Kirk W

In reading the latest issue of Escapees Magazine, I noted that it was stated that membership now exceeds 34,500 families, which I am sure means SKP numbers which are shared by both members of a couple or the entire family. To me that seems to indicate that the total number of people must be close to 70,000! Some of the best news, while not in this article was when it was announced that the X-scapers are now the fastest growing part of the club, which means our average age is not continuing to rise as it was for so long in the past. The current article also addresses the importance of all of us who are members need to remember the kind of spirit that was key to the club in the early days when it was just the Petersons' who owned and managed the club. That spirit has been a major factor in attracting many of we older members and hopefully it continues to be that way to this day but it is imperative that all of us do our best to keep it going. I am starting this thread because I have watched as the younger, X-scaper folks have become a greater part of the club but we seem to attract very few of them to these forums. It may be that we will never get all of them to take part here, but we must do our best to encourage those who do post to continue to do so and to treat them as equals. I have been working to get my own son interested in being members of the club and the forums, but with little success. He was a member of the club for 1 year and has occasionally read these forums but has not felt welcome as one who still works for a living and is only 50 years old. I'll not point out any posts here as he did, but only ask that we all do our best to make the younger members as welcome as we can and carefully avoid unflattering terms for them, such as weekend warriors as has been used here in the past. I was fortunate to have known both Joe & Kay and wish that there were some way that everyone could have done so. Now Cathy & Bud have cut back their involvement to enjoy life more so we need to step up to keep the spirit of the Petersons alive and a major part of this group!

I don't see any reference to the stated weights of the vehicle manufacturer, which still makes me wonder???

Our family geek does agree with that and I seem to have misunderstood what you were saying. He also says that chips are immune to skimmer type of equipment, as they can't be read except via a request from the terminal and that requires electrical contact with the surface contacts of the chipped card. However nothing is different in the processing or data kept. He also indicated that most of the sales tracking is done by the card processor which may or may not be the bank issuing the card as only the largest issuers do their own data processing. Most of the information kept about purchases are not specifics of your purchases but just categories, like groceries $10, hardware $20, sporting goods $5, etc. but not the specific items. The purchases are also tracked by merchant so they could know what we spend at which stores, but not that you bought some Jockey brand underwear and Folgers coffee. Interesting enough, he also recommends having text alerts turned on as many card companies that he has worked with will sometimes hold approval for a text response, while email alerts do not do that.

Educate me, please. What sort of sleds are we talking about?

That isn't nearly enough information to know any realistic pricing, but I highly doubt that any 2011 Miranda is worth more than $40k. If you get more information you can check it on NADA guides website.

I would be very interested to know more about your source? Since either technology must identify the owner of the account for billing, why would the chip change anything about their records? My source is our son who writes software for the financial world at Jack Henry & Assoc. He disagrees with your sources if you mean the card company but the issuing bank doesn't keep those records, only the processing company and that has not changed. But chips are more secure and less subject to fraud. ThI think that I would find a different credit card to use.

I very much agree that weight limits and weight distribution should be a major safety concern for everyone and I also believe that it plays a part in the reliability of the vehicles involved. At the same time, the weight limits that I am aware of are design limits set by the vehicle manufacturers and I do not know of any state or federal laws that enforce those limits. There are laws that set weight limits but those are not the same as the designed limits in any jurisdiction that I am familiar with. I do know of at least one case of a civil suit against the owner of an RV that was traveling in a seriously over design weight condition which lead to the jury awarding large damages against the RV owner, but that is a civil liability and could happen to any of us, if proven guilty. In that case the RV driver was not ticketed for being overweight but was ticketed for failure to stop. The suit alleged that he could have stopped in time if the RV had not been loaded beyond the design limits of the manufacturer.

In reading about the coming 5G cellular technology, the most common issue seems to be the number of them and distance from us. (5G Cell Towers: Why You See Them and How They Work) I can't seem to find any discussions that address any towers of even close to 300' tall? If that is actually happening then the tall towers must be part of a link to time the small, short distance transmitter/receivers together. The one positive thing about this thread for me is that it has triggered me to do more research on the subject. If you are like me and have not kept up with the latest on cellular technology and where is it going, then I suggest you read "What is 5G?" from the August, 2019 PC Magazine. If you want more information about the questions of what impact it may have on all of us, read "5G Cell Towers: Are They Safe?"

A thread that is in the fifth wheel forum got me to wondering about several weight related issues and I am bringing it to the general forums because manufacturer's specified weight limits apply to all of us. From time to time stories go around about someone being stopped on the highway for overweight issues but I am wondering if anyone on these forums has had that experience? The thread that brought this to mind is the one in this link. I do not know anyone who was involved in this and the person involved hasn't posted either, so that leaves me with a great number of questions.

It would be nice if we could communicate with the person who had that experience.... And also to the officer involved. Do all OK troopers carry a set of portable scales? Do highway patrol officers in other states carry scales?

It is the tracking of one's buying habits that makes credit cards so secure. Their computers set off the alarm if there is a purchase that is outside of the customer's normal patterns or that exceeds limits set by the user. For me, the benefits of using my credit card outweigh the inconvenience of the occasional advertising mail that it triggers. In 2018 I received more than $500 in rebated money from credit card use. We also use loyalty cards from the grocery store, and those also track purchases in return for the benefit given to customers.

I don't recall any major news stories out of Yuma on this but friends of ours who were caught up in a scam sales operation out of Tucson back in 2010 that was still in the news up into 2016. In poking about the internet I found a story from Bakersfield, CA that involved people also in Yuma but this one is on new RVs.

Welcome to the forums! What sort of repair is it that you need? You might find someone by looking up your area in RV Service Reviews.

While I'm not a fan of annuities, that wasn't the question so enough of that. It looks to me like your best plan might be to start drawing it out now, but then put the funds into some other type of investments where the income from them is reinvested. An important factor to consider is your ages and life expectancies. If I read your post correctly, when you start to withdraw, any funds remaining at your death belong to the annuity company? If so I would start to draw down ASAP. What happens to the funds if you draw out nothing at all? One thing to consider in any planning of this sort is what was your intended purpose for the funds when you set them aside? If you wait too long to begin spending that money, you may find that either your health has deteriorated to where you can't travel or otherwise enjoy the funds, or one of you might pass and leave the other alone without the other to share the results with. Not long ago we began to "spend down" on our invested funds because we are both now in our late 70's and have come to realize that we have limited time in which to share the results of our savings.

You are right! Guess I read the post wrong!

The profile doesn't indicate that Wally has been back to see what has been suggested, but I'm sure he is thinking that the tapping on the valve indicates it has or is failing. I suppose that is possible as it could stick shut, but I suspect it has not. It could be that there is a grounding or connection problem that tapping effected. I would remove and reseat all of the plugs to the circuit board and all connections to the igniter probe first, but I'm not sure our advice is being read.

Did you read what I posted?

Have you considered one of the smaller fifth wheel trailers? Since you like Jayco products, check out the 27.5RLTS or one of the other models that they offer. If you plan to shop for a new RV, your budget will limit the choices to smaller ones. I suggest shopping used ones.

Agreed. Propane valve failure is actually quite rare. LP pressure regulators do fail and several other things are much more common, such as the igniter probe. I can only recall seeing 1 supply valve failure in my 40+ years of RVing and many years helping other to work on theirs.

That depends to some degree the answer depends on what insurance the dealer has.

Also requiring you to be a member.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! We will do our best to help you in any way that we are able. More specific questions would be more easily answered, but here is my initial thoughts. First of all, since you plan to leave the RV in one spot for the entire season, have you considered having someone tow it there for you, which would mean that you could buy something larger? Another possibility is the hybrid trailers with fold out beds, which have low weight but by folding out the beds there is much more floor space and dedicated beds and some of them may be light weight enough for you to tow. The best choice for towing with what you have is one of the popup or tent trailer type of RV as they can give you good space with very low weights. To stay under your 3500# weight limit you will need to look for an ultra-lite model that is under 20' in length. In those you will find that you will have no more than one bed and a table that can be made up as a bed.

That is not correct, unless you mean to say that any plan A is the same coverage from all carriers and each other plan letter is the same with all companies, but the plan A is not the same coverage as a plan C or a plan G. Visit medicare.gov to see what is actually the difference between plans.

Here in east Texas it varies by about 30¢ per gallon, but at the moment diesel is $2.529 just across the street from us in Mesquite, while gasoline is $2.17.

If you are an Escapee's member you should consider getting road service from Safe Ride through the club.