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Forum
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RE: Things left on the highway
I once "lost" a 100+ pound wooden doghouse out of the back of a pickup 30 years ago. Who would have thunk there would be enough air draft to pull it out? For about ten seconds I watched it start to move around and then it was like watching the farmhouse in the "Wizard Of Oz" fly up and over the tailgate. Fortunately nobody behind me hit it. Speed was about 65 mph at the time. After I wrestled it back in I kept the speed at 50 or below.
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walt34
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06/22/08 05:11pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Need suggestions for scooters
We found two of these on craigslist that were lightly used.
http://www.bikemotor.com/speed.html
Fold-up bicycles with engines.
They have 47cc engines on them and will go up a hill that would be hard with a granny gear. I'm 150 lbs and DW is 120 so it works for us. I'd say anyone north of 250 lbs. should look for another solution.
License requirements vary by state. In WV we don't need a license for anything under 50cc, I know that in MD anything self-propelled used to require a license but that may have changed, it's been years.
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walt34
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05/23/08 03:26pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: You can never go home again
I believe whomever suggested the get-together for old hands may have something. We could all sit around and discuss old case and declare how much better detectives we were than these bunch of kids around here now. :B Seriously though, I am going to contact a couple or three and see how they feel about it.
Again thanks for your ideas and the nice things you said.
doc
I also retired after 29 years with local law enforcement almost six years ago. We have an alumni association with monthly breakfast meetings attended by 20-30 people and an annual dinner attended by about 200, and it is good to see old friends.
I know how you feel about being on the bleeding edge of things - I started the computer crime/computer forensics unit in 1995 at a time when a home computer was still a rare thing. But leaving was MY decision, and I'm comfortable with it.
I did what I set out to do, what I wanted to do, when I was 22.
I made a difference.
But now it's somebody else's turn.
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walt34
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05/18/08 03:46pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: No, you don't qualify for loan?
It's the Immediate Gratification industry. In the late '70's I did the dumbest thing I've ever done and married a girl with a bad credit history. The following five years was the only time I've ever bounced a check, was late on a rent payment, was late on a house payment, routinely had to "play the float" to make the house payment on time, or received a telephone call about an overdue bill.
She complained that I was "tense and irritable". Yes indeedy!
Best thing that happened to me was when she left when I refused to take out a loan for a trip when we were already flat broke.
Recovered financially from that, bought another house that was paid off in 14 years, and married an accountant who is tighter with a dollar than I am. A wonderful, kind and caring woman she is, who I wish in a lot of ways I could be more like her.
We look in awe and astonishment at another couple we know. He's a carpenter, she just retired as a (get this!) math teacher. They are $500k in debt, are about $30k upside down on their house that they are trying to sell - for two years now - and simply have no concept of reality. Their solution to all this stress? Open up another credit card account and take a trip to Aruba.
I simply do not comprehend how or why anyone would do this.
I guess in another five or so years they'll be eating Alpo Helper because they can't afford hamburger.
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walt34
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05/18/08 10:01am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: trailer accessories are killing me
It's going to get worse for me? I don't even have a TT yet (still looking) but on craigslist I found two fold up bicycles (http://www.bikemotor.com/speed.html) with engines on them and bought them.
Oh well.
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walt34
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05/18/08 05:54am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Woody Wison Bridge in MD/VA
That whole DC area traffic mess was the sole reason we moved from there when I retired. In this part of WV a "traffic jam" is three cars backed up at the stop sign.
We love it.
No more planning our lives around the antics of idiots, morons, fools and imbeciles.
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walt34
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05/16/08 11:25am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: I'm going to try a fun thread this time!!!!
Long Island Iced Tea
or
In 1972, I saw a sign that said "Drink Canada Dry" and I'm still trying to, but they keep making more.
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walt34
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05/05/08 01:14pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: how do you ignore the pesty fellow camper/neighbor
Saw one where the guy hung a sign outside the door:
"Ask us about our life insurance specials" or words to that effect.
No visitors.
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walt34
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05/05/08 12:54pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: If times get tough?
This is an interesting thread, one I've seen on other forums in one form or another. Today I just paid off my FIL's property tax bill, two days after I found out he was three weeks from having his paid-for house sold at auction for less than $3k in taxes. The guy is 82, and some in the family are wondering if he's "all there" anymore. But he's a nice guy, worked his butt off for 40 years, raised four good kids, one of them my wife. He's living on SS and a small pension from a company that moved across the country when he was 62, and he didn't want to uproot his family and make his wife leave her job of 20+ years. After that he drove a school bus for nine years until he physically couldn't anymore. His wife died six months after she retired.
It wasn't poor planning on his part, I don't think. Some would say he could get a loan on his house but that just forestalls the inevitable. If the numbers aren't there, they aren't there, and at his stage in life he doesn't have a lot of options.
My first wife was one of those who couldn't stand to see a dollar in the bank or a zero balance on a credit card, thought it was okay to mail the house payment late, etc., and bailed when I refused to take out a loan for a trip when we were already flat broke. Whence comes the sense of entitlement in those people I don't know.
After that I was broke and moved back in with my mother at age 35 for 18 months, painted the entire house, cleaned out 40 years of junk (people raised in the '30s Depression tend to hang on to stuff) and saved the down payment for my own house, which was paid off in 14 years.
So it can work both ways.
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walt34
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04/25/08 07:41pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Deer Whistle - Do they work or Not
The fleet manager where I used to work installed them on about 800 cars. He said they did make a statistical difference, I think about 20%. Worthwhile for a fleet, but on an individual basis you probably can't tell.
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walt34
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04/09/08 04:42pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Is city ordinances common ???
Our development has this restricion on it too, and we knew that going in because we read the covenants before we wrote a check. No boats on trailers, no RVs. So I have a porta-bote that folds up and stores in the garage, and the TT... well, haven't bought that yet, it'll either be in a $30/month storage or at FIL's, he has the room for it.
Where we lived before there was a guy growing trees in the 12' john boat in his front yard, among other stuff.
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walt34
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04/09/08 04:26pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: What about funny T shirts?
"I do what the voices in my wife's head tell me."
She gets offended if I wear it.
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walt34
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04/09/08 04:11pm |
Around the Campfire
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Roadkill Cookbook
Interesting cook book. I bought a copy as a gag gift and read it first, it is funny.
http://www.buckpeterson.com/original.html
Although my Dad did once cook a chicken wrapped in foil by placing it on the exhaust manifold driving from Wash., D.C to Tyrone, PA. Turned it over halfway and it came out fine.
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walt34
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04/08/08 04:27pm |
Camp Cooks and Connoisseurs
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RE: Fenders Cracking
This is often an issue with the cowlings on large radio control airplanes. The fix is to fiberglass the inside where the screw holes are. It won't show and does a lot to strengthen the area.
If there is a hobby shop near you stop in there or see http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXL493&P=7. If the link doesn't work go to building materials and search for "fiberglass".
Another thought - Lowes, Home Depot, etc has a fiberglass bathtub repair kit. Since this is going to be on the inside of the fender you (probably) don't care what it looks like.
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walt34
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04/07/08 06:12pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: My 1992 GMC Pickup truck
I had an '85 Chevy that did the intermittent start problem. Turned out to be the ignition module. But the best advice is to take it to a shop and pay the man for what he knows rather than swap parts. Unless you're lucky it'll be cheaper that way.
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walt34
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03/28/08 01:00pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Lowest price for gas you remember in the past?
25 cents/gallon, 1967 in Kensington, MD. I pumped gas there, did oil changes, balanced tires in high school at the Esso station.
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walt34
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03/28/08 12:56pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Surprise expenses with TT?
Fit in your garage? Measure carefully! You will probably need a pop-up of sorts, rather than a regular TT.
I called a storage place 5 minutes away and they're $30/month which seems reasonable to me. It would be nicer to keep it garaged to cut down on maintenance and help with longevity but I realize that very few TTs are garaged. An alternative is FIL's place, that's 40 minutes away, but less subject to theft/vandalism issues. Also he'd want to come on the trips but he talks too much.:)
Wish I had known about this desire when I bought the house otherwise would have bought somewhere else. Hindsight is 20/20.
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walt34
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03/23/08 08:28pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Oh remember when..
Late '60s I was a "Platform Petroleum Engineer" AKA pump jockey in high school. Gas was 22-25 cents/gallon, I rode a Yamaha "Twin jet" 100cc 2-stroke motorcycle that would now be considered an environmental disaster - climbing a long grade in 3rd gear it put out a cloud of smoke I couldn't see through.
We dumped old motor oil on the gravel driveway to keep the dust down.
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walt34
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03/23/08 07:40pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Another Stupid Newbie Question
Never be afraid to ask a stupid question.
They're a lot easier to explain than stupid mistakes.
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walt34
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03/23/08 07:08pm |
Travel Trailers
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Man's best friend
A dog is truly a man's best friend.
If you don't believe it, just try this experiment.
Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.
When you open the trunk, which one is really happy to see you?
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walt34
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03/23/08 05:49pm |
Around the Campfire
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