FW, we don't approach that weight. Take a look on-line and then try RV Direct to see pricing. When we priced ours with RV Direct, the price with most options was $24,121, probably has gone up a bit in the last year and one-half, but might still be close to $25,000.
RE: Colter Bay RV Park
There are no showers in the loops. The only showers are next to the General Store at the main area. Not really a big deal as a person, even one as old as me, can walk there and back in 10-15 minutes each way. And, you might get to see some wildlife while you are walking. Or, you can walk down to the lake and jump in, might be a bit cold, bit the goose bumps will get the dirt sitting up and wash off and you are thrashing around the lake. There is a designated swimming area down by the lake where a lot of people go during the day. Last summer the cost of a shower was, I think, $3.75 each. Not really too expensive compared to the $55+ per day at the full service hook-up campground. If you take fairly short showers, just do that in the trailer/camper and dump periodically. They have two separate dump/fill stations close to the entrance to the loops.
Should have said "dry" loops.
RE: Grand Teton Park, Moran, WY
Good choice, Colter Bay is so much closer to the Lake and the rest of Grand Teton than is Teton RV Park. You will enjoy it very much. Don't forget to take the cruise around the Lake out of Colter Bay Marina. It's well worth the cost and, if you want, you can take an evening cruise that stops at Elk Island and dinner is served. Also, go to Signal Mountain Lodge and have their super Nachos in the bar, big enough for dinner for two to four people and very good. Plus, in the evening the huge floor to ceiling windows look to the west and at Mt. Moran and the setting sun. What a great spot.
RE: Would you recommend a 5th wheel for me?
Might take a quick look at the Jayco HT line. They have a HT 23.5 that is about 26' long in total and very light so you could tow it with a one-half ton pickup that would be easy to navigate around town or country when un-hitched. Has a slide with a front bedroom with a queen bed and enclosed bathroom. Only thing is, when the slide is in, the bathroom is not accessible since it's in the rear of the FW. This might be a start of your search though.
RE: Your Mission Should You Choose to Accept It...
Well, I also believe that a FW might be a little better choice. Most of them now have electric stabilizer jacks on the rear of the FW as an option, even my Jayco HT 26.5 RLS had that as an option. That would certainly take care of having to "crank" the stabilizers down. And I feel that the same-size FW will give your parents more room to live in and storage as opposed to a MH. New FWs around 30' long can be purchased for around $30,000 in a lot of places, you just have to be willing to shop and, possibly, travel to find the right one.
RE: Crazy Truck Dealers
I second the advice to simply sell the "old" truck and then buy the new one. Depending on what you are towing, you just need to make sure you can tow it before you get the new truck. Don't expect the dealer to give you more for your trade than they are willing to sell you the new truck for. By the way, was the book price retail or wholesale for your trade?
RE: Fifth wheel investment
Not trying to be mean, but "investments" are supposed to grow in value rather than depreciate. However, if you mean investing in your future happiness, then yes, you are making an investment. Just don't expect to reap a financial profit from the transaction but the mental value will be much greater than any financial growth there could be. As far as FWs, we own the Jayco HT 26.5 RLS and didn't even look at the Dutchman due to prior perceptions of value. I believe Dutchman may have picked up its quality, but we had an 18 year old Jayco that was great for us so that's the biggest reason we went with the Jayco again. We have enjoyed it greatly since purchasing.
RE: towing rpm
We have a 2012 GMC 2500HD D/A Crewcab and when towing our FW at around 65 we are pushing 1,600 rpms. We do have the six-speed auto but I find no difference whether we use the "tow/haul" button or not while cruising down the road. Usually we are also towing a 19' boat behind the FW as well.
RE: Ford f250 diesel
I had a 2003 GMC diesel for 103,000 miles and never once saw a puff of smoke, towing or not. Same with the 2011 Ram diesel that we had for nine months and now for the 2012 GMC diesel that we have owned for 10 months. No smoke and no chipping, I have more than enough power to do what I want to do without messing with my engine.
RE: Half ton towing
Almost every one of the manufacturers produce what they call a one-half ton towable. We purchased a Jayco Eagle SuperLite HT 26.5 RLS, almost 30' long with two slides. Total weight is supposed to top out at 9,950 pounds. This should be easily towable with a capable one-half ton pickup. Hitch weight is supposed to be around !,500 pounds. If you will take a look at the sites of the various manufacturers, you will find a lot of FWs that are in this category. However, if you decide to go this way, be prepared for a number of folks telling you to go to the scales and get proper weights to see if it will really work. By the way, we tow with a 3/4 ton GMC D/A combo crew-cab so I haven't done this yet, and probably won't as I really want to tow with a diesel since I not only pull my FW, but I hook our 19' boat on behind and I think I like the towing power. Right now, you can't get a diesel in a half-ton.
