talonguy wrote: fickman, say hi to my DW for me. She's taking the kids to Inks Lake Monday through Thursday. It, along with Garner (Old), are our favorite summer parks in TX. I've got all the sand I can handle here in Iraq!
If she needs anything at all, show her the pic of my rig and tell her to find us! I'll be there with DW, DD, and the in-laws. Thanks for your service. . . whether you're military or civilian - get home safe and get to the lake!
2005 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab SB LS 6.0L 4x4 4.10
DW, DD (May, 2007), DS (October, 2008), and me
talonguy wrote: fickman, say hi to my DW for me. She's taking the kids to Inks Lake Monday through Thursday. It, along with Garner (Old), are our favorite summer parks in TX. I've got all the sand I can handle here in Iraq!
If she needs anything at all, show her the pic of my rig and tell her to find us! I'll be there with DW, DD, and the in-laws. Thanks for your service. . . whether you're military or civilian - get home safe and get to the lake!
I can't get the flavor of this post. Are we boasting of being deep pocketed and letting other folks know or or we advocating running up the credit card debt. hopefully neither.
Lets take into consideration the folks that are living within their means and if that involves letting them growl a little because they have curtailed some of the RVins because of 4.69 diesel, so be it.
Dave H M wrote: I can't get the flavor of this post. Are we boasting of being deep pocketed and letting other folks know or or we advocating running up the credit card debt. hopefully neither.
Lets take into consideration the folks that are living within their means and if that involves letting them growl a little because they have curtailed some of the RVins because of 4.69 diesel, so be it.
I'm not deep pocketed. I'm not running up credit card debt.
Over the last six months the atmosphere on this forum has taken a noticeably negative turn, mostly due to fuel prices. My point was to try to bring a breath of fresh air and remind us all that, despite the doom and gloom, we're all here because we're camping enthusiasts. . . so when it comes time for somebody to get out and do what they love, we should all celebrate that the pastime is not dying. . . just changing a little.
It was also meant to be a commentary on how - no matter how stressful things are at work, home, etc., sometimes the most therapeutic thing to do is slow down, get away, and smell the roses (or drop the line in the water).
Like I said, I haven't been camping since March. We're only driving about 3 hours to get to our destination, so we're staying pretty close. Typically I hang out here and live vicariously through others in between my trips, but that's been harder to do this year. I've had to cancel an RV trip to Arkansas already - due to fuel - and we're going to probably take the sedan and stay in a motel for that trip now. My poor pregnant wife is going to have to fit beside me on that little double bed in our 20' TT again - because we can't afford to jump up to a 24-26 footer with a queen bed yet. (But I know I won't here her complain - it's worth it! It's our version of roughing it.) So yes, we're impacted.
Depending on several variables, the trip can actually be very affordable if you stay close and camp in one spot. We'll use gas driving down and back but may not start the truck all week. If we were at home, she'd be running errands all over the place using fuel in her sedan. We're buying groceries and cooking in the TT, so that's the same cost as living at home. We bought the annual state park pass, so we get the $5/person/day fee waived. We're going to a state park so her dad and I can fish without having to buy a fishing license.
I'm not knocking on the ones who complain - of course they're entitled, I'm trying to spread a little joy and get the blue, bewildered folks to think about camping.
Let's take into consideration folks who are camping enthusiasts and still excited to creatively find ways to spend time with their families. . . I'm one of the people who fervently enjoys being happy for/with other people. Anytime somebody gets a new tow rig, even though I've never met them, I'm truly excited for them. Same with a new RV. Same with a chance to get out and use either one of them!
Lastly, I get so excited about going that as the trip nears, I start refreshing RV.net more and more frequently. I'm probably the reason it crashes. So as we near liftoff, I finally just announce that I'm about to be done reading about camping and planning my trip - and finally ready to start the engine and head out with DW beside me and DD strapped in her seat about 24" back.
Hmm... Our 930 sq/ft house is paid off. The '01 Durango, '92 Harley and '99 5th wheel are paid off. We pay off our credit card in full every month. The Jones's aren't impressed. Therefor, we can easily afford the gas to tow our 5th wheel. If I were all uppity and needed to be a $30k millionaire, we'd be deep in debt to impress the Jones's and would have no money left over to enjoy life with. Since a gallon of gas is still quite a bit less of a percentage of an hour's wage now than it was in 1980 when my 1-ton Dodge van and '71 Comet GT were drinking up the gas, I'm still better off now than I was then. I think everybody is. Look at what folks are driving and how they drive and how thick traffic is every day. We're heading out in August for Chandler Texas. Worst part about that trip is the route to get there from here. But gas prices? Not a problem.
'05 2500HD Dodge 5.7L Hemi 5spd auto/3.73 SLT. 95k miles
ex '95 Cummins,'98 12v Cummins,'01.5 Cummins,'03 Cummins
'07 KZ Jag 28JFSS.
I hear ya Fickman. I've been working a lot of overtime, so I was able to spend more on gas. I still don't have enough money for a trip to Colorado (which is the only place the DW really wants to go), but we'll make do going camping closer to home. Maybe even to southeast OK.
Have fun!!!
2001 Excursion 3.73 geared V-10
2006 Coachmen Spirit of America 24TBQ
jmramiller wrote: I got really excited today when I bought diesel @ $4.61 a gallon. Keeps dropping like this I might have to reschedule that CO trip.
Now Dallas is not that far from here. When I bought my diesel in late 2003 it was 180/gallon. In four years it has more than doubled. The only thing slowing us down is work!
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