Kirk W

That depends on how your cameras are wired and could be changed fairly easily, depending upon that accessibility of the power wires. If it were mine, I would change that. Our class A was connected such that the camera turned on automatically if the transmission was placed in reverse, or it could be manually turned on at any time to stay on until turned off or if the ignition was switched off.

Welcome to the forums and also to the Escapees RV Club! Consider this to be an SKP hug and also your personal invitation to attend the 2020 Escapade! The weight issue with new RVs was a fairly common problem, especially for motorized RVs back in the late 80's and into the 90's but as far as I am awarer is not true today. It has been a long time since I have seen anything but the smallest of RVs with less than 1000# of cargo capacity and most motorized RVs today have 2000# or more. Even my little 20' travel trailer that was built in 2012 has a capacity of 850# and you would be hard pressed to find storage for that much inside of it. That isn't bad for a trailer that has a GVWR of less then 4000#.

I was not involved in the 2008 Escapade and I know that most of the team leaders today were not in their positions back then and neither were the present directors, or assistant directors. Let me personally invite you to come to WY in 2020 and give the preset staff a chance. The entire Escapade program has 11 more years of practice now so you may find things are far different next year.

I don't know that I would choose a Medicare supplement based on what is cheapest. You need to carefully compare the benefits and which plan type they have. I had Mutual of Omaha, plan F for several years and was quite pleased with the coverage, which paid all expenses not covered by Medicare. I currently have First Health/Aetna plan G coverage which pays all costs not covered by Medicare except for the deductible and the premium reflects that lesser coverage and results in lower cost to me. Plans F & G provide the most coverage but with the highest premiums. You need to weigh the amount that you use your health care plan to really know which will provide the coverages you need for the least cost out of pocket.

If that is a problem you need to let one of the staff know as I assure you that we do our best to minimize that sort of problem and the transportation team leader lays out designated routes for the drivers to travel. It is true that at peak periods they are very busy and can be full and the same is true right after major events end but I do not believe that it is a frequent problem in recent Escapades. We can't resolve a problem if you do not let us know about it. My security assistants are roving all day so if you see a problem let one of them know so that we can address the issue. I would also like to point out that while transportation drivers are attendee volunteers who sometimes have very little or no experience, almost all staff positions are volunteers and unpaid, including all of the team leaders and their assistants. When you register after arrival there is a place to sign up for a short stint as a volunteer at the hospitality desk and we encourage you to consider doing so. We could not do the things needed for an Escapade without the attendee volunteers to assist the volunteer staff members. Most of those volunteers do their very best in whatever position the volunteer for.

I must tell you that we just spent the evening with friends who are fulltime in a Grand Design, Transcend model and have been for more than a year now and they are quite pleased thus far. We also know 2 other owners of Grand Design travel trailers who are pretty happy with what they bought so not everyone feels as the post above. It is also very important to remember that there is no RV manufacturer that is so good that they have no unhappy customers and none are so bad that they have no happy customers. It seems that all of the manufacturers have a bad one from time to time and even the worst have a few that hold up.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! We are happy that you have chosen to join and and hope you will become a regular contributor. We do have an advertising section and you need to check out the RV's, Tows, and Toads for Sale forum as it has many choices available to you.

How were you so lucky? Our son and most others start getting that junk at 50 which is the earliest you can join. AARP is actually a marketing company that is for profit and who specializes in selling to seniors. They have a political arm also that doesn't match mine so be careful. (Politics are not allowed on the forums so enough said) My personal opinion is that they make people like Good Sam seem pretty nice.

When we were fulltime, I carried a complete set of electrical tools from my previous job as well as a scroll saw, jig saw, circular saw, power drill, profile sander, palm sander, small chop saw, and a large plastic tool case of hand tools. Now that we are back to part-time I still carry the electrical toolbox and a smaller woodwork toolbox.

They could but your congressman wouldn't have any power to be involved in it. All that needs to be done is to convince the majority of voters in each of the 50 states that they should support this proposal, or at least convince the legislators in each of those states. To do so at the federal level is another issue. The feds contribute major highway funds and so congress has the power to force highway regulations by threatening to withhold those funds, but the federal government contributes little if anything to each state's budget for fish & wildlife so they have little or no power to do that, if they were inclined to take up that issue. Since most of the funding for fish & game programs in each state comes from their sale of licenses and sometimes from state tax revenues, even though I would benefit from such a program and would like to see it happen, realistically I see no probability of it ever becoming an issue for consideration by most states. If you are serious about getting involved in such an effort, there is a petition on the Passport America website for you to join. I believe that what they do is to link to another effort that has been around for several years called Fishing Petition.org. There are some 27 states that offer some type of discounted license for seniors and you can find information about that on the site Congressional Sportsmen if you are interested. This is a subject that comes up from time to time on just about all forums and social media that is popular with seniors. I don't recall when I first heard of it but it was before I retired nearly 20 years ago. To actually make any progress on such an issue there needs to be someone willing to invest a great deal of both time and money to make the effort progress. I can assure you that I do not have enough of either to be that person.

With fishing being a state controlled practice, there isn't much your congressman can do to change it. Perhaps you want fishing taken away from the states and become a federal agency? That is probably the only way a single permit will ever happen. Most states do have a senior fishing license for their residents, only.

You might be, but troubleshooting by replacing parts can get very expensive since there are several other possibilities, including the upper circuit board and you are only guessing at this point. This action demonstrates that your cooling unit is working and that the heating element is good, but nothing more. Am I correct to assume that you supplied 120V power directly to the heater with jumpers and it was not connected to any of the controls? That is a good test for those 2 items, but since all of the indications and control functions are powered by 12V power, it doesn't check any part of that so the problem could be just about anywhere in that part of your refrigerator. I suggest that you start by downloading a copy of this service manual from Bryant RV. Pages 16 & 17 give you information related to checking both circuit boards. Before you do this I suggest that you check the safety device that is mounted in the burner area and wired directly into the 12V power of the refrigerator. The schematic in the download doesn't show it but there was an update for safety that put an over temperature device to protect the RV from an overheated burner. It is probably in the red wire between the terminal block and the main circuit board. You should be able to trace that wire as I suspect that is likely to be your problem. Some of them are resettable and others must be replaced.

There are always quite a few first time attendees and many are also new fulltimers. There is also a social for first time attendees to help you make contact with each other.

Thank you for the update. You are off to a great start.

If you wish to park with a group, the solo BOF & the Boomers BOF both usually have a section to park together as long as they make sure we know how many to expect. Any one who wishes to be parked together can do so just by gathering before they arrive at the Escapade site and then arrive as a group. It is appreciated by the crew who park you if groups of more the 4 or 5 RVs will call to let us know about what time you will be arriving so that we can be ready. It is also very helpful if groups who arrive together also place a brightly colored, easily identifiable ribbon or flag of some type on the radio antenna, mirror, or somewhere else to help us keep everyone in the group together. It is much too early for anyone to estimate how many RVs we will have at Rock Springs as the numbers attending vary quite a lot but that number typically falls between 600 and 1000 RVs. Since parking is open from 8 am to 2 pm on Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, you can easily see that there are times it gets quite busy. The most busy day is usually Sunday so early arrivals are appreciated and you will probably be closer in to the events. You are parked by when you arrive, not when you register so while early registration helps staff to plan and insures you getting the type of site you want, anyone can come in as early as Friday at 8 am and be parked. There is transportation provided from the RV sites to the event areas so even those farthest out will not have to walk excessively. Remember that everyone involved in getting you into the grounds safely and efficiently is there as a volunteer and is working hard to keep things running smoothly. The arrival instructions are sent to you to help them make your arrival require as little waiting as possible.

The biggest one is Escapade 2020 to be held next June in Rock Springs, WY. If you watch your Escapee Magazine you can find a listing of events and meets in various parts of the country in each issue. There are even listings of restaurant gatherings that are open to all SKPs who happen to be nearby.

Check out the Escapade next June in Rock Springs, WY.

For accurate information, visit the Silver Sneakers program website.

In Albuquerque it ranges from $2.69 to $3.17. In Phoenix, $2.75 to $3.35 and Tucson $2.79 to $2.99. Those can be checked as well as others by visiting Gas Buddy on the net.

Any water hose that is laying in the sun will allow the water in it to get quite hot if it is in direct sun. I use foam insulation on our hose for any extended stay to prevent heating or freezing, depending on the weather. If possible in warm weather or for short visits, I just run the hose over and under the RV to keep it in shade and don't bother with the insulation.

If you have a Garmin GPS you can use their BaseCamp program. I don't usually plan very far ahead so tend to still use a paper road atlas on a daily basis.

That doesn't look good. I suggest that you try posting on the Forest River expandables forum. Please do come back and let us know what you learn.

As a footnote, even if you drive a gas coach and don't have an exhaust brake, the technique is the same.

Great post! That should be helpful to someone, somewhere down the road.

We have attended quite a few Escapades, including each one for the past 7 years. We will be there again next June. What we always enjoy most is the people that we meet and the renewing of friendships with folks that we haven't seen for a long time or in some cases, people that we only see at Escapades. But other things tend to change in importance as you attend more of them. In our early years the seminars were probably the primary reason that we attended and nearly everyone who goes finds that couples need to split up at least some of the time in order to cover more seminars as it is not possible to attend everything. From the Escapade website: There is a happy hour put on every late afternoon by the on-site RV dealer (RV Country). We usually find ourselves participating in impromptu social gatherings in the campground at least once most days and sometimes more than one. There is entertainment each evening with door prizes before each show and some of those are really great. At our second Escapade, Pam won a prize of $500 in cash on the opening night. Needless to say, we don't miss those drawings! If you arrive early there are often some special seminars on the Saturday afternoon before, but not always. This will be my sixth year working with security for the event and the best part of my job is that I get to see every RV there and get to meet an amazing number of the people who arrive in them. I think that I have made more friends at Escapades than at any other event or location. While I would encourage people to get registered as early as possible, this year should be a good one for those who can't be sure too early as the Sweetwater County Events Center has the most full hookup sites of anywhere we have attended an Escapade so we probably won't run out, but don't wait too long as one can never be sure.