mkl654321
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Re: Small used Class C--good idea or false economy?
pianotuna wrote: You appear to not need the forum's help. Your mind is already made up on many issues. If you wish to live in a marginal manner go ahead and enjoy it. Wow, you know the state of my mind. I wasn't really asking about the "many issues" you refer to. You might recall--if your memory is as powerful as your mind-reading abilities--that I was asking about one thing only. As far as "marginal lifestyle" goes, for some people, that would be anything without a massaging Barcalounger, 700-channel cable TV, and a subservient wife providing cocktails and snacks. I have neither the need nor the inclination to buy a land-based version of the Queen Mary and tootle around the country getting 8 gallons to the mile while squashing smaller, insignificant vehicles like bugs. I'm sorry, and I apologize to your prescience, but I think that it's not up to you whether or not I should seek the forum's help, or whether its members should offer it.499Views0likes0CommentsRe: 4+ months in the West
Yosemite in spring is fantastic. The waterfalls are at their peak then--in good snow years, which it seems will include the current season, April and June are great as well. Early April can be chilly. The confusion about snow and ice is that heavy winter snowfall can affect the opening dates of campgrounds on the Tioga Road and the Glacier Point road, which when they are open, serve as overflow campgrounds for the Valley and are beautiful destinations in their own right. Also, if Tioga Pass isn't open (Memorial Day is the usual target date), park access from the east isn't possible. The other access roads are at much lower elevations and are clear year-round. Hwy 140 is the easiest. I don't know if you have much of a shot at finding a campsite in the Valley this late in the game, but try the private campgrounds just outside the Valley on Hwy 140. There are also a couple of small, primitive Forest Service campgrounds along the Merced river (also on 140) that are rarely booked up, even though they are pretty close to the Park.547Views0likes0CommentsRVs are kitty homes with chauffeurs and butlers
At least, that's what most RV cats I've talked to think. They may be right. I am going to buy a Class C for my fulltiming/working lifestyle and am wondering whether having a cat would be appropriate. The last few RV cats I interviewed seemed to just love having a secure place to hang out and watch the world go by. A couple of them had taken over the cabover on a C and it was now Designated Kitty Area, with cozy blankets and a window on the world--cat TV. However, I've also heard some horror stories. My guess would be that the variable would be if the cat is introduced to the mobile lifestyle early in life. Quincy the Dork (our mobile cat from a decade ago) loved to ride on the dashboard and offer driving advice. But he learned to be mobile from when he was a kitten. Older cats, I've been told, often freak out, and there is nothing more freaked out than a freaked out cat. Anybody out there have any success/spectacular failure stories?5KViews0likes12CommentsRe: Single RVing Mother (parent)
WARNING: ACTUALLY USEFUL ADVICE FOLLOWS 1. Is your plan feasible? Yes. However, you'll have to choose between making it all perfectly legal (business licenses, masseuse licenses, sales taxes, etc. everywhere you go, seeking permission from every place you stop, etc.) or working under the table/the radar. Personally, I feel that if you execute a private transaction with another individual for massage services, that's your and their business only. Stay unobtrusive and you might be able to just perform the service in their RV. Bottom line: your income will be sporadic. You might do quite well if you park in someplace like Quartzite. ALSO, set up a website, get a Twitter account, and constantly tweet your location. I think there might be a robust demand for your services if you market them properly. Mobile massage services. Sounds trendy. 2. I would NOT do what you're doing unless you had adequate provisions for child care, schooling, and medical care. Do you actually have the ability (not just the inclination) to home school your children? Will the oldest have the ability (and the inclination!) to care for your younger children while you're with clients? 3. Most important of all: are you contemplating doing this because you want to escape from your current situation? Are you finding motherhood and raising a family to be too constraining and confining? That's fine in and of itself. In fact, I would guess that fully half of the people our there who have started families never should have done so. Not everybody is cut out to be a parent. Our society is formed on the premise that everybody should get hooked up and start popping out babies as soon as possible, but I know quite a few people who met the ultimate departure of their children for the big wide world with a huge sigh of relief and the feeling that now, they could finally get out there and start LIVING. Implying, of course, that maintaining a household and attending to the little ones' every need and desire for decades, to them, hadn't really been living. I suspect that may be the case with you. If so, going on the road fulltime won't eradicate that problem--you'll be putting it on your back and taking it with you. Of course, it might be seen as an elegant solution to the problem if you camped in locations with active grizzly bear populations and rubbed steak sauce into your kids' hair before they went to sleep at night. Over time, statistically, the problem would resolve itself. If I have one overarching message, it's that what you are thinking about IS quite doable, but it will be complex. More and more people are living and working in a completely mobile fashion. If you can develop a following and market yourself properly, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to at the very least, eke out a modest living. The attendant freedom, it sounds, could be well worth the hassle to you.482Views0likes0CommentsRe: Small used Class C--good idea or false economy?
1. I fulltimed in a small Class C for a year. During that time, I attended college online, was employed as an editor, also online, and migrated between California, the Pacific Northwest, and Arizona. I stayed exactly one night in an RV park (and that was a mistake). I think people have been brainwashed into thinking that a RV is not a self-contained living unit and that you need to be plugged in and hooked up any time you are parked for longer than five minutes. Nothing could be further from the truth. (And BTW, there are plenty of ways to take showers in any setting--I took a Navy shower in the rig about one day in five, and used a separate water supply most of the time. A camp shower bag in the sun holds about a gallon and makes for a dandy shower.) 2. It's trivially easy to find a place to park for the night, even in Southern California. It's also easy to find a wifi signal almost anywhere there is cell phone reception--I have a Verizon Jetpack hotspot. The vast majority of such places are free, and forest service campgrounds are $10 a night. 3. The most valuable piece of advice I've gleaned (and if you know the literal meaning of "gleaned"...) from this thread is that it is quite possible to find a good mechanically sound chassis for $10K, and that that is what matters. 4. 21-23 feet works for me because I don't need any more interior room and maneuverability is important. 5. I may choose to tow four-down (meaning I get rid of my Mazda), but my understanding is that even vehicles that are "approved" for that can develop some serious problems, usually in the transmission. A tow dolly seems to be the most sensible solution (keeping the Mazda), but a trailer may be better. I've towed hundreds of vehicles on dollies and trailers--my late father and I owned a wrecking yard. 6. I am absolutely not constrained to a single location or area, and the sensible option would seem to be to spend winters in AZ or southern CA rather than expending a huge amount of effort and money trying to winterize the interior, which given the nonexistent insulation in most RVs, would seem to me to be only sort of effective anyway. So I'm going to look for a mechanically sound rig within my stated budget. I like the idea of sticking with a later Ford (maybe the V-10) with electronic engine controls--there's just too much to go blooie otherwise. Obviously, at my price range, I'll be looking at something with higher mileage, but if it's been well maintained, I might be able to deal with that. The house will be a disintegrating death trap, but I'm fine with dealing with those issues as they arise. The important thing is to be able to keep rolling.500Views0likes0CommentsRe: Banking, using an online bank, cashing checks, etc.
Simple solution: have a Wells Fargo bank account. They are nationwide and their customer service is excellent. Since they aren't The First National Bank and Chicken Farm of Eastern Southern North Dakota at Burnt Tree Junction, they will deposit and clear your checks with a minimum of fuss and delay (the FNBCFESND survives on the revenue from the float on all those delayed checks; the truth is that NO check takes longer than 24 hours to actually clear, meaning that for 13 of those 14 days before they let you have access to your money, they're earning interest on it). Also, open up a PayVampire account (they call themselves PayPal, but they ain't nobody's pal, not with the fees they charge). You can often get people to remit funds to your PayVampire account. You get hit with a steep 3% fee to get your own money back out, but that might be better than waiting for all eternity for a check to clear. Basically, one method is a backup for when the other doesn't work.681Views0likes0CommentsRe: Small used Class C--good idea or false economy?
DrewE wrote: I realize I'm reading between the lines, and may be misreading...but if you're thinking you will save money overall in Montana by full timing in a class C RV vs. renting an apartment or something similar, particularly over the winter, I suspect you'll find you're mistaken. Check the seasonal rates at campgrounds, and figure you'll spend a good bit on propane (or electricity) for heating as an RV is nowhere near as well insulated as a house. If you're thinking you won't be in a campground, figure out where you'll get water fills and sewage dumps and propane fills when you need them, and preferably have an electric hookup. (Solar is nice, but you'll need a comparatively substantial system to keep enough power to run the furnace when the days are short in winter). If you aren't looking to try to live on the cheap, but have other reasons for wanting or needing to full-time in the RV, then maybe this doesn't apply quite so much. Likewise, it's a little easier if this is a seasonal thing during the warmer weather. Funny how so many people are making unwarranted assumptions. I'm not looking for a rolling substitute for an apartment. I have a good job that is performed exclusively online. I would like to be mobile while doing it. I don't have to and probably won't spend the winters in Montana. That's the good thing about RVs. They are on wheels and have an engine. You can move them. I thought you folks knew that. It is true, however, that one can spend the winter huddled in an RV park for cheap in the colder parts of the country. However, I intend to boobduck or whatever you call it most of the time. One person can stay in an RV for a week without having to dump this and refill that. A solar panel and frugal water use could double that. Why spend ridiculous amounts of money on RV parks that charge motel rates for a concrete slab? The various comments about the mechanical issues I will probably face make me think I might want to buy from a dealer, even though there's usually a 700 percent markup on their prices. At least I MIGHT have some recourse if the contraption blows up ten minutes after I drive it off the lot, though bitter experience has taught me that a used vehicle dealer's promise has less value than a used Kleenex.252Views0likes0CommentsSmall used Class C--good idea or false economy?
I am currently shopping for a small (21-23) ft Class C to use as a fulltiming rig. (I live and work alone, and my job is online.) However, I've set a tight budget for myself--$10,000 maximum purchase price. This actually reflects my $15,000 budget for the RV itself plus a) the $2,000 worth of stuff that will need to be fixed immediately but that the seller doesn't tell me about b) a tow dolly (used) c) a solar panel and deep cycle battery setup. The question I have is, can I find something for that price that isn't a complete about-to-disintegrate rattletrap? RVs in general are horribly built, and fulltiming puts demands on the equipment that were never intended by the manufacturer, so I don't want to dump ten grand into something that will die an inglorious death two months later, a smoking heap towed to the nearest junkyard. Or should I forget it until I have more like thirty grand (whenever that might be!) to buy something that won't fly to pieces like the Blues Brothers' car? If it is possible to find something decent for that price, what are the particular pitfalls? (I know about things like water damage, the engine wheezing like a consumptive opera heroine, the owner being an unreconstructed hippie, etc.)9.7KViews0likes45CommentsRe: How do you Deal with Test Drivers when Selling?
I would NEVER buy any RV or other vehicle without a thorough test drive. I need to now how the engine runs, hot and cold, how well the transmission shifts, if there is vibration at low or high speeds, how well the brakes work, etc. etc. etc. etc. I would interpret any reluctance on the part of the owner to let me drive the rig as ipso facto proof that there was something wrong about it that he didn't want me to know. You see, in this kind of private transaction, there's something called "asymmetry of information." The seller knows more--MUCH more--about the vehicle than the buyer does. The seller, to address this, should offer some kind of assurance. Many used vehicle dealers offer a warranty. If you are unwilling to do that, then being willing to offer a test drive connotes honesty and sincerity. Conversely, being unwilling or reluctant to have a prospective buyer drive the vehicle connotes dishonestly and suggests that you are concealing something. So how do you "deal with" this? Simply quell your existential fears about someone else driving your rig for a few blocks and realize that no sane buyer would ever even think about purchasing an RV unless he could take it for a thorough test drive. Remember, it's not all about you and your fears. The buyer is at least as much afraid that he'll be buying a rig that, it will become apparent, needs $8000 worth of work.604Views0likes0CommentsRe: Best buffet in Laughlin NV?
cruiserjs wrote: for mkl654321 , and other readers - we both are over that average age and neither of us have (yet?) to gum our food LOL!!. Frequent visitors to Laughlin. Agree with others on the Prime Rib room!! I didn't say that YOU had to--I just noted that given the extreme advanced age of Laughlin visitors--their AVERAGE age is 70!!!--you're not going to find much decent food there. What you hear in most Laughlin restaurants is "Consarn it, Ethel, this newfangled butter on my toast makes my piles act up! Young whippersnapper waitress put ice in my water, too!" And the buffet is all mashed potatoes and meat loaf. As a veteran of Vegas buffets and other restaurants, I am pretty turned off by the blandness and low quality of the food in Laughlin. It's about as much of a gourmet destination as it is a downhill skiing destination. Laughlin does have one redeeming feature. If you visit there in the summer (Apr.-Nov.), you will be that much more appreciative of wherever you happen to live--no matter where that may be, it isn't Laughlin! Even Phoenix looks better by comparison. Well, maybe not Phoenix.1.1KViews0likes0Comments
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