steelhands
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Joined 11 years ago
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Re: Need help and advice with mail services
How well does any of those services work if you are moving very often and not sure where you'll be in two weeks. Can these services hold your mail for several weeks while you figure out where you'll be? Likewise, will a post office in the little town I may be head to, hold mail for weeks at at time? Unfortunately, we are adrift in junk mail that we don't want. We will HAVE to decide on this in the next week or so as move out is May 29th.475Views0likes0CommentsRe: Getting Ready to Go (One yr. trip)
TimnJo wrote: "Sold the house last week" Just curious what led you to that decision, DW and I are agonising over the same choice. I hate to sell an appreciating asset to acquire a depreciating one. Setting off in our 'old' fiver, (and it will be really old by the time we're ready to pull the pin) is not my ideal plan, not that there's anything really wrong with it. To be honest, it started with a rock climbing accident. Two years ago I fell and was very seriously injured which led to the end of my working career. Now on Homeland Security disability but at my age, (60) I will be on my regular retirement soon. The physical limitations are pretty severe. Anyway, no job, wife retired, heck, let's go. Plus the real estate market is much better. We sold the house in three days at list price. Last year we camped in northern Washington state, Port Angles area, in the "rain shadow". We loved having the straits of Juan De Fuca in front of us and the Olympic mountains at our back. We "think" we want to live there but are not committed to that location. So, we roll. Who knows where or when. Steelhands415Views0likes0CommentsRe: Getting Ready to Go (One yr. trip)
Second Chance wrote: Congratulations, steelhands! We'll be ordering a GD 337RLS later this year as we prepare to go full-time. I'd be interested to hear how your F250 handles with the 303. Keep us posted - and have a great trip! Yeah, we too are interested in how that F250 handles the 303. I'm pretty hard to please so we'll see. We'll trade up if we have to. And yeah, we will look into reservations for the major holidays. Can't wait to start a journey with no real destination. We think, maybe Nova Scotia and then west and south into Utah and New Mexico. I want to do some skywatching where it's really dark. SCUBA diving in the Florida Keys for sure on this trip.415Views0likes0CommentsGetting Ready to Go (One yr. trip)
Well, we are really doing it. Sold the house last week, now we pick up the new 5th wheel (303RLS Grand Design) this weekend and off we go by the end of the month. We are going to hang local for a few weeks for shakedown trips near the dealer and then head north from Atlanta to who knows where. Our intent is to be on the road for a year so so and then buy a house wherever we think we want to live. We did a 10 week trip (in 25 ft. TT) last year to Banff then Vancouver back to Atlanta. So we are not complete noobs to long trips. That trip was scheduled to the day for each location. This trip, no reservations. We'll stay wherever, whenever, as long or short as we want. I am sure we will have some questions etc. for you guys and look forward to sharing experience. Travel smooth. Steelhands4.9KViews0likes20CommentsFunny Story & I need to take a dump
Ok, let's start with the funny story. As I mentioned in my first post, my SO and I are new to RV's and such. We did the usual newbie thing and bought the first TT we saw. Fortunately, that seems like it has worked out ok based on the thousand or so miles and maybe three weeks of camping experience. We bought the truck to fit the needs of the TT, a 2012 Ford F250, gas. The TT is a 25ft Palamino Puma by Forrest River with no side outs. Anyway, as part of getting ready for our "big trip!" we decided to get the RV serviced and checked out prior to leaving. Scheduled departure is June 25 to Yellowstone. We made reservations at RV World in Buford GA, about 18 miles from our house in Duluth. We map quested it, put the address in the GPS and got an early start (for us. we left the house around 9am) After we had gone maybe five or six miles, my wife starts to laugh and says, "Emm, we forgot something." I'm thinking maybe her purse or cell phone and ask her what we forgot. She says, "The camper!". No joke, we were on our way to the RV repair place with no RV. Uh, DUH! I had to turn around and go back to the storage place and hitch it up. Uneventful after that. Kinda scared me though. If I am capable of doing something that stupid, what else am I capable of? lol. Now to the dump question. Are there places that will allow you to just dump your gray and black water tanks without staying the night? For example, if we boondock at Walmart for the night or camp at a place without full hookups are there places we can dump for a small fee? Will RV parks let you do this? And as an aside, does anyone know of a good RV park in central Colorado to spend the July 4th weekend? We will be on our way to Yellowstone and need someplace to stop midway to Yellowstone. We have reservations for July 12th and 13th at Fishing Bridge RV camp but need some place before and after. We expect to spend a week or so at Yellowstone and then head to Glacier, then to Canada. As always, thanks for the good advice provided here. Sam4.8KViews0likes19CommentsRe: Newbie Towing Issues
Well, that's a lot to consider. For what it's worth, I have kept the speed down to 65mph or less 99.9% of the time. Going faster seemed dangerous. The truck does not sag at the rear when I put the TT on the ball. The whole rig, TT and truck seem very level to the naked eye. The sway is not that extreme (so far). Who knows what it will be like with Kansas crosswinds. I am taking the TT and truck to a RV Service place here in Atlanta and having them go over the whole setup. Hopefully, they will be able to weigh and tell me how far out of range I am, if any. Thanks for all the food for thought. S426Views0likes0CommentsRe: Newbie Towing Issues
Thanks, The specs say that the tongue weight is 600 lbs and I'd guess that seems about right. The TT weight is 5,700 dry and we don't have much inside and I travel with the tanks nearly empty. I am running 80 psi in the trucks back tires and 60 in the front as per the label on the door frame. 50 psi on the TT tires. With the Reese hitch the TT seems about level and the truck does not sag much when the TT goes on the ball. Honesty, I am not sure what a WDH hitch does nor how sway bars work either. The sway I get is usually at speeds above 65 mph and is not too bad and it settles down quickly. Still, it can be somewhat unnerving. Over all, I am happy with the truck and TT. I want to get a camper shell on the truck bed so that I can put stuff in it and lock it up when we go sightseeing. Handye9, I looked at your mods and they look really good. I did ten years in the good old USN. 72 to 82. MM1 on some sea going, bad to the bone combatant ships. Thanks again and I'm sure I'll have more questions as we get started on this new adventure. We plan on being on the road about three months.122Views0likes0CommentsNewbie Towing Issues
Hello folks, My SO and I bought a 2013 25' Puma (by Palimino?) TT with no miles on it and it seems really nice, with a few issues to fix (for a later post)but my current problem is a bit of trailer sway when trucks pass me. I bought a Ford F250 with the 6.1 gas engine and it seems to tow the TT just fine. There is no sway bars or WDH. Will they be necessary? We have taken a couple of week long trips but mostly drove a day and camped for six days. I'd guess I've driven the rig about 600 miles so far. We are planning to take a cross country trip, Atlanta to BC, Canada at the end of June so I need to get my butt ready to go. Thanks in advance, Sam5.1KViews0likes19Comments
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