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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: cellular phone companies
Her+1,
We have been using Verizon the past 3 1/2 as we have been traveling. Also use them for our internet connection. There have only been a handfull of places that we haven't had service. Generally, you won't get any cell service in national parks down here, however our Wilson Cell Phone antenna has bailed us out several times.
Make sure that your plan covers you both for Canada and the US, otherwise your per minute charges will be out of sight!! We can add Canada for $20/month when we go up there.
When we were first considering which service to go with, Verizon was recommended primarly because of wide coverage and high satisfaction with customer service. Haven't been disappointed in either one.
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Ron Butler
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11/30/08 11:47pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
John & Nikki,
Be sure you have lunch at Dot's Diner in Bisbee. A great small '50's style diner next to a unique motel made up of restored old trailors and an old wooden Chris Craft for the rooms!! Great stop.
Hope you stopped in at the museum in the old court house in Tombstone as well as the old newspaper office - Epitaph - where you'll get more true history of the area than the tourist traps. Same with boothill. It is a tourist trap, but a fun one!
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Ron Butler
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11/29/08 10:33pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Bob,
Will send you a regular email with the hotlinks to it. Should add them to my signature here, but not sure if I remember how to do it!
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Ron Butler
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11/22/08 11:50pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Yikes, I've got my tail tucked between my legs. Can't believe that Husky kicker "Couged" it 3 times!!
Well, we have BB maybe!
Bob - I'll go into my pm's and check. Didn't remember seeing a notice coming through on it, but must have missed it.
Bob - feel funny, as a RV newbie to give suggestions to a "veteran" rv traveler, but this is how we came north this last spring.
We left Sedona as stayed at a neat county park just south of Winslow. No hookups but along side a neat small damned lake and it was FREE!! We went east to 191 then north and stopped at Hubbell Trading Post. That was a step back into western history! Then north to Chinle and the Canyon de Chay NP. Stayed in the county rv park there. No hookups, but had a place to get water (I think!) and it was FREE! By all means, take the Navajo jeep tour into the canyon - its great.
Again, I can't over emphasis the great campground at Fruita in Capital Reef NP. It's great. If you have my travel blog website, you will see the pictures of it there.
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Ron Butler
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11/22/08 10:15pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Tradewinds,
Bob, did you get my pm several days ago?
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Ron Butler
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11/19/08 11:11pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Ha! See what I said about those obnoxious Oregonians!!:B
However, the Huskies will rise from the ashes, like the Phonix. Not so sure about the Cougars!!:@
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Ron Butler
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11/09/08 11:48pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Steve,
We were all newbies here at one time or another. The exception to that is Hobo - he has always been here!!
By all means mark on your travel calendar and come on over. Fun group of people, except the Oregonians, gloating over their recent succes at kicking Husky booty!!
Where in Bellingham do you live? I'm an old Red Raider from way back when.
Take care.
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Ron Butler
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11/09/08 09:39pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Canadian Rockies/
Paulj has the routes!!
No gravel roads - that's Alaska!! :B The Canadians have concrete!!
These are mountains, but unless your driving a totally underpowered and overloaded rig, you should have no problem. Get the western edition of Mountain Passes and that will give all the information about the grades and such. I think it covers Canada, mine is on the rig so I don't have it to check. Will try to remember to check when I go to the rig later today.
There is a GREAT provincial rv park up on the hill from Baniff that is absolutetly awesome. It's tiered, so you have spectacular views all around of the mountains. Be careful of the elk in town however!! You may need reservations at some of the places during the summer.
Take you camera with lots of memory and binoculars. You'll love it.
Oh, and give yourself as much time as you can. You really don't want to rush through that area.
Have a great trip!
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Ron Butler
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11/05/08 01:50pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: A possible scam
YEEESSS!!! :E
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Ron Butler
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11/05/08 01:39pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
I'm already tired of the rain, so John, no sympathy from me!! I would rather be running the AC than putting on raingear to take the dogs out!! Not sure how I'm going to survive our first winter in 3 years back here in the northwest. I will be attempting to send the stuff south!!:B
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Ron Butler
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11/04/08 06:21pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Passport America
Don't know if I can add anything new, but will throw in my 2 cents worth. We wouldn't travel without it or the CampClubUSA memberships.
As stated earlier:
1. Check restrictions
2. Check trip planning on the website.
3. Summer time restrictions - NONE in AZ. that I remember!! Everyone has left for cooler weather! Other highly popular/tourist areas will have more summer restrictions. Closer to major attractions, etc, more likely the restrictions.
4. If campgrounds are on your route, use them! Remember, even if you only use it 2 or 3 times, it has paid for itself.
Of course, we travel the back roads as much as we can, and find that we have a better chance of using them in the "boonies"!
Good luck and enjoy your trip.
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Ron Butler
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11/03/08 06:09pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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RE: What are you happiest doing?
Heading down the road to our next destination.
Having a glass of red wine there.
Having lobster in Acadia NP.
Red wine with that lobster.
Sitting at the beach, be it the east coast, gulf coast or the west coast!
Red wine at the beach.
Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP, Capitol Reef NP, Glacier & Yellowstone NP.
Glass of red wine at those parks!
If nothing else, parked on BLM land in Quartzite listening to the coyotes.
Glass of red -- oh, you get the idea!! :B
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Ron Butler
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11/03/08 05:57pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Suburban furnace won't light
I am no "expert" on electrical stuff, but I really think that Kirk has you on the right track.
We experienced that once and I took off the exhaust tube (I think it was the exhaust!!) and cleaned it out with compressed air. Put it back on and bingo - heat!!:B
Hope you get it solved "cheaply"!
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Ron Butler
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11/03/08 05:48pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Need Assistance with CrossCountry Road Trip
You have had some great suggestions of what to take in and see. HOWEVER, notice that NONE of them got you to the "west coast"!! Maybe there was the Disneyland one! I'm not sure if you mean "out west" or to the "coast" and Pacific Ocean!! :B You've got approximately 3000 miles to get to the west coast. Even at 500-700 mpd, that's a lot of driving time and time the kids and dog are jammed in the seats!!
1. What do all of you really want to see? National parks? State parks? Man-made sights? Historical places? The "real west" areas etc. Make a "dream trip" wish list and don't worry how long it is.
2. Get a map and map that out. The MS Streets & Trips program would be great for this.
3. Research the items on your "dream" list. Enlist the oldest to help on all of this. It may surprise you what they are interested in. Keep in mind, the youngest one will want a playground and pool at times! This is where the marvel of the internet really helps.
4. Now start refining your list and prioritizing it, by distance, geographic location, route planning and timing. Give yourself some built in options as far as lay days and changes of plans or emergencies. Those sometimes happens!!
5. Have the oldest start a trip journal of the proposed trip and let them add postcards, pictures etc. along with their daily comments about what they saw and liked.
IF you want the CA. WA. or Oregon coast areas, the state parks need to be reserved as early as you can. The Oregon SP on the coast are beautiful and popular, and are probably reserved very early in the year. We stay away from them during the summer so the "working" folk can enjoy them then!!
Fortunately, I have gotten tired of just thinking of all that planning for a trip!! Luckly, we can just head down the road and go wherever we want without much planning!!
Minimum places: Tombstone AZ., Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon NP, Mt. Rushmore, Oregon coast, Yellowstone or Grand Tetons.
HOWEVER, remember the old song "where the buffalo roam" means that there is a lot of distance between places out here!!:B
Don't try to jam "everything" in on one trip. You may want to do 2 or 3 trips over the next several years! The main thing is to enjoy it and keep it fun!
Feel free to pm me for more specific suggestions!!
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Ron Butler
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11/03/08 01:16am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: VERY EXCITED!
Have fun in the SA area. Be sure to visit the Hill Country - Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch - Fredricksburg and by all means DON'T forget Luckenby and maybe see Willy, Waylon and the boys!! Fell in love with the Hill Country when we were there.
Also, if you want some of the most comfortable shoes for your feet, go to the SAS factory store in SA. It is in a converted railroad station and great fun. My better half is a PT and has recommended those shoes for years to patients. Was great to buy them at factory prices and for those of you tired of sending our money overseas, they are "American" made!! No, we have no shares or stocks in the company!!
We have loved our 3+ years of fulltiming. Take your time! Because of the health of my 95 year old mother-in-law, we have put our fulltime travel plans on hold for now, but will be out there as soon as we can!
Enjoy
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Ron Butler
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11/03/08 12:33am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Bigdog,
Didn't go on 6 when we went down to Long Beach for the Kite Festival, but didn't see any signs indicating any problems with it. I thought I had seen something about Rainbow Falls SP being open, so that should tell whether its open or not. Otherwise, use 4.
Enjoy
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Ron Butler
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10/29/08 12:30am |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: WiFi in Motion
I got Internet In Motion 3 1/2 years ago and have been very happy with it. My internet access service is through Verizon for $60/mth. for basically unlimited access. I know that its not truely unlimited, but I don't do video downloading, so have never been close to getting Verizon excited. It's a separate Verizon contract from our cell service with them.
I can't tell you whether I have more range with IIM than with a card, but have been tempted to try a card, but not willing to buy an additional contract for that!!
There have only been 2 or 3 places we couldn't get online, but also didn't have cell service as well. You won't get online in the majority of national parks anyway.
Good luck
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Ron Butler
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10/27/08 02:09pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: GPS feature that you would recommend
Bob,
I got the Garmin that gives verbal directions on when to turn and what direction. The next model up gave the name of the street, but it also had a bunch of bells and whistles that I wasn't interested in for the extra $150+ When Carolyn had to fly home to be with her mother, I spent 4 months coming from Orlando to Boise to meet her. I really like it, especially in the car as I was driving in strange, new cities. There were several times it would have been handy to have had the street names, but even if I missed the turn, it "recalculated" and got me on track anyway.
The live traffic updates are a monthly fee and only avaliable in a handfull of cities yet, as I understand. Being retired, we just don't get into rush hour traffic anyway!! Traffic reports on radio is there for free and if you have a CB, the truckers will be glad to let you know traffic conditions. I certainly wasn't going to subscribe to Bluetooth nor was I interested in MP3 player. My CD's are the last music change I'm making!!
I was just interested in a unit easy to use, verbal directions and able to add POI and favorites/addresses to save.
Good luck
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Ron Butler
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10/27/08 01:57pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Rodger,
Buy up!! Our country needs you to keep your money circulating!!:B
HOWEVER, from your pictures of the kinds of roads you use to get those birds, I would suggest that you seriously look at that European style RV that looks like a dump truck!! I think I remember that it has 4 wheel drive, but not sure!! :B
I still think that gas is one of least expensive items that we pay for when we have an RV, when it is compared with all of the other costs of it, but I'm not known for my math skills!!
Good luck
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Ron Butler
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10/23/08 11:58am |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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RE: Northwest Spring Rally, May 15-17, 2009
Rodger,
Great pictures! Just glad that was you out there and not us attempting to get back! What did you decide about attempting to install a slideout on your rig? I say your question posted but then lost the thread to see what "advice" you got and what you decided to do!
Alpenlite,
Sorry, I attempted to warn you about Tradewinds, but looks like I should have been quicker!! Good luck!
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Ron Butler
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10/22/08 12:27pm |
Rallies, Shows and Gatherings
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