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RE: Campground Facilities, Great Smoky Nat'l Park
While I haven't stayed at either campground (yet), I have driven thru Cades Cove and Elkmont, and they look like beautiful places to stay.
If you plan on using a tote tank for waste, something to keep in mind is that Cades Cove has a dump station right there in the campground. Elkmont however, has no dumpstation, though one is located off of one of the park roads several miles away.
Haven't been thru Smokemont.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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04/30/08 10:25am |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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RE: KOA Townsend TN.
I'll suggest staying just down the road at Tremont Hills. the price will probably be about the same but you will have a little more elbow room. Also has some sites on the river.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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04/29/08 09:01am |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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Columbus, OH - Where to stay?
We are planning a trip to the Columbus Zoo, which is on the northwest side of town. Looking for a campground or RV park that might be 30 minutes away.
Staying in a 31' travel trailer for 2-3 nights. No kids but one small dog. Electic only such as a State Park would be just fine. Full hookups would be great as long as we weren't packed into some parking lot style place.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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04/28/08 10:00am |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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Any nice dry camping spots near SW Ohio?
I'd like to try some dry camping and am looking for some suggestions close to the Cincinnati area.
I know I could just go to one of our favorite State Parks and just not plug in the shore power, or go to Wal Mart, but I am really looking for a place where the scenery or other attractions would make the lack of shore power worth any inconvenience.
Need space for a 31' trailer.
Thanks,
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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03/27/08 06:19am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Getting the most from solar panels
IMO I wouldn't spend too much time on fancy controls. Its not that I don't enjoy a good technical challenge, but since most electric use will be while you are there, it wouldn't be too much trouble to throw an extra switch now and then.
How I would handle it is to shut off my power converter/charger so the batteries are charged by solar panels only. As many AC loads as possible would be set up to be run on an inverter.
The metered shore power would be left plugged in just in case I needed to turn on the air conditioning, or there was a long cloudy spell that kept the panels from topping off the batteries so I needed to turn on the converter/charger for a few hours.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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03/21/08 11:02am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Class A more economical than travel trailer?
Thanks for all the responses.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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03/13/08 03:44pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Class A more economical than travel trailer?
This question might be too general to get a solid answer but I'd like to get some opinions anyway. My current rig is an F250 diesel and a 1979 31' Airstream travel trailer. Given the high cost of fuel, I have been toying with the idea of selling both of those and picking up an older quality class A.
The brands I am considering are Beaver, Bluebird, Foretravel, and Newell. I've seen late 80's - early 90's vintage coaches priced at around $45K.
Since I already own an old RV, I am well aware of problems that you can encounter with house systems, appliances, etc, and I would check all of that before making any purchase. I'd also have a qualified diesel mechanic check the coach itself.
I know that all of the brands that I listed are higher end models but I was curious if they had usually long lifespans like Airstream trailers as I would like to hang onto it for a while.
Our typical use is weekend trips at least once a month, with a 1 - 2 week trip once a year. I know the class A would get much worse mileage than the F250 does when towing, but considering the lower miles I would put on the MH I think there would be some savings. Not sure if insurance and maintaining an older diesel class A would make it a break even situation or perhaps more costly.
Thanks,
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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03/13/08 10:21am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: BLM 14 day limit enforced?
Thanks Buffalobilly. I had assumed that the degree of enforcement sort of depended on the area.
I know that Quartzite, AZ is a very popular area, to the point where some BLM sites have dumps stations and water available. During the peak season there I would guess that fees are collected on a regular basis and the limit of stay would be enforced, just to keep space for others flocking to the area.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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02/28/08 07:04am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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BLM 14 day limit enforced?
Haven't stayed on BLM land yet, but I see that a 14 day limit is the normal rule for most locations. I was just wondering how strictly that was enforced.
I live in Ohio where the State Parks also have a 14 day limit, yet as a regular visitor I have seen people living long term in their campgrounds. I have heard off the record that some parks will let you stay longer if they get to know you and you keep a low profile.
Just wondered if BLM land worked the same way. From what I understand, places like Slab City actually have some permenant residents.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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02/28/08 05:55am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Any good cg's in NM,AZ,TX
Back in May we traveled the same stretch of I-40 which runs parallel to old Route 66.
Williams Arizona is a bit west of Flagstaff and we stayed at Railside RV Ranch as a basecamp while visiting the Grand Canyon. Nice place and would be easy in and out for an overnight stop. Some things to do in the area as well if you wanted to stick around.
From Williams we drove all day to Amarillo, TX and spent the night at RV Xpress. This is right off the highway near Cadillac Ranch. I think the RV park may have changed names but you can find it on rvparkreviews.com easily enough. Basically a gigantic parking lot with hookups, but easy in and out, and reasonable rates. Last I heard, the laundry facility here was FREE so maybe you could time your laundry stop around this place.
While we didn't spend the night in Tucumcari, I know there are several RV parks there that would make decent and cheap overnight stops.
From what I rememeber, along that stretch of I-40 there were plenty of signs for campgrounds and RV parks, so if you are just going to wing it and try to find a place to stop when you get tired, as we did, you should have no problems.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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02/16/08 07:12am |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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Quartzite La Posa question
I've looked up this facility on the BLM website. For those who have been there, how is the water quality? Also, while the web site mentions that you can stay for 14 days at a time, I was wondering if water and use of the dump station were included in the fee, or if that was an extra charge.
Thanks,
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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02/15/08 02:00pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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Multiple holding tank outlets on trailers
I was at an RV show over the weekend and noticed that a lot of the new units had two holding tank outlets.
The setup looked like the bathroom was on one outlet, with the usual black and gray dump valves. The second outlet was for the galley sink, which due to its location was best suited to having a separate holding tank.
My question is to people who have a trailer with two outlets is how you normally handle things at the dump station. One long hose that allows you to drain one at a time, or do you pull forward a little more and aggravate the person next in line that thought you were done.
I'd also like to know how you connect things up when you have a site with the usual single sewer connection. Did you have to build a wye configuration of sewer hoses?
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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02/11/08 10:35am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Grand Canyon How long?Where to stay?
We were on a two week trip back in May and stayed in Williams, AZ for three nights at Railside RV Ranch. Decent park at a decent price. No posh RV resorts in Williams if that is your thing.
We drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon for a day. It takes about 45 minutes to get there. We drove thru some of the park and stopped at various overlooks, and rode the tram up into an area where they don't allow you to take your own vehicle, and hiked around the rim for a while. Ate at Bright Angel Lodge. It was a great day at the Canyon, but had there been more time we would have come back a few more days.
The train ride seemed like a cool thing to do but was out of our budget for this trip. I understand if you stay at Railroad RV Park (not to be confused with where we were staying) you can get a package deal with a site for so many nights and train tickets, and save some money that way.
On our trip we did stop at Four Corners because it was on the way. It only cost a few dollars to get in with no extra charge to get up on the platform to take photos. While there were some Native Americans selling some jewelry and other items, and we bought some stuff, they were very friendly and not pushy at all.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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12/27/07 10:49am |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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RE: WalMart/ First and Last stay
Took a two week trip in May and had planned on staying overnight at a few Wally Worlds just to save some cash. Our first and only time we tried this was in Junction City, KS. Seemed to be a safe and quiet town.
It was warm out and our trailer didn't have a generator so we had to keep some windows open. Bright lights shining in the bedroom all night, noise from traffic in the parking lot almost non-stop, and trains going by on near-by tracks every hour. Didn't get much sleep.
The real kicker was when a street sweeper came in to clean the lot at maybe 5 in the morning. At least the operator had the decency to start right by our trailer and work his way across the lot, getting quieter with each pass.
What can I say, I got what I paid for. Any overnight stops after that were at campgrounds.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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10/25/07 12:24pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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RE: Quality of RV sliding glass patio doors?
No Irish Travelers. The ones spotted were on a Wilderness and a Springdale.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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10/23/07 10:18am |
Tech Issues
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Quality of RV sliding glass patio doors?
I remember when i was a kid that I first saw a sliding glass patio door on a large 5th wheel. This would have been in the late 70's and the trailer wasn't a park model. While I thought it looked cool, it seems that I never saw any more of those patio doors until maybe the last 5-7 years. This leads me to believe that the early patio doors had a lot of problems.
Last weekend while camping with my sweetie, we happened to see a few newer trailers with sliding glass patio doors and we wondered how well they held up over time, and how vulnerable they were on the road with the occasional flying debris.
Are those double pane glass? If so I am really interested in the quality of the seals. If not unsulating glass that must be tough of the heating and cooling loads.
Christopher
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Christopher45103
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10/23/07 06:20am |
Tech Issues
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