2gypsies

Using your Ford's year, check out these guides: https://www.motorhome.com/download-dinghy-guides/ http://www.remcotowing.com/Towing/Store.php

OP: Family of 6? What ages are the kids? Kids love to sleep in tents and in public parks they're allowed on the one campsite. That way perhaps you could go smaller and just get a regular truck. A 36' 5th wheel would fit in many public parks. Our 40' motorhome and Jeep did. The issue would be the big HDT truck with a big RV. Calling a park and asking about sites? Chances are slim that a ranger or the person in the office answering the phone knows about the sites. Reservations are usually done by a company out of state. They know nothing about the sites other than what on their computer screen. We volunteered at Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park and one of our jobs was matching the incoming reservations with a site. Every morning we soon ran out of big sites according to their 'site board' but having walked the campground a lot we knew there were big sites that weren't listed on that board. We offered to measure each site and make recommendations for a new 'board' based on our findings. We took into account rocks, trees, etc. The rangers were absolutely amazed at how many more big sites we found. That's why we rarely made reservations. We'd much rather drive into the park and choose our site knowing what we could fit into. Quite often we got the best site in the house because we liked being in the rear of the campground away from everything. Sites at the corner of a turn in the road usually had the most yard room and are easy to get into. Also, we only had two slideouts and both were on the same side which gave us more choices. Slides on both sides makes some sites very limited because of trees. Good luck finding the right one for you!

Contact the company to see if your choice is discontinued or where to find it in your area. I've done that with things. No use spending time looking for it if it's been discontinued.

https://www.chaliklaw.com/news/boy-killed-after-falling-out-of-truck-bed/ https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/mooresville-student-athlete-dies-2-days-after-falling-off-truck-officials-say/973156919/ https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/man-killed-when-driven-over-after-falling-off-truck-that-was-doing-donuts-in-dallas-parking-lot .... and there were plenty more on Google.

Here is the inspection site locator: https://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/vi/VIactiveStationLocator/ Again, you don't need the inspection if just driving through Texas. You have 3 days to get across. I don't know the answer but if doing it in or near a big city you may have to have an emission test, also. We always picked small towns to have it done and was always a quick stop.

If you do a Search on the www.iRV2.com site under the section of 'Toads and Towing' you'll find a lot of talk about the issue. Here's one: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/death-wobble-406770.html

Full-timers are rarely at the same place that they bought the RV.

That's amazing about the crowds. We've been there in all seasons and have always gotten a spot and there were empty sites by evening. So glad you could snag a spot! Wow! Everyone must be out there RVing.

The site size you choose should be for the RV. There's usually enough room to park a car or a nearby place. In your case you'd be very safe putting down 35' which will give you some leeway. Save the longer sites for a longer RV.

I thought there was one but I couldn't readily find it..... finally did: http://hhrvcampgrounds.com/

Gros Ventre.... very nice! Views and animals.

Curves are not your problem. It's steep. From the Mtn. Directory: Eastbound descent from Teton Pass on Hwy 22 starts with a truck warning sign - "Steep grade--10% next 5.5 miles--use lower gear". There are 20 mph curves near the top. About 1/3 miles down is a sign "Runaway truck ramp--2.5 miles LEFT side" and the warning is repeated several times. To use the ramp you must cross the oncoming lane of traffic. The second runaway truck ramp is about 1 mile after the first. . also on the left side. Then the grade begins to ease to about 6-7%. Take 33, 31, 26 into Alpine then north to Grand Teton. . or down to Idaho Falls & then 26 east. Where are you staying?

GREAT! It's back to normal!!!

That's an extremely tough one. We've had so many good experiences. Our all-summer Alaskan trip was terrific. The locals are so helpful, kind and eager to show off their beautiful area...not just Alaska but in the Yukon and Canada, also. A few things stand out.... we stopped at Worthington Glacier and there was a large parking lot. We asked the employee at the Glacier if we could spend the night. She said, no, we don't have a campground here but if you want to volunteer for the night you can stay. We were the only ones there all night with the glacier right in front of us! Another instance of a gracious person... we were in Homer on the Kenai Peninsula admiring the huge hanging flower baskets along the street. A woman stopped and said "if you want to see some flowers come to my house". She lived on a bluff above town overlooking Kachemak Bay and her huge yard was like a public horticulture park. She loaded us up with a bouquet in a vase and veggies from her garden and then invited us to stay for lunch! Finally, we were talking to a local about sled dogs. He trained dogs and invited us to his house for a tour of his facility. Then he harnessed a group of dogs, we got in the sled on wheels which is used for summer training; he stood on the rear and away we went on his wilderness trail. Another year we took the ferry to Alaska. The ferry is like a city bus to the locals along the route. They use it for neighboring island football games, visiting family, etc. so talking to the locals was very interesting to learn what they go through to live. There's one narrow passage that bigger cruise ships can't negotiate and the tide has to be perfect in order for the ferry to enter and we timed it just right. We entered in a slight dusk light and we viewed the red and green marking lights in the waterway which appeared like Christmas. We had to go so slow through this passage. There was only one village in this waterway so the people don't see others very often. As we approached it seemed like the whole town ran down the hill to greet us... laughing, waving and even talking to us as we passed. It was quite a thrill. There's nothing like RVing to really experience our wonderful country and neighboring countries.

Agreed.

Here's another site I like. This person gives awesome reviews and photos of places they stayed with their 40' motorhome & many would work for a bigger size. They also enjoy public parks. She goes through the whole campground stating what are the big sites and what to stay away from... sometimes site by site. She's great. Also search on her site for a particular state or city and read her blog on them for lots of good siteseeing ideas. Go to the top line and click on the campground bar and a list of states will appear that they've stayed in. Click which one you want. Some of them in the east are SC, NC, NJ, NY, PA, GA, FL, MA, MD, VA, TN https://wheelingit.us/category/rv-park-ratings/

I can't tell from the ad as to how many eastern parks are in this reference but it may be an option for you: https://www.big-rigs-rv.com/Home.html Here's another: https://bigrigresorts.com/ As you travel check out Corp of Engineer campgrounds as they most often have big rig sites. Not in every state though. https://rvlife.com/corps-of-engineers-rv-campgrounds/ I'm sure it's very doable but you'll need to investigate before the trip. I found these by Google 'RV Parks for Big Rigs' and many more appeared. There are folks in the east who have large RVs so they must go somewhere up there!!

I emailed Escapees but don't know if it will do any good. Why can't they do a reminder to themselves to keep on top of this?

Yes, I made a post about it. I'm having the issue, also.

Yesterday 7/20 I clicked on the forum link in my Favorites as I always do... RVNetwork.com. I got a screen that said: "Your connection is not private. Security Expired 2 days ago. There were 2 small boxes to click. One just said the same info. The other was marked 'Advanced' and I clicked on it and it took me directly to the forum. I was on it a few minutes; closed the forum down and left leaving the computer on. When I returned I went to the computer and had a black screen saying I need to Reboot. (I've never had this before) I did Cntrl Alt Delete. Another black screen appeared and on bottom left it said "Select <DEL> and I then pressed the Delete key. Then I got a message "Entering Setup" Then a BIOS screen came up w/lots of info. I don't know the computer innards stuff so I just turned off the computer completely. I turned it on and it opened just like always. I was able to go to a couple sites, using my Favorites, including news. I then went to my Escapees forum link and got the same thing... "Your connection is not private...." I went to the Escapees web site and at the very bottom of the opening page are a lot of items to click. I clicked on RVNetwork.com and this site came up. So..... why doesn't it come up from my Favorites? Is this a problem with my computer or has anyone else had this issue? I just noticed that when I now access this forum via the Escapees.com opening page, the forum site reads "Not secure|RVNetwork.com" I never paid attention before.... has it always read "Not secure"?

We also did Heceta Head Lighthouse. Fun gigs!!

We agree that one-month to six-week stints worked best for us and found that most public parks agreed to it. Rocky Mtn. NP did not... they wanted more hours and more months. However, they did agree that if we could find someone to split it with us they would work with us.... and they did. That park utilized over 1,000 volunteers. Since it was close to a major city most volunteers were there just for a day from their homes. As far as returning to the same park.... we only did that with one park .... Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore in Michigan. We were staying in the park for the first time and absolutely loved the park and the surrounding area. While there we went to talk to the ranger and asked if they needed any help. We were 'hired' on the spot for the rest of the 6-week fall season (an awesome time to be there). We returned each fall for 9 seasons. We also added 3 yr. of giving lighthouse tours in the summer for six weeks on South Manitou Island, part of the park and were given a little historic home to live in on the island. This was our all time favorite place to volunteer. We didn't clean bathrooms. We did the c.g. census at 7am in the morning; pulling tags for those leaving and making note of those coming in after hours who still needed to pay. Then we went into the office to check in campers and some misc. paper work. We left at noon and had the day free for us. We shared the job with other couples who did afternoons and evenings.

Did you notice her link is 's.surveyplanet'? Surveyplanet site doesn't have the extra 's'.

Check out this site to give you an idea of what's out there for the price you're considering. Here are their toy haulers and you can filter any other type. We sold ours through PPL and they were great to work with. They do a LOT of business and things move out fast. https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/toy-haulers?sortBy=price+asc

We have a full-timer friend with a toy hauler for his cycle. However, when they arrive at the campsite they take out the cycle; roll out a room-size piece of carpet and hang a drapery across the ugly rear door which won't be used after they're parked. They have a desk, bookcase and comfy chairs in it and it becomes their den. It's very comfortable-looking. They also added sheet insulation on the walls & covered it with paneling. Looks nice. It's not an upscale toy hauler and it's much older.